WWE NXT Review - May 15, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Street Profits Challenged NXT Tag Team Champions The Viking Raiders

Viking Raiders were originally going to flat-out vacate the tag titles now that they're on Raw, but Street Profits put a stop to that because they felt they could beat them. That led to William Regal announcing a title match between them later on in the show. This was a really good segment with Street Profits finally getting a chance to shine on the microphone and Viking Raiders closing out their time in NXT on their terms.

Keith Lee def. Cezar Bononi

Lee was out injured for a month or so but is back in action and hasn't missed a beat. The crowd was very much behind him throughout this bout and ate up everything he did. Lee beat Bononi with ease and looked dominant in doing so. It's a shame we won't get to see him face Dominik Dijakovic any time soon due to Dijakovic also getting injured recently, but when they meet again down the road, it's going to be great.

Kushida def. Kona Reeves

I'm still in awe of Kushida's super cool entrance. I'm dying to see it live one of these days (TakeOver: XXV, perhaps?). Anyway, this was way more one-sided than his outing against Kassius Ohno. He hit all of his signature spots and went over in decisive fashion. It's worth noting that Drew Gulak could be seen watching from the stage, and I expect their eventual match to be a blast.

Vanessa Borne def. Jessie

I've only seen a little of Jessie since she was introduced in the 2018 Mae Young Classic. She had a solid showing here, but it's hard to tell how far she can go without knowing what her personality is like. Borne is still a work in progress, but at least she's gradually getting better. This was a perfectly fine showcase for her yet easily the weakest of the squashes on this show.

NXT Tag Team champions The Viking Raiders def. The Street Profits by Disqualification

I loved the last match these two teams had and this was well on its way to being equally awesome before it was cut short by interference from The Forgotten Sons. This would have been the perfect time to crown new tag team champs in Street Profits, but it looks like they may be waiting until TakeOver to do that in some sort of multi-team matchup. Viking Raiders laid their titles down on the mat and took a bow at the end of the episode, so this appears to be it for them in NXT. What a lame farewell for them. Oh well, here's hoping this means Street Profits are next in line for a run with the straps.

Overall Show

There weren't any memorable matches on this week's edition of NXT, but everything seemed to serve a purpose, even it wasn't directly related to TakeOver. By that I mean, if this was supposed to be a filler show, it was fun filler, because I largely enjoyed the episode on the whole.​ Three different talents built momentum and The Viking Raiders officially wrapped up their NXT tenure. I'm surprised more matches weren't announced for TakeOver since the event is in a little over two weeks, so the next two weeks worth of episodes should be strong sell for the show.