NXT 541

December 25, 2019 – Winter Park, Florida & Brooklyn, New York

This episode is hosted by Pat McAfee, Sam Roberts, and Cathy Kelley because they taped this episode from two different locations and I guess this was the most natural way to deal with that. Roberts says predictably stupid stuff throughout the episode. He’s terrible at being a heel broadcaster; it just feels totally put on and unnatural. 

Roderick Strong def. Austin Theory {NXT North American Championship Match}
The show starts at Full Sail. Strong was feeling festive so he put his title on the line in an open challenge here. Theory got a bigger reaction than I thought he would (though not a huge one by any stretch) and an acknowledgment that he was a former EVOLVE champion. This was an incredible debut for Theory, better than any match that I saw of his in EVOLVE, and certainly better than the match between these two there. He fought from behind the entire time, getting the advantage here and there and serving as a sort of look into Strong’s cocky, hard-hitting past. In the end, Theory looked like he was gaining momentum, but a superkick near Strong’s giblets only served to piss off the champion, and he put Theory away with the End of Heartache and the Stronghold at 16:47. It was awesome that USA went the first half hour of the show without breaking for a commercial so we got to see all of this. The commentary on this match was stellar, as Mauro Ranallo actually conversed with Nigel McGuinness here. ****

Isaiah Scott def. Jack Gallagher
We zip over to the Barclays Center here. I was wondering why Beth Phoenix wasn’t on commentary for the opener, and now we see that it’s because she and Tom Philips were doing it in Brooklyn. The crowd didn’t seem to get the memo that this match was being filmed for NXT and not 205 Live, because they were pretty damn quiet for it. I expect more from Brooklyn. I really like that where they flood the arena with purple light for 205, here they darkened the arena and cranked up the ring lights as is more NXT’s vibe. There appeared to be good action during the break, and when they came back from it, at least some of the crowd was trying to get an NXT chant going. That’s not nothing. These guys worked hard the whole time, but it didn’t really find its flow until seven minutes in. From there we got some nice strikes leading to some excellent mat wrestling, finishing up with Scott hitting the Pentagon armbreaker followed by the House Call for the win at 10:19 (shown of 13:49). ***¼ 

Next week the episode will feature the results of the NXT Year End Awards. No word on if there will be actual matches next week. Later on during a commercial break, they reveal that there will be matches, but they’ll be the broadcast TV premier of three Takeover matches. I guess that’s a good commercial for the WWE Network for those who don’t have it. Less interesting for me, though. 

Candice LeRae def. Taynara
Back in Full Sail for this one. I really need to go to an NXT taping while it’s still in Winter Park if even the dark matches are good. LeRae is excellent, giving Taynara quite a bit and then getting fed up, putting her hair up and then unloading on her opponent. She picked up the win at 4:23 (shown of 7:53). Half of the match happened during commercial, which will be very irritating for those who didn’t watch live and couldn’t see the match on the inset. **¾ 

We get a video package for Arturo Ruas, who talks about being a child in Lebanon during their civil war (presumably before moving to Brazil). I will be very excited if this means he’ll get to be on TV consistently. I really dig Ruas.

Dominik Dijakovic def. Bronson Reed
Back to Brooklyn we go. They did what they could and had a fun big boy battle, but this crowd was just not interested. Heat is really important for matches like this, which is why people were tricked into thinking the Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee matches were better than they were. I actually prefer this match, which had a better flow and wasn’t so reliant on ridiculous spots. Reed hitting a Thesz Press off the turnbuckle was particularly cool looking, if you’re wanting something spectacular. Dijakovic go the win with a choke bomb at 8:48 (shown of 12:18). ***

Next up is some hype for World’s Collide: NXT vs. NXT UK, coming January 25th. Neat. It’s basically in place of a January Takeover. And holy shit, it’s the Undisputed Era vs. Imperium in the main event. My butt just fell off. 

Bianca Belair def. Shotzi Blackheart
This one was in Florida. Pretty surprised they’re airing this one, but I guess everyone from EVOLVE gets some love on Christmas. Blackheart has her exact EVOLVE gimmick, horned helmet and all. She looked really good here doing everything except running the ropes. For whatever reason she looked really apprehensive against the ropes. Belair looked like she was having a lot of fun. I got the impression from this that Blackheart will be getting more TV time going forward, as this went quite a bit longer than I expected it would, Blackheart got to be in control for a lot of it, and she got to hit a few really big spots. Belair got the win with the KOD at 6:46 (shown of 10:16). ***

Keith Lee & Lio Rush def. Damian Priest & Tony Nese
Wrapping things up back in New York. This is a super random assortment of guys, and feels like one of those Takeover Leftover matches that we thankfully don’t really get anymore. The babyfaces are in the Christmas spirit. The heels worked really well together. Maybe too well together, actually, as it struck me as odd that two guys who’d never been a team before would have such a strong sense of what the other was about to do. Another thing that was too cute by half was Lee doing the monster approach to Priest like he did to Finn Balo a couple weeks ago, but he did it this time wearing his Santa hat so I’ll cut him a break because it made me smile. Overall, this was a fun, house show main event style match. Rush got the win over Nese with the Final Hour off of Lee’s shoulders at 10:28 (shown of 13:28). ***¼ 

A Shane Thorne vs. Shawn Maluta match was also taped in the same batch as the matches above, but they get no Christmas gifts. For an episode sewn together from a bunch of dark match segments, I thought this was solid stuff.