Kairi Sane vs. Nikki Cross vs. Candice LeRae, WWE NXT (7/18/2018)

 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.

***

The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross, WWE WrestleMania 36 Night One

This was for the Warriors’ WWE Womens Tag Team Titles.

Wrestling without a crowd is especially weird and noticeable when it’s not good. It’s ESPECIALLY noticeable when they do all of the big WWE taunting and the theatrics and there’s nobody to react to them. This was generally alright. I definitely want to say that it wasn’t a bad match. It’s still very weird to see Kairi trying to play a heel, but she’s a foreigner in WWE, so I’m not sure how else it was ever going to end up. She does pretty well here with the mannerisms, but the entire act feels wasteful because like, jesus, you didn’t sign and hoard these talents to do evil foreigner character work, right? Kairi Sane was one of the best babyfaces in wrestling, so like Sami Zayn, she is doing this because nobody in WWE can just be likeable alone. Being nice is bad. Anyways, the match is alright for the most part. The lack of outside sound lets Kairi and Asuka’s hard shots stand out a little more. Alexa Bliss does as good of a job cosplaying a good wrestler as like half of the guys who have done Takeover main events in the last two or three years. They do a big moves finishing run, and it’s also fine! Bliss hits Da Bliss Dat Don’t Miss on Sane to win the titles. Not much of a pop for that one.

This is a match that might have been elevated by a hot crowd, but

**1/2