The SmarK Rant for NXT Worlds Collide 2022 – 09.04.22
Eh, I’ve got nothing else going on this afternoon before All Out anyway.
Live from Orlando, FL. I was kind of hoping that the rumors of HHH opening the show and reintroducing the black and gold theme were true, but nope.
Your hosts are Vic & Wade
North American title: Carmelo Hayes v. Ricochet
This is an oddly random match for a show with UK unification matches. They fight for the lockup to start and trade headlock reversals, and we get a neat little gymnastic sequence for the stalemate. More flips and Ric gets a dropkick off that, so Carmelo bails to discuss things with Trick. Ricochet follows him out for some chops on the railing, but Hayes catches him with a shot on the way into the ring for two. Hayes with a slam and he stops to shoot some phantom baskets. Are the hoops here in the room with us? Superkick puts Ricochet down for two and Ric tries a handspring, but Hayes springs off with his own springboard clothesline for two. Ricochet rolls into a double stomp and they trade clotheslines and then they both try a springboard bodyblock and collide in the middle of the ring. Ric comes back with kicks and puts him down with an enzuigiri that mostly misses, and we get more flips before Ricochet hits the Recoil for two, with Trick making the save for Carmelo. Ric takes out Trick with a baseball slide, and that allows Hayes to hit his move for two. Hayes goes up and Ric follows him up with a superplex. For some reason the crowd chants “Holy shit” for this. They slug it out and trade kicks, but Ric gets a brainbuster, only for Hayes to counter with a codebreaker for two. Ricochet with a crucifix for two. Ricochet with a poison rana, but Trick gets involved again and Ric takes him out and goes up for a shooting star, which misses, and Hayes rolls him up for the pin at 16:00 to retain. Vic saying “GET YOUR GIFS READY ON SOCIAL MEDIA!” is the stupidest thing I’ve heard this week. It was very action-packed and flippy, but there was also a lot of dead spots and it ran too long for what they were trying for. So I’m somewhere in the middle on it, but it was still tremendous fun and worth seeking out. ****
Meanwhile, Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez are OVER. Roxanne is even blocking her in her contacts!
Meanwhile, Quincy Elliot is coming.
Meanwhile, Roderick Strong gets attacked and taken away to a local medical facility, courtesy of TWITTER. Well thank god someone was filming it for Twitter.
Tag title unification: The Creed Brothers v. Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen v. Pretty Deadly v. Gallus
So…apparently BJ and JB ended up as NXT UK tag team champions? No wonder they had to shut down the company. There’s no coming back from that one. Julius starts with Briggs and Briggs runs wild on the Creeds and puts him down with a big boot, so Kit Wilson sneaks in for two. Wolfgang slugs it out with Brutus, and we get a brawl with the women at ringside that triggers a huge brawl with all the teams. So even Mark Coffey decides to dive onto everyone and Brutus also teases it, but Wolfgang cuts him off with a superplex. Brooks with a fameasser on Wolfgang for two, but Wolfgang rolls him up for two. Jensen goes up and slips on the way down, and Gallus double-teams him and pins him at 4:44 to eliminate the rednecks. That’s a shame.
Everyone left brawls again and the Creeds get sent to the floor, leaving Pretty Deadly to face Gallus, but Elton Prince (Great name!) rolls up Coffey for two. Coffey puts him down with a kick, but Brutus tags himself in again and slugs away on Wolfgang before hitting a german suplex. The Creeds with the Doomsday Device on Wolfgang and Julius adds the sliding lariat to eliminate Gallus at 8:44.
That leaves the Creeds and Pretty Deadly, and PD double-teams Brutus in their corner. Wilson with a gutbuster and Prince gets two off that. Wilson cuts off the ring and gets a DDT for two, but Brutus fights them off and makes the hot tag to Julius. He throws them around like sacks of garbage while Gallus continues to brawl outside with the rednecks, and gets a delayed suplex on Prince. Angle Slam gets two, but the brawling mass takes out the ref in a convoluted spot. Julius makes the comeback as Damon Kemp runs in and takes out Kit, but then he turns on the Creeds and lays out Julius with a chair, leaving Pretty Deadly to unify the belts at 15:00. This whole match was a hugely disorganized mess with an obvious turn, but it was at least all action. **1/2 Pretty Deadly seems pretty good, though.
Meanwhile, Cameron Grimes wants nothing to do with Tony D’Angelo.
NXT Women’s title: Mandy Rose v. Meiko Satomura v. Blair Davenport
Well this is a weird mix of people. Not sure what claim that Davenport has on either title. Rose and Davenport double-team Meiko to start and then immediately break up, and everyone gets a rollup for two. Meiko tosses Davenport, but Davenport pulls her out and slams her on the floor in response. Back in the ring, Davenport rolls up Rose for two and dropkicks her for two. Meiko takes out Rose from the outside and then puts the boots to Davenport on the floor, but Blair hits a double stomp to Mandy’s back from the stairs. Back in the ring, Meiko and Blair slug it out and Satomura drops a knee on her for two, and they trade rollups for two. Rose takes Davenport to the floor and back in for the slugfest with Meiko, and she puts the boots to Meiko and shoves her around. So Satomura kicks her down for two. Rose with a spinebuster for two, but Davenport saves and goes up. Mandy cuts her off with a superplex, and Meiko adds a frog splash on Davenport for two and everyone is down. Meiko makes a comeback with corner clotheslines on both and beats them down with kicks before hitting a double DDT and the double knees on both of them. Mandy tries a suplex on Satomura, but Meiko reverses to a death valley driver and Davenport saves and kicks Satomura down for two. Rose slugs away on Davenport in the corner and tries the knee, but Davenport counters with a rollup for two. But then Rose hits another knee and pins Davenport at 13:34 to unify the belts. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised but Mandy has already cleaned out the division multiple times and I don’t really know what the point in carrying on with her as champion is. The match was fine but it didn’t feel like there was any point in having Davenport in there. She didn’t really add anything and it probably would have been better with Meiko just doing her thing with Mandy. I’ll go *** because Meiko was working hard to carry them both, but it was really nothing special in any way.
Meanwhile, Wes Lee is preparing to face JD McDonough on Tuesday night.
NXT Women’s tag team titles: Kayden Carter & Katana Chance v. Doudrop & Nikki ASH
Carter trades takedowns with Nikki to start, and Chance comes in off a Carter dropkick in the corner, and gets two. Doudrop comes in and overpowers Chance, but the champs double-team her and Katana gets two. So Doudrop slams him onto each other and splashes them for two. Nikki and Doudrop double-team Chance in the corner and Nikki goes to a chinlock, but Doudrop misses a blind charge and Carter gets the hot tag. Dropkick on Nikki gets two, but Nikki comes back with a tornado DDT and they hit a double team slam for two. So Carter fights them off and it’s back to Chance with a double stomp on Nikki for two. But then the challengers double-team Carter again for two, and Chance makes the save before getting thrown out again. And then Toxic Attraction comes down for the distraction, and the champs do their double-team deal on Doudrop to retain at 10:28. Match was a complete slog with a stupid finish. * If that was supposed to make the champs look like underdog babyfaces, it was a failure.
Meanwhile, something something with Grayson Waller and Gacy’s guys. Whatever, I’m losing interest in this show by the minute anyway. They peaked with the opener and that feels like decades ago now.
NXT title unification match: Bron Breakker v. Tyler Bate
Jesus, who told Tyler Bate that growing out his hair and beard were a good idea? It’s Moustache Mountain, not Homeless Hipster Mountain. At any rate, I’d put the title on Bate and send Bron to the main roster at this point, or maybe turn him heel for something different. Plus Bate literally just won the tournament last week in TV time, so having him drop the title already would be stupid. Bron grabs a headlock to start and they trade takedowns, and Bate gets a backslide for two before they reach a stalemate. Bate works the arm and tells Bron to go for the leg, and then tricks him with a sunset flip for two. That was fun! Bate takes him down and goes for the arm again, but Bron takes him down with a Frankenbreakker and adds a suplex. I should note that they’re finally just saying he’s the son of Rick Steiner and nephew of Scott Steiner, although I’m not sure if that was the case before but I’m glad to hear it. Bron holds a facelock, but Bate dropkicks him to the floor and follows with a dive. Back in, Bate misses a shooting star and Bron powerslams him and takes him to the floor with a spear. Back in the ring, Bron goes up and Bate tries a superplex, but Bron fights him off. So Bate slams him and follows with the standing shooting star for two. Bron with a suplex, but Bate reverses to a cradle for two. Bate blocks a rana with a powerbomb for two. They fight to the top again and Bron fights him off before hitting the bulldog for two and then transitioning right into another slam for two. They slug it out and Bron catches Bate’s arm for the armbar, but Bate rolls him over for two. So Bate powers him up into an airplane spin, which gets two. The rebound lariat gets two. Bron reverses the Tyler Driver for two, but Bate bridges back into a powerbomb for two in a crazy power spot. Bate goes up and Bron catches him with the powerslam for two. Bron charges, but Bate catches him with the punch and rolls him up for two. Bron spears him to unify the titles, however, at 17:20. Really good finishing sequence, and Bate did a fantastic job of carrying Bron to a great match. ****
Can’t hate on a two hour show with a pair of great matches bookending it, although it didn’t really make me any more interested to follow the product regularly. Check out the opener and the main event and skip the rest if you’re in a hurry, though.