Reviews

The WWE NXT Spotlight 09/16/15 by Kurt Zamora

TJR Wrestling

Welcome one and all to another edition of the NXT Spotlight right here at TJRWrestling. We are officially in the quarterfinals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Tournament as we get closer to NXT Takeover: Respect on October 7th. We’ve had a lot happening in the women’s division with big international signings and a huge announcement for that Takeover show in October which I’m sure we’ll get to tonight. So with that said, let’s get to this week’s show!

Tyler Breeze vs. Adam Rose

We are shown a recap of how Breeze and Bull Dempsey were eliminated last week from the Tag Team Classic and Breeze’s meltdown after the match. Adam Rose is debuting his “Party Pooper” gimmick, complete with no music or entrance video. He says that WWE took a big poop on his party, so now he’s going to do the same to NXT’s party. There is no fun allowed. Before the match can start, Bull Dempsey comes out and he says that what happened last week wasn’t an accident and this week won’t be an accident either as he’s going to beat Breeze badly. He gets in the ring and Breeze cuts him off before he can proceed. Bull proceeds to mock Breeze’s pose in the corner to the crowd’s delight. Breeze says the only accident he saw was them being paired together last week. The other accident was the day Bull was born. Breeze says that Bull cost him the Tag Team Classic and there’s nothing more he’d want to do than beat up Bull, but he’s in the middle of a match. Bull asks Rose to leave the ring, but Rose refuses to and ends up slapping Bull in the face. Bull says he wanted to be nice about it but that won’t happen. Bull lays out Rose and sends him to the outside when Breeze attacks him from behind. Bull fights back and Breeze runs away as Bull yells that he wants a match with Breeze.

Winner: No Match

We go right back to Tyler Breeze backstage, who officially accepts Bull’s challenge for a match next week.

“The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger vs. Danny Birch

Tye Dillinger is everything Mark Jindrak wishes he could’ve been. I’m pretty sure Birch has been on this show before and had a different name, but I don’t have the desire to confirm that. Both men tie up with Dillinger getting the advantage and calling it a 10. Birch gets him in a headlock but Dillinger bounces him off the ropes and then does a cartwheel that also draws a 10. Birch comes back with a couple punches and forearm shot and then mocks the 10. Birch hooks an arm lock and the crowd gets behind Dillinger to get out, which he does with a clothesline. He comes up from behind and then hits a Russian Leg Sweep and a stiff kick to the head. Dillinger pulls down the kneepad and lines Birch up for his finisher and that’s the match.

Winner: “The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger

Backstage to Corbin and Rhyno who are asked about their opponents tonight and if they’re worried about getting upset tonight. Rhyno says they’re only worried about what they’re going to do to Gargano and Ciampa tonight. Corbin doesn’t care where they came from, but they’re not looking past them, they’re looking right through them and they will win the Tag Team Classic.

A pretty cool short vignette is shown to hype of the debut of Asuka next week. Asuka is the former Kana who was signed from Japan earlier this month.

Apollo Crews vs. Solomon Crowe

Apollo “Don’t call me Terry Creed” Crews gets the Apollo Nation hyped up right away. Poor Crowemight’ve finally had something to help jumpstart his run in NXT and then Zahra had to post some Nazi photos. For shame. Both men exchange go behinds at the beginning and then counter some leg scissors before coming to a standoff. Apollo goes to shake hands but Crowe kicks his hand away. Crowe sends Apollo to the corner, but Apollo moves out of the way and then shows off his athleticism before delivering one of his impressive dropkicks. He picks up Crowe from a sitting position into a suplex which was really impressive. Crowe rolls to the outside and then Apollo goes for a baseball slide but Crowe lifts the ring skirt and traps Apollo in it and takes momentum of the match. They get back in the ring and Crowe beats down Apollo in the corner. He snapmares Apollo and then kicks him in the spine, following that up with a submission using Apollo’s own arm around his neck. Crowe goes for a pin and gets a two count and then locks in a headlock. Apollo pulls the arms apart and breaks free and then hits a jaw jacker when Crowe tried to get a sleeper on. Crowe gets kicked square in the face and then Crews hits a Stinger Splash and a jumping clothesline. Then he hits a standing enzugiri and follows that up with his Gorilla Press/Standing Moonsault combo to pick up the victory.

Winner: Apollo Crews

Backstage with Gargano and Ciampa who are asked about what their opponents said earlier. Gargano says sometimes you only get one chance and they got theirs last week and they took advantage of it. Everyone may have been surprised last week, but they weren’t. Ciampa says them being selected for the tournament wasn’t an accident and they like their chances tonight.

We then go to Devin who is with Dana Brooke and Emma. Dana is guilty of gimmick infringement as she has pink in her hair. They asked for this time apparently and Emma says they’re noticing things happening in NXT right now and they’re missing out on all the fun. Dana says they’re ready to shake things up and show everyone who’s in charge. They’re in charge and playtime is over. I don’t like Dana but when she pats Devin on the head, it’s quite funny.

We see outside the arena that an Escalade has pulled up and Sasha Banks steps out.

We now go to WWE Headquarters where Kyle Edwards is in the control room and is going to give us a breakdown of where we stand in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. The final four teams will advance to Takeover in October. We get a lot of recaps of what we’ve already seen. The Hype Bros will face off against Chad Gable and Jason Jordan in the quarterfinals. The Vaudevillians will face The Mechanics at one of the NXT Texas shows (please let it be Austin). Which although not announced, leaves Enzo and Big Cass vs. Finn Balor and Samoa Joe in the last quarterfinal.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – Quarterfinal Match
Rhyno and Baron Corbin vs. TomassoCiampa and Johnny Gargano

Two weeks in a row with Ciampa and Gargano, I call that a win for NXT. Another strong ovation for the Indy darlings. Ciampa and Rhyno start the match. Rhyno backs Ciampa into the corner and both men trade chops with Ciampa getting the upper hand and then hitting a running knee in the corner. Rhyno cuts him off with an elbow, but Ciampa then cuts Rhyno off with a clothesline. Gargano gets tagged in and hits a couple double team moves with Ciampa. Corbin tries to get in, but is sent to the outside and then Gargano does a suicide dive onto Corbin. Now it’s Rhyno’s turn to get sent to the outside and Gargano hits another suicide dive. Ciampa wants in on the action and goes to the top rope and hits a big cross body onto both his opponents. Ciampa and Gargano work over Rhyno in their corner with quick tags and double team moves. Ciamp goes for a German Suplex but Rhyno reverses it and lays out Ciampa. Corbin gets the tag, but Ciampa escapes his attack until Corbin catches him in his version of the Black Hole Slam.

They show a commercial for the new series “Table for 3”. I typically don’t shill the commercials, but I did watch the episode with The New Day & I highly recommend it. In this commercial they show that Cesaro, Kevin Owens, & Dean Ambrose will be in one of the episodes. That should be TREMENDOUS. I see that Ivory and Medusa will be doing a show together (couldn’t see/hear who the third diva will be) and also see that Sting will be on an episode. Those should all be fantastic.

We return to the match with Corbin choking Ciampa on the bottom rope. Rhyno gets tagged in and works over Ciampa. Ciampa hits a big knee but can’t get the tag and is forced back into his opponent’s corner. Corbin tags back in, kicks Ciampa a few times and gets Rhyno back in the match. Rhyno gets Ciampa up on the top rope but Ciampa fights him off and hits a front dropkick from the top rope. Both men look for a tag and get it. Corbin and Gargano come in and Gargano fires up with some nice elbows and kicks. Gargano hits a sweet leaping DDT over the top rope on Corbin, but can’t get the three. All four men battle, Ciampa goes to the outside and Corbin tries to throw Gargano into a Gore but Gargano leapfrogs it. He hits an enzugiri on Corbin but can’t get the pin and then Corbin gets up in time for Gargano to walk right into the End of Days and Corbin/Rhyno advance.

Winners: Rhyno and Baron Corbin

Backstage with The Vaudevillians and they are asked about their match in Texas against The Mechanics. They say it’d be an honor to win the whole thing and it’d be even better to do it as champions. BAMF interrupt and say it’ll be hard to do that if they don’t have the belts anymore because next week they’re invoking their rematch clause for the tag team titles. They walk off and Simon Gotch calls Alexa a wench.

NiaJax is still coming soon.

Bayley vs. Sara Dobson

Bayley gets a huge hero’s welcome and runs through the crowd to celebrate with everyone. Hugs and high-fives for everyone. Bayley grabs her #1 fan Izzy (you’ll know the little girl if you’ve ever seen Bayley wrestle in Full Sail) and they go in the ring and celebrate with thier titles in hand. Very cool moment. When the bell rings, Dobson attacks Bayley immediately. She hits a nice cartwheel double kick while Bayley is down. She then hooks a rolling choke submission on Bayley but Bayley is able to fight back and run Dobson into the corner. Bayley hits some double ax-handles and then hits a nice suplex out of the corner, followed by a Bayley to Bayley and gets the win.

Winner: Bayley

After the match Bayley grabs a mic but before she can speak, that’s the music of The Boss and Sasha Banks makes her way down to the ring. Sasha says that she didn’t come out her to belittle Bayley, she came to congratulate her. Ever since Takeover, all she’s heard is that they stole the show. That gets a huge ovation and a “yes you did!” chant. Sasha says it was the greatest women’s match the company has ever seen. A “Match of the year” chant starts up as Sasha tries to hold back tears. Sasha says that’s all well and good for everyone except her. She didn’t come here to steal the show or have good matches, she came to be the best. Bayley earned her respect at Takeover, but she was only better that night and only for three seconds. So now Sasha has a point to prove. Bayley says she has a point to prove herself and she needs to create a legacy for herself. If Sasha came out here for a rematch, she can have it. Sasha says she has a point to prove and she wants to do more than beat Bayley, she wants to send a message. Bayley says that’s fine, what does she want a 2 out of 3 falls match? Sasha says she wants to beat Bayley over and over and over. She wants everyone to realize that fairy tales don’t have happy endings.

This calls out William Regal who says he sees a tremendous opportunity here and so at Takeover on October 7th, Sasha gets her rematch. But the ante will be upped. For the first time in NXT history, they will be the main event. And that’s not all. Sasha Banks and Bayley will compete in a 30-Minute Ironman match. The crowd goes nuts and chants “Holy Shit” as both women can’t control their smiles and realize the opportunity they have in front of them. They shake hands and respectfully part ways as our show comes to an end.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

– Can Adam Rose please just be Leo Kruger again? This “party pooper” thing is awful.

– I said last week that I wish there was more for Tyler Breeze than an angle with Bull Dempsey, but oh well.

– Tye Dillinger worked this match as a face, so I don’t think Triple H and whoever else helps him with his gimmick have settled on what side of the fence he should be in. The role is great no matter what he does, so I would just let the crowd decide which I think will ultimately make him a face.

– Sad to see Ciampa and Gargano eliminated already. I hope they’re not done with NXT because they are great additions.

– I’m sure I’m not the only one that hated the finish of Nikki Bella and Charlotte at Raw this Monday. But on the flip side, Bayley and Sasha Banks can change women’s wrestling FOREVER with their match coming up next month. The first ever Ironman women’s match is just spectacular. When you hear “Ironman match”, you think of the great of greats. HBK, Bret, Triple H, The Rock, Orton, Cena, only the cream of the crop are trusted to keep the fan’s attention for that long of time. I know they will absolutely kill it and will put another feather in the cap that is NXT.

– I stated above that I hope The Vaudevillians vs. The Mechanics match takes place in Austin because I will be making the three hour drive down to Austin on Friday to see my first ever NXT Live Event. I am beyond stoked. They’ve announced Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin for the NXT Title and Samoa Joe vs. Tyler Breeze thus far. I will have a report from my experience up for TJRWrestling at some point, at the very least in next week’s NXT Spotlight.

Until next time, try incorporating wench into your vocabulary.