Top 3 Performers of NXT (May 1, 2019)

The week's NXT was built around the debut of Japanese superstar Kushida, for his first time in the NXT ring against NXT veteran Kassius Ohno. Ohno has become somewhat of a welcome mat in NXT, having also faced Matt Riddle early in Riddle's NXT career. However, the in-ring action of the episode started with the Forgotten Sons taking on Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch, and Humberto Carillo. This feud was build from the match-up between the Forgotten Sons and the tag team of Burch and Lorcan as the former eliminated the latter from the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

Carillo got entangled in the feud after his match with Ryker ended in a DQ win, Burch and Lorcan would run down to make the save which would lead to the 3 on 3 tag match. Towards the end of the bout, a miscue saw Carillo hit Lorcan leaving Burch in the ring alone against all 3 members of the Forgotten Sons. Burch fought valiantly, but eventually, the Forgotten Son's number advantage would win out as they hit Burch and Lorcan with triple team moves. Next up saw Dominik Dijakovic face off against Saudi Arabian talent Mansoor. Prior to the matchup, there were two video packages, one showing a confrontation between Mia Yim and Bianca Belair at the Performance Centre and an interview in the Full Sail parking lot with Shayna Baszler.

Dijakovic tried to end the match early going for his spinning roundhouse kick from the bell. Mansoor showed himself to be similar to Mustafa Ali and avoided the bigger man's moves with agility. The Saudi wrestler would get in some offense of his own before he was caught by Dijakovic and thrown around the ring. Mansoor got in a slight bit of offense at the end of the match before he was caught by the giant. Dijakovic finished the fight with his "Feast Your Eyes" finishing move. The end of the fight saw the Velveteen Dream wheeled to the top of the ramp. Dream proceded to sing a remixed rendition of the American National Anthem with incredibly creative lyrics.

Finally, Kassius Ohno welcomed NXT's newest signing Kushida in the main event of the episode. Ohno had spent the previous few weeks in the UK as a part of NXT UK, where he faced Walter, Ligero, Ashton Smith, and Travis Banks. Kushida and Ohno started with quick counters back and forth in a contest that was more reminiscent of a cruiserweight battle. The pace eventually slowed down, which served Ohno better as he appeared to break Kushida's nose. Kushida eventually got Ohno to tap using his own variation of the Kimura lock, which Mauro Renallo proclaimed as the Hoverboard lock.

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#3 Kassius Ohno

Ohno's gimmick of late has been a welcoming mat for NXT's newest talents. This seemed to start when Ohno approached Regal to take on Matt Riddle when the King of Bros arrived at the WWE. After Ohno barely got a shot in against Riddle, he went off to NXT UK, where he faced a variety of superstars on the UK version of the Black and Yellow brand. On the arrival of Kushida, Ohno returned repeating once again that he wanted to take on Regal's "shiny new toy".

In the match itself, Ohno displayed agility and versatility that was impressive of a man his size, matching the smaller Kushida as the two exchanged quick counters and chain wrestling. Ohno was particularly impressive when he caught Kushida's standing Moonsault into a cravat hold. Ohno seemed to legitimately break Kushida's nose after hitting him with a Facebuster from the Electric chair position. Ohno would eventually tap out after Kushida locked him in the Hoverboard Lock.

#2 Velveteen Dream

The Velveteen Dream didn't have a match on this week's episode of NXT, but still made an appearance after Dominic Dijakovic's win. Dijakovic had called out The Dream on the previous week's episode and following the match, Dream came out to answer the hard-hitting Dijakovic's challenge.

Instead of cutting a simple promo, Velveteen Dream sang his own version of the American national anthem with the lyrics intentionally changed to fit the Velveteen Dream and his recent conquests. The Dream continues to be one of the WWE's and NXT's best talents on the microphone, as he had the crowd hooked on every word and singing along with the lyrics on the screen. The lyrics called out the Velveteen Dream's former title challengers in Buddy Murphy and Matt Riddle.

The promo ended with the Velveteen Dream accepting Dijakovic's challenge for his NXT North American title, however, the match will probably wait until the standalone Takeover event at the start of June.

#1 Kushida

Since his signing at Takeover: New York was announced, a lot of hype surrounded NXT's latest signing. Coming from NJPW, the same place where Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor, and many more have cut their teeth, the diminutive Japanese sensation certainly made a mark during his debut match.

Facing off against the longest-serving members of the NXT brand, Kassius Ohno. The fight started with a quick pace as the two exchanged chain wrestling with Kushida spending most of the time on control. The Japnese signing appeared to break or injure his nose after a Facebuster from an electric chair saw blood in his nose, but the fight continued without a delay.

Kushida looked to target Ohno's left arm, softening it up with a series of stiff kicks and strikes. This would set Ohno up for the finish as the newest signing would finish Ohno off with a Penalty Kick before using the Hoverboard Lock, a unique variation on the Kimura Lock to make Ohno tap out.