Enthusiastic fans jammed into the
Orlando Armory to see the men and women of NXT prove why they are the
predominant wrestling brand by wowing their hometown crowd with high
impact action. The armory was hot, but anticipation was hotter as the
evening started with a bang.
Actually, it started with the roar of a
motorcycle as the lone wolf of NXT Baron Corbin made his way to the
ring to conquer his newest victim, Elias Sampson. The bell rang and
the crowd began counting the seconds to the inevitable squash.
Sampson wisely rolled out of the ring a few times before engaging in
action in an attempt to mount an offense. Unfortunately for Sampson,
this only angered Corbin who went on to make short work of his prey
gaining the pinfall after his brutal finisher “The end of days”.
The crowd is really getting behind Corbin and it's well deserved, the
man makes every move look devastating in the ring. Elias Sampson has
seemingly a different gimmick every time I have seen him, hopefully
he find his niche in NXT soon because I've like what I've seen of
him.
Next up one half of the Lucha Dragons,
Kalisto competed against Sawyer Fulton. The contest saw the much
larger Fulton run roughshod over the luchadore who struggled to mount
an offense. However his power and size advantage was not enough to
stop the momentum of the underdog Kalisto, and when Kalisto gets
going that momentum is nearly unstoppable. Fulton, who has had many
gimmick changes may look his most intimidating yet with his black
mohawk and black singlet. Tonight though his new tougher demeanor
would not be enough as he found himself on the receiving end of a
“Salida del sol”.
NXT commentator Rich Brennan introduced
The Boss Sasha Banks who quickly decided Brennans presence in the
ring was not necessary and took control of the mic. Banks made it
clear that she is the best and put all the women on notice,
particularly the champ, Charlotte. It should be a hot feud when these
two finally lock up, and they will likely steal quite a few shows in
the process.
Next, in a highly entertaining match
the team of Jason Jordan and Chad Gable took on The Mechanics.
Jason Jordan was wearing a wrestling
singlet tonight like Gable, it remains to be seen if this will be an
ongoing tag team. However with his impressive amateur background he
definitely makes a good partner for the Olympian Chad Gable. Not to
be outdone Dawson challenged them to start the match by wrestling
amateur style, unfortunately for him it didn't turn out so well. As
the match wore on it was a back and forth battle that could have went
to either team. Tonight however the better team was The Mechanics,
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder. Great job by both teams, this match was
a highlight of the evening. The Mechanics are great antagonists who
will be in the running for tag team gold sooner than later. Jason
Jordan easily has all the skills it takes to succeed, while I see
huge things on the horizon for the impressive Olympian Chad Gable.
CJ Parker is out next with a microphone
in hand to berate the audience as only he can, this is where Parker
shines. Tonight though he would need more than a large vocabulary and
wit because his opponent is Hideo Itami who makes his way out to a
pretty good pop and a lot of standing fans. Rarely when something or
someone comes along with a lot of hype does it live up to it, but in
the case of Hideo Itami he surely deserves the hype he has arrived
with. Impressive considering we have not even seen him compete in any
epic battles in NXT yet. His legendary kicks make you cringe from
anywhere in the building and his double foot stomp from the top rope
is just painful to watch. Parker put up a good fight but the victory
went to Hideo.
Next up the criminally underrated Ty
Dillinger took on Prince Pretty himself, Tyler Breeze. Fans came
alive to see Breeze who has been away recently with the WWE and he
did not disappoint. In fact, both men delivered a match that could
have easily been a main event. It's been obvious to many for a long
time that Breeze will be a major player one day. However, for those
outside of the house show circuit that don't know Dillinger as well
the man can shine when given the time and opportunity. His new
mysterious, slightly crazy heel persona may just be the groove he
needed. Dillinger was in control for much of the match, but the
durable Tyler Breeze had a beauty shot with Dillingers name on it
giving him the pinfall victory. A nice homecoming for Prince Pretty.
Next, Jojo brings out Braun Stowman who
at 6'8' and 385 pounds is a mountain of a man. He makes his way into
the ring stepping over the top rope to let us know that monsters are
real and on no uncertain terms that he is putting the entire locker
room on notice. I'm certainly eager to see the debut of this beast.
After that it is time for a six diva
tag team match. The team of Charlotte, Bayley, and Alexa Bliss took
on Dana Brooke, Carmella, and Becky Lynch in yet another show
stealing match on what had become a great card. Matches like this
showcase exactly why we have the best divas around and gives one hope
for the main roster division. It was a little strange seeing
Charlotte in a definitive face role alongside Bayley, but it's a role
she is settling into nicely. Lynch is still a standout on the roster
to me, although I'll have to see how her heel role progresses.
Carmella is quickly becoming a favorite proving she has the skills
and the ring presence to get to the top. This was an action packed
match that ended with Charlotte getting the “natural selection”
over Becky Lynch for the pin.
In our main event of the evening I was
glad to see the highly charismatic Enzo Amore and Big Cass finally
headline a show against The Vaudevillians. I've commented several
times about the very impressive tag division in NXT, and these teams
are probably the top two teams at the moment (even over the champs).
The match started with plenty of hilarious trash talking before an
action packed match got underway. As over as Gotch and English were
as faces they are way more effective as heels as they showed tonight,
while Cass and Enzo aren't just on fire in the ring, but they animate
the crowd as well with their trash talking and high energy.
Eventually The Vaudevillians found themselves in control of the match
keeping the underdog Amore from the tag. Victory seemed at hand for
the bad guys after a beautifully executed senton from the second rope
by English, but Cass made the save for his team. Amide the chaotic
final moments it was Enzo Amore who got the pin with a surprise
roll-up from out of nowhere. An irate English and Gotch attempted a
post match beatdown but were thwarted by an even more fired up Colin
Cassidy who cleared the ring of the two sore losers.
It's not unusual for NXT to put on an
entertaining show, but tonight was a great show from top to bottom
with too many “favorite” matches to call.
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