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NXT never fails to deliver a good show, and the brand has slowly become the favorite of many wrestling fans around the world.
The hype for this week’s show was over the roof as former NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair was scheduled to appear during the night and respond to current NXT Champion Rhea Ripley’s challenge for WrestleMania.
The build for the Undisputed Era’s rivalries also continued with Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Pete Dunne, and an old foe.
NXT also fueled the fire between The Prince of NXT and Johnny Wrestling ahead of their massive clash at NXT TakeOver: Portland, while Keith Lee was not ready to back down from any challenge.
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In this article, we will look at the 6 things NXT got right during this week’s episode. Before that, you can gear up by listening to the latest episode of Dropkick DiSKussions, where our experts Tom Colohue and Korey Gunz discuss the hottest WWE news and rumors of the week!
#6 Angel Garza continues his run
Former NXT Cruiserweight Champion Angel Garza has made it a point to gain more attention since losing his Championship belt to Jordan Devlin.
A couple of days ago on Monday Night RAW, Garza appeared with Zelina Vega to take down his cousin Humberto Carrillo before taking on Rey Mysterio in a match.
This week, the heel returned to NXT to take on Isaiah "Swerve" Scott in singles action. Scott has proven to be one of WWE’s most consistent performers in the mid cards, and the match between the two men had everything to be termed great.
While Scott picked up the advantage late in the match, Garza knocked him off the top rope and then hit his signature Wing Clipper to pick up the victory.
He then went on to mock Mysterio and Carrillo and ended by saying that he would be watching Jordan Devlin closely tonight.
This helped the young man get back in the Championship scene without too much effort, and become one of the best mid-card heels on television. The Superstar has the potential to rise up from the Cruiserweight division and make a name for himself like his cousin Carrillo.
#5 A giant for a giant
Dominik Dijakovic has been one of NXT’s biggest men but hasn’t had the biggest build in recent months. He’s had several mixed bookings, and his rise was overshadowed by the rise of Keith Lee during the build-up to Survivor Series last year.
While Keith Lee went on to win the NXT North American Championship from Roderick Strong and a few weeks ago, Dijakovic proved himself by defeating Damian Preist to become the No.1 contender to Lee’s belt.
NXT wanted to build up towards the match that will take place on NXT TakeOver: Portland in a big way, and they did so in the biggest way possible by giving Dijakovic a big match against Killian Dain.
Dain is a huge athlete himself and can be compared to the likes of The Limitless One. The two men had a good match this week where Dijakovic got a chance to display his strengths.
He managed to hit a massive Feast Your Eyes on Dain to pick up the victory, after which Lee made an appearance to tell Dijakovic to meet him at TakeOver: Portland.
While Dijakovic will get his big chance, it’s time WWE starts building up The Beast of Belfast too in order to get him over for the future.
#4 Balor’s promise
One of the biggest rivalry on NXT that the entire WWE Universe seems invested in is between the former WWE Universal Champion Finn Balor and the former NXT Champion Johnny Gargano.
Balor returned to the brand late last year as a babyface but soon turned heel after he viciously attacked Gargano and took him out of action for months. He then hunted down Matt Riddle and other Superstars while waiting for Gargano to come back in sight.
The two men were interviewed separately on NXT this week and it was shown through a split-screen as both men had to be kept apart. The Prince was not happy with Johnny Wrestling’s comments and claims that he never tried to be like Balor.
Instead, the heel promised that he wasn’t looking to The Match of the Year, but the last match of Gargano’s career.
Such an intense segment just ten days before NXT TakeOver: Portland has certainly elevated the mood and the interest of the fans in this match which could well be the final match of one of the men’s careers.
With such high expectations attached, fans can always expect these two men to deliver.
#3 Devlin’s defense
Jordan Devlin is a class performer who is in a league of his own when his character is paired up with his in-ring skills. For years, Devlin has been looking for his big chance, and he got just that at Worlds Collide where he defeated NXT Cruiserweight Champion Angle Garza and two other men to become the new Cruiserweight Champion.
This week, Devlin faced off against a veteran of WWE in the prettiest form of Price Pretty. Tyler Breeze has had several matches on NXT where he has shown time and time again why he is regarded as one of the most underrated and underutilized Superstars on the current roster.
The Irish Ace came out looking for an easy win but Breeze proved to be too good for him. The two had a great match where we saw the action being traded throughout the clash.
Finally, Devlin connected with his finisher as the Devlin Slide allowed him to pick up a hard-fought victory.
Pairing Devlin with Breeze was an excellent piece of booking and Breeze is one of the few stars who make their opponents look even better than they are. A strong title defense must have allowed Devlin to pick up some new fans on the way.
#2 The Queen’s fall
The biggest announced segment of the night saw Charlotte Flair make an appearance of the Black & Gold last night. However, she probably was not expecting what was waiting for her in NXT.
Bianca Belair was the first to come out and express her frustration by calling out NXT Champion Rhea Ripley for going through her directly to challenge Flair for WrestleMania.
Flair answered Belair by coming out and claiming that she was better than both Belair and Ripley.
This brought out The Nightmare who demanded an answer from The Queen regarding her challenge. Before Flair could respond to the challenge, The EST of NXT laid her out and then teamed up with Ripely to deliver a reverse powerbomb to The Queen of WWE.
Flair’s arrival was a huge welcome spot for NXT as the brand has seen several stars such as AJ Styles and Seth Rollins appear on their show late last year.
Belair getting most of the talking and action on this week’s show helped her establish as one of the biggest threats at a time when the spotlight was moving from her to Flair.
It will be exciting to see how these three women settle their differences and whether Flair will dare to accept Ripley’s challenge for WrestleMania or not.
#1 Don’t stop dreaming
The beginning of this week’s show saw Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle arrive in grand fashion along with their Dusty Rhodes Classic Trophy. The two men promised to lay down The Undisputed Era and become the new NXT Tag Team Champions.
Later in the night, The Broserweights and Tommaso Ciampa took on Undisputed Era as Roderick Strong watched on. While the Undisputed Era tried to isolate Riddle and Dunne, a hot tag to Ciampa led to him taking down the NXT Champion.
Once the babyfaces picked up momentum, Strong interfered to attack Ciampa and caused a disqualification for his faction. After taking Riddle and Dunne out of the equation, they spray-painted an X on Ciampa’s back.
Immediately after, the light went out and The Velveteen Dream returned to the biggest pop from the crowd of the night. He hit the Dream Valley Driver on his longtime foe Strong and stood tall to end the segment.
This was an excellent segment to build hype towards the NXT Championship and Tag Team Championship matches for TakeOver: Portland while returning the Dream who seems to be focused on taking out Strong.
How will the heels wiggle out now as four top babyfaces seem to be united against them?
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