{"id":93180,"date":"2020-02-13T12:37:44","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T18:37:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=93180"},"modified":"2020-02-13T12:37:44","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T18:37:44","slug":"nxt-hits-misses-2-12-roderick-strong-calls-out-velveteen-dream-reed-vs-strong-candice-vs-larae-garza-vs-lio-rush-gargano-vs-grimes-cole-vs-kushida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/02\/13\/nxt-hits-misses-2-12-roderick-strong-calls-out-velveteen-dream-reed-vs-strong-candice-vs-larae-garza-vs-lio-rush-gargano-vs-grimes-cole-vs-kushida\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES 2\/12: Roderick Strong calls out Velveteen Dream, Reed vs. Strong, Candice vs. LaRae, Garza vs. Lio Rush, Gargano vs. Grimes, Cole vs. Kushida"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3671953447\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>\u2022Roderick Strong calls out Velveteen Dream &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> Last week, Dream returned to NXT after a few months away after an injury. When he returned, he came back with Strong\u2019s family painted onto his trunks with Dream in place of Roddy. Strong took exception to this and called Dream out. Bronson Reed was the one to answer that call, looking to get revenge on any member of Undisputed Era after their attack on him last week. Reed immediately challenged him to a match right\u2026 NOW! Decent and short opening segment, though I wish Strong would have demanded more than an apology from Dream.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Bronson Reed vs. Roderick Strong &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> I was really glad to see the former Jonah Rock actually storm the ring and look for retribution after getting attacked last week. They could have just had Roddy take him out last week and leave it at that. Nope, not NXT. They logically started a feud from a relatively small backstage spot and used it to spotlight a rising star. I firmly believe that Roderick Strong can have no less than a \u201c3-star match\u201d with anybody and I think he was the perfect opponent to begin to elevate Reed to the next level. Sure, Reed didn\u2019t end up victorious. But he absolutely held his own against one of NXT\u2019s top stars. At the end of the match, Dream\u2019s lights distracted Strong, but that didn\u2019t deter Strong from victory. Dream\u2019s promo on the video screen was brilliantly executed, as you\u2019d expect from the star. I\u2019m a little leery at this whole \u201cI\u2019m coming for your family, Roddy\u201d angle that they\u2019re introducing here. It was recently done on the main roster with both AJ Styles and Samoa Joe as the \u201cstalkers\u201d. I trust NXT to make this feel different. But at first glance, it feels like they reached into that infamous \u201cBox of gimmicks\u201d and pulled out this recycled storyline.<\/p>\n<p>A trophy, two Bros and a Convertible. You know what that means? ROAD TRIP! &#8211; HIT : Just when you don\u2019t think that Dunne and Riddle can get more ridiculous, they out-do themselves again. I love this type of comedy and the segment felt like it was something out of a 00s comedy flick. If they keep producing gold like this forever, please never split them up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Candace LaRae vs. Dakota Kai \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> This is a matchup I\u2019ve been waiting for since Wargames. LaRae looking to get some retribution for not just herself, but Teagan Nox. Early on, Kai nailed LaRae in the nose, giving her a pretty nasty nosebleed. I couldn\u2019t tell if it looked broken or not, but let\u2019s hope that\u2019s not the case. Accidents happen, especially when two competitors kick into high gear like this. Since her heel turn, Kai hasn\u2019t been booked quite as strong as I think we may have expected. Though it didn\u2019t kill the segment for me, I don\u2019t like the fact that she won the match after spending a couple minutes in a submission and then just rolled Nox up. That wasn\u2019t a very decisive victory, which I feel like Kai needed. What really surprised me though, was the crowd\u2019s reaction when Nox ran in to save LaRae. For a feud that has been so hot, the crowd barely popped for Nox, or at least that\u2019s how it came across on TV. Regardless, I\u2019m still anticipating the Nox vs. Kai street fight this weekend!<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Johnny Gargano vs. Cameron Grimes &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> About time we get to see Grimes back on TV, part of me just wishes it was against another opponent. Don\u2019t get me wrong, there wasn\u2019t anything wrong with this match if you look at it bell to bell! I very much enjoyed it. But Grimes was on TV every week being built up to be a credible heel. He tangled with three of the top stars in a Fatal Four Way about a month ago and then he\u2019s been in dark matches ever since. I hadn\u2019t forgotten about him, but I\u2019m sure a certain segment of the audience may have. I would have liked to see him get a strong win after not seeing him for so long. \u201cRamblin\u2019\u201d Nate\u2019s thought\u2019s aside, I really enjoyed watching these two get in the ring and do what they do best. If Grimes wasn\u2019t going to get the decisive win that I would have liked to see, this was still a decent way to get him back on TV. No, he didn\u2019t squash anybody like we\u2019re used to seeing. But Gargano is one of the major players in NXT and Grimes went toe to toe with him in a long and heated bout. Heck, I guess you could even make the argument that this loss to Gargano may have even elevated him more than a strong win over a mid to upper card act.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Pete, Don\u2019t be a silly goose &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> After Dunne and Riddle had their car towed in this last epic segment, we saw them in a goose paddle boat with the Dusty Cup attempting to get to Portland. Again, just keep these coming, please.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Robert Stone Brand Resurgence &#8211; MISS:<\/strong> A quick vignette for Robert Stone and Chelsea Green where they said they were going to make a resurgence in NXT. How can you make a resurgence when you still haven\u2019t surged in the first place?<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Angel Garza vs. Lio Rush &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> Monday Night Raw\u2019s Andrade Stand-in, Angel Garza and the gravity defying Lio Rush stepped into the ring and magic happened. Okay, maybe that\u2019s overstating it a bit. However, I really got into this match. Since I\u2019ve been writing this column, I\u2019ve sang Garza\u2019s praises and that will continue indefinitely. He\u2019s looked just as good on the main roster as he does in NXT. If this is his call-up, I\u2019m certainly going to miss writing about him each week. Rush winning and becoming the #1 contender in place of Garza for the cruiserweight title makes me believe that Garza\u2019s call up could be coming.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2682916693\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>I don\u2019t always call out individual spots and these two were relatively subtle, though I loved the psychology. Not often does Lio miss the \u201cCome Up\u201d. I don\u2019t ever think I\u2019ve seen him miss two consecutively. Maybe he has, but bear with me here. Both times, they were so well scouted by Garza. It really sold the idea, to me anyway, that Garza is truly a master technician inside the squared circle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Mark Henry breaks down the Lee-Dijakovic Feud \u2013 HIT:<\/strong> What a video package! This was a fantastic use of a beloved big man putting two rising behemoths over. When I think of great talkers, Mark Henry isn\u2019t the first that comes to mind, though he did kill it in his Hall Of Pain run if I remember correctly. But he really delivered his lines here in a way that still may have felt scripted, but still very natural. Loved everything about this segment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Bianca Belair vs. Santana Garrett &#8211; HIT:<\/strong> This match was over faster than it took both women to walk to the ring. Belair looked like an absolute beast just laying waste to Garrett. As she should have walking into Takeover Portland to face the NXT Women\u2019s Champion. Speaking of the champ, Ripley made her way to the ring after Bianca\u2019s victory, and Belair left her laying on the mat. In a matter of 5 minutes, Bianca elevated herself from badass to super badass.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Ciampa Cuts Impressive Go-Home Promo -HIT:<\/strong> In yet another brilliantly done backstage segment, Ciampa was shown in an auditorium at Full Sail watching footage from one year ago of him relinquishing the NXT Title in that very room. He cut an emotional, crazed and well put together promo recapping his road to recovery and his quest to reclaim his NXT Title. I was blown away by this promo, frankly. I knew Ciampa was a great talker. For me, this promo was approaching the same level as some of Mick Foley\u2019s best.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022Kushida vs. Adam Cole \u2013 60% HIT:<\/strong> Like Bronson Reed earlier in the night, Kushida was looking for revenge on Undisputed Era for taking Kushida out last week as well. From the get-go, I anticipated a Kushida loss, but any time I get to see him wrestle I won\u2019t complain. There wasn\u2019t a whole lot of heat going into the match other than knowing that these two would put on an entertaining 10-15 minutes and last week\u2019s attack. An entertaining match, indeed. As you would expect with these two talents, they put on a great main event. Ciampa emerged after Cole\u2019s victory and very slowly made his way down the ramp and into the ring. The two stared each other down and the crowd chanted \u201cPsycho Killer\u201d as the show went off the air. It was a little bit of a lackluster end to the go-home show, but I can\u2019t give it a miss. The match was too good.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/02\/12\/2-12-nxt-on-usa-report-wellss-report-on-lio-rush-vs-angel-garza-velveteen-dreams-next-move-takeover-portland-finishing-touches\/\">2\/12 NXT ON USA REPORT: Wells\u2019s report on Cole vs. Kushida, Grimes vs. Gargano, Lio Rush vs. Angel Garza<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2078389569\"><div id=\"pwtor-3756620210\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>\u2022Roderick Strong calls out Velveteen Dream &#8211; HIT: Last week, Dream returned to NXT after a few months away after an injury. When he returned, he came back with Strong\u2019s family painted onto his trunks <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/02\/13\/nxt-hits-misses-2-12-roderick-strong-calls-out-velveteen-dream-reed-vs-strong-candice-vs-larae-garza-vs-lio-rush-gargano-vs-grimes-cole-vs-kushida\/\" title=\"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES 2\/12: Roderick Strong calls out Velveteen Dream, Reed vs. Strong, Candice vs. LaRae, Garza vs. Lio Rush, Gargano vs. Grimes, Cole vs. Kushida\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":71573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2018\/12\/DreamVelveteenKellyWells_3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93181,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93180\/revisions\/93181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}