NXT recap & reactions (Aug 14, 2019): Face to face, my friend

NXT returned to us last night (Aug. 14) with their first show after TakeOver: Toronto, consisting of fallout videos from that night and a couple matches that were taped prior to the show. You can find the results at the live blog here.

Breezango def. the Forgotten Sons

This served as a showcase match for the reunited Breezango. It wasn’t very long. Maybe a bit above five minutes, so not some tag team epic. Not that you’d expect such, losing a match on what was in essence the kickoff show isn’t the best sign for the Forgotten Sons.

These matches are pretty much dark matches and that’s what we got. The popular tag team (probably the most popular main roster act to ever return to NXT full time) got to record their first win in front of an excited crowd.

They were more serious bell to bell than we had seen on the main roster (though Fandango made sure to get a little dancing in). But then again, Tyler Breeze was mopping in the ring during their big PPV tag title match so being more serious isn’t too hard.

It’ll be interesting to see the path for the team coming out of this. Are they in a title picture soon? More business with the Forgotten Sons? They’re an intriguing addition to the NXT tag scene.

Pete Dunne claims he would be champion if Velveteen Dream didn’t stop the referee from counting three. Dream did whatever it took and now he’s going to do whatever it takes.

It’s usually going to come off as whining when you complain about losing a triple threat match, which is by default no DQ. But reminding us that Velveteen Dream had to resort from stopping the referee from counting three gives Pete a bit of an argument here. That’s a bit of a dirty play. (I also don’t know why the referee can’t just make the decision that it had been three seconds and award Pete the match, but that’d be a huge shift from the norm.)

Feels like this this feud is going to continue but without Roderick Strong. You could surely find much worse feuds than the Bruiserweight vs. Velveteen.

Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish are backstage after TakeOver looking for William Regal. Kyle claims the illegal man was pinned. They show a video proving that.

Looks like this feud has reason for at least a rematch. The last tag wasn’t super obvious (at least I missed it), but the video doesn’t lie. We should get this rematch on NXT TV pretty soon, forcing the Street Profits to pick up a second consecutive win over such a strong tag team. That’s a tough position for Ford and Dawkins.

Shayna Baszler is asked if any competitor has pushed Baszler a much as Mia did. All the champ says is “And still.”

Mia Yim gave Baszler a fight with a smart game plan. But she still lost. I’d consider Kairi Sane Shayna’s biggest challenge given she’s beat her and always seemed to have her number.

Jordan Myles def. Cameron Grimes to win the Breakout Tournament

Overall, the Breakout Tournament was a blast, but they didn’t stick the landing.

As the tournament progressed, all of the really exciting competitors started getting knocked out - Joaquin Wilde, Angel Garza, Swerve Strickland, and even Bronson Reed and Dexter Lumis. It left us with the final consisting of the two men who probably stuck out the least in Jordan Myles and Cameron Grimes.

That resulted in a pretty lackluster final comparatively with no heat behind it. They didn’t do anything to try to light any fire either. Even a little confrontation taped at the PC could have helped a bit.

The match itself was fine as these men are obviously both experienced and talented, but nothing I’m going to remember soon after. The crowd was pretty blah for it until the end, when the men earned a rather generous “This is awesome” chant.

This wasn’t bad, but the tournament started hot and progressively cooled down. In the end, we’ve been introduced to a lot of character that will be exciting to see in the future. It’s just a shame that the two men in the finals weren’t as exciting as the rest.

This is definitely an episode you can skip. The matches weren’t even that great. There was a ton of video recaps, so if you do want to check out the bouts, get ready to fast forward.

Grade: C-

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