WWE NXT Review - July 15, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT Champion and NXT North American Champion Keith Lee Granted Title Shots to Dominik Dijakovic

Lee's promo was amazingly heartfelt and you could tell holding both belts means the world to him. He's had a hell of a journey and no one deserves it more. It would have been even more special with a crowd there, but given the current circumstances, there's nothing you can do. I figured Dijakovic was main roster bound since he hasn't been on the show in months and he probably still is, but he was the perfect person to challenge Lee first for his two titles because of their history together. I just wish they waited until next week to do it and advertised it in advance instead of rushing into on this show.

Damian Priest def. Cameron Grimes

The last match these two had was solid, but it was clear they didn't go all out because of the injury angle with Priest. I was hoping that this would be where they had the matchup they were capable of, but it just ended up being nothing out of the ordinary. That isn't to say it wasn't well wrestled, but the commercial break hurt the flow and they didn't pick up the pace down the stretch as I thought they would. Priest winning should put this rivalry to rest, though.

Indi Hartwell def. Shotzi Blackheart

I've long been impressed (no pun intended) by Hartwell and I'm stoked that she's getting more opportunities to shine on NXT TV. She's still a work in progress, but it was cool to see her pick up her first televised win and tease joining The Robert Stone Brand. It isn't the most credible faction at this point, but she feels like a good fit for it. The match was fine for what it was and Blackheart doesn't lose a ton from the loss.

NXT Champion and NXT North American Champion Keith Lee def. Dominik Dijakovic

Whenever Lee and Dijakovic are sharing the squared circle, you can always expect nothing less than a great match. The fact it was slotted in the middle of the show took away from the excitement a bit because you knew neither of the titles were changing hands, but from an in-ring standpoint, this was a blast despite not being among their best bouts together. The backstage brawl that took place post-match with Dijakovic and Karrion Kross was well done and successfully set up their matchup for next week.

Timothy Thatcher def. Denzel Dejournette

I'm absolutely loving this new shooter character for Thatcher and I love even more that at least one more match pitting him against Oney Lorcan is in the cards because their first encounter was excellent. As for this matchup, it was exactly what it should have been with Thatcher torturing Dejournette with several holds before forcing him to submit for the win. As I've said before, Dejournette has a ton of untapped potential, so I hope they repackage him at some point and give him more chances to shine.

NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai def. Tegan Nox

It was cool enough that this was the main event, but even better was how much time they received. This was a TakeOver-level encounter and was treated as such. It was a wonderful match as Shirai and Nox delivered on another level and constantly kept things interesting. My only issue with it was that Nox felt like a filler opponent for Shirai the entire time, but at least it capped off the evening on a high note. Plus, Dakota Kai's kick to Shirai on the stage afterward was beautifully shot and it looked beautiful. That should be a terrific matchup, too.

Overall Show

The two (three?) title matches were the highlights on this show and are worth going out of your way to see. I appreciated how they also let viewers know who was next in line for those championships as well, unlike the NXT Tag Team Championship which we haven't seen on the show in ages it seems like. The rest of this edition of NXT was solid (including that vignette for Legado del Fantasma which was awesome) and while not as strong as Night 1 or Night 2 of The Great American Bash, I still came away from it feeling satisfied with what I saw.