Photos by Maryann Mason
Another raucous crowd jammed into
the Havert L Fenn Center in Ft Pierce, Fl in anticipation of another exciting
night of professional wrestling action. Coming hot off the heels of a
successful Wrestlemania week the stars of NXT would not disappoint as they left
it all in the ring.
No one can fire up a crowd like
Enzo Amore and Big Cass who come out to a huge pop. Their opponents for the
evening are The Mechanics who are looking mean and ready to fight. Amore and
Cass start strong staying one step ahead. Dawson and Amore begin taunting each
other and teasing punches and it turns into a boxing match for a moment. Both
men actually retreat to their corners with stools and spit buckets with their
partners coaching them. The two men circle each other while Enzo showboats with
his fast feet. Dawson is not impressed though and lays out Enzo with one punch.
The referee starts counting but Amore answers the 9 count. Back on his feet he
fires back with some punches of his own until Dawson gives him a knee and it
finally turns into a wrestling match. Employing frequent tags Dawson and Wilder
begin to take apart Amore, for all of their talk of being roughnecks The
Mechanics are technically sound and probably at their best when methodically
punishing an opponent. Eventually though the resilient Amore makes the hot tag
to Big Cass who clears the ring and tosses out Dawson. He then finishes off
Wilder with a swinging side slam followed by an assisted splash tossing Amore
onto Dash for the win. It was a fun match to start the show. The Mechanics
deliver as always and the ringwork of Enzo Amore is getting more varied.
Jason Jordan is out next, this
time with his old music (as opposed to as recently as the night before when he
had Shoot Nation music). His opponent for the evening is the always explosive
Solomon Crowe. From the opening bell Jordan dominated Crowe, out-grappling him
and throwing him around with the greatest of ease. Crowe attempted to make
sporadic comebacks but to little avail. The match was all Jordan, and Jordan
was all power tossing Crowe with a perfect overhead belly-to belly suplex before
settling into a chinlock. Eventually Crowe manages to escape and mount an
offense going for a hurricanrana but Jordan catches him and tosses him. Moments
later though Crowe manages to escape Jordans grasp and turn it into a front
chancery which brings Jordan down for a moment before he begins to power out.
At this point Crowe rolls him up for a surprise pin. This match was pretty much
all Jordan and Crowe was the definitive underdog. Jordan looked good in the ring
and definitely came out looking strong, hopefully he can find some direction
soon.
Bayley makes her way to the ring
for a promo next. She talks about their recent run in San Jose while playing up
to the Florida crowd as well about the success of the brand. Her monologue is interrupted
by Prince Pretty himself, Tyler Breeze. He tells her that no one cares about
any of that and they don’t care about her. He tells her to leave the ring but
she replies by letting him know that he is not the boss of her. At this point
the womens champ Sasha Banks emerges slyly asking if someone said Boss. Both
her and Breeze begin to berate poor Bayley. Unwavering, Bayley demands that
Banks backs up her big talk by giving her a title match. Sasha tells her no,
but that if Bayley can find a partner they will compete in a mixed tag match
later in the evening.
The action continues with Chad
Gable taking on Steve Cutler. In the opening moments the Olympian easily
out-grapples Cutler, but not to be outdone Cutler comes back with a series of
arm drags and an arm bar. Gable takes control with some arm work of his own
after some nice back and forth action. Eventually Gable controls the match even
taking time off to dry off with his “Olympic towel”. Out of nowhere Cutler
fires back with a series of strikes and a gutwrench suplex for the pin. After
the match Ty Dillinger came out and scored it a 4. Cutler looked the best I had
ever seen him tonight, thus far a muscular guy who usually relies on strikes
and power moves showed off some speed, agility and different offense. Gable, as
always is a pleasure to watch in the ring and is most definitely a name to
watch out for.
Ft Pierce is Bull Dempsey country,
and the crowd let it be known as the big man made it to the ring to take on
Marcus Louis. In the early goings Dempsey rode the wave of momentum controlling
his opponent by wearing him down with a side headlock. Louis finds an opening
and begins a beatdown on Bull. Later when it looks as if Dempsey is going to
make a comeback Marcus takes advantage of a distracted referee. He pokes
Dempsey in the eye and follows with a DDT, then with his feet on the ropes he
takes the victory. Unfortunately for Louis, a very angry Dempsey made it to his
feet and ran down Marcus. He followed with two flying headbutts. Dempsey
started to leave but climbed back into the ring and followed with an emphatic
Bonzai Drop from the top rope. Dempsey then headed to the back only to run back
out a moment later for one final Bonzai Drop on an annihilated Marcus Louis. I’m
a fan of both men and I’d really like to see the tortured monster Marcus Louis
make it to television. More so though, I am eager to see the next chapter for
Bull Dempsey.
Next is womens triple threat
action with Charlotte vs Dana Brooke vs Alexa Bliss. From the beginning it is
very clear that there are no alliances tonight and it is every women for themselves.
Soon Bliss was thrown from the ring allowing Charlotte and Dana to focus on
each other. Charlotte is on a roll hitting a lot of her signature spots until
Brooke finds an opening and slows things down with a body scissors. Eventually
Charlotte powers out, meanwhile every time Bliss attempts to get back into the
ring she is knocked back out. Charlotte puts down Dana with a neckbreaker and
puts on a figure 4 when Alexa comes off the ropes with a crossbody. Alexa tries
to pin Charlotte, but she tosses her off onto Dana, who tosses her back onto
Charlotte ad infinitum all the while referee Drake Wuertz is beating the canvas
like a drum. Finally back up the ladies begin to battle when Charlotte lands a
Natural Selection on Bliss for the win. Ty Dillinger gives the match a 6. The
ring general Charlotte looked as good as you have come to expect, while Brooke
and Bliss continue to grow.
Tag team action is next as Blake
and Murphy take on The Vaudevillians. The crowd reaction to The Vaudevillians
are no surprise, but Blake and Murphy are starting to get equally as popular,
at least in front of this very split crowd. The Vaudevillians start strong and
in charge, executing some signature spots such as push-ups off their opponents
back. With a little distraction though it is not long before Blake and Murphy
take charge punishing Gotch. Eventually Simon makes the hot tag to English who
is simply on fire at one point landing an astounding superplex on Murphy.
However a few moments later in the chaotic fray Murphy manages to eject Gotch
and lay out English with a vertical suplex followed by a frogsplash from Blake
for the win.
Kevin Owens is out next and
supposedly has an important announcement concerning the title. First though he
singles out a guy from the audience in a Finn Balor T-shirt and tells him if he
doesn’t go buy an Owens T-shirt he’s leaving. Surprisingly the guy actually
leaves to buy a shirt. Owens then simply moves on to a kid in a Balor T-shirt
and tells him the same thing, to which this kid actually leaves to go buy an
Owens T-shirt. Owens then moves onto a guy in a Baron Corbin shirt who will not
relent. Kevin Owens gives the guy to the count of ten before dropping the mic
and leaving the ring. Kevin Owens is one of the best promo guys in the
business, but apparently he is really good at moving shirts too. But seriously,
he can make moving shirts entertaining.
In our next match Ty Dillinger
takes on Elias Sampson. The two evenly matched competitors lock up and between
every successful maneuver Dillinger retreats to his corner to score himself…. a
perfect 10, of course. Sampson quickly gains an advantage though until the wily
Ty Dillinger finds an opening and pounces. He lays out Sampson in a frenzied
beatdown and follows with a half crab. Eventually Sampson makes the ropes and
comes back with a Lou Thez press and a clothesline that turned Dillinger inside
out. Sampson attempts to follow with his jumping knee strike but Ty dodges it
and counters with a DDT. The two men battle up to their feet and atop the
turnbuckle. Dillinger attempts a superplex but Sampson knocks him down and
follows with a crossbody. The two men make it back to their feet and Sampson
nails Ty with a jumping knee strike to the face, surprisingly Ty kicks out. The
two exhausted competitors make it to their feet and Dillinger nails a superkick,
he follows with a facebreaker knee smash for the win. Dillinger is a criminally
underrated ring technician while Elias Sampson is perhaps one of the newer
prospects I am most excited about. At the beginning of the match there were
smarky fans calling them jobbers, by the end they quieted all the naysayers
with a great match.
Our main event is one of the most
odd, but one of the most fun we have had in a long time. First out are Sasha
Banks and Tyler Breeze, with Sasha matching Tyler in fur and boot tassles. Out
next is Bayley and she introduces her partner for the evening, Sami Zayn. The
crowd explodes to the sight of their hero Sami Zayn emerging from the back in a
Bayley t-shirt. The babyface team are dominant in the early goings, wrestling
the fur coats right off their opponents and putting them on to pose on the
turnbuckles. Neither Breeze or Banks want anything to do with their opponents
making quick tag outs, forcing the other team to tag per mixed tag rules.
Finally Sami and Breeze are back in the ring and the pace picks up with some
signature offense. Eventually sneaky Tyler Breeze got the upper hand after attacking
Sami from behind. But Zayn makes the hot tag to Bayley who is on fire and makes
quick work of Sasha and tags Sami back in. Sami takes down Breeze with a series
of clotheslines followed by a dropkick and an exploder suplex in the corner.
Sami is ready for a Helluva Kick but Banks darts in the way. She attempts to slap
Sami not once, but twice, but he stops both attempts and counters with a kiss
square on the lips. Banks recoils in shock and disgust, only to be followed by
a Belly-To Bayley from Bayley. Then Zayn charges the corner for a Helluva kick
to Breeze for the victory. This was a fun match and a rare treat from four of
the top workers in the brand, and the crowd went home happy.
0 comments:
Post a Comment