The July 8, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University.
WWE NXT Results
- Candice LeRae def. Mia Yim – Street Fight
- Bronson Reed def. Tony Nese
- Johnny Gargano def. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
- Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza) def. Drake Maverick, Tyler Breeze & Fandango.
- Mercedes Martinez def. Santana Garrett.
- Keith Lee def. Adam Cole to win NXT Title
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Johnny Gargano
Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Johnny Gargano was a late addition to this card as WWE had announced it on Tuesday. In fact, WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels noted in a post on Twitter following the announcement that it could end up as the show-stealer.
While it was very good with both guys being able to have a spotlight on the show, it wasn’t the best match on the show as that honor goes to Adam Cole vs. Keith Lee.
Scott continues to be a prospect who has star power written all over him. While yes, putting him in the ring with the type of star that Gargano is, he does get a rub, which is great. The only problem is the fact that he doesn’t win big matches.
From a booking standpoint, WWE can only do that with certain stars for so long. Unless WWE is making a storyline of this, which is something that they did with Bayley while she was a babyface, it hurts Scott in the long run instead of helping him as his stock with fans drop.
Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae
Mia Yim vs. Candice LeRae in a street fight is in the books after taking place. If you’ve seen one street fight in WWE then you’ve basically seen all of them. That’s unfortunate but that’s the way that these types of matches in WWE are booked.
Don’t mistake that statement as necessarily a bad thing as both girls worked hard in the contest to put forward the best performance possible.
The finish saw LeRae hit a neck breaker off the top of a table set up in the corner onto a pile of steel chairs.
Both girls have been built up as title contenders in the women’s division, which currently sees Io Shirai as the top star as champion. While Yim has had recent title opportunities, LeRae, on the other hand, is still out in the cold in that regard.
LeRae and Johnny Gargano have been accorded a ton of television time as of late so one would think that she would be getting a title match against Io sooner rather than later.
Six-Man Tag Team Match
Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza, Joaquin Wilde vs. Drake Maverick and Breezango in a six-man tag team match was booked.
While yes, it was part of a bigger story being told here, this was also just to fill time while continuing the ongoing story between Escobar and Maverick.
The match saw the heels go over for the win. Clearly, Breezango is just being used as comedy players who can do jobs to get younger talent over. It works nicely for both sides, but by pairing them with Maverick at a time where he is in such a serious storyline could be questioned by fans.
It will be interesting to see when Maverick gets his chance to not only get revenge but also challenge for the Cruiserweight Title will be interesting.
WWE does have a TakeOver special coming up in August that they could save it for, but this seems more like a television feud than a big storyline that’s worthy of a spot on the card of a TakeOver event.
Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole
WWE booked Keith Lee vs. Adam Cole in a Winner Takes All match for the NXT Championship & North American Championship. This served as the main event and rightfully so as it was the biggest match announced on the card.
WWE gave them plenty of time to tell the story that they had set out to tell. The back and forth contest came down to when Lee hit him with his finisher.
The finish of this contest might have caught some fans off guard although the apparent match result was leaked by a fellow NXT star just last week in a really bad mistake.
Up until this point, WWE had been building up Karrion Kross to be the next challenge for the title. In fact, he had already sent a warning to Cole about his intentions.
Whether this title change causes a delay in that happening remains to be seen. Either way, we’re likely getting another match between Lee and Cole, but this was a nice way to cap off the night.
