October 14, 2020 – Orlando, Florida
Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish def. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch {Number One Contenders Match}
Before the match, Kyle O’Reilly says that they would have injured Ridge Holland if he hadn’t been injured by Lorcan, and they’re coming after whoever put him up to attacking Cole. Takeover Chicago II this was not. It felt largely inconsequential and pretty rote by the standards of these two teams. By the standards of the entire wrestling industry it was solid, but these guys are capable of a ton more, as we’ve seen. Strong pinned Lorcan with a jumping knee (really?) at 9:49 (shown). **½
Finn Balor has had surgery on his jaw. NXT GM William Regal will wait a couple weeks before deciding if he needs to vacate the title. Ember Moon gets a profile and says all the things you’d expect her to say. She’s a little less embarrassed about her new Ember’s Law catchphrase this week.
Jake Atlas def. Ashonte Adonis
Atlas wins with a roll up at 1:54 because Legado del Fantasma distracted Adonis. They try to beat Adonis up but Atlas makes the save. Isaiah Scott and Santos Escobar join the fray to set up the inevitable six man tag. N/A
Johnny Gargano def. Austin Theory
I am perplexed by people who don’t like Gargano. You’ve got Jim Cornette who says he doesn’t have any facial expressions, which isn’t true and really never has been true. I can’t speak for why others don’t like him but I see a low level hate for him swirling around a lot. The dude is very, very good. One thing he did here that everyone’s favorite darling (and to be clear, one of my own favorites) Cole doesn’t do is put Theory where he wants him in the ring to hit his Final Beat DDT. Cole had Pat McAfee stand up and walk across the ring to take the Panama Sunrise, and Piper Niven had to walk across the ring to get into position for Isla Dawn’s Meteora. Both of those things happened in full view on camera, destroying the illusion of both matches. But Gargano drags Theory and positions him exactly how he wants him so the Final Beat makes sense. I hate saying that that’s great, because it should be the rule not the exception. But here we are. Gargano won at 10:44 (shown) after a fun little bop. Garagno casts Theory an impressed glance after the match. ***¼
Raquel Gonzalez challenges Rhea Ripley to a match at Halloween Havoc. Ripley shows up and they have to be held apart. Then, Tommaso Ciampa says he’s going to kill Velveteen Dream.
Candice LeRae def. Shotzi Blackheart {Number One Contender Match}
NXT all but told us on social media that this episode was taped by showing a couple of screenshots on Twitter from the show before it aired. They also immediately posted that this was a five-star match the moment it ended, as if they knew it was good ahead of time. That’s a lot of hype and I’m curious if this can come close to living up to it. It can’t, and it didn’t even really try. I’m not sure what WWE’s social media team was thinking. It was a good TV match to cap off the first hour of the show, but they didn’t even go for an epic vibe. It was just a decently hard fought match that ended with a screwy finish. Indi Hartwell showed up behind the barricade to hand LeRae a foreign object; LeRae used it to get the win at 12:11 (shown). ***¼
Drake Maverick is very excited about this team with Killian Dain. He wants them to be called the Furry and the Fury. Dain is surprised to learn they have a match against Imperium tonight. Later, Xia Li asks Regal for a match next week. It seems like Boa is pressuring her to turn things around.
Toni Storm def. Aliyah
Storm has new entrance music, and the first shot of her in the Capital Wrestling Center is of her butt. This was a squash, which Storm won in 2:31 with the Storm Zero. N/A
Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner def. Killian Dain & Drake Maverick
Dain makes them shut off the new entrance music before they get to the ring. I like that this week, Dain voluntarily though hesitantly tags Maverick into the match, whereas last week Maverick had to blind tag in. The rest of the match is the same, as Maverick gets hit with the European Bomb (which was a perfectly good name and didn’t need to be renamed the Imperial Implosion) and loses at 3:51. Ever-Rise attacks Maverick after the match, so Dain takes them out. He tells Maverick that he’s the only one that can hit him. Unintentional prison vibes here. **
Damian Priest def. Dexter Lumis {NXT North American Championship Match}
I’m actually glad they’re burning off this match on TV. Lumis showed a bit more life than he usually does, and we didn’t have to sit through any long, pointless holds. I think this was a good use for him, as Priest basically got to roll through him. Cameron Grimes showed up and hit Lumis with the Cave In behind everyone’s back. Priest followed that with South of Heaven for the win at 9:37 (shown). Priest takes out Grimes after the match. Then, Gargano pops up and hits Priest with a chair. Regal comes out and inexplicably rewards Gargano for this by giving him a shot at Priest’s title at Halloween Havoc. Both he and LeRae’s title matches will have Spin the Wheel, Make a Deal stipulations. I want a Tables, Ladders, and Snakes match. **½
This episode flowed way better than last week’s but there still isn’t much to hang our hats on and Halloween Havoc is mostly rematches from Takeover.