The April 29, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from the Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University.
The show was headlined by NXT North American Champion Keith Lee defending the title against Damian Priest.
WWE NXT Results (4/29)
- Isaiah “Swerve” Scott def. El Hijo del Fantasma – Interim NXT Cruiserweight Title Group B Match.
- Candice LeRae def. Kacy Catanzaro.
- Charlotte Flair def. Mia Yim
- Dexter Lumis def. Shane Thorne
- Drake Maverick def. Tony Nese – Interim NXT Cruiserweight Title Group A Match.
- NXT North American Champion Keith Lee def. Damian Priest
Here are the 5 takeaways from this week’s show:
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. El Hijo del Fantasma
To open the show, WWE booked Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. El Hijo del Fantasma in an Interim NXT Cruiserweight Title Tournament Group B Match.
A solid match with both guys working hard. Fantasma appeared to work a more stiff style in this contest while Scott let his athleticism shine.
In the end, it was Scott winning, which marks his first win in the tournament, with a quick roll up. Post-match, he cut a promo about the challenges of facing Fantasma. He stated that he needed the win more and how he’s the guy when the game is on the line to make the winning shot.
This was an interesting match choice to open the show considering that both guys aren’t proven as big stars. In fact, Fantasma only made his debut recently.
That will be something interesting to see in regards to the ratings as NXT continues to slip in the ratings war with AEW despite having a two-win streak going on for this month.
Candice LeRae’s Progression
Candice LeRae had her first match as a heel on WWE NXT television by taking on Kacy Catanzaro in a singles match.
LeRae got a new entrance and was joined by her husband, Johnny Gargano, who was doing the ring introductions for her.
He praised her for all of her good qualities, how much she means to him, and her foot being a great birth control (this was a reference to her kicking Tommaso Ciampa in the groin during their match a few weeks ago).
The match did get some time but it was all LeRae for the most part. LeRae was the one to go over. It appears that with the married couple now being heels and quite entertaining, LeRae will be getting more of a push going forward.
Charlotte Flair In Action
NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair faced Mia Yim in a non-title match on this show.
It was a fun back and forth affair. One of the best matches on the whole show. As expected, Flair went over in the contest with her finisher.
WWE set up this match last week after Yim picked up a win in a squash match. Following the contest, Flair came out and gave her a backhanded compliment.
The company is still holding off on Flair giving a rematch to former champion Rhea Ripley, which is still expected. However, there’s still no word yet on when the contest will take place.
After the match, Io Shirai came out and gave a heated promo where she stated that next week, Flair was hers. Mauro Ranallo confirmed on commentary that this title match would take place next week.
NXT North American Championship Match
NXT North American Champion Keith Lee made his latest title defense against Damian Priest in the biggest match on the show.
WWE saved the match for last and rightfully so. WWE had been building up this contest for quite some time as they have previously wrestled each other.
With that said, it was a stiff match that saw Lee hit two back-to-back powerbombs to pick up the victory and successfully retain the title.
The latest angle done was last week when The Velveteen Dream & Dexter Lumis (replacing Lee) defeated Adam Cole & Roderick Strong in a tag team match. Lee was supposed to be the Dream’s partner but Lee was taken out when Priest hit him in the throat with a club.
It appears that WWE will be moving on from this feud.
The Newly Bro Show
WWE booked a wacky yet entertaining segment named “The Newly Bro Show” with Bryon Saxton serving as the host and Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher being the contestants.
It was like a dating or matchmaking show where Saxton would ask Thatcher a question and Riddle would write down what he thought Thatcher would say. It was all comedy and quite funny.
This led to Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner coming out that led to a brawl with the UK stars standing tall with the titles in hand. Thus, it appears this is the next feud for the NXT Tag Team Titles.
Of course, Thatcher is serving as the replacement for Riddle’s normal tag team partner, Pete Dunne, as Dunne is stuck over in the UK and can’t work NXT TV shows.
