WWE NXT Recap, May 31: Why Tommaso, Why?
NXT dives right into the breakup of one of its most popular tag teams in recent memory and finds the man who made the heel turn showing no remorse.
In his first public appearance since turning on Johnny Gargano, his best friend and tag team partner, we got to hear the answer to the question that many of us have for Tommaso Ciampa: Why, Tommaso? Why? Ciampa talks of life lessons involving injuries and insecurities. He mentioned that during their Ladder Match against Authors of Pain at Takeover: Chicago, he felt a pop in his knee and he knew right then that it was serious enough for him to be out of contention “for a long, long time.” Apparently, he felt he’d be out long enough for Gargano to move on without him (or even replace him), so once the match was over, he decided Gargano should suffer the same fate before throwing him into the Titantron.
The business of turning on your tag team partner is booming these days, as seen over on the main roster, where Goldust recently attacked R-Truth before a match on RAW, ending a partnership whose most memorable moments involved Pokémon Go. Also on RAW, Enzo has gotten jumped the past two weeks, rendering him unconscious with no answer as to who the offender could have been. Now it’s still purely speculation, but it’s still to premature to cross off Big Cass from the list of suspects.
Unlike both Golden Truth and Enzo & Cass, DIY has been crowned tag team champions at one point. They’ve been a team long before NXT (long enough for Gargano to make Ciampa the best man at his wedding), so I don’t think this was an incredibly premature decision, especially if Ciampa is injured. Let us all pour one out to celebrate DIY and the pop you could have imagined them getting if they got called up to the main roster as a tag team.
Dunne’s not done
While a Danny Burch loss is becoming something of a gimmick, you can’t blame him too much for this one; newly crowned United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne came to Full Sail to make a statement, and after pinning Burch (sorry, Danny), Dunne let it be know that he owns the United Kingdom Championship Division. If we’re counting the United Kingdom Championship Tournament, Tyler Bate (despite losing the UK Championship at Takeover) still has a winning record over Pete Dunne. Moving beyond Bate, we can’t forget about the scariest dude on NXT television (who also happened to be in the UK Championship Tournament), Aleister Black.
Black has been mowing dudes down since his NXT debut and the NXT Universe has been foaming at the mouth thinking of Black in a match with some actual competition. You really don’t get more competitive than Pete Dunne, so if we can make this match happen yesterday, it will have still been too long of a wait.
Bononi’s (semi) big upset
You know that expression “first impressions last a lifetime”? Evidently Cezar Bonani has never heard it as he handed Andrade Almas a loss just a few weeks removed from getting Black Massed out of the building by Aleister Black during his first one-on-one match on NXT. As big (if you want to call it big) of a win as this was for Bononi, I think it says more about Almas.
Since March, Almas has only picked up one win on TV. (Would you believe it was against Danny Burch? Of course you would.) It makes you wonder if WWE has any plans to ever bring this guy up to the main roster or if he’s just meant to be the second option when NXT needs a jobber. Even after this most recent loss, Almas walked towards the backstage with a smile on his face, making it seem like maybe he doesn’t even care about what he does for a living. I’m not sure what the direction for Almas is, or if there even is one, but I could do with less of him on my television and more of, say, Aleister Black (or even my girl Nikki Cross).
CLEAR!
Over at the WWE Performance Center, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce were cutting a promo (about what, I have no idea), and were interrupted by Ember Moon walking out of the locker room. Royce and Kay started yelling at her for interrupting their speech, but both quickly started having cotton mouth as an NXT doctor came to hand Moon her papers clearing her to get back in the ring. After this segment, it was announced that we will see a rematch from Takeover: Chicago, as Asuka will defend her NXT Women’s Championship against Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot in two weeks, but this time it will be an Elimination Triple Threat Match. Whoever wins this one (Asuka, most likely) better be ready for Ember Moon, because she will be coming back with a vengeance.
Next: WWE RAW recap, May 29: Rollins vs. Reigns an a Triple Threat Match
No Way!
It seems that SAnitY is not done with Roderick Strong, and in the main event of the evening, Alexander Wolfe teamed with Eric Young to face Strong and Kassius Ohno. It was a decent back and forth (though not as gruesome as we’ve come to expect anytime SAnitY is involved), and of course it ended with some chicanery. It seemed like SAnitY was about to lose the match until Killian Dane decided he wanted to get in the action; while Dane was on the apron attempting to distract the referee, we got to witness the triumphant return of No Way Jose, who took out Kain. Roderick Strong hit Eric Young with the End of Heartache before picking up the pinfall victory for his team. As much as I enjoy SAnitY (specifically Nikki Cross, and their entrance), I don’t like them enough to be happy that they keep Strong, Ohno or even Jose out of top singles competition. There are only so many different variations of these six guys we can see every week before we get bored, and I’m ready to see Strong go for gold.