WWE NXT Review - July 19, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Ember Moon def. Ruby Riot

Moon was off to a slow start when she initially returned from injury about a month ago, but this was a much better outing from her against an equally talented competitor in Riot. Granted, both women are babyfaces, but they are top contenders to the NXT Women's Championship at the moment and I liked the story they told with Moon having to earn her upcoming shot at the strap. They were given more time than I figured they would be and they made the most of it with a good match.

Oney Lorcan def. Danny Burch

On paper, this looked like a battle of the jobbers since neither guy is known for their winning ways on NXT, but it instead turned into a hell of a war between two hard-hitting, highly physical brawlers. We've seen quite a bit of this type of wrestling on NXT as of late and it did not disappoint in being a ton of fun. I'd love to think that Lorcan winning will lead to him getting a significant push sooner rather than later, but I assume he's being built up just to lose to a bigger star.

No Way Jose def. Cezar Bononi

No Way Jose returned to NXT well over a month ago and hasn't been seen since his loss to Killian Dain. However, it looks like he'll have more of a presence on the upcoming episodes now that he'll apparently be feuding with Andrade "Cien" Almas heading into TakeOver: Brooklyn. This quick squash was merely meant to get him back on track, as well as allow Almas to exact revenge on the man who scored an upset victory against him a while back. That was a nice touch.

Drew McIntyre def. Killian Dain in an NXT Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

Considering McIntyre and Dain were undefeated in singles competition coming into this contest and an NXT Championship match was up for grabs, this should have felt bigger than it did. It was far from a bad match, but similar to The Authors of Pain vs. Heavy Machinery from last week, it was a pretty standard matchup until the final minute or so, which was exciting. Obviously, McIntyre was the right choice to go over, though I think it's too early to put the belt on him in Brooklyn.

Overall Show

It's interesting that this entire edition of NXT centered around the high-profile main event, yet I actually enjoyed the rest of the show significantly more. McIntyre vs. Dain was certainly solid, the women's match was a strong way to start the night and Lorcan vs. Burch was an unexpected gem. There isn't a ton of buzz surrounding TakeOver: Brooklyn just yet, but the last two installments were strong enough that I have faith this year's event will deliver in a big way as well.