Wrestling Trunkated! Your quick wrestling review column. Read it fast, get caught up, move on with the day.
This week’s NXT saw:
Johnny Gargano defeat Dominik Dijakovic.
Good match. Lot of near falls. Lot of hard hits. Candice LeRae comes out to distract a bit. Johnny gets the win with his slingshot DDT called One Final Beat. Good opener, fun.
Akira Tozawa beat Jack Gallagher in the Interim NXT Cruiserweight champion tournament.
Some new spots, a few crazy ones. Another good match. The two have good chemistry together.
Chelsea Green (with Robert Stone) beats Xia Li.
Cheslea has trouble. Aliyah comes out and distracts Xia. Green hits the “I’m prettier” for the win. There’s a tease that Aliyah might ally herself with Stone. Short match. Only here to further Aliyah’s story.
Karrion Kross and Scarlett debut defeating Leon Ruff.
Amazing debut. Great music, entrance, and look to both of them. Kross destroys Ruff. Scarlett lip syncs the entrance music. Really cool stuff here. The highlight of the episode.
Io Shirai wins by DQ over Charlotte Flair.
Really good match. Lots of potential here. Charlotte decides she’s having trouble defeating Io and takes a kendo stick to her. Rhea Ripley shows up to make the save. Shame the match ended this way, but it continues the Charlotte and Rhea story.
Kushida vs. Jake Atlas in an Interim Cruiserweight match.
Average to good match. The two didn’t seem to click that well. Atlas gets in offense but the match was designed around Kushida. He wins with a mid air arm bar that looked great.
Finn Balor cuts a promo. Cameron Grimes beats Denzel Dejournette. Grimes starts challenging NXT and that includes Balor. Surprise, Balor hasn’t left yet and shows up to confront Grimes. The match was nothing but this was an interesting fresh way to cut an “I’m going to get you” promo and then have action.
Adam Cole pins Velveteen Dream.
Just not good. I’m not sure what was off here, both men have done better. Fish and Strong try to interfere. Dexter Lumis appears from under the ring. A cluster. Disappointing.
Check out Kross and Scarlett debut, Gargano vs. Dominick, and the Grimes/Balor interaction.