NXT – August 10, 2016: Mission Accomplished Again
NXT
Date: August 10, 2016
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves
With Takeover: Brooklyn just ten days away, it’s time to start the final push towards the big show. In this case we have the contract signing between Bayley and the now evil Asuka for their Women’s Title match as well as (more than likely at least) a showdown between Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura. Let’s get to it.
A very happy Bobby Roode exits William Regal’s office.
Opening sequence.
We open with the contract signing with both women coming to the ring and Regal moderating. Bayley talks about last year in Brooklyn being her dream but Dallas being her nightmare. She wasn’t ready in Texas but now she’s a different person and ready to take the title back. Asuka says Bayley isn’t ready and offers a handshake but Bayley doesn’t fall for it. They both sign and the champ offers another handshake but Bayley slaps it away and leaves. We’re not done yet though as Bayley gets back in and does the big staredown.
Authors of Pain vs. Rob Ryzin/Adrian Nailz
The Authors don’t have names yet so we’ll say #1 throws Nailz into the corner. #2 comes in and tosses Ryzin around with ease. Stereo powerbombs set up the clothesline/legsweep combo for the pin at 1:20.
The beating continues post match but TM61 comes in for the brawl, only to get powerbombed as well.
Nakamura says he isn’t hard to find and he’ll find Joe when he wants to.
Andrade Cien Almas vs. Angelo Dawkins
I saw this match at a house show recently. Dawkins runs him over to start and we’re in the chinlock after about a minute. Almas comes back with a kick into the corner and the running knees, followed by a hammerlock DDT for the pin on Dawkins at 2:20. The silence when Almas won is a really bad sign as he’s just flopped so hard coming out of the gate.
Post match here’s Bobby Roode to say that he’s been to see William Regal and the two of them will be facing off in Brooklyn. Almas doesn’t need to get a big head though because the people will be there to see Bobby Roode and Bobby Roode alone.
Austin Aries is explaining the health benefits of eating oranges to William Regal before saying he wants a match at Takeover because it’s supposed to be special. Regal agrees and make Aries vs. No Way Jose.
Liv Morgan vs. Billie Kay
Kay takes it to the mat with an armbar to start but Morgan climbs up on her hands and spins into a headscissors to escape. A discus forearm puts Morgan right back down for two and we hit the chinlock. Back up and the big boot puts Morgan away at 3:12.
Rating: D+. Not much here but if Billie Kay is the next woman to be built up in NXT then so be it. They need a lot of fresh bodies down there right now to replace the ravaging from the Draft. Billie just getting presented as a big deal for two weeks has already done more for her than anything else in the last year so they’re on the right path. It’s a good sign that NXT can just flip a switch on someone and see results like this.
We look at Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano from last week in the Cruiserweight Classic.
Regal (we’ve seen a lot of him tonight) gives Ciampa and Gargano a Tag Team Title shot in Brooklyn.
Ember Moon is coming in Brooklyn. This time we can see a woman’s eyes.
Tucker Knight/Patrick Clark vs. Tommaso Ciampa/Johnny Gargano
Gagano and Clark get things going with Johnny easily wrestling him to the mat. It’s off to Knight to splash Ciampa in the corner before Gargano and Ciampa turn up the serious and kick the jobbers down. The running knee/superkick combination put Knight away at 3:13.
Rating: C. Gargano and Ciampa are on fire right now and I’m honestly not sure who is going to win in the title match. That’s one of the best feelings you can have in wrestling: seeing both options as distinct possibilities because they’re both on a roll and could get the win over the other. It’s really hard to do but it’s a blast when it’s pulled off.
We look back at Hideo Itami’s return match last week.
Mojo Rawley won’t stand for being attacked by Samoa Joe and he’s bringing the fight tonight. It’s about getting even, not getting hyped.
Samoa Joe vs. Mojo Rawley
Non-title. Mojo goes right after Joe to start and actually succeeds with a headbutt. The champ pounds him down with the snap jabs to the jaw but Mojo still won’t give up and knocks him into the corner again. Mojo charges into the Rock Bottom out of the corner though and the Koquina Clutch gives Joe the win at 4:35.
Rating: C+. That’s probably it for Mojo and it’s a shame that he finally got the whole aggressive things down in his last match here. Joe mauling anyone was the best option for him here and it makes him look like a monster who can absorb a beating and still win the match with little more than a sweat.
Post match Joe keeps the hold on until Nakamura comes down. Security holds Joe back so Nakamura puts his hand on Joe’s face and then slaps him. Joe is barely controllable to end the show.
Overall Rating: B+. I’m really starting to like these shows where they do the heavy lifting to get us to the next Takeover show. Almost every match got a little time tonight and three new matches were added to give us the meat of the card. I came into this show with a fairly strong interest in Brooklyn and now I want it to be tomorrow. Mission accomplished, as usual.
Results
Authors of Pain b. Rob Ryzin/Adrian Nailz – Clothesline/Russian legsweep combo to Nailz
Andrade Cien Almas b. Angelo Dawkins – Hammerlock DDT
Billie Kay b. Liv Morgan – Big Boot
Tommaso Ciampa/Johnny Gargano b. Tucker Knight/Patrick Clark – Superkick/running knee combo to Clark
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I’d swear the “crowd noise” was piped in after Almas’ win, because it sounded like a lot of applause, but 90% of the crowd on-screen were checking their phones or talking to the people next to them.
That could very well be true but I think he has some fans and definitely has a lot of people to try to win over. He should just turn heel if he is gonna keep that entrance .
I certainly don’t dislike him, but I don’t like him either. I could care less if he’s on any given week. And that’s worse than hating him. The new finisher is an upgrade, but the TakeOver announcement of him vs. Roode was deflating. Feels like a waste of Roode’s nXt in-ring debut.
I love this Joe v Nakamura story. I love that Nakamura is the one making Joe play his game instead of falling into Joe’s game plan like Balor did.
Also this card sure shaped up in a hurry and that is without them using TM61, Authors of Pain, or Hideo Itami on the card.
Almas has some love out there and the new DDT finisher helps him a lot. NXT getting preoccupied at having blockbuster matches the last month has hurt Almas more than anything. We haven’t seen him and his character hasn’t been developed. He is still the blank exluchador who dresses like he moonlights at Chip & Dales and beat everyone’s favorite jobber.
Really like Dawkins growth recently. He and Dillinger need to team up or do something. They and Lorcan, Sampson, to a lesser extent Jose just about justify a midcard title for NXT. The developmental guys, the repackages, and the Indy guys who weren’t huge stars elsewhere all end up being chum for the big time Indy stars. That might be the only real problem NXT has right now.