 Rey Mysterio Addressed the AudienceI have to imagine Mysterio would have wrestled on this show had he not gotten hurt right before WrestleMania 41. I'm glad they still had him appear in front of the live crowd, though. Granted, he spoke in Spanish for a majority of the promo, but I did see someone say that he mentioned that AAA now has the "seal of authenticity" thanks to WWE. If that's true, that's a ridiculous thing to say, but this was a logical way to open the event otherwise.
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 NXT Champion Finn Balor def. Guru Raaj (Non-Title)Not only did this mark Balor's ThunderDome debut, this was also his first main roster-related appearance since returning to NXT in October 2019. His last match on the main roster before that was against The Fiend at SummerSlam that year. Michael Cole was smart to run down what he's been doing since we last saw him because I'm sure there are fans who forget he's still with WWE because they don't watch NXT. Obviously, Raaj was never going to win, but this was all about him looking good in defeat and he accomplished that. It would have been ridiculous for him to last longer against Balor than he did, so this was exactly what it needed to be.
 Pre-Show Match: NXT UK Champion Kay Lee Ray def. Mia Yim (Non-Title)Much like the NXT Women's Championship (which I'll address later), the NXT UK Women's Championship is being shortened to simply the NXT UK Championship. It's an odd move that I wish would be explained to avoid confusion. Putting that aside, this was a well-wrestled pre-show match that made sense from a storyline standpoint after Ray cost Yim the WarGames advantage two months ago. Yim didn't waste any time in going after Ray once the bell rang, which was a nice touch. It would have been silly for Ray to lose to someone who isn't even a part of the NXT UK Women's division, but despite the obvious outcome, they had a very good matchup and Yim was protected in defeat. My only nitpick is that the referee came across like a total idiot for not seeing that Ray clearly used the ropes to give herself an advantage during the finish. Finn Balor def. Ilja DragunovThe crowd didn't seem to be overly familiar with Dragunov, but they should be. I realize he hasn't appeared on NXT TV at all, but he's a terrific talent and has a bright future ahead of him. He and Balor had strong chemistry and kicked off the night on a high note with an awesome match. They worked a consistent pace, the crowd was into it, and the aggression and intensity from both men was appreciated. There was no way Balor was losing so close to his clash with Johnny Gargano at TakeOver: Portland, but I liked that Dragunov scored as much offense as he did over Balor and looked credible in defeat.
 Kevin Owens Hosted The Kevin Owens Show with Ric FlairFlair was in the main event of the very first Starrcade event in 1983, so needless to say, his presence on this show was fitting. Owens didn't say much and Flair just rambled on for a few minutes about his daughter Charlotte and WWE being the best form of sports entertainment out there before he was interrupted by The O.C. I figured they'd have more of a back and forth with either Flair or Owens, but instead, Street Profits came out on the babyfaces' behalf and challenged Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to an impromptu match. This could have been better, but they were also obviously limited with the time they were given. The Street Profits def. The O.C.I honestly would have preferred to see this saved for Monday's Raw instead of wasting time on an hour-long special, but it was a solid (albeit slightly formulaic) tag team match for what it was. Street Profits were over in front of this crowd and picked up the win. I'm glad Street Profits maintained momentum, but it feels like The O.C. have lost more than they've won since becoming the "best tag team in the world" back at Crown Jewel. All said that, this was worth it alone for the visual of Street Profits dancing with Flair afterward.
 Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura def. AliWWE revealed shortly before the show that Finn Balor was not medically cleared to compete against Nakamura after suffering an injury earlier in the week. Here's hoping he's back in action soon and won't have to miss SummerSlam. Ali was a logical replacement since he teased targeting the title on a recent episode of SmackDown Live. I was looking forward to watching these two kill it, but they didn't really pick up the pace until the final few minutes. It was a good match on the whole, but I'm sure they could do much better, so here's hoping the rivalry is just getting started. Kevin Owens def. EliasI understand Nashville is known as Music City and thus an Elias' performance felt fitting on this show, his shtick is starting to get old for me because it has shown no signs of evolving. This was your basic house show-style segment, but at least the live crowd ate it up. The match that followed between Elias and Owens was decent and gave Owens a win over one of Shane McMahon's lackeys.
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