5 things WWE NXT got right this week - Undisputed ERA member returns; Karrion Kross finds a challenger
WWE NXT had a couple of championship matches scheduled for this week’s show. KUSHIDA was set to defend his NXT Cruiserweight Championship, while Raquel Gonzalez defended her NXT Women’s title.
Gonzalez had a decent defense against Mercedes Martinez and both women put on a good match. However, it looks like Gonzalez has a lot more work to do to continue performing at the top level.
Breezango competed in a tag team match against MSK, while Leon Ruff found himself in a rough spot after answering an opening challenge. Isaiah "Swerve" Scott introduced his new stable, Hit Row, and sent a warning to the rest of the NXT roster.
Karrion Kross squashed his first opponent as the NXT Champion and came across the first challenger for his title soon after. A surprise return also helped NXT build towards a potential new storyline.
Let’s take a look at the five things WWE got right on NXT this week.
#5 Karrion Kross got the match he needed on WWE NXT
Karrion Kross competed in his first match since winning the WWE NXT Championship from Finn Balor at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. Austin Theory made his way out for the non-title match and did not look as confident as he usually does.
Theory tried to avoid the NXT Champion in the early part of the match and dodged a few moves.
A couple of Saito Suplexes was all it took to break Theory’s will and he was no match for Kross. Kross punished Theory before locking in the Kross Jacket.
Johnny Gargano watched on as Theory passed out before the referee called for the bell and awarded the match to The Herald of Doomsday. After the match, Balor appeared once again to confront the NXT Champion.
The Prince told Kross that he wasn’t willing to wait in line, and the two men agreed to fight again. This set up another NXT Championship match between the two Superstars.
This was the kind of match Kross needed to get more of a spotlight. While Theory is a great performer, he is no match for The Herald of Doomsday. A squash victory will allow Kross to push ahead as a dominating performer who’ll need to overcome The Prince of NXT again.
That match is set to take place in two weeks, and NXT seems to be doing well at spreading out its championship matches to keep the weekly shows entertaining.