NXT #271 Review - Andrade Almas v Roderick Strong

On 26th October 2017, WWE aired its 271st episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 4th October. Our Main event was another big TakeOver rematch, this time from back at San Antonio as Andrade 'Cien' Almas took on Roderick Strong. The show also saw the newly formed tag team of Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch take on Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss as well as a 17-Woman Battle Royal for the final spot in the NXT Women's Championship Fatal Four-Way at TakeOver: WarGames. But was it any good?

We get a Regal  cold open as everyone's favourite GM announces that due to Taynara Conti being a complete and utter Conti, Nikki Cross has got a spot in the Battle Royal tonight. Also next week, the Authors of Pain get their rematch for the Tag Team Titles and whichever member of SaNItY isn't competing is banned from ringside. So have SaNItY been competing under Freebird rules this entire time?

Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss def. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch(4:00)

Lorcan & Moss are in to start and Lorcan says 'fuck this' to lock-ups and goes straight in with fore-hand slaps and strikes till Moss powers his to the top right corner, Moss pulls back for an attack but Lorcan speeds out of the corner with a single leg dropkick, pulling him to the top left, Lorcan tags in Burch who works down the larger Moss with forearms, Moss picks up Burch and carries him to the bottom right, tag to Sabatelli who gets Burch in the middle of the ring, Irish whip to the top right corner, goes for a running clothesline, Burch dodges, goes for an enziguri, Sabbatelli blocks it, dodges underneath, Burch goes to the second rope, hits a raised boot and a front dropkick for a 2, Sabatelli responds with a lariat, tag to Moss as the two hit Burch in the corner with a splash, a leaping forearm, a spear and a dropkick for a 2, they attempt to hit a double team manouevre but Burch escapes, crawls underneath the two of them and tag in Lorcan who goes wild hitting slaps on both, a running uppercut to Tino, a blockbuster to Moss, he psyches himself up, goes for a running crossbody on Moss but is caught into a fallaway slam, Moss knocks Burch off the apron, tag in Sabatelli and they hit a Gory Bomb-Running Bulldog combo for the pin. This was a neat, little sprint that did the job of giving Sabatelli & Moss a win that actually means something, a role that Burch and Lorcan excel in, but also builds up the debutting team who are obviously over because who doesn't love a pair of sprinting shit-kickers? My only complaint would be that Moss & Sabbatelli didn't do enough to sell the other team's offence but that's why they're in developmental.

NXT Women's Championship Qualifier Battle Royal: Nikki Cross wins (11:50)

Vanessa Borne, Bianca BelAir, Sage Beckett & Mercedes Martinez all get entrances but to the old NXT theme tune so it's not like they're a priority,  Abbey Laith, Aliyah, Dakota Kai, Lacey Evans, Reina Gonzalez, Rhea Ripley, Sarah Logan, Sage Beckett, Taynara Conti & Zeda don't get entrances so they won't win, Candice LeRae, Billie Kay & Nikki Cross are the only three to get full entrances and therefore the only ones I would expect to have a chance of winning, Cross goes straight for Conti, who of course cheated her out of victory in her Triple Threat two weeks ago, she eliminates Conti who then pulls her under the ropes and slams her into the barricade before Royce throws Cross into the steps, making it obvious at this point that Cross is going to come back and win this, Battle Royal stuff happens, lots of working over on the ropes and in the corner, Bianca BelAir eliminates Rhea Ripley by using Zeda as a battering ram then eliminates Zeda as well to go to break, back from the break and I think Reina Gonzalez was eliminated because I've lost track of her, Sage Beckett eliminates Dakota Kai (your time will come, Team Kick Captain) & Aliyah, Lacey Evans punches Abbey Laith in the bum, Nikki Cross comes back in with a plancha on basically everyone, she then punches everything in the face before eliminating Vanessa Borne, Sage Beckett, Santana Garret and Abbey Laith (your time will come too, Suplex Princess), Martinez & BelAir team up to eliminate Sarah Logan, LeRae eliminates Lacey Evans when BelAir picks up LeRae and gorilla press slams her out of the ring onto Beckett and Logan which leaves us with our final four, Cross, Kay, BelAir and Martinez, BelAir drops Kay onto the apron but she avoids elimination by using BelAir's braid as a rope to pull herself in, the crowd love it, Bianca doesn't and whips the shit out of Kay, Cross tackles Kay out of the ring, BelAir ties up her hair, she battles Martinez to the ropes, they trade near falls till Cross comes and double clotheslines both of them out, Kay tries to flip Cross out and celebrates till she realises Cross is still in, runs at her and Cross throws her out to win. It did what it meant to do, the people they wanted to look good did, especially BelAir who is going to be a megastar in a few years. While Cross is unarguably the right person to be in the match as she and Moon are responsible for Asuka's best matches, the layout of the match and the storytelling around it didn't do anything to make us not think Cross would win. Also, it was quite long at nearly 12 minutes. It was fun for what it was though.

Peyton Royce hits the ring again as a wild Regal appears holding the title, Ember Moon turns up looking like the final boss of the new Virtua Fighter while Kairi Sane turns up looking like everyone's favourite character in that same game. They have the customary staredown around the title.

Drew McIntyre is outside the PC being interviewed by those disembodied hands they keep attached to a camera there, he's heading out on an NXT media tour when up turns Zelina Vega, she's wondering where the contract for the NXT Championship match is, Drew has made it very clear, all Andrade needs to do is come up to him and look him in the eye, like a a man and ask for the match like Roderick Strong did. Zelina Vega does a girl-bye to the disembodied hands because who deosn't miss Cameron?

Aleister Black is making his entrance when Velveteen Dream rises up behind out of the smoke in cowboy boots and double denim, he attacks and ties Black up in the ropes, telling him to say his name, when Black still says nothing he slaps him, and again, Black escapes with a boot and goes for Black Mass but Dream slides out. The build for this feud has been so well done, I hope the match is as good in that we've yet to see longer than a few minutes in the ring for the Dream.

Zelina Vega has a pre-match promo. She talks about how you don't get the success she's had in 'business' by being patient, she and her client have been waiting for a contract from McIntyre but nothing has come, Vega understands how difficult it must have been for McIntyre to climb the mountain of success and now he's at the top, he must have realised the higher up, the harder it is to breathe. McIntyre has been avoiding Almas and tonight, Almas is going to show McIntyre and Roderick Strong that some people just aren't ready to breathe such rarified air.

Andrade 'Cien' Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) def. Roderick Strong (9:06)

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you all that you should appreciate the effort I go to bringing you play-by-play because this was a fast-paced match, lock-up to begin as the two quickly trade holds, they trade strikes as Almas locks in a side tackle, bounce off the ropes and Almas hits a shoulder tackle, Strong grabs him with a left take-down to a grounded headlock, powering to their feet, Strong tries to transition into a hip toss but Almas blocks, goes for a hip toss of his own, Strong blocks and drops him with a backbreaker before laying into him, on the apron and Almas goes for a suplex, Strong escapes, Almas begins elbowing the back of the neck but Strong gets him in a fireman's carry position, Almas escapes and hits a modified GTR onto the apron and rolls Strong back in, pounding on him into the break, back from the break and Almas hits a corner clothesline and slaps Strong's chest, they trade strikes, Strong whips Almas to the ropes but Almas catches him in a rope-hung triangle armbar, back in the ring and Almas applies further pressure to the arm, despite all this arm work, Strong hits an armdrag to escape and another fling Almas out of the ring, Almas is striaght back in but heads right into a boot and an enziguri, they trade strikes, Roddy wins at striking and hits a running forearm, goes for an olympic slam, Almas escapes but is hit with a pop-up gutbuster,  taking a moment to pause, he runs at Almas who is in the corner but Almas gets a boot up, going up top, Almas gets another rope hung armbar but Strong reverses it into a rope-trap stretcher, on the apron, an enziguri and a backbreaker and Almas is rolled back in for a 2, Strong places Almas up top and the two trade strikes till Almas hits a reverse DDT for a very close 2 count, on their feet, they trade Pokemon cards, just kidding it's strikes, Roddy gets a butterfly float over tries to hit a tiger driver but Almas turns it into a rana and hits a spinning back elbow then a corner double knees for a 2, goes for the El Idolo hammerlock DDT but Roddy escapes only for Almas to hit another back elbow, goes for the corner double knees again but Roddy bursts out with a knee strike, an olympic slam, another knee strike and as Almas falls out of the ring, a wrecking ball dropkick, as he rolls Almas back in the ring, Vega hits Roddy with a hurricanrana into the stairs, Almas gets up, rolls Roddy in, hits El Idolo for the pin. This was very good and just a hint below their TakeOver match earlier this year. It was let down a hint by a lack of time but what they were given they made use of going for an intense sprint feel yet they structured it well to make the offence seem impactful. There were certain elements that seemed off, like Roddy going for an armdrag with ease straight after enduring arm work from Almas but with this and Gargano recently, Almas is on a tear looking he could win at TakeOver. There is a certain problem with TV encounters that they can feel like the finish is almost too telegraphed because of time constraints and even though this was well done with Vega showing whatever they're paying her after this week, double it, I couldn't help but feel this could have got in a few more minutes to really make it excel.

Vega and Almas hit the announce booth to announce that next week they'll see if Drew is a man of his word, Almas says Drew won't turn turn up because he's scared, he's asustado, which means scared. He's scared basically.

As Roddy's leaving the ring, The Undisputed Era turn up, Adam Cole is telling Roddy he's not a loser as the gang try to get him to join, telling him it will be best for him and his family. Cole offers him an armband, which Roddy takes but doesn't put on, they tell him to take some time and think about it. Bobby Fish continues to have the best facial hair in NXT. That is all we need take away from this.

On The YouTubes:

Mercedez Martinez is disappointed that she's not going to get her shot at the title at TakeOver: WarGames. When she's asked who's going to win, she doesn't know but she knows it's not Ember Moon.

Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch discuss their loss tonight and how they need to find some way to gel more as a team.

Finally, William Regal makes it official, at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Andrade Almas will get his title shot. Next week, we're getting a contract signing.

This did everything it needed to, it gave us three good to very good matches and every segment felt like it was pushing a story forward. Even though no-one has ever said 'that was a thrilling Battle Royal', it did its job (though I can't help but wish they'd just given us a fatal five way with the last five competitors). The only question that remains is with two title matches, a WarGames match, Dream v Black all but confirmed, and Johnny Gargano v Shawn Michaels In an AB-OFF, what will round out the card? In terms of screen-time priorities, it seems we're heading towards Lars Sullivan v Kassius Ohno. Hope you like big lads.

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

World Tag Team League 2017 Night Two Review - John Klinger vs. Ilja Dragunov [Live]

On 7th October 2017, wXw held the second night of the World Tag Team League at the Turbinhalle in Oberhausen, North-Rhine Westphalia. The show featured John Klinger [Bad Bones] defending the Unified World Wrestling Championship against Ilja Dragunov and Ringkampf (Timothy Thatcher & WALTER) taking on The Rottweilers (Homicide & Low Ki) in Block B of the league, as well as A4 (Absolute Andy & Marius Al-Ani), The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe), The Spirit Squad (Kenny & Mikey), World Tag Team Champions The Young Lions (Lucky Kid & Tarkan Aslan) and Massive Product (David Starr & Jurn Simmons) in action. But was it any good live? Lets take a look! 

Photo courtesy of wXw

World Tag Team League 2017 Block B Match: The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe) [3 points] def. EYFBO (Angel Ortiz & Mike Draztik) (11:55) [3 points]

With EYFBO tasked with opening the show for the second night in a row, this was an exciting fast-paced opener, but one that didn't threaten to a become a breakout contest. The Briscoes got much more fan support than Night One, when they took on the popular Ringkampf and that seemed to give the bout some extra energy. Whilst the two teams could have probably created a better, more complete match with a little more time, this slot allowed them to keep the action coming, as they work relatively short face in peril spots, bu took time to play to the crowd with a strong hot tag from Jay Briscoe. EYFBO continued to impress me with their tag team creativity and whilst they're still not quite the complete product, they are tremendous fun inside the ring, in particular the Poetry in Motion style cannoball they do is glorious. The finishing sequence was some of the best work of the match with the Briscoes coming into their own with Draztik missing a 450, Mark nailing Ortiz with a cannonball off the apron, a massive lariat from Jay and then once Draztik escaped a Jay Driller attempt, Briscoe Brothers opted for a wicked looking Doomsday Device to take the three points. The novelty of getting to see top tag teams from Impact Wrestling and ROH do battle (for the first time) also played into the fun factor of the bout.

Shotgun Championship Fatal Four-Way Match: Ivan Kiev (C) def. Avalache [Robert Dreissker], Bobby Gunns and Alexander James (6:53)

This bonus match featured four guys that I was yet to become familiar with and at the time I found myself drifting from the contest a little, with the crowd a bit subdued also, but I came away having found plenty to enjoy. Avalanche looked particularly impressive here, with the booking of the bout making him feel like a star, as he took a bump into the steps early as Bobby Gunns and Alexander James combined, and then later came back dominant, including a double Samoan drop in the closing stages. There was also general multi-man stuff like the tower of doom, whilst Ivan Kiev hit a nice looking frankensteiner and Alexander James pulled out a Tower of London. These types of bouts often suffer from a little sloppiness and awkwardness with the amount of competitors, but I don't think that was the case here, with most of the action looking good, even if the bout rarely made the most of the amount of competitors in the ring. Kiev walked out with his title still round his waist, making the most of an opportunity after the dominance of Avalanche to pin James with a Samoan driver.

With Melanie Gray having suffered an injury during Femmes Fatales earlier in the day, Jinny cut a tweener promo, insulting Gray but putting over the division (mostly the British based talent), before offering an open challenge...

Jinny def. Killer Kelly (6:59)

A much better performance from Killer Kelly here than from Femmes Fetales with the Alfacinha benefiting from having a clearly defined character (and a heel, despite the previous promo). A big bicycle kick early doors from Kelly set her up as a potential threat to the calm, collected and confident Fashionista, who had only lost her first singles match in wXw earlier in the day. The simple structure, defined characters and some slick wrestling (one of the loveliest surfboard transitions I ever did see) held me for the time the two were in the ring, with some good pacing building towards some nice back and forth as the contest headed towards it's conclusion. Jinny continues to improve in the ring and develop her ability to hold a crowd, having got her character pretty nailed earlier on in her career, her selling in particular here stood out, taking time during the back and forth to show the damage that was being done and bring credibility to Kelly's MMA-esque gimmick. After a german suplex near fall for Kelly, Jinny would get the win with a rainmaker, giving her more momentum in the Women's Championship tournament,.

World Tag Team League 2017 Block A Match: A4 (Absolute Andy & Marius Al-Ani) [3 points] def. The Young Lions (Lucky Kid & Tarkan Aslan) [3 points] (15:43)

This was my first proper look at the Young Lions, after their debacle with the Spirit Squad from Night One and I took to them much more after this one. I thought they worked well as the spoiler for A4's antics, using classic heel tactics to control the match for a long time in the middle of the bout. This was helped by an spectacular face shine from A4, that got the crowd riled up early on, including it looking like Absolute Andy coud've won the match for his team with a sharpshooter within a minute. We then got a tease of a comeback with an Marius Al-Ani hot tag, only for Young Lions to double up, trip Al-Ani on the apron and take control once again. I know, eye rakes, referee distractions and t-shirt choking, isn't for everyone and perhaps the heater went on a little too long for the match, but I get a lot of of matches that are structured like this, especially when I'm into the babyface team and I was really into A4 after their Night One performance. 

Post the Absolute Andy hot tag, which featured a cool moment with a sharpshooter and boston crab being locked on by A4 simultaneously, I'm not sure if the bout managed to delivery on the potential energy that the heat sequence had been building too. A4 brought the intensity to match the sneakiness of Lucky Kid and Tarkan Aslan, but I found the action ended up becoming a little repetitive with a couple of near falls coming across as samey with Andy hitting about two thousand Fireman's carry facebusters and Al-Ani the same with frog splashes, meaning that when the pair won the match with those moves it ending up feeling a little flat. Cool moments like Andy no-selling a dragon suplex, lifted the home straight a little, but overall I would've liked to have seen a little bit of variety, not just in the moves being hit, but also in the story that was told, as the narrative became repetitive and hit the same beats for those last few minutes.

World Tag Team League 2017 Block B Match: The Rottweilers (Homicide & Low Ki) def. Ringkampf (Timothy Thatcher & WALTER) (17:29)

Two nights of World Tag Team League and two match of the nights from Ringkampf's Timothy Thatcher and WALTER. What makes that even more impressive is that this was a completely different match to Thatcher & WALTER's tangle with The Briscoes on Night One, with less structure and more of an out-of-control feel about the whole presentation. The scramble around ringside was a pleasure to watch as the audience moved out of the way of four men hitting each other really hard, with the balcony providing the perfect vantage point to see it all unfold. With the teams scrapping at ringside and beyond, there was a visceral energy to proceedings, that grabbed the audience and forced it to pay attention, unless they wanted a wayward chop to connect with their chest. The idea that The Rottweilers had to go for this wild style, to combat the dominant Ringkampf was a lovely piece of psychology as the match went like a runaway train towards it's conclusion. 

The bout shied away from having one team in control for too long, almost feeling more like a Fatal Four-way in how it flowed from big nasty chops, forearms and kicks, to big move near falls like Homicide's 187 cutter to WALTER and then a great submission sequence that mimicked the finish of Ringkampf's match with The Briscoes on the previous night, only to Low Ki to roll through on his sleeper hold to hit a double stomp, before saving Homicide with a springboard. The finisher sequence ironically featured some of Low Ki's best work of the weekend, but also resulted in an injury that would stop the Rottweilers from competing on Day Three! Ki landed on his feet after being gorilla pressed into the ring from WALTER on the elevated ramp, slickly nailed a dropkick before climbing to the top rope and hitting a Warrior's Way on the Austrian, ending up landing awkwardly on the ramp. In fact, any interaction between Ki and WALTER was barrels of fun and ferocity, I can't be the only that would love to see the two face off one on one again (they previously clash in wXw in 2008). The Rottweilers picked up the victory with 5150 (Electric Chair and Cutter combination), leaving everyone in Group B with three points heading into the final round of group matches.

The Spirit Squad's heel promo was going annoyingly well and then Kenny mentioned the war. Man's clearly never watched Fawlty Towers.

WTTL Block A Match: Massive Product (David Starr & Jurn Simmons) def. The Spirit Squad (Kenny & Mikey) (11:32)

After a long day, I was pretty unforgiving to this match live, especially the portion that devolved into an arm wrestling contest between Mikey and Jurn Simmons. I couldn't work out what was going on, the match stopped and then there was a weird table in the ring and to be quite honest I'm still baffled by the whole situation. Perhaps if I'd have had more energy I'd have enjoyed this a little bit more, because it was a little out there and completely different to the rest of the show, but in the moment I wanted it all to end and end quickly. The actual match was a step or two up for the Spirit Squad after their match with the Young Lions bombed on Night One. Having Kenny and Mikey work a clear heel role, opposite the over as fuck Massive Product was a much more effective use of the team, that, at least, gave the match some direction. Massive Product became the first team to pick two victories winning with a Spike Massive Piledriver, meaning that Spirit Squad would be unable to reach the final after two straight losses.

Unified World Wrestling Championship: John Klinger (C) def. Ilja Dragunov via Disqualification (18:35)

Over-booked, Attitude Era title matches have come into vogue in European wrestling recently, we've seen Travis Banks vs. Pete Dunne in both FC:P and PROGRESS and Morgan Webster vs. Chief Deputy Dunne in ATTACK! They toe a fine line between being exhilarating storyline magic, where the action never stops, pulling on past storylines and alliances and just being a mess. I don't think my lack of investment in the John Klinger vs. Ilja Dragunov feud in comparison to the examples above, particularly impacted on my enjoyment of this, because the issues had been made clear on the previous night, however, for me there was way too many moving parts here to produce a wholly satisfying main event. RISE being removed from ringside, Klinger being able to lose the belt through disqualification, RISE coming back later on, A4 and Massive Product aiding Ilja Dragunov, Da Mack's belt shot to Klinger and subsequent disqualification, only for Mack to be revealed as part of RISE. There was way too much going on, with parts of it lacking strong storytelling logic that I had gotten a feel for over the previous two shows. Obviously, the main difference between the three matches mentioned above is that the babyface eventually overcame and won the title, having all that build over fifteen plus minutes to conclude with a disqualification, with the match being just a step in a larger storyline left me feeling a little flat by the end.

That being said, let's talk about how good Klinger and Dragunov are, because when they went at it one on one, they put on some great, compelling action. This was my first exposure to Dragunov in the ring and I quickly began to see why he has become so popular in the promotion. He absorbed a shit load of punishment, with chops leaving his chest a bloody mess and then came back and dished out some of his own. Watching Ilja Dragunov is a cathartic experience, he pulls you in with sheer wrestling ability, he hits hard, he's smooth and has intent in his move delivery, but perhaps his biggest skill is in making you believe and almost feel every strike, blow and slam. He shows it in his face, his eyes, his mouth, his arms, legs and back...with every fibre of his being Ilja shows the pain, oozes charisma and breaths fire. Let's not forget that Johh Klinger was in this, as well, and showed exactly why he's been the figurehead of the promotion since August. The two combined wonderfully at points when left to it, brawling in the crowd, exchanging hard strikes and telling a great story of a desperate champion trying to combat at challenger who clearly had his number. These are two guys that I'd love to see more often, obviously in the UK, where both would be able to do amazing things with the likes of British Strong Style's Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven, as well as Travis Banks and Mark Haskins.

After the bout, it was made clear that Da Mack had joined RISE as he struck Ilja Dragunov, before watching as Julian Nero entered and got beat down by the group, which eventually lead to Avalanche hitting the ring and turning the tide to send the stable packing. The show closed with an emotional promo from Ilja Dragunov, which even though I had no idea what he was saying was delivered beautifully and with real emotion. 

I think Night Two was slightly ahead of the opening night, being more consistent in it's quality, but at the same time nothing matched Night One's epic main event between The Briscoe Brothers and Ringkampf. Of course, WALTER and Timothy Thatcher still had the best match on the card with The Rottweilers, whilst I also had a lot of time for the Young Lions vs. A4 and EYFBO vs. The Briscoes, whilst the main event was tremendous fun at times, even with the over-booking as John Klinger and Ilja Dragunov impressed. The Shotgun Championship match was an improvement on Night One's effort offering something different and the Spirit Squad were used much better, with the exception of their cheapest heat promo. All round, most of the things that I had criticised from Night One were improved on on Night Two, with the stage being set for a massive final night of action on Night Three...

You can check out this show now with both English and German commentary on wXwnow.com

Review by James Marston

NXT #270 Review - SaNItY vs Undisputed Era

On 19th October 2017, WWE aired its 270th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 14th September. Our main event had some trios action in the form of NXT Tag Team Champions SaNItY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) taking on their persecutors, Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly). The undercard saw the second of three qualifying matches for the NXT Women's Title Fatal Four-Way as Ember Moon took on Sonia Deville and Ruby Riot, as well as Aleister Black vs Raul Mendoza and Kassius Ohno vs Cezar Bononi. But was it any good?

NXT Women's Title Match Contendership Triple Threat: Ember Moon def. Sonya Deville & Ruby Riot (7:50)

It's nice that this match has a very different vibe to last week's in that it seemed to be pure pain from moment one (ish), Ruby and Ember attempt to start a three-way test of strength spot but Deville responds by kicking Riot in the gut before taking an O'Conner roll from Moon who is pulled off into a roll-up by Riot for a 2, on their feet and Riot hits a low angle rana on Moon but takes a lariat from Deville for a 2, backup and Riot hits an arm drag before lighting up Sonia with kicks and a running dropkick for a 2, Moon's back in and riot tries to do a headscissors-DDT combo taking out Deville but Moon lands on her feet, the two of them test each other's rope running and flips before agreeing they're both brilliant, Moon goes in with her own kicks but Riot hits a thunderous forearm, Moon goes to the ropes and a springboard crossbody for a 2 count, Sonia's back in and Ember throws Ruby into her before taking them both down with a running knee strike to Sonia but she's not down for long as she goes kicking wild on both opponents standing tall into the ad-break, back from the break and Deville's straight in with a pair of gutwrench suplexes for Moon and a sidewinder for Riot into the corner, Riot jumps to top rope and drives Deville to the corner with deadly nightshade before throwing Moon into her, Riot goes for a running kick on both competitors but Moon ducks as the kick hits Deville, throws Riot out of the ring and covers Deville for a 2, Moon goes to the ropes for another springboard crossbody but Deville spears her out of the air, Riot is back in and the two of them trade running strikes, Deville runs at Riot but Riot sends her through the ropes, she goes to follow with a tope but Deville takes her down with a forearm, Moon tries to sneak attack but Deville drives her into the apron, Deville climbs up and tries to go for an apron diving axe handle landing straight into a kick to the jaw from Moon, Riot follows out of the ring with a top rope crossbody, landing her ankle on the walkway, Riot hobbles over to Moon, rolls her back into the ring and hits her with the Wind-Up Kick off the injured ankle which Moon sells like a bullet made of trampoline hit her, before Riot can cover her, Deville is back in and get an ankle lock on the recent 'injury', Riot tries to rope break but this is a Triple Threat, Riot escapes briefly only for Deville to apply a fully standing ankle lock, before Riot can tap, Ember is up top and she hits a beautiful Eclipse top rope stunner on Deville who bounces out of the ring before Ember takes advantage of the broken Riot and rolls her up for the pinfall. This was dope as hell. All three competitors were made to look like they could have won at practically any moment during the match and for a sub-8 minute match. they really managed to pack in the content. While on the surface, this may have seemed more spotfest than the more psychological affair last week, it did have a fascinating change of style for Moon who utilised a lot of underhanded tactics, making her seem to be giving in to her desperation to be champion. There were occasional moments when it was clear that they were following the standard beats of a three-way dance with a lot of one-on-one encounters that change to a new one-on-one after someone gets thrown out but as a show opener, this was as energetic as you could want.

From earlier today, we get some 'CCTV footage' of Roderick Strong apparently being friendly with Undisputed Era and by 'friendly' I mean they approach him, he looks awkward, they put a t-shirt on his shoulder he looks at them, hands the t-shirt back and give Adam Cole a pat of 'no thanks'. I hope for sonce this isn't heading where we expect.

William Regal is being asked about who will be in the last match for the Women's Fatal Four Way when The Iconic Duo turn up to make sure that Billie Kay is in the match and Regal agrees, announcing a Battle Royal for the final spot. Next Week: Billie Kay & Aaliyah vs The Mae Young Classic.

Aleister Black def. Raul Mendoza (2.10), Quick Squash m8. As the match started, Velveteen Dream hit the ring, trying on Black's jacket for a distraction. You may have guessed from the match time, it didn't keep him down for long. After the match, Black continued to refused to acknowledge Dream's existence, he's still there even if you don't look at him, lad. Mendoza got in a couple of flips so that was nice too.

Drew McIntyre Speaks

WWE.com didn't give me any photos of this interview so instead, I thought we'd all enjoy Aleister Black's best crab walk. So Drew is sat down for an interview, he was his suit on in a nice light blue with a well co-ordinated shirt and a tie-less open collar. He talks about how wild things have been in NXT since he became champ and how it's still weird to him to call himself 'champ', how this was a dream of his, about how he'd set goals and structures up to make his way back to the WWE and how he knew he had to be NXT champion, after he was fired the last time, it took a while to recover, especially considering he'd just moved into a new flat four days prior and had to tell everyone and it had taken a lot out of him but in the long run it inspired him to work harder to get back where he belongs, now, just four months after he officially re-joined, he's now champion and he wants to be an inspiration to everyone who has a dream, at this point Zelina Vega interrupts and kicks out the interviewer, taking over, she states that Drew and Andrade Almas are alike, they both were floundering and they both got second chances, just that Almas' second chance came in the form of Vega, not years away from the company, she wants to know why Drew has been avoiding Almas and if its because he recognises Almas is his biggest threat? Drew sees through her attempts to rile him up and says what he always does, anyone who wants a title shot just has to look him in the eyes, say he wants a fight and he'll give them a fight, he suggests going to Regal and organising the match, Vega says she knows the champ has more sway than her so why doesn't he make the match unless he's chicken (or a turkey, it's nearly Survivor Series, who wouldn't want to see the Gobbeldy-Drew-ker?), Drew responds by saying if Andrade does want the match to come find him, look him in the eye and say it for himself before Vega storms out. This was a nice way of adding some extra shading to Drew's character who, much like Roderick Strong, seems to mostly be a loose extension of his own personality. It also helped build up to a potential NXT Title match for NXT TakeOver: WarGames, especially now we know Adam Cole's getting his title shot the night before, and cemented Vega's position as a steely, determined manager. All round good stuff.

Kassius Ohno def. Cezar Bononi (3.10), Quick but not as much of a squash as you'd expect, m8. Bononi dominated till Ohno came back with a senton, big boots and a Rolling Elbow that Bononi sold like death for the pin. He's still getting there but there's good cause to put money on Bononi in the future. Ohno getting another win here all but guarantees they're building to something at the next TakeOver, in terms of other people who've got similar amounts of TV Time recently, it's almost certainly either Lars Sullivan or Johnny Gargano.

Next Week: The Women's Title Contendership Battle Royal.
PLUS: Johnny Gargano takes on Italy's own Fabian Aichner.

SaNItY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killain Dain) def. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) (9:29)

The Wolfe & The Fish lock-up to start, Wolfe powers Fish to the corner, goes for a clothesline but Fish dodges and begins kicking at the hamstrings but Wolfe hits in square in the jaw like an axe, man, tag to O'Reilly who runs straight into a spinning bodyslam, tag to Young and the tag champs hit a drop toe hold-standing elbow drop combo, they place O'Reilly in the corner, Dain hits a splash and holds O'Reilly in place while Wolfe hits a running uppercut, Young hits a gutbuster and a forearm to the back of the neck earn an early 2 count, running the ropes and a ref distraction by Fish and a kick from Cole get things back in the Undisputed's favour, the three recent signees wear down Young who tries to power back hitting all three with strikes but a roundhouse to the head knocks Young out of the ring and into the ad-break, back from the break and Cole is grounding and pounding Young and he transitions to a grounded headlock, Young is powered to the corner, tag to O'Reilly and Fish is in aswell to hit a double wristbreaker and a double chest kick for a 2 count, tag to Cole who keeps hitting axe handles to ground Young tag to Fish who knees Young in the corner, tag to O'Reilly and both knee him in the corner before hitting a double suplex for a 2, O'Reilly whips Young to the corner and charges at Wolfe knocking him off the apron then at Young who uses the time delay to dodge, going for a tag O'Reilly drags him back with an ankle lock but gets kicked away, tag to Fish who just prevents a second tag but he's taken out with a kick, hot tag to Dain who hits the entire opposite team with clotheslines, a running crossbody on Fish and a front dropkick on O'Reilly, he then hits corner splashes on both men before going for a second on Fish who catches him with an elbow, Fish and O'Reilly both run at Dain, he catches them into a fallaway slam-Samoan drop combo, Dain picks up fish for a forward slam, a senton and a pop-up splash goes for a pin but Cole breaks it up, O'Reilly in to assist but Young and Wolfe hit him with an assisted jumping neckbreaker, Cole, now alone and surrounded, tries to escape but finds himself surrounded by insaniacs, he backs into the ring and is picked up by the hair by Dain and thrown one-handed into the ring but before Dain and Wolfe can execute their double team maneouvre, the Authors of Pain's music hits, causing Wolfe to charge at them as the Authors attack him and Dain, giving SaNItY a DQ victory. This was another solid performance by all involved. As a development of an angle (definitely not spoilers, maybe they're building to a three-way WarGames match...), the ending had a glorious, violent spectacle to it and SaNItY have that great Los Ingobernables-type gang mentality whereby they're only bad guys if you're not with him. The match itself was a tad disappointing, despite some strong teamwork from Fish & O'Reilly, Cole is still yet to impress in NXT doing very little memorable in the match, overall it felt like it just never really got going, but not for lack of effort on either team's part.

The Undisputed Era bail to the ramp, watching in horror as Authors of Pain lay out SaNItY hitting a clothesline-Russian leg sweep combo on Dain & the Supercollider double powerbomb on Wolfe & Young to close out the show.

On The YouTubes:

Ember Moon isn't celebrating until she's won the title, she also would like everyone to know that they should all be worried about her.

A far more enjoyable show than last week's half-hearted effort with the entire undercard presenting one of the most enjoyable 45 minutes of NXT in quite a while. If not for a slightly flat main event, it could have been a lot better, luckily the Authors of Pain turning up and wrecking fools created an entertaining finish and set up more big things for the upcoming TakeOver.

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

Femmes Fatales 2017 Review - Toni Storm vs. Viper [Live]

On 7th October 2017, wXw held Femme Fatales 2017 at the Turbinhalle in Oberhausen, North-Rhine Westphalia. The show took the form of a seven-woman knockout tournament, featuring Wesna, Toni Storm, Melanie Gray, Viper, Jinny, Laura di Matteo and Killer Kelly with Wesna receiving a bye to the Semi-Final stage, as well as a non-tournament match between Jaxon Stone and Dirty Dragan. But was it any good live? Lets take a look! 

Femmes Fatales 2017 Round One Match: Toni Storm def. Jinny (7:05)

A decent opener, between two familiar opponents, in what turned out to be the strongest bout of the first round. Having faced off previously in WWE, PROGRESS, RevPro and Lucha Forever, it was evident that the pair were more than comfortable in the ring, stringing together a number of neat sequences, aided by clear character definition and the pairs ability to hold a crowd with their personas on both sides of the coin. The action was solid all the way through, with a couple of nice little touches, like Jinny selling the knee after connecting with a knee strike, that elevated the clash, even if there wasn't a particular standout series. The only slice of action that didn't come off quite as well as it could was Jinny's Face Lift (Middle Rope Facebuster), which ended up looking awkward from Storm to take, which in turn meant that the subsequent near fall lost a bit of the power that it might have had the move been performed perfectly. A German suplex and Strong Zero Piledriver put Storm through to a Semi-Final clash with Wesna. 

Femmes Fatales 2017 Round One Match: Viper def. Melanie Gray (4:55) 

An awful lot of sentons and not much else in all honesty, this bout was too brief to produce anything to get your teeth into. It did however look Viper look like a force to be reckoned with in the tournament, as she withstood a spear through the ropes to take a victory following a powerbomb and Michonoku Driver II.

Femmes Fatales 2017 Round One Match: Laura Di Matteo def. Killer Kelly (5:08)

This match was short and pretty uneventful, despite a cool intensity about both performers. I think, the bouts main problem was that neither performer felt differentiated enough from the other, at least from this reviewers vantage points. They both did a lot of MMA style strikes and general jostling, but not a whole lot anything else, with Kelly hitting a German suplex and a missile dropkick from Laura Di Matteo being the only things that I actually noted about the fight. The bouts pacing made it feel like it was going a lot longer than the previous two matches, as the first five minutes was a mash slow strikes, only for the final few seconds to head into a submission victory for LDM, that I actually think I ended up missing, because I was expecting at least another five minutes based on how the ladies had paced the earlier five. 

Femmes Fatales 2017 Semi-Final Match: Viper def. Laura Di Matteo (5:15) 

The best match on the show not involving Toni Storm, thanks to a simple story being well-performed. It was hardly a creative classic, but Viper vs. Laura Di Matteo took the Mae Young Classic formula and stuck to it as the power vs. speed narrative came to the forefront once again. Viper dominated LDM throughout, with the smaller competitor unable to knock down the Scot for a good portion. The best work of the bout was based around LDM going for a tornado DDT, with Viper initially able to counter the move into a Northern lights suplex, but moments later after Viper missed a diving senton, a missile dropkick gave the PROGRESS grappler the opportunity to nail the move for a good near fall. This only ended up making Viper like even more of a favourite to walk the tournament as she earned the victory with another Michonoku Driver II to book her place in the final.

Femmes Fatales 2017 Semi-Final Match: Toni Storm def. Wesna (8:10)

A wild brawl, that grabbed the audience from the get go and came out as the match of the show on the otherside. Big chops and a Toni Storm suicide dive began things as the pair meant to go on, as the 2 time GSW Ladies Champion combined with the current World of Stardom Champion. The melee on the outside was completely different to anything else of the show, with a visceral edge that was hard to look away from as the two went at it on the rows of chairs, ending with a painful looking suplex from Storm onto the hard plastic and metal. The action in the ring was just as good, if not better, with a ferocity behind every move, as Storm attempted multiple times to the Strong Zero piledriver that had seen her advance from Round One. Both got a couple of neat near falls in, with the best coming with Wesna catching Storm on the top rope and nailing a death valley driver, before a well-worked finishing sequence had Wesna initially escape a Strong Zero and get a two count off a sunset flip, only for a Storm headbutt and a snap Strong Zero to see the Aussie through to the final. 

Before the final, Jaxon Stone was out and cut an Anti-Women's wrestling promo, before being interrupted by Dirty Dragan, who wanted to fight Stone for the honour of Women's wrestling...it was better than it sounds.

Dirty Dragan def. Jaxon Stone (7:37) 

I can see some people really, really not liking this match, partly for being a male match on a female show, partly for being a comedy match and partly because those people are a little bit dull. However, I got a kick out of this as Dirty Dragan and Jaxon Stone wrestled a stereotypical piss-break women's match that wouldn't have been out of place on any WWE PPV in the naughties. Spanking, tripping, ass, more ass, the handstand rana thing in the corner, rolling with the ref, bronco busters and pillows all ended up happening in what was a pretty fun, heavily stylised piece of meta-theatre. The finish featured perhaps the best piece of no-selling in wrestling history with Dragan popping straight back up from a DDT onto a pillow. My main criticism would be that it slightly outstayed its welcome, being the second longest bout on the show to that point (with the previous segment the two probably got more time than anything else on the card).  

Femmes Fatales 2017 Final Match: Toni Storm def. Viper (7:46) 

A paint-by-numbers final, that used what had gone before well to create drama, but could have done with another five minutes to tell the story effectively and arguably even longer to have felt like an important tournament final. The match moved logically from one sequence to the next, with the pair working very well together in a crisp and impactful encounter, that bordered on the clinical at times. It was clear that the two were familiar from their clashes in WWE, Stardom, PCW, HOPE and Lucha Forever, with a real syncopated feel, not quite going through the motions, that would be unfair to say, but there was certainly sense that the two had done this match or a variation of it before. Both would get nearfalls of the moves that had won two matches previously, with Viper kicking out of Strong Zero and Storm surviving a Michonoku Driver II, playing well of the tournament setting and the work that had gone in on the rest of the show. Storm's victory came after a flurry of offence out of a fiery back and forth exchange, as ripcord spin kick and diving headbutt were enough to lead to a repeat result of the Mae Young Classic Quarter Final. This was a better match than I've conveyed in the preceding paragraph, I simply wanted more from it.

Toni Storm winning this tournament was a fitting result as she was the real standout of the tournament, opening it with energy against Jinny, having the match of the show against Wesna and closing with another chapter of her rivalry with Viper in the final. The 21 year old Aussie is on fire right now, not just in her technical ring work, but also growing in ability to control a crowd with her persona. Not many could come out three times on the same show and own the space as much as Storm did here. The tournament as whole wasn't a must-watch show, the majority of the wrestling was decent, with a few examples on either side of that. I would be interested to see how the women involved in this tournament, especially the likes of Storm, Viper, Wesna and Jinny would have performed had they been given just a little more time to tell their stories and to weave deeper narratives into their bouts and the tournament as a whole. In-Ring the show went less than an hour, which is not enough time for a six match tournament and a non-tournament bout to fully develop, in my opinion.

Review by James Marston