The Dog's Jarmies

Johnny Gargano (c) VS KUSHIDA - NXT North American Championship 2/14/2021

CJD: It's going to be hard for me to put my thoughts about this match into words. There's a lot of really great work here. KUSHIDA brings some of what I like best out of Gargano, his mean streak, his World Of Sport influence (without straight up stealing spots). They definitely got too cute for my tastes at times but the good stuff here had too much wow factor for me to skip sharing it with you. I've been wanting to catch up on some of KUSHIDA's work in NXT and even though I have no idea why he's dressed for a street fight, even though this is sterile piped-in audio pandemic production value hell, I still enjoyed seeing him do his thing with a very game opponent. I'm curious how you'll feel about this one.

JJZ: Well alright, I was very excited to sink my teeth into this. I miss watching Kushida first of all and I haven't watched very much if any NXT in the year 2021 so I'm very very hype on this. NXT really really made Johnny a better all around wrestler. He looks so polished in this match. Just smooth and confident. Now, I haven't watched a Kushida match in forever. I mean, I forgot his moveset. I was popping like a little kid on Christmas for his stuff. The arm work alone was a teachable moment for the young guys in the back. Pair that with John John's selling and your getting your money's worth with this match alone. Finishing sequence was so well done. I was pulling for Kushida the whole way. I got very invested in this one.