WWE NXT recap for Oct. 9, 2019: We have a new champion

On this week’s WWE NXT we saw a new champion crowned, some good matches and a lot of video packages.

This week’s edition of WWE NXT was a step down from last week’s show. That’s not to say it was bad by any means but the momentum coming off last week’s show wasn’t really capitalized upon. We aren’t sure why, but not every week can be a home run. It was still a good show overall but when you come to expect high standards from the NXT brand, not every week can live up to the hype.

So let’s not waste any more time and get right into it. This is your NXT recap for October 9, 2019.

205 Live is NXT

Much like last week, the black and gold brand kicked off the show this with a championship match. This week it’s a match up for the Cruiserweight Championship with Drew Gulak defending against Lio Rush. This match started off fast and furious in a hurry with Rush almost getting the victory mere moments into the match.

Eventually, after Rush’s hot start Gulak was able to slow the action down and get things settled into more of a pace that the champion is comfortable with. We can’t recall if these two worked on 205 Live together before or not, but if they haven’t it’s a testament to both men because their chemistry this evening was absolutely awesome.

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The finish of the match saw Rush nail the Final Hour and become the NEW NXT Cruiserweight Champion. While we had no title changes last week, right out of the gate this week we got a new champion. Well deserved. Just because Raw and SmackDown couldn’t use Rush right doesn’t mean the black and gold brand is going to drop the ball. This was a great way to kick off the show.

The women of the Black and Gold brand take center stage

When NXT returned from a commercial break we had a video package on Tegan Nox talking about her history of injuries over the last few years and ended in announcing her NXT return to TV next week. Such a great story and it’s great to see her overcome her injuries.

After that, we had action in the NXT women’s division as Rhea Ripley went one-on-one with Aliyah, accompanied by Vanessa Borne. The crowd chant of “Rhea’s gonna kill you!” during this match was a pretty good indication of how this match went. It was an absolutely dominant performance from Ripley and Aliyah didn’t stand a chance.

When the match was over, Ripley called for the microphone and called out the NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler, telling her that she’s coming for her title. We already saw these two face off a few weeks ago but now with the title on the line, we can’t help but feel that the Queen of Spades’ historic second title reign in NXT may be on borrowed time now.

Ever-Rise was Forgotten

Up next we had tag team action. Breezeango came out with a brand new entrance, portraying construction workers. It was pretty weird. They used women to open their entrance and some people thought it was the debut of the team of Chelsea Green and Deonna Purrazzo. But alas it was not to be.

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Their opponents were supposed to be Ever-Rise, but we guess Triple H got the memo and the Forgotten Sons laid them out and took their spot instead. The match didn’t last long at all and was really a three-on two-advantage throughout. Forgotten Sons eventually got the pinfall on Fandango after taking out Breeze at ringside. It was fine for what it was.

We then got a video package from Keith Lee talking about his rematch with Dominik Dijakovic next week. While we normally aren’t a fan of rematches happening so close together, please give us more of this feud. They step up their game every time they enter the ring together and we are certain that next week will be no exception.

The push of Cameron Grimes continues

Cameron Grimes returns to NXT this week against BOA. Grimes has been stacking up wins ever since losing in the finals of the NXT Breakout Tournament against Jordan Myles. Weirdly enough, Grimes has been on NXT TV every week since moving to USA and Myles hasn’t been on once.

Grimes got another flash win with the jumping stomp to his opponent’s chest. Afterward an angry Killian Dain stormed the ring and Grimes retreated in a hurry. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for BOA, and Dain took his frustrations out on him, hitting him with a Vader Bomb and then laying him out on the NXT commentary table afterward.

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After that, we got a video package on Damian Priest explaining why he took out Pete Dunne recently, pretty much saying that he did it to get attention and that because he attacked Dunne he is getting all the attention now and his name “will live forever.” We think Priest and Dunne will have a fantastic match when they meet one-on-one on NXT next week and we can’t wait to see it.

Did the Undisputed Era get Swerved?

In a match we don’t think anybody expected tonight, we had the NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong going one on one with Isiah “Swerve” Scott, who had a solid run on 205 Live as of late. With that brand’s future in serious jeopardy (the Cruiserweight title has been rebranded for NXT for crying out loud.) we will look forward to some of the 205 Live stars getting their time to shine on the black and gold brand.

Unlike the last couple of matches we just saw, this was anything but a squash. Swerve got a fantastic amount of offense in and Strong made him look like a million bucks. This was just a really great match. There were several points where it looked like Swerve had the match won, and it’s clear that the Undisputed Era took notice as they came to ringside to assist Strong.

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The finish of the match saw the Era distracting Scott which led to Strong capitalizing and getting the submission victory with the Strong Hold. Swerve lost absolutely nothing by losing this match and is a bigger star now than he was going in. That was a fantastic pairing.

Afterward, Cole got a microphone and put over Scott saying how good he is, but he’s not on the level of Strong. He says everyone comes to NXT to see if they can measure up to the Era. He says that’s why Finn Balor and Tommaso Ciampa returned to the black and gold brand, because they have an unrealistic dream to dethrone the Era, which Cole says is never going to happen.

He’s interrupted by the Velveteen Dream who says his rematch with Strong for the North American Championship will be happening in two weeks. He put a picture of Strong on the ‘Tron of him posing naked with the title. Dream said after he strips the title from him the world will see why he doesn’t measure up. The picture on ‘Tron then removed Strong’s title and we had a censored photo of Strong naked. It was weird.

Immediately after that, Ciampa’s music hit and he made his way to the ring with a camouflage crutch. The Era left the ring and Ciampa took a seat in a chair in the middle of the ring and simply told “Goldy” that daddy was home. It was short, sweet, and to the point. When this match happens it’s going be great. They have to save this match for a TakeOver though, right?

Kai and Belair go to war

When NXT returned from commercial break Cathy Kelley wanted to get a word with Ciampa but Angel Garza wouldn’t leave her alone. When she finally got to Ciampa Garza got involved, upset about her wanting to interview Ciampa instead of him. It led to Ciampa knocking him out. When Kelly asked Ciampa what Garza said to him, he simply said he had no idea as he walked away.

Women’s action returned to NXT this week and this was a competitive bout, unlike the Ripley squash earlier, as Dakota Kai went one-on-one with Bianca Belair. Even with the leg brace, the leader of Team Kick would not be denied from showing off her wide range of kicking skills tonight against the EST of NXT.

Unfortunately for some reason during this match, we had a commercial that didn’t feature the match with the picture-in-picture like in previous matches in the evening. We aren’t really sure why that is and we can’t really explain it either. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense why some get the picture-in-picture treatment and others don’t.

The finish of the match saw Belair getting the win with the KOD, which was honestly a big surprise. With Kai just recently coming back we feel she needed this win a lot more than Belair did. But hey, we aren’t booking it, so it is what it is.

After the match, Belair took the microphone and said Ripley won’t be the one to defeat Baszler, because to get to Baszler, Ripley has to go through her. We guess we have our official No. 1 contender match to determine the next challenger for Baszler’s NXT Women’s Championship.

In response to Lee’s video earlier, we got one from Dijakovic hyping their match next week. That was followed by a video package on Finn Balor’s return to NXT, highlighting his time with Raw and SmackDown. It was weird not having Balor appear live, but the show’s not ever yet, so we will see if he arrives or not.

It’s time for our main event, but before that … another video package!

After that commercial break, we get our third video package in a row, with Dunne responding to Priest, confirming that they are going to go one-on-one next week. This should be a great matchup. And, finally, the time for video packages is over.

In the main event of the evening, we have KUSHIDA going one-on-one with the NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER in a non-title match. It opened hot, with KUSHIDA really frustrating WALTER early. After this, we were immediately treated to yet another commercial break with no picture-in-picture. We felt this problem was taken care of last week but apparently not. We have to assume it was more about trying to compete with AEW last week, unfortunately.

Once back from commercial, WALTER was well in control of the match and even though he’s a heel the Full Sail crowd just loves this guy. He’s an intimidating monster and it’s no surprise this crowd loves to watch him tear people apart.

The finish of the match saw WALTER hit a vicious-looking short-arm clothesline on KUSHIDA to pick up the victory. It was a great match with a lot of false finishes but the result of this match was truly never in doubt. WALTER joined the rest of the members of Imperium on the stage to pose and celebrate as NXT announced that Ciampa would return to action next week to face Garza. It will be really good to see Ciampa wrestling again for the black and gold brand.

And with that our recap for the October 9 edition of WWE NXT has come to a close. While it was great to get a title change this week, we don’t think this show was anywhere nearly as good as last week’s effort. But that was to be expected as we almost had an NXT TakeOver-worthy show last week. It will be interesting to see how these shows play out in the weeks and months to come.

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