Peter Kostka
Apologies for taking the month of November off. Honestly doing a weekly recap isn’t very interesting to me since some weeks very little happens. I am planning on doing an end of year review of NXT with my top 10 matches and a few awards. Look for that around the new year.
I don’t know if I’ve looked forward to a WWE show more this year (aside from WrestleMania) than this one. They have done a masterful job of building up the matches on this card as well as teasing a big new debut. I may have not been writing about it, but I definitely have been watching every week. I won’t be doing straight PBP on the matches here, more just hitting the high spots (or low spots if applicable) with overall thoughts.
LIVE from the NXT Arena at Full Sail University. Your commentators are Rich Brennan, Alex Riley and Corey Graves (who announced his in-ring retirement on the pre-show). Graves was pretty good for his first time out and having someone who is familiar with a lot of the talent is a great idea. Riley is still a little grating as he seems to force being the “heel commentator” at times.
Kevin Owens vs. CJ Parker
Seems like CJ has become NXT’s resident whipping boy. I’m certainly not complaining. Owens looked absolutely fantastic here, showing off his unique mixture of power and agility, pulling off a dive as good as Sami Zayn. Even CJs brief offensive flurry fit into the match as Owens took a BRUTAL palm strike that most likely broke his nose and still managed to shrug it off and kill CJ with a powerbomb for the win. A great introduction for those who are new to Owens and at the same time a great refresher to those who know him.
The Vaudevillains vs The Lucha Dragons (C) (NXT Tag Team Title match)
I would be remiss not to mention the fantastic silent film promos that built this match up. It made something stupid like creating midget versions of your opponents into comedy gold. Honestly, the Vaudevillains are pretty average in the ring but, much like Enzo and Cass, are able to play their gimmicks up to a high degree of entertainment that it still has the crowd into their matches. This was a pretty standard match with Kalisto getting another chance to show off his skills as he is rapidly becoming Rey Mysterio’s successor on the main roster someday. English shoves his partner away from a double dive, eating the bullet as the crowd marvels at his chivalrous actions before Gotcha eats Salida del Sol for the pin. I would have given the tag titles to the Vaudevillains here as I am just not that into the Lucha Dragons as champs; they aren’t BAD champions, it’s just that it seems like another team holding them would make for a better division.
A Baron Corbin squash allows the fans to work on their numbers, but I’m kind of ready to see him do something more. The eventual showdown with BULL Dempsey won’t be the prettiest match ever, but it will be fun to see them throw each other around.
We see Sami Zayn mentally preparing himself in the locker room as my boys Cass and Enzo get a bit of screen time. Sami also gives Owens a look.
Hideo Itami & Finn Balor vs The Ascension
This was the Finn Balor Show as we are introduced to his “big match” tradition of having an awe inspiring entrance with the music and the paint. He gets pro wrestling. In the ring, when the Ascension are allowed to do a match longer than 30 seconds they have shown that they can go. In what was most likely their last NXT match they hung with Itami and Balor nicely. Itami is in kind of a weird spot right now: obviously Finn Balor is already a big star in NXT and seems to be adjusting quite nicely, but Itami still hasn’t really had that one big moment to shine since his debut. This isn’t the main roster (i.e. people actually know what they are doing here) so I believe he will have plenty of time to grow and learn before anybody even thinks that he doesn’t belong in WWE. At the very least, he and Balor make a really fun team and now that Punk is gone he should be able to reclaim the GTS as his own as the announcers scream about how it was HE who invented it. Stereo flying foot stomps get the win for the good guys.
In the most unnecessary segment of the night, Roman Reigns cuts a wooden promo about being WWE champion. HEY HE’S THE NEXT BIG STAR PLEASE TRUST US ON THIS ONE!! Poor guy is going to get booed by half the crowd through no fault of his own in two months.
Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte (C) (NXT Women’s Championship match)
It’s something really minor and probably irrelevant in the grand scheme, but I like how they say it’s the “Women’s” championship instead of “Diva’s”. That one word gives it more credibility somehow. There’s an intensity to this match that really wasn’t seen in any of the other Charlotte title matches we’ve seen this year as both women did a great job selling dislike for each other. Obviously Charlotte’s rapid improvement has been a major focus in NXT this year, but let’s not ignore Sasha Banks here. Ever since the BFFs broke up she has come into her own as a heel both character wise and in the ring as she probably had the best match of her NXT career tonight. Some great back and forth action with Banks taking a great bump off of a Charlotte spear and Charlotte showing crazy athleticism with a moonsault into a senton in one smooth movement followed by a top rope Natural Selection for the win. Not as good as Nattie/Charlotte, but an easy #2.
Sami Zayn vs Adrian Neville (C) (NXT Championship match)
Going into tonight my WWE match of the year was Shield vs. Wyatts from Elimination Chamber. It was going to take something special to supplant that match as I felt it was six guys going out there and making a statement.
This match was that something special. I have a new match of the year.
I mean, where do I start? The big fight atmosphere? Adrian Neville slipping into the heel role of the match as natural as slipping on his pants? The crisp wrestling along with some absolutely crazy counters and cringe inducing bumps by Zayn (I thought he broke his damn neck on that reverse rana)? Let me just sum it up this way: that match was 25 minutes and I would have been perfectly fine to see them go another 10 at the least. The poor ref even had to take some lumps of his own to set up the finish, Sami fighting his urges to turn to the dark side to win the title (in his own words: “FUCK THAT!”) and finishing off Neville his way. Just watch this match. Pay $9.99 for one damn month to watch this match.
Oh, and then Kevin Owens decides to murder Sami at the end. That happened too. I’m aware of their feud in the indies but have never seen a match. I am once again salivating at the main event prospects of this feud.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Not only was this the best NXT live special this year, it may be the best “Network Special” this year after WrestleMania (and considering what has happened booking wise since that show, that Mania may be knocked down a few pegs). You want a reason to pay your $9.99? This is it. For more of this. Fuck RAW, fuck Smackdown, right now for me NXT IS WWE.
