I'll be watching the AEW on TNT debut live in person - and plan on watching that live instead of NXT, but I might as well watch NXT tonight since it's a huge show as well even if it is split up over 2 hours between USA and the WWE Network. Io's out looking super-hot. LOL @ A TRUE ALTERNATIVE! IT'S A TRUE ALTERNATIVE...TO WWE'S OWN PRODUCT! It's a 4 way with Io, Bianca, Mia Yim, and Candice LeRae. Bianca gets a press slam for 2 on Candice. 619 to Mia and a missile dropkick to Belair gets 2 once again.
Mia gets 2 off a tornado DDT. Candice hits a slick and nasty back suplex on the apron to Io before eating a fallaway slam by Bianca. Tower of doom after an ad break. Candice gets an octopus on Io before Mia yakuza kicks her face off. Code blue gets 2 when Io breaks it up. KOD to Candice before a save nixes that.
Lee vs. Dijakovic is hyped up with Riddle vs. Dain getting a Network plug. Maluta is on USA but Matt Riddle isn't...yeah that's stupid. Cameron Grimes has a wacky hat and a fantastic theme song. Mushroom stomp ends it and hey, they put a guy over strong! Velveteen vs. Roddy is hyped up before a Damian Priest music video. Roddy's out, followed by Dream who looks like the fucking man!
Some nice matwork starts things off until Roddy eats a lariat to the floor. Roddy lands a slick baseball slide with a crane camera shot. More first-gear matwork here at 8:45. This is the wrong kind of match right now. Roddy runs wild with running knees, elbows, a Robinson backbreaker, and a tiger bomb for 2 before a Strong hold. Roddy slings Dream...in the area near the ref for a bump. Cole helps Roddy, but it only gets 2.9. End of Heartache off a Cole superkick and a KOR ref distraction ends it and Roddy wins it. Pre-NXT hour 2 ad on the Network buries Thunder and shows the worst of the show - and says that it's all viewable on the Network. Well, Wrestlecrap is still a thing.
Hour 2 starts with a recap of the main event and the opener. Candice vs. Shayna happens on the first true Wednesday Night War show on 10/2. Arturo Juas is his opponent while Mauro talks about the latter being a big fan of Marco Ruas. Dunne forearms his jaw off. Juas lands a slick round kick to the chest before eating a nasty overhand chop. Suplex into an armbar leads to a triangle instead. The fingersnap is turned into a submission that ends it. This was fantastic and completely unlike anything on WWE TV.
Xia Li's Chinese takeout font is astounding to see in 2019. She'll face Aliyah, with Vanessa Borne. Xia lands a series of fantastic kicks before a tornado kick ends it. This was impressive for Li, if a bit sloppy at times. Beth has two speaking voices - Weird. Stilted. or YELLING ABOUT. HOW IMPORTANT. EVERYTHING IS! Lio Rush retruns tonight to face Oney Lorcan, with the winner facing Drew Gulak in the future. Guy in '90s getup and a wacky name NEEDS A NAME GRAPHIC. Imperium sans WALTER jumps him. WALTER gets a huge chant AND APPEARS!
WALTER says that the ring is sacred and KUSHIDA says it's his time. Kushida nearly gets his ass kicked, but he evades them and wants a match. Cool stuff. WALTER in NXT is going to be great. Lio comes out while Mauro talks about him having more issues than a magazine but appreciating him not suffering in silence. Oney rushes into the corner and gets a blockbuster for 2. Lio comes back with a triple tope. The 205 Pound Championship already sounds more important than the cruiserweight title since WWE has helped kill that term dead. Lorcan gets a tiger bomb for 2.
Mauro talks about Lorcan being trained by Lance Storm and he gets a half crab. Nasty snap slam gets 2 for Lorcan. GIANT chop hits for Lorcan while an ONEY RULES chant breaks out. Bottom rope Lethal injection by Rush gets 2. Powerbomb into a deep half crab is locked on by Lorcan. Lio goes for a kick combo, but Lorcan counters and gets ANOTHER HALF-CRAB. Oney's gotten the half-crab over here. Nasty STF is locked on and he passes out. This is tremendous. They're getting both guys over nicely here. Hot damn - a match designed where BOTH GUYS ARE GETTING OVER BASED ON THE MATCH!?
Lorcan lands some nasty chin-holding slaps and he runs into a blockbuster, but he eats a spanish fly and lands the dragon's call - the split-legged frog splash. THIS RULED. This was the best WWE TV match all year and I could see this being an easy 4 1/2 star match. Lio gets a title shot and it's a shame he'll be back on 205 Live, because this was tremendous.
Riddle is out to face Dain. Now this is the kind of look Damo should've always had in WWE. Deadlift German by Riddle and then an exploder, but a broton is blocked. Dain hits him with a kendo stick and hits a senton. They fight backstage with the Forgotten Sons watching and Riddle gets smashed into the production truck. V trigger to Dain before WALTER and his goons beat him up. Street Profits make a save and then the Sons beat them up. Well that was a fun way to have chaos, not end a match, and tell a grander story about the locker room being united. It's very much like the old days of babyface and heel locker rooms.
Everyone's just slugging it out forever. This is tremendous - it's the kind of chaos TNA always wanted, but could never convey. Dain hits a suicide dive onto a random pile of people and then we get some production cues over the mic. Then the show just kind of ends with Gunner standing tall. GUNNER MANCHILD STANDS TALL ON THE FIRST NIGHT OF THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT WAR!
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