NXT Recap & Reactions (July 20, 2021): Respect Joe’s Authority!



[ad_1]

NXT returned last night (July 20) from Capitol Wrestling Center (CWC) in Orlando, Florida. You can find the results on the live blog here.

Joe is going to kill Kross

If you’ve been a pro wrestling fan from your Ring of Honor or TNA Wrestling years, you know the fans chanting “Joe’s gon-na kill you” for his matches. It became so synonymous with his formidable wrestling that the WWE Universe picked it up as well. After Karrion Kross smothered Samoa Joe last week, the first thing that came to my mind was “Kross – you better keep your head on a pivot! When Joe wakes up Joe is going to kill you. in fact, he was already looking for Kross moments after the show ended.

What’s next when everyone returns to the CWC this week? Would William Regal’s rule that Joe could only retaliate when he was “provoked” take precedence, or would cooler heads prevail so Kross could get away with his vile actions? And how would the fact that Kross just lost his Raw debut to Jeff Hardy play into all of this?

Joe opened the show with a fiery babyface promo promising he would clean Kross’s clock (ticking). Regal pleaded with him not to retaliate and argued that last week Kross got hold of an NXT referee, not NXT management. “Semantics!” Joe bellowed, and I’m with him on this one. Regal begged him to solve the problem tonight without violence. Joe said out of respect for Regal that he would solve it tonight … but didn’t promise it wouldn’t be violent. He had promised that somehow someone was going to sleep.

Towards the end of the pass, Joe rushed into the ring and asked Kross to bring his “happy ass” to the ring for the beating he deserved. Instead, Kross cut a promo from the parking lot video screen, showing a battered and bruised William Regal lying on the ground in front of him. Joe raced to get there, but Kross pulled over in his car just before he got there, leaving him to scream in fury at what had been done to Regal. Now that’s a brilliant setup! We don’t get the payoff yet, we want it even more now, and Regal will no doubt rescind his request for Joe to settle things politely now that Kross has given him a vicious beating. March orders for next week? Take, Kross, GET OUT.


Raquel González vs. Xia Li

Dakota Kai and her G2k (Go 2 Kick) managed to crush Ember Moon like the bug she claimed to be. On paper, it might have seemed like this was the solution to all of his and Raquel González’s problems, but a new challenger was waiting to literally emerge from the fog – Tian Sha’s successful wife Xia Li.

Intentionally or not, Xia Li had proven to be a force to be reckoned with after inflicting a concussion on Mercedes Martinez with a circular kick to the head. You never want that to happen to an artist, but like most accidents in pro wrestling, you might as well take it and find a way to make something of it. Despite the size difference between the two feet of Li’s fury gave her all the credibility she needed to enter.

There was a very awkward ending to this match during the overflow. González made a corkscrew splash on the ropes and landed on Li’s midsection, at which point the referee stopped the match and the coaches came out to check Li. done off-camera, it’s all part of the plan, but it left many of our Cageside readers wondering if Li had legitimately been injured, so their plan was successful. As soon as the coaches cleared her, González immediately hit Li with the Chingona bomb (an arm strike) for the spit. Another dominant performance for the champion and a good but a little disappointing main event.


Bobby Fish & KUSHIDA vs. Tyler Rust & Roderick Strong

This match was also set up by last week’s show. (Continuity! Isn’t that something?) Bobby Fish responded to the Open Diamond Mine Challenge in hopes of facing his former undisputed era teammate Roderick Strong, but Malcolm Bivens gave him Tyler Rust instead. After losing the match to Rust, Diamond Mine was about to beat Fish the Four Horsemen, but KUSHIDA ran to make the save. That’s what brought us to this week’s game.

Two commercials later, we got the double down and double tag, leaving Rust and KUSHIDA as legal men. Rust was doing very well so far, but once KUSHIDA started unloading with his precision strikes it was only a matter of time. It softened the rust to the point that when the Hoverboard Lock was applied it didn’t even try to fight it and hit it off instantly. That won’t suit his stable of submission experts. KUSHIDA and Fish celebrated their victory but we are still waiting to see Fish get revenge on Strong. They teased him but didn’t deliver him, and that’s a good thing to me. Make us wait for this reward. It’s perfect!


LA Knight vs. Drake Maverick

Drake Maverick tried to be a Good Samaritan and help LA Knight butler Cameron Grimes carry all the bags in the trunk of Knight’s car, but Knight had none. Easy setup for a game later in the program? You bet it was.

Knight won 80% or more of that match, but spent the remaining 20% ​​berating Cameron Grimes for failing to properly hold the million dollar title. It cost him in the end as Maverick drop kicked him in the belt first, then rolled him for a quick pin. In retaliation, Knight beat Maverick, then ordered his personal butler to clench his fist and punch Maverick in the face. Grimes had to convey in one fell swoop that he feared for his NXT job if he didn’t honor the stipulation of the match he lost, even though he was a millionaire and could afford to walk away from it all. that, and somehow managed to pull it off when he slapped Maverick and fell to his knees in shame. This man needs acting lessons because I was convinced.


Franky Monet vs. Jacy Jayne

This match was about everything except the match. Jessi Kamea followed Monet into the ring. Robert Stone joined her after the match started. Mandy Rose came out to watch the game, lying seductively on the announcers desk, while Wade Barrett and Vic Joseph argued over who had a chance with her. Monet hit the Glam Slam and pinned Jayne and that was the least important part of the whole segment. The heels savored their victory, while Rose had mysteriously vanished into unknown places. If you care about that story, it was a great build. If you wanted a good match sorry boss, this wasn’t it.


Kyle O’Reilly vs. Austin Theory

The implementation of this took place fairly quickly. O’Reilly said he heard Theory run his mouth last week and challenged him to a game. After checking with “Papa John” Gargano to make sure everything was okay, Theory agreed to the match and it lasted until a commercial break midway through the broadcast. If you want the details check out the live blog, but here’s the important part – Theory lost her temper after a few close drops and stepped out of the ring to tear up the steel steps and use them. This prompted O’Reilly to “go to a dark place,” at which point his offense completely overwhelmed Theory, put him in a leg lock, and refused to let go even after Theory had tapped. The referee forced him to let go but did not disqualify him for going a little too far. It would have been within his rights to do so.


The musical madness of mariachis

By the time they announced that this segment was going to feature Legado del Fantasma, I was uneasy. Should they drive lawn mowers to the ring and drink tequila? It couldn’t end well.

Thankfully, because it wasn’t WWE Raw, it wasn’t as scary as I expected. In fact, Santos Escobar immediately fired his mariachi singers, claiming he wasn’t there to play music and entertain “you people” because “you don’t deserve it.” Hit Row interrupts so that everyone takes turns laughing at Legado, until Escobar calls them out “assholes. “It’s fighting words brother! Everyone lines up and Escobar chooses Scott while the rest of the minions fight. Escobar tried using a mariachi guitar for the old Jeff Jarrett El Kabong style, but the tables were turned and he had to keep it from coming back. Needless to say, it was one of the Legado who finally had to eat it on his behalf. See you soon Joaquin Wilde, it was nice to know you.


Odyssey Jones vs. Andre Chase

To crush. The 400-pound freak of the wild Jones totally crushed Chase. In this NXT Breakout Tournament, there are just two words you need to know: “Size Matters. “


What else do you need to know?

Three matches are already booked for next week. Bronson Reed will finally go head-to-head with Adam Cole (bay bay). In the NXT Breakout Tournament, it’ll be Carmelo Hayes vs. Josh Briggs (I pray this one is an upset for Hayes). And in the one thing that I look forward to the most, it will be Pete Dunne and Oney Lorcan against Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher. May violence reign supreme!

The Imperium also interrupted a behind-the-scenes NXT interview with McKenzie Mitchell to remind us that the carpet is sacred.

As a result, we never learned what MSK stands for, although our Cageside Commentary Crew has some great ideas. They also reminded us several times during the broadcast that NXT will be on SyFy for the next two weeks due to the Olympics.


Note: A-

The last segment had that kind of heat that will keep me watching next week, even with NXT transferred to a different network. Austin Theory was the highlight of the show this week, delivering absolutely too much in his fight with Kyle O’Reilly. CCC thinks he’s leaving The Way and going up to Raw or SmackDown. Honestly, I can see him, but I also think NXT needs him too much right now to let him go. As much as NXT is Paul Levesque’s baby, it might not be in “Poppa Hunter” or “Papa John” where he’s going. If Xia Li is really hurt, I feel bad for her. Just because she accidentally concussed Mercedes Martinez isn’t an excuse for someone uninvolved to give her a receipt. The fact that the camera is on her all the time makes me think it’s a job. Nothing in the show was bad. Even Monet and Jones’ squash matches were good, although it certainly did a disservice to their opponents. At least Maverick got the victory over Knight, although he paid dearly for it. It was a damn good show, but it just wasn’t as good as last week – close though!

Get up from your seats at the edge of the cage and ring the bell below. See you in seven days!

[ad_2]

Source link