June 29, 2021 – Orlando, Florida
Zoey Stark & Io Shirai def. Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart and Raquel Gonzalez & Dakota Kai {Number One Contender Triple Threat Match}
I actually like Moon & Blackheart’s new entrance music. First new music I’ve liked in a while. It felt like they may have overthought this one a bit, as they clearly had every single movement of this match planned out and they seemed nervous and apprehensive before moving on to each subsequent spot in the first few minutes. That said, the planning made for a match without any resting or gaps, so it flew by. Gonzalez stopping a Tower of Doom suplex from happening made my day too. Shirai wound up in the ring alone with Kai and hit the moonsault for the win at 9:17 (shown of 12:53). If the Young Bucks had been in this match, the usual suspects would be giving it a billion stars. It does deserve quite a few though. ***½
Johnny Gargano attacks Karrion Kross backstage. Then, they announce the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament. They talk about all the guys who debuted in that tournament. Well, almost all the guys. They hilariously leave out the winner of the tournament because he famously quit. The tournament begins in two weeks, and there will be qualifying matches on 205 Live this Friday. Given that most of the 205 Live roster was fired last week, it seems it might be time for that show to become NXT’s Sunday Night Heat. Then, Hit Row interrupts a Bronson Reed interview. Both of them were in the Breakout Tournament two years ago, and Isaiah Scott wants a shot at Reed’s title tonight. Reed accepts. The battery is now at 61%. If this keeps the pace, it will be fully charged by the end of the Great American Bash.
Kross comes out to the ring for a chat. He dares Gargano to fight him when he knows the attack is coming. Gargano comes out and brags about being smarter than Kross, which leads to Austin Theory attacking Kross from behind. Kross fights them both off, but security grabs him and Gargano takes the opportunity to hit a superkick. Samoa Joe comes out to stare down Kross. The Way leaves the building and Theory cracks me up with, “That was the best superkick I ever seen!”
Roderick Strong def. Asher Hale
Strong is looking acked and Diamond Mine looks cool. These two had an awesome match against each other in EVOLVE, but this is just a squash for Strong. Strong put on an armbar for the win at 3:01. N/A
Cameron Grimes def. Ari Sterling
This squash has a little history, as Grimes knocked out Sterling last week when Sterling talked trash about Ted DiBiase. Though it’s a little weird that two guys who are probably going to be in the Breakout Tournament are getting squashed in two matches in a row tonight. Is Sterling’s ring name a reference to Ari Gold from Entourage? Or is he just really into lions? Anyway, this is a bit less of a squash than the Hale match, as Sterling got to show off quite a bit for a minute until Grimes hit him with the Cave In at 2:47. After the match, LA Knight comes out to talk smack, so Grimes challenges him to a Million Dollar Championship match at the Great American Bash. Knight says no. Grimes responds by saying something about a butler and going to the moon at the Bash. Did my TV cut out while a stipulation was made that convinced Knight to do the match? According to Twitter, that’s exactly what happened. The butler angle just happened in NXT UK and it was very dumb there. N/A
Kyle O’Reilly comes out to try to convince us that a regular match is a better blowoff for a feud than an unsanctioned match. Adam Cole comes out to confront him, but Joe and security stop them from fighting. Cole brings up O’Reilly’s wife for some cheap heat so O’Reilly says he’s ashamed he was in the Undisputed Era. O’Reilly takes a swing at Joe, so then Joe lets O’Reilly put Cole in a leglock for a while before sending security down.
Xia Li & Boa def. Jake Atlas & Mercedes Martinez
This was going along okay (mostly when Atlas was in the ring), but ended awkwardly as it appears that Li legit knocked out Martinez at 5:07 (shown of 8:23). I hope Martinez is okay, because she pretty clearly didn’t know what was going on at the end there. *¾
Timothy Thatcher & Tommaso Ciampa and MSK come out for a chat. It’s respectful but aggressive. It’s also kind of boring. Then, Sarray asks NXT GM William Regal for a match against Toni Storm. The battery is at 81% now. Then, Gargano slams Kross’s head in his car door, but Kross no-sells it and chokes Gargano out. They tease that Kross might run Gargano over, but Joe has Gargano in his hands.
Isaiah Scott def. Bronson Reed {NXT North American Championship Match}
The result here was hardly in question after Reed’s move to the main roster was revealed to be impending. This match was designed beautifully to keep Reed strong in the loss. Hit Row helped cause his loss, but Reed got to dispatch Top Dolla and Ashante Adonis. That distraction led to Scott hitting a 450 Splash for the win at 10:34 (shown of 13:06). These two have nice chemistry, and kept things interesting even as this was mostly about getting Reed off of TV in the most diplomatic way possible. I dug it quite a lot. ***½