WWE NXT Review - July 3, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Mia Yim def. Aliyah

Aliyah and Vanessa Borne have been talking crap about Yim in short videos on NXT TV for weeks, so it was about time Yim faced one of them to get retribution. Aliyah has certainly made a ton of progress from where she was four years ago when she originally debuted, but this was largely designed to be a showcase for Yim. Following her win, she made it known that she has her sights set on NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler.

Kushida def. Jeff Parker

Kushida has been on quite the roll since arriving in NXT a few months back. He's picked up wins over Kassius Ohno, Kona Reeves and most recently Drew Gulak, so I'm looking forward to seeing who his next feud will be with. This quick squash simply served to further his momentum and get the fans more familiar with his offense. It was a fun little match while it lasted to keep Kushida on the right track.

Cameron Grimes def. Isiah "Swerve" Scott in an NXT Breakout Tournament First Round Match

I was a fan of Scott from the first time I saw him in Lucha Underground as Killshot years ago. I've always felt he was a fantastic fit for NXT and it's so cool to finally see him here. As for Grimes, I enjoyed his work in IMPACT's X-Division for the few years he was there for. While this wasn't on the same level as last week's Breakout Tournament match, it was still a ton of fun. Both guys had solid showings, but I would have preferred Scott to go over because he impressed me more. The crowd seemed a bit deflated when he lost.

Bianca Belair def. Priscilla Zuniga

Belair is coming off two straight losses to Mia Yim (not to mention all the defeats she suffered at the hands of Shayna Baszler earlier this year), so she desperately needed a victory here. It would have been fine had she just won normally, but she came into this contest with a ton of aggression and it was a refreshing change of pace for her character. She dominated Zuniga with ease and looked great doing it. By the way, Zuniga might be better known to some as Diamante from her run with LAX in IMPACT in 2017.

Roderick Strong def. Tyler Breeze

After Strong pinned Velveteen Dream in a recent six-man tag team match on NXT, it only made sense for Strong to take out the last challenger to the NXT North American Championship before vying for the gold. As expected, this was a quality match with entertaining action and an energetic crowd. Breeze, on the other hand, I don't think has won any televised matches since he returned to NXT, so in order for him to not drop down to enhancement talent status (the same way he did on the main roster), he'll need some wins in the near future.

Overall Show

I have no clue what the card is going to look like for TakeOver: Toronto II, but I've been loving what we've been getting in the meantime on NXT TV, especially with the NXT Breakout Tournament. There were two very well-wrestled matches on this week's show along with two successful squashes, a momentum-building win for Yim, video packages for Matt Riddle and the returning Killian Dain, Adam Cole invading Johnny Gargano's family restaurant and old wrestling school (which was glorious), and the announcement that Street Profits will defend the NXT Tag Team Championship against Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch next week.