I'm quite late to this party, but I've finally caught up with NXT Worlds Collide, a notable event in the brand's history since it effectively marks the end of NXT UK thanks to three title unification matches. Here are my thoughts on each match. Carmelo Hayes (c) vs. Ricochet (NXT North American Championship match) Worlds Collide is not just about NXT and NXT UK clashing, as main roster wrestlers like Ricochet make a return to the brand to challenge for titles. In this case, the former NA champ is looking to hold the title again, and he has to beat the A-Champ to get there. Given the talent involved, I expected this to be a high-octane affair, and that it certainly was. Both wrestlers showcased their impressive agility and high-flying prowess, threw out big moves (and crafty counters to said moves), and the two even get into strike exchanges. One particular moment that I enjoyed was both Hayes and Ricochet both going for springboard crossbodies and crashing into each other. In the end, Hayes retains his title, but only barely, as it took a quick inside cradle to pin the former champ. It certainly helped that Trick Williams interfered on Hayes' behalf, though. Great opener. NXT Tag Team Champions Creed Brothers vs. Pretty Deadly vs. NXT UK Tag Team Champions Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. Gallus (Fatal Four-Way Title Unification Elimination match) Here's the first of the NXT and NXT UK title unification matches, and it's got a whopping four teams in it. On the American side of champs, we have the Creed Brothers (who have impressed ever since their debut in NXT 2.0), while we have Briggs and Jensen for the UK champs (they went across the pond during the twilight of NXT UK and managed to win gold in the process). The other two teams are former NXT UK Tag Team champs themselves, so everyone makes a good case as the unified champions. This was absolute chaos from the very start, with a brawl breaking out before the bell even rings, people not participating in the match beating the shit out of each other, two teams getting eliminated relatively quickly, and those two teams running back out to brawl (inadvertently knocking out the ref). After all the pandemonium, it really seemed like the Creeds were poised to win, but fellow Diamond Mine member Damon Kemp betrays Julius Creed, which allows Pretty Deadly to become the unified tag team champions. NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose vs. Blair Davenport vs. NXT UK Women's Champion Meiko Satomura (Triple Threat Title Unification match) Next, we have the Women's title, which sees the close to 30-year veteran Meiko Satomura face off against Mandy Rose (whose reign is closely approaching a year) and Blair Davenport (a somewhat surprising addition to the match). Particularly, I'm intrigued by the prospect of Mandy Rose and Meiko Satomura meeting in the ring. I really enjoyed this match, and I thought all three wrestlers got to showcase their skills with impressive moves, neat sequences, and surprising near-falls. In the end, it's Mandy Rose who comes out on top as the unified NXT Women's Champion. I'm still of the mind that Rose's title reign has gone on long enough (and I say that because I feel like she should have returned to the main roster a while ago), but I was quite impressed by her performance in this match and think she definitely earned the win. Katana Chance & Kayden Carter (c) vs. Nikki ASH & Doudrop (NXT Women's Tag Team Championship match) We get two more main roster returns in the form of the former Nikki Cross and the former Piper Niven (who are apparently tag team partners now, I guess). They're here to challenge the champs Chance and Carter, whose reigns are only on its beginning stages. Not a lot of build for this one, so I can't say much. This one was kind of weird. Most of the match plays out like your standard tag match ("heels" have control for most of the match, underdog faces weather the storm), but when it seems like the challengers have the match won, Toxic Attraction interferes.... on the champions' behalf? Chance and Carter retain on the distraction, but it's odd since they're the babyfaces and actually feuded with Toxic Attraction. Not sure where this story's going. NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. NXT UK Champion Tyler Bate (Title Unification Match) For our main event, we have the rising star Bron Breakker facing a formidable opponent in Tyler Bate, the first and last NXT UK Champion. Both wrestlers have been phenomenal performers and they're both quite young, so the match in itself is exciting without the title. As expected, this was a great main event, and both Bate and Breakker were at the top of their game here. Breakker's explosive offense and surprising agility meshed well with Bate's high-flying prowess and astonishing power. It was a hard-fought contest and the two felt evenly matched for most of the match, but it's Breakker who unifies the title with one of the sickest spears I've ever seen. Though I only really followed NXT UK on the side, it's still sad to see the brand go after producing some fantastic matches and giving us an amazing lineage of champions for all its titles. It's unfortunate that only one NXT UK representative won on this card, but hopefully the talent from that roster gets some time to shine on NXT 2.0 in the future.
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June 2024
Derryck
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