Shawn Michaels and his team brought the concept of WWE’s pandemic times Raw Underground to NXT last night (July 4), pitting Damon Kemp against Eddie Thorpe in a no-ropes environment designed to feel more “real” than a pro wrestling match.
In case you were wondering, Josh Barnett still thinks it’s a truncated version of the Bloodsport brand attached to his name for GCW. Barnett tweet quote Clip from what is now called NXT Underground to say:
Look, the fake blood sport is back.
Thank you for showing the world that this kind of thing has legs (we already knew that) and that even with 10x the money and production there’s still only one Josh Barnett: Bloodsport.
Disrespectful to Thorpe & Kemp, who threw at each other for 10 minutes before the former new Japanese wrestler won a triangle. But the clip Barnett tweeted is also what we’re highlighting – Thorpe’s corner man/coach (and Kemp’s real-life brother) Gable Stefson squashed four not-so-little men after the game.
NXT Underground is the Olympic Gold Medalist’s first ongoing storyline. There wasn’t much to complement it, but nothing we’ve seen from Steveson contradicts reports that it captures this whole sports entertainment thing so well in the Performance Center.
Plus he’s doing it while he’s back at the University of Minnesota for another year of NCAA competition, and trying to qualify for the upcoming Summer Olympics.
Let us know what you think of Gable’s Suplex City release, and on your way to the comments, check out our playlist of highlights from last night’s show – which includes more from the first edition of NXT Underground:
- Roxanne Perez vs Blair Davenport
- Baron Corbin burns his past
- Tyler Bate vs. Mustafa Ali
- Kaylani Jordan wins in her NXT debut
- Mr. Chase returns to lead the Chase U
- Eddie Thorpe defeated Damon Kemp in an NXT Underground match
- Judgment Day accepts Carmelo Hayes’ challenge to come to NXT
- Stacks informs Tony D’Angelo of the plan to release him
- Lyra Valkyria vs. Jassi Jane
- The Meta-Four believes Noam Dar needs to win back the NXT Heritage Cup
- Bronco Nima and Lucien Price are on their way
- Big Buddy Jaffe feels Von Wagner’s wrath
- The Creeds must leave NXT after losing to The Dyad
- Braun Breaker and Elijah Dragunov get into a massive brawl
For full results and the live blog for the July 4th episode of NXT. click here. To read a full recap and review of all of the night’s action, click here here.
Read more