We open with a quick preview of Crews vs. Balor.

Opening sequence.

Vaudevillains vs. Hype Bros

Simon comes in legally to put on a chinlock as the announcers try to figure out when the Vaudevillains fell off track, which sounds like code for starting their heel turn. Ryder kicks both villains away and makes the tag off to Mojo so Graves can make Ghostbusters jokes due to the bright green gear. Everything breaks down and Ryder misses the Broski Boot, setting up the Whirling Dervish to pin Zack at 4:16.

We look back at Carmella winning the battle royal to become #1 contender a few weeks back.

Carmella vs. Emma

They trade headlocks to start until Emma takes her down and pounds in right hands. A twisting wristlock keeps Carmella on the mat and Emma pulls on both arms at the same time. Carmella fights up but gets pulled down by the hair in a hurry. Emma loads up a butterfly suplex but gets countered into a backslide of all things for the pin at 4:16.

Sami Zayn has looked at the video multiple times and thinks he should win because he had the Sharpshooter on longer. He has faith in the outcome.

Joe has nothing to say.

Video on American Alpha.

Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady vs. ???/???

Apollo Crews says he gets to prove himself tonight after having that taken away in his first shot at Finn Balor.

Asuka vs. Santana Garrett

Garrett is quickly sent into the ropes for the running hip attack, followed by a HARD shot to the face. Asuka misses a running knee to the face though and gets rolled up for two. Something like a leapfrog into a cross armbreaker has Garrett in trouble and the Asuka Lock is good for the submission at 2:26.

Apollo Crews vs. Finn Balor

Results

Vaudevillains b. Hype Bros – Whirling Dervish to Ryder

Carmella b. Emma – Backslide

Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady b. ???/??? – Rocket Launcher

Asuka b. Santana Garrett – Asuka Lock

Finn Balor b. Apollo Crews – Bloody Sunday

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Opening sequence.

American Alpha vs. Blake and Murphy

Emma is ready for Carmella next week because Bayley carried the team last week. Carmella has never actually done anything around here and she even lost to Blue Pants.

Stills of Sami Zayn entering the Royal Rumble.

Video on Asuka.

Nia Jax vs. Liv Morgan

Video on Baron Corbin.

We get the same sinister Vaudevillains vignette from last week.

Bull Dempsey vs. Alex Riley

Elias Samson vs. John Skyler

Samson whips him into the corner to start and scores with a quick dropkick. A right hand drops Skyler and Samson sits in the corner ala Raven. Back up and Samson grabs a very fast swinging neckbreaker for the pin at 1:57.

Video on Samoa Joe.

We look at Finn Balor vs. Apollo Crews from a few months back where Corbin interfered to break it up. They fight again in a non-title match next week.

Baron Corbin vs. Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn

Winner is #1 contender. They circle each other to start until Corbin hits Joe in the face for a bit of a surprise. Sami low bridges Baron to the floor but Joe breaks up the dive and pulls Zayn to the floor. Baron gets a boot to the chest to keep Joe in control and Sami gets punched down in the corner. A knee drop misses Sami but Corbin comes back in to jump Sami from behind.

Rating: B. If this means we get Joe vs. Sami down the line, I have zero issues with this finish. Corbin gets to save some face by getting caught in a double submission which would make almost anyone tap so everyone comes out looking strong. Really solid main event here and another good story being told.

Results

America Alpha b. Blake and Murphy – Grand Amplitude to Blake

Nia Jax b. Liv Morgan – Legdrop

Alex Riley b. Bull Dempsey – Knee to the jaw

Elias Samson b. John Skyler – Swinging neckbreaker

Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe b. Baron Corbin – Sharpshooter and Crossface at the same time

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Opening sequence.

Sami Zayn vs. Adam Rose

Tye Dillinger vs. Apollo Crews

We get a Vaudevillains vignette with the two of them looking very angry.

Stills of Kevin Owens appearing at the NXT Milwaukee house show.

Baron Corbin vs. Rich Swann

Swann is a longtime indy talent who recently signed with NXT. Corbin throws him into the corner to start and backdrops him into a 450. Off to something like a Tazmission from Corbin before Rich starts using some speed to avoids a few charges. A spinning kick to the face gets two on Corbin but Rich misses something off the top and charges into a big swinging Rock Bottom (called Deep Six) for the pin at 3:14.

Carmella/Bayley vs. Emma/Alexa Bliss

Rating: C+. Standard formula tag match here with Bayley playing the perfect face in peril until Carmella gets to make the comeback for the win. It makes a lot more sense to have Carmella get the win here as she needs to be built up before the title match and what better way to do that than by beating one of the many midcard heels?

Balor agrees to give Crews a non-title match.

Johnny Gargano vs. Samoa Joe

Another kick puts Gargano on the floor but he dives in at nine with Graves ripping on him for going back to the beating. Back in and a quick enziguri and DDT stagger Joe but he kicks Gargano out of the air on a slingshot attempt. Gargano is already knocked silly so the Koquina Clutch puts him out of his misery at 4:30.

Rating: C+. Joe is the kind of guy who can work this physical ROH style and make it look good in short bursts. The Ciampa match was better but this was another hard hitting match where both guys came out looking good, even though this was pretty one sided for the most part. Gargano is another name that should be fine.

Results

Sami Zayn b. Adam Rose – Koji Clutch

Apollo Crews b. Tye Dillinger – Lifting sitout powerbomb

Baron Corbin b. Rich Swann – Deep Six

Carmella/Bayley b. Emma/Alexa Bliss – Leg crossface to Bliss

Samoa Joe b. Johnny Gargano – Koquina Clutch

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Opening sequence.

The announcers welcome us to the show for a change.

Tag Team of the Year: Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady

Female Competitor of the Year: Bayley

Male Competitor of the Year: Finn Balor

NXT Takeover of the Year: Takeover: Brooklyn

Match of the Year: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks – Takeover: Brooklyn

Overall Competitor of the Year: Finn Balor

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Danny Burch

Two weeks from tonight, Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin for the #1 contendership.

Scott Dawson/Dash Wilder vs. Ascension

Elias Samson vs. Corey Hollis

Samson forearms him down to start and stomps away in the corner. A throw sends Hollis flying and Samson stop to laugh. Samson looks down at him before grabbing a hard swinging neckbreaker for the pin at 2:20.

Samson says what this place needs is what he is.

Battle Royal

Carmella, Peyton Royce, Alexa Bliss, Aliyah, Cameron, Liv Morgan, Billie Kay, Deonna Purrazzo, Emma, Eva Marie, Asuka

We take an early break and come back with no eliminations but Cameron throws Aliyah out a few seconds later. Cameron gets rid of Purrazzo as well, followed by Morgan botching something that looked like a powerbomb. She tries it again but Bliss comes up from behind and tosses Morgan and Cameron at the same time. Emma gets Carmella in the Dilemma to send her underneath the ropes and out to the floor, meaning no elimination. Bliss chokes Emma, only to be put on the apron and punched off for an elimination.

Rating: C-. These things are always hard to rate but the false finish was a nice way to tease the crowd. It says a lot that they had to have two people on the floor until the end for the double false finish. The other good thing here though is they kept Asuka safe, likely for a big showdown in Texas against Bayley.

Carmella celebrates until Bayley comes out for a hug. Asuka gives them an evil smile to end the show.

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Again: these are the full reviews of matches even though the clipped versions are airing on the show.

We open with a package on Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens from Tokyo at Beast in the East.

From Beast in the East.

NXT Title: Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens

Video on Dusty Rhodes, leading to a recap of the Dusty Classic.

We look at some people going from NXT to the main roster.

From August 29.

Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady/Hype Bros vs. Scott Dawson/Dash Wilder/Chad Gable/Jason Jordan

We recap Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor.

From Takeover: London.

NXT Title: Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor

Rich and Corey wrap it up.

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Opening sequence.

NXT Title: Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn

We take a quick look at Hideo Itami.

We look at the end of Finn Balor defeating Tyler Breeze to become #1 contender at Takeover: Unstoppable.

NXT went on the road for the first time this year, including a tour of Ohio. We see the ending of a never before seen match from Columbus with Cesaro vs. Neville which will be available in full on the Best of NXT DVD. Cesaro broke up the Red Arrow and got the win off a Neutralizer out of the corner.

Now we look at some of the new names debuting for NXT, including Samoa Joe, who challenged Baron Corbin at Takeover: Brooklyn.

Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin

The announcers think Joe is going to kill him. Joe has the Clutch on in less than a minute but Baron makes it to the floor. Back in and an enziguri in the corner puts Corbin right back on the floor, only to have him blast Joe in the face to stop a suicide dive. Joe kicks him in the face though and does his rotating submissions spot until Corbin puts his foot on the ropes.

Baron grabs a heel hook but Joe makes the rope a few seconds later. Something like a Boss Man Slam gets two on Joe so Corbin superkicks him. That earns Baron a second enziguri though and both guys are down. Back up and they slug it out with Joe taking over. Corbin locks the Muscle Buster before hitting kind of a loose Jackhammer for two. The End of Days is broken up so Corbin lifts him up into a choke spinebuster. Joe flips the cover into the Koquina Clutch though and Corbin is out at 10:24.

This led to Kevin Owens answering the Challenge but wanting to fight Cena on pay per view in a non-title match. From Elimination Chamber 2015.

Kevin Owens vs. John Cena

Kevin starts talking more trash before winning a slugout, only to get caught in the springboard Stunner for two. Frustration is setting in so Cena takes him up top for a superplex, only to have Owens counter into a spinning superplex of his own for two. Owens runs to the top for a Swanton for two more and now Kevin is frustrated. Cena nails that big running clothesline and Owens is rocked. John goes for another but walks into the pop up powerbomb for the completely clean pin at 20:03.

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Opening sequence.

Colin Cassady/Enzo Amore vs. Corey Hollis/John Skyler

Video on Tye Dillinger.

Asuka vs. Deonna Purrazzo

They circle each other for a bit until Asuka grabs the hammerlock. After going over to a wristlock, Asuka snaps on an armbar to send Deonna into the ropes. A hip strike drops Deonna again and here are Emma and Dana on the stage. Deonna tries to use the distraction and gets KICKED IN THE FACE for a knockout win at 2:55. The gasp from Emma and Dana made the whole thing even better.

Alexa Bliss yells at Blake and Murphy for losing recently but they promise that the Hype Bros will be broken.

Another long song by who appears to be Elias Sampson.

Hype Bros vs. Blake and Murphy

Blake, Murphy and Bliss are wearing what look like Freddie Kruger shirts that were run over by lawnmowers. Even the fans call then Freddie Kruger. Mojo dances a lot to start and Ryder facepalms on the apron. Blake works on a wristlock to start as Graves wants to go to prison instead of watching the Hype Bros. Blake and Murphy are sent to the floor, leaving Mojo to declare that none of them are hyped. Ryder baseball slides both of them and drops Blake with a flapjack to set up the Broski Boot.

Peyton Royce vs. Bayley

Video on Sami Zayn getting hurt back in May and his return next week.

Finn Balor/Apollo Crews vs. Samoa Joe/Baron Corbin

Joe poses with the title over the unconscious Balor to end the show.

Results

Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady b. Corey Hollis/John Skyler – Rocket Launcher to Hollis

Asuka b. Deonna Purrazzo via knockout – Kick to the face

Hype Bros b. Blake and Murphy – Hype Ryder to Blake

Bayley b. Peyton Royce – Bayley to belly

Samoa Joe/Baron Corbin b. Finn Balor/Apollo Crews – Koquina Clutch to Balor

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