10 Thoughts on NXT – 16th March 2016 – Asuka, Bayley, American Alpha

10 Thoughts, Reviews, Top Story

JT on NXT logo

 

  1. It’s NXT time and tonight’s the night for the number one contender match between American Alpha and the Vaudvillains. We kick off with a recap of the awesome two out of three falls match last week between Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn, with Joe emerging the victor.
  2. Sami Zayn makes his way to the ring and the crowd goes wild. He talks about his war with Joe and his desire to become the first two time NXT champion. Regal comes out and announces Zayn vs Nakamura for the next NXT Takeover event, and it sounds like they’re letting him keep his name, which is far better than making up some borderline racist name like WWE usually do for Japanese wrestlers.
  3. And it looks like tonight will be all about tag matches, with the Hype Bros facing off against a couple of dudes, one of which I think is Angelo Dawkins. Sorry for missing their names, I’m watching this on the WWE Network via a dodgy connection. Total squash match with the sloppy Rawley looking invincible. Okay then…
  4. Recap of an NXT live event where both HHH and Arnold showed up, and it looked pretty cool. If you can get to one of these events, I seriously doubt you’ll regret it.
  5. Next up we’ve got Deonna Purazzo vs Emma, and am I crazy or did they change the spelling of Deonna’s name since we last saw her? Emma is accompanied by fellow mean girl Dana Brooke, and is working the more vicious style we’ve seen lately. Purazzo sells well, then gets in a brief comeback before tapping out to the Emmalock. Pretty much a squash match, because that’s what people love, right?
  6. And I can feel another squash coming on, as Tommaso Ciama faces Jesse Sorenson. Ciampa knees the crap out of Sorenson in the corner, then wears him down with a nasty looking headlock. Sorenson hits a dropkick, pretty much his only offensive move, then taps out to an armbar. I like Ciampa’s style, but squashing a goober like Sorenson isn’t going to get him over in my opinion.
  7. Bayley and Asuka vs Eva Marie and Nia Jax has the potential to be great, as long as Eva Marie doesn’t spend too much time in the ring. Sure, she looks striking during her entrance, but it’s all downhill from there. On the other hand, it is quite entertaining watching Asuka kick the crap out of her. The match was solid if a little short, with a miscommunication between Jax and Eva Marie costing them the match. Regal comes out and announces Asuka as the number one contender, which proves once again that Regal is the man.
  8. Nia Jax is certainly a dominant physical specimen, but a point from a recent Johnny Mundo interview became evident – she isn’t allowed to do half of the power moves that the guys do. No powerbombs, no gorilla presses – both of which she is more than capable of. It seems the ‘WWE style’ is designed to keep the female wrestlers from playing on a level field with the men…
  9. Interview with Austin Aries, with AA showing once again that he is one of the best promo guys in the business. He makes some excellent points about how useless Baron Corbin is and teases their match at Takeover. I can only hope that Vince keeps his creepy old hands off NXT and the winner is decided by talent and charisma rather than who is the taller man.
  10. The main event of American Alpha vs The Vaudvillains was a lot of fun, with English and Gotch keeping pace with Jordan & Gable, and a real feeling that anyone could win. Taking this into account, it wasn’t really a surprise when American Alpha picked up the win, as they seem to be on the fast track to take the tag titles from Dash & Dawson at Takeover.

Overall an above average episode of NXT, with perhaps one too many matches. Both of the main event tag matches could have benefitted from more time to tell a story, and the opening three squash matc

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