Sure, NXT has gained all of those guys I mentioned above, and all of them are either great wrestlers or characters… but look at the list of guys NXT has lost since WrestleMania: Zayn, Balor, Crews, Corbin, Enzo & Cass, the Vaudevillains, American Alpha, Alexa Bliss, Dana Brooke, Carmella, Nia Jax… even the Hype Bros. served a purpose in NXT. NXT doesn’t feel exciting and new right now. It feels empty. And it’s not about workrate. It’s about a lack of established characters, especially for male babyfaces and female heels. The show very much feels like a shadow of its former self. I think creative has taken the booking in the right direction for the long-term health of NXT as a drawing brand, but that doesn’t mean that the show doesn’t feel very empty right now (and I don’t think a sudden influx of Cruiserweight Classic guys will be the answer).
HIDEO ITAMI vs. SEAN MALUTA- fine squash.
Much more interesting than this squash was the fact that they pushed his friendship with Balor and Tom Phillips said he thinks Owens is the guy who jumped Itami in the parking lot. Obviously it depends on how quickly they’re willing to bring Itami up and how quickly feel comfortable turning Balor heel, but, to me, all signs point to Balor being the culprit… and no matter what the original plan was, at this point not having Balor as the culprit would be a HUGE waste. The pieces just fit together too perfectly. Balor jumps his friend before a #1 contendership match, goes on to win the match and the title, spends a year becoming a big star in NXT, then gets called up to the main roster to be a big star there... If you want to debut Hitami with a bang, all you have to have him do is show up on Raw and go after Balor, saying it was Balor who attacked him. You have Balor deny it for a while, then The Club screws Itami in a PPV match against Balor and Itami gets beaten down and Balor makes some comment about how he is going to “put you out for good this time.”
ANDREA INTERVIEWS THE REVIVAL- very good segment
Scott Dawson’s promos are REALLY good. Also, TM61 showed up and said they wanted a title shot. Ciampa and Gargano showed up and accused The Revival of ducking them. To duck them once again, Dawson said that they had already promised TM61 a match. He never said it was going to be a title match, though, so I assume TM61 will win and then The Revival will say that it was non-title, so we’ll wind up with either a three-way at the Takeover Special or a #1 contendership match next week.
MOJO RAWLEY vs. CHRIS ATKINS- no rating, good segment.
Samoa Joe showed and beat them both up. Joe then cut a promo on Regal and Nakamura. Mojo made a comeback. Security separated them and got Mojo up the ramp but Joe attacked him from behind and choked him out with the Coquina Clutch.
BAYLEY INTERVIEW- good. They’re subtly hinting that she’ll be moving up. Asuka showed up and said something I couldn’t hear because the mic was TERRIBLE here.
ASUKA vs. ALIYAH- no rating, GREAT squash/segment.
Bayley did guest commentary. Between this and the interview, they pushed the idea of a “new Bayley” pretty hard.
Asuka, being awesome, responded to Bayley’s presence by getting a chair, setting it up on the ramp, and telling Bayley to sit in it (non-verbally of course, because Asuka is awesome). Bayley responded by walking over to the chair and knocking it over, instead choosing to stand at the bottom of the ramp.
Asuka was acting a little bit heelish here, but all for the purpose of sending a clear message to Bayley. It was great.
ONEY LORKIN INTERVIEW FROM LAST MONTH AFTER HIS WIN- a fine promo, but Biff’s voice just plain doesn’t sound like the voice you’d expect to come out of his face.
BOBBY ROODE PROMO- great
Started off as a generic babyface thing and then turned heelish, although the fans didn’t react to it as such because they love Bobby Roode so much. Until he called them losers. The gist of Roode’s promo was that he was going to make NXT into a place with respectable, rich, fancy clientele instead of the dirty, stinky, poorly-dressed fans.
TM61 vs. THE REVIVAL- 6.5/10
Or my earlier prediction could be 100% wrong.
CIAMPA & GARGANO CONFRONT THE REVIVAL- yeah… I HATED Ciampa and Gargano’s comedy promo. Them getting the best of the tag champs was good, and the tag champs had just wrestled so they have an excuse.
A fun episde of NXT, aside from the ending.