WWE NXT Review // 21st March 2018

On 21st March 2018, WWE aired its 292nd episode of NXT, filmed at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 7th March. Our main event saw a pair of PWG Champions face off in the form of Adam Cole and Kassius Ohno. The undercard featured Raul Mendoza taking on NXT Champion Andrade Almas, Ember Moon against Aliyah and Dusty Classic First Round action in the form of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch taking on Roderick Strong and a mystery opponent. But was it any good?

Ciampa Still Has Something to Say

Ciampa did his routine that he's done the last two weeks but this time actually said something as he told the crowd that Johnny Gargano was gone and he was never coming back and that all the people in the crowd with their signs should get used to it. He went around the crowd tearing up signs and squaring up to Nans till he went to tear up a sign near a man in a snazzy black and gold Lucha mask who turned out to be Johnny Gargano! Gargano leaping barricade would wail on Ciampa till security were able to separate them. This was well thought-out as clearly Gargano wasn't looking to wrestle, he just wanted to Ciampa in his stupid, bald face (definitely no bias here). If this isn't building to an Unsanctioned Match at TakeOver: New Orleans, I'll be damn surprised.

Charly Caruso gives us a recap of the Dusty Classic First Round thus far and 'exclusive' footage of Tyler Bate talking about his injuries forcing Moustache Mountain to drop out of the tournament. Roderick Strong does a mobile phone camera promo requesting a shot in the Classic in their place and thank goodness the production team don't add any word graphics to this.

Adam Cole & Kassius Ohno have a Twitter spat. The Undisputed Era, they talk about Roderick Strong being a loser, how no-one likes him and how whoever wins the Dusty Classic is heading for a loss, as is Ohno later.

Dusty Rhodes Classic First Round // Dunne & Strong def. Lorcan & Burch // Pinfall

So we get the debut of the team that Across the Pond Wrestling would like you to know as either Roderick Strong Style or Strong x Bitter, as I like my tag-teams like I like my coffee, I'm going for the latter (if anyone can organise Omari & Joe Coffey aka Black Coffey to face Strong x Bitter at Fight Club: PRO, please do). This wasn't quite the masterpiece I'd expected from these four who are capable of delivering some of the best performances in modern wrestling but for the time they were given they made the most of it with team Strong x Bitter working a technical masterclass and team Lorcan x Burch going for striking really, really hard and really, really often. It started strong and finished well but seemed to lose an amount of excitement in the middle section as Strong x Bitter worked on top, leading into the Lorcan hot tag but the crowd didn't seem willing to split their sympathies away from the de-facto heel team. The finish came as Strong got the pin off an End of Heartache on Burch. These two against Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe should be a lot of good, a lot of good indeed.

We get a video package for Trevor 'Ricochet' Mann who is coming to NXT TV soon.

Ember Moon def. Aliyah // Pinfall

Quick squash m8. Shayna Baszler came out and did guest commentary duties for this one and as often is the case with the WWE guest comms. style, there was no actual play-by-play, it was just an interview with Baszler while Moon and Aliyah grunted in the background. Moon won with the Eclipse if you cared.

Next Week: The Dusty Classic Semi-Finals come to town as Authors of Pain face Street Profits & SaNitY face Strong x Bitter.

Andrade Almas Vs. Raul Mendoza // Never Happens

As Mendoza was making his entrance, Almas jumped him and threw him off the stage before delivering an intense promo, calling Aleister Black a 'piece of shit' and telling the man in Black to face him in the ring. He doesn't, probably because he wasn't just hanging round backstage on a day he wasn't booked. While normally I prefer letting Zelina Vega do promo duties over her charge, Almas, he did a good job here of selling his seething rage. Keep going like this, he might not need Vega soon. Who am I kidding? Everyone needs Vega.

William Regal announces that next week he'll be making an announcement. Hopefully it will be announcing a best of seven series of him making announcements.

Adam Cole def. Kassius Ohno // Pinfall

There was one very annoyingly loud Adam Cole fan near one of the crowd mics, I will never not give credit to whoever created Ohno's current black and gold look outfit with 'boxing hoodie/wizard robe', I will continue to give no credit to this crowd who were about '60-40' split in support Cole-Ohno. Boo. The Heels. I'm getting bored of saying this because I think it's part-crowd response, part-Cole's performance style but whenever anyone calls Cole over as a heel, he is over, yes, but he never gets boos, this was basically face vs face. If you ignore that theoretically Cole was meant to be the villain here, this was very good in-ring action as two of the American Indies best quite simply beat the piss out of each other with a refreshing lack of interference by Fish and O'Reilly forcing Cole to step his game up to make his clean victory seem more convincing. While the intensity had a good build, for me, the match peaked in the first few minutes when during a running-the-ropes, leapfrog segment, Ohno booted Cole out of the air. It was nice seeing competition for competition's sake, beyond a few tweets, these two men were both just fighting to prove that the victor was worthy of more opportunities. The finish came as Adam Cole hit a Shining Wizard to the back of the neck for the pinfall. We all know that when it comes to violence, Cole has earned his stripes, now NXT needs to just work out if they can make people boo him or if it's worth making him the hero Atlanta clearly wants him to be. 

On The YouTubes

Johnny Gargano shmoozes with the fans outside but security stop him getting back into the building, he points out that they are selling his merch but not letting him inside and announces he's staying out there till Ciampa comes to him. See you next week, Johnny.

When the video says Kassius Ohno is speechless about his defeat, they aren't kidding.

Finally...

This was one of those weeks where a lot of what happened seems like it was more to push the story into the next act than it was to present a compelling section of the story in itself. Cole vs Ohno was definitely the match highlight of the show but it can't be argued that the biggest response of the show was the surprise return of Johnny Gargano. While they weren't here, I can't help but feel big things are on the horizon for the yellow brand. I'll see you when we get there.

Written By Jozef Raczka // @NotJoeRaczka

WWE NXT 283 Review // 18th January 2018 // Street Profits vs. Authors of Pain

On 18th January 2018, NXT aired its 283rd episode of NXT, taped at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 4th January. Our main event saw former NXT Tag-Team champions Authors of Pain take on rising stars, Street Profits for a title match at TakeOver Philidelphia. We also had in-ring action from Lacey Evans & Aliyah, Roderick Strong & Fabian Aichner and Heavy Machinery against Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss, but was it any good?

Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli def. Otis Dosevic & Tucker Knight // Pinfall

We get some recap footage that once again, this match has been booked because Heavy Machinery were messing with Sab and Moss' jointly owned car, Dosevic and Sab to start, lockup but Dosevic pushes Sab away like a child, dropick by Sab and he throws Otis to the corner but this annoys the thicc lad, Dosevic hits a shoulder barge, run the ropes, leapfrog by Sab is caught for a bodyslam, staggered to the corner and Dosevic hits a big splash and hits a tag to knight who hits a slingshot senton for a 2 before grabbing Sab into a headlock guillotine giant swing, he throws Sab to his corner allowing him to tag in Moss, Knight grabs Moss immediately into another guillotine, throws him to the ropes, Moss fights out with forearms but gets caught in another headlock giant swing, tag to Dosevic, they do a tribute to the Bushwhackers walk and hit a double splash before Dosevic does the worm elbow drop for a cover but Sab breaks the pin, Dosevic picks up Moss in an Argentine carry but Sab grabs his partner by the ankles, pulling him back and off, allowing Moss to hit a chop block and a tag to Sab who works some ground and pound before working some quick tags as they keep Dosevic grounded, Moss gets a rear chinlock on Dosevic, keeping it held for longer than most Lars Sullivan matches, DOsevic eventually powers out with a belly-to-back suplex and crawls back to Knight for a tag, he works a decent hot tag hitting shoulder tackles, hip tosses, corner splashes and a big dropkick sending Sabatelli to the apron, Knight clotheslines Sab off the ring but Moss uses the distraction to roll up Knight, putting his feet on the ropes for leverage he gets a surprise 3 count.

So Dosevic hit the big lad worm which was, as always, delightful and if SabMoss are going to hang around, they needed at least one win. Just one. That's what they got here, beyond the aforementioned worm, the match wasn't much to shout home about with SabMoss' heat section lacking any particular response. I hear they've been doing fun work at house shows but without any evidence of that in their television encounters, I remain uninspired.

Undisputed Era are hanging about backstage again, Cole says TakeOver is their event, it's been about them for a reason, at Philly he goes on-on-one with Black, there are a million ways he can defeat and mangle Black and he is going to break and embaress him, O'Reilly says it doesn't matter which team wins as everyone wants a shot at their titles as this is their era and we're all just invited, Fish says that all other teams are competing for the right to step up and get dropped by the undisputed tag champs.

We get a video package of clips of Cole and Black combined with just straight up clips of insane shit from hardcore matches. No Zandig though.

Roderick Strong def. Fabian Aichner // Submission

Strong is straight in with a headlock but Aichner reverse to a hammerlock with Strong going to a hammerlock of his own, Aichner tries to punch his way out but can't escape, a whip to ropes and Aichner shoulders his way out instead but runs into a leg lariat from Strong for a 2, a knee by Aichner as he takes control and whips Strong to the corner but Strong hits a  back elbow by Strong, he takes the moment to jump off the second rope straight into Aichner's arms who slams him straight into the ad-break, back from the break and Strong escapes an abdominal stretch but is right into a back-press slam for a 2, Aichner works corner chops and stomps, dragging him to the centre of the ring, Aichner goes for a bomb but Roddy escapes, lighting up the Italian with chops, a leaping lariat, more chops, a running forearm and goes for an olympic slam but Aichner turns it into an armdrag but Roddy doesn't give him an inch and hits a backbreaker for a 2, he tries to slam Aichner off the ropes but Aichner holds onto the ropes, sliding out of hold hitting a forearm and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a 2, he goes for a springboard but pauses, giving Roddy the time to regain composure hitting a backbreaker and transitioning to a Liontamer hold forcing Aichner to tap.

Let's put things simply, Aichner is too good to be stuck in just 5 minute matches, taking losses on TV, I'm not saying he's ready for a championship but certainly with a good dose of character work, he's going to be someone we'll all be talking about by the time the year's out. We all obviously know Roddy's great and even in short matches like these, knows how to showcase his opponent as well as if not more than himself. This wasn't the best work of either man but for what it was, it was fun.

After the match, Strong gets a mic. He says that last week someone came out looking for a fight, and his words have been echoing his head as he feels the same, since joining NXT he's run through the competition like this man, when he stepped in the ring with this force it was like nothing else which makes him happy as he wants to destroy it, he's talking about Lars Sullivan. K.

WHO ARE TM61

TM61 are coming back and their bringing with them the closest thing we're going to get to a Best Friends promo in NXT. This turns out to actually be a really lovely segment, covering their meeting in Explosive Pro Wrestling back in their native Australia through to winning the GHC Tag Team Titles over in Pro Wrestling Noah. While the interplay between Shane and Nick is a lot of fun, this lacks so far the same emotional interplay as previous 'Who Is/Are' segments like the Roderick Strong edition but it's still a very fun way of reintroducing the Aussie lads back. Hopefully, they'll get some good stuff to sink their teeth into when they're back properly.

Lacey Evans def. Aliyah // Pinfall

Aliyah is a heel again, I think, but then Evans also seems to be a heel now, I don't know, lockup to begin as Evans gets a wristlock, Alliyah cartwheels into a wristlock of her own but Evans is back on top throwing down her opponent, Aliyah gets back up but Evans grabs her by the ear and forces her down but Aaliyah turns it to a pin for a 2, Evans picks up Aliyah who escapes with a clumsy backslide a bit of a clothesline and something definable as a roll-up for a 2, Evans jumps the ropes and pulls Aliyah along them before hitting a slingshot elbow for a 2, she slams Aliyah to the corner and works over with forearms and kicks before hitting a handstand bronco buster for a 2, Aliyah tries to fire back with forearms and an uppercut, he hits a second rope diving clothesline and a northern lights suplex for a 2 but Evans is back in with a jawbreaker, Aliyah runs into a forearm and is down, Evans takes advantage, covering for the pin.

I don't know what to think, if this was their way of trying to introduce Evans as a threat, well, she did work on top so there's that but Aliyah seems to be constantly one step behind performers of a similar age and level of experience. There's still time and she seems to genuinely want to get better but there comes a point where you wonder, will it ever happen? Then again I said the same thing about Angelo Dawkins and look at him now...

Evans asks how Regal can let low-class trash walk around the locker rooms, it's time a proper sophisticated, powerful women ran the division and she might start by taking out Nikki Cross or Ember Moon or, then Shayna Bazsler turns up and Evans fucks off because she can't be dealing with that, Shayna walks to the ring and locks in the Kirufuna Clutch on Aliyah, refusing to break despite a ref pulling on her, Moon in he ring gear, hits the ring and Bazsler slides out cocky as anything, in a week she's gone from Dunne to Suzuki levels of dickhead, Moon dares Baszler to try bullying her, Moon tells her to get in the ring and they can fight now Baszler tells her she's not got her gear, she'll see her for her title, Moon tells her name her time and place and to bring her gear and she'll kick her ass, Baszler suggests Philidelphia, funnily there's a TakeOver there.

Christy St. Cloud is asking William Regal about what just happened, Regal says it's against his better judgement but if it's what Moon wants, she gets a match with Baszler at Philly, up turns Vega, she tells Christy to stay aswell, everybody knows Gargs has 0 chance of winning, the facts are he was carried by Ciamps and Almas has already beat with twice, he has no chance, Dream had a point, he deserves this shot more than Johnny and if Johnny is confident he should put the title opportunity on the line against him, Regal says he wouldn't advise him to do this, Vega calls him a loser, Vega says before leaving that she and Almas are happy to oblige if Regal wants to watch the most embarrassing NXT title match in history. Clearly she hasn't watched Bo Dallas vs Leo Kruger.

No Way Jose says 2017 had ups and downs like a rollercoaster but it's just good fun and 2018 is going to be the year of NWJ so get on board, the party guy is back soon.

The commentary lads are chatting when Johnny hits the ring and gets a mic. He says that he just watched the conversation backstage, he hears the buzz, he knows what everyone's saying behind his back, Vega and Dream, maybe even Regal, they doubt he can beat Almas, he is done being doubted, he is not broken, he is not a loser, this is not a fluke, this is his time, his opportunity and no one will stop him, the crowd love him, he asks if they can hear the chants, Dream if he wants the opportunity, Gargano puts it on the line next week, he gets his shot because for the first time in forever he knows who he is, Johnny Gargano, Johnny FREAKING WRESTLING, the next NXT champion. 

This was impassioned, motivated, focussed and showed a lot of character development. Babyfaces everywhere, take note, this is how it's done. Almas might need the title more than Gargano but I can't see anyone not wanting Johnny to win it after this.

NXT Tag Team Title Number One Contender's // Akam & Rezar def. Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford // Pinfall

AOP ARE IN THEIR TURTLES GEAR, YAY, Ford and Akam start, they lockup as Ford tries to get a headlock but Akam quickly overpowers with a shoulder, a kip-up by Ford but he's hit with another shoulder, thrown to the ropes, Ford runs under a clothesline, jumps but is caught and dropped in the corner, a tag to Akam and they wear down their opponent with strikes for a 2, more strikes and a tag to Rezar who hits yet more strikes and another tag to Akam who applies a full nelson, Ford fades and Akam hits a uranage-esque slam for a 2.5, tag to Rezar and even yet more strikes lead to a grounded full nelson that sends us into the break, back from the break and a cover for a 2, tag to Rezar and a guillotine facelock, this keeps him grounded for quite a while, Ford works back to his feet but Rezar does't break, Ford, unable to break the hold, forces Rezar backwards towards his corner, Rezar releases to knock off Dawkins but Dawkins dodges, Ford rolls under and tags, Dawkins hits both authors getting a dropkick on Akam and double arm strikes on Rezar and a 360 stinger splash, he picks up Rezar and tags Ford hitting a dropkick-spinebuster combo for a pin but Akam breaks it up and levels Dawkins with a clotheslines, he picks up his tag partner and they hit the Supercollider double powerbomb on both and the Last Chapter legsweep-clothesline combo for the pin.

Yeah, this was, it was good enough. It was interesting seeing Street Profits built up so much only to have them work almost completely from below. Authors of Pain are an entertaining act but this lacked a certain amount of excitement. I don't think this is going to hurt Street Profits too badly as basically everyone loses to Authors of Pain but I can't really get too excited about what merely good. Ford continues to be better than what he's given.

On The YouTubes

For reference, here is the Best Friends promo that TM61 may have lovingly 'been inspired' by.

Finally...

If you ever looked up 5/10 in the dictionary...well it wouldn't list this episode because that's normally how dictionaries work but hey, it's an accurate way of describing the episode. Johnny's promo work, the Baszler-Moon encounter and the first part of 'Who are TM61?' were all very well put together, it's just a shame the in-ring action was nothing to shout home about.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

WWE NXT #246 Review (Aired - 3rd May 2017)

On the 3rd May, WWE aired episode #246 of NXT, taped at Full Sail University on the 19th of April. The show's main event was a Battle Royal to determine a Number 1 Contender to Asuka's NXT Women's Championship. In a show also featuring in-ring action from Hideo Itami, Killian Dain, Danny Burch, Kona Reeves, Heavy Machinery and many more, could NXT finally break the habit of a lifetime and present a Battle Royal that wasn't incredibly messy for the first 5 or so minutes? Well, I'll save you waiting to find out that one, no. No they could not.

Dain def. Burch

Killian Dain would come to the ring sans Nikki Cross or Alexander Wolfe for tonight, I know that Cross is probably preparing for the Battle Royal later on but that doesn't explain Wolfe's absence. The two men lock-up, Dain quickly overpowers him, Burch fights back but gets shoved back, he gets a reversal in, goes top rope but Dain pulls his leg out from under him, crossface strikes by Dain and an elbow to the head, Burch gets in some more offense, Dain hits Barrett's old Wasteland finisher, a running senton and repeated elbow drops, Burch is back up, he gets in some comeback offense with a reverse elbow, an enziguri, second rope for a front dropkick, a headbutt, European uppercuts only to be interrupted by a standing missile dropkick into the Ulster Plantation by Dain. A fun, predictable match. No one and I mean no one would ever expect Burch to win but it did enough to establish the force of Dain with Burch showing some spirit. Eric Young hung around on the outside doing nothing.

• We get a Patrick Clark video, he's now going by 'The Velveteen Dream' to which I have so many questions that I will wait until there are at least some answers prepared before I ask.

Heavy Machinery def. a pair of tiny men

The aspiring face team murder a pair of tiny men,. I actually think that at least one of them might have died when the two of them did a double rope rebound body splash directly onto his head.  The crowd seem really into these big lads and I still don't fully understand why is it because they're just big? At one point they pull both members of the opposite team into the ring and begin attacking them because they can and that's how being a face works in the modern era. The finish has both men picked up for the forward slam-bulldog combo. Just a bit shit really.

• Post-match Heavy Machinery have a promo, they establish they like weights and protein shakes, somewhere Allie is remembering her Cherry Bomb days and bemoaning their lack of acknowledging the virtues of sex as well. Anyway, they want a title.

• #DIY are interviewed backstage, they talk about how Heavy Machinery think they are owed a title match, they establish that they are still owed their 1on1 rematch and that they should get a shot before Heavy Machinery, no disagreement here.

Itami def. Reeves

Bobby Roode was seen chatting to Kona Reeves backstage before the match, presumably telling him how to be glorious, the crowd didn't get the memo as they give him no response, at any point during the match. They make so much noise for Itami but they point blank refuse to do anything for Reeves which is a shame as in his brief sections of heel control, working over the injured shoulder of Itami, he looks very promising. A sneak attack before the bell by Reeves would set the tone, stomping Itami in the corner, Reeves is pulled back by the ref, off the bell he runs at Itami who dodges sending Reeves into the ring-post, Itami kicks him in the chest, Reeves reverses with a lovely forearm and begins more stomping, eventually Itami begins his comeback with a stiff, disrespectful slap to the face, rebound clotheslines, chest kicks, more slaps, more kicks, a fine-as-hell hesitation dropkick in the corner then picks up the big man for the GTS and go to sleep he does. Another quick squash, another predictable result but it got over that despite two recent, extended injury breaks, that Itami is still ready to go and that if he can get the crowd to respond more (difficult with the notoriously awful Full Sail crowd), Reeves might have a decent future ahead of him.

• We get a Drew McIntyre package. It tells us he's big, he's a Scot and yeah, that's it.

Who Is Roderick Strong pt.2

Last week's edition really focused on the former ROH World Champion's childhood, this was about his transition from a Young Man to Adulthood. A lot of this focused on the relationship between Strong and his wife, UFC star Marina Shafir, with a nice immediacy to the footage as it showed their daughter who was only born about 10 days ago. It was a relaxing change of pace after the heartbreaking traumatics of last week to go to the gentle, human story of Strong as a guy who's just wrestling because he wants to provide for the people he loves and wrestling is the only way he knows how to do this. That said, with WWE's burgeoning relationships with multiple Indies, it might have been nice if we could have had video evidence of him wrestling for someone other than just IPW. We cover his Ring of Honor days using some quick photos of  SmackDown Live's Kevin Owens (Née Steen), RAW's Seth Rollins (Née Tyler Black), 205 Live's Akira Tozawa & Tomohiro Ishii. It was overall a fascinating approach that they took a guy who has been criticised for having no character and instead build him up as a real person instead of a gimmick, whether it will work remains to be seen but for now, I have to give a lot of credit to Strong and the NXT production team for creating a fantastic mini-documentary that has been a highlight for me, these past two weeks.

• William Regal and Bobby Roode are in the office, Regal is a bit in love with Strong, Roode is unhappy with Itami getting opportunities he doesn't feel he's earnt, Regal announces next week a Number 1 Contender's Match for Roode's Title between Itami and Strong.

Asuka Crashed the NXT Women's Championship No. 1 Contenders Battle Royal

Macey Estrella, now Lacey Evans, Billie and Peyton, Nikki Cross, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot, Ember Moon get entrances, so I guess then that Aliyah, Bianca Blair, Candice LeRae, Kimberly Frankele, Rachel Ellering now Rachel Evers, Sarah Bridges, Daria Berenato now Sonia Deville nor Victoria Gonzalez are winning. The first performer to get focus is all 6"1 of Gonzales who begins fighting both of the Iconic Duo. Battle Royal stuff happens, seeing Candice LeRae in an NXT ring without any build-up makes me lament how great Asuka v LeRae could have been. Up until the Ad break and no eliminations till we come back and Gonzalez has been eliminated already by the Duo because NXT can't control when they air ad breaks in this pre-recorded product. The Duo take out Blair aswell,  Aliyah eliminates Evers to massive boos Sarah Bridges is taken out with a dropkick by Morgan and Deville is eliminated by the Duo, Bridges and Deville argue outside the ring, lets see if that goes anywhere, Riot eliminates Frankele, nuclear heat for Billie Kay as she boots out Larae, Cross eliminates Aliyah to 'thank you Nikki' chants, maybe don't have an aspiring babyface take out an indie darling NXT. Down to the final 6 (Moon, Riot, Morgan, Cross, Royce, Kay) and the heels dominate, Cross gets in one of the more unique eliminations I've seen by getting Morgan over the ropes and then practically mauling her hands until she has no choice but to drop off the apron, Moon manages to take out Kay and Royce with a beautiful superkick to Kay and practically deadlift suplexing Royce out onto the floor. 

The final three present some very smooth action making it seem like you could have had a much better match if you'd just used them to begin with, the high point of the match comes when Nikki Cross takes an Eclipse and appears to die as Ember Moon tries to carry 'The White Chocolate Cheesecake of Sports Entertainment' out of the ring but her limp body refuses to go over. After some near eliminations and some successful building of tension, Moon would set up Riot for the Eclipse as well only for Asuka to run out, toss Moon off the turnbuckle (taking a landing that may have legit injured her shoulder) before giving her an assisted suicide dive headfirst into a barricade and hitting some of the kickiest kicks I've seen from the Goldberg-surpassing NXT Womens Champion. With all three women lying prone, Asuka, not requiring vocal amplification would scream 'NO ONE IS READY FOR ASUKA' before running away. As the medics attend to the three women, Nikki Cross would leave the ring muttering Asuka's name before noticing Moon practically dead in the corner and stopping to point and laugh at her in what was a delightful moment. Regal would come out to announce that at Chicago, it  will be a Fatal 4 way against Cross, Moon and Riot. Like practically all Battle Royals, until it gets to the point where you can seat the number of participants around an average dinner table, it's all very messy. Even then, I'm not entirely sure how they justify a No Contest finish in a Battle Royal as I didn't realise there were DQs in those, though I am glad that if this was the result they were heading for, they didn't attempt a simultaneous final elimination as if Styles and Harper couldn't do it convincingly, it would have been significantly harder to choreograph for three. That said, off the interactions of the Final three, this next Takeover could already have a show-stealing match.

Finally...

This was a step down from last week as beyond the final stretch of the Main Event, the in-ring action was nothing to talk about with the first 3/4 of the show being squash city. Luckily a compelling and vicious beatdown by Asuka and the second part of the fantastic 'Who Is Roderick Strong' vignettes helped save the show. With two weeks to go till NXT Takeover Chicago, there still seems to be a severe lack of build outside of the three title matches with talents like Kassius Ohno, Aleister Black, The Iconic Duo and many more currently without anything to do. Not necessarily the worst episode of NXT but after a couple of weeks of solid storytelling, this was overall a step-down but there was just enough to suggest that with a bit of an up in the ante over the next fortnight, Takeover could be something special.

ATPW Scale Rating: 4.8/10

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WWE NXT #244 Review (Aired - 19th April 2017)

On the 19th of April, WWE aired the 244th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 5th April. After last week's big farewell to Shinsuke Nakamura, this week we would have the last NXT match of Tye Dillinger as he'd attempt to settle the score with Eric Young (if Tye wins, that would put him at 1 win to Young's 5. Settled.) in a Steel Cage match. The Steel Cage match is of course a staple of faces trying to avoid outside interference because it always works! The show also featured NXT Champion Bobby Roode, Andrade 'Cien' Almas, The Iconic Duo of Peyton Royce & Billie Kay and a big return, could it continue with last week's solid effort and produce another fun show? Let's find out...

Itami knocked Roode out cold with the GTS

You may have noted my 'hmmm' about the placement of Hideo Itami last week at the goodbye ceremony for Nakamura, turns out 'hmmm' was correct. Roode would come out, suited and indeed booted to start the show by telling everyone how glorious he was, how he's improving NXT, how he didn't come out to say farewell to Nakamura because he beat him, twice, all lot's of decent 'heat', he even gets some boos from the normally Roode-loving Full Sail crowds. Of course while he was running his mouth, out would come everyone's favourite delayed push due to injury, Hideo Itami, managing to outsuit Bobby Roode but was wearing Plimsolls so Roode maybe still has him there. He would deliver a crisp slap, worthy of a dueling challenge to the face of the NXT champ and then a GTS much to the constant delight of the crowd before looking at the title and walking away. All good things here and putting Itami back in the ring with someone like Roode is a good plan as most of his injuries seem to have been sustained via rookie mistakes so a more seasoned performer like Roode should be able to work around such things.

• Next week we're getting Tyler Bate defending his UK title against the 'Gentleman' Jack Gallagher. That's going to be a lot of fun with a lot of well groomed facial hair.

• After the break, Roode was still in the ring, having only just woken up from that Go To Sleep

• Heavy Machinery lift weights. Almas has stolen the Del Rio 'everyone's a Perro' gimmick and is directing it at Drew McIntyre.

Almas def. Burch

Almas, his entrance and his fucking hat make so much more sense as he's fully embracing his heel role, Danny Burch entered to something approaching a pop. They worked a short, but quite painful looking match with lots of strikes, reversals and quite a lot of attention paid to the arm early on that did not pay off. Burch would quickly fall to a Big Boot into the corner crotch wipe, I mean Double Knees into the Hammerlock DDT. Another week, another match that is the defintion of Squash match but in that the 'official' term for Burch right now is 'Enhancement Talent', he certainly did make Almas good.

• We get a series of talking heads from the NXT Womens Roster talking about how unbeatable Asuka is or at least, how seemingly unbeatable is while also setting her up for her nigh-on inveitable fall by planting the seeds of arrogance being her hamartia.

• We also get a video package hyping up tonight's main event which I can't highlight enough is a Steel Cage match so that will prevent any run-ins.

Morgan & Aaliyah def. Royce & Kay

Morgan and Kay started proceedings, working a slow, feeling-out process. IN fact, most of the match could be described as slow as nothing really happened and none of it was done very quickly beyond Morgan using her legs to roll Kay around the mat. Aliyah worked the 'Canadian who likes cats but isn't Natalya' in-peril role well till Morgan would come in hit a dropkick on Kay who was doing stuff and Aliyah would small package Royce for the pin. An oddly brief match, it seemed planned but at the same time, it seemed like the match was only getting started then it was over. It wasn't the worst.

• Next week: Aleister Black kicks someone's head and Drew McIntyre tries to kick a specific head in the form of Andrade 'Cien' Almas.

Dillinger def. Young in a Steel Cage Match

Turns out, this match had a shit-ton of run-ins. Young did the 'I'm not getting in just yet' bit until Tye attacks and pulls him inside the structure so the match can properly begin. Once the match started, it was, like a lot of WWE Cage matches, not a technical masterpiece but it was a nice, intense brawl with a lot of there signature offense being adapted to suit the environment with one particularly crisp looking Superkick from Tye driving Young's head right into the wall, cutting open his forehead and a 'holy shit'-worthy Elbow Drop off the cage onto The Perfect Ten. The first two thirds of the match had some fine psychology with Tye playing the never-say-die babyface looking to show he can win via pinfall which was sadly hurt by his attempts to escape instead and Young, while the Elbow Drop was spectacular, it did make him seem more heroic briefly but Young, fr the most part wasn't even trying to win the match, just trying to hurt Dillinger. Of course just as Dillinger hit a Tye Breaker and crawled to the cage door, the assorted members of SaNItY would run in and slam the door nearly in his face, followed by Tye's buddies: Roderick 'not as small but still rather small boots' Strong, Kassius 'I look better with my shirt not tucked in' Ohno and Ruby 'my music was the best track from Sonic Generations' Riot to even the odds. Killian Dain would eventually flatten Ohno and Strong against the ring and climb in to make it a two on one but Tye hit a superb crossbody off the top onto both men and rolled out of the cage door for the win. Young and Dillinger play off each other superbly, even if I wish with NXT's love of history they'd have mentioned that Young actually helped train Dillinger back when he was starting out, but both mentioned put in intensity, some fine big spots and using the interference of SaNiTy to tell the final chapter in Dilllinger's NXT redemption tale. The show ends on a deserving 'Thank you, Tye' chant as he's carried up the ramp on the shoulders of Strong and Ohno.

Finally...

Don't be mistaken by the higher score below, beyond the most English promo ever seen on NXT between Bate & Gallagher and some solid work from Roode & Itami, up until the main event, this week's episode was eminently skippable. That said, the highlights of this week far overwhelm the fact that there was only one good match. I liked that for the second week in-a-row, in between match segments were used to push forward next week's action as NXT is the future, and the future is next week. Even I don't know what that was meant to mean. Either way, if you're in a hurry, watch the first segment and the main event and you're away.

ATPW Scale Rating: 5/10

Review: Jozef Raczka

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TV Review: WWE NXT #211 - Tye Dillinger v Buddy Murphy 2

Aired - 31st August 2016

For the second week in a row, Tye Dillinger found himself in the main event of NXT, this time taking on former Tag Team Champion Buddy Murphy, but would that be enough to end NXT's summer with a bang? 

This week's headline encounter saw "The Perfect Ten" Tye Dillinger continue to build momentum with a victory over Buddy Murphy in what was a solid outing for the pair. Whilst Dillinger is clearly a crowd favourite thanks to his Perfect Ten gimmick, I was particularly impressed with Murphy here, as he not only worked hard to allow Dillinger to look as good as possible, but also had a couple of promising moments himself. Whilst he may look like a boot-leg version of Triple H circa 2002, Murphy showed that he's got a little more about him this week, which included hitting a tasty meteora for a two count. Dillinger seemed to be resting on his Perfect Ten popularity to pull him through the match, as his comeback was especially basic here, not really containing anything to get too excited about, en route to getting the pinfall with the Tye Breaker [Fireman's carry neckbreaker]. I feel like if Dillinger wants to continue to main event NXT, then he needs to add a little bit more to his in-ring work, especially if working as a babyface. 

After thirteen previous attempt, Steve Cutler finally got himself a televised victory with a quick win over Kenneth Crawford, thanks to a Fisherman suplex slam, in the semi-main. I wasn't at all impressed with Cutler in his triumph however, as not only did he look like the budget lovechild of Baron Corbin and Corey Graves in his pre-commentary days, but he was pretty damn sloppy in the ring. The crowd clearly didn't have much time for him either, showering the bout with the sound of complete indifference. Crawford showed some moments of promise, including a nice running shooting star press, but also had his own fair share of slips and trips during the match. Considering Cutler has been in NXT since 2014, had a years worth of Indy experience before being signed and has faced talents now on the main roster like Baron Corbin, Chad Gable and Aiden English on a regular basis, he's nowhere near where you'd expect him to be at this point in his career. 

No Way Jose looked to build momentum following his Takeover: Brooklyn II loss to Austin Aries, with a swift success over Angelo Dawkins. This was a real nothing match, in which there seemed to be a vacuum on entertainment or anything notable before Jose got the pin with a Cobra clutch slam. If I'm going to criticise Steve Cutler for his tenure in NXT, then I need to bring up that Dawkins has been with the company since 2012 and lost 21 TV bouts in a row. His character is undefined as he comes to ring doing a weird stirring motion, whilst wearing two headbands like a shit Bobby Lashley and being extremely cocky for a chap who has lost 21 matches in a row. Jose finished things off by dancing in the crowd, which was nice. 

In his first appearance in the Full Sail Arena since winning the NXT Championship from Samoa Joe at Takeover: Brooklyn II, Shinsuke Nakamura came out and said a few words about his win. The crowd love The King of Strong-Style and they hang of his every word as he explained that he was still hurting from his match with Joe, but that doesn't matter because he has the belt in his signature charismatic style. It would certainly be impossible to criticise what was present on screen across the 6 minute segment, but I can't help feeling that it lacked any feel of drama and didn't advance anything in terms of story. As cool as it was to have Nakamura speaking directly to the crowd, everything that was done could have been done in a backstage interview, with this time given over to a lengthier main event or something with a bit more drive behind it. Closing the show with a promo that no matter how enthralling, was still a straight forward promo was a odd decision that didn't pay off completely. 

In the weakest contest of the evening, Liv Morgan and Aliyah worked a sloppy and illogical match in front of a crowd that was as dead as a dodo. There was some promise early on, but the match quickly showed up both women as not quite being ready for this kind of spotlight. Things like Aliyah not moving Morgan away from the ringropes when going for a pin shouldn't be happening by the time talents have come up to television, whilst Aliyah's wear down hold looked more like a finisher, which effected the flow of the contest and made it hard to believe that Morgan could actually have escaped it. Morgan picked up her first TV win with a nasty looking Reverse Roundhouse Kick, that needs a lot more polishing. With Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Bayley, Alexa Bliss, Emma, Charlotte and Carmella all departing the roster over the last year or so, it's left Asuka holding up a skeleton of a division that Morgan and Aliyah aren't ready to contribute positively to. 

Best of the Rest 

• With Johnny Gargano out injured, Tag Team Champions The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) to advantage of the situation, attacking Tomasso Ciampa during an interview before destroying him in the ring.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 2.95/10 

Man, this was not a good episode of NXT. When the highlights are an average main event between Tye Dillinger and Buddy Murphy and an inconsequential promo from Shinsuke Nakamura, you know that the hour of TV that you've just watched probably wasn't that good. The three squash bouts left a lot to be desired, with no one involved coming off all that well. There's some talent down the lower portion of NXT's roster that currently aren't up to scratch, which is worrying considering the length of time that some of them have been attending the Performance Center. 

I'd expect the show to improve over the next few weeks, there's plenty of stars on the roster to do that, but there's questions that need to be asked about why more home-grown talent like Steve Cutler and Angelo Dawkins aren't cutting the mustard.

Words - James Marston
Banner Credit - Kai Stellar