WRESTLING REVIEW: NXT Roadblock III

The last time Roadblock was on the WWE event circuit, Sasha Banks & Charlotte were competing for the Raw strap in an iron match competition. Today’s Roadblock was not as bloody as Sasha’s nose was a the end of that match, but it was still entertaining. The bill found the semi-finals of the Dusty Cup being enacted and an enhancement match sandwiched square in between.
Choo & Kai teamed in a hotly contested battle against crowd favorites Cora Jade & Raquel Gonzalez. The crowd was heavily in Choo’s corner as she opened the match with a crossface and then randomly went to sleep on the mat. A tag between Choo and Kai, led way to a multitude of kicks suffered by Jade from the trained feet of Dakota Kai. The opponents had canceled out each other, with Choo premiering a body slam that makes it look like she’s plopping down on to a bed, but really her opponent, in this case – the workhorse Cora Jade. An inside cradle between Jade and Choo became one of the more notable spots in the match, while the psychology of the match relied primarily on the meet up between Gonzalez and Kai’s reunion, finding Kai not being able to guilt herself out of teaming her double stomp with Choo’s DDT for the win.

Backstage during the match Toxic Attraction was basking in their golden moment as they took in the competition, but somewhere in that viewing, Dolin & Jayne found themselves ringside during the match assisting Kai and Choo with their advancement in their win, with a pipe from Dolin striking Gonzalez to make it tow where she was fighting at one hundred percent. For a measure of payback, Jade ran up on Mandy Rose, the Toxic Attraction ringleader, in the green room like she was still in the ring successfully attempting to counter a bodyslam from Choo with a Meteroa. But this wasn’t enough for the viewers who were behind this team thanks to all time poured into their training montages and the overall build of Jade’s character specifically. As the program continued, Tiffany Stratton became involved in an enhancement match against Fallon Henley. With the blonde still green, Henley was able to pull off an impressive arm drag early on while Stratton focused on rearview maneuvers that were not as devastating as they could be since she lacked the body type of former Smackdown Women’s champion Naomi. Stratton continued to look like a rookie throughout barely pulling off a body press and a fireman’s carry that took more out of her than her opponent. So it was a sign of good favor when Henley pulled off the upset with a drive by from Sarray and was escorted up the ramp with her faction. An overall disappointing enhancement match, since the characters featured outside were more interesting than the competitors inside the ring. Further interest were put on outside action with promos that now see Lash Legend hosting her own talk show setting up a feud after antagonizing her first guest Nikita Lyons. It’s great to see Legend follow the steps of Piper, Jericho, and The Miz but I’m ready to see her get back in the ring, preferably in a program opposite of or teamed up with the admirable upstart Amari Miller.

The other promo featured further drama from Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta setting up a feud to follow up their quarter finals Dusty Cup loss which, is for the best, since Indi’s star is dwarfing Pirotta’s, and her ascent shouldn’t be relegated to just the tag division. Indi Hartwell is ready for a single’s run. Ask KLR, ask Io – former NXT women’s champs who teamed up this week to face the KC’s (Cantazaro x Carter) who hopped into the ring with light up football pads ready for war. These two are a sight to see : from Carter doing to the floss to Cantazaro putting a running knee in the face of the former NXT UK Women’s champ. Really these two showed out the whole match with Cantazaro putting on a clinic this time instead of her partner Carter who is usually the focus of the attention – hopping over the ropes with every tag in no matter the time of the match, Cantazaro finally earned my attention which isn’t easy, given that her teammate is The Jamaican – Philipina Spitfire who is a main reason as to why WWE.com has a photo division. From turning pin attempts into faceplants and countering devastating slaps with kicks, Cantazaro put it down while Carter held her down like a team befitting of the Dusty Cup should, still this team ended up taking the L within this competition for the second year in a row to a makeshift group of previous champions. The effort was valiant but wasn’t enough, just like the entirety of this return of Roadblock.

In every match for the women’s division the wrong competitors went over. I do not see stars out of the winners of tonight’s event that can carry over to a call-up other than the proven talent in Io Shirai. The Dusty Cup finals would have made more sense as well here too, since Roadblock is technically a premium event. Why two semi-finals matches and an enhancement match were put here is beyond me, since the men’s division had several title matches during the same event. With Stand & Deliver on the horizon, the WWE Universe can only cross their fingers that this Roadblock is the only blockage NXT Creative will experience for the remainder of the season.

Score : 2/5