Hey, it's NXT again! Yeah, it's been a while since I reviewed an episode of NXT. That's because I didn't get around to watching two weeks ago and last week was just a recap show, so I didn't bother. But now, I'm gonna get back into the swing of things. Here are my thoughts on this week's NXT.
- This week, NXT was taped at WrestleMania Axxess
- Austin Aries vs Angelo Dawkins-Here's all I can really gather from Angelo Dawkins: He wears two headbands, does this weird stirring gesture with his hand, and has a confusing nickname. He calls himself "The Curse of Greatness". What does that even mean? He's too good? Whatever, this guy has always annoyed me. I remember seeing him a few years ago on NXT dancing around and doing nothing entertaining. When Tom Phillips asks why Dawkins wears two headbands, Graves responds with "Because he can", which Phillips correctly responds to with "So can I, but I don't. Dawkins does a gutwrench takedown which makes the headbands immediately fly off. Dawkins does his stirring thing at Aries, so Aries does it back at him with one of his headbands and throws it at him. Aries uses his speed to gain control before locking in a headlock, but Dawkins uses his size advantage to fight out and take him down with a shoulder tackle. Aries regains control with two arm drags, Dawkins tries to counter with headscissors, but Aries does a handstand and escapes, followed by a dropkick. The ref stops Aries from getting to Dawkins in the corner, which allows Dawkins to land a strong strike and take control again. Dawkins beats down Aries until he misses a corkscrew corner splash, which allows Aries to take control with forearms. Aries runs wild with a neckbreaker in the ropes followed by a missile dropkick, a dropkick into the corner, and finishes with a rolling discuss elbow for the win. Fine match, nothing special
- Backstage Samoa Joe gets interviewed. Joe says that nothing has changed despite losing to Finn Balor for the second time, and that he will beat Apollo Crews next week.
- No Way Jose (yes, that's his real ring name) debuts next week.
- Alexa Bliss vs Tessa Blanchard-Hey, it's Tully Blanchard's daughter! Bliss takes control with a belly-to-back takedown into a front facelock, which Blanchard reverses into a hammerlock. The two do a lot of reversals together before Blanchard hits a shoulder tackle followed by a body slam. Bliss takes the advantage with a stiff forearm and beats down Blanchard. Bliss stands on Blanchard and stomps on her head as she shuts down an NXT chant. After a sloppy snapmare, Bliss locks in a headlock. Hilariously, Bliss is so short she has go on her tip toes to reach Blanchard's head
God, she is so adorable. Blanchard rolls up Bliss for a two count, and then blocks a slap from Bliss, yelling "I DON'T THINK SO!" before running wild. Bliss cuts off the comeback by straight up grabbing her by the throat. At this point, all I could think was how hilarious/amazing would it be if barely 5 foot tall Alexa Bliss started chokeslamming women. Tell me that wouldn't be the best thing ever. Also, look at Alexa's face when she grabs her neck
Jesus Christ. She looks like she's about to straight murder this girl. Sadly, she doesn't chokeslam Blanchard, instead just throwing her to the ground and hitting the Glitz Flip for the win. OK match, much better than Bliss' match against Crazy Mary Dobson last week. I think Bliss is a much better character than she is a wrestler. Watch her after the match when she keeps making the referee raise her hand after she won. Look at how great her facial expressions always are. She's awesome, but not great in the ring.
- Backstage, Finn Balor gets interviewed by Dasha Fuentes. Finn says he'll fight anyone for his title. He also says he'll stay around tonight for his NXT TV debut, and says he knows Nakamura will want the his NXT Championship, and he's ready for him.
- Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano vs The Vaudevillians-Just a little entrance botch to start this match. The lights come on in the wrong order for the Vaudevillians, so when the TitanTron guy says "Aiden English", Gotch's light flashes, and vice versa. Interestingly, Gargano and Ciampa are still teaming up, despite Ciampa playing more towards being heel in the last few months, while Gargano was still a face. Gargano and Gotch start off with Gargano taking control with an arm drag. Gargano continues to work around Gotch until getting stopped with a forearm. English tags in and locks in a wristlock, but Gargano fights out, reverses a corner shoulder tackle, and hits a roll up kick for a two. Ciampa tags in and hits a big clothesline for a two count. Ciampa and Gargano work together with Ciampa taking out English with a knee, sending him to the outside, followed by a suicide dive by Gargano. The Vaudevillians regain control and work over Gargano, specifically his left arm, before Gargano fights out makes the tag to Ciampa. Ciampa runs wild hitting a rope hung STO on English for a two. Gotch makes the blind tag and almost rolls up Ciampa, but he kicks out and is able to lock in the bridging arm bar for the submission win. Good match, great to see Ciampa and Gargano get the win. Odd how they showed this match where the Vaudevillians lost considering they just got called up to the main roster
- Backstage, Tye Dillinger is checking himself in the mirror when Alex Reyes approaches him for an interview. He says Nakamura won't be able to dance is way into NXT, and he'll be sending Nakamura back to Japan. He leaves, then pops back up, looks over Brennen, and gives him a 3
- Tucker Knight vs Baron Corbin-Before the match, Corey Graves gives the ring announcer greif for not announcing Corbin as the winner of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner. That's funny, because since this show was tapped at WrestleMania Axxess, WrestleMania hasn't happened yet, so he had won the Battle Royal yet, and Corey Graves had to cover for why it wasn't acknowledged. Corbin demolishes Knight for the majority of the match until Knight hits an impressive drop kick. Despite being 300+ pounds, Knight moves around very nimbly. Knight's come back gets cut off quickly and Corbin hits the End of Days for the win. Short, nothing match.
- They show an "Earlier Today" clip of American Alpha and Enzo & Cass. Enzo & Cass throw down the challenge for a match with American Alpha, which they agree too.
- Bayley vs Liv Morgan-Match kicks off with the two trading wrist locks, followed by a series of reversals before Bayley takes control with elbows. Morgan dodges a knee drop before a hand spring into tilt-a-whirl headscissors, which gets an ovation from the crowd. Bayley regains control with a headlock, before Morgan fights out and runs through some moves, hitting a bulldog and a monkey flip, but gets her side suplex blocked, allowing Bayley to hit the Bayley-to-Belly for the win. Fine match, nothing special again. Bayley takes the mic after to say she will regain the NXT Women's Championship.'
- Tye Dillinger vs Shinsuke Nakamura-Nakamura. Enough said. The crowd had been pretty dead for this match, but they woke up big time for this match, starting with a huge pop for Nakamura, followed by a "10" chant for Dillinger, followed by "He's 11" for Nakamura. Just fantastic. It's great, two incredibly charismatic guys in the ring just doing what they do best. Dillinger takes Nakamura down with a snapmare and throws the 10 up at him, so Nakamura tries to do 11, but then realizes he can't. Dillinger does the over the top kung-fu "come at me" hands and now the match picks up. Nakamura works over Dillinger before getting him in the corner, where Dillinger fights out and hits a superkick for only a one count. Dillinger does some kung-fu pose, which gets him booed. Dillinger holds Nakamura in a hold, but Nakamura fights out and kicks Dillinger to the ground. Nakamura runs wild, kicking and kneeing Dillinger to death before hitting the Kinshasa for the win. Great match, loads of fun. Also, great to see Nakamura didn't just squash Dillinger and Dillinger got a lot of offense in.
Comments
Post a Comment