Peter Kostka
From the NXT Arena at Full Sail University. Your commentators are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.
We open with a recap of the battle royal last week with a focus on Samoa Joe being pulled out by Tyler Breeze and Apollo Crews winning.
Asuka vs. Billie Kay
They seem to be slowly building a character for Kay as she seems to be taking on a heel role, cutting an inset promo about how she has the longest legs in NXT and will boot anyone that gets in her way. Well, it’s a start.
Billie cheapshots Asuka after a handshake and goes to work as the crowd chants “You killed Dana!”at Asuka. Billie hits a nice delayed vertical suplex and works the arm but Asuka kicks herself free. Billie catches a kick and forearms her which just amuses/pisses off/arouses Asuka (I still can’t tell) and it’s time to die. Asuka catches a kick of her own and spins around into a German before kicking her in the face once more and locking in the Asuka Lock for the submission. A fun match where Billie got to show off some skill and personality before getting murdered. Give Billie some more matches like this and it will help her along tremendously.
In our main event tonight, Dusty Classic partners EXPLODE as Baron Corbin faces Rhyno. This transitions into a cool video on Baron Corbin. He loves making people sad.
Tyler Breeze gets on his Selfie Stick and tells Samoa Joe that if Tyler isn’t going to be #1 contender, Joe isn’t either. If Joe has a problem with that, he can find Prince Pretty and Tyler will “slice off a few pieces of bacon off of you”.
Enzo and BIG CASS (w/Carmella) vs. Dash and Dawson
Carmella is wearing less makeup this week and it really suits her better. Enzo and Cass cut a Halloween themed promo where they ain’t handing out “Trick or Treatin’s but we’re handing out beatins”.
Enzo immediately gets mauled and Dawson takes his knee out, leading to some VICIOUS double team work on it until Cass finally comes in to break it up and Enzo gets a fluke rollup for the pin. That just pisses off Dash and Dawson and they beat the ever-loving piss out of both Enzo and Cass, dragging the latter down like a couple of hyenas dragging down a lion and laying him out with the Shatter Machine. Dash and Dawson have been tremendous the last few weeks and they have quickly become one of my favorites on this show. This is no 50/50 even-steven booking; even though they’ve lost more than they’ve won lately Dash and Dawson have consistently been aggressive and they are really pushing the big victory they had against the Vaudevillains to build a future title match which should be a really good match.
Video on Rhyno. He Gores a lot of people.
Eva Marie is still in Paris. Someone put her on a watch list so she can’t get on a plane back.
Danny Burch vs. James Storm (!?)
Apologies to Burch and his family for spelling his last name with an i all this time. The crowd goes NUTS for Storm as the commentators point out he was in WCW at the end and spent the last 15 years “on the independents”. The crowd chants “you belong here” as Burch gets control to start but Storm slugs himself free and cracks Burch with a jumping kick before finishing with the Eight Second Ride (a spinning White Noise slam is the best I can describe it) for the pin. If they can get Bobby Roode and reform Beer Money……
In two weeks, Apollo Crews gets his NXT Title match against Finn Balor. We get a video package similar to the one Finn got before the Tokyo match where we learn about Apollo’s background. His father was a diplomat from Nigeria so Apollo lived all around the country before going to Kenya and Uganda until his parents split up when he was 10. He would spend summers in Atlanta with his mom and his siblings cramped in a small apartment before going to school back in Uganda. It wasn’t a happy time for him but he learned how to be a tougher person from it. His dad was a wrestling fan and Apollo got the bug from watching it with him. The Ultimate Warrior was his favorite. He would bug his mom to buy toy belts for him on her limited income and he tears up talking about how much his mom did for him. Around 10th grade he decided to actually get into the business and we get footage of him from EVOLVE as he talks about the independent grind. His dad was against it at first and that just motivated Apollo more.
And that’s why I love NXT. Giving these people 5 minutes to tell their life story can get them over a million times more than any scripted promo you will ever give them. We’ll learn more abut him next week.
Nia Jax is….here. And she’ll be back next week. Someone really likes cutting these videos don’t they?
Alexa Bliss (w/Blake and Murphy) vs. Peyton Royce
The crowd is solidly behind Peyton (though she desperately needs better music). Blake and Murphy are Alexa’s cheering squad at ringside (Bliss Boosters? Blissters?) and it is just the best. Alexa works the arm but Peyton lays in the kicks to come back and gets a 2 count. Bliss cuts off a charge and hits her Bliss Flip before the Sparkle Splash (with Blake and Murphy providing a drumroll on the apron) gets the pin. Bliss cuts a promo cutting down Bayley and reiterating how she was made to be champion while the crowd tries to drown her out with boos. Hey, not every one of Bayley’s feuds needs to be a super emotional roller-coaster that ends in tears, broken hands and flowers. Sometimes all you need to put in front of her is an egotistical evil fairy and her goofy former tag champion minions.
Next Week: Samoa Joe vs. Tyler Breeze
Baron Corbin vs. Rhyno
They kind of clubber each other around for a while until Corbin sends Rhyno into the ring steps to take control as we take a break.
Corbin continues the methodical beatdown as we return and locks in a neck crank. Rhyno fights free but charges into a spinning slam for 2. Rhyno avoids a charge and they brawl on the outside again and this time Corbin eats steps before Rhyno makes the comeback. Both guys are majorly sucking wind as Rhyno hits a spinebuster and hits the Gore…but Corbin kicks out at 2. He charges for another, but Corbin catches him in the End of Days for the pin. This match shows that Corbin looks better when smaller guys are bumping like a pinball for him; aside from the Joe match Corbin being in brawls with other big dudes usually ends up dull.
Samoa Joe cuts a promo on Tyler Breeze for next week. He calls Tyler’s actions desperate since he blew yet another title chance and then he had the audacity to call Joe out. Joe wants him to pull out his Selfie Stick again and get a good shot of himself looking his best, because after their match next week, Tyler will not look like that anymore. Great intense promo from Joe that should lead to a good match next week (that Tyler will probably lose again since he’s on the main roster now, but what are you going to do?)
OVERALL: They are in this weird place again where it is too early to build to the next Takeover so they need some stuff to fill the gap. If this was RAW, we’d probably just see the same matches over and over as they spin their wheels before throwing stuff together two weeks beforehand with those same people. Since NXT is run by competent people, they are filling the gap by bringing some new acts into the fold (Asuka, Billie Kay, Peyton Royce, Dash and Dawson) to give them some TV time and character development and doing a couple of short title feuds that aren’t necessarily ones that can carry a Takeover special (though Apollo/Finn would probably fit on a special like that), but will keep people tuned into the next week of TV. That’s how you get through the creative doldrums between big angles.
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