WWE NXT
Episode 451
#WWENXT
Original Air Date: May 30, 2018
Event Date: May 9, 2018
(available on the WWE Network)
City: Winter Park, FL
Venue: Full Sail University
Commentary: Mauro Ranallo, Percy Watson, Nigel McGuinness
Ring Announcer: Kayla Braxton
Video
Last week, Johnny Gargano returned to NXT to make an announcement. He ended up calling out Tommaso Ciampa, but Candice LeRae got hurt in the scuffle.
Ring Area
Aleister Black heads to the ring. Black says winning the NXT Title has been life changing. There’s been some discussion about who his next challenger will be, but all Black needs is one shot to make his opponents fade to black. Lars Sullivan heads to the ring.
Sullivan says he will be Black’s first challenger. Sullivan says Black is good, but Black has never faced anyone like him. In Chicago, Sullivan will take everything Black has worked his entire life for. Sullivan then grabs Black. Black goes for a kick, but Sullivan catches it. Sullivan hits Black with a Freak Accident and holds up the NXT Title.
Match 1
War Raiders vs George Hickson & Cody Vincent
(referee: Jessika Carr)
Result: Rowe pins Cody Vincent after Fallout
Time: 2:48
Match Thoughts
Squash.
Video
Dakota Kai is scared of Shayna Baszler, but she’s fighting to overcome her fears.
Backstage
Cathy Kelley congratulates Lacey Evans on her win last week and asks her about her tie-breaker with Kairi Sane next week. Evans doesn’t care if Kairi won the Mae Young Classic, Lacey Evans has her right hand.
Match 2
EC3 vs Fabian Aichner
(referee: Tom Castor)
Result: EC3 wins via pinfall after The One Percent (TKO)
Time: 2:36
Match Thoughts
This was almost a squash, but not quite. Aichner had some offense early, but EC3 quickly turned things around. After a minute or so, Johnny Gargano walked over to the announce table to announce that he signed a contract for a Street Fight with Ciampa at Takeover, and that distraction allowed Aicher to hit a diving cross body to the floor on EC3, but again, EC3 turned things around. This was okay.
Video
Bianca Belair talks about her childhood and always being good at everything.
Match 3
Ricochet vs Chris Dijak
(referee: Drake Wuertz)
Result: Ricochet wins via pinfall after a 630 senton
Time: 2:15
Match Thoughts
It was very short, but I liked it. Dijak showed some impressive agility, and Ricochet showed some impressive strength. Both men kind of played against expectations, and that was fun to see. Also, this was a nice debut for Dijak. He definitely made an impression.
Ring Area
After the match, Ricochet says Velveteen Dream deserves the spotlight. The spotlight shows how good Dream is, but it also shows his flaws. Ricochet calls Dream a “punk” for what he did last week. Velveteen Dream comes out to the stage.
Dream says tonight is Ricochet’s spotlight, but last week the spotlight was their’s. Last week, everyone saw that anything Ricochet can do, Dream can do better. Ricochet says the only thing Dream is showing tonight is how much of a coward he is. Dream walks down to the ring, but he doesn’t enter. Instead, Dream says he’ll see Ricochet in Chicago. Dream again says he can do everything better than Ricochet, so Ricochet somersaults out of the ring and lands on his feet on the floor. Ricochet tells Dream to “prove it.” Dream looks stunned as he walks away.
Match 4
NXT Women’s Title Match
Dakota Kai vs Shayna Baszler (NXT Women’s Champ)
(referee: Drake Wuertz)
Result: Shayna Baszler wins via submission with the Kirifuda Clutch
Time: 5:31
Match Thoughts
I liked this match for what it did. It allowed Kai to face her fears, and even though she might not be completely over them, hopefully getting in the ring with Baszler will help to begin getting her into a more confident position. Kai did mount a sequence of offense during the match, but most of this title defense was dominated by Baszler. Baszler is great as a bully, and that’s what she was doing here. I like how things are progressing.
Ring Area
After the match, Baszler puts Kai back into the Kirifuda Clutch. Nikki Cross runs to the ring and pulls Baszler off of Kai. Baszler stares at Cross for a while before picking up her title belt and leaving the ring. As Baszler walks away, Cross runs after her, steals her belt, and carries it back to the ring.
Baszler slowly gets back into the ring and tries to pick up her belt from the mat, but Cross grabs it again. Cross gives the title belt to Kai, telling her to referee a match. Cross hits Baszler with The Purge, and Kai counts to three. Cross then celebrates her “victory” with the fans and apparently leaves with the belt.
Show Impressions
While last week’s show was consistently good throughout, this week was really all about the main event. None of tonight’s matches were very long, and pretty much all of them were one-sided. Still, the main event was good and all of the story elements made it interesting.
Match of the Night
NXT Women’s Title Match
While this was almost completely a dominant performance from Baszler, the story made this fun to watch.
Official Results: https://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/2018-05-30