Previously on the Best and Worst of NXT: KUSHIDA defeated Drew Gulak in a submission match, Oney and Twoey got a surprise win over the Undisputed Era, and Io Shirai’s still a bad match result or two away from stabbing somebody in the heart with a sword.
If you missed this episode, you can watch it here.
If you’d like to read previous installments of the Best and Worst of NXT, click right here. Follow With Spandex on Twitter and Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter, where everything and everyone is terrible.
And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for June 19, 2019.
Best/Worst: Undisputed Era Are Not Their Own Kind
Before I say anything about the rest of the show, I want to mention how unbelievably funny it is to me that Kyle O’Reilly, as a character, would mess around in iMovie and make a new Slipknot opening for NXT that removes the footage of everyone except his team. It’s such an unbelievable and petty waste of his time, and exactly the thing a guy who plays air guitar with his championship belt in front of everybody would do. Absolutely perfect.
The “slash Worst” here is a light one, and not really NXT’s fault, but I am sick to fucking eternal death of promo parades. For the past … however long I can remember, Raw and Smackdown have opened with “promo parades” — segments where someone shows up to cut a promo to the crowd only to be interrupted by someone, and then they get interrupted, and then they get interrupted, and maybe a fight breaks out and a match gets made. NXT doesn’t do this very often, but they did it here, and the timing couldn’t be worse. It’s really the only way I could give a half-Worst to a segment involving six wrestlers I love and Roderick Strong.
The saving grace is that it’s happening on NXT TV instead of Raw or Smackdown, which means (1) I inherently enjoy mic time from all of these characters and don’t mind watching them loudly fuss at each other, and (2) I can at least trust that a good, watchable match will result from it. Sure enough, that’s the case here as we end up with Undisputed Era versus Velveteen Dream, Tyler Breeze, and Matt Riddle. Also, I think I like Riddle more than Dream or Breeze? When did THAT happen?
Anyway, the match has a major purpose that it serves well: establishing the strength of Undisputed Era as a unit (remembering that I don’t think an established team should lose to a random assembling of “can they co-exist” singles stars), and showing that a team of three deeply arrogant characters are going to do great until one of them gets too arrogant for the group and fouls it up. That’s Dream here, when he tags himself into the ring at the wrong time and not only curbs Tyler Breeze’s momentum, but becomes a huge distraction that ultimately costs his team the match. I like that Dream’s the guy who did that, too, because (1) he’s the champion of the group, and some character fallibility goes a long way toward convincing us he might lose an important match later, and (2) he’s the most arrogant of the three by a mile, which is saying something when you consider Tyler Breeze sings his own entrance theme and has fashion season TakeOver entrances.
So yeah, really good work all around in making a segment concept I hate work. That’s NXT! Also, supplementary Best to NXT as a brand for continuing to make official t-shirts that aren’t black. The designs aren’t always great, but at least I could pick them out of the infinite darkness of my closet.
Best: You Know You Make Me Breakout
Huge, huge Best to the concept of the Breakout Tournament, which takes eight characters we haven’t yet seen on NXT television and gives them an opportunity to become a big deal, fairly quickly (Alberto Del Rio-style) and earn a title shot of their choice. Not only is that a great idea, but it echoes the original Cruiserweight Classic (which gave us a ton of the characters we know and love and watch lose to Lars Sullivan on WWE TV these days) and the presentation of the announcement even lets us know the new guys are people we’ve heard of before. Really loved that.
Your competitors are:
- “Jordan Myles,” formerly known as my motherfucker ACH and the guy who will hopefully win the entire thing, because Christ, ACH should’ve been on TV the second after you signed him
- “Joaquin Wilde,” formerly known as 2-time Impact X-Division Champion DJZ
- “Cameron Grimes,” formerly known as 3-time former Impact X-Division Champion Trevor Lee
- “Dexter Lumis,” formerly known as Impact’s Sam Shaw, noting that Sam Shaw naming himself “Dexter Lumis” is like Rob Zombie changing his name to “Hillbilly Hotrod”
- “Isaiah ‘Swerve’ Scott,” formerly known as Shane Strickland, aka Lucha Underground’s Kill Shot, now free of Dante Fox’s Rambo quest
- “Boa,” formerly known as Big Boa, one half of my fantasy booked Outkast-themed tag team alongside D-Ray 3000
- “Angel Garza,” formerly known as Garza Jr., who recently held the Crash Tag Team Championship alongside Ultimo Ninja, aka Humberto Carilllo
- “Bronson Reed,” formerly known as Australia’s Jonah Rock, from the same The Mighty Don’t Kneel faction that gave us TM-61
That’s a hell of a tournament, and I’m immediately into the entire thing. GO GO … uh, Jordan Myles!
Fine: Conti vs. Li
Taynara Conti vs. Xia Li didn’t do much for me, unfortunately, but it was a perfectly acceptable TV match that gives both (clearly talented) women a chance to get in work. It’s not a bad match by stretch, but it also had that early NXT developmental feel where you can see them working through the spots, waiting too long for the other to finish their moves, getting in place for the next transition really obviously, and so on. Lots of, “oh no, I missed the kick, let me stand here with my leg up on the rope and watch you get ready for the counter.” It’s fine, and neither character’s had enough TV work to start holding shit like that against them.
I also think both characters could benefit from having … you know, characters, beyond the announce team telling us where they’re from. Conti showed some light arrogance, which is nice I guess — we certainly have enough of those characters in WWE already — and Li getting pissed at taunts and throwing speed spin-kicks was nice. These two could really benefit from having a veteran in the ring with them, instead of having to fight people at similar skill/experience levels. That’s part of the reason I liked Conti vs. Dakota Kai so much.
Best: Also On This Episode
Lots of good video work on this episode, especially the Mia Yim character history video that I’m shocked didn’t get uploaded to WWE’s YouTube channel. These videos add a lot of color and flavor to NXT characters, especially when they’ve only got an hour of weekly television to get an entire roster over. It seems like it’d be pretty hard to not root for Yim after seeing her as a little kid dealing with her multiracial identity during the L.A. riots that pit both sides against each other, and I think that’s the point.
Also fun this week: The Street Profits forgetting how to do their own video series because they’re so hype about being NXT Tag Team Champions, and Montez Ford not being able to keep a crown on his head. Stop being such a beautiful man, Montez Ford.
Best: Damian Sick Sick Sick
Finally we have the re-debut of the Puerto Rican Baron Corbin, Damian Priest. I don’t mean current Pissy Waiter Baron Corbin, I’m talking Baron Corbin classic. Come on, look at him. He’s a tall guy who squashes jobbers (check), has Baron Corbin’s old hair, has Baron Corbin’s old gear, and even has a spotlight and FIRE FONT entrance. All he needs is a random wolf face popping up somewhere and he’s the exact same dude.
Anyway, Priest gets an easy win over Raul Mendoza with the EXTREMELY 2010 WWE finisher combo of a big kick and the Cross Rhodes. You know a guy is destined for midcard heel dominance when he’s got the Roll the Dice as his finish. Priest is solid, but I sense a lot of, “why aren’t they pushing Keith Lee instead?” in his future.
Next Week
Io Shirai faces Shayna Baszler in a steel cage match that will change everything, The Street Profits take on the Forgotten Sons, and the Breakout Tournament begins when Angel Garza faces Minor-u Suzuki in round one. See you then!
