A Room with a Review: NXT 02/20/20
It’s the first episode after NXT Takeover: Portland, which the Internet has declared one of the five best Takeovers ever. Keep reading to find out why.
- The show starts with the Undisputed Era, who are down to only one titleholder. Adam Cole (bay bay) retained his NXT Championship at Takeover: Portland, with the help of Johnny Gargano. They get interrupted by a Velveteen Dream voiceover, with Dream saying that he is ready for Roddy and tells him to come alone.
- The opening bout is an NXT Cruiserweight Championship match between Jordan Devlin and Lio Rush. Devlin sets the pace early, keeping Rush grounded. Baby Balor goes for a pin after a standing Spanish Fly, but Lio counters with a Koji Clutch submission hold. Rush hits an Avalanche Poisoned Rana, followed by the Come Up. He goes for the pin but Devlin gets his foot on the bottom rope. Lio tries for the Final Hour frog splash, but Jordan moves and hits Rush with the Devlin Side suplex.
- Some random guy who is not Queen Cathy Kelley is backstage with Dakota Kai and Raquel (nee Reina) Gonzalez. I hope they don’t take away Raquel’s bad-ass Texan gimmick. Commissioner William Regal shows up to say that Kai will be facing Tegan Nox in a steel cage match in two weeks. If they can come close to what they did in Portland, this match will be fantastic.
- Plain vanilla-ass Austin Theory is scheduled for a match, but Tomasso Ciampa comes down and grabs a mic. Theory gets close and Ciampa tells him “not tonight”. Tomasso says that he let his guard down and should have seen Johnny Gargano’s interference coming. Theory tries to jump Ciampa, but the Psycho Killer decks him. Tomasso then proceeds to toss Austin back and forth against the metal guardrails at least a dozen times.
- Next is a tag team match between the team of Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde against the Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zach Gibson). I will freely admit that I am a huge Mendoza mark based on the multiple times I’ve seen him on the NXT Florida circuit. Wilde and Mendoza try to get flippy with it, but the former NXT UK Tag Team champions are just too much for them. Gibson gets the pin on Mendoza after the Ticket to Mayhem.
- Time for the new NXT Tag Team champions, The Broserweights (Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle). Riddle says that the Dusty Cup partied too hard and failed the Wellness Policy, resulting in a 30-day suspension. Dunne and Riddle are facing off against a couple of my favorites, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. I’m just going to throw out a quick plug for Lorcan’s Twitter account, one of the best follows in wrestling. The two Brits, Dunne and Burch, start the match with some great catch-as-catch-can wrestling. Riddle and Dunne hit a nice team maneuver, but Lorcan is able to break up the pin. Riddle pins Lorcan after a combination of a high knee and the Bitter End.
- UE is backstage and Roddy says he wants to take on the Dream by himself. We’ll see how long that lasts.
- It’s time to bask in the glory of Keith Lee. He and Dijakovic put on a barn-burner in Portland. Before Lee can start talking, he gets interrupted by Kona Reeves. Kona gets in the ring and immediately eats a Pounce. Lee says ring the bell and hits Reeves with the Big Bang Catastrophe for the win. Dijakovic comes to the ring and says he’s not ready to move on from their feud yet. Keith says that if Dominik can talk Regal into it, then they can fight forever. I’m okay with this.
- The next match is Kayden Carter against Chelsea Green w/ Robert Stone. Carter beat Green with a small package the last time they met and almost did it again right off the bat. Carter slips on the ropes in the corner, but Green covers well with an offensive move and quick pin attempt. Out of nowhere, Bianca Belair rolls into the ring with a mic. She says that she doesn’t care if it’s on NXT or Raw, she’s going to whip Charlotte Flair’s ass. Stone interferes while the ref is distracted and Green wins after a reverse Unprettier.
- Time for the main event between Velveteen Dream and Roderick Strong. This is the first match for Dream in five months. There’s some fantastic storytelling and tension building in the beginning as Strong tries to get a big hit on Dream, who keeps dodging and rolling out of the ring. Roddy finally has to resort to an illegal poke to the eyes while the ref was looking the other way. Strong dominates until Dream is able to hit a DDT and a double axehandle from the top. Velveteen hits the Dream Valley Driver and heads to the top rope, stopping only to remove his pants to reveal another set of tights underneath, featuring Roddy’s wife airbrushed on the front and back. UE heads out to the ring and Dream takes them out. He goes to slingshot back into the ring and Roddy nails him with a jumping knee. Dream kicks out and hits the DVD one more time for the pin. The rest of the Undisputed Era get in the ring and gang up on Velveteen, leaving him lying as the show goes off the air.
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