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My Thoughts on NXT (6/1/16): The Cape Makes The Man

  • The show kicks off with The Revival. Wilder says they are going to win the NXT Tag Team Championships again. Dawson says American Alpha are great amateurs, but they will beat them at Takeover: The End. They get interrupted by Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa. Ciampa puts over American Alpha and says the Revival can't beat him & Gargano either. The Revival run down the two, and Dawson says they are the reason for the renaissance of the tag team division, and Gargano & Ciampa should go back to the bingo halls. Ciampa brings up that they lost the titles, but Wilder fires back saying that Gargano & Ciampa have never even won the titles and leave. Gargano says they are running from them and invite the Revival back in the ring. They re-enter, only to get beaten down and tossed out by Gargano & Ciampa. The teams set up a match later in the night. Honestly, I liked Revival in this segment better than Gargano & Ciampa. Ciampa just came out like a dick and insulted them for no reason and didn't add much to the conversation.
  • Backstage, Cathy Kelly interviews Shinsuke Nakamura about his match with Austin Aries at Takeover. Nakamura says Aries will bow down to the King of Strong Style at Takeover
  • Tye Dillinger vs Buddy Murphy-No Alexa Bliss or Blake with Murphy tonight, but he got his first name back. A consolation prize, I guess. Maybe this means we'll see the return of the REAL LIFE COWBOY WESLEY BLAKE!
We can only hope. Match starts with a series of exchanges before Dillinger leads a big "10" chant. Dillinger takes control with an armbar. Murphy escapes and after being tossed over the top rope and landing on the apron, Murphy pulls Dillinger down by the head and hits a running punch to Dillinger sitting in the corner. Murphy gets the heat for a while, locking in a headlock until Dillinger escapes and almost gets the roll up win. Dillinger runs wild, hitting some big chops and Thesz press before going to the turnbuckle 10 punch spot. He's denied the 10th punch by Murphy, but hits a superkick and finishes the punches. Dillinger rolls down his knee pad and hits a fireman's carry neckbreaker for the win. Fine match, nothing special.
  • We get a sitdown interview with Corey Graves, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe. 
    • Finn says that losing the title was a
    • Joe says he finally got what he deserved when he won the NXT Championship after jumping through so many hoops. Finn says there were 100 guys at the Performance Center more deserving of a title shot, and he only got one because he whined and complained to management to get one. Joe says that he deserved it, and helped Finn out when he asked for it in the Dusty Classic, but Finn never fought to give him a title shot.
    • Finn asks what happened to him and why he changed, and Joe says he knows why Finn never gave him a shot; because he knew he could beat him. Joe says he been a champion everywhere he's gone, and Finn says so has he. Joe says he's the reason Finn got to Japan, and says Finn has revisionist history.
    • Graves brings up that Finn said he survived in London & Dallas. Finn says he might have survived, but won.
    • Finn says he's never been in a steel cage, but doesn't think he's at a disadvantage. Joe says he knows Finn thinks he has an advantage. He says he didn't need medical help at Dallas because he was beating Finn.
    • Finn says he's not risking his career getting a steel cage, and the NXT Championship is all he wants.
    • Joe says he's going to show where he belongs in NXT. Finn says Joe stabbed him in the back, but Joe says Finn stabbed him in the back
    • Fantastic segment. Period.
  • Elias Samson vs Austin Aries-F*ck the Drifter. But on a plus side, Aries got his cape back! The two back and forth for a long time, as the crowd doesn't care. They're either booing Samson or being quiet. Samson gets the heat, but Aries fights back with a side suplex. Aries runs wild a clothesline, a diving back elbow, and a suicide dive before hitting the rolling elbow. Aries hits the corner dropkick, a neckbreaker, and locks in the Last Chancery for the submission win. Bland match, crowd didn't care at all. Post match, Aries cuts a promo saying he will beat Nakamura at Takeover, and the spotlight will shine on him.
  • We get the same Andrade "Cien" Almas vignette from last week, revealing that he will debut next week at Takeover: The End
  • Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs The Revival-Dawson and Gargano kick off with Dawson taking control with a headlock. Gargano fights out and hits two arm drags and a back elbow on Wilder before tagging in Ciampa. Ciampa & Dawson exchange strikes until Ciampa runs wild on both Revival members before Dawson tosses Ciampa from the ring. Dawson distracts the ref, allowing Wilder to clothesline Ciampa on the outside before the commercial break. We come back with Wilder working over Ciampa's left leg. Ciampa almost gets the roll up win, but Wilder kicks out and stops him from making the tag. Ciampa counters Dawson's outside attack, but Dawson is able to stop him from making the tag and throws him back into the Revival's corner. Ciampa almost gets the roll up win, but Wilder makes the tag before he can get pinned. Ciampa is able to make the tag and Gargano runs wild on Dawson with a roll up enziguri and a middle rope spear, but Wilder breaks up the pin. Dawson hits a snap DDT, but Ciampa breaks up the pin. Dawson puts Gargano on the top rope and hits a superplex, but Gargano rolls over and cradles Dawson for the win. Guess who is not winning at Takeover next week. Anyway, great match. Post-match, the Revival ambush Ciampa and Gargano, hitting the Shatter Machine on Ciampa and set up for the move that injured Big Cass months ago, but American Alpha run down to make the save. The four brawl, ending with tandem German suplexes by American Alpha.
  • The main event of the show is a contract signing between Asuka and Nia Jax. Nia says Asuka hasn't done anything impressive since she got to NXT, that she broke Bayley, and now she'll break Asuka. Nia finishes by saying she's the future and not scared of Asuka before signing the contract. Asuka says Nia talks too much and signs the contract before screaming something in Japanese. Asuka says Nia should be scared of her. Nia shoves Asuka, so she fights back. Nia catches Asuka's foot during a spin kick attempt and powerbombs her to end the show.
 And that's about it. Overall, a fine show. Not much worth talking about though, not a lot of wrestling
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