Fans of JT On NXT shouldn’t worry, I’m just filling in this week because JT was unable to watch and review the show. He will be back next week while I will go back to my NJPW ramblings. That being said, here are my 10 thoughts on this week’s episode:
1 – It’s safe to say that Zayn’s return to NXT has been met with much more enthusiasm than Rose’s. Adam must be wondering whatever happened to Leo Kruger by now. Short but solid match designed to build up Zayn for next week’s triple threat (which would be a theme throughout the episode).
2 – Johnny Gargano says you should punch bully’s in the mouth. Well, I agree… Unless that bully happens to be Samoa Joe. Better to just walk away in that case.
3 – Gable and Jordan are now the American Alpha’s and they are just so much fun to watch, not only in the ring but also when doing promo’s. Their chemistry is off the charts and, especially, Gable shines through every time. The super-talented Olympian even has a chance of becoming WWE Champion, I think. IF he can grow 20 cm and add 100 kg to his frame…
4 – Crews vs Dillinger was good, but nothing we haven’t seen before.
5 – Crews then starts talking and asks for a non-title match against Finn Balor on the base of their previous match ending with a DQ. And I fail to see what THAT will accomplish. I don’t know about Crews, it seems NXT doesn’t really know what to do with him.
6 – Blake and Murphy get scolded backstage by Alexa Bliss who then says she will show them how it’s done when she faces BayMella. Pretty clear who’s the star of the team here.
7 – Images are showed of Kevin Owens’ return to NXT at a Milwaukee show where he confronted Sami Zayn. Glad to see NXT remembered there were some unresolved issues there as I think fans would be delighted if that particular feud resumed.
8 – Rich Swann effortlessly gives Baron Corbin one of his best matches by the simple expedient of selling all over the place for him. Good way to give Corbin some momentum going into the triple threat I guess, but I do hope that jobber to the “stars” isn’t Swann’s future in NXT because that would be a huge waste of his talents.
9 – BayMella vs EmmaBliss was fun. Bayley and Emma carried the match (obviously) but smart booking here to give Carmella some momentum. Extra points to Carmella and Alexa for working their asses off to improve their in-ring work. Good stuff.
10 – Main Event was good, but too short to really tell the story I felt they wanted to tell (Joe ‘s power vs Gargano’s resilience). Certainly more to be done here.
Conclusion: A bit too many matches and segments crammed in a (less than) one hour episode for my taste. Nothing was bad, on the contrary, but if they indeed wanted to sell next week’s triple threat, then all three matches should have gotten a bit more time. Aside from that, One hour of NXT is still ludicrously more entertaining than whatever it is they’re doing on the main roster.
