With TakeOver just under two weeks away, the card is starting to take shape. We are due some answers from Johnny Gargano, now that we know he was behind the attack on Aleister Black. Expect the hype for the NXT title match to ramp up too. And speaking of that match, it’s Dream On before TakeOver, as the Velveteen Dream takes on a big challenge in the form of Lars Sullivan. There should be a lot of action and information packed into less than an hour of NXT programming, so let’s get right down to business and crack open this Nutshell!
Best Match of the night:
No doubt about it, this one goes to the main event between Lars Sullivan and Velveteen Dream. The match was good, the after match action was even better. It went a long way to really setting the stage for this match.
Worst match of the night:
With only three matches, there wasn’t a thing to complain about.
Crowd Chants of the Night:
Otis
Velveteen
Let them fight
Star of the Night
For the way this show ended, it’s got to be Velveteen Dream. I do worry that it’s too soon to see the belt taken off of Ciampa-I wouldn’t be surprised if the belt is dropped in April, perhaps to Gargano if NXT actually does want him babyface still. Regardless, Dream is looking good as TakeOver approaches.
Spot of the Night:
Several nice ones, all from the main event.
Spinning DDT by Dream onto Ciampa’s belt was one.
Hard not to love Dream’s elbow drop to Ciampa
Upset of the Night:
No shock, but there wasn’t one
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
For me, this would be the action in the main event. First off, a good match between Velveteen Dream and Lars Sullivan, with Sullivan claiming the victory. The real big action was after the match, when Tommaso Ciampa aimed to further soften up the challenger ahead of their clash in Los Angeles. Except, Velveteen Dream mounted a comeback and sent Ciampa a nice message of his own.
Noteworthy Moment:
Kairi Sane will indeed invoke her re-match clause, but this time the NXT Women’s Title match will be a best out of three falls.
Without featuring the participants, the show still managed to spotlight the massive WarGames match. Hard not to be excited for that match.
We got a recorded segment from Johnny Gargano explaining why he did what he did. It was an interesting tone he took. Johnny said he was still the same Johnny Wrestling we all came to love, but that he realized around NXT, sometimes you have to play or fight dirty.
Reality for that is, if Johnny had attacked someone else, maybe he has a chance to stay babyface, or at least convince some he is. Aleister Black, however, was one of the hottest babyfaces in the company, so that was never going to work out for Johnny.
Next week, we get a singles match between WarGames competitors, and the winner gets the advantage in the match.
Overall lowlights:
Not a bad show. Good video package about WarGames, and then the main event…so nothing to complain about
Overall highlights:
Good tag match, worth acknowledging.
Good women’s match, even if right now it doesn’t mean a whole lot. NXT does need to build Dakota Kai back up, considering they used her to help boost the profile of Shayna Baszler.
The main event was well done. Good action, made both men look good and also got Ciampa and Dream some TV time too. Good action and the fans were into it.
After the final bell:
When you only have an hour, it’s admittedly tough to hit on every major match for an upcoming PPV. That being said, as per usual, NXT did a solid job. We had the NXT title discussed. WarGames had it’s own video package. We got confirmation of the NXT Women’s Title match, and there was talk of the clash between Johnny Gargano and Aleister Black. All that in an hour, and three matches too. Efficient would be a good word to describe things, but it was a good show too.
Results:
Heavy Machinery defeat Forgotten Sons
Dakota Kai defeats Taynara Conti
Lars Sullivan is victorious over Velveteen Dream.
More About:Sports