Welcome to NXT 5/27, similar to this past Monday’s RAW, we have a “crowd” comprised of NXT wrestlers behind plexiglass. This is definitely an improvement over no wrestlers, it’s also an interesting look into how WWE perceives its fans, which mostly comes up when the “holy shit” chants start happening. Face it WWE, you need us.
The night starts off with Drake Maverick, Kushida and Jake Atlas to face El Hijo del Fantasma for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Maverick wins unsurprisingly in an unconventional and honestly ridiculous way. While Kushida has Atlas in an armbar, Maverick gets his arm across Atlas’ chest and the ref gives the pin to Maverick after a 3 count. I feel that Maverick winning the NXT Cruiserweight Championship is a foregone conclusion, or perhaps the meanest thing that could be done from a storyline perspective: months of teasing just to lead to Drake Maverick’s eventual release. I’m rooting for Drake Maverick mostly because I don’t want to see someone lose their job, I don’t have any affinity towards him as a wrestler, I’m just into the human element part of this story.
Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae come out to boos from the “crowd” (sure why not). The next match is Johnny Gargano vs Adrian Alanis in the “Johnny Gargano Invitational”. Gargano wins quickly from a Garga-No Escape lock. After the match we get a segment on the screen with Keith Lee and Mia Yim. They mock “Dinner with the Garganos” in a funny bit. This seem to imply that we will get some match eventually, probably a mixed tag, featuring Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Keith Lee, and Mia Yim. This match would be amazing just from the charisma and talent that these competitors bring, especially since Lee could match Gargano’s athleticism.
Next up is Shotzi Blackheart vs Raquel Gonazalez with Dakota Kai. I found this to be the first truly exciting match of the night, Gonzalez won with some help from Dakota Kai that the ref missed. Gonzalez was able to get the pin on Blackheart in a quick but fast paced match, that left me wanting more, which is a good thing.
The next match is Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai vs. Charlotte Flair and Chelsea Green with Robert Stone. Green starts against Ripley who quickly tags out for Shirai. Green tags in for Charlotte and begins to lay an incredible beat down on Shirai. Green gets a cheap shot on Ripley as Charlotte continues to work on her. Shirai rallies on Charlotte as the match begins to even out. Charlotte manages to get the win by pinning Shirai after she unintentionally took our Rhea Ripley who was trying to distract Charlotte. This was a good match, that was probably a bit too short, but probably for the best.
The next segment on NXT 5/27 is a video call between Adam Cole and William Regal. Cole complains about his celebration being cancelled, and Regal dismisses his attitude. This culminates in them “agreeing” to a TakeOver match at a location of Regal’s choosing against Velveteen Dream, and if Dream wins he can’t challenge for the NXT Championship as long as Adam Cole has it.
The penultimate match of the night is a quick match between Leon Ruff and Tommaso Ciampa. Hard to call it a match since it was over so quickly. Scarlett was following Ciampa as he entered the ring. There was a cute little back and forth between the two, as Ciampa got the pinfall he blew a kiss to Scarlett, it was a nice bit.
For the final match of NXT 5/27 we get FIGHT PIT! with Matt Riddle vs. Timothy Thatcher. FIGHT PIT! is a steel cage match with no ropes or turnbuckle inside the fence, only wins are by knockout or tap out. Tonight’s FIGHT PIT! features special guest referee Kurt Angle, in a segment I like to call “Hey look we didn’t actually let these wrestlers go after all.” Seriously, I’m just happy people have jobs, it’s just such a weird whiplash to get the news that all this talent was let go, just to see them pop up again weeks later.
Early in the match Thatcher looses some “teeth” and spits out a mouth full of blood after a kick from riddle. This was a very overworked bit that had me rolling my eyes, but that’s probably because I’m too jaded to appreciate the EXTREME nature of it, the doctor clears Thatcher and the match resumes. Truthfully it was a good match with a fun gimmick. I’m not sure why they felt the need to have Kurt Angle be a special guest referee on a regular NXT show, this felt like something that could’ve been good for TakeOver. Thatcher beats Riddle via rear naked choke and gets a TKO.
Not a bad NXT given all of the circumstances. It seems like WWE is trying to inch towards normalcy with a “crowd” and regular matches while keeping the storylines intact. I think more produced segments like the Keith Lee/Mia Yim dinner would go a long way. We’ll see where we go from here, I’m curious to see how all of this plays into the upcoming NXT TakeOver.
