{"id":4844,"date":"2017-05-25T06:53:07","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T10:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/?p=4844"},"modified":"2017-05-25T06:53:07","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T10:53:07","slug":"nxt-report-card-52417-velveteen-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/05\/25\/nxt-report-card-52417-velveteen-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT Report Card: (5\/24\/17) – Velveteen Dream Comes True"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you miss NXT<\/em><\/strong> this week? Well, I\u2019m here to make it all better. It\u2019s the weekly\u00a0NXT\u00a0<\/em>Report Card<\/em>, right here at Last Word on Pro Wrestling.<\/p>\n

So, what in the world<\/em> happened with\u00a0DIY<\/strong>\u00a0in the closing moments of\u00a0NXT Takeover: Chicago<\/strong><\/em>? Additionally, was\u00a0Bobby Roode<\/strong> able to retain his NXT Championship and hold off\u00a0Hideo Itami<\/strong>? Finally, what did\u00a0Velveteen Dream<\/strong> have in store for his debut?\u00a0Let\u2019s find out, shall we?<\/p>\n

NXT Report Card: (5\/24\/17) – Velveteen Dream\u00a0Comes True<\/h2>\n

Match: Aleister Black vs. Curt Hawkins<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Opening up the first post-Takeover: Chicago<\/em> show was\u00a0Aleister Black<\/strong>. Once again, Black’s entrance was absolutely chilling as he made his way to the ring. This week,\u00a0Curt Hawkins<\/strong> had the displeasure\u00a0of facing Black in the ring. Hawkins is still keeping up with this\u00a0Chuck Norris-esque\u00a0gimmick, and I’m not quite sure why. One thing\u00a0is<\/em> for sure though; Curt Hawkins is no Chuck Norris.<\/p>\n

This one was over quickly and painlessly. Well, unless your name is Curt Hawkins. After a few devastating kicks, the man formerly known as\u00a0Tommy End<\/strong> reigned supreme. With one powerful\u00a0Black Mass kick, Black was done with this match. Maybe it’s time for Curt Hawkins to Face the Fact: maybe WWE just doesn’t like him that much.<\/p>\n

Segment Grade: B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Video Recap: D.I.Why?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Anyone that watched the closing match of\u00a0Takeover: Chicago<\/em> knows exactly what happened here. If you didn’t, I’ll fill you in. In short,\u00a0Tommaso Ciampa<\/strong> attacked\u00a0Johnny Gargano<\/strong> after the match, ending\u00a0DIY<\/strong>. It was bound to happen, but this heel turn might be the slowest burn of all time. In any case, this segment gets an A+ from me on its name alone.<\/p>\n

Segment Grade: A+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Match: Velveteen Dream vs. Robert Anthony<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Oh my god, this guy is hilarious.\u00a0Velveteen Dream might be the most flamboyant star on the yellow brand today, and it’s not really even close. As with all new\u00a0NXT<\/em> stars, Dream pulled no punches in his opening match. Along with fantastic poses throughout his match, Velveteen Dream was actually brutal. Following an elbow drop with an\u00a0astounding vertical leap,\u00a0Robert Anthony<\/strong> was finished. Don’t let the purple paisley tights fool you; Velveteen Dream is here to stay, and he is serious.<\/p>\n

Please, please<\/em> let him feud and\/or tag team with\u00a0Aleister Black one day. The “polar opposites” dynamic is too hilarious to ignore. Either way, I’m really excited to see more of the Dream, and yellow brand fans should be too.<\/p>\n

Segment Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Wesley Blake<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Logistically, did\u00a0Wesley Blake<\/strong> ever stand a real chance against Drew McIntyre<\/strong>? Well, probably not. McIntyre is on a rampage right now\u00a0and has much bigger fish to fry than Wesley Blake. However, that didn’t stop this main event from being actually really good. So let’s get into it.<\/p>\n

Drew McIntyre, since coming back to the WWE, is a\u00a0completely different wrestler. Since moving on from his “Chosen One” gimmick, McIntyre has become more agile\u00a0and fun to watch. In this bout, he showcased his supreme strength and athleticism. Starting off with some stiff slaps (followed with “Woo!”), McIntyre was ready to give Blake what for. However, Blake was able to fight back and actually gain the upper hand. Now, I give both Blake and McIntyre a lot of credit for what I’m about to say. Even when McIntyre was down and somewhat out, he always looked tough. That’s a lot of credit to McIntyre’s selling and Blake’s style.<\/p>\n

Getting back to the match, McIntyre eventually retook the upper hand and headed for the top rope. Again, something he\u00a0rarely<\/em> did back in 2010 and 2011. Following a downright massive powerbomb, this one started to pick up. What followed was ten minutes of incredible back and forth action. I couldn’t count how many times momentum changed between these two in the final ten minutes alone. Wesley Blake showcased his resilience throughout this match, but in the end, it just wasn’t enough. After a thunderous single leg Yakuza, Drew McIntyre walked out victorious.<\/p>\n

Segment Grade: A<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Hundred Words or Less<\/h3>\n

For those who said, \u201cToo long; didn\u2019t read\u201d, I offer you this. Tonight\u2019s\u00a0NXT<\/em> in one hundred words or less.<\/p>\n

As with every post-Takeover<\/em> show, this one basically rebooted the\u00a0NXT<\/em> universe. Aleister Black once agained emerged as a supreme competitor, and he should absolutely team with Velveteen Dream. Speaking of the Dream, he debuted tonight and was…menacingly hilarious? In our main event, we saw Drew McIntyre and Wasley Blake put on one hell of a show. This show was something of a\u00a0Takeover<\/em> recap, but for what it was, it was quite satisfying. The composite grade for tonight’s\u00a0NXT<\/em> is a solid A-.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, what in the world happened with DIY in the closing moments of NXT Takeover: Chicago? Additionally, what did Velveteen Dream have in store for his debut?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1787,"featured_media":4962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,3],"tags":[433,870,156,686,116,832,117,868,869,47],"class_list":["post-4844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wwe","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","tag-aleister-black","tag-curt-hawkins","tag-drew-galloway","tag-drew-mcintyre","tag-nxt","tag-nxt-report-card","tag-pro-wrestling","tag-velveteen-dream","tag-wesley-blake","tag-wwe"],"modified_by":"Rich Iaconi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1787"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}