There was a to of quality matches, but the show is coming into its own in terms of developing more storyline. It certainly wasn’t passable, but this was more of a building block episode than a clear-cut winner.
Matches:
Lio Rush vs. NXT Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak: Gulak plummeted Rush with strikes and submissions, but Rush got the win with the Frog Splash and Final Hour. Simply put, this may have been the best Cruiserweight match since the inception of 205 Live.
Rhea Ripley vs. Aliyah: This was a pure squash as Ripley won with the Facebuster variation.
Breezango: Tyler Breeze and Fandango vs. The Forgotten Sons: Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler w/Jaxon Ryker: Ryker got involved and although Fandango took him out, Cutler and Blake nailed him with The Memory Remains for the win.
Boa vs. Cameron Grimes: Grimes got the quick win with the Double Stomp, but Killian Dane was on the scene and destroyed Boa further as Grimes disappeared.
NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (Non-TItle): Strong won with the Strong Hold, but Tommaso Ciampa hit the ring- while Velveteen Dream hit the iron, making sure The Undisputed Era knew they were watching.
Dakota Kai vs. Bianca Belair: Belair won with the KOD and then let Rhea Ripley know she wasn’t afraid of her.
NXT UK Champion Walter vs. Kushida (Non-Title): Amazing match that saw Kushida kick out of the Powerbumb, but succumb to the Rip-chord Lariat.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
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