As the chapter of NXT UK closes, and the impending arrival of NXT Europe looms, NXT UK and the North American branch of NXT 2.0 clash at World Collide. On this show, the main men’s and women’s singles championships, and men’s tag team titles will be unified in three huge matches, while the NXT North American Championship and Women’s Tag Team Titles will also be on the line in special NXT vs Raw and Smackdown matches. In the main event, the NXT Championship currently held by Bron Breakker and the NXT United Kingdom title currently in the possession of Tyler Bate will be unified in a first time ever meeting between two of the best young stars in all of WWE. The unified women’s gold will be determined in a triple threat match, between NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura, NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose, and the number one contender to Satomura’s title, Blair Davenport. Davenport is the X-factor of this match, and she enters with nothing to lose and everything to gain. There can only be one set of Tag Team Champions when four of the top teams in all of NXT and NXT UK battle, as the NXT Tag Team Champions Brutus and Julius Creed of the Diamond Mine, the NXT UK Tag Team Champions Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs, Elton Prince and Kit Wilson of Pretty Deadly, and Mark Coffey and Wolfgang of Gallus collide in an elimination match. Carmelo Hayes will also be in action, as he battles former North American Champion Ricochet in a highly anticipated contest, and the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Katana Chance & Kayden Carter will defend their gold against former NXT UK competitors and current Raw Superstars, Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop.
+ Bron Breakker (NXT Champion) vs Tyler Bate (NXT UK Champion) (Title Unification Match): this was good, but wildly predictable. WWE often gets dunked on for having such old wrestlers in their system, but considering the combined age of these two is less than 50, they are doing something right. Tyler Bate is so ridiculously strong for his size, and he played a great foil to Breakker’s much larger frame. This worked in a way that Breakker/McDonagh just recently at Heatwave didn’t, not least of all because Tyler Bate is actually really good.
+ Mandy Rose (NXT Women’s Champion) vs Meiko Satomura (NXT UK Women’s Champion) vs Blair Davenport (Winner Takes All Title Unification Match): I liked this, but it wasn’t a great match by any means. Satomura is not made for these character-heavy triple threat situations, but she is far and away the best wrestler of the three here. I am well aware of Davenport’s past as Bea Priestly, and I think this Davenport character has a strong future, but for NXT audiences (and myself included, as I didn’t often keep up to date on NXT UK like I should have) this was just too much, too early for her. Mandy is Mandy, and she’s great to look at but clearly doesn’t much care for this role anymore, despite her clear improvements in the ring. This was a positive, but only barely
+ Carmelo Hayes (c) (w/ Trick Williams) vs Ricochet (NXT North American Championship): along with some really good fan interaction from Ricochet in particular, and some wild ‘mirror spots’ this was a fantastic showcase of athleticism in the ring. Though not to the same level, this reminded me in a lot of ways of Ricochet’s series of matches with Will Ospreay a few years ago, and I can’t think of any better praise for Hayes than that. This is the exact sort of match that I expected these two to have, and the exact sort of match that should happen between a main roster competitor and the NXT superstars
+ Grayson Waller had a small backstage skit, and I cannot stress how on board I am with this guy. He can talk, he can wrestle, and he looks like a star; if he’s not a huge star on Raw in a very short amount of time, I’ll be shocked
– Kayden Carter & Katana Chance (c) vs Doudrop & Nikki A.S.H. (NXT Women’s Tag Team Championships): my entire thoughts about this match boil down tot he fact that Chance and Carter just give off such ‘bad guy’ vibes that I can’t ever get behind them. And that goes all the way up to another ridiculous match ending that I can’t understand why NXT always does, as it just makes the referees looks incompetent
– Diamond Mine (Brutus Creed & Julius Creed) (NXT Tag Team Champions) (w/ Damond Kemp) vs Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen (NXT UK Tag Team Champions) (w/ Fallon Henley) vs Pretty Deadly (Kit Wilson & Elton Prince) (w/ Lash Legend) vs Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang) (w/ Joe Coffey) (Winner Takes All Title Unification Elimination Match): the usual culprits had a good match, including both of Pretty Deadly being the obvious standouts, but overall this was a bit of a mess. There were a lot of people involved here, as each team also had a “third man” with them on the outside, and the ending was one of those ones that makes less sense the more you think about it. I didn’t really care for this match at all
> I couldn’t help but chuckle at how bent out of shape the commentators and video package makers were at not wanting to mention the former NXT Champions, the likes of Adam Cole, PAC (Adrian Neville), Samoa Joe, Keith Lee, Malakai Black (Aleister Black) or Andrade El Idolo (Andrade “Cien” Almas), all of whom are currently contracted to AEW
Should you watch this event: Five matches over approximately two hours was absolutely perfect for what this was aiming to be, and it made the show very easy to watch. Go out of your way to see Carmelo Hayes/Ricochet.
MoshFish Reviews 