TV Review: WWE NXT #192 (Gargano & Ciampa vs. The Vaudevillains)

On 13th April 2016, WWE aired the 192nd edition of NXT on the WWE Network, having previously taped the show on the 2nd April 2016 at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, Texas, USA. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa for the first time since the end of October to face The Vaudevillains...but was it any good? Let's take a look!

nxt #192 match card

Match 1 – Men's Singles – Austin Aries vs. Angelo Dawkins

Match 2 – Women's Singles – Alexa Bliss vs. Tessa Blanchard 

Match 3 – Men's Tag Team – Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs. The Vaudevillains: Aiden English & Simon Gotch

Match 4 – Men's Singles – Tucker Knight vs. Baron Corbin

Match 5 – Women's Singles – Bayley vs. Liv Morgan 

Match 6 – Men's Singles - “The Perfect Ten” Tye Dillinger vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

aries defeats dawkins

Austin Aries cemented his place on NXT with a strong victory over Angelo Dawkins. Dawkins has lost every single one of his 19 matches on WWE television since his debut in June 2013, but his size allowed Aries to look good here with Dawkins putting in a solid effort to make Aries look like a superstar. The former ROH World Champion has taken a rougher, brawling style in his WWE performances so far, that should help him to stand out from the crowd. Aries rope-assisted neckbreaker onto the apron was the highlight of the bout for me. However, I'm not fully convinced by the Roaring Elbow that Aries used as his finisher here, as it seemed to take a little bit too much time to set up for what it actually was.

bliss defeats blanchard

As much as NXT's short bout as designed to showcase one performer, they live and die on the quality of the performance from the loser of the bout. For me, this contest was a bit of a damp squib, thanks to a weak showing from Tessa Blanchard. I felt like her offence looked sloppy, that her selling was over-the-top and at times down right odd and it effected just how good Alexa Bliss could possibly look her. The crowd were deflated and seemed uninterested by the action, which would close with Bliss picking up the victory with the Glitz Flip (Standing Moonsault double knee drop). 

gargano and ciampa defeat the vaudevillains

This was a cracking tag team main event, with Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano slotting right back into their tandem and producing a fun and quirky contest with the Vaudevillains. Whilst it wasn't a particularly complex contest and I'd have liked to have seen it given an extra five minutes, each element of the bout was done well and all four men made sure that every little thing they did contributed to making the clash even more watchable. After a lovely face-shine, The Vaudevillains pulled out some lovely unique stuff when in control of Gargano, with the build towards the hot tag to Ciampa producing a nice twist on the cliche spot. A busy finishing stretch was the strongest action of the show, with Gargano hitting a neat senton off the apron onto Aiden English and Ciampa was eventually able to lock Simon Gotch in the Bridging Fujiwara Armbar to get his team an impressive submission victory. After this outing and especially with The Vaudevillains now transitioning over to Monday Night RAW and Thursday Night Smackdown, I'd love to see Ciampa and Gargano teaming up more regularly on NXT, as I feel that the tag division would benefit much more from the duo than the crowd singles ranks could.

fast-forward...Very entertaining interview with Tye Dillinger ahead of his match with Shinsuke Nakamura later in the show...Baron Corbin defeats Tucker Knight in a fairly straight forward squash match...In an earlier today segment, American Alpha chat to Big Cass and Enzo Amore and the two teams agree to a future contest against each other...

bayley defeats morgan

This was the strongest of the two women's matches on the show, with the crowd showing their appreciation for Bayley throughout. Considering Liv Morgan only had her first match last June, she put in a bloody good display here, bringing a lot of energy and pulling looking more than competent in there, especially when on the offence. There's certainly more than a spark of potential in this woman, I look forward to seeing her more often in the future. It also stands as a testament to the skills possessed by Bayley, that she allowed her opponent the opportunity to look good and develop, whilst also protecting herself, all within the space of just over three minutes. After the match, Bayley would address her NXT Women's Championship loss to Asuka, just 12 days prior at NXT Takeover: Dallas, in a short promo that seemed to be setting up a much-anticipated rematch between the two down the line.

nakamura defeats dillinger 

A short but fun contest to close the show, as Shinsuke Nakamura continued to embed himself into the fabric of NXT with a powerful victory over Tye Dillinger, in front of a Dallas crowd who seemed to adore the "King of Strong-Style". Nakamura's offence was put over hard throughout the bout with a series of hard strikes and blows used throughout, with Nakamura winning clean with the Kinshasha, but it was his character that got the most exposure here. The bout was peppered with a fair few comedy spots, with Dillinger playing his role well by mocking the former 3 time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, which lead well into Nakamura return the favour. If there was any worries about how Nakamura was going to transition into WWE on a week to week basis then this contest should have cast those worries aside, like an empty bottle of Sunny D. 

finally...

atpw scale rating - 3.9/10

NXT #192 had a nice selection of short matches across the hour, but perhaps lacked anything that you could really get your teeth into. The main event tag bout featured a lot of fresh ideas and did everything it did well, but certainly could have done with more time and a strong sense of purpose. Elsewhere, Shinsuke Nakamura had an enjoyable victory over Tye Dillinger in the stand-out contest from the undercard, but with a lack of any storyline development made this episode very missable indeed. 

WWE NXT Episode 107 Review (Kidd vs Zayn)

This week's NXT review see's the return of the "Match of the Day" style reviews, that I used when writing at this time last year. For those unfamiliar with this style of review, it begins with the biggest storyline of the show, with everything involved in that storyline being reviewed in a block, before moving onto the next. I feel this has a better feel to it than the play by play style reviews and also makes it easier to find what you are looking for within the review. So without further a do, let's begin. 

Sami Zayn vs Tyson Kidd 

 

This week's main event was a first time TV encounter between the Canadian duo of Sami Zayn and Tyson Kidd. To build to the match, both men where interviewed by Devin Taylor. This was a nice touch that made the main event feel like something worth sticking around for, with both men outlining the problems they had with each other nicely. As expected Zayn put in a much better showing, talking about how he's seen the real Tyson Kidd over recent weeks. Zayn nailed his closing statement, saying he wanted to embarrass kid, making this feel especially personal and showing a different side to Sami Zayn.

Their main event match was a good encounter, with a number of exciting reversals and near falls. The crowd was really into every Zayn did in the ring, they've certainly built a connection with the former Generic Luchador. Kidd's new character is also developing rather nicely stalling early on the match, before teasing a highflying dive to the outside, only to deliver a vicious suplex on the ramp. As the match headed to a conclusion there were some superb sequences, including a number of rear wastelock switches before Kidd delivered a lovely German Suplex for a near fall, as well as one that saw Kidd reverse a Monkey flip into a Sharpshooter with Zayn scrambling to reach the ropes. After a handful of near falls for both men, it was Kidd who picked up the victory, catching Kidd coming off the top rope with an Reverse STO transitioned into the Koji Clutch for the submission victory.

I wish this match had been given more than ten minutes, as it felt like Zayn and Kidd were only scraping the surface of what they could produce together in the ring. Everything that was shown hear looked super crisp and clean and the characters worked very well together, I do think it was a shame then that they went for such a clear cut finish. I would have been up for a series of matches between these two, but I'm not sure how they could have Kidd get a rematch after losing so convincingly. 

Match Rating - ** 3/4

Colin Cassady & Enzo Amore vs The Vaudevillains 

 

 

The opening match of the show was a spot of tag team action, as the entertaining duo of Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady tackled the recently teamed Aidan English and Simon Gotch, The Vaudevillains. Both gimmicks are fun to watch, therefore it was a shame to see this match only go less than three minutes, where it never really got out of second gear. The only really point of note, in the main body of the match, was Enzo escaping a suplex attempt from English to get a warm tag to Cassady. It was however clear that this match was being used to set up or continue rivalries with other teams, as The Legionairres caused the distraction that cost Cassady the victory, allowing English to use a school boy roll up with the added touch of holding onto the tights to ensure the victory. 

Later on in the night, Vaudevillains, interupted a Devin Taylor interview with Kalisto to ask where his partner (El Local) was. It was revealed Kalisto and El Local had parted ways as a duo, with Kalisto saying he'd have a partner to face the English and Gotch next week. I haven't seen a lot of Kalisto on the mic before, and I actually rather enjoyed this. His delivery was quirky enough that it fitted the gimmick without ruining away any of the mystery that the mask affords a worker. I'd be surprised if that partner isn't Sin Cara. 

Match Rating - 1/2*

CJ Parker vs Xavier Woods

 

Honestly, this match was awful. I wasn't convinced that either man particularly disliked each other, which apparently they do, according to the commentary team. I've enjoyed Xavier Woods work in the past, but CJ Parker simply isn't good enough in the ring. Almost everything he did looked dodgy, from a nasty looking head scissors takedown, an awkward spot where Woods caught his throat on the bottom rope, to a terrible O'Connor roll finish where Parker was supposed to be holding onto the ropes but was nowhere near to them. Why NXT has continued to perservere with Parker who clearly isn't up to the standard required I don't know.

Match Rating - DUD

Adam Rose vs Jason Jordan

 

 Adam Rose's return to NXT, facing off against Jason Jordan in a fun few minutes of action. Mainly a comedy bout with Rose rubbing Jordan's chest a la Goldust and repeatedly sending Jordan's head into his arse using the turnbuckle, the highlight of this one for me was a well-excuted Northern Light's Suplex by Jordan. That was Jordan's only real offence in the match, as he eventually succumbed to the Party Foul. This was a lot more enjoyable than the majority of what Rose has done since coming up to the main roster. 

Match Rating - *

Alexa Bliss vs Sasha Banks

 

In Women's action this week, Sasha Banks faced off against Alexa Bliss, which for less than three minutes was a good outing for the pair. Telling a nice story with Bliss attempting to get the win with a number of pinfall combinations (including a much better O'Connor roll than we'd seen from Parker and Woods previously), whilst Banks attacked her relentlessly, with a series of vicious attacks. Banks looked fantastic in this one, with a terrific double knee attack with Bliss caught in the rope and her beautiful finishing move, The Bo$$ Lock (a Double Knee Backbreaker into a Crossface) that getting her the submission win. Sasha is a real talent. 

Match Rating - * 1/4

Tyler Breeze Interview

 

Tyler Breeze appeared this week, speaking to Devin Taylor, and isn't he just wonderful? And absolute delight to listen to? There isn't anyone in WWE at the moment that is delivering promos the way that Breeze is delivering promos, really thinking about every single syllable, instead of just reading words of a page. This fresh feel should serve him well in WWE, and with him revealing that his lawyer is making up a contract for his much anticipated NXT title match with Adrian Neville, it seems there are big things on the horizon for Prince Pretty.

Ascension Promo 

 

Current NXT Tag Team Champions Konnor and Viktor also turned up this week to cut a backstage promo talking about how they've destroyed all their competition on NXT. It would seem that they are earmarked to make the jump to the main roster here, and I know many out there are fairly high on this team, but on the strength of this promo they need some more time to polish up these skills, or maybe even a manager. 

Finally...

 

 So, that was the 107th episode of NXT! A mostly enjoyable outing for WWE's developmental league with Sami Zayn and Tyson Kidd taking the match of the night for me, putting in a solid main event. There's clearly a lot of talent knocking around these parts, with Sasha Banks and Tyler Breeze particularly impressing me this week. Take away the piss poor CJ Parker bout and this could have been an even better show. 

See you next week when Summer Rae challenges Charlotte for the NXT Women's Championship!