{"id":67218,"date":"2020-04-22T12:10:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/?p=67218"},"modified":"2020-04-22T12:10:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T16:10:20","slug":"preview-nxt-4-22-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/04\/22\/preview-nxt-4-22-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: NXT (4\/22\/20)"},"content":{"rendered":"

WWE NXT<\/strong> returns to USA Network with what appears to be a stacked card.\u00a0 In recent weeks, the black and yellow brand has promoted events with just two matches.\u00a0 This week, there appears to be much more and it looks like a fun night of wrestling is in store.\u00a0 Though the empty arena drains energy from these shows, there is no denying the quality of matches on display.\u00a0 Without further ado, let’s dive right into NXT.<\/p>\n

Jack Gallagher vs El Hijo Del Fantasma<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"NXT\"<\/p>\n

The tournament to crown an interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion kicked off last week.\u00a0 Current Champion, Jordan Devlin<\/strong>, is stranded in the United Kingdom as a result of the lockdown.\u00a0 Therefore, an interim champion is necessary to see the title defended during his absence.\u00a0 Last week’s opener saw cruiserweight division ever-present, Akira Tozawa<\/strong>, ascend to the next round.\u00a0 This week’s bout should prove to be interesting.\u00a0 Jack Gallagher<\/strong> has adopted a meaner, nastier approach in the ring.\u00a0 Looking more like MMA fighter Conor McGregor<\/strong> than the umbrella wiedling gentleman, Gallagher has new-found focus.\u00a0 Meanwhile, his opponent is the debuting El Hijo Del Fantasma<\/strong>.\u00a0 An excellent luchador down in Mexico, and with Lucha Underground<\/strong> as King Cuerno<\/strong>, Fantasma is no slouch in the ring.\u00a0 Despite his new look, Fantasma must get a debut victory here.<\/p>\n

KUSHIDA vs Tony Nese<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The next match in the cruiserweight tournament sees KUSHIDA<\/strong> facing Tony Nese<\/strong>.\u00a0 Both men are exceptionally talented in the ring and this could very well prove to be match of the night.\u00a0 Nese is fresh off two wins over Danny Burch<\/strong> and Oney Lorcan<\/strong> on 205 Live<\/strong>.\u00a0 Meanwhile, former six-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and NJPW<\/strong> veteran, KUSHIDA, is on a five match winning-run.\u00a0 There have been shouts that KUSHIDA has not quite been booked like the star he is in NXT.\u00a0 However, this could all change in this tournament.\u00a0 A bonified favorite to win the whole thing, expect him to grab a win here.<\/p>\n

Drake Maverick vs Jake Atlas<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"NXT\"<\/p>\n

A week ago, Drake Maverick<\/strong>‘s WWE dream came to a crushing end<\/a>.\u00a0 A part of the list of releases on “Black Wednesday”, Maverick – along with the likes of Rusev<\/strong> <\/a>and Zack Ryder<\/strong> <\/a>– was let go.\u00a0 Therefore, Maverick will see this tournament as one last opportunity to prove his worth to the WWE brass.\u00a0 In Jake Atlas<\/strong>, he has an opponent on a two match losing streak.\u00a0 Atlas’ most recent defeat came at the hands of Dexter Lumis<\/strong>, on April 1.\u00a0 However, there is no denying the talent of the young smiler.\u00a0 This is going to be an emotional match – expect Atlas’ smile to be erased, one way or another.<\/p>\n

Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez vs Tegan Nox & Shotzi Blackheart<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last week, Shotzi Blackheart<\/strong> came to the aid of Tegan Nox <\/strong>after her victory over Raquel Gonzalez<\/strong>.\u00a0 This week, Blackheart and “The Girl with the Shiniest Wizard” face off against Dakota Kai<\/strong> and Raquel Gonzalez in tag team action.\u00a0 Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox have been embroiled in this heated feud for months now.\u00a0 Since November, the former friends have been involved in high-level matches – including an excellent street fight at NXT TakeOver: Portland<\/strong><\/em> back in February.\u00a0 Whilst this is yet another chapter in their distinguished feud, Blackheart and Gonzalez must not be ignored.\u00a0 Blackheart has established herself as a star on NXT in recent months.\u00a0 Gonzalez is only going to get better with time – especially working with these three women.\u00a0 This should be another fun match in this chapter of the Nox versus Kai story.<\/p>\n

Finn Balor vs Velveteen Dream<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last week, The Velveteen Dream<\/strong> referred to Adam Cole<\/strong> as the greatest NXT Champion in history.\u00a0 This, of course, offended Finn Balor<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Prince held the title for 292 days and his run as champion is often cited as a sort of NXT “Golden Age”.\u00a0 That era of NXT featured the likes of Neville<\/strong> (now PAC<\/strong>), Kevin Owens<\/strong>, Sami Zayn<\/strong>, Sasha Banks<\/strong>, Bayley<\/strong> and so on.\u00a0 Dream’s era of NXT is certainly close to that level, featuring the likes of himself, Johnny Gargano<\/strong>, Tommaso Ciampa<\/strong>, Matt Riddle<\/strong>, Rhea Ripley<\/strong> and Io Shirai<\/strong>, to name a few.\u00a0 Therefore, Dream’s words have perhaps unintentionally created an inter-generation war.\u00a0 With Charlotte<\/strong> – another from Balor’s era – reigning supreme as NXT Women’s Champion once more, perhaps The Prince sees this as an opportunity to cement his own claim to his former throne.\u00a0 This should be an excellent main event to cap off a must-see NXT show.\u00a0 Make sure not to miss it!<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to the\u00a0Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0 WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE and NXT content on the\u00a0WWE Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WWE NXT returns to USA Network with what appears to be a stacked card.\u00a0 In recent weeks, the black and yellow brand has promoted events with just two matches.\u00a0 This week, there appears to be much more and it looks like a fun night of wrestling is in store.\u00a0 Though the empty arena drains energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":67223,"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":[2,4,3],"tags":[2042,2092,111,190,116,3207,3086,4616,75,47],"class_list":["post-67218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-dakota-kai","tag-drake-maverick","tag-finn-balor","tag-kushida","tag-nxt","tag-shotzi-blackheart","tag-tegan-nox","tag-the-velveteen-dream","tag-triple-h","tag-wwe"],"modified_by":"Niklas George","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67218","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\/2482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}