WWE NXT Review - November 28, 2018

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch def. The Mighty

Lorcan and Burch have been riding a wave of momentum since Lorcan's return to the ring a month or so ago and they never cease to deliver, no matter who they're up against. The Mighty continue to suffer from a lack of character development, but at least they can always be counted on for a quality contest and this was a very enjoyable affair with a great pace. The babyfaces emerged victorious, but the heels got the last laugh with a post-match attack. The feud will continue.

EC3 def. Marcel Barthel

EC3 has had a weird year in NXT. He debuted with a bit of buzz behind him as a heel before randomly transitioning into a babyface role, missed TV time due to an injury, and now is back. The crowd adored him here, so that was encouraging. Barthel scored way more offense than he probably should have, mind you, but EC3 picked up the win in the end and cut a promo afterward about setting his sights on Undisputed Era (and specifically Bobby Fish) for putting him on the shelf last month.

Mia Yim def. Vanessa Borne

Borne remains a work in progress, which was evident based off how sloppy and choppy parts of this match were. It was perfectly serviceable on the whole, but if cleaned up a bit, it could have been better. On the bright side, Borne has the presence of a star and is improving each time I see her in action. Yim, on the other hand, is already experienced and looked good here, scoring the win and getting back on track following her recent loss to Bianca Belair.

Lars Sullivan def. Keith Lee

It's rare Sullivan faces someone his size, and Lee hasn't had any real competition since arriving in NXT. Thus, I was looking forward to this clash and I thought both guys brought their A-game here. It started out hot, and although it died down during the middle portion, they picked up steam again down the stretch and had a fun hoss battle. Both men had strong showings. I was hoping Lee would come out on top considering Sullivan is main roster bound, but apparently not. Will Sullivan finish out his NXT run and chase the NXT Championship as promised or was this the last time we'll see him on NXT TV?

Overall Show

This show was actually taped two days before TakeOver: WarGames II in San Jose, California, so this was essentially a house show taped for TV (I believe it was a last minute decision). I'm totally fine with it as long as these matches end up having storyline significance, and it looks like they will. Sullivan and Lee delivered in the main event spot while the tag teams kicked things off on a high note, EC3 returned to form, and Yim bounced back with a win. Tommaso Ciampa appearing is the only thing advertised for next week's episode as of now.