A Room with a Review: NXT 08/26/20

It’s a night of returns and championship shuffling on NXT. Now with more William Regal!

• The show starts with the new NXT Champion, Karrion Kross w/ Scarlett. His right arm is in a sling because he separated his shoulder during the match at TakeOver XXX. Kross relinquishes the title because of the injury, but he warns everybody that he will be back for it. 

• Wade Barrett is back as an announcer. His first match behind the desk is for the NXT Tag Team Championship as Breezango faces Imperium. Breezango wins the belts after Fandango hits both members of Imperium with a top rope leg drop. 

• McKenzie Mitchell tries to interview Damian Priest about his new North American title, but Timothy Thatcher interrupts, saying that Priest is an embarrassment. 

• Next up is Jake Atlas vs. a returning Tomasso Ciampa. The introductions lasted longer than the match, with Ciampa winning a squash. He severely beat Atlas after the match, requiring a stretcher for the young Cruiserweight. Tomasso even got in a draping DDT off the stretcher. 

• Candice LeRae discusses her relationship with Tegan Nox. 

• Bronson Reed tells McKenzie that he deserves the first shot at Damian Priest. Plain-Vanilla Ass Austin Theory makes a rare appearance and mouths off to Reed. NXT’s Thicc Boi takes Theory’s mouth off with a thicc slap to the face. 

• Mia Yim heads to the ring and has to listen to Robert Stone blab at her. Shotzi Blackheart runs him over with her tank for the third time. Mia and Shotzi face off in a battle of Californians. Blackheart wins one for the Bay Area with a top rope back senton. 

• McKenzie talks with Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez about their tag match later tonight. 

• NXT General Manager William Regal is in the ring to announce how they’re going to decide the new champion. There is going to be a special Tuesday night edition of NXT that will feature a Fatal 4-Way match between four former NXT Champions. Johnny Gargano, Tomasso Ciampa, Finn Balor, and Adam Cole (bay bay) will compete in the first-ever 4-way Ironman Match. 

• Up next is Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Santos Escobar for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Escobar tells Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza to wait in the back. To nobody’s surprise, Escobar’s cronies make their way back to the ring when he gets in trouble. They nearly cost Scott the match, but Breezango comes down and chases them off. Escobar slides out of the ring and dons his old luchador mask. He headbutts Swerve, knocking Isaiah out cold. Santos gets the pin to retain his title. 

• Johnny Gargano talks about the NXT title match that was announced earlier. 

• After a commercial break, Finn Balor adds his two cents about the match. 

• The next bout is Drake Maverick vs. Kyle O’Reilly w/ Bobby Fish and Roderick Strong. Kyle gets Maverick to tap to a leglock, then the rest of Undisputed Era jump in to keep pounding Drake. Killian Dain runs them off but lays out Maverick himself. 

• McKenzie talks to Rhea Ripley about Dakota and Raquel. 

• Adam Cole (bay bay) has his sights set on getting his title back. 

• The main event is Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai vs. Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez. During the match, Mercedes Martinez pulls Ripley off the ring apron, slamming her head into the ring steps. Rhea is still woozy as she gets tagged in, which allows Gonzalez to slam her and get the win. 

It was nice seeing the return of some familiar faces, despite one of them being Austin Theory. Plus, the announcement of that Fatal 4-Way match has me hyped. If there is one thing that WWE knows how to do well, it’s pivoting when wan injury or some other obstacle pops up.

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