Tiffany’s Takes: WWE NXT (6-19-19)

After weeks of silence, what is the state of the NXT championship and of Undisputed Era?

Undisputed Era vs Everyone: I’m not an Adam Cole fan, but I’ll admit that he at least shares the joy with his buddies. I like that UE is making this a win for all of them, rather than just Cole even though he was the only one to win at TakeOver XXV. I had been beginning to doubt whether UE could get back to their winning ways, especially with all the descent between Strong and Cole, but it seems like everything’s good for now. Also, love that they’re using the Championship as a stepping stone to get the rest of the male titles.

I do have a question: Where’s Johnny Gargano? We’ve finally heard from Cole, but there still hasn’t been a peep from the former champ. What is going on?

The six man was REALLY good, even though Dream, Breeze, and Riddle seem like extremely strange bedfellows, they worked really well together, but they weren’t the team that the Undisputed Era are, and that was the decider. I was really happy Strong got the pin and that things seem good in Undisputed Era, but I’m not sure things will stay that way for long.

NXT Tag Team Division: I like that the Street Profits are touting themselves as the People’s Champs of tag team wrestling, but with Forgotten Sons and Undisputed Era both gunning for the titles, I’m not sure the love of the fans is going to be all that helpful.

NXT Women’s Division: I loved Mia Yim’s promo on Baszler, I think a lot of people have overlooked Yim since she hasn’t been featured prominently on NXT since her debut, but she’s easily one of the best female performers in the promotion. I can’t wait for her and Baszler to lock up again.

When I saw that Taynara Conti and Xia Li would be locking up, I was immediately intrigued because a match between two badass martial artists is either amazing or a trainwreck. Unfortunately, the match wasn’t long enough for either woman to really show their stuff. It was still an okay match, but I was hoping for more from both women.

Breakout Tournament: I LOVE this idea. One of the biggest complaints against WWE, in general, is that the rosters are so big, only a few people get any TV time, so for there to be a tournament exclusively for guys who haven’t been on TV to get a chance in the sun is an idea I can get behind!

Damian Priest vs Raul Mendoza: So after weeks of promos and speculation. Punishment Martinez, now known as Damian Priest, made his debut by beat the holy hell out of Raul Medoza, who put up a pretty valiant effort. I’m usually very skeptical about newcomers who were big in ther promotions because they never seem to live up to the hype, but I was impressed by Priest. We’ll see what happens down the road, but he’s probably going to be NXT Champ before too long.

Overall Comments: That was a really good episode! Cole is finally back in NXT and everything is getting set up for the summer heading into SummerSlam weekend.

I loved how the Undisputed Era is building on Cole’s success, but I don’t think all’s well in the kingdom given Strong and Cole’s issues with each other. I think that will come to a head down the road.

Gargano’s continued absence puzzles me since it’s really unusual, even for NXT, for a former champ to go almost a month without some kind of promo or rematch.

I wish Conti vs Li had gotten more time.

I can’t wait for the big cage match next week.

The Breakout Tournament is genius and I can’t wait to see those matches!

That’s it for Tiffany’s NXT US Takes! Tune in Sunday for Stomping Grounds coverage!