Velveteen Dream Weekend!

It's that time of the year where eleven thousand hours of wrestling take place over the course of Wrestlemania Weekend and better men and women than I try to take all of it in. Last year I was on a real wrestling high going into the weekend and watched a fair amount of stuff, including NXT, Matt Riddle's Bloodsport and the fourteen hour Wrestlemania show itself. This year I've barely had time to watch anything (and haven't for a few weeks), but obviously I was checking out any Velveteen Dream. I'd like to give some Bloodsport a go as well even if I don't know when I'll actually have time. I'll also watch Wrestlemania tonight because I guess why not at this point (aside from it being stupid long).


Velveteen Dream v Matt Riddle (NXT Takeover: New York, 4/5/19)

I haven't really paid much attention to Riddle since he's been in NXT. My commitment to following along with any promotion at this point never lasts very long and so I might've missed something worthwhile. So this might not be his best match in NXT, but I will make the very bold claim based on pretty much nothing other than this very match that he won't have many better. I'll watch anything with Dream, so I was pretty hyped and it didn't disappoint. The early parts in Velveteen Dream matches will always put a smile on my face and I liked Riddle being as chilled as always, having fun taking Dream over with tricked out submissions and generally having a good time doing what he does. None of Dream's horse shit was working on him and Riddle gyrating his hips while he was tossing him around was amusing. Then Dream stomped on Riddle's bare foot and that was that. He pissed him off and as soon as Riddle took over - with the awesome German suplex on the floor - he just went on a tear. This was such a cool Matt Riddle performance, the way he dropped the breezy attitude and tried to mangle Dream. He flirted once or twice with his heel side as well, throwing some mean strikes before releasing on a rope break, punting Dream in the chest, doing everything with a scowl. Dream's Hulk-Up stuff is obviously carny as fuck, but I'll always get a kick out of it and I liked how it led to the double ax handle to the floor, which he'd tried earlier before Riddle grabbed him and took over. The finishing run never got excessive at all and it meant that, outside the finish itself, the biggest spot led to the biggest nearfall. That German/Flying Bro sequence was incredible and Dream took the German almost full Kobashi style right on his cranium. Finish itself was great too. Riddle can grab and submit a guy from anywhere, but Dream is resourceful and the champ for a reason. He weathered the storm, took everything Riddle threw at him and managed to pull it out in the clutch. You get the sense there's a bigger match in them as well, and that's pretty refreshing when just about every match these days shoots for epic first time out. I can't remember the last time I was disappointed by a Velveteen Dream match.