Cliff Hanger Posted May 17 Posted May 17 2 hours ago, blitzkrieg said: Whether it's just storyline or storyline covering reality, Ivar is out from the Gallus attack. So Apollo Crews is taking his place against Bate for Speed and no announcement for the triple threat match for NXT. NXT taped the 5/21 show early because of the Saudi PPV, and we get our answer there kind of. 1
Greggulator Posted May 18 Posted May 18 Nia Jax rules. Her saying “Your mom sucks!!!” right in Jade’s daughter’s face is one of the best heel moments in memory. We all love heels because we wish we could say things like that but adhere to a moral code that makes us act like normal people. Nia does not care. That was a great post-match brawl, too. 5
Eivion Posted May 18 Posted May 18 (edited) Bianca/Tiffany was pretty damn good, particularly for Stratton despite the loss. Tama/Knight was pretty solid. I like Tama pitbull mentality/style. I only wish he had a better finish though I don't thiem letting him do the RKO outside of purposely trying to piss off Orton.......so maybe next week? The contract signing was surprisingly solid with Cody getting in a nice barb or two and the crowd being into everything. Kind of dug Cody holding Aldis back a bit verbally as he knew Aldis was about to beat the ass of Logan's lawyer. Nia/Jade suffered a fuck finish but was also kind of awesome. The two just went at from the start with much of it just being a nice hoss fight. Loved Nia being so shitty to Jade's daughter who was a wonderful cheerleader for her mother. Not big on DQ finishes like this normally, but I kind of dug the framing with Nia clearly leading Jade into a trap. Even Graves called that out. The post match brawl being so damn good helped quite a bit as well. We definitely need this to be run again with no bs finish. DIY vs. Los Lotharios was good. Waller and Theory on commentary were annoying in a mostly good way. It does make moments like this feel weird as both Wade and Graves are heel affiliated though they do try to stay in somewhat of grey area when it happens. Orton/Hayes was good. The two meshed together better than expected. Good show with all the matches and segments delivering. Bianca/Tiffany was probably MOTN and not far off from the strong tourney matches we had on Monday. Still my favorite match might have actually been Nia/Jade for that hoss fight and post match brawl. What was nice was how differently each match turned out even with two matches having limb work. Edited May 18 by Eivion 1
Greggulator Posted May 18 Posted May 18 Nia and Jade came off like an actual fight between high school girls. They just threw each other around pretty rough, followed by some good jawing with security in between. Nia’s taunting with 50 people between then was spot on in how an antagonistic bully instigates in the cafeteria after the adults separated everyone. Nia has gotten so good at her role since she came back. She’s not going to give us any ***** matches. But she gets more heel heat than anyone else not named Dom. She’s also become really solid at being an in-ring heel monster with good timing and making sure she is in the right position. 4
Johnny Sorrow Posted May 18 Posted May 18 They've really figured out how to use Nia Jax and she's gotten kind of better. They've leaned into the heat from the 25% of the crowd who hate her because Internet, and made it work for the new crowds now that WWE is hot as fuck.
Iron Moose Posted May 18 Posted May 18 Meanwhile, on LVL Up: Tavion Heights d. Jasper Troy (debuting) - Troy has a bit of a Dijak / early SHIELD vibe to how he carries himself, and unlike some of the bigger NXT guys I can think of, he works big. "He says that every day is tax season, will Tavion Heights pay up?" - I have no idea why this is being said by the announcers. Was he once an accountant? Tavion does a good job getting thrown around a bit before winning with a big belly to belly. There was a fair bit of air on some of Troy's stuff (swinging missed clothesline, you know the one) but this was ok. Brinley Reece & Layla Diggs (debuting) d. Carlee Bright & Kendal Grey - Diggs is a former track and field athlete and, like Reese, personal trainer. She also looks a lot like Kelani Jordan? Bright and Grey are still putting it together and I'm not sure the hints of characterization from Grey from announcers come through so far with her attire or ringwork - she was apparently a very good amateur wrestler, but has mostly shown a black trunks (well, sparkly pink with garters) rookie moveset so far. Diggs gets out of an arm-wringer with a headscissors in a great little spot that miraculously doesn't look too collaborative, and later on gets out of a waistlock by doing a split and using that to pick a leg. Brinley brings out a flip clothesline that looks OK and a brief Giant Swing that looks good, but she's in a really challenging spot as far as finding a way to present Goofy Yet Flippy Power Face in ringwork. With that said, everyone here was surprisingly good at filling downtime, like making the stock WWE bit of slowly crawling to your tag partner seem like reasonable exertion of effort balanced with struggle. Brinley (finally) wins with a roundoff into a DDT on a kneeling Grey, after Diggs and Bright both tumble out of the ring. 4
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