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This week’s WWE NXT was a much-anticipated one as fans were looking forward to the two top championship matches which were announced for the episode.
The NXT Championship and the NXT Women’s Championship were both on the line during the night, and both Finn Balor and Rhea Ripley proved to be extremely deserving of the opportunity.
Apart from that, we saw several mid-card matches during the episode as the brand tried to build on some Superstars for the future.
With a surprise return and a huge victory for Damien Preist, fans can rest assured that the future of NXT remains brighter than ever.
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In this article, we'll look at the 4 things the company got right on this week’s NXT.
#4 Cameron Grimes gets one over
Last week, Cameron Grimes attacked Kushida backstage to avenge his loss to the Japanse Superstar a week earlier.
Kushida responded by simply taking Grimes’ hat away during a match. This week, a scheduled match between the two men saw Kushida come out with the hat that he’d stolen from Grimes.
Even though Kushida had the upper hand for most of the match, and it seemed like he’d bag another victory over Grimes, he was handed a surprise loss.
While the match wasn’t too bad, the result will allow the company to further stretch this rivalry at a time when they’re trying to build both Superstars. It was a good build and a better effort from the two men as compared to their previous match a couple of weeks ago.
Kushida requires a good build on NXT following his loss to WALTER on NXT UK, while Grimes is also still looking for a few breakthrough performances which could help him get to the North American Championship picture.
Grimes looked very strong in NXT before this rivalry began, while Kushida has entered the picture with the right to pick up some victories on his way to the top again.
#3 Damian Preist’s win
At a time when men like Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano, and Finn Balor are busy working at the top of the card, Damien Preist is ripping up the mid-card and emerging as a real threat to anyone.
This week, Preist once again took on Killian Dain in a one-on-one contest. Even though he carried his injured ribs to the ring which were heavily targeted by Dain, he refused to stay down for too long.
As The Beast of Belfast tried to finish Preist off with the Vader Bomb, he countered and picked up the victory on the mammoth Superstar by delivering the Reckoning.
The victory allows The Archer of Infamy to take another major step in entering the top card, and we could see him rub shoulders with men like Ciampa, Gargano, and Lee soon.
Dain’s loss once again confirmed that WWE NXT is high on the Superstar, but not high enough to have him aim for the top anytime soon.
There is no doubt that The Archer of Infamy is on the rise, and we might see him enter the NXT Championship picture in 2020 because he can prove to be a great leader.
#2 Johnny Gargano’s return
A ‘Last Shot’ could not down the determined Finn Balor, but an appearance from Johnny Gargano was all it took for the Prince of NXT to lose the biggest opportunity since his return.
Balor took on NXT Champion Adam Cole to kick off this week’s broadcast, and they delivered a performance as good as any we’ve seen from the Black & Gold brand.
They pushed each other to their limits, and once a Last Shot on Balor from Cole could not down the former NXT Champion, it seemed like The Panama City Playboy was going to give up his Championship.
However, Gargano made a timely appearance as Balor was preparing to launch Cole into the final 1916 DDT, and the distraction allowed the NXT Champion to sneak in a low blow and follow it up with another Last Shot for the victory.
As much as this angle was predicted, it worked well and further fuelled the rivalry between Gargano and Balor. Johnny Wrestling grabbed a steel chair and beatdown Balor after the loss, making a loud and clear statement.
The match and segment lit up the entire night and gave fans a lot to look forward to from NXT in the coming weeks.
#1 The new Queen of the women’s division
The NXT Women’s Championship changes hands from the Queen of Spades to the Queen of Nightmares.
The second biggest match of the night saw Shayna Baszler defend her NXT Women’s Championship against none other than Rhea Ripley. The Aussie, who was the favorite to take the title away from Baszler, did her best and braved several distractions and attacks from Baszler’s associates to bag the victory.
This was one of the biggest victories we’ve seen on NXT, especially on regular televised shows for the women’s division, as all previous NXT Women’s Championship changes have come at TakeOver or pay-per-view events.
The brand pulled the trigger at the right time, as the opportunity for change had come, and they delivered right after building The Nightmare heavily during NXT TakeOver: WarGames and WWE Survivor Series.
Ripley had led the NXT UK women’s division well earlier and could do a wonderful job at the top of NXT.
Baszler, on the other hand, did extremely well to put Ripley over in the contest, and can now move on to bigger challenges such as taking on RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch while Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke build themselves independently.
