Overall
This week’s NXT episode kicked off with an announcement from general manager William Regal and NXT Champion Keith Lee. Lee has decided to vacate his North American Championship to continue to defend the NXT Championship. Regal has set up a series of triple threat matches with the winner of each match going on to compete in a ladder match for the vacant title at the TakeOver before SummerSlam. This was the right decision and it is going to give us some fantastic triple threat matches leading up to TakeOver.
Tonight’s triple threat match was between Johnny Gargano, Roderick Strong, and Bronson Reed. Honestly, I was surprised and hyped to see Bronson go over Gargano and Strong tonight. Next week’s match also looks to be exciting as Finn Balor will take on Dexter Lumis and Timothy Thatcher.
The main event of the night sent literal chills down my spine as I watched Keith Lee stare down Karrion Kross following Kross’ brutal defeat of Dominick Dijakovic. It made me change my mind about the booking of this feud that I talked about in last week’s review. The motivation is there and I am here for it.
So all of that being said, let’s break down the good, the bad, and the ugly of NXT 7/22/20!
The Good
- It was a predictable move but Keith Lee relinquishing the North American title is the right move. This tournament (or series as they are calling it) should be a lot of fun!
- I wasn’t sold on Killian Dain and Dexter Lumis having a match but it was fun. It was nice to see Dain actually put up a fight against Lumis.
- Dakota Kai’s Stardom shirt in her video call out of Io Shirai.
- Shotzi and Aliyah told a really solid story with their match
- Mercedes Martinez making a surprise appearance. I’m ready to see what NXT will do with her!
- The Swerve video package was also great! Give him a long term feud with Santos Escobar!
- Johnny and Roderick’s attempt at an alliance toward the beginning of the match where they both refused to attack Reed was funny. These guys have great comic timing.
- Johnny hitting a sling shot spear on Strong and then immediately landing a tope on Bronson Reed.
- The triple threat match was a lot of fun!
- Damn! Bronson Reed’s surprise win was awesome and should help him look super strong heading into the ladder match!
- Thatcher and Lorcan put on another really solid match. I didn’t like the finish as much but I still had fun.
- Mercedes Martinez signing with Robert Stone is a good thing and Robert Stone has this character down. Loved this segment.
- Dijakovic has given me my favorite Karrion Kross match since he got to NXT. That’s awesome!
- Ok, the story that is being told with Keith Lee trying to defend Dijakovic and Kross brutally finishing the match made me change my take from last week. If Keith Lee and Kross are gonna clash I’m ok with it because it has some real emotion and momentum behind it now!
The Bad
- The swanton bomb doesn’t really fit into Dexter Lumis’ character. It’s a solid move but I just think it seems out of place for him.
- Just as the tag team match between Ever Rise and Breezango was finding a solid rhythm it was over. Too short
The Ugly
- No ugly this week. We had a good episode. I’m excited for the next 4 episodes leading us to TakeOver!
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