NXT – June 1, 2016: Trending Down
NXT
Date: June 1, 2016
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves
It’s one week before Takeover: Revenge/The End and the big stories are all set. Last week saw the addition of Austin Aries vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in what could be a show stealing classic to go along with the announcement of Nia Jax as the new #1 contender to the Women’s Title. Expect a hard sell on the NXT Title match tonight. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Here’s the Revival for an opening chat. They want to become the first two time NXT Tag Team Champions and they’re going to hit American Alpha really hard next week. Dawson keeps talking until Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano interrupt. They want the titles too but Dawson tells them that they’re just good hands.
Revival is going to take care of business but Ciampa wants to know if it’s going to be like they took care of business in Dallas. That doesn’t bother Revival because at least they’ve won something. They walk away but Gargano and Ciampa want to fight and it’s a double dropkick to put Revival on the floor again.
Shinsuke Nakamura thinks Austin Aries will bow down to the king next week.
Tye Dillinger vs. Buddy Murphy
Murphy is alone here but has his first name back. Dillinger works on the arm to start and it’s a standoff with Tye flashing tens. It’s down to the mat with Dillinger working on the arm even more. Back up and Murphy scores with an elbow to the jaw before cranking on a chinlock. We’re told that Revival vs. Gargano/Ciampa will take place tonight before Tye gets in a Thesz press of all things. A superkick sets up ten (of course) punches in the corner followed by an AA onto an exposed knee to give Dillinger the pin at 5:10.
Rating: C-. Dillinger has the gimmick and the in ring ability so hopefully now he’s going to get some wins. I’m not sure how Blake and Murphy are going to do as singles guys but they’re not the most interesting in the world. Murphy seems to have more to him than Blake but it’s clear that Alexa is going to be the big star from the group.
Earlier today Corey Graves sat down with Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. Finn can’t believe the loss in Massachusetts happened and his world came crumbling down. It was his job to fight every night as champion though and he was beaten on that night. Joe says he finally got the title shot he deserved after all the hoops NXT made him jump through. Finn thinks that sounds like entitlement but Joe says he was Finn’s partner in the Dusty Classic.
Indeed he was but then Joe wasn’t willing to give him a title shot (yeah he was) so Balor brings up all the time they’ve spent together over the years with Joe, including being at his wedding. Joe says he’s been successful everywhere but Finn interprets this as Joe thinking he hasn’t done anything. Balor says he’s coming for the title and a fight almost breaks out right here before we cut away. Good stuff here but this is something NXT is just awesome at every time.
Elias Samson vs. Austin Aries
Aries takes him down by the arm to start and puts his knee on Samson’s face while working on an armbar. A dropkick gets two and it’s right back to the armbar. Samson fights up and grabs a chinlock, only to get suplexed right back down. Austin sends him outside for a suicide dive before the running dropkick sets up the Last Chancery for the submission at 3:26.
Rating: C. As much as people like to think of Aries as someone with a dangerous submission move, that’s the first televised submission win he’s had in over three years. Leave it to NXT to set up a big submission hold for him just a week before the biggest match he’s had in the company while TNA basically said one win a few years ago was close enough.
Post match Aries says he’s going to put the spotlight on himself next week.
Andrade Cien Almas vignette. He’ll be at Takeover.
Revival vs. Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa
Dawson headlocks Gargano to start but takes some fast armdrags before it’s off to Ciampa for a running kick to the head. Dash comes in for a slugout but gets sent to the floor. Ciampa goes after him and eats a hard clothesline as we take a break. Back with Dash working on Ciampa’s leg before it’s off to Dawson to stay on the injury. That lasts all of ten seconds before Ciampa breaks free and brings in Gargano for a kick to the head. Everything breaks down and it’s Gargano and Dawson left in the ring. Dawson takes him up top for a superplex but Gargano locks their legs together on the landing to pin Scott at 10:29.
Rating: B-. I didn’t like this as much as I was expecting to but the finish was a really cool surprise as Alpha now has their next challengers assuming they retain the titles next week. Gargano and Ciampa are growing on me after a slow start but it’s pretty clear that Revival is on a downward swing now that they’ve lost the titles.
Post match Revival beats Ciampa down and load up the same move they used to hurt Big Cass’ knee. American Alpha runs out for the save just in time.
It’s time for the contract signing between Nia Jax and Asuka. Nia says she broke the heart of NXT and now she’s going to break Asuka. She isn’t scared of the champ and signs. Asuka says Nia talks too much and if she’s not scared, she certainly should be. The fight is on and Nia plants her with a powerbomb to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. This was just ok despite being a strong go home show. You really can tell that the writer who helped cause a lot of NXT’s success is gone as I can’t imagine them setting up a match and then having it take place later in the night. There isn’t a lot of energy going into this Takeover and a lot of that is due to it being built around rematches. There’s about as much interest as you can have given that but NXT is actually trending down a bit at the moment, which you really don’t see that often.
Results
Tye Dillinger b. Buddy Murphy – Fireman’s carry backbreaker
Austin Aries b. Elias Samson – Last Chancery
Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa b. Revival – Small package to Dawson
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I can’t believe they had a title challenger lose on the go home show before a takeover. Besides that this has been a solid takeover build. It was a little hampered by that silly taping schedule( stop taping four weeks of tv immeadiately after a takeover it is essentially a wasted month and doesn’t start any stories) but it’s come around and actually made me excited for Joe V Balor III and AA v Revial II because the stories are tweaked just enough to matter. I feel like we may get 4 20 minute classics next week plus a debut so I’m pumped but The End has me concerned that they are going to reboot everything.