WRESTLING WITH NXT & 205 LIVE 9/10/19

205 Live - 9/10/19 Madison Square Garden, NYC

Quick Results:

• Jack Gallagher & Kushida defeated Akira Tozawa & Brian Kendrick

• Humberto Carrillo, Lince Dorado, & Gran Metalik defeated Drew Gulak, Tony Nese, & Ariya Daivari

• (Dark Match) The Fiend defeated The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas)

Highlights:

• Kushida debuted on 205 Live as Jack Gallagher's surprise tag partner. While this was a fantastic surprise debut, this is hopefully a one-time thing, as Kushida is a spectacular talent that will not benefit from being pigeon-holed in the Cruiserweight division. It's been reported that 205 Live will be shut down and the Cruiserweights will be absorbed into NXT. This will ultimately benefit all the talent in the Cruiserweight division, putting more eyes on the product and allowing guys like Kushida to develop a strong following that could eventually raise them to new heights.

• The main event 6-man tag was severely hindered by the crowd getting bored and distracted by other goings-on in the audience. While I understand not everyone enjoys the same things at a wrestling show, audiences blatantly ignoring or disregarding the performers in the ring is grossly disrespectful. The majority of the crowd sat through 205 Live to see The Fiend perform afterwards, but doing the wave and chanting for a baby in the crowd was completely distracting and showed no consideration for the wrestlers who, by the way, put on a very good match. This was no better than tossing a beach ball around. While wrestling fans can be the most passionate and engaging of any fandom, they can also be the most annoying and disrespectful, and it is a real downer when a crowd takes away from a match like that.

• After Smackdown ended, it was announced to the live audience the The Fiend would perform after 205 Live. This match can be seen on YouTube and Twitter, and it did not disappoint. The Fiend's entrance was about 3 minutes long and the handicap match against the B-Team was only about a minute long...and it was totally worth it! The Fiend had his superb entrance, severed head lantern included, and the B-Team had some spectacular over-selling for the Fiend's offense. The match was very short and very fun!

NXT - 9/11/19 Full Sail University

Quick Results:

• Damian Priest defeated Boa

• Pete Dunne defeated Angel Garza

• Cameron Grimes defeated Raul Mendoza

• Shayna Baszler defeated Rhea Ripley by DQ

Highlights:

• Angel Garza is a very charismatic and engaging character. While also being very talented in the ring, I think he will go far in the WWE if he is booked correctly.

• Upon her debut two weeks ago, Rhea Ripley immediately set herself up as a dominant contender and serious threat to Baszler. While this was non-title match, I expected it to be a bit more engaging. While Ripley showed she can go toe-to-toe with Baszler and can also defend against the other Horsewomen, I was satisfied with the DQ finish. On the plus side, this will likely lead to a longer running feud between the two, which I'm very excited to see.

• At the same time, I'm hoping Ripley is not the one to take the title from Baszler, because there was a video package shown for the soon-to-be-returning DAKOTA KAI! Kai has been out with an injury and has a storied history with Baszler. I think it would be a great story to see Kai return and be the one who finally takes down the dominant champion!

• This was the last show before NXT goes live on the USA network, which was not mentioned on Raw or Smackdown this week. If they keep doing the shows as they have on the WWE Network, NXT should do well on a weekly basis.

NXT UK - 9/11/19 Cardiff, Wales

Quick Results:

• Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel defeated Danny Jones & Harry Green

• Jordan Devlin defeated Ashton Smith

• Tegan Nox defeated Shax

• NXT UK Tag Team Championship: Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) to retain

Highlights:

• Tegan Nox is back! Nox returned from an injury that took her out for over 300 days. While this was a short match, it was great to see her back in the ring. After the match, current Women's Champion, Kay Lee Ray, came out to talk trash and led to Nox challenging the champ "anytime, anywhere." This should be a good rivalry!

• At the beginning of the night, Imperium cut a promo about how NXT UK needs them, everyone should follow their way and teachings, and they are her to "cleanse" NT UK. This promo came off as very totalitarian and, dare I say, Nazi-esque. If that's what they were going for, I'm not sure that's a great gimmick to pursue but it'll be interesting to see where it leads.