My Thoughts on NXT (6/15/16): They Wrote the Book On Pain

• Authors of Pain vs "Local Competitors"-We kick off the show with the Authors of Pain (aka The Ascension, but 1000 times cooler) destroying two jobbers in quick fashion. You can tell it's going to be over very soon when one of the teams is straight up called "Local Competitors". One of the Authors throws one of the jobbers into his teams corner, inadvertently making him make the tag. The Authors don't have names yet, so Tom Phillips calls one of them "the tattooed one". At one point, one of them pulls one of jobbers over the top rope and basically makes him hit a Swanton Bomb on his teammate. They hit the big boot/sidewalk slam on one guy and finish the other with the Russian leg sweep/lariat combo for the win. Hey, anybody who beats people up using other people is awesome in my book.
• Backstage, Andrade "Cien" Almas gets interviewed by Cathy Kelley. Before the interview really starts, Tye Dillinger interrupts and says Almas' win at Takeover was a fluke, and then calls Cathy a six. Hey, at least she got a better rating than Alex Reyes:
  

He then challenges Almas' to a rematch, and Almas pulls down his suspenders. I'm assuming that means "Yes" in Spanish sign language.

• Also backstage, Andrea DeMarco tries to interview the Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering, but they brush her off. Ellering just says "In due time."
• Carmella vs Tessa Blanchard-Match kicks off with a few exchanges before Carmella hits a hurricanrana. After another exchange, Carmella moonwalks, which Tessa is for some reason mortified at:
  

She looks like she's having a Vietnam flashback. She recovers from the traumatic dancing and hits a hair pull takedown after blocking a roll up. Tessa locks in a modified abdominal stretch. Carmella counters an Irish whip attempt with a straight punch and hits a superkick. Carmella runs wild, hitting a Bronco Buster and locks in her modified headscissors, now called the Code of Silence, for the submission win. Fine match, nothing special.

• Backstage, Cathy Kelly interviews Blake & Murphy, who are back together apparently despite breaking up like a month ago. Ah, the old "Team PCB" tag team break up angle; where a team breaks up but still teams together. They blame Alexa Bliss for the problems they were having, and they say they're gonna beat TM-61 tonight. I doubt that.
• TM-61 vs Blake & Murphy-Immediate "Where's Alexa" chants for Blake & Murphy before the match. According to Corey Graves, Murphy has had his car repossessed, got evicted, and worst of all, dropped his croissant this morning. Jesus, not the croissant. I don't even know how you can get through the day after something like that. Thorne and Blake kick off the match with dueling wristlocks until Thorne takes control with quick transitions and dropkicks to both Blake & Murphy. TM-61 continues to work over Blake until he makes a tag to Murphy behind Miller's back. This doesn't phase TM-61, who keep control of the match and hit a moonsault/fist drop combo on Murphy for a two count. Blake yanks Miller off of the apron, stopping Thorne from making a tag and allowing Murphy to take control with a huge clothesline. Blake & Murphy work over Thorne until the most contrived spot I've seen in a while. Thorne catches Murphy's foot on a kick and throws it back, making Murphy mule kick Blake. Thorne then dodges a clothesline by Blake, which hits Murphy, and makes the tag. Miller runs wild, hitting a diving crossbody, two corner clotheslines, and a spinebuster on Blake before he & Thorne hit Thunder Valley (double Gorilla Press spinebuster) for the win. Good match, but again, nothing special.
• Backstage, Andrea DeMarco interviews Bayley. She says she will be able to return to the ring if everything goes well at her doctor's appointment next week.
• Tye Dillinger vs Andrade "Cien" Almas-The two kick off with a few exchanges before Almas counters an Irish whip with a handspring back elbow. Almas counters another Irish whip by flipping over the ropes and hitting a springboard crossbody. Dillinger rolls out and Almas follows him, but Dillinger knees him in the gut and the two exchange chops before going back in the ring. Dillinger takes control with a headbutt and tosses Almas from the ring again. They quickly go back in, where Almas reverses an Irish whip and hits a dropkick. Dillinger should probably stop going for Irish whips, half of Almas' offense has come off of them. Almas dropkicks Dillinger from the ring and fakes a dive to the outside, instead doing a springboard flip in the ring. Dillinger gets back in the ring only to eat a hurricanrana and roll out of the ring again. Almas fakes another dive, instead catching himself if the ropes and posing for the hard camera.
  

We come back from a commercial break Almas locking a armbar on Dillinger. Dillinger forces the break the the two exchange strikes before Almas almost gets the flash pin with a roll up. Almas up with an arm drag into another armbar. Dillinger forces another break, but Almas takes control with another drop kick. Dillinger throws Almas to the ground and starts laying in forearm strikes before hitting a backbreaker for a one count. Dillinger pummels away at Almas until Almas delivers some hard chops and hits a springboard drop kick. After Almas hits a spinning heel kick, Dillinger rolls out of the ring, only to be on the receiving end of a corkscrew plancha. Almas hits a wheel-barrow bulldog and follows it up with a double knee strike in the corner for the win. Good match, I think Almas looked better here than he did at Takeover.

• Outcomes Finn Balor for a promo. After"Thank You Finn" and "Please Don't Go" chants. He says the first time he saw NXT, he knew he wanted to be a part of it, and that NXT became a part of him. He says he went to wars in NXT, and asks what's next for him. Everyone chants "Balor Club" and he throws up a "2 Sweet" for everyone. The lights go out, and outcomes SHINSUKE. F*CKIN. NAKA. MURA. HO-LY F*CK! WE ALL KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING! The crowd chants "THIS IS AWESOME!" before they do anything. Shinsuke says he watched Finn become the icon of NXT, and he is still an icon without the NXT Championship. Shinsuke says if he wants to be the champion, then he has to beat the icon. He has to beat Finn Balor. The crowd already chants "Match of the Year!" and Finn says that Shinsuke is what's next for him. The two shake hands and stare each other down. This is going to be great.

And that's about it. Overall, a good show with some good wrestling and a great closing segment.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to share if you enjoyed. Also, check out my Patreon