Dudes hurling dudes through the air. |
NXT this week was a nothing show filled with Takeover recaps and a couple decent matches filmed before the PPV, but CWC brought the fire with three very distinct, solid matches.
NXT:
We open with Ty Dillinger vs. Wesley Blake. The possible reheeling of Dillinger from when we saw him last many weeks ago is clearly on hold here, as the Brooklyn crowd is solidly behind The Perfect 10. Dillinger wins with his new finisher, the Ty Breaker, which is just AJ Styles' Death Valley Driver on the knee. Not sure why they'd give Dillinger a finisher that a main roster guy always gets a two-count with. But still, I want them to do more with Dillinger. He's got great energy and the crowd loves his schtick.
We've got Bobby Roode's post-match interview where he tries to reinforce his Arrogant Rich Heel image after Brooklyn treated him like a face. IN a lot of ways, this is a larger-scale version of what happened with Dillinger - his entrance and gimmick are so catchy that the fans don't care that Roode wants to replace them with rich CEO's. Then we get Aries' post-match video where he threatens to end Itami's career.
The post-match interviews continue, with Bayley being sad and getting some props from Ember Moon. It's a bit odd, but they recognize it and recap her Raw debut too. The Revival brags a bunch about being unstoppable, and we're promised Nakamura's post-match words on next week's show.
And finally, back to the wrestling, as our main event features TM61, not wearing black tights for a change, vs. the Authors of Pain, who enter wearing black hoods and attack TM61 before the match. TM61 gets the better of the exchange, somewhat surprisingly, but then the match starts and the AoP domination begins. We learn that the Authors of Pain are Akom and Razar, but I can't be sure of those spellings. TM61 makes a comeback, but it doesn't last long and the Authors hit their cllothesline/leg sweep Ascension-esque finisher for the win.
CWC:
It's the end of the second round of the CWC, so we have three matches and lots of recaps.
We open with Rich Swann vs. Lince DOorado. Both high-fliers, so we start with acrobatic one-upsmanship before SHit Gets Serious and they move to a mix of striking and flying. It's a very good match, and there's a hilarious moment when the Full Sail crowd responds to a bizarre submission from Swann by chanting "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT" to the rhythm of Swann's theme song. Swann advances with a slightly misplaced Phoenix Splash that lands on Dorado's head.
Drew Gulak vs. Zach Sabre Jr. is up next, and it's almost entirely submissions, grappling, and counter-wrestling. It's a hell of a match, with no fumbling or pacing problems, and Sabre Jr. wins with a weird bridging pin that also keeps hold of his opponent's arms. I wasn't super-impressed with Gulak in the first round, but he was good here.
Finally, TJ Perkins and Johnny Gargano go at it. They sort of try to work the grueling Takeover tag match into the buildup for the match, even though this is taped and happened first. The story is that Gargano injured his knee at Takeover, and that's both the story that carries through the match and how they get away with having Perkins win. This match has every kind of wrestling there is, and it's a real tour de force for both guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment