Written by Wayne Mason
Photos by Maryann Mason
Thursday night NXT
returned to the National Guard Armory in Lakeland for a night of hard hitting
action. With much of the roster away with other commitments, the remaining
talent stepped up and put on a fun and exciting night of wrestling and no one
went home disappointed.
The always over Enzo
Amore is always a good choice to start a show, as he received the usual big
pop. He made his way to the ring by himself to take on his opponent, Angelo
Dawkins. The match begins with several minutes of back and forth action before
Dawkins takes over. He pummels Enzo before grounding him with a chancery. Enzo
makes sporadic comeback attempts only to be shut down and grounded by Dawkins.
Finally, Amore launches a comeback flying into Dawkins with his spastic
trademark crossbody and follows with a flurry of punches. He sends Dawkins into
the turnbuckle with an STO before climbing the turnbuckle. Amore launches off
the top and catches Dawkins with a hellacious DDT for the win. Amore has
improved considerably, even though his major strength still lies in being
underdog. Dawkins has always been impressive athletically, but now his charisma
is starting to really come through with his “curse of greatness gimmick. He was
great tonight interacting with the crowd.
Billie Kay is next out
to the ring, accompanied by her manager Sylvester Lefort. Her opponent is
Gionna Daddio. The two start off with a lot of fast paced back and forth action
before Billie takes a cheap shot and attempts to slow Gionna with a chinlock.
She continues her onslaught with a backbreaker before settling into a single-legged
camel clutch. Eventually, Gionna comes back dropping Billie with a couple of
dropkicks and nailing her with an enziguri. She goes for the pin but Sylvester
places Billie’s foot on the ropes. Lefort gets climbs onto the ring apron to
cause a further distraction but Gionna dropkicks him to the floor. Gionna turns
around to be caught by a surprise roll-up pin giving Billie Kay the victory.
This match was a highlight of the night with great performances by both women.
I like the pairing of Billie and Sylvester, it really seemed to work. For the
amount of times she has been wrestling, Gionna Daddio is very impressive. People
critical of another model turned wrestler are going to be proven wrong, as it
seems safe to say she is a natural. At some point during the match (not sure
exactly when) her nose got busted, but she worked through it and finished the
match. Luckily, it was just a bloodied nose and nothing was broken.
Next up is Riddick Moss
taking on Josh Woods. Almost immediately after the initial lock-up Woods traps
Moss in an armbar before transitioning into an ankle lock, but Moss makes the
ropes. The match continues with the quicker Woods staying one step ahead of
Moss always coming back to a series of painful armlocks. The powerful Moss
reverses an Irish Whip slamming Woods into the turnbuckles with enough velocity
to make the entire front row cringe. He
follows with a fallaway slam, then pummels Woods. Moss attempts to keep his
opponent grounded, but Woods locks on another ankle lock out of nowhere before
Moss makes the ropes. Woods continues with a series of suplexes before Moss
manages to nail him with a kick to the face. Moss then finishes Woods with a
neckbreaker for the victory. This was another impressive match. At these house
shows Riddick Moss goes back and forth between heel and face depending upon
what is needed, but he seems to be gaining a lot more traction as the cocky
heel. This was the first time I personally saw Josh Woods wrestle (other than a
few scuffles as Preston Cunningham Jr) and I wasn’t disappointed. From the way
he was dressed to the moves he used, Woods MMA experience and amateur wrestling
background was obvious. He is a lot of fun to watch and with more performances
like tonight he won’t have a problem getting over.
Levis Valenzuela is out
next for yet another promo. He talks about the phenomenon known as NXT and the
opportunity it has given him. He expresses his desire to be the first Dominican
NXT champion. He is interrupted by Emma, who tells him that dancing and
pandering to the crowd got her nowhere. She says dancing is not the answer, and
neither are the people in this crowd. She insists the dancing needs to stop but
he tells her “No way, Jose!” He tells her that she can’t bring people down with
her whining and that we’re all going to dance and the fiesta will continue. She
tries to slap him but he catches her hand, spins her around and dips her. His
music hit and a conga line emerges from the back and makes their way around the
ring. The dancers consist of new recruits including Rich Swann, and all of the
recent Tough Enough signees (minus ZZ).
The evening continues
with Solomon Crowe taking on Tino Sabbatelli. After an initial lock-up the two
trade several punches and chops until Tino takes over with a hard whip into the
corner. Sabbatelli continues with a running powerslam before settling into a
chinlock. The match continues with Crowe enduring punishment from Tino until he
mounts a comeback culminating with a high knee in the corner guaranteed to
loosen a few fillings. He finishes Sabbatelli with a twisting suplex
neckbreaker for the pin. This was a short textbook wrestling match that saw
Crowe mostly selling the offense of Sabbatelli. The newcomer Tino Sabbatelli is
certainly competent in the ring, but nothing about him jumps out at me yet. As
a big fan of Solomon Crowe, I have to wonder what in the hell they are doing
with the guy. Crowe should be challenging for the NXT title, instead he is in
limbo.
We continue with tag
action as Marcus Louis and Sawyer Fulton take on perhaps the most over tag team
in NXT, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable. Marcus Louis may not be full on crazy
anymore, but he’s still definitely weird as he circles the ring maniacally and
smelling his hands after attempting a handshake with Gable. The bell rings and
the two lock up, several minutes of awesome chain wrestling follow with Gable
getting the upper hand. Gable and Jordan control much of the bout with great
wrestling from both Jordan and Gable, including some impressive tandem
wrestling too. After a cheap shot the bad guys take over with Sawyer
clotheslining Gable out of his boots. Sawyer and Marcus beat down Gable before
slowing down the pace. Marcus circles him maniacally beating him down with big
clubbing blows. Sawyer tags back in and levels Gable with a palm strike that
would make CJ Parker proud. However, moments later Gable snatches Fulton’s arm
out of nowhere for an armbar over the ring ropes. This creates enough
separation for Gable to make a hot tag to Jordan who comes in with a series of
dropkicks. He hits Louis with a suplex following with another to Fulton. He
tags in Gable and they hit Sawyer Fulton with Grand Amplitude for the win. This
was a fun match, as is usually the case with Jordan and Gable who are so much
fun to watch. A fine performance by Fulton and Louis as well, both men have all
the tools athletically, but still seem to be looking for that angle to connect
them with the crowd.
Next is Bull Dempsey
taking on the German Alexander Wolfe. This was another textbook wrestling match
that saw some back and forth offense until Wolfe took over against Dempsey
mostly working the arm and hand. Wolfe controlled much of the match while
yelling at the crowd in German. Ultimately, Dempsey would “Hulk up” at the
offense of Wolfe and come back with a series of punches. He squashes Wolfe with
a big splash in the corner laying him out. Bull climbs the turnbuckles and
launches off squashing his opponent with a seated senton for the win. I like
Bull Dempsey, but this match seemed to struggle to keep the attention of the
crowd.
More women’s action is
next with Aaliyah (formely Jasmin/Nooph) taking on Nia Jax, who came out to a
nice pop. The two lock up but Nia easily pushes her off. The speedy Aaliyah
runs the ropes comes back at Nia with a series of kicks to the legs before Nia
once again swats her off. Then Nia drops her with a shoulder breaker, then
continues by tossing around her opponent by her hair like a rag doll. Nia locks
her opponent with a vicious bear hug until Aaliyah gets free and attempts a
comeback with another set of kicks, but Nia sends her to the mat with a
clothesline. She stalks her opponent around the ring like a wounded animal
before locking on another bear hug. Eventually, Aaliyah mounts another comeback
with a series of dropkicks. She climbs the top rope and leaps off at a standing
Nia (perhaps going for a hurricanrana?) but Nia falls back and they both land awkwardly,
with Aaliyah looking like she took the brunt of it. Nia pins her for an abrupt
finish. Nia continues to do well with her monster booking, while the little I
have seen of Aaliyah mostly consists of her selling so it is hard to say. I saw
Aaliyah after the show and luckily she was okay after the rough looking abrupt
ending to her match.
Our main event is a tag
match for the NXT tag team titles with The Vaudevillians challenging the
champs, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder. The match starts off with some great
chain wrestling between English and Dawson. Eventually, English gets the upper
hand. Dawson tags out but Dash doesn’t fare much better soon finding himself
having to escape an armbar from Gotch. Later, Dawson finds himself with his arm
in a hammerlock for some signature squats from the gentleman grapplers. English
does 10 squats, but Gotch outdoes him with a manly 31 squats. Eventauly, after
a blind tag Dash clotheslines English out of his boots and the two begin an
intense beatdown. Dash and Dawson employ frequent tags working the leg of
English, at one point wrapping it around the ring post. Ultimately, English
makes a hot tag to Gotch who comes in and clears the ring with an onslaught of
innovative kicks and strikes. Gotch sends Dash out of the ring and nails Dawson
with a rolling senton. English follows with a low angle senton off the second
rope for the pin but Dash pulls the referee out of the ring to narrowly avoid a
three count. The referee calls for the bell giving the Vaudevillians a DQ
victory. Dawson and Dash continue to
beatdown their opponents after the bell until Enzo Amore runs in to make the
save. Amore rocks Dash with a series of punches before The Vaudevillians finish
him with a Whirling Dervish. This was a great main event with both teams
looking really good. The Vaudevillians are over as always, and it’s so
gratifying to finally see Dawson and Wilder getting a well-deserved and long
awaited push.
