The October 30, 2019 episode of WWE NXT aired live from Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University. Here are 5 takeaways from this week’s show:
Candice LeRae & Io Shirai Clash
Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai was exactly what it should’ve been. It actually opened the show, which was a nice touch as these two were game to go out there and put on a hard-hitting match.
Shirai would go over in this contest. After the match, Shirai continued the beatdown until Rhea Ripley ran down to make the save.
WWE has been building up this match for several weeks now and it appears to be the blowoff contest for this program.
That’s fine considering that WWE still needs to crown a new #1 contender to the NXT Women’s Title that is held by Shayna Baszler heading into the TakeOver show coming up on Survivor Series weekend next month.
While feud is over, it appears that Shirai and Ripley will have a program now, which should be fun.
This could’ve been a match that previously would’ve been saved for a TakeOver special but since WWE is in a different age with NXT, it was used for a TV match, which is fine.
Finn Balor Explains His Actions
WWE followed up on one of the hottest heel turns in recent NXT memory with Finn Balor.
WWE did so when on this episode when they had Balor cut an in-ring promo about how his actions have turned him into the hottest thing in the business and making everyone talk about him. Balor said that he doesn’t watch the business but the business watches him.
Balor switched his focus to Johnny Gargano and stated that he will change the moniker of ‘Johnny Wrestling’ into ‘Johnny Watches Wrestling.’
This was a short and straight to the point promo that was one of the highlights of this show.
This comes after last week’s cliffhanger ending to the show when Balor attacked Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa after having a standoff with The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, and Roderick Strong).
Just like many people who saw the first part of the heel turn, there were many people looking forward to seeing Balor teaming up with Gargano and Ciampa to battle the group.
That won’t happen now but it’s still a good direction to go with the Balor character as it’s different. More importantly, WWE has done a great job at getting people talking with Balor being a heel, which should help the brand out going forward.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka and Kairi Sane put their titles on the line against Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai in a match that took place over the course of the second hour.
WWE gave these ladies a ton of time for a TV match that was fun to go along the journey that these four stars created. Asuka and Sane retained the titles. This was a one-off match between the two teams.
WWE hasn’t done a great job with the Women’s Tag Team Titles. Although since they were introduced earlier this year, the company has had the main roster talent both on RAW and SmackDown only challenge for them.
That changed on this episode, which was fun to see. Hopefully, WWE will do more of this on future shows as it brings a different dynamic to the show. NXT usually doesn’t book tag team matches, especially with women.
WarGames For Women’s Division
Fans knew an announcement about the NXT TakeOver: WarGames event was coming and it was made.
There was a big brawl after the WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match. This brawl included Tegan Nox, Dakota Kai, Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair, Marina Shafir, Jessamyn Duke, and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler
NXT General Manager William Regal came out and yelling “WarGames” to make it official.
Triple H was actually talking about this in one of his many recent interviews about which gender to go with at this year’s event. Although the men in NXT have gotten the chance in recent years, it’s a nice change with having women compete in the match.
The mixture of stars in this contest will make for an interesting dynamic as well as they bring so many different styles that will clash inside of a fan favorite structure.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames 3 event is slated to go down on Saturday, November 23rd in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena.
Cameron Grimes Rebounds Over Tyler Bate
Cameron Grimes vs. Tyler Bate turned out to be a fun match with both men putting on an impressive showcase for fans to watch.
It turns out that Grimes actually beat the former NXT UK Champion thanks to interference by Killian Dain. Post-match, Dain attacked Bate in order to continue his path of destruction.
This match comes just one week after Grimes was booked in the biggest match thus far in his career with WWE. However, Grimes lost to Matt Riddle. I like the touch of booking him right away against an actual star instead of him going backward by facing a jobber.
It’s rare these days to see Tyler Bate compete in NXT as he’s usually working the NXT UK brand. However, WWE has been more open to booking NXT UK on NXT since moving the show over to the USA Network.
I’m curious to see where Grimes goes from here as his character appears to be lost in the shuffle.