NXT preview (June 24, 2020): Step One

NXT returns tonight (June 24) from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. While there isn’t a TakeOver in the future, there’s a huge title vs. title match in two weeks.

Advertised for tonight:

• Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Finn Bálor for the North American championship - winner faces Adam Cole in a title vs. title match on July 8
• Karrion Kross vs. Bronson Reed
• Cameron Grimes vs. Damian Priest

As per usual, here are our five questions about NXT tonight:

1) Is gonna be Keith or Finn?

Sorry, Johnny Gargano, but odds are slim that you’re winning the North American championship match tonight and you won’t be challenging for the NXT title in two weeks.

Even though he’s doing the best character work of his NXT career, Gargano winning the gold and facing Cole in a heel vs. heel title vs. title match doesn’t make any sense. It’s a match we’ve seen... A LOT. Their dynamics won’t work personality wise. And there are two much better options.

That means it’s really between Finn Bálor and Keith Lee to claim victory. And either would be an incredible choice to challenge for the NXT title. Finn vs. Cole feels like it needs to happen in a legit program given they hold the top two records for longest NXT championship reigns. But it feels like Keith’s destiny to be the one to climb to the top. He’s never done that while Finn has.

If I had to guess, I think Keith wins this week. It’s well past time that he ascends to that level. But it’s either man’s game. Not Johnny’s though. Sorry, dude.

2) Are Sasha and Bayley returning?

After successfully defending their Women’s tag team championships last, Sasha Banks & Bayley were attacked by NXT Women’s champion Io Shirai. It sure feels like that’s not the end of the story, but rather the beginning.

With the Golden Role Models putting in as much work as Charlotte Flair had, they’re likely going to return to NXT to settle some issues with the Genius of the Sky. Maybe we’ll see Bayley vs. Io. Maybe we’ll see Sasha vs. Io. Maybe Kairi Sane may reunite with Io for one time only (given Sane’s current partner is too busy focusing on Banks in a Raw Women’s title match) match against both women.

All of these are great option and hopefully we get some badass matches from some of the top women in the game right now.

3) Priest or Grimes?

Damian Priest facing off against Cameron Grimes is a bit intriguing when it comes to the finish. Because NXT clearly has high hopes for both these men.

Priest is coming off a showcase match with Finn Bálor at TakeOver: In Your House. He lost the match, but the goal was to get him over. And it did a pretty good job of that. It’s left us with a more determined and a little more humble Damian Priest.

Cameron Grimes recently lost to Finn Bálor as well. But it was a very close bout and that was coming off a Grimes win against the Prince. Cameron has taken his losses, but he’s been very protected in the grand scheme of things.

So who gets the nod here. Conventional thinking says Priest, the man who’s had multiple TakeOver matches. And that’s likely how it will go. But Cameron Grimes has surprised folks with some of the wins he’s picked up, so you cannot count him out.

4) Is Robert Stone bringing on Aliyah?

Last week, Robert Stone hurling all over the ring helped Aliyah pick up a win. And despite Stone being an absolute mess right now, Aliyah still wants him to be her manager. It’s a bit baffling, but that’s how it is.

Stone had been reluctant to bring her on, much because she hadn’t won any matches. Last week, with unintentional help from Robbie, she did just that. Was that enough for Stone to relaunch the Robert Stone Brand with Aliyah as his only client?

Honestly, right now Robert has not been having a good time of anything so may as well try to start over. Yes, Aliyah isn’t the caliber of Chelsea Green (who we haven’t seen since she ditched him), but you gotta start somewhere.

Given his Twitter, it looks like it may be a new day for Robert Stone.

5) How long does Bronson Reed last?

Bronson Reed is a big dude, but he’s going to get squashed by Karrion Kross tonight. Kross made Tommaso Ciampa look like a fool. It’s unlikely Reed does much better.

I saw Kross gets the job done in under two minutes. Let us know your guesses below. Don’t try to Price is Right me.

We’ll see if we get any answers to these questions tonight at 8 PM on USA.