5 Things WWE NXT got right this week (May 20, 2020)
WWE NXT has been delivering great episodes week after week, and with the announcement of NXT TakeOver: In Your House last week, fans can expect the Black and Gold brand to take their game up a notch going forward.
Two matches for the Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship were contested during the night, one of which ended with a surprise finish.
Karrion Kross found his first major opponent on NXT this week, while Damian Priest laid down a challenge for Finn Balor.
Roderick Strong looked to take out the man who has been haunting Undisputed Era for some weeks now, while WWE’s Nightmare Rhea Ripley had a big return match against Io Shirai to close out the show.
In this article, we will look at the 5 things WWE NXT got right on this week’s episode.
#5 The Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament
Even though the Interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament has gone on for a bit too long, it is still entertaining and could end up giving us a worthy NXT Cruiserweight Champion.
Akira Tozawa faced El Hijo del Fantasma in the first tournament match of the night. Even though Tozawa has been doing a great job in NXT, WWE has been wasting his talent and value whenever they take him to RAW.
The Stamina Monster once again performed his heart out and delivered some great German Suplexes to gain the upper hand. However, the luchador scored the victory with the Phantom Driver. Fantasma ended up winning the Group B of the tournament in the process.
Later on in the night, Drake Maverick competed against Kushida to prove a point to the entire WWE Universe. Even though Kushida managed to work on the arm of Maverick and catch him in submission holds, the former 205 Live General Manager refused to give up.
NXT’s Japanese Superstar had the upper hand but Maverick scored a surprise pinfall victory to score the biggest win of his career.
WWE could crown a brand new NXT Cruiserweight Champion
Now that Kushida, Maverick, and Jake Atlas are tied at the top, we will see a Triple Threat match to determine who will progress to the final match from Group A.
These two matches were great and told a story. Fantasma is new to NXT and has a lot of hopes attached to him. A loss would have hurt his value on NXT. Maverick’s victory allows him to tell an underdog story that could see him win the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and possibly bag another contract with WWE.