NXT Special Comment

Now, as promised, a special comment about Friday's World Wrestling Entertainment/NXT show at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm biased.  Deal with it.

I hadn't bought a ticket to a WWE event in about six years, but I made an exception for NXT; the post-WrestleMania callups meant that Shinsuke Nakamura would not be a part of the show(though he was initially advertised), but Tye Dillinger still appeared at the event despite his own callup.  I didn't know about any matches ahead of time, but I had seen the lineup from the previous night's Kansas City house show so I had a good idea of who would and wouldn't be competing.  Ember Moon was initially advertised as well, but she's out of action with an injury.  Those absent from the show included Kassius Ohno, Roderick Strong, and NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors Of Pain(Akam Dhinsa & Rezar Selmani).  The attendance was really good, though it may have been affected by St. Louis sporting events...there was a Cardinals game that evening as well as a Blues playoff game against the Nashville Predators.  That last part will be important later...

Your ring announcer was Kayla Braxton; your referees were Drake Wuertz and Eddie Orengo.

They announced a Twitter vote for which classic NXT match would receive a highlight reel during the intermission:  Seth Rollins vs. Jinder Mahal(tournament final to crown the first NXT Champion), Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn(NXT Takeover R-Evolution), or Sasha Banks vs. Bayley Rose(NXT Takeover Brooklyn).  Sasha-Bayley won by a fairly comfortable margin.

"No Way" Jose Valenzuela vs. Eric Young(w/ Killian Dain, Alexander Wolfe, & Nikki Cross):  Jose was a great choice to start the show.  E.Y. had his share of supporters and I count myself as a fan of his as well; that set the audience tone for the night as it was very similar to a Full Sail crowd (take that however you see fit).  The only real difference was that Full Sail crowds don't randomly chant "Let's Go Blues"...I was wondering why people didn't just go to the game or stay home to watch the game, but hey.  Jose's an underrated worker and can do a really good serious promo when the situation calls for it.  The numbers were against him in this one, but the interference finally backfired and Young accidentally knocked Dain off the apron.  That allowed Jose to get the rollup pin in 8:02...woo.  (Think that's the first time I've seen Young lose by pin/submission since his return with Sanity; even in Tye Dillinger's sendoff, he won the cage match by escape.)

Young was upset about the loss and threw out an open challenge for anyone to face the other members of Sanity...Nikki Cross was left out of the in-ring competition for the weekend, it would seem.  Their answer came in the form of D.I.Y....

Do It Yourself(Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano) vs. Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe(w/ Eric Young & Nikki Cross):  The referee made a big production out of ejecting Young and Cross from ringside, thus evening the sides.  Ciampa & Gargano seemed small compared to their heavyweight opponents; I'm wondering if they'd be better off in the main roster's cruiserweight division.  It's always cool when people from the dreaded independent scene make it to "The Fed"...saw Ciampa and Gargano at quite a few indie shows in the past.  Dain got some "Shave Your Back" chants, followed up by "Fuzzy Wuzzy" chants...those made no sense since Fuzzy Wuzzy HAD no hair (and, thus, was not very fuzzy, was he?).  D.I.Y. had the edge in tag team experience; they isolated Wolfe long enough to hit their Meet In The Middle finisher(Gargano close-range superkick in stereo with Ciampa running knee strike from behind).  That allowed Gargano to get the pinfall in 9:22.

Aliyah Areebi vs. Sonya Deville:  Deville is the artist previously known as Daria Berenato; she's a Tough Enough alum and appeared a handful of times on NXT television under her real name.  Aliyah has flown under the radar in NXT and isn't very established to the fans (aside from a handful of upset wins on the TV show).  While Sonya was the "rulebreaker" in the match, she got attention in a hurry with her pseudo-mixed martial arts approach.  Aliyah tried for a late rally(without much fan response), but Sonya got the win after an enzuigiri in 6:17.  I look forward to seeing her on NXT TV in the near future.

"The Freak" Dylan Miley vs. "The Velveteen Dream" Patrick Clark:  Clark's character has been described as resembling either Prince or Jim Morrison; he proclaims the greatness of "The Patrick Clark Experience".  He's another Tough Enough alum who's trying to find a foothold in NXT nowadays.  Miley recently debuted on television in an apparent squash match for D.I.Y., but he manhandled Ciampa & Gargano and his team only lost due to his partner being double-teamed and beaten.  Afterwards Miley destroyed his partner, though he apologized to him afterwards in a backstage segment; the main essence of the storyline resembles Cactus Jack's early WCW career.  He's a huge powerhouse and I'm sure WWE's higher-ups will be fond of him.  They teased an upset win for Clark when he pulled off a turnbuckle pad and ran Miley into the exposed metal, then snapped his throat off the top rope.  A Macho Elbow nearly scored the win for Clark after that, but it wasn't quite enough to keep Miley down.  Miley overpowered him with a waistlock-style uranagi(unsure of the exact technical name) and got the pin in 6:13.

Aleister Black vs. Cezar Bononi:  Bononi is a Brazilian newcomer and they ran a video promo for him earlier in the show, though the fans had no idea who he was.  I believe he'll be making his NXT TV debut in the near future.  Of course, he had some tough competition on this night in the form of the recently-debuted Black.  Bononi looked like a solid competitor, but this was mostly a showcase for Black; he won with the Black Mass(spinning kick) in 5:53.

Intermission~!  Official Ben Simon Concession Count(tm):  Nothing; it cost ten bucks to park, gimme a break.  Said hi to a few familiar folks, at any rate.

Hideo Itami vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas:  YESPLZKTHX.  Itami's injury layoffs have done him no favors, to say nothing of the deluge of new talent in recent times.  Almas' current attitude is that he's too concerned with post-show partying and not focusing enough on his matches, so his recent track record hasn't been the best.  Between that and Itami already being set up to challenge Bobby Roode for the NXT Title in the near future, the outcome was fairly obvious but that didn't make it any less fun to watch, Maggle.  These days, there are enough uber-talented rasslers around that it takes a bit more to stand out...the people who figure that out are the ones who will succeed.  Anywho, Itami won with the Go 2 Sleep in 10:32...most tremendous.

NXT Women's Champion Asuka Urai & Ruby Riot vs. The Iconic Duo(Billie Kay & Peyton Royce):  Despite her recent heelishness on NXT TV, Asuka was a total fan favorite on this night.  Ruby was very popular and had a lot of fans from her indie days.  Peyton is my latest female wrestler crush...very impressive.  (Yes, latest, shaddup, 500 feet means 500 feet.)  Ruby will always be cool with me for recognizing my Missouri Wrestling Revival T-shirt at the CHIKARA show in Indianapolis.  Billie & Peyton had the advantage in tag team experience and isolated Ruby for most of the match, but Asuka finally got into the fray and cleaned house.  Asuka got the fall on Billie after a buzzsaw kick in 9:17.  (Fare thee well, Yoshihiro Tajiri...)

"The Glorious" Bobby Roode vs. "The Perfect Ten" Tye Dillinger for the NXT Title:  This was the revival of an old feud; Roode recruited Dillinger for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic only to abandon him in their first-round match against Sanity.  They had a great match at NXT Takeover Toronto; while the outcome here seemed clear with Dillinger on the main roster, a DQ finish could have definitely occurred.  The fans are totally into Roode's theme music and entrance, but Roode's an old-school heel once the match gets underway.  With playoff hockey taking place elsewhere, the area was in a hockey mood...so Roode donned a Nashville Predators jersey to REALLY tick people off.  Bwahahaha.  Not to be outdone, Tye borrowed a fan's Blues jersey...so they threw down the proverbial gloves and had a HOCKEY FIGHT~!  Dillinger clotheslined Roode out of the ring, then dropped an elbow on Roode's jersey before tossing it out of the ring...most tremendous.  They had a really good main event, as expected...Dillinger kicked out after Roode's elevated DDT finisher, so Roode brought in his title belt.  (It was noted that Roode and Asuka used the old NXT title belts instead of the newly-minted versions...probably just for the road shows.)  Dillinger avoided the belt shot and delivered the Tye Breaker(Death Valley Driver onto the knee), but Roode got a foot on the bottom rope.  (Also, Tye neglected to pull down the kneepad and that probably blunted the move's normal effectiveness.)  The finish saw Roode hang onto the referee in order to deliver a mule kick to the Universal Weak Point(tm), then finish with a second elevated DDT in 25:15(!).  (Notably, the main was the only match that went well over ten minutes...Itami-Almas went only slightly over ten.)  Roode brought in a chair to do more damage, but Tye caught him with his own low blow and the full-fledged Tye Breaker.  Cue send-the-fans-home-happy celebration(complete with "Thank You Tye" chants)...Roode tried to make nice, but it was a feint that Dillinger anticipated and he blocked the attempted low blow.  Having already used up his special, Tye opted for an old favorite:  KICK WHAM STUNNER!  That finally closed out the show.

It would have been cool to talk to the wrestlers after the show, but obviously that was a more restricted thing under the WWE banner.  As I made my exit along with some local rasslin compatriots, we did see No Way Jose talking to fans and doing the autograph/picture thing...very cool of him.

The weekend was far from over, but that's another story for another time...tune in next time:  Same Pat-Time, Same Pat-Channel.

That's my special comment for this, the sixteenth wrestling show I've attended in the year 2017.  Good night, good luck, and #yaywrestling.

-PB, Watching Wrestling Wrong Since 1991

P.S. We are all marks.