Top 3 Performers of NXT (November 28, 2018)
Starting the episode with tag team competition between Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch against the Australian duo of The Mighty. The contest was back and forth between the two, with the Burch and Lorcan using their power game and the Mighty using underhanded tactics to try and gain an advantage. Burch and Lorcan got the roll-up pinfall victory in a closely fought encounter, but The Mighty jumped both following the match to a chorus of boos and chants of "You Still Suck".
EC3 returned to the NXT ring after hiatus, after the beatdown he received at the hands of the Undisputed Era following his roll-up victory against Adam Cole. He faced Marcel Barthel in the latter's most competitive match on NXT TV. With Barthel usually on the receiving end of squash matches, he got in a larger amount of offence against the returning EC3. EC3 would pick up the victory after hitting the 1 Percenter. The former TNA main eventer then got on the microphone and called out Bobby Fish for attacking him with a chair, after EC3's match with Adam Cole.
The sole women's match on the card was between the newly signed Mia Yim and Vanessa Bourne. Yim fought the majority of the match as the underdog with Bourne getting the majority of the offence, despite Yim hitting successive Arm Drags. However, the transition began after Yim caught Bourne in an Arm Bar. Following a series of dropkicks, Yim hit Bourne with her finisher "Eat De-feet" and pinned her for the win.
The main event of the episode was a battle of the juggernauts, in the fall out of the Takeover pre-show, between Keith Lee and Lars Sullivan. Predictably, it started with a trading of vicious strikes. Since arriving at NXT, Lee has mainly faced a variety of jobbers in squash matches. However, this fight generally resembled a battle between two superheavyweights in the way they traded blows. Lee his trademark crossbody, only for Sullivan to kick out at 1. This was followed shortly by Sullivan hitting Lee with a slam, only for Lee to kick out at one. The two traded blows for the majority of the match, with Lee getting the upper hand, using his agility to avoid several of Sullivan's strikes, and hitting a springboard crossbody and a Topa Suicida on Lars Sullivan. However, after Sullivan was able to roll out of the way of Lee's Corkscrew Moonsault he was able to hit the Freak Accident for the win.
#3 EC3
It's incredible to think, given the level of entertainment that NXT has reached in the past month, that it has done so without one of its top-level talents in EC3. Following his victory against Adam Cole, EC3 was written off NXT TV for a period of time after he was beaten down by the Undisputed Era and Bobby Fish.
EC3 had a competitive match against Marcel Barthel, in an otherwise quick encounter. However, it was his promo on the microphone after the match that was the real standout of his performance this week. Calling out Bobby Fish for a singles feud with a great choice of words worked in. Seeing Fish return from a long lay off, and given Strong and O'Reilly representing the Undisputed Era's tag titles, it was always going to be interesting where Fish was going to stand when he returned from injury in the new dynamic. The idea of his having a run as a singles competitor could be interesting, and his first feud is a big one against EC3 will show how viable that is.