SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)…
NXT Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T
Ring Announcer: Mike Rome
Backstage Correspondent(s): Sarah Schreiber
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR POST-SHOW PODCAST
-We got heavy recapping of Heatwave, a show I still think had a lot of strange booking decisions. We also got hype for tonight’s show and the possible title matches on the horizon for Josh Briggs and Ricky Saints.
-Saints opened the show. He got a strong reaction and said that’s why he wanted to start the show. He said he’d put his money behind Je’Von Evans any day, but Oba Femi showed why he’s the champion. He said he’s been here for six months, and he’s faced the best of the best, but he wants what Oba Femi has in his possession. He knows there’s a talented group in the locker room, but he’s calling his shot now. He called out Oba Femi.
Josh Briggs entered to his music instead. He told Saints not to get carried away. He said he walks around like he’s a gift to this business. He said he’ll give the rare Josh Briggs compliment: the hype is real. He said the kids in this company couldn’t take him down with a five-year head start. Sants said he knows how tough Briggs is, but if he’s going to come out here looking like Sid from Toy Story, he can’t come out here and tell him what to do. Briggs said whether it’s Sid or Briggs, he’s going to take him out.
Ava hit the ramp. She said nobody has heard from Je’Von Evans since his defeat at Heatwave, so tonight, Josh Briggs and Ricky Saints will go head to head in a #1 Contender’s match with the winner getting a shot at No Mercy. Hey, for once they’ll have multiple weeks to hype a championship match!
-Backstage (days ago), Blake Monroe and Ava spoke. Monroe said she should get a title shot now. Kelani Jordan stepped in and said Monroe could get to the back of the line. Ava said they could continue their issue from a few weeks ago and have a match tonight.
-Monroe entered ahead of the opening match. [c]
(1) KELANI JORDAN vs. BLAKE MONROE
Dropkick by Jordan. Rope run and an arm drag by Jordan, which led to nearfalls by each, then two more. Big headbutt and a back kick by Jordan. Monroe slammed Jordan, did some ground & pound, then covered after a dropkick for two. Monroe charged Jordan to a corner and the ref had to back her up from the corner. Monroe ducked a shot and threw a hard right. Monroe yanked Jordan to the mat and rolled over her and snapped on an armbar with a bridge. Jordan got in an axe kick and both women sold on the mat.
The two went to an exchange of rights and then Jordan got in some ax-handles and a block. Sit-out DDT by Jordan, and Monroe scampered to a rope and escaped out to the ramp side. With Monroe on the floor, Jordynne Grace’s music played, and Monroe tried to escape. The door she found was locked, and Grace stood there and casually asked “where are you going? You have a match!” Monroe returned to the ring and Jordan put her on the mat, then hit the split-legged moonsault to finish.
WINNER: Kelani Jordan at 4:15.
(Wells’s Analysis: Jordan again stakes her claim to a North American Championship match, though Sol Ruca vs. Kelani Jordan feels a lot like it should be for the main championship while Lola Vice vs. Jacy Jayne is a North American Championship match at best. Monroe still isn’t coming off like a great worker, but her running heel act is working pretty well. I was hoping the issue with Grace wasn’t over since Grace’s story really only works if it ends in victory)
-In a branded segment, Vic sat down with Myles Borne to talk about Lexis King. Borne said that King exists to stir the pot, and there will always be someone like him. We got shots of the scenes leading to this, including King blinding Borne and Ava telling King that they’ll meet in a blindfold match.
-Myles Borne entered ahead of the next match. Sarah Schreiber asked him about it. He said his eyesight was a little blurry, but if the crowd helps him out, they can signal when he’s close to Lexis King. The crowd seemed willing to play along with the popular Borne. [c]
(2) MYLES BORNE vs. LEXIS KING – Blindfold match
The two got close to one another and missed rights. Both were in relatively new gear, so the tattoos were better at helping us know which was which. After a couple of near-misses, Borne hit a dropkick, then ended up schoolboying a tripping King into a nearfall. King tried to run and attack, and basically did a tope suicida out to nobody. He backed into a post, then punched it. He tripped over a set of steps. He’s willing to pratfall all over for the sake of a comedy match, and honestly, it’s already more entertaining than Martel vs. Roberts was, though that one had months of build.
Borne missed a knee drop. King pretended to measure a kick and ended up kicking near the ref, who skipped out of the line of fire. King tripped over Borne again. They got to their feet and the crowd helped out with “yay/boo” punches. They locked up and moved around the ring. King intentionally thumbed the eye of the ref, then pulled up his mask, kicked Borne in the nuts, lowered the mask and hit The Coronation for the win.
WINNER: Lexis King at 4:51.
(Wells’s Analysis: This was the only likely finish given how badly King needs a win and needs something like this to keep him in a strong heel context, but Borne hasn’t been anywhere near the top since his match with Oba Femi and he’ll have to come back strong after this one. The match was a silly comedy affair, but done really well given the constraints)
-Wren Sinclair complained to Charlie Dempsey that she still didn’t have a partner tonight. Of course, Dempsey introduced Kendal Grey, with new gear and hopefully some type of personality. Dempsey said he brought this to Grey and she agreed to all of his terms. Grey said it wasn’t like that, but she said she would help Sinclair. Wren ran off excitedly and Grey followed. She threw a chop at Dempsey, who sold it and said “Okay, she can chop” and followed them. [c]
(3) WREN SINCLAIR & KENDAL GREY (w/Charlie Dempsey) vs. THE CULLING (Izzi Dame & Tatum Paxley) (w/Shawn Spears & Niko Vance)
Grey and Dame opened. Dame shoved Grey away, but Sinclair made a tag and the faces cut Dame down with some chops. Paxley tagged in. Sinclair ducked a shot and hit a roundhouse kick, then ran the ropes for a kick and a one count. Paxley got in a kick and tagged Dame, then made the blind tag so she could nail Sinclair with a kick as she ran the ropes. Paxley took over on offense on Sinclair and grounded her with a body scissors. Sinclair wriggled her way free and made a semi-hot tag to Grey, who landed some offense on Paxley, including a nice double-underhook belly to belly. Grey fired up and took out an interfering Dame.
Grey got suplexed to her corner, and she tagged Sinclair in. German suplex by Sinclair. Knee lift by Paxley. She had a move set up, but Dame tagged herself in. Sinclair crucifixed Dame, and Paxley made the save. Paxley got attacked by Grey, and instead of returning the favor and helping Paxley, Dame put Sinclair down for the win.
WINNERS: The Culling at 3:29.
(Wells’s Analysis: NXT never met a faction infighting storyline it doesn’t like. They tried to pack a lot in a small amount of time on a night where no matches are going to eclipse five minutes in the first hour, which has become rare. Perfectly decent stuff, though it means we get a retread of Paxley doing what she always does as she always likes her partners more than they like her back, and Grey continues to improve in the ring while there’s literally no attempt by the show to clue us in as to who she is)
-Saints started to make his entrance ahead of his match with Josh Briggs. [c]
(3) RICKY SAINTS vs. JOSH BRIGGS – #1 Contender to the NXT Championship
The bell hit almost immediately after the return from commercial. Briggs dominated early and got a nearfall after a slam. Saints threw some forearms from underneath, ate an elbow, then evaded an elbow drop. Saints got in a few kicks, but a big right from Briggs slowed him down. Saints wrenched an arm and walked the ropes, then struck the arm. Rope run and Saints kicked a waiting Briggs’ head. Briggs shoved Saints out of the ring and action went outside. Saints jumped the steps, then dropkicked them into Briggs. Briggs caught a charging Saints. Saints wriggled free and shoved Briggs to the post, but Briggs fell back and ran into Saints, laying him out as well, in a pretty contrived spot. With both guys selling, the match went to split-screen. [c]
Saints was getting back into it after the split-screen heel heat sequence, but Briggs hit a running cross-body for two. Briggs leaned on Saints some more and got another near-fall. Briggs charged Saints face-first into a turnbuckle, and Saints sold on the mat. Briggs missed a flying lariat and Sants got back into it again with some quick punches.
Saints hit a Michinoku Driver for two. He set up another big move but Briggs held him off. Briggs punched Saints on the mat, but Saints moved and Briggs buckled his hand. The two went up in a corner. Briggs hit the mat, then whipped Saints over the top rope and into a neckbreaker in a nifty spot. Running pump kick by Briggs got two.
Briggs went for a chokeslam but Saints flew through and ran to hit a dropkick. Top rope miss by Saints. Briggs hit a big chokeslam for a long two. That may have been a believable near-fall, since I can’t remember what Briggs’ finisher actually is because we haven’t seen it much. “This is awesome” chant. Both guys got in rights. Saints countered a slam with a DDT, then hit a tornado DDT for three.
WINNER: Ricky Saints at 12:40.
(Wells’s Analysis: I’m not sure they picked the right guy here, as Briggs is firing on all cylinders as a heel right now, but I wouldn’t be overly surprised if Briggs finds a way into it (although Oba Femi has said he’s done with triple threats). That said, Saints remains very popular despite a lot of stop-start pushing, and it’ll be cool to see how they push this feud)
-Sol Ruca, Zaria and Lola Vice talked about Maybelline. Yep, that happened. Jaida Parker came in and talked everyone down, and Lash Legend got involved. Uriah Connors and Kale Dixon were in the background, silently reacting, which is quite a bit more than they’ve been doing for a while. Elsewhere, Arianna Grace – dressed provocatively – was flirting with Stacks.
-Back in the ring, Saints jawed into the camera, and Oba Femi’s music played him out. [c]
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