The October 9, 2019 episode of WWE NXT aired live from the Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University. Here are 4 takeaways from this week’s show:
Lio Rush Wins NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Lio Rush challenged Drew Gulak for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and it met expectations as a fun match that opened the show.
Rush beat Gulak to win the title. After the match, Gulak showed him some respect by handing him the title.
Although Rush was put into this spot quickly after winning just one match, he felt like a perfect star to be in the division.
This comes at an interesting time for the cruiserweight division as it doesn’t look good for the future of the 205 Live brand as there are a lot of questions regarding it.
This match was high octane right out of the gate and rightfully so considering the style that comes along with the cruiserweight division.
Gulak appeared to be the old guard of the division going up against Rush, who hadn’t been used in the division in recent memory as he was previously paired with Bobby Lashley before being taken off of television.
Isaiah Scott’s Strong Performance Against Roderick Strong
NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong squared off with Isaiah Scott in a non-title match that opened the second hour of the show. Strong ended up winning the non-title match.
Prior to the match, Strong was heeling it up to try to get some heat from the fans. Scott comes across as a star and with his track record, he has all of the potential in the world to be just that.
Some could argue that Scott would make for a good transitional champion should WWE officials want to do a title change and the strap off of Strong.
Scott has a ton of experience and charisma. Although the match started off slow, it picked up the pace and proved to be one of the better matches of the night.
Scott, formerly known as Shane Strickland from his time in EVOLVE, appears to be a talent that could be a player in NXT if given the opportunity. Time will tell.
The Velveteen Dream Gets Risky
The Velveteen Dream is next in line for a shot to dethrone Roderick Strong as the NXT North American Champion.
After Strong had beaten Isaiah Scott in a non-title match on this show, Dream appeared on part of the stage in the crowd where he cut a short yet very memorable promo about how he would be next in line. He threw down the challenge to wrestle Strong for the title in two weeks. This was confirmed.
The interesting part was when Dream showed a photo of Strong with the title then without as Dream believes that he can when the title.
This is when things got risky as well as weird. The photo had the title cover Strong’s junk then removed the title and had a small censor where Strong’s junk was at.
Obviously, this is a jab at Strong, which is fine. Set aside how weird it was, the fact that not only did it air on the USA Network but also because NXT is a PG-rated show comes a surprise.
Granted, WWE just aired footage that implied Lana had an affair with Bobby Lashley on Monday’s Raw. Yet again, fans don’t witness that many risky segments these days on WWE television.
Kushida vs. WALTER Headlines
Kushida vs. WALTER brought a different style to the show as it was little man versus big man, which changed up the dynamic of the show that was a nice change.
This contest actually served as the main event of the show that saw WALTER go over.
Clearly, WALTER is a talent that should be and will be protected by NXT management. Not only due to his size and position on the card but also the drawing ability that could be used if WWE wanted to do so. Although he’s the NXT UK Champion, WWE clearly wants to use him more in NXT.
With the launch of AEW and going head-to-head with them on Wednesday nights, WWE has booked WALTER more often on NXT TV as well as live events.
Throw out the fact that he could be used as a top star in both NXT and NXT UK, he could seemingly be both champions if WWE wanted to do so as NXT UK appears to be on the back burner for now.
Kushida finds himself in an interesting spot on the NXT roster as he’s someone who doesn’t have much direction. The finish of this contest didn’t help him out in that department either.
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