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In the past, NXT may have been all about developing future stars, but now the Black and Gold brand has become the land of opportunity for all WWE Superstars.
This week’s show was a firecracker, as there were some great matches and the development of several great rivalries. From the NXT Women’s Championship to the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, the women of NXT were kept on their toes throughout the night.
Cameron Grimes also met his match in Matt Riddle this week, while the main event was red hot and gave fans the match of the night. The Undisputed Era also met a pleasant surprise during the night thanks to a huge heel turn, which has now dramatically altered NXT's landscape.
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In this article, we will look at 5 things the company got right on this week’s episode of NXT.
#5 Angel Garza’s rise
Jack Gallagher appeared on NXT this week to take on Angel Garza in a cruiserweight bout. Lio Rush joined the commentary table to give the match even more importance and proved that NXT was committed to building each of their divisions.
Last week, Garza fought former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa in a good match where he took the fall for the bigger Superstar. This week, Garza came out having an equal chance against Gallagher, and even though the match wasn’t as exciting as many hoped it would be, it still did what it was meant to do.
Gallagher wasn’t his usual self and Garza took advantage to pick up the victory. This allows Garza to pose as a potential threat to Rush’s Cruiserweight Championship.
Angel Garza’s rise is coming at the right time, and we could see him become a constant threat in the NXT mid-card in the months to come.
#4 Matt Riddle vs. Cameron Grimes
Cameron Grimes had been picking up some impressive victories on NXT since the show moved to the USA Network, but the Superstar finally met his match in 'The King of Bros.'
Matt Riddle took to the ring to engage in an extremely physical match with Grimes. The bout displayed both men’s strong points. Grimes finally had a longer match on television, which is sure to be good for him. After the two had an extended match, Riddle sealed the victory with the BroDerek to the excitement of the fans in attendance at Full Sail University.
The post-match segment was also well booked, as Riddle tried to bump fists with Grimes, who refused to do so. Riddle then bumped fists with Tyler Bate who was in the crowd, but Grimes pushed him away, leading to a Bop and Bang from Bate to Grimes.
This was a good way to further integrate NXT UK, and also gives fans another heated rivalry to look forward to. Grimes and Bate could be excellent, as both men have extremely unique fighting styles.
The win also helped Riddle move further in the Black and Gold brand and become one of the most dominant athletes in WWE today.
#3 WWE Women's Tag Team Championships’ #1 contenders
Since the inception of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, the company had repeatedly mentioned that the title could be defended on all three brands, but we never saw them make it to an NXT ring. The inaugural Champions, Bayley and Sasha Banks, did hint at bringing the titles to NXT, but were never given the opportunity to do so.
This week on NXT, Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir took on Dakota Kai & Tegan Nox in a tag team match to determine the #1 contenders for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. This was history in the making, as it was the first time this has ever happened in NXT.
Alhough Duke and Shafir showed their potential in the clash, Kai and Nox managed to overcome the heels and picked up the victory after Nox caught Duke with the Shiniest Wizard for the win.
The babyfaces’ win will work wonders for the Championships, as Asuka and Kairi Sane are heels now and need some genuine teams to work with.
It will be interesting to see how far Kair and Dox can push The Kabuki Warriors, and whether they have a chance of proving that the NXT Women’s Division is on par with RAW and SmackDown.
#2 The North American Championship match
There are very few promotions in the world that can book a mid-card title match the way NXT does. The brand has done everything to elevate the North American Championship, and at this time it seems almost on par with the NXT Championship itself.
This week’s episode saw a mammoth match between North American Champion Roderick Strong, Dominik Dijakovic, and Keith Lee. The two challengers initially teamed up to take out Strong right from the start and to exact revenge for ruining their match last week. Afterward, the two big men went against each other incessantly, giving fans hope of a new North American Champion by the end of the night. However, after a well-fought match, Strong was able to intervene again and steal the win after Lee went down to an avalanche powerbomb.
The match wasn’t just entertaining, but also showed how good Lee and Dijakovic have become over the past few months. Although Strong managed to use his heelish tactics to steal the victory, it did no damage to the reputation of either losing Superstar. To the contrary, both Dijakovic and Lee performed their hearts out and showed the world that they are future megastars to look out for.
#1 Finn Balor’s turn
What followed the North American Championship match was something even more incredible, as NXT had even more drama up its sleeve to close out the show.
After the match, The Undisputed Era celebrated Strong’s title defense by further beating down Dominik Dijakovic and Keith Lee. This prompted Tommaso Ciampa to interrupt, who was joined by former best friend and partner Johnny Gargano, and finally the returning Finn Balor.
While it seemed like they were ready to team up to take the fight to the heels, Balor did the unthinkable and turned heel by attacking Gargano. It wasn’t just the turn that was surprising, but the way it was done that was spot on and gave no hints to the unsuspecting WWE Universe.
The Undisputed Era beat down Ciampa inside the ring, while 'The Extraordinary Man' took the fight to 'Johnny Wrestling' outside the ring to ignite one of the biggest rivalries we might ever see on NXT.
Balor had been a top babyface on the main roster for a long time. Returning to NXT and turning heel was something most wrestling fans would not have expected, especially with the existence of The Undisputed Era.
RAW will need to pull up its socks, as it now has huge competition on the USA Network with Balor taking over NXT.
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