NXT – August 24, 2016: On Vacation
NXT
Date: August 24, 2016
Location: Barclays Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves
This is the closest thing NXT has to a week off as we’ll have matches taped before Takeover this past Saturday night. That means we’ll be seeing some stand alone stuff in front of a white hot crowd, which should make these matches mean a lot more than they would otherwise. Other than that and a few interviews, this isn’t the biggest show in the world. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Saturday night.
Opening sequence.
Tye Dillinger vs. Wesley Blake
Dillinger is treated like a face here and the announcers seem to treat him as one. Fans to Blake: “LET’S GO ZERO!” Dillinger easily takes him to the mat and does a cartwheel before giving himself a ten. A poke to the eye puts Tye down and we take a break. Back with Dillinger’s comeback being cut off by a Backstabber but Dillinger hiptosses him into the corner. A few shots to the chest and back set up the Tyebreaker (fireman’s carry backbreaker onto an exposed knee) for the pin at 11:18.
Rating: C. This is where NXT is a step ahead of WWE. Dillinger was getting huge face pops and was clearly one of the most over gimmicks on the roster despite being a heel. The solution: turn him face and accept the chants. Now they have a freshly over guy who could move up the roster under the right circumstances and all NXT had to do was start putting him against heels. Dillinger did almost all the work and everyone comes out ahead. Why is this so complicated for the main roster?
Quick clip of Bobby Roode winning on Saturday.
Roode says that was no surprise. Almas was a fine opponent but he’s not GLORIOUS.
Clips of Austin Aries beating No Way Jose and Hideo Itami making a post match save.
Aries is made that he didn’t get to leave with his hand raised. He’s tired of being interrupted and people stealing his moments. Aries has already gotten rid of people who interrupted him (Baron Corbin and No Way Jose) and Itami will be no different.
Long recap of Asuka vs. Bayley. Have they made it clear enough that they don’t have much tonight?
We get a video of Bayley’s time in NXT, including her reading part of her essay from middle school.
Bayley says this time was different but Asuka was just better. Ember Moon comes up and says Bayley should be proud of her performance and says she’s here because of Bayley.
We see Bayley’s Raw debut.
Video on Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa vs. Revival.
Revival knows they’re the best and unstoppable. Top guys out. Clink me.
Recap of Shinsuke Nakamura taking the NXT Title from Samoa Joe. Nakamura is back next week.
TM61 vs. Authors of Pain
The Authors jump them before the bell and it’s a brawl to start with TM61 actually taking over and sending the big men to the floor. The opening bell brings the Authors back inside and it’s the tattooed Author (still waiting on names so we’ll call him #1) slamming Thorn. TM61 comes back with some double teaming and a leg lariat in the corner. #1 sends Thorn hard into the post though and TM61 slows down. Apparently the tattooed one is Akum and the other is Razar. I prefer Tokka and Razar but that’s just me.
Back from a break with Thorn hitting a jawbreaker on Razar and rolling over for the tag off to Miller. Nick speeds things up and gets two off a high cross body. That’s enough for the Authors as they lift TM61 up for stereo powerbombs and slam their backs together. The Russian legsweep/clothesline ends Miller at 11:29.
Rating: C. I get the idea of paying dues but TM61 is looking more and more like a pair of jobbers every week. I’m assuming this sets up the Authors of Pain as potential challengers to the Revival but I’m really not sure how that’s going to go. You don’t often see heel vs. heel and I’m not sure how much Revival could do with guys this big. The Authors are certainly something different though and that’s usually a good thing.
Overall Rating: D+. This was the usual post outside Orlando Takeover show and there’s nothing wrong with that. They cobbled together whatever they could here and it was basically a week off as a result. I’m fine with them taking a break after all the effort they put in on Takeover and next week things will be back to normal. Just a week off here and that’s fine.
Results
Tye Dillinger b. Wesley Blake – Tyebreaker
Authors of Pain b. TM61 – Russian legsweep/clothesline combo to Miller
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Instead of looking at the lack of depth in Raw and Smackdown’s tag divisions, maybe we should look at the lack of tag depth in nXt right now. Revival, TM61, Authors Of Pain, and #DIY. I’d say it’s too early for AoP to get a shot, #DIY just lost theirs, and TM61 hasn’t beaten anyone. Are new teams coming? (Ones without Tucker Knight and that guy with the flag pants)
You can put together any number of teams to feed into the tag division. I think Ciampa and Garagano could and probably should get a rematch. I’m still high on TM61 as you can tell they were told go out give 50% of a good match to the AoP.
There is probably some deep knowledgable, meaningful reason behind the names Akam and Rezer but the way they are pronounced and for type of big monster heels the AoP how did NXT not see the Tokka and Razar TMNT’s thing coming from a mile away? I cannot imagine the fun full sail and smark gatherings at big takeovers are gonna have with those names.
I really hate to talk to myself but Akam & Rezer = Occum’s Razor. Now I feel stupid.
Yeah I’ve seen that and it’s probably right.
You probably have the spelling right based on pronunciation. I do love how all of the NXT stage names have some clever little backstories/meanings. Adds a little extra juice to character building.
I believe tha chant was Blakes a zero.