10 Thoughts on NXT – 10th February 2016 – Bayley, Nia Jax, Hype Bros

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

JT on NXT logo

1. It’s NXT time and we’re kicking off with the charisma vacuum that is Baron Corbin facing the skilled but doomed to fail Johnny Gargano. For a guy who claims that he doesn’t need to work on his abs (see Breaking Ground) Corbin is looking a little soft around the middle. Gargano puts up a good fight in a more even contest than I expected, but Corbin eventually hits the End of Days for the win.

2. The interview with Sami Zayn was well done, and I find it astonishing that with the massive number of injuries depleting the main roster that he and Joe aren’t wrestling on Raw or Smackdown.

3. Next up we’ve got the Hype Bros vs a pair of jobbers. Much as I like Ryder, Mojo still annoys the hell out of me, and seems to be as sloppy as hell in the ring.

4. Interview with Baymella talked up Bayleys title reign and showed Carmella to be a respectful challenger. Nice.

5. It’s time for the first women’s match of the night as Cameron takes on Alexa Bliss in a heel vs heel match. Cameron starts out strong with some stiff strikes, then things get a little messy for a while, then Bliss wins with the Sparkle Splash. Not the worst match ever, but both ladies need some more ring time to tighten up their skills.

6. Oh, for f**k’s sake, it’s Elias Sampson, and he’s going up against Jesse Sorenson, who is best known for once having broken his neck in the ring. The kid gets literally no offense as Sampson beats him up for a while and then hits his hobo neckbreaker for the win.

7. Why not just give Bayley and Carmella five more minutes? It would be infinitely better than that last match.

8. If Cameron vs Bliss was heel vs heel then this is definitely face vs face, although nobody could be a bigger face than Bayley at this point.

9. While the ending was never really in doubt, Carmella did an excellent job keeping up with Bayley, hitting a sweet suicide dive (twice) and looking like a genuine contender.  The reversal sequence in the lead up to the pin was fun, and both workers told the ‘friend vs friend’ story perfectly. The ambush by Eva Marie and Nia Jax prompted ‘you can’t wrestle’ chants, then Asuka came out and save the day, hopefully setting up a feud with Jax and/or Bayley. Awesome.

10. Samoa Joe promo to finish out the show just reiterates the point I made earlier – Joe is a better speaker (and far better wrestler) than 80% of the main roster.

Overall an average episode of NXT saved by a great main event and the build up for the Sami vs Joe match next week.

JT is a hot air balloonist, writer and tattoo aficionado. He writes about movies, science, music, video games, action figures and professional wrestling.