Best & Worst of WWE NXT - Io Shirai returns alongside Poppy, Ladder Match announced for TakeOver
With five days until NXT TakeOver: In Your House, the black and gold brand delivered an excellent go-home show. This was one of the best episodes of NXT all year.
We saw the final build up to all of the matches at the upcoming TakeOver. High stakes were added to one match, while another featured two Championships.
From an explosive five-way to a 'Winners Takes All' match, the card has shaped up quite nicely.
However, the latest edition of the black and gold brand did feature some developments that weren't related to Sunday's event. Poppy appeared on NXT and contributed to the storytelling, without really getting in "the way."
Anyway, here are the main positives and negatives of this week's go-home episode of WWE NXT. What did you think of the show? Sound off in the comments below.
#1 Best: The final build to the NXT Championship match delivers
The final few minutes of NXT this week gave us a preview of the impending mayhem in the main event of TakeOver: In Your House. NXT Champion Karrion Kross called out all four of his challengers. They came out one by one, with each of them cutting solid promos. The best may have come from Adam Cole.
The longest-reigning NXT Champion in history appeared on the screen and spoke about how he verbally destroyed Kross last week, before going after the rest of the field. Cole did not even acknowledge Kyle O'Reilly by name, simply saying that he didn't deserve to be in the match. It was a nice touch from the Panama City Playboy.
Anyway, chaos ensued following this "promo train" of sorts, as the four competitors present managed to get rid of security and duked it out. Karrion Kross looked immense here, laying out men left and right.
However, just as it seemed like the NXT Champion would stand tall five days before his big title defense, Adam Cole blindsided him with a superkick before finishing him off with the Last Shot. The Panama City Playboy stood tall to end the brawl, as well as the episode.
This segment did a tremendous job in promoting the Fatal 5-Way main event of NXT TakeOver: In Your House, even if the build to the match seemed minimal. It did its job well and has gotten the fans excited for it.
All five men are set to deliver an unforgettable contest this Sunday, which could be among the greatest in NXT history.