January 9, 2019 – Winter Park, Florida
Johnny Gargano comes out to let us know that he’s going to turn his roller coaster career into a straight shot upwards by winning matches and championships. He still hates Tommaso Ciampa, but he liked Ciampa’s idea that he fight Ricochet for the North American Championship. Ricochet comes out and says he’s game to defend the title. Ciampa comes out to stir the pot, but he’s quickly interrupted by Amsterdam Black who beats the crap out of him. In all the chaos, Gargano superkicks Ricochet. This angle is gold.
Bianca Belair def. Jesus Cross
Belair beat Cross in 10:45 with the KOB. I CANNOT TELL YOU how happy i am that they’re blowing off this rivalry, though sadly it’s been months since they had their two finish-less matches. This was mostly on part with their other matches, and ending with a decisive victory for Belair was the right call going into her title match at Takeover. She looked very convincing and dominant here. It was great storytelling to let her finally get this win, overcoming one last obstacle before going after Shayna Baszler. ***
The Street Profits are going to come for the gold in 2019. Their outdoor pomo here goes on way too long.
Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel def. Hector Kunsman & Stanley Watts
I don’t review squashes, but what’s not to like about the European Union? If they’re not going to be at Takeover: Blackpool, they might as well get some shine on the flagship show. They win with a powerbomb/German suplex combo on Kunsman in 4:32. N/A
Ricochet says Gargano has superkicked away any respect he had for him. Now he wants to take him out. Later, Keith Lee says he’s pissed at Kassius Ohno for attacking his friend Matt Riddle after their match, and he’s going to take out that frustration on Ohno next week.
Adam Cole def. EC3
Cole beat EC3 with a knee to the head in 7:55 after a distraction from his stablemates. You gotta hand it to the Undisputed Era; they sell like crazy to make EC3 look good. This wasn’t quite as good as the first match between these two, but was a couple steps above EC3’s match against Bobby Fish. The finish was pretty cheap, but bad finishes plagued EC3’s entire NXT run so why should his last match in the company be any different? The Undisputed Era beats up EC3 after the match until the War Raiders make the save. Earlier in the evening, William Regal had named the Raiders the number one contenders to the tag titles at Takeover, and the viking boy s dominate here. ***
There was very little filler this week, but aside from the opening promo there wasn’t anything on this episode that was must-see. That said, you must-see how the Gargano/Ricochet/Ciampa/Black angle is playing out.
