COOL POINTS: Women’s #1 Contender’s Battle Royal & Worlds Collide in Dusty Classic
Follow @JCoolLOP
Welcome to the Cool Points.
nXt Cruiserweight Division
#1 Contender’s No DQ Triple Threat- Tyler Breeze vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Lio Rush
The Set-Up
In preparation for the Worlds Collide event on January 25th, this match will determine one of the 3 spots in a Fatal Four Way Cruiserweight Championship match booked for that night. Champion Angel Garza will face the winner of this match, along with two nXt UK superstars to be named later.
Rush is the man Garza defeated to become champion. Breeze is the veteran and Scott, having been featured in the Breakout Tournament, is the new guy. If it’s based on rivalry alone, seeing Rush get another chance to win would be good. Depending on who those nXt UK stars are, a veteran or a rookie might be a better fit.
Match Highlights
Shocking moment when Rush backflipped off the apron and Scott flipped over the ropes to the outside, landing in front of him. Cool standoff there.
Breeze demonstrated endurance, poise and accuracy during his consecutive dropkicks and clotheslines on Scott and Rush. He couldn’t sustain control of the match though and was knocked to the outside.
Rush was very impressive near the match’s end. Using the ropes for leverage, he swung through and missed Breeze with a dropkick, but hung on and hit him the second time around. Beauty Frankensteiner on Scott, followed by an explosive frog splash for a close 2 count.
Impressive flurry to finish, but it’s Scott with the nasty JML driver who wins the match.
Cool Points Clincher
2 cool points for everybody. This was a fast-paced match with a steady amount of action between all 3 competitors. Not much down time for anyone, and not too often that the 3rd guy was noticeably missing. It consistently made sense when people were knocked down and out.
Congrats to Scott for this great opportunity. He can stand to breakout some more!
Other Men’s Division Results
Lee and Ciampa both get attacked by the Undisputed Era at separate times. This leads to a parking lot brawl where Lee attacks a bunch of the security staff who were preventing the Undisputed Era from getting too close to them.
Lee says the Undisputed Era has reached their limit in 2019, but Lee is limitless. He will face Roderick Strong for the North American Championship next Wednesday. Might be a bit early for Strong to lose, but Lee’s got momentum and fan support. We shall see.
nXt Women’s Division
nXt Women’s Championship #1 Contender’s Battle Royal
The Set-Up
Rhea Ripley needs a #1 Contender. After last week’s 6-woman tag, it became clear that there were multiple claims on the title so nXt General Manager William Regal opted for a battle royal to determine who would face Ripley at TakeOver: Portland, in February.
Competitors include: Candice LeRae, Mia Yim, Bianca Belair, Kacy Catanzaro, Mercedes Martinez, Vanessa Borne, Kayden Carter, Santana Garrett, Shotzi Blackheart, Xia Li, Catalina, MJ Jenkins, Deonna Purrazzo, Jessi Kamea, Indi Hartwell, Io Shirai, Tegan Nox and two-time champion Shayna Baszler. The first five and the last three women got ring entrances, too, which was a nice touch.
The Match
Catalina gets a feature spot showing off a dropkick and hurricanrana before getting eliminated by Baszler.
Just as Li gets talked up by the announcers, Baszler upends her over the ropes.
Meanwhile, Shirai dropkicks Catanzaro over the top rope, which leaves 7 women in the ring.
Fan favourite LeRae meets the turnbuckle, face-first, thanks to Bianca Belair. LeRae’s eliminated, setting up a potential feud between those two.
Showdown between Martinez and Baszler gets some cheers from the fans.
Nox takes a risk going to the top rope, but it pays off, splashing on to Shirai. Running elbows on Baszler and Belair at opposite corners of the ring. Running sentons on both of them, too.
Blackheart comes out of nowhere to upend Baszler over the ropes. Guess she was never eliminated but stayed hidden for a while. Immediately after Blackheart’s celebration, Belair tosses her over the top rope. We’re left with Belair and Shirai.
Great suspense on the apron with Shirai trying to back suplex Belair on to the floor below.
Belair fights successfully for the victory!
Possible Directions
The main one is Ripley or Toni Storm vs. Belair at TakeOver: Portland. Based on some of the eliminations, I could see Blackheart or Martinez vs. Baszler. LeRae may have words in the future with Belair. Shirai could fit into that, too.
Oh yes, and that Dakota Kai/Tegan Nox rivalry. After Kai threw Nox over the top rope, that cinched the continuation of that one!
Cool Points Clincher
1 cool point for Baszler’s success in eliminating her opponents. A cool point for the agility of Kacy Catanzaro. 1 cool point for Martinez’s intimidation factor and for holding her own in the standoff with Baszler. 2 cool points for Bianca Belair, getting the most eliminations with 5 and the victory. Well-earned.
2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic- First Round
Kushida & Alex Shelley vs. the Grizzled Young Veterans (Drake/Gibson)
The Set-Up
This is the third match of the 5th Dusty Classic! It will mark Alex Shelley’s debut in nXt and the reprisal of a tag team he formed with Kushida in New Japan called the Time Splitters.
The Grizzled Young Veterans are in the nXt UK Tag Team Division. A win here would send them to the Semi-Finals against the Undisputed Era.
Cool Points Clincher
2 cool points for the Grizzled Young Veterans who owned it in the ring and, post-match, on the mics. They cut a little promo for themselves, following a high-flying kind of effort, to say why they are going to win the Dusty Classic.
2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic- First Round
Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne vs. Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster
The Set-Up
Pete Dunne last competed in the Dusty Classic in 2018, when he and Roderick Strong made it to the finals. There, Strong turned on Dunne and helped the Undisputed Era win the tournament and retain the nXt Tag Team Championships.
With a new partner in Matt Riddle, Dunne hopes to get back to that final. Likely, Riddle will not turn on him.
Andrews & Webster are from the nXt UK Brand and they are former nXt UK Tag Team Champions.
The winner will face Imperium in the Semi-Finals.
The Match
Riddle and Dunne have bought into their team, wearing matching black and yellow singlet and trunks respectively.
Andrews had an amazing knee slide, kip up and a backflip kick on both Dunne and Riddle. He was a one man wrecking crew for a minute there. Crowd really got behind him and Webster.
Dunne with an enziguri, German release suplex combo. He tags in Riddle for stereo kicks on Andrews, but Webster breaks the pinning attempt. Big “nXt” chants after that offensive.
Later, Webster flies from the top turnbuckle to the outside with a swanton bomb on Riddle and Dunne.
Dunne catches Webster doing a moonsault to the outside, but Webster spins on the shoulders and hits a DDT.
Ridiculous!
Andrews eats the pin for his team, following a massive right hand to the face, then a flip by Dunne to Riddle who caught him for a knee to the torso for the win.
Cool Points Clincher
Two cool points for the incredible athleticism and persistence of Andrews & Webster. They almost won the match a few times.
Two cool points for Dunne & Riddle. Pretty good teamwork for a first round match. Riddle’s ability to be intense but also light is a big help to their in-ring morale. They were an impressive team, and they
IN CLOSING
How did you like this week’s show? The Dusty Classic rolled on with 2 more matches. The Semi-Finals start next week. Are you engaged or uninterested? What were your cool points? Join the conversation below or on Twitter.
Now’s as good a time as any to make your opinions and comments into longer form columns. A cool community of wrestling fans awaits. Join the
Related Columns: nXt Cool Points- January 8, 2020 (2020 Dusty Tag Team Classic Begins)
REQUESTING FLYBY: Reflections On A Decade In Wrestling; My Final Column For Lords of Pain