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Top 3 Performers of NXT (May 1, 2019)

This week's NXT saw the much-hyped debut of Kushida against Kassius Ohno
This week's NXT saw the much-hyped debut of Kushida against Kassius Ohno

The week's NXT was built around the debut of Japanese superstar Kushida, for his first time in the NXT ring against NXT veteran Kassius Ohno. Ohno has become somewhat of a welcome mat in NXT, having also faced Matt Riddle early in Riddle's NXT career. However, the in-ring action of the episode started with the Forgotten Sons taking on Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch, and Humberto Carillo. This feud was build from the match-up between the Forgotten Sons and the tag team of Burch and Lorcan as the former eliminated the latter from the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

Carillo got entangled in the feud after his match with Ryker ended in a DQ win, Burch and Lorcan would run down to make the save which would lead to the 3 on 3 tag match. Towards the end of the bout, a miscue saw Carillo hit Lorcan leaving Burch in the ring alone against all 3 members of the Forgotten Sons. Burch fought valiantly, but eventually, the Forgotten Son's number advantage would win out as they hit Burch and Lorcan with triple team moves. Next up saw Dominik Dijakovic face off against Saudi Arabian talent Mansoor. Prior to the matchup, there were two video packages, one showing a confrontation between Mia Yim and Bianca Belair at the Performance Centre and an interview in the Full Sail parking lot with Shayna Baszler.

Dijakovic tried to end the match early going for his spinning roundhouse kick from the bell. Mansoor showed himself to be similar to Mustafa Ali and avoided the bigger man's moves with agility. The Saudi wrestler would get in some offense of his own before he was caught by Dijakovic and thrown around the ring. Mansoor got in a slight bit of offense at the end of the match before he was caught by the giant. Dijakovic finished the fight with his "Feast Your Eyes" finishing move. The end of the fight saw the Velveteen Dream wheeled to the top of the ramp. Dream proceded to sing a remixed rendition of the American National Anthem with incredibly creative lyrics.

Finally, Kassius Ohno welcomed NXT's newest signing Kushida in the main event of the episode. Ohno had spent the previous few weeks in the UK as a part of NXT UK, where he faced Walter, Ligero, Ashton Smith, and Travis Banks. Kushida and Ohno started with quick counters back and forth in a contest that was more reminiscent of a cruiserweight battle. The pace eventually slowed down, which served Ohno better as he appeared to break Kushida's nose. Kushida eventually got Ohno to tap using his own variation of the Kimura lock, which Mauro Renallo proclaimed as the Hoverboard lock.


#3 Kassius Ohno

Ohno's gimmick of late has been a welcoming mat for NXT's newest talents. This seemed to start when Ohno approached Regal to take on Matt Riddle when the King of Bros arrived at the WWE. After Ohno barely got a shot in against Riddle, he went off to NXT UK, where he faced a variety of superstars on the UK version of the Black and Yellow brand. On the arrival of Kushida, Ohno returned repeating once again that he wanted to take on Regal's "shiny new toy".

In the match itself, Ohno displayed agility and versatility that was impressive of a man his size, matching the smaller Kushida as the two exchanged quick counters and chain wrestling. Ohno was particularly impressive when he caught Kushida's standing Moonsault into a cravat hold. Ohno seemed to legitimately break Kushida's nose after hitting him with a Facebuster from the Electric chair position. Ohno would eventually tap out after Kushida locked him in the Hoverboard Lock.

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