WWE NXT #264 Review (Aired 7th September 2017)

On 7th September, WWE aired its 264th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida on 23rd August. The show's main event match would see the dastardly Hideo Itami take on the still employed and underused Kassius Ohno in a No Disqualifications Match but the true main event would be Asuka's emotional farewell to NXT after having her never-ending title run cut short by real-life injury. With an undercard formed of Sonya Deville taking on Mae Young Classic competitor Zeda, Lars Sullivan taking on a trio of tiny men & Andrade 'Cien' Almas getting some revenge on Cezar Bononi, it had a lot of potential as an hour of television but as always, was it any good?

Andrade 'Cien' Almas (w/Zelina Vega) def. Cezar Bononi

In a rematch from NXT #250, the two lads Lockup to begin with Almas powering the Brazilian to the corner, the ref calls for the break and Almas obliges but hits a thunder slap before stomping out Bononi in the corner, a snapmare takedown into a basement drop kick and more corner stomps follow, Bononi tries to fight back and takes a knee to the head for his effort, the two trade strikes, run the ropes and Almas goes into a pair of big clotheslines from Bononi, punches in the corner, a reverse atomic drop and a drop kick swing things back in Bononi's favour, Almas gets a moment of control and goes for a DDT but Bononi leverages into a pinfall for a 2. Shades of their first match here but Almas regains control with a stiff punch leading to a Rope hung GTR and some forearms in the corner, Almas is about to go for the corner double knees till Vega tells him to destroy him, hits the Hammerlock DDT for the pin. A nice, little match that continues to build Almas and Vega as something of a Latin American Rusev & Lana. The match itself wasn't much more than it needed to be but it was still smooth, hard-hitting and gave Bononi just enough in terms of hope spots to continue to build the big lad.

• General Manager William Regal isn't mincing words or pies right now as he calls out Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly (& Lars Sullivan probably) for being naughty boys and attacking people all over the shop and Regal wants it known that he only wants fighting to happen in the ring. Let's ignore that Team ROH's TakeOver attacks took place in the ring yeah?

• Itami and Ohno work out backstage before their match.

• The Velveteen Dream says something about, I dunno, Prince things. He's going to give a proper promo soon, or a match or just drop a fire mixtape. Who really knows?

Lars Sullivan def. A Trio of Tiny Men

Quick squash m8. Lars is presented with a tag team match but he says no, he wants all the meat, all at once. He immediately double clothesline two of the tiny men before choking the other to the corner and launching him across the ring, he then ragdolls the fuck out of the men throwing them about like (I don't have a reference here, help me, Mauro). After some corner splashes, he hits his big modified Uranage Slam on all three men for the pin. Solid big lad fun and Lars didn't even have to do a...

• Lars continues to do a murder post-match, all three men try to crawl away from the man that resembles a gigantic, bald, Sami Callihan clone injected with Bane Venom, until No Way Jose's music hits to a big reaction. He talks about how Lars attacked him back in Brooklyn interrupting the biggest conga line Barclays has ever seen and he wants to see Lars do the same now his back isn't turned. Jose throws fists but Lars takes over and hits big ol' crossface blows before hitting another slam finish on Jose. RIP Jose.

• Jonny Wrestling is at the PC being interviewed about Brooklyn and talks of how amazing it was for him and how he refuses to see Zelina Vega and her DIY T-Shirt as a distraction and owns his failures. Talking of failures, enter Riddick Moss & Tino Sabatelli who talk of how they consider themselves responsible for breaking up DIY and how they wanted Johnny to know he won't cut it as a singles guy. Johnny responds by saying he's glad they enjoyed the match from their sofa and that next week he'll take either of them on. Which would he prefer, doesn't matter he says. Savage words, Johnny m'lad.

• Hype reel for Sonya Deville, lots of TapOut gear & punching. She manages to get in her  'put your hair up and square up' catchphrase.

• SANitY recap from Team ROH attack last week. A video message from SANItY as recorded on Killian Dain's old flip-phone (Editor: Probs a Motorola Razr) plays. Eric Young talks about how he can respect Team ROH for doing things their own way but that he doesn't care for them or about them and especially not for them if they're going to beat up his gang. He only knows one thing and that thing according to Alexander Wolfe, is chaos!

Sonya Deville def. Zeda

Another quick squash m8. The commentary team put over both women's real combat backgrounds before Sonya Deville puts on about two minutes of controlled waistlocks, interrupted by Zeda leveraging into a pin for a 1 and some running the ropes. Deville gets back to waistlocks, Zeda escapes but runs into a modified spinebuster takedown knocking her out of the ring. Back in and Deville hits a roundhouse, a front strike and locks in a Triangle Choke for the pin. This felt like a faint variation on the match that Zeda and Shayna Baszler had in round one of the Mae Young Classic but Deville looked great & Zeda has such a distinctive look and enough charisma to suggest she's worth keeping around.

• Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch are friends now and as a result, beat up Marcel Barthel (the former Alex Dieter jr.) and a friend while Regal looks on like a proud dad. Ruby Riot comes up to Regal and requests a handicap match to shut up the iconic duo for good, Regal tells her he won't book that match but if she can find a partner, he'll give her a tag match. She agrees. So who could it be? Perhaps Dakota Kai, she's been excellent in the Mae Young Classic, she's already held tag gold with Riot back in their Heidi Lovelace/Evie days, she competed in a womens tag match at PROGRESS: New York the other week and two of the PROGRESS owners Jim Smallman and Glen Joseph could be seen in the back of shot during this segment. Still, with all that evidence it'll probably be Liv Morgan.

No DQ Match: Kassius Ohno def. Hideo Itami

Ohno's gear for the evening has gone for those Neville: Main Roster Debut colours. As the match starts, Itami immediately bails to the floor, Ohno follows, Itami back, Ohno follows again, Itami tries to go for a sneak attack off the rope but Ohno is refusing this and represents a brick wall that Itami runs into. Ohno follows up with a body slam, a leaping leg drop, a slap and a delayed vertical suplex for a 2 count. Running boot, during a second one, Itami reverses and sends Ohno flipping over the rope before taking out Ohno with a running forearm and slamming him into the post. Ohno commits fully to this bump and falls to the outside in a terrifying manner, out of the ring and Itami bashes Ohno off those steps before taunting on his prone arm. Back in the ring and Itami starts on, you guessed it, kicks, all the kicks, into the corner, kicks, hits a hesitation dropkick for a 2 count. Itami heads out to get a chair, slides it into to the ring, goes to pick it up but Ohno grabs it, a tug of war starts which Ohno wins, he throws the chair to Itami before going for a Rolling Elbow but Itami smashes the elbow in question with the chair to send the two lads to an ad break. Back from the ad break and Itami is taunting Ohno with a series of kicks to the head, Ohno begins to hulk up and tells Itami to kick him with his best shot, on his feet and Ohno goes for a big boot but Itami catches it so Ohno hits a leaping boot to the head, another leg drop, a shining wizard and a senton get Kassius back on track, on their feet and Ohno sets up for a neckbreaker but Itami snaps the arm, sets up for a GTS but Ohno slips out and hits his own GTS, a Firemans Carry Into a Rolling Elbow knocking Itami out of the ring. Itami crawls up the ramp away from Ohno who begins kicking a Itami and picks him up for an elbow, he wants Itami to know how much that hurts, a lot from the looks of it, Itami is back up again and Ohno goes for a suplex but Itami reverses into a fisherman's suplex, Itami gets Ohno in the corner and straps the chair to Ohno's face before hitting a shattering hesitation dropkick but takes too long getting to the pin so only gets a 2. He demands respect, Ohno hits a swift right to daze itami, Itami goes for a boot but Ohno catches it, Itami pokes him in the eyes before setting up the GTS, Ohno escapes and hits the low blow to end all low blocks before following up with a Rolling Elbow for the pin. This was some truly glorious nonsense. With less than 10 minutes, the two men manage to create something truly powerful and memorable with Ohno picking up his biggest victory since returning to NXT (yes, even more important than his match with Elias Samson). Credit must also go to Itami who has not only firmly settled into a very satisfying groove with his current heel run but gave the most beautiful performance as a man whose nads are in the most possible pain after that low blow. I can only imagine what could have been done had these two been given 5-10 extra minutes to create chaos. Elbows and kicks probably.

Thank You, Asuka

William Regal introduces Asuka who gets a hero's welcome as she comes to the ring in her fly-as-fuck suit. She talks of how she's been in NXT for nearly two years, has fought so many great superstars and loves NXT, she's grown so much and is so grateful for it. Regal talks of how he respects Asuka's determination to constantly defend her title and knows she'll go down in history as one of the greatest champions in WWE history. Others have started to notice how great she is and Regal has been discussing her move up to main roster with Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan. Regal is sad to see her go but happy to watch the world discover that "no-one is ready for Asuka". The entire locker room come out to join in with the 'Thank You, Asuka" chants as Asuka grabs the mic declaring "you are NXT, I am NXT. Wherever I go, NXT comes with me". The crowd are on their feet. Ember Moon steps forward as her music hit, she goes to the ring, her music dies down and they face off, Moon extends her hand for shaking but as Asuka goes for it, she pulls a move from the Asuka playbook and slides it back before going in for a big, long hug, friendship is fucking beautiful. Finally out comes Triple H with his flowers lackey in tow, he takes her title and trades it for roses before putting over the 'undefeated, women's champion, the empress of tomorrow'. Asuka basks in the crowds adoration as the show goes off. I bet there were more than a few moist eyes in the house and at home during this one. You could say that this segment really undercut the move towards heel-dom that Asuka was taking but the truth is that this was such a show of respect and such an all-encompassing emotional event that it's hard to critique it. Asuka seems to be gone and that makes me sad, not just as someone who reviews NXT because it means I don't get to talk about her anymore but as someone who never really wants her streak to end. Treat her well, Main Roster, she deserves it.

ATPW Scale Rating: 7/10

A series of strong angles, some very good in-ring work from Itami, Ohno and Almas as well as the emotional farewell of Asuka led to one of the most cohesive episodes of NXT in a long time. That they were able to fit in so much, at such a breakneck speed and have it not feel overstuffed at only the standard one hour running time was impressive. Now let's watch as all this goodwill and positive momentum is squandered. Andrade Almas for NXT Champion, that is all, goodnight.

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

WWE NXT Takeover: Chicago Review

On the 20th May, NXT made it's windy city debut as it took over the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The evening's main event saw the team of Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa, better known as #DIY take on Akem & Rezar, the Authors of Pain in a Ladder Match for the NXT Tag Team Championship. In a card that mostly could have happened in ROH back in 2009, we also saw three other title matches as Hideo Itami took on Bobby Roode, Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross took on Asuka and Pete Dunne took on Tyler Bate. Eric Young and Roderick strong also happened. Anyway, this is a review, let's get to the bit where I say what was and wasn't good.

Strong def. Young

A far more entertaining encounter than I expected. Young entered first, flanked by his lackies Big Dain-O and the Wolfeman, as Strong's shitty Linkin Park backing track hits, he bursts out from the crowd, knocking Dain into the ring-post and hitting Wolfe with a backbreaker (what else?) before laying into Young. Young would cut him off with a belly-to-belly before applying a nerve, pinch, thing and using his size advantage to maintain dominance. Strong would fight back, going to the outside fighting off Young and Wolfe but is flattened by a running crossbody from Dain. From here on, we would see a few successive stories developing with Strong attempting to put away Young while fighting off the outside interference and Young constantly attempting Elbow Drops. This second story might work better with the ending where Strong would do a massive corner knee strike knocking Young onto his cronies on the outside before pulling him in to perform a suplex set-up backbreaker lumbar check for the win, a perfectly fine resolution to Young's multiple journeys up top if he hadn't already hit the elbow drop for a two count. Equally confusing considering he's yet to have won a match with an Elbow Drop and he only really attempts his Wheelbarrow Neckbreaker outside the ring when it's not Falls Count Anywhere. I'm not sure if this confusing logic is meant to play into the wacky insane shenanigans of SaNItY but whatever.

A very fun opener which manages to deftly make Strong look like a world-beater (and potential next challenger for Roode?) and prevents making the losing team look too silly in defeat.

Dunne def. Bate to win the WWE United Kingdom Championship

I will now attempt to explain this match without just endlessly screaming happy noises. Both men enter with updated theme music with Bate's coming even closer to that Peter Gabriel 'Sledgehammer' copyright lawsuit. The two midlands lads begin with some good ol' fashioned graps, Dunne catches Bate in a front facelock, transition by Bate to a wristlock, caught in a leg-headlock by Dunne, Bate attempted to do his showboating handstand escape but Dunne refuse to accept any shit and stops him, Bate escapes only to get caught in an armbar with a rested knee on his head, Bate flips about the place to escape and hit a dropkick much to the delight of the crowd taunting Dunne with a Moustache (Mountain) flick and by the crowd I mean me. Back on his feet and Dunne knocks Bate out of the ring with a rolling forearm by Dunne, another forearm outside the ring, Dunne wrenches the fingers and tries to stomp them on the steps, Bate retaliates with a flying uppercut across the apron, running elbow by Dunne and an X-Plex on the apron as Bate appears to die for the first of twelve times in the match. Dunne continues to murder the fingers of Bate, keeping wrist control he keeps stomps Bate's head Bate hulks up and hits an astonishing delayed exploder suplex sending Dunne to the corner two running European uppercuts later and reverses hitting a running enziguri, Dunne goes for the Bitter End, Bate escapes, Dunne is shocked as Bate hits a standing shooting star press and a deadlift stalling suplex for a two count. Bate goes for another press into a triangle choke, Bate attempts to shift leverage for a pinfall, Dunne retaliates with stiff face shots, Bate lifts up Dunne for a powerbomb then again for the airplane spin, forever, drop for a two count, Bate goes for the deadlift German suplex, Dunne flips it, goes for a clothesline, Bate runs to the corner, Dunne hits a mid-air forearm, X-Plex converted into a powerbomb (X-Bomb?) for a two count, the crowd are losing their collective shit and this time I don't just mean me. Both men trade strikes from sitting to standing, they bloody pummel each other, Bates hits BOP AND BANG, enziguri by Dunne to the shoulder, the two men are now literally head to head, more Boo-Yay sequence, Dunne sends Tyler to the ropes with a big right hand, Tyler responds with a rolling football kick, Dunne throws Bate back into the ropes who uses it to hit a springboard shoulder rebound uppercut, Bate picks up Dunne for the Tyler Driver '97, Dunne reverses, sets up The Bitter End, Bate reverses into a DDT, Dunne goes out of the ring, Bate hits a Triangle Moonsault, throws Dunne back into the ring, goes to the top rope, hits a bloody SPIRAL TAP for a  two count, Dunne rolls to the outside, Bate launches into a Swan Dive, NOPE, forearm by Dunne cuts him off, rolled back into the ring, Dunne hits the Bitter End for the Pin. 

You know a match is good when you get excited writing about watching and want to just go back and watch it again. This is not just a Match of the Night or a Match of the Year contender, this is an important match in terms of confirming that the UK Championship is a legitimate title where given that technically this strand of the story only began in a special on the Network the night before, that the two men were able to deliver a tale with such stakes and such history behind every movement while also making every movement BLOODY BRILLIANT is nothing short of incredible. There may be some who think that perhaps it could have done with more time at just over 15 minutes but it's the sheer lack of flesh on this match that is its advantage. In fact, the only real issue I could find is a feeling of 'Follow That' on match 2 of 5. I apologise that after a while this review just turned into me excitedly calling spots but if there were a match in recent memory, especially in the WWE, as deserving of criticism-free hyperbolic pure excitement, it's this one. If you're reading this and you haven't seen it, first off, spoilers, secondly go and watch it. Now.

Asuka def. Cross and Riot to retain NXT Women's Championship

I really enjoyed this match but honestly, it was, much like the last women's multi-person title match, a triumph of charm and energy over specificity. Where the supreme joy of Peter vs Tyler was the lack of wasted movement, the complete, comfortable chemistry of the performers this is a far sloppier piece with a lot of oddly off timing but it was saved by a commitment to the action. 

Nikki Cross would attack RIot straight off the bell, which turned out to not work out too well as it left her alone with Asuka who had a hip attack for her and another for Riot as she tried to get back in the ring, Asuka sends Cross to the floor and we get a staredown between Asuka and Riot as they do the 'test of strength, no selling shoulder tackle' thing. Perhaps the major issue of the match became clear here which is for all the wild energy, it was still very statically sticking to the standard structure of a WWE Triple Threat, namely it was mostly interractions between combinations of two people as one or another get sent to the floor. Everyone gets a chance to do the 'play the hits' style of performance: Asuka hits power moves all over the shot including a lovely sequence where she attempted to get Cross into a German Suplex, Nikki Cross gets in some mental and pretty painful strikes and Riot manages to balance out the Heel-Tweener-Face dynamic by being all spirited and gutsy. The finishing sequence was quite cleverly done with both Cross and Riot having teamed up to take out Asuka, Cross would attempt to hit her Fisherman's Neckbreakers only  only for Riot to reverse into the Ripcord Up-Kick. While in the pin, Riot seconds before it hits would a sliding headkick from Asuka for the double pin. 

It is the moment where she notices the kick is coming but is unable to avoid it adds an extra dimension to the ending as it plays up the reckless quality of the performers,  Riot and Cross get so lost in trying to take the other out that they almost lose sight of Asuka, that momentary loss of focus on the title costs them. As much as the match felt like an attempt to do a much better match than this, it was still a very enjoyable encounter and made me think that a proper 1v1 match-up between any mix of these three could be a very lovely thing indeed.

• The Velveteen Dream.

Roode def. Itami to retain NXT Championship

I know, you're all thinking about how accurately I called the structural devices this match would employ in my preview of this match. 

It was less than a minute after the bell before the first attempt at a GTS but Roode wriggled out to the floor like the damn snake in the proverbial grass he is. From there on the first section of the match saw some lovely back and forth including a beautiful moment where Itami mocked Roode's glorious shtick only for Roode to angrily rush him and get a knee to the gut as punishment for intellectual proerty theft. From here on, we would see the major issue of going straight from Nakamura, a Japanese strong style performer who focusses on kicks to Itami, a Japanese strong style performer as Roode works very much the same form of match as he did in his previous two Takeover matches but with shoulder taking the place of knee in terms of targetting. Granted, Roode's chemistry is stronger with Itami than it ever was with Nakamura but it still feels like Roode has a formula for 'big matches' that he likes to work, it has shades of the same match worked with Kassius Ohno, you could even see the beginnings of it in earlier encounters with Tye Dillinger. But it works, Roode has an old school heel persona that he has managed to mine well, it's possible that even my complaints about formula are all part of some grand plan to annoy us and generate more heat. The potentially clever bastard, That said, the match is a tribute to the abilities of Hideo Itami. Coming into NXT before Kevin Owens, before Roderick Strong, before most of the good parts of TNA, thanks to bad luck the man had to sit back and watch as an entire class of NXT performers came and went around him. What few, if any have managed to do as well as Itami is make everything look real. It might be enhanced by his two real injuries but from his stiff strikes through to even moves like the blockbuster or the falcon arrow having extra impact and somehow looking like if this were a real fight, he could make them work. I completely bought that when Itami hit the GTS, we could be seeing a new champion and when Roode fell out of the ring, my heart sank. What was clever was that Roode sold it not like he rolled out of the ring but more the force was such that the ring couldn't contain the GTS, it's the small details like this that improved the match. The last run of the match where Itami is struggling to hit the GTS again (despite forgetting, he also has the Running Knee), only to finally get it, but for Roode to reverse it into TWO Glorious DDTs. 

As much as Itami could have been, and probably eventually will be, a great champion, what Roode needed was a higher class performance after a pair of underwhelming Nakamura matches and that's what we got. As many problems as this match had, it did so much to buuild-up whatever comes next.

• Kevin Owens, a hockey player, Sami Zayn, a Pat Patterson and Kassius Ohno are watching. Owens and Zayn in the building together, sure hope no friendships are going to die.

Authors of Pain def. #DIY in a Ladder Match to retain NXT Tag Team Championship

First off, I'm glad that NXT is a land where any of the titles could now be considered the Main Event, sure in Asuka's tenure, she's yet to have the Takeover main event but I could believe should anyone ever beat her, that would be given top spot. 

Still, to the match: Ciampa still has his sweet Bandana, bro. The two teams brawl from the off with DIY getting the better of the big lads. Immediately DIY start pulling out ladders but AoP don't like that because who wants ladders involved in a ladder match? Not Paul Ellering. Further back-and-forth as DIY once again get the upper hand and go for a much larger ladder on the entrance ramp, as they attempt to push it into the ring, Ciampa, who is on the floor is attacked by the Authors but Gargano hits a beautiful tope suicido through the ladder. There is a succession of attempts to climb the ladder with the other team preventing it until the Authors realise that it'll be easier to climb a ladder if we just destroy the other team first, sending Gargano out of the ring and taking advantage of Ciampa's selling of the knee to hit him in the gut with ladders, this leads onto quite the most uncomfortable looking ladder dive I've seen in a while as Gargano superkicks the Authors onto ladders balanced on the outside while DIY climb and jump off the massive ladders looking like everyone will be regretting to agreeing to that spot the morning after. Much smoother is the next big spot as Ciamps and Akem would fight on a ladder under the titles, Gargs would set up another nearby and fight Rezar upon it, As Ciampa is knocked off with Akem, Rezar would climb off and push back the ladder, Gargano would do a ladder-to-ladder jump that Parkour Prince Johnny Mundo would be proud of. As Gargano is the last man left in the ring, Ellering would remember that there aren't DQs in a Ladder match and try to push over Gargano's ladder and for his service, he is gifted a superkick which it must be said he sells well considering he's in his 60s. Akem and Rezar back in the ring, take out Gargano and begin to deconstruct Ciampa again, banging him into a ladder in the corner. They grab another ladder and set him up to take a double teamed ladder to the face but Gargano pushes him aside, taking the ladder like Joey Mercury but planned. THIS IS WHAT FRIENDSHIP LOOKS LIKE. The Authors try to use the distraction of pure, unadulterated friendship to climb the ladder but Ciampa catches them and German suplexes Rezar through a ladder! In what could quite easily in any other match be the most painful looking spot of the match, DIY would then his their Meet in the Middle finisher while Akem had a ladder around his neck. The two then climb and are seconds from victory when the Authors pull the ladder out from underneath, grabbing DIY hitting the Supercollider for the finish. 

This was a match less burdened by storytelling than previous DIY efforts but what it may have lacked in pure psychology, it more than made up for it by delivering a riotous spotfest that continually outdid itself, even recovering nicely after perhaps an all-too ambitious double ladder dive spot. Of course as good as the match itself was, it was made all the better by...

• After the match, DIY would sit in the ring cradling each other in a pose echoing their post-match embrace in the first round of the Cruiserweight Classic. They would head up the ramp and as they hit the top and the NXT ending gtaphic tag appeared, Ciampa would shock those not watching on replay who could see there were ten minutes to go by turning heel in a nasty beatdown on his 'best' friend, throwing him into the titantron, hitting an exposed knee strike and an Air Riad Crash off the announce table through two tables of stuff before watching calmly as Gargano is carted away for medical attention. And after Gargano took a LADDER TO THE FACE FROM TWO MEN for you Ciampa! Even Bruno Mars wouldn't do that. What made this more effective was coming off wins by Roode and Dunne, I expected maybe DIY were going on last to send the crowd home with a big surprise face win. Boy was I wrong. If their CWC match is anything to go by, these could are going to have some fun over the next few months.

Finally...

It might be hyperbolic to say best Takeover ever, it probably might not be accurate either but as a beginning to end product, I don't think I've seen such superb consistency of excellence in a long time with the weaker matches on the show still being very good and at least one MOTY contender in Bate v Dunne. I like the approach of Takeovers sticking to 5 or 6 matches as the focus on not exceeding his reach and relegating some stories to NXT TV exclusive has managed to keep a sense of freshness and energy to Takeovers that the twice a month main roster specials. If you really are lacking for time, maybe skip the first match and the women's title match but I can not recommend more trying to find the 2 hours and 25 minutes and just enjoying an utterly superb front-to-back reminder of why wrestling is bloody great.

ATPW Scale Rating: 8.25/10

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WWE NXT Takeover: Chicago Preview

Saturday, 8pm EST or Sunday 1am GMT if you're here with us in fair blighty (or 7.30pm/00.30am if you want to see Charly and Nigel do much the same job as I'm doing for free here) NXT hits the ol' Windy Apple, my kind of town, Chicago for the latest Takeover special. Just in case you don't watch NXT on a weekly basis and/or WWE don't provide us nice high quality packages before the matches to explain context for them and why you should be watching, we here at ATPW thought you might like to know what you have to look forward to. If you're actually going to be in Chicago for the biggest wrestling show of the weekend, not called Backlash, you can also look forward to announced matches involving Drew McIntyre, Wesley Blake and Aleister Black taped before the main show. Regardless of where you're watching from, look forward to hearing repeated clips from the latest, and possibly greatest single, 'Judas' from Chis Jericho's band Fozzy. Also another song by something called 'Hacktivist'.

NXT World Championship Match: Bobby Roode (C) Vs. Hideo Itami

It seems appropriate with the current partnership between NOAH and Impact, that an NXT Main Event should be Itami vs Roode. It's been a long time coming for Itami, the man it was reported was to have won the title back in 2015 from Kevin Owens at Beast in the East but regardless of injury stalling his ascent, he's here now. Though Roode won't be easy to dethrone as he's already taken out Shinsuke Nakamura, twice, an achievement that was beyond even Samoa Joe. I would expect this match to take a similar format to Okada v Omega and Asuka v Moon as it all seems to come down to if Itami can hit his killer move, in this case his innovated Go To Sleep Fireman's Carry High Knee. Avoiding this instance, expect to see Roode do a lot of heel wriggling out of situations and targetting that still scarred shoulder that's caused Itami so much trouble. Finally, expect Roode's entrance to be the most ridiculous thing. Though the standard booking would suggest Roode retains as Itami has been on top for their entire feud, I think there's a chance that as it's taken so long for them to get Itami healthily to the main event, they might go down the no time like the present. Regardless of who leaves champion, there is a multitude of other challengers waiting include Kassius Ohno, Aleister Black, Roderick Strong, Drew McIntyre, Patrick 'The Velveteen Dream' Clark and in what ties into my theories for the Tag and Women's Title changes, Eric Young. Yes, that's right, I think we could be seeing a stable holding all the gold very soon. Then again, I predicted a Sami Zayn win at the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal earlier this year and how would that even work? He's not a giant.

Roderick Strong Vs. Eric Young

In what many are now calling the battle of Strong Vs Stable (at least if they weren't they should now), it seems that Strong has managed to graduate from part of a group of people helping Tye Dillinger against SaNItY to being the Tye Dillinger. Strong had just come off a loss to Itami when Eric Young, Alexande Wolfe and Killian Dain would rush the ring and attack him. This would, of course, lead to Roderick Strong accepting a match against Young because when you've spent months losing when the odds are equal, you're going to beat them when you weight the odds back out of your favour. That's just pure logic. Anyway, my cynicism aside, this could be an excellent match with both guys having a nice combination of technical ability and power moves, as well as being able to capitalise on the major momentum shift towards Strong after the recent mini-doc feature on him on NXT. It's hard to say who it makes more sense to give the win to as both men are coming off big losses and even if Young wins, there's no way it's without shenanigans, if Strong wins, it makes all three men look silly. Still, could be fun, let's just hope that both men can move onto something more meaningful after.

WWE UK Championship Match: Tyler Bate (C) Vs. Pete Dunne

This being Across the Pond Wrestling, me being from the Midlands, I could be biased but believe me when I say this one could be the show-stealer. With the use of a UK band as one of the two themes for the show and confirmation that Jim Ross will be joining the booth for this match and this match only lending it an extra credibility and commitment from WWE's part to keep eyes on the UK prize. This is a story that extends beyond just January's United Kingdom Championship Tournament and through the annals of recent Brit Wres. history as Duley's Tyler Bate & Birmingham's Pete Dunne have competed with each other almost as, if not just as, frequently as Dunne & Mandrews. Throw in that they have been playing up animosity between Bate & Dunne in UK Indies like Progress, where the British Strong Style stable (along with Trent Seven) have been running roughshod over an entire company since November last year. If anything, the only thing working against this match is that many may view it as something of the 'midcard' title for NXT and as a result, not give them enough time to build a satisfying competition. I have no doubts that after their superb confrontation in the UKCT finals, this will be another excellent match. My gut tells me that The Bruiserweight is taking home the title in this one. Dunne is rightly considered one of the finest wrestlers and performers in the UK but also it would help play into his character traits of feeling he's only using the UK scene to get a foot into the US or Japan. Equally, watching Regal have to deal with Dunne further would create for some excellent television as we al know how much money there is in heels getting on Regal's last nerve. Who knows, maybe we could get one last match out of Regal against Dunne? Can that happen? Please?

NXT Tag Team Championship Ladder Match: Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar) Vs. #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa)

It's a classic format, David vs Goliath (admittedly in this instance, there's two of each), take someone little and put them against someone large. Equally, this format works when you add in a ladder because one side had speed but the other side doesn't need to climb as many rungs to actually reach the belts. As much as we've all had to do serious work to accept that The Revival couldn't hold or keep winning back the NXT Tag Titles forever, this match should be a corker with the two teams showing they can work the old-school encounter style well. It seems like a lot of the odds seem to be in AoP's favour as The Revival are the only team to become two-time NXT champions and so far remain unpinned or submitted on TV but then again, #DIY's entire deal is persevering against the odds and also it allows them to win without actually having to break the streak that AoP have going. Depending on which way it goes, if AoP retain, expect to see Heavy Machinery (sigh) take their shot at the titles next, if #DIY become two-time champions, I would think that SaNItY's Wolfe & Dain would take the challenge leading to...

NXT Women's Championship Triple Threat: Asuka (C) Vs. Nikki Cross Vs. Ruby Riot

First off, we have to cover the big story about this, we all expected this would be where Ember Moon would finally win the title but having taken a bad fall, she isn't cleared for the match. That said, I wouldn't count out Asuka losing her title here. The two major stories going into this match are the continued feud between Cross & Riot and the increasing arrogance of Asuka's she believes herself to be entirely unbeatable. Now, they are clearly setting up Asuka for a pride before the fall type scenario and this isn't the first multi-person encounter she's had with her having already faced Cross along with Kay and Royce at Takeover: San Antonio but I think it's worth considering that Cross has been a formidable and unpredictable figure in NXT and could benefit well from a win here. Not only would it help SaNItY avoid the Wyatt pratfall of being a spooky stable who win nowt but it sets up multiple storytelling opportunities. Long-term, it also keeps the story of Moon vs Asuka going as if Asuka goes up to main roster undefeated, even if Moon eventually wins the title, she still has that obsessive should-place chip of knowing that she never proved she was better than the best. Though obviously if Asuka continues her reign of terror there's still stuff to be considered there. Riot winning would be a bit of a shock as I think there's still some time to build her up as an underdog babyface first but whatever the outcome, I can't say these three trying to tear the house down with them. Long story short: If they let them go for it and give them the time to do it, this should be dope

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WWE NXT #247 Review (Aired 10/05/2017)

On 10th April, WWE aired the 247th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 19th April. The show's main event was a clash between Roderick Strong and Hideo Itami to determine a new Number One Contender for Bobby Roode's NXT Title. With action also featuring Aleister Black, Johnny Gargano, Tommasso Ciampa, Riddick Moss, Tino Sabatelli and something called a Cezar Bononi, let's find out how good it was...

Black def. Bononi

Aleister would take on Cezar Bononi in a surprisingly competitive encounter with the two trading strikes briefly before Black would hit the Black Mass for the win. When I say surprisingly competitive, I mean because this one actually suggested for a brief second that Black isn't bulletproof. I don't believe them, I think the man formerly known as Tommy End could scare the shit out of bullets. Black has the crowd in the palm of his hand and I think the WWE realise they have something special here, part of me hopes he doesn't have a proper match for a while because Black murdering people with a single kick is too damn entertaining.

• We are shown a recap of the madness of last week's Battle Royal but then cut to the disheartening confirmation that Ember Moon was legit injured and won't be at Takeover: Chicago. Still, a Triple Threat should still be a lot of fun.

• After the announcement of Tyler Bate v Pete Dunne at Takeover: Chicago, we get a brief video package to remind anyone who's forgotten who that beautiful bastard Pete Dunne is.

• We get a video package looking at Ruby Riot. What we learn is she has tattoos, she's getting a new one and that she's a really good wrestler.

• Nikki Cross has an odd segment where she tries to apply a sleeper hold on a man for attaching a microphone to her and then she does more crazy stuff like muttering and not answering questions. Cross sells the material well but it teaches us nothing new.

• Drew McIntyre is ludicrously tall in comparison to the woman interviewing him. Wesley Blake would interrupt telling McIntyre that he deserves his spotlight. Blake doesn't even deserve Blake's spotlight as that belongs to Murphy.

• So many bullet-points. But yeah, Patrick Clark, the Velveteen Dream, seriously Patrick, we have you and Nakamura as the artist FKA, we can't have two Prince wrestlers. There can only be one.

#DIY def. Sabatelli & Moss

Tommaso Ciampa, with a sweet bandana, and Johnny Gargano, with just his already sweet facial hair, were in the ring giving a promo making it clear that because they're owed their tête-à-tête rematch against the Authors of Pain and that the line starts behind them till out come Riddick Moss and Tino Sabatelli to inform them that in fact now that they're here the line starts behind them. I have two questions: 1. Is the line the NXT equivalent of RAW's yard? 2. Why would Moss & Sabatelli, a team with 1 televised match that they lost be anywhere near the front? Without answering either of my questions exactly, #DIY would knock the big American Football lads out of the ring and in doing so, apparently, start a match, look Tom Phillips said Regal just made it official so that's how it works, alright? Anyway, the match itself was a little lacking with Moss & Sabatelli, while this is developmental, still searching for the necessary villainy to enliven the early villainous control segment though Ciampa does fill the Sicillian-Psychopath-In-Peril role well. The match is enlivened by a beautiful hot tag sequence by Gargano including all the hits and by all the hits I mean he does that Springboard Apron-to-Ring Spear thing. The face team would eventually get the win hitting Meet in the Middle on Moss for the pin. While a pretty dull match overall, it did wonders to showcase that the virtue of a pairing like Gargano & Ciampa is that they can both fill any role required with the two men swapping hot tags every so often and are truly still the most versatile team in NXT.

• Post-match William Regal congratulates #DIY on being great, he says they can have their rematch. Paul Ellering and his nihilist murder boys come out and say such things will result in death, Regal announces it will be a ladder match.

• Kassius Ohno is also a very tall man. He does a practically beat-for-beat recreation of the Drew interview earlier with Almas filling in the Wesley Blake role. Lad. Next week: Ohno v Almas.

• Tyler Bate gets a video package too. You can tell it's just recycled footage from the last time we saw this package as he says he's only 19 and last I checked, he had his 20th Birthday in March. Then again, they also refused to acknowledge the existence of the UK Title match at PROGRESS Orlando a few weeks back so it's par for the course.

• Roderick Strong gets a quick pre-entrance promo saying this is why he's here and this is what he's worked for.

• Hideo gets one as well saying that Roderick is a great man but this is what he's working for and Roderick will be going to sleep. 

Itami def. Strong to become No.1 Contender

If you were wondering if Itami had been slowed down by his repeated injuries, going to war with Strong for over fifteen minutes shows he hasn't missed a step better than any number of quick squash matches could. While the two men haven't faced off in singles competition since May 2009 at an ROH on HDNet taping, they have exceptional chemistry, the kind that makes you think that should Itami win next week, a rematch for the title would not be something I'd say no to. The early sections of the match saw the two men going hold-for-hold with each other, testing strength, trading pinning combinations and generally sizing each other up. Itami would take over and control the action with a combination of kicks, strikes and a very rare thing: a headlock that actually looks painful. Just before the first of two ad-breaks, Itami would attempt to hit the GTS only for Strong to escape and roll out of the ring. Back from the break and Itami is back in the control with more kicks and headlocks, a frequent feature of the match that NEVER GETS OLD (you think I'm being sarcastic, it genuinely never does) throwing in some old faves like his running fake-out apathetic heel kick and three insanely stiff looking gut-shots. This would keep going until Itami attempts a suplex, only for Strong to finally hit R2 and get a reversal as he drops Itami on the ropes gut first, gets in some slaps of his own, a backbreaker, wears down that injured shoulder of Itami before hitting the first of many near-perfect false finishes of the match as Itami escapes briefly, Strong would hit him with a big boot to the shoulder for a close two count. The two men would trade back-and-forth with Itami kicking some more (seriously, never gets old), Strong hitting a beautiful standing dropkick, until Roddy is able to catch Itami and drop him backbreaker-style onto the ring apron to send us off to ad-break 2. From here on out, the match went insane, throwing out the expected structure with the two men just trying to hit that one big move to put the other away even going for one of the more convincing double-clothesline spots I've seen as both men put in superb performances full of desire and desperation. The finest section of the match would see Strong hit an ankle slam for a two count, Itami coming back with his quick slaps combination, sending Strong to the corner, Strong would catch Itami running at him for a single-leg dropkick into another pumphandle backbreaker, Strong placed Itami on the top rope for a superplex, the two traded strikes trying to take control till Itami hit a top-rope falcon arrow and somehow Strong did not die. After a high knee by Strong, the closing stretches of the match saw Strong and Itami frantically trading reversals in an attempt to find a finish to the match till Itami was able to find the GTS and get the pin. Even though there was a certain feeling that both men could do even better, they still produced a fantastic encounter, not quite the MOTY contender that other NXT Number 1 Contenders Matches like Joe v Zayn all night long but certainly a great symbol of the virtues of just letting great wrestlers wrestle and also a great way of both showcasing both wrestlers with both leaving looking so much better for participating.

• In a piece of post-match, online exclusive shenanigans SaNItY would invade the ring and hit their finishers on Strong. I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to Strong, Ohno and a returning No Way Jose vs the SaNItY lads at Takeover or on the post-Takeover NXT. Still, let's see where it goes...

Finally...

I couldn't rate this week's edition much lower than this because the main event was so damn good, especially with McGuinness able to provide a valuable insight having worked classics with both men in their ROH days, but the rest of the show was a little lacking. It's necessary sometimes to have this done to maneuver the show into the right position before Takeover but it did show a lack of effort in that #DIY's promo work was compelling as was their interplay with Moss & Sabatelli but the match was plodding for its short time and did little to enhance #DIY and less to showcase the younger team. Equally, while Black kicking people in the head is great, without any real plans or storylines on the horizon for the Dutch Metal Headkicker, they seem to just be filling time. If the plan is to work Takeover to Takeover, that's fine but at this point, NXT can afford to do a little longer term planning.

ATPW Scale Rating: 5/10

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WWE NXT #243 Review (Aired - 12th April 2017)

On the 12th of April, WWE aired the 243rd episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 5th April. Starting off proceedings with a rather fun new theme tune that sounds like they couldn't be bothered to keep paying Astroid Boys for their UKCT theme and some lovely new opening credits, this was clearly a soft reboot for the developmental brand This week's main event featured the emotional goodbye of the King of Strong Style, Shinsuke Nakamura, as he heads off to Smackdown to make Dolph Ziggler job again. With matches also featuring Aleister Black (neé Tommy End), Drew McIntyre (neé Galloway), Tomasso Ciampa, Jonny Gargano, Ruby Riot, Kimberly Frankele & Oney Lorcan, could it improve on last week's dissappointing presentation?

Match 1:

 Aleister Black

def.

Corey Hollis

(0.30)

Not so much a match as a single delayed kick. Hollis bounced around the ring till he jumped straight into a Black Mass from the former PROGRESS & WxW Tag Champ for a quick pin. Black celebrated his quick victory with a Full Lotus in the centre of the ring. Obviously not a technical competition but it served its purpose and the crowd are already willing to take their coffee Black.

• Tye Dillinger talks about his excitement on joining the Smackdown roster but says he has unfinished business with Eric Young, business that will be settled next week in a cage match to stop his pesky friends interfering. Those always keep people out Tye, good call.

Match 2:

#DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa)

Def.

Dylan Miley & Michael Blais

(3:00)

Ciampa and Miley start proceedings, Miley looks like every other guy on the WWE roster if Vince re-drew him to his personal tastes, he controls both of the former NXT Tag champs with some big lad offense including a brutal looking stalled suplex at least until he tags in partner Blais who gets rocked easily by Johnny Wrestling and the Psycho Killer who hit the (FINISHER) for the win. After the match, Miley would murder his tag partner for the crime of losing. Some more fundamental, basic structure tag stuff but it did its job in establishing Miley as a monster to watch. That said, it's a shame that even if they got the win, this really had nothing to do with #DIY.

• In the aftermath of NXT Takeover: Orlando, Ember Moon spent an hour or two wandering around the Amway Center as they packed away the set and mournfully contemplating her loss while someone played piano for her. This was actually quite a refreshing change of pace for backstage/promo segments focussing on the emotion of the idea instead of any actual issues between the superstars. It not only built up the prestige of the Womens Title but did a lot to sell a re-match between Asuka and Moon as something special.

Match 3:

Ruby Riot

def.

Kimberly Frankele

(2:25)

It's now time for the Shimmer Main Event as former CHIKARA Grand Champion Kimberly took on the woman once known as Heidi Lovelace. Kimberly would control the action early on with some lovely stiff chops and kicks getting a nearly fall off a facebuster and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker combo, Nikki Cross would come to ringisde and do her nutter shtick somehow causing in fact a distraction allowing Ruby to get a comeback sequence leading to her wind-up Pele Kick finisher staring down Cross as she got the pin. Cross would then walk away laughing and looking all manic like. It did what it had to do but these two have had many significantly better matches, most of them longer than 3 minutes it's obviously building towards a one-on-one between Riot and Cross which should be good.

• The Iconic duo are mucking about backstage till they go to taunt Aliyah because if you remember, Peyton beat her last week. the segment ends when Liv Morgan pushes Billie into an ice bath. Banter, hijinks, shenanigans. Ha.

Match 4:

Drew McIntyre

def.

Oney Lorcan

(5:15)

Drew's not using Bad Dreams anymore, he has an entrance theme that's Metal as Fuck but also has bagpipes to remind you, he is Scottish. He gets a hero's welcome from the Full Sail crowd who've been surprisingly tolerable this taping with their most inventive chant being 'welcome back'. A nice change from their normal tone of 'we are more important than the wrestlers'. Talking of the wrestlers, for the time they were given they put on a good match with Drew playing heavily off his strength and size advantage but Lorcan managed to once again showcase his comfort levels with opponents of all sizes by using his blend of big ol' strikes and, well, running strikes but he's good at hitting people. The match featured some fine back-and-forth with highlights including an attempted crossbody to the outside by Lorcan, caught and reversed into an Apron backbreaker, a beautiful suicide dive by Lorcan and an Avalanche Front Headlock Suplex by Drew leading through a massive Alabama Slammer and a Test-sized Big Boot for the pin. Sadly no Futureshock DDT but that maybe be down to Almas and Roode already having DDT finishes. Fine, crisp stuff from both men making Drew look like a world beater with Lorcan still looking impressive in defeat.

• Drew gets a top-of-the-ramp interview talking about how he went away and won stuff, he has RAW talent, can put the SmackDown on anyone but he wants to be on NXT. Do you see what he did there?

Thank You, Shinsuke

The Two-Time NXT Champion has his graduation speech, coming to the ring in a black t-shirt, black blazer, charcoal grey trousers and what may have been winkle-pickers but I apologise if my shoes calls are as bad as my spot calls. He has the standard 'I'm going to Smackdown but NXT will always be home' type spiel, making you realise quite how big an impact he's had in just the year he's been here. It's also notable quite how fluid the speech is showing quite how good Shinsuke's English is. Also he's a charismatic, charming fucker who could probably drag a doctor off a plane and knee him in the head and still be cheered. Thank you for the past year Nakamura, now go kick the head off SmackDown: Live. In his own words, 'We Are NXT. YEAOH!'

• As the show finishes, the NXT roster and Regal come to the ramp to applaud Nakamura as he leaves including a surprise appearance by Finn Balor to rapturous applause, presumably as the cameras cut out, Mahal came in to concuss everyone. Hideo Itami, looking as good as ever is stood next to Regal, hmmm...

Finally...

With the new opening, the Full Sail debuts of Black, Riot & McIntyre and the fond farewell to Nakamura, this was clearly an episode all about building up the roster after losing arguably its top Main Eventer, Tag Team and Midcard hero in Nakamura, The Revival and Dillinger. It managed to present a lot of potential options going forward with everyone from McIntyre to Miley managing to show something. That said, while the in-ring action was solid if unmemorable, it did enough to present the developmental brand as one moving forward and developing quite nicely indeed. Now if they can just wrap-up the 'Who injured Itami in the car park' storyline...

ATPW Scale Rating: 4.5/10

Review: Jozef Raczka

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