Week two of the Wrestling Match of the Week series and again NXT deliver in a spectacular way. Apart from a few memorable moments NXT generally lacked the usual high-quality matches that it is known for, instead settling for five to ten minute bouts that either fell flat or ended with a dodgy finish. With the upcoming Survivor Series potentially bringing mainstream wrestling fans to WWE’s workrate show, The Undisputed Era vs The Revival is exactly what was needed to show what NXT is all about.
The bout had an ideal placing on the card as it needed the unexpected opener of Becky Lynch vs Rhea Ripley to get the NXT crowd up to their usual frenzied selves and the Ladder Match finale between Adam Cole & Dominik Dijakovic couldn’t have been anywhere else in the card due to the post-match kerfuffle. It’s great that The Revival have finally been given the time and freedom they needed to remind us all that they are one of the world’s best tag teams and this twenty-five minute technical showcase did exactly that.
Having watched this match, you’d think that The Revival never left NXT, the two teams looked as if they’d just got off the back of a seven-mach series with each other. From the timings of the spots to the inch perfect connections of the strikes, O’Reilly, Fish, Wilder & Dawson gave us a technical masterclass on how a tag-team match should be done. The story was a basic one: Who is the better team? It’s all you need when the performance is this good and the simplicity of it didn’t take away from the overall feel. Though, of course, a feud between the two teams could have taken this up to the next level.
The quick pace of the match maintained throughout with the strike-based offense playing to the strengths of both teams, Kyle O’Reilly especially being in his element. Every hit was clean, every hit was impactful and this kept until the marvelous finish when Scott Dawson, surrounded by Fish and O’Reilly, shouts “kiss my ass” before being taken out by the High/Low.
NXT never seems to slow down, their usual brand of high quality has been at a constant for a long time now and with NXT: WarGames 3 coming tomorrow night – alongside their Survivor Series appearance on Sunday – you could safely bet that another Wrestling Match of the Week contender is on the way.
Honourable Mentions
– AEW Dynamite had a close contender for this week’s top spot when Fenix defeated Nick Jackson in singles competition. It seems you don’t need the top turnbuckle to be a highflyer, the amount of creative offence off the ropes is what made this match stand out. However, as wonderful as the match was, it seems the pair were missing their tag team partners with the match paced oddly throughout, as if their partners were supposed to be filling in the gaps.
– Riddle vs Ricochet had potential on NXT. Unfortunately, it was thrown out in under four minutes due to a run in.
– Zack Sabre Jr and Taichi are proving to be the stand out team from the first few days of NJPW’s World Tag League 2019. Not Wrestling Match of the Week worthy, but solid performances nevertheless.
– While Moxley vs Allin started off electric, I found that Moxley’s almost no-selling of Allin’s offence did nothing for the up-and-comer’s believability. Darby shines when he keeps getting back up, not failing to knock down. Still, it made for an exciting brawl that was aided by the crowd reaction.
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