Reviews

WWE: NXT Spotlight 10/14/15 by Kurt Zamora

By Kurt Zamora • Published 15th October 2015
TJR Wrestling

Welcome one and all to the post Takeover: Respect edition of the NXT Spotlight right here at TJRWrestling. After what some, including myself, are calling the best Takeover to date, we now hit a reset button of sorts and move on to see who will be the new contender’s for each title in NXT. We know we’ll start that process tonight with a Battle Royal to determine Finn Balor’s new #1 Contender for the NXT Title. Let’s see what else Full Sail has in store for us tonight!

We start the show with a recap of what took place last week at Takeover: Respect

The Champ Speaks

Our fearless leader John Canton is on full display to open the show. Look out for the Blue Jays hat and keep count how many times you see him. I hate the Blue Jays right now though. Bayley speaks highly about how great her match with Sasha was last week and thanks Dusty Rhodes for making them what they are now. The crowd chants “You deserve it” to Bayley. Bayley says that her and Sasha started a whole new level to the Divas Revolution. She says we want women’s wrestling to be respected. The women’s division looks like the future has been validated. She holds the title up and cue the music of BAMF. Alexa Bliss and her men come to the ring, mock applauding Bayley on the way down.

Alexa says what Bayley accomplished was amazing and she was in total awe. No one deserves to be the champ more than Bayley. That’s all she really wanted to say, but Bayley really is an incredible champion. The future of the NXT women has no limit and she’s excited to share that with Bayley. Bayley doesn’t look impressed as Alexa raises her arm. Alexa then steals the title and Blake & Murphy block Bayley from getting it back. Alexa says they won’t be sharing the title. She wants it too and people like Bayley aren’t designed to be champions. So Alexa will be taking it from her.

We go back to after Takeover last week and get an exclusive video of Finn Balor and Samoa Joe celebrating their win in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Both men preach how much the win means to them. Joe says that he appreciated tagging with Finn and he could’ve gone about this a lot of ways, but he wants Finn to know he wants a shot at the title. Finn accepts, but William Regal cuts them off and says that everyone deserves a chance to become #1 contender, so we’ll have a Battle Royal to determine it. Joe is not thrilled with the decision at all but Regal holds his ground.

After a couple commercials, we get a little nod to the old school Royal Rumble promos and participants in tonight’s battle royal let us know why they’ll be the ones winning tonight. “The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger, Apollo “Don’t call me Terry Creed” Crews, & Rhyno are who we hear from.

The Vaudevillians vs. Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton

John Canton posing along with the tag champs. What a mark. He even tweeted a screencap, check it out.

Dawkins and Fulton sporting new looks. I would assume they aren’t allowed to look like Gable and Jordan anymore. Aiden English and Dawkins start off the match. Aiden gets an armbar and then is sent into the corner, but Dawkins charges him and Aiden hits a beautiful front arm drag. Aiden holds contrl of Dawkins until he gets trapped in the wrong corner and Fulton tags in and goes to work on Aiden. Quick tags from the challengers as Dawkins bodyslams Aiden and Fulton follows it up with an elbow drop off the second rope. Aiden kicks out at two. Fulton goes for a back suplex, but Aiden flips out of it and after Dawkins tags back in, Aiden gets the hot tag to Simon Gotch who cleans house. Simon hits a running forearm in the corner on Dawkins and then hits a high angle back suplex. Aiden tags back in and the champs hit Whirling Dervish for the win.

Winners: The Vaudevillians

We go backstage to Devin Taylor who’s with The Mechanics. Dash and Dawson aren’t exactly impressed with the champs, but they are impressed with the fact they eliminated The Vaudevillians in the Tag Team Classic. That by default makes them the #1 Contender’s for the Tag Titles. Dawson says Enzo and Cass are the ones that are up next for them though. They mock the catchphrases for Enzo and Cass. Devin was released last week too, so that interview will be her last appearance for anyone who wonders about those type of things. No more head pats from Dana.

Speaking of Dana, we get a recap of what Asuka did to her last week and then get exclusive footage of Dana getting checked out by the doctor backstage. Asuka shows up and acts creepy towards Dana and Emma. Dana is loopy and thinks she actually beat Asuka.

Nia Jax vs. Evie

Evie is from New Zealand and Nia Jax is finally not coming soon anymore. Nia actually gets quite the ovation from the crowd. I assumed she’d be a heel, but her mannerisms make her see like a face. Nia Jax is not a small woman. I went to the trusty Wikipedia and Nia is listed at 6 feet tall, 200 pounds. Amazing Kong is listed at 5’11, 272 pounds. Kong’s weight seems a little high there, but that at least gives you some perspective. Nia is also of course another member of the famous Anoa’i family and a cousin to The Rock. Nia starts off the match overpowering Evie and hooks on a Bearhug. She ragdolls Evie with it. Evie gets out and goes for a sunset flip, but that doesn’t work. Nia splashes her in the corner and then throws her hip into Evie’s face, knocking her down. Nia toys with Evie until Evie gets a few kicks in and tries to fight back, but Nia catches her with one arm and drops her with what I can only call a throwing Rock Bottom. Nia gets in a dominate pinning position and wins her debut match.

Winner: Nia Jax

A nice video package is shown for Sasha Banks and Bayley from last week. Multiple comments from the lights of Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Charlotte & Becky Lynch are heard.

We hear more comments from battle royal participants tonight, Tyler Breeze and Baron Corbin.

We now go to Eva Marie who couldn’t be with us tonight as she is currently in Paris, France. She says that after all her grueling matches in NXT lately, she needed a little bit of “me time”. So she’ll see us all soon and hopes we miss her. I popped for that line about the grueling matches. She’s great in her character.

Battle Royal for the NXT Title #1 Contender

We have 22 minutes left in the show, this may be the longest non Royal Rumble battle royal ever. Rhyno, Baron Corbin, and Samoa Joe are the only ones that get entrances. Let’s go Zack Ryder! Hey, I can dream right? Obviously not much action early besides everyone punching each other and trying to eliminate one another. Steve Cutler is the first one eliminated by Apollo Crews. He follows that up by eliminating Elias Sampson and Danny Birch. Now he sends Johnny Gargano sailing into the three aforementioned guys and Apollo is on fire early.

We go to break after the Gargano elimination, not exactly a great showing for Johnny Wrestling, and when we come back, it doesn’t look like we’ve missed any eliminations. Murphy barely survives elimination when Enzo tries dumping him out. Four guys team up to try eliminate Ryder, but to no avail. Clearly he’s a threat. Big Cass now eliminates Riddick Moss, but he’s distracted and is eliminated by The Mechanics. Now Enzo comes from behind and eliminates both of them. But he celebrates too much and Tye Dillinger eliminates him. That was rapid fire. Now Dillinger squares off with Bull Dempsey and Bull eliminates “The Perfect 10”. Baron Corbin goes right after Bull and eliminates him next with the help of Rhyno. Corbin now eliminates Mojo Rawley next. Ryder tries to come to his partner’s rescue, but is cut off by Rhyno. We’re down to the final nine by my count. Corbin now dashes my dreams and eliminates Zack Ryder. Tyler Breeze is by far the guy getting the most cheers from the crowd from those who are left. Now Corbin double crosses his former partner and eliminates Rhyno.

We go to our last break, and during the break we see that Samoa Joe eliminated Tomasso Ciampa. I don’t see why you couldn’t have shown that elimination as it happened. That’s a minor gripe. Now Samoa Joe eliminates both Blake and Murphy at the same time and we’re down to the final four of Samoa Joe, Tyler Breeze, Baron Corbin, & Apollo Crews. Joe is paired off with Breeze and Corbin with Crews. Joe kicks Tyler’s head off and sends him over the top rope and the crowd is NOT happy. Looks like they all agree with me that Tyler is way taken advantage of. Corbin tries to dump Joe out, but Joe lands on the apron, but Breeze from the floor grabs a leg and Joe hits the floor and hits the apron face first. Joe is eliminated and the crowd chants “Thank you Tyler”. Wow. I guess they already know Joe is turning heel soon so they want to make a double turn out of it. It’s down to Apollo and Corbin now. Apollo lights up Corbin with right hands but Corbin catches him in his two handed choke slam. Corbin throws Apollo over, but Apollo stays in. The crowd is now chanting “We want Tyler”. Apollo survives elimination once more and Corbin is getting frustrated. Apollo gets a second wind and hits a couple clotheslines, a Stinger Splash and then a jumping clothesline. He goes for his standing moonsault but Corbin gets the knees up. Corbin goes for his Black Hole Slam but Apollo gets out and hits three enziguris in a row and then clotheslines Corbin over the top and we have a new #1 contender.

Winner and new #1 Contender to the NXT Title: Apollo Crews

Apollo celebrates his victory and that’s our show.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

– Bayley’s list of contenders, although new and mostly green, is quite long. I like giving someone like Alexa Bliss the first shot as Alexa is established already and it buys time for the likes of Dana Brooke, Nia Jax, and even Eva Marie to get more experience. Don’t forget about Asuka either, which I would LOVE to see Asuka vs. Bayley at NXT: WrestleMania weekend.

– After seeing The Vaudevillians and Mechanics steal the show at NXT: Austin last month, I’m very much looking forward to seeing those two teams tear the house down for the tag titles.

– Clearly we’re headed for a Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe match, also probably at NXT: WrestleMania weekend, but we need to buy time to get there. Joe’s heel turn may be a bit of a slow burn, unless this new crowd reaction for Tyler speeds things up on that. Tyler is highly underutilized, underappreciated, and taken for granted. I’m glad to see the crowd get behind him and realize that as well.

– Apollo vs. Finn should be a fun match whenever that happens. Both men are extremely athletic and charasmatic. NXT clearly has big plans for Apollo, so might as well throw him in the deep end early, just in case Finn is randomly called up to the main roster sooner rather than later.

– I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for next week. If you’ve been living under a rock or just completely ignored any type of news service as it pertains to wrestling, the greatness of James Storm will be debuting in NXT next week. Storm was my all time favorite in TNA, he is a tremendous wrestler and entertainer inside the ring and an even better man outside of it. I look forward to covering his debut next week.

Until next time, remember that is not Apollo Crews in the Old Spice commercials.