WWE NXT recap for September 25, 2019: Is it a TakeOver next week?

On this week’s WWE NXT we saw Dijakovic/Lee part three, the return of Dakota Kai, a fantastic street fight, a bunch of commercial breaks and more!

This week’s edition of WWE NXT was essentially the tale of two hours. The first hour on USA, commercial breaks withstanding, was absolutely fantastic. The second hour on the WWE Network? While it had its moments wasn’t nearly as good as the effort we saw from them last week. We’ll cover it all here.

So let’s not waste any more time and get right into it. This is your NXT recap for September 25, 2019.

NXT is Undisputed

NXT kicks off this week with the Undisputed Era standing above the commentary area proudly displaying their championship gold to the Full Sail crowd. Some would say the black and gold brand has started a new era (see what we did there?).

The opening contest has certainly been talked about a lot this week, as Keith Lee went one-on-one with Dominik Dijakovic. If this was your first time seeing these athletes in the squared circle there is absolutely no way that you didn’t leave this match being impressed with both men.

These two work so well together and it just seems to get better and better each time they step into the ring with one another. This match was fantastic and both men got their chances to shine. No one came out of this match looking bad, a sign of a well put together match to begin with. There were a ton of near falls that could have ended the match at any point.

The finish saw Lee sit up out of a pinfall and deadlift Dijakovic up to hit him with the Big Bang Catastrophe, tying up the series at one win apiece with their other match ending in a double count-out. We personally can’t wait to see the rubber match between these two tremendously talented individuals.

We then got a tale of the tape between Shayna Baszler and Candice LeRae reminding everyone that their title match will be taking place on next week’s show with, and we quote, “limited commercial interruptions.” Hmm, we wonder why that is (yes, that was sarcasm on our part).

The leader of Team Kick returns

When the show returned they confirmed the second title match for October 2nd as the Street Profits will be invoking their rematch clause against Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly for the NXT Tag Team Championships. With NXT now being on USA, it will be interesting to see if the Street Profits will return there full time or not.

Next up we had women’s action as a returning Dakota Kai went one-on-one with Taynara Conti. With it being Kai’s return we assumed that this match would be more of a showcase for her. But Conti got a decent amount of offense in even though the match was relatively short.

Kai hit the GTK to pick up the impressive return victory. The NXT women’s division continues to add depth from top to bottom and it doesn’t look to be losing steam anytime soon. We also got a brief look at Killian Dain stewing outside of the building. Commentary said his match with Riddle would be up next.

Onto the NXT commercial

In a rematch of the main event from last week’s edition of NXT (which got thrown out due to everyone losing control), we have the Original Bro going up against the Beast of Belfast in another street fight. But unlike last week’s matchup this match will determine the No. 1 contender for Adam Cole’s NXT Championship.

They made it very clear at the start of the match that finish of this street fight needed to occur inside the ring. So while the match went pretty much everywhere around the ring we all watched knowing where the finish of the match had to end from the get-go. Honestly, we would have rather felt that the match could end at any time or place, but that’s just our preference.

NXT once again took a commercial break relatively early into the match, and we said last week that it was going to take some getting used to. It certainly hasn’t settled in this week with us yet. Watching NXT for years without commercials this just feels weird now. But it’s the new norm for the black and gold brand now, and we are just going to have to accept it.

https://twitter.com/WWENXT/status/1177022638121598976

Unfortunately, as the match started to really get going and found its way around the arena they took yet another commercial after Dain put Riddle through a wall. We don’t want to harp on this, but NXT prides itself so much on its matches and while these commercial breaks throughout a match are commonplace on WWE TV it’s just so jarring seeing it happen with NXT.

When NXT returned from that commercial break it was just in time to see Riddle put Dain through a table. That was a fun moment to return to the show at least. Later into the match, they teased Dain finishing off Riddle with the triple Vader Bombs, as that is how he defeated Riddle earlier this year, but Riddle kicked out at two. Later, Riddle hit the Final Flash with a steel chair and Dain kicked out at two as well.

The finish of the match saw the Original Bro apply a Fujiwara Armbar for the submission victory. Immediately after the match it was announced that his title bout against Cole too would be on next week’s edition of NXT, so now we have three title matches going down on next week’s show. It might as well be an NXT TakeOver on USA!

Afterward, Cole came out to trash talk Riddle and Riddle locked in the armbar on him as well forcing him to tap out before the rest of the Undisputed Era ran out to make the save. That brings the end to our time on USA for the week, and now it’s off to the WWE Network.

Is Cole’s title reign in jeopardy?

As we head over to the WWE Network we see Cole sitting in the middle of the ring holding his arm and hand as he is being attended to by the other members of the Undisputed Era. This teases that Riddle injured Cole which puts his chances of retaining the NXT title next week in serious doubt.

Our first match on the WWE Network saw more action from the women’s division as the former NXT UK Champion Rhea Ripley went one-on-one with Kayden Carter. This match was very similar to the match we saw in the first hour between Kai and Conti. While Carter got some good offense in this was clearly all about being a showcase for Ripley, who picked up the win with the Riptide. There really isn’t anything else to say about this one.

A fun match between Grimes and Mendoza

Up next they gave us a tag team match that we’re still scratching our heads at with Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch taking on Ever-Rise. The match was fine for what it was but with the feel and pace of the rest of the show this match stood out like a sore thumb. It really didn’t feel like it belong on the show. No offense to these four competitors but it killed the Full Sail crowd and derailed the overall momentum that the show had going for itself. Lorcan and Burch picked up the win with an assisted DDT, shocking absolutely no one.

After the match, we saw the tag team of Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo sitting in the front row at ringside. It was the first time we saw these two together as a team on NXT TV but they have been tagging on the NXT live event loops for quite some time now. With the promise that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships are supposed to be defended in NXT, those two against Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross would be quite the entertaining matchup.

Cameron Grimes returned this week continuing his climb up the NXT ranks after losing in the finals of the NXT Breakout Tournament. Last week, he had one of the quickest matches in the history of the black and gold brand. This week he took on Raul Mendoza.

Grimes tried to finish the match instantly as he did with Sean Maluta last week but Mendoza had it scouted and avoided the move, which then set us up for a pretty great match. The finish saw Grimes once again pick up the win with the leaping stomp, which the Full Sail crowd did not like at all. They were very vocal during that pinfall. It might have been one of the loudest reactions of the entire night. Clearly Full Sail loves themselves some Mendoza.

Who’s tagging with KUSHIDA?

In the main event of the evening, Imperium made their in-ring debut with NXT minus WALTER to take on KUSHIDA  and two partners of his choosing. To build anticipation they had KUSHIDA enter first followed by Imperium and made everyone wait to see who KUSHIDA’s mystery partners were.

It was revealed that none other than Breezango would be teaming up with KUSHIDA, much to the delight of the Full Sail crowd bringing them back after their displeasure over the result of the previous matchup.

The finish of the match saw KUSHIDA pick up the win for his team with the O’Connor Roll on Barthel. After the match KUSHIDA was laid out on the stage with a big boot from WALTER as Imperium stood tall, even in defeat, to close the show. Maybe we end up getting KUSHIDA versus WALTER next week as well? Only time will tell.

With the show now over — 12 minutes before the hour we might add — we have to be honest: the second hour of NXT this week left a lot to be desired. After this week the black and gold brand can’t afford to put on an hour of TV like this going forward, especially not when the opportunity to change the channel to check out the competition is going to be an option.

Last week’s second hour was very strong. This week’s, not so much. We already know next week might as well be a mini NXT TakeOver so we won’t have to worry about October 2’s show, but where things go for them in the weeks and months to come should be very interesting, indeed.

And with that our recap for the September 25 edition of WWE NXT has come to a close. It cannot be understated how important next week is for the company and for professional wrestling as a whole. Keep in mind instead of fighting with other wrestling fans over the course of the next week. Just be happy that there is going to be great professional wrestling on TV for everyone to enjoy. Not everything will be to everyone’s liking and that’s okay, but that’s also what the TV remote is for.

What was your favorite part of NXT tonight? What match are you most looking forward to next week? Sound off in the comments section below!