NXT Orlando 7-10-15

Written by Wayne Mason

Photos by Maryann Mason

It was a sweltering night in Orlando, but fans fought the heat to pile into the National Guard Armory for a night of NXT wrestling action. Even the contestants of Tough Enough were in attendance for a night of action that featured top notch wrestling, WWE legends, and the homecoming of a new champion.

The familiar music of DX hits and out comes Billy Gunn to a huge pop. He speaks for a moment before introducing Lita, who is met with a very enthusiastic crowd. The two introduce the hopefuls of Tough Enough who make their way around the ring greeting the fans. Afterwards the contestants would watch the show from ringside. Even if just plugging a television show, Billy Gunn and Lita are a great way to start the evening.

Our first match of the evening is Uhaa Nation taking on Axel Tischer. The two start off with some impressive grappling before the incredibly agile Uhaa takes control and takes his bigger opponent down with a beautiful dropkick. Moments later Tischer would level Uhaa with a big boot and commence a beatdown. Axel wisely slows the pace, grounding Uhaa and working the arm. Later though Uhaa Nation would mount a comeback culminating in a huge military press followed by a standing moonsault for the victory. This is yet another good match that emphatically states that Uhaa Nation is going to be a very big deal in NXT. Ty Dillinger must agree, because afterwards he scored the match a 9.

Next up, Cassie McIntosh takes on Dana Brooke. Early in the match Cassie takes control with an onslaught of offense culminating in a nice headscissors. Eventually, Brooke takes control mostly brawling and using her power to her advantage. Dana traps Cassie in a grounded abdominal stretch until she manages to break free. Cassie comes back with a series of high kicks and a crossbody off the turnbuckles. She attempts to climb the ropes again but Brooke hoists Cassie onto her shoulders and slams her to the mat with a Samoan Driver to gain the pin. There were some rough spots for Dana but overall she is showing a lot of improvement. Cassie McIntosh continues to impress and is proving to be a valuable addition to the NXT roster.

Next, the ring is set up with leopard skin furniture and Cass and Enzo come out to a huge pop. They announce the inaugural addition of their new show, Sawft Talk. They introduce their first guest, Preston Cunningham Jr the 1^st aka Josh Woods. Enzo comments that with his tattoos and attire Preston looks like the love child of Baron Corbin and Tiger Woods. Later in the segment Preston explains that his father earned their money the old fashioned way, by inheritance. He also tells us that his father bought him the best MMA training money could buy. Enzo and Cass don’t seem impressed and things start to unravel. Cunningham snatches the microphone from Enzo and says his “daddy” paid good money for him to be here and he would not be disrespected. Amore ended up smacking the spoiled rich kid several times with a leopard skin pillow before Cass dropped him with a big boot. This was a goofy segment, but it did explain a little more about Preston Cunningham.

The action continues with Bull Dempsey taking on the tortured Marcus Louis. In the opening moments Bull is obviously apprehensive to lock up with the maniacal Frenchman. Bull backs up out of the ring and Marcus gives chase. The two run around the ring until a visibly winded Dempsey rolls back into the ring and asks for a time-out to catch his breath. Marcus will not relent and the two end up running the ropes for an absurd amount of time. Dempsey takes down Marcus with a shoulder tackle, but exhausted collapses onto him. The two eventually make it back up and Louis attacks violently first with a series of knees and continues to decimate his opponent. Bull comes back with a flurry of punches and lays out Marcus. Dempsey climbs the ropes and crashes onto Louis with a seated senton for the victory. Ty Dillinger gave the match of 3 but Marcus began to flip out, so he gave it a 5 instead. This was a fun match, Bull is starting to connect with crowds more than ever while Marcus Louis is still very underrated in my estimation.

Tag team action is next as “The Hype Bros” Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley take on Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder. The Hype Bros start off strong keeping one step ahead of their opponents. Mojo goes into his shtick informing the crowd that Dawson isn’t hyped and can’t get chicks. Dawson and Wilder manage to take control of the match and isolate Ryder. Employing frequent tags and great tandem wrestling Dawson and Wilder take apart Ryder culminating in a nice guillotine. Eventually though Ryder would find an opening and make the hot tag to Mojo who would take out Dawson and Wilder with a series of splashes and shoulder tackles. Rawley picks up Wilder and Ryder comes off the ropes with a Rough Ryder for the win. Tag teaming is doing Mojo well and he is showing some improvement in the ring, though I still don’t get the character at all. House show faithful will attest to the fact that Dawson and Wilder steal house shows on a regular basis, I just wish they were challenging for gold, rather than losing the majority of their matches.

The night continues with Ty Dillinger taking on Tyler Breeze. The two are so evenly matched and it shows for much of the back and forth contest. Eventually Dillinger takes over working the arm of Breeze before mocking him atop the turnbuckles. Breeze makes a very aggressive comeback and drops Ty with a superkick. Ty fights back, showing a very aggressive mean streak of his own. With Breeze grounded, Ty hikes down his kneepad to go for his knee smash. With the refs attention elsewhere Breeze takes advantage poking Dillinger in the eye and following with a Beauty Shot for the victory.

Triple threat tag action is up next with The Vaudevillians vs Blake and Murphy vs Jordan and Gable. Much of the early goings of the match saw the champs Blake and Murphy getting owned by both team. The match was fast paced with lots of blind tags and too much back and forth to call. Eventually it is English that finds himself isolated and being picked apart by both teams until he makes the hot tag to a very fired up Simon Gotch. In the fray all competitors end up in the ring as Gotch nails them all with forearms in each corner. Ultimately, everybody starts nailing everybody left and right until a confident Blake lays out Gable with a cutter. Unfortunately for him he was left in the ring with both Vaudevillians. Gotch nails him with an uppercut to the back of the head and English follows with a swinging neckbreaker for the victory. This was a great match and likely the best of the night. All six men looked great in this contest, but Chad Gable is definitely the standout for me. Pound for pound he is easily one of the best wrestlers in NXT, with a chance and proper booking he’ll end up at the top.

Sasha Banks is out next for a promo. She lets us know that her title signifies that she is better than all of us and better than all of the women in the back. She reminds us that she has beaten Charlotte, Bayley, and Becky. But then she is interrupted by Carmella who tells her that she didn’t hear her name on that list. Carmella issues a challenge but Sasha declines and begins to leave. Carmella calls her Sawft and tells her “Bye Felicia”. An irate Sasha Banks charges back to the ring and a match is on. Both women are fired up and the match goes back and forth until Sasha nails Carmella with double knees in the corner. Banks slows the pace contorting Carmella into an abdominal stretch. Carmella gets free and comes back with a beautiful head scissors followed by three Lou Thez Presses. Moments later she attempts to set up her headscissor submission but Banks wisely evades. Carmella gives chase but Banks pulls her into the ropes and follows with a backstabber and a Bank Statement for a submission victory. Carmella has so much potential, it’s nice to see her going toe-to-toe with the champ rather than accompanying her “boys” to the ring.

In our main event Baron Corbin challenges new NXT champion Finn Balor in a title match. Before introductions are even done Corbin jumps Finn, drops him with a big boot and continues to beat him down. Balor mounts a brief comeback but Baron drops him with a jaw shattering punch. Corbin slows down the pace picking apart the champ methodically. Finn comes back with a few chops and a pele kick. Balor takes down Corbin with a slingblade. Finn attempts to dropkick Corbin into the corner but gets caught and laid out with a huge swinging side slam. Frustrated Corbin grabs a chair but the referee wrests it from his hands. Corbin lays out Balor with another big boot. Baron climbs the turnbuckle but Finn drops him with a kick to the head. Finn follows dropkicking Corbin into the turnbuckles and follows with a Coup De Grace for the win.

From top to bottom it was a fun night and no doubt the standing room only crowd went home happy. Hopefully the cast of Tough Enough were paying close attention, they have big boots to fill.

                                                 Pictured above @Cody_Starbuck with ZZ
                                                 from Tough Enough