1. After missing last week due to technical problems, we kick off NXT with a ‘doctor’ telling William Regal that Samoa Joe has a dislocated jaw and isn’t cleared to wrestle.
2. Our first match of the night is the Perfect Ten Tye Dillinger taking on Buddy Murphy, formerly of the Dubstep Douchbags and now working some sort of bad luck/loser gimmick based on Murphy’s Law. Yep, that’ll get him over.
3. Competent but unremarkable match between the two NXT veterans, and unless they’re putting over rising stars I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of these guys future endeavored in the next big cull. Looking for positives, Murphy has a nice top rope double knee that should be his finisher and Dillinger makes a decent undersized babyface. Tye picks up the win with a big clothesline followed by the Tye Breaker.
4. Now we have an interview with Tommaso Ciampa about Johnny Gargano’s leg injury. The Revival interrupt and Ciampa unwisely attacks them, leading to them dragging him to the ring and beating the crap out of him. Sporadic boos from the crowd suggests that I am not the only one who does not care about The Revival. Ciampa comes back into the ring and gets hit with the Shatter Machine, which he sells like a pro.
5. Next up its Steve Cutler and his magnificent sideburns against Kenneth Crawford from Chicago, who definitely needs to do some work on his upper body. Cutler is a brawler while Crawford is a flippy guy, and the clash of styles doesn’t really work well for either of them. Crawford shows some nice moves including a running shooting star press, but Cutler destroys him with a Fisherman Driver for the pin and the victory.
6. Hideo Itami is being interviewed next, and he calls Austin Aries a little baby. Okay then. This is followed by a grungy looking promo video for Sanity, whoever or whatever that is. Maybe NXT have signed TNA’s Decay?
7. No Way Jose is up next, and he is facing the man with two headbands Angelo Dawkins, and I’m really hoping these goobers aren’t being set up as the new NXT superstars.
8. This was not a good match by any measure. Miscommunication, botches and a general air of sloppiness prevail, and No Way Jose picks up the inevitable win with the full Nelson slam. Felt way longer than it actually was.
9. Recaps of Shinsuke Nakamura’s rise to NXT fame have been scattered through the show, which just goes to show the gulf of talent between Nakamura and any of the wresters we have seen so far tonight. Perhaps the women can save the day, as our main event is Liv Morgan taking on Aaliyah, who now has an alien cat gimmick or something?
10. And… no. While both Morgan and Aaliyah show some improvement from previous matches, both still need a hell of a lot of work. Morgan wins with a spin kick that looks like it barely touched Aaliyah. We wrap up the show with an appearance from new NXT champion Shinsuke Nakamura, who is massively over with the crowd. Solid promo to close a B-list episode of NXT, and it’s only a matter of time before the CWC competitors arrive to shake things up.
