5 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (4 Sept)
4. The Stick Of Truth
WWE.com
Promotion of Velveteen Dream's upcoming encounter with Kona Reeves was interrupted by a quality car park assault on Candice LeRae by Io Shirai, theoretically continuing their war beyond TakeOver: Toronto's show-stealing banger.
No bad thing, but this simplistic kendo stick sh*tkicking deserves particular praise for how it was slotted into the show. Economical television because of economical restraints, this sort of short sharp shock hopefully won't be lost when NXT increases by an hour.
It was impossible to watch this and not want more from these two, which should be the stated aim of any vignette. As with everything these two have done so far, this was another success.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
