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Fans were extremely excited for this week’s NXT as a match between The Velveteen Dream and Finn Balor was scheduled for the show. However, some late creative thinking led to the match getting canceled, which may be the right call, as the first-ever match between these two men should take place at a bigger stage for a bigger prize.
Three matches for the Interim Cruiserweight Championship tournament also took place during the night, and the babyfaces seemed to gain the upper hand once again.
However, the battle between the women of NXT was much more intense, and we have only seen some of these rivalries begin which could lead to some epic storylines and great clashes.
The main event of the show offered us a great surprise, while the NXT North American Champion now has a lot more to worry about.
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In this article, we will look at the 5 things that NXT got right on this week’s show.
#5 Dakota Kai the heel
After the events of last week, Tegan Nox and Shotzi Blackheart teamed up to take on the heel team of Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez.
Blackheart won even more hearts with her iconic entrance, and we were well on our way for one of the best matches of the night. Gonzalez wasted little time and took out Nox with a boot to the face as soon as the bell rang.
Blackheart tried to get her team back into the match, but Kai managed to get her into a submission hold to keep her down for a while.
After gaining a late advantage, Nox and Blackheart were unable to go all the way as Gonzalez scored the win for her team with a one-armed powerbomb.
While the match was really good, what was even better was seeing Kai as a heel once again. It feels like just yesterday when Kai was playing the biggest babyface character in WWE and had the entire WWE Universe behind her. Now she is the baddest heel on NXT and has gone through the transformation effortlessly.
She does everything right, and her facial expressions have changed completely. This shows that she has put in a lot of hard work and studied her character and those of other Superstars before undertaking the role. Kai is a future megastar!
#4 KUSHIDA & Fantasma’s victories
Former Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese took on KUSHIDA in the second cruiserweight title tournament match of the night. While Nese was the more accomplished Superstar in the fight, KUSHIDA needed a victory as the fanfare around his arrival has been slowly dying with recent bookings.
The Premier Athlete had a clear advantage over KUSHIDA in terms of strength, but the Japanese Superstar wasn’t ready to be thrown around like a ragdoll. Even though Nese got a lot of offense in, KUSHIDA got a flurry of late stricks and finished off Nese with his submission hold.
The third match of the tournament for the night saw Fantasma make his NXT debut against Jack Gallagher. The two men seemed evenly matched, and Gallagher unveiled a new look and attitude during the fight.
The Gentleman got the early advantage, but Fantasma picked up the pace later on and scored the victory with a Samoan driver.
Both matches were good and the right Superstars picked up their first wins in the tournament. While Fantasma could have had a better match on debut or have been more dominating, it is the result that counts more in such situations. Can he stun the company by picking up the title in his first tournament?
#3 Jake Atlas’ finisher
Drake Maverick was let go by the company last week, and the Superstar continued to battle for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship this week in the Interim Cruiserweight Championship tournament.
The Superstar was looking to make an impact against the relative newcomer, Jake Atlas, and get ahead in the tournament.
However, Atlas looked too good for Maverick this week as he gave his best NXT performance to date. Maverick showed a lot of emotion in the fight, possibly making new fans along the way. It seemed like the Superstar was trying hard to win the match and get his job back with the performance.
What made the scene even better was the fact that Maverick was the GM of 205 Live not too long ago, and now he was trying to win the title of the cruiserweight division to get back in the company.
A stunning DDT from the top of the turnbuckle ended Maverick’s misery and Atlas picked up a huge victory to gain the advantage in the tournament.
While this may not be the end of the road for Maverick, who has two more matches to compete in, Atlas looked like a true star in the fight.
#2 Mia Yim’s huge chance
Mia Yim has been in NXT since 2018, but she hasn’t received a shot at the top title of the brand since August 2019. This shows how much talent NXT possesses, and even a star like Yim needs to wait a long time before getting shots at the title.
This week, Yim took on newcomer Jessi Kamea one-on-one. The Head Baddie Incharge showed a different side to herself during the match as she was very vocal and overconfident during the match.
Kamea got back into the match and tried to gain the upper hand, but she couldn’t survive long as a Protect Ya Neck helped Yim pick up the victory.
The Head Baddie did not have much time to celebrate as Charlotte Flair appeared on the Balck & Gold brand and informed Yim that she wanted to face her purely because she respects her.
This is a huge chance for Yim who has been challenged by the current NXT Women’s Champion herself. This will be Yim’s first big chance of the year, and we could see her emerge as a bigger star after taking on The Queen.
#1 Dexter Lumis' inclusion in the tag team match
Early on in the night, it was reported that Finn Balor’s lockerroom had been ransacked and that The Prince was missing. This led to William Regal changing the scheduled main event, as Keith Lee was made Velveteen Dream’s partner to take on The Undisputed Era.
Things worked in favor of Dream who was dying to get his hands on Adam Cole and prove a point to get a shot at the NXT Championship.
As soon as the match started, Roderick Strong and Cole attacked Dream and Lee. As the match progressed, the referee was forced to get rid of Bobby Fish from ringside to try and make the match a bit fairer. However, Damian Priest appeared and hit Lee with the nightstick in the throat, leading to the NXT North American Champion exiting the match.
While Dream continued to fight Strong and Cole himself, we were surprised to see Dexter Lumis appear on the apron in Dream’s corner.
Last week, Lumis was seen stalking Strong and Fish during their title match against Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher, and he looked to get some offense in on the premier heels.
With no other option, His Purple Highness was forced to tag in Lumis into the match who exploded and took out Strong. This allowed Dream to hit The Purple Rainmaker and pick up the victory.
While many may not have liked the ending, I for one loved it as not only did it allow Priest to stay in contention for the NXT North American Championship and gave Dream a chance to challenge for the NXT Championship, but also immediately built up the new kid - Dexter Lumis.
The man who looks more like a heel than anything else deserved this huge push considering his recent performances, and a rub against the top heels could end up making him a top player down the line.
