NXT 274 Review // Andrade Almas lays out Drew McIntyre in the middle of the ring

On 16th November 2017, WWE aired its 274th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 4th October. Our main event match was a SHIMMER redux as Ember Moon (Athena) took on Mercedes Martinez. The show also featured Lars Sullivan taking on Raul Mendoza and The Street Profits facing off against the team of Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli as well as Drew McIntyre meeting Andrade Almas téte á téte before their title match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames. But was it any good?

Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) def. Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli // 3:25

Dawkins and Sabatelli to start, they lock up and Sabbatelli powers Dawkins to the corner, separating, Dawkins is straight on him with a waistlock takedown, Sabbatelli escapes witha back elbow, they run the ropes, Ford hit a blind tag as Dawkins takes down Sabbatelli and the two hit a frog splash-elbow drop combo and a double dropkick on Moss, Ford hits a flying forearm in the corner, goes for a second but Sabatelli levels him with a reversal, tag to Moss who works over Ford with strikes and a back suplex, tag to Sabatelli who literally just punches him, for about two minutes, goes for a suplex but Ford flips out and gets that hot, hot tag to Dawkins who runs through both men with strikes and a big ol' bulldog to Moss and a 360 lariat in the corner before hitting a Punch...thing on Sabatelli for the pin. Good points, Street Profits continue to improve, showing great cohesion as a tag team, Moss for his part, plays a solid heel. Sadly, the Sabbatelli experiment continues to yield little in the way of positive results, he can throw a decent punch, that's about it. Still, not the worst. 

There's a nice, little package for Aleister Black vs Velveteen Dream. Stop it, stop thinking about Velveteen Dream's package.

Lars Sullivan def. Raul Mendoza [Jinzo] // 1:46

Quick squash m8. Off the bell, Sullivan goes for a tackle but Mendoza does a limbo dodge, goes for quick kicks and strikes on Sullivan who decides selling is for smaller men and whips Mendoza to the corner, Mendoza flips the turnbuckle to the apron, dodges another strike from Sullivan and hits a quick step-up kick, goes for a springboard but Sullivan headbutts him out of the air, throwing him to the corner, he hits two stinger splashes and a big delayed powerslam, Sullivan goes at him with crossface strikes before laying out the little lad with the Freak Accident waist-lift side slam for the pin. A quick match that set the scene for the encounter with Ohno on Saturday but it gave Mendoza enough offence to make him seem like someone more important than just another body for Sullivan to consume. All-round good stuff 

Post-match, Sullivan would as always go for a murder till Kassius Ohno hits the ring to stop him, tossing Mendoza aside like a ragdoll, Sullivan would stare down with Ohno till he started laughing in his face and walked away.

WIlliam Regal is backstage, probably regaling the cameraman with stories of the time he had sex with Eartha Kitt in an aeroplane bathroom when in comes Johnny Gargano, Regal said he wanted to see him because he knows he's been having a tough time and he has an opportunity for Gargano, Pete Dunne has issued an open challenge for the UK title for the NXT after TakeOver, Jack Gallagher's a baddie now and Regal can't find any UK people Pete Dunne hasn't beaten recently so he's offering the match to Gargano. He accepts, obviously.

There's a package for the War Games match, did you know there's a War Games match? Because there is.

Ember Moon [Athena] def. Mercedes Martinez // 6:53

This is a big rematch for anyone who enjoyed their SHIMMER rivalry over Volumes 43-45. Collar-and-elbow tie-up to start, waistlock by Martinez transitions into a headlock, Moon tries to escape but Martinez pulls her back in by her hair into the headlock, whip to the ropes and a shoulder tackle allows Martinez to transition to a grounded side headlock, taunting slaps by Martinez and a whip to the ropes, Martinez tries to catch her in an arm drag but Moon hits an arm drag of her own and a dropkick before sweeping the leg and hitting a basement dropkick for a 2,corner clotheslines follow with Martinez reversing with an elbow as Moon runs into a spinebuster for a 2 to send us off to the break, back from the break and Moon goes straight in with a roll-up for a 2 and works over Mercedes with quick kicks till Mercedes hits a big chop and goes for a modified three amigos finishing on a delayed vertical suplex for a two, goes for a Fisherman's Buster but Moon elbows out and hits a step-up enziguri, a rana knocks Martinez out of the ring allowing Moon to hit a lovely tope suicido onto the ramp, rolling Martinez back in, she goes up top for an eclipse but Martinez hits a boot and a running tower of london for a 2, she goes for another pin but still a 2,goes for the Fisherman's Buster but Moon rolls her up for a 2, catching her breath on the ropes, Moon traps her between the top and middle, catching her back with a roundhouse and hitting a rope-hung elevated chest stomp, setting her up perfectly for the eclipse and the inevitable defeat of Mercedes follows.  Really lovely stuff here. It took a while to get going with the crowd nonreactive to the more technical grappling start but once the strikes began flying, the audience started to get into it. Moon looks impressive in victory here but also took a lot from Martinez, opening up storytelling possibilities for Saturday should they need a reason to make the odds look greater for Moon. Hopefully, Martinez will be back soon on a more permanent basis.

Next Week: The Post-TakeOver NXT will feature Pete Dunne vs. Johnny Gargano for the UK Title & Ruby Riot vs. Sonia Deville 

Andrade "Cien" Almas [La Sombra] laid out NXT Champion Drew McIntyre in the middle of the ring

Drew is out in a t-shirt and jeans, he talks about how it's great when a plan comes together, he congratulates Almas on his plan, well, Zelina's plan working as he's got his title shot but he's in trouble because now he's got the opportunity he'll see how reality sets in and he will find out what kind of man he is. Drew has made it clear what kind of man he is but when the big lights of Houston are on Almas, will he be able to say the same? He says that Vega has many things to say about climbing the mountain of success but when Almas steps in the ring, he'll discover that Drew is the bloody mountain. He asks one more time for Almas to come out and face him like a man, to prove to himself he is one, unless Vega isn't letting him off the leash tonight. Out come Vega and Almas with Almas looking sharp as hell in a suit, as he hits the ring at speed, he takes off his blazer and Drew takes off his t-shirt because yeah, why not, they trade strikes with big Drew getting the best of the encounter, Vega goes for a crossbody but Drew catches her, putting her back on the floor as Almas hits a chopblock, some nasty headpunches and the El Idolo hammerlock DDT to stand tall. If we allow for the over-use of stereotypical 'be a man' sentiment by McIntyre, this was a strong segment to head off into TakeOver, not only does Drew continue to sound confident, assertive and like a true champ on the microphone but Almas looks like even more of a threat than normal making Drew bump like a pro off the El Idolo. If they can bring the same fire to their match as they did here, this could be something special.

On The YouTubes:

Another week without any YouTube exclusives so here's the Moon v Martinez trilogy from SHIMMER.

Another good-to-very good week for the yellow ropes as the show delivered on practically all fronts. The opening tag match was pretty standard stuff but the rest of the show recovered well. There was perhaps a tad too much padding and promo packages and not enough actual content but the content was high enough quality for the most part that I didn't mind. See you on Saturday, everyone.

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

WWE NXT #252 Review

On 14th June, WWE aired the 252nd episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on May 25th. The show's main event saw Asuka defend her NXT Women's Title against Nikki Cross & Ruby Riot in an eliminations match. With matches also featuring Drew McIntyre, Velveteen Dream, Authors of Pain and the newly contracted CWC competitor Raul Mendoza, why was all of this so dull?

McIntyre def. Ryzin

Drew McIntyre's out against a newly red-haired Rob Ryzin, they lock up to begin with Ryzin transitioning to a waitslock followed by a chinlock, Drew hits a big belly-to-belly and... you know, I can't be bothered. Drew hits a Claymore to win, it's fine, I yawned at one point and missed the match. Doing these matches to build up new signees is fine but don't just keep doing them because you have nothing for them.

• Talking of people in need of a fucking storyline, here's an Aleister Black package. Seriously, just do the Bull Dempsey-Baron Corbin storyline with Black and McIntyre, do anything with them just give them something to do.

Authors of Pain def. Dominguez & Freyday

Akam is in first and he hits a big boot taking out Wilmer Freyday before in comes Anthony Dominguez to get taken out as well. Dominguez is thrown practically onto the ramp before Akam hits a Modified Death Valley Driver for the win. Another day, another NXT squash match that does little but add another notch to AoP's belts.

• After the match, the AoP hit the Super Collider on Dominguez and Freyday. Paul Ellering calls out Heavy Machinery claiming that they haven't read the book of pain and that they're about to write a new book, the book of dominance, this one has music in it, in fact, it's where music comes from. Also that, Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight will be a footnote in the book. Out come Heavy Machinery for a four way big lad staredown. Intense, I guess.

• Roderick Strong tweeted about Bobby Roode. Huge if true.

• Sonya Deville gets a package. It's pretty good at aping the style of MMA video segments. She's in action next week. I can't wait.

Dream def. Mendoza

As Velveteen Dream makes his entrance, Tom Phillips makes a reference to a 'sign of the times', do you get it? Dream is like Prince! Ha! Dream plays with his Raul Mendoza to begin with using his collegiate wrestling background to wrestle him to the mat and then literally walks over him to taunt at the audience. They lock up, Dream hits a Little Red Corvette sized shoulder block, Mendoza rolls up but only for a 1 count. The two trade strikes till Dream cuts off Mendoza with a boot as Mendoza attempted a springboard. Dream makes Mendoza's chest look like a raspberry beret in the corner and throws a belly to back suplex. A Purple Rain of chops onto Mendoza's chest light him up. Mendoza comes back with a high kick and chops, but just as he's beginning to party like it's 1999, a flapjack, a rolling death valley driver and a Glam Slam Top Rope Elbow Drop from Dream earn him the pin. After picking up the win, he eye-fucks the camera, so much. Both men look solid but frankly, there is nothing achieved here. Still, hopefully Dream can build on this potential and move into an actual story.

• Kassius Ohno is interviewed backstage and he regrets sinking into frustration like Hideo Itami and he's leading by example in a match with Aleister Black, now that's more like it.

• Ember Moon package, she's back and facing Peyton Royce next week. The way Royce has been performing recently, this could be very fun.

Asuka vs. Cross vs. Riot ends in a No Contest

So, um, what was that? I'm not even commenting on the performance of the three women who are arguably three of the best performers in WWE at the moment but somehow they took the template of a match that was a fun mess a few weeks ago and re-created it as something that doubles down on how much of a mess it was but in terms of fun... 

It had promise as a match, especially if you love multiple dropkick variations as after all three women brawled to begin with. Cross hit Riot with a front missile dropkick, Asuka hit Cross with a side missle dropkick, Cross and Riot team up to get Asuka out of the ring before doing the lets fight each other but also keep Asuka out the match. The sections like this which focus in on Cross and Riot work best as they continue to suggest that when we actually get a singles match with these two it will be mental and amazing. Riot hits a superkick to Cross to take us into the Ad break. Post break, Asuka is back and hits Riot with running bum (because let's face it, she doesn't really use her hips) but Riot responds with a hurricanrana, Cross does her crazy attacking thing but Riot retaliates with her Wind-Up Overhead Kick finish going for a cover but Asuka breaks it up getting some Riotous slaps for her effort. Asuka kicks Riot in the head and gets a two count, Cross pulls Asuka out of the ring, Riot hits both of them with an apron dropkick on both women. Back in the ring and Riot hits a shotgun dropkick on Cross, she heads up top but Asuka pushes her out of the ring before attempting a dropkick, Cross with her Fisherman's Neckbreaker finisher but Asuka rolls out before she can be covered, Riot hits a Saito Suplex. From here on out, the fragile thread holding this match seems to fall apart without Riot as lets note that Tom Phillips makes every effort to remind us that this is all under Triple Threat rules so no countouts or DQs, only pins, submissions and maybe KOs but certainly no way that this is going to have to be thrown out on a double countout. 

So the two women fight in the ring briefly before taking it to the outside again, after a few near falls, they brawl near the audience and out into the wing and the referee throws out the match. For one thing, throughout this and the previous match, the most impressive performer has been Ruby Riot, so of course she is the only one to take a legal pinfall in both matches. For another, it may have been a symptom of the crowd being completely dead but this match just felt supremely messy and its finish was completely nonsensical. If you wanted to build up Cross to keep her on Asuka's level, there are cleaner ways to do it than just throwing out storytelling. It might have all been redeemed if the match had something we didn't get in the Chicago Triple Threat but this felt as much as rehash as a rematch at times. I wanted to like this so much more than I did. As it is, I think we're finally hitting the point where Asuka has almost jumped the shark. She's been built to look so unbeatable that when someone, be it Cross or Moon, eventually does beat her, it will be that much more difficult to make it believable.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating: 3/10

I'm bored of this, I'm going for a twix.

TV Review: WWE Cruiserweight Classic #3 - Zack Sabre Jr. v Tyson Dux

The third week of the Cruiserweight Classic saw the First Round of the tournament continue, with Zack Sabre Jr, Anthony Nese and The Brian Kendrick and others join in on the fun. Would the tournament continue it's slow burn towards the 2nd round or would we finally see a breakout match? 

In my opinion, this week's main event opened the show, as PWG World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. jousted Canadian indy stalwart, Tyson Dux in a solid technical match. I'm extremely appreciative of ZSJ's technical, submission based style, and this match did a good job of getting over the kind of wrestler that he is, as he controlled large portions of the contest with various painful looking holds. He'd use a variety of different hold on various parts of the body, but always came back to Dux's arm in preparation for the Jim Breaks Special. Dux looked more than comfortable in their with someone who is considered one of, it not the, best technical wrestlers in the world, knowing his main role was to make ZSJ look as damn good as possible, whilst also having a near fall off a brainbuster, that was well worked indeed. The crowd seemed to struggle with the slower pace of the contest at times, however I'm not too concerned for ZSJ as I know when given a longer match later in the contest he'll have the fans eating out of the palm of his hand in no time at all. 

In the strongest bout on the show, The Brian Kendrick defeated Raul Mendoza [Jinzo] in a gritty and exciting effort, that had the Full Sail crowd on their feet at various points. Mendoza may have become the break out start of the tournament, as in only his third appearance in the USA as he impressed with a series of aerial manoeuvres, including a stunning corkscrew plancha and an unconventional cross-legged swing that dropped down in a submission of some sort. The crowd took to him swiftly, helped by veteran Kendrick being especially vicious, including placing Mendoza's mouth over the rope before kicking the rope hard, causing the Mexican to bleed from his lower lip. The reaction to Mendoza going for a Coast to Coast, with Kendrick in a tree of woe position was incredible as the whole building seemed to get to it's feet in unison! The finish was satisfying stuff, as Kendrick played possum before getting a submission with a reverse headlock takedown transitioned into a choke. It was a shame not to see Mendoza advance as he'd been taken to by the crowd, but I'm expecting at just 24 years old that this won't be the last we see of him on the world stage. 

In the weakest match of the tournament so far, as New York regular Tony Nese went over some lad called Anthony Bennett. I know very little about Bennett, and my usual source cagematch.net doesn't have a profile for him, which isn't a great start. From watching this match, it was clear that Bennett was completely out of his depth in this tournament, looking sloppy when executing moves and struggling to keep up with Nese's pace leading to a horribly messy section in the final third. The crowd's reaction to some of the botches were hilarious though. Nese is top draw talent however and managed to salvage his own credibility with a series of well-performed moves, including the 450 splash that would win him the match and 2nd Round tie against The Brian Kendrick. 

Rounding off the show, Drew Gulak would book his 2nd round place with a victory over one half of the Bollywood Boyz, Harv Sihra. This was an enjoyable, but short-lived contest, that told a rewarding story and told it well. Gulak bought a powerful and rather rough style to the match, whilst Sihra used his speed to attempt to get flash victories at numerous points. One particular moment that stands out was Gulak hitting a scoop slam, where Sihra's leg came crashing down the middle of the top rope. The finish was a clever piece of booking that raised a little smile, as it called back to a previous part in the fight beautifully. After Shira had escaped a body scissors by wrapping his own legs across Gulak's to create a kind of ankle lock, the finish would see Gulak locking in a brutal variations of the dragon sleeper, which included a body scissors, however when Shira tried to reverse again, Gulak was quickly able to recover and crank the sleeper on harder for the victory. It's the kind of wrestling that just wouldn't be possible on Monday Night RAW, because of the size of the crowd, so it's great to see it find a home on CWC. 

It was announced that next week's show will see the last four first round matches, including the likes of Johnny Gargano, Fabian Aicher [Adrian Severe] and Rich Swann.

Results 

Cruiserweight Classic First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr def. Tyson Dux in 8 minutes, 26 seconds 

Cruiserweight Classic First Round Match: Drew Gulak def. Harv Sihra in 5 minutes, 17 seconds 

Cruiserweight Classic First Round Match: Tony Nese def. Anthony Bennett in 6 minutes, 34 seconds 

Cruiserweight Classic First Round Match: The Brian Kendrick def. Raul Mendoza in 7 minutes, 47 seconds.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.69/10

The weakest episode of the series so far, which has more than a lot to do with the show including a piss-poor performance from Anthony Bennett. The rest of the show was of the same quality as had been seen in the first two weeks, with The Brian Kendrick and Raul Mendoza putting on a particularly strong bout, that had the crowd at the hottest they've been so far. Daniel Bryan and Mauro Ranallo continue their strong form on commentary, helping to tell the stories, including the complex submission based narrative of Drew Gulak v Harv Sihra, whilst Bryan cheerleading for his pal Kendrick on commentary also added an extra depth to that already enjoyable contest. Having two second round matches confirmed throughout the show with Gulak facing Zack Sabre Jr and Tony Nese clashing with The Brian Kendrick was also a neat idea, with each winner being presented well in their match and making the potentially clashes even more appetising. 

All content - James Marston