This was a #1 Contender’s Match.
Nobody is reinventing the wheel here or redefining how a triple threat match can work, certainly not in 2018 NXT. It is what it is. You might not be able to call every single move or the exact order of things, but it is more or less the three way match you know, with all of the bits and/or tropes you would expect.
I don’t especially care all that much.
The thing is that it is still good as hell.
Candice, Kairi, and Nikki have enough cool moves and various differences and idiosyncrasies to keep the match interesting for the ten or fifteen minutes it lasts. They have a lovely little fireworks show, laid out (and probably edited) perfectly so as to always stay interesting and be filled with cool things happening, and without any of the many stupid things this company could foist upon them showing up to ruin what gets built largely on the back of pure talent and skill. Not exactly the greatest example of what the machine itself can do, but a great example of the sort of thing it ought to be doing constantly with a roster this great, simply giving them time and getting the hell out of the way.
Kairi succeeds with the In-Sane Elbow (god, I know), breaking up Candice’s pin on Cross, and covering LeRae for the win.
A pleasant little chunk of good ass wrestling TV.
HANDWERK 