WWE NXT Review - July 10, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Io Shirai Explained Her Actions

Shirai's betrayal of Candice LeRae a few weeks ago came completely out of left field, which is why it worked so well. It's only been two weeks, but I already love heel Shirai. She has an awesome new entrance and her updated look is a refreshing character change. She kept this promo short and sweet by saying that she doesn't need friends before walking off. I'm really looking forward to her inevitable match with LeRae and I think it'd be the perfect addition to the TakeOver: Toronto II card.

Damian Priest def. Blanco Loco

Priest reminds me a lot of Aleister Black and that's not a bad thing. He has a cool entrance, has hard-hitting offense, and puts his opponents away within minutes. My only nitpick is that his current finisher doesn't look all that devastating, so hopefully he can either change it or add something else into his arsenal eventually. Other than that, I'm pleased with how he has come across so far and how dominant he's been.

Jordan Myles def. Boa in an NXT Breakout Tournament First Round Match

Honestly, I'd never seen or even heard of Boa before, but he impressed me with what he could do here, and with some more seasoning, he could do well in NXT. However, Myles was the real star of this match for me. I've long been a fan of the former ACH and am stoked he's now a part of NXT. He's so exciting to watch and his awesome aerial offense allowed him to shine in this bout. His natural charisma is a plus as well.

NXT Tag Team Champions Street Profits def. Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan

This was Street Profits' first official title defense since winning the gold back at TakeOver: XXV in early June and they definitely delivered the goods. I enjoyed this main event immensely and loved the chemistry they had. Then again, that should come as no surprise seeing as how Burch and Lorcan always kill it. Better yet, Lorcan also had a terrific Anything Goes matchup on Tuesday's 205 Live, so he's on quite the roll on both brands right now. Afterward, Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish seemed to tease that they have their sights set on the twin titles, so look for that championship clash to go down at TakeOver.

Overall Show

I hate to sound like a broken record when it comes to talking about the current state of NXT, because I rarely have anything bad to say about it. This will be no different, because I found this episode to be both entertaining and effective based off everything that was featured and furthered. They need to start putting the card together with TakeOver just a little over one month away, but I expect those announcements to be made in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I'm hyped for Kushida vs. Apollo Crews on next week's episode.