COOL POINTS: Super Heavyweights and Undefeated Streaks
Follow @JCoolLOP
Welcome to the Cool Points.
It’s week 3 for the 2-hour nXt show. No championship matches this week, but, instead, some groundwork being set for the major feuds and stories that will build towards TakeOver: WarGames, in November. Let’s get to it.
nXt North American Championship Title Picture
#1 Contender’s Match: Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic
2019 Records: Lee 3-3-1
Dijakovic: 5-1-1
Past Meetings: Sept 25: Lee def. Dijakovic
Aug 28: Dijakovic def. Lee, 5 combined cool points
Feb. 27: Double Countout
The Set-Up
Probably nXt’s longest running non-title feud of 2019, Lee vs. Dijakovic has been one of the most well-promoted series of matches in nXt TV history. After the double countout in February, injuries prevented the stars from wrestling, which only added to the suspense and excitement of seeing these two super heavyweights do battle again. nXt TV did well to keep it simmering by returning to match highlights, providing updates on health, and sharing promos from both wrestlers’ desire to fight again.
Dominik Dijakovic’s record is his advantage, thanks to a couple of squash matches he won in the spring months.
Lee ran into stiff competition, losing to Sullivan and Ohno earlier in the year. He’s shown some frustrations in promos, though, not wanting to be overlooked as a top contender in nXt.
The Match
Highlights include: Dijakovic’s Chokebomb for a 2 count. Second rope frogsplash on Dijakovic’s injured left arm.
Amazing reverse hurricanrana by Lee after being in the electric chair!!! WILD!
Match interrupted by North American Champion Roderick Strong who slams the championship belt into both men, causing a no contest.
Next Step
GM Regal appears to announce that since there was no winner, Strong will defend against both men next week in a triple threat match. Strong is pissed about this! A true reward for both Lee and Dijakovic for creating a compelling TV feud. Fighting in a 3-way dance may decrease the odds of each man winning, but it is a feature match spot and increases the ranking and stature of all three men.
Cool Points Clincher
3 points for Lee and 3 points for Dijakovic. This is a TV match you want to add to your must-watch list, despite not having a clear winner. The ability of both men to execute high-risk, top-rope manoeuvres is spectacular. “Fight forever” may get chanted too often, but it is best practice for these two gifted wrestlers.
nXt Championship Scene
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Angel Garza
2019 Records: Ciampa: 1-0, undefeated as nXt Champion, 1-1 in Tag matches
Garza: 1-2, made it to the Semi-Finals of the Breakout Tournament
Past Meetings: N/A
The Set-Up
Angel Garza has been busy impressing the Full Sail Faithful since he debuted on nXt TV in the Breakout Tournament.
Tommaso Ciampa is returning to his first in-ring action in 7 months. He was nXt Champion when he had to forfeit due to a severe neck injury. Recently, he confronted Adam Cole and made it clear he was coming home to “Goldie”, his affectionate nickname for the nXt Championship. This match is essential to proving he’s back to full health and ready for a title shot.
The Match
Garza oozed charisma and arrogance in this match. He started out with a few good spots but couldn’t manage to maintain any momentum.
Ciampa had a great moment where he did the corner knee to Garza’s tearaway pants. Then, he threw them at Garza who was trying to re-enter the ring, as a preface to hitting the draping DDT for the victory.
Loud “welcome back” chants for Ciampa at match’s end.
Undisputed Era comes out and surrounds the ring. Kyle O’Reilly tosses a USB stick to Mauro Ranallo at the commentary booth and says we might want to take a look at what’s on it. Then, the 4 champions back off and taunt Ciampa as they walk up the ramp.
Possible Directions
Garza hasn’t been very successful on nXt TV, yet he still has fans cheering him on. That’s a good sign. He needs some more promo time so people can invest more in his character. He should get more matches but they may not be enclosed into a proper feud for a while yet.
Ciampa’s sights are on the nXt Championship. As the former champion who did not lose, he may be entitled to a proper rematch. GM Regal hasn’t said anything yet, but we should expect an answer in the next week or two, to allow for a proper build for WarGames.
Cool Points Clincher
1 cool point for Ciampa who had to win to save face and show he’s healthy and ready to fight for a championship. He was very expressive in drawing in the fan support and that spot with the tearaways was a pleasant bit of comedy during a serious match. Short match but that’s fine. Ciampa’s back in the ring, the fans are staunchly behind him, and he hasn’t lost much momentum from before his injury.
Other Men’s Division Results
Killian Dain def. Boa. Boa took a lot of painful offense from Dain, past a few points where it seemed he’d give up.
Dain can pretty much manhandle whomever he wants in nXt and matches like this one can be quite convincing of that. If he can rack up a few more wins like this, he should get back in the title hunt. At the very least, he should land a feature feud, perhaps a non-title TakeOver match.
Matt Riddle def. Bronson Reed. Surprising to see Reed keep going after Riddle hit a sweet combination of Bro 2 Sleep, powerbomb and then that knee strike of his. He kept it competitive, but Riddle just had too much offense. Nice moment of respect between both wrestlers post-match.
The Breakout tournament wrestlers have been treated well since the tournament ended. Many of them have acquired matches and benefitted from additional TV time, inside and outside of the ring. Reed gets a little shine from Riddle in this one. Riddle gets the important win and re-establishes his winning ways, following the nXt championship loss to Adam Cole.
Damian Priest def. Pete Dunne. Dunne fights tenaciously with superplexes, dropkicks and quick punches. Priest endures, hits a shocking springboard somersault senton to the outside, which sets up slam after slam, but Dunne won’t stop kicking out. Eventually, Dunne’s moonsault attempt hits Priest’s knees, and Priest nails Dunne in the privates to stun him for the Reckoning and the win.
Why is a main event match getting the split-screen treatment? Near 3 minutes of commercials at the turn to 10PM seems a bit much. Exciting over-run though and it was a steady back and forth, with counter after counter, challenging fans’ expectations of when the match would finish.
Although it was a main event, storyline implications aren’t significant at this point. Priest continues to be undefeated, yes, but there is no clear, immediate result for that streak. There’s a lot of competition for very few spots on the WarGames card, and Dunne’s loss doesn’t automatically strike him off that list either.
nXt Women’s Championship Scene
Io Shirai vs. Kayden Carter
2019 Records: Shirai: 4-5 in singles, 3-0-1 in multi-woman tag matches
Carter: 0-1, debuted last month
Last Meeting: N/A
The Match
Shirai did a front flip out of a hurricanrana attempt by Carter, which was pretty unique.
Springboard 180 dropkick by Carter shortly after that. Shirai hits one of her own for a 2 count.
Not long after that, Shirai sets up Carter and lands her moonsault for the victory.
Possible Directions
Carter’s new in nXt and was spoken of favourably by the commentary team. That’s a good sign
Cool Points Clincher
1 cool point for Shirai’s in-ring performance and promo. Sometimes, you don’t need to do much to get your point across. That was true for Shirai’s offense and her words against Belair, Ripley & Baszler. End-result of that segment sets up a pretty sweet TV match or secondary feud for the Women’s Division. Likely the former.
Other Women’s Division Results
Tegan Nox def. Taynara Conti. Fairly close match to start out. Conti got quite aggressive, but could only manage a 2 count at her best opportunities. Nox eventually hits a corner senton, crossbody from the top and then the Shiniest Wizard for a combo that Conti couldn’t counter.
Post-match, Cathy Kelley interviews her, alongside Dakota Kai who acts as support. Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler and the horsewomen, Shafir & Duke confront Nox and tell her she’ll need to actually do something of worth, if she expects to get a title shot.
Big win for Nox in her nXt TV debut. Impressive that she’s already rubbing shoulders with the champ. Baszler’s right though. She needs to do something more to earn a title shot. Beating Conti is fine and well, but I sense wrestlers like Aliyah, Xia Li and Mia Yim may be on her match slate before an opportunity with the top women arrives.
nXt Tag Team Championship Scene
Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Imperium
2019 Records: Lorcan & Burch: 4-3-1
Aichner & Barthel: 1-3, 0-1 in multi-man tag matches
Last 3 meetings: Jan 22: Lorcan & Burch def. Aichner & Barthel
The Match
Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel represented Imperium in this match; Alexander Wolfe accompanied them and managed from ringside.
A few highlights include:
Beauty jumping headbutt by Burch on Barthel, as Barthel descended from the top rope.
Oney Lorcan lit up Aichner & Barthel with chops, but got destroyed with a spinebuster, kick to the head which set up the twisting top rope European uppercut by Aichner, off of the shoulders of Barthel, to take the loss for his team. Strong finish for Imperium.
Possible Directions
Lorcan & Burch are solid hands in the Tag Division and they can have a good match with anybody. It would be good to see them continue in this supporting role, almost as gatekeepers to the championship scene.
Imperium is being presented as an intimidating faction, prepared to wreak havoc on nXt. So a win for the tag team component of the faction was important in establishing them in the division, which badly needs more competition for the Undisputed Era. The long game may lead towards a faction vs faction feud, which would be best for business!
Cool Points Clincher
1 cool point for Aichner & Barthel, for showing their power game and slick double-team work. These guys can go in the ring and now they have found themselves a group that will back them up when needed. Aichner & Barthel weren’t exactly jobbers over the past year but their losing record was not flattering. This is a big win for them.
IN CLOSING
Ranallo’s Line of the Night: “He tweets in uppercase and deliversuppercuts,” talking about Oney Lorcan in the sole tag match. Oney’s tweets really are exciting and fun. Give him a follow on Twitter @_StarDESTROYER
Thanks for reading the new nXt Cool Points column. nXt did a great thing tonight in honouring the hard work of Lee and Dijakovic by giving them an opportunity to beat Roderick Strong for the North American championship. That’s making the best out of a tough situation for Velveteen Dream, who is out indefinitely with a back injury. Women’s Division is heating up and we’ll get to see Finn Balor back at Full Sail next week. Maybe he’ll wrestle a match, too? We’ll see!
How’d you like this week’s show? What were your cool points? Join the conversation below or on Twitter, and we’ll see you next week!
Previous Editions and related nXt content:Just Business: The Sunday Column presents NXT Takeover: Dallas, For Your Consideration
nXt Cool Points- October 9, 2019
nXt Cool Points- October 2, 2019 (Full Debut on USA)