1. It’s NXT time and welcome back to a new year at Full Sail University. Tonight The Revival face DIY in a rematch for the NXT Tag Titles.
2. In breaking news, The Aussie Mean Girls attack Asuka in the parking lot, beating the crap out of her while about half a dozen WWE employees stand around and watch. This does not seem like acceptable workplace behaviour in 2017, even in the WWE.
3. Our first match of the evening is Billie Kay and Peyton Royce taking on the jobber team of Evans and Bridges. The Aussie Mean girls look like they’re working pretty stuff, but the crowd are behind the jobbers. Kay and Royce pick up the win with some blatant cheating and a bulldog knee combo thing.
4. After the match the Aussies call out Asuka, who hits the ring despite being injured. Kay and Royce beat her down, until Nikki Cross from Sanity makes the save, then takes out Asuka with a missile dropkick. One more challenger for the title.
5. And now it’s Elias Sampson vs some undersized jobber and I literally couldn’t care less. Sampson wins with the Waste of Space.
6. Next up perennial underdog Oney Lorkin takes on Cien Almas, and this is really a one-match show in disguise. Why not just give DIY vs The Revival the big match feel of a Nakamura vs Samos Joe? Decent match from Lorkin, Almas picks up the win with the hammerlock DDT.
7. With the recent debut of the U.K. Title competition, the resurgence of Raw and Smackdown and the ongoing presence (if not quite success) of 205 Live, NXT has more competition than ever for fans of in-ring action. While I appreciate that they need to build new talent, three WCW Thunder style squash matches really doesn’t feel like what I used to refer to as the best wrestling show on WWE network…
8. After an interview with Nakamura that is basically a super-relaxed promo for his match against Bobby Roode at Takeover: Dallas we finally get the match we’ve been waiting for: Gargano and Ciampa vs Dash & Dawson, or DIY vs The Revival if you prefer.
9. Solid, hard-hitting match as you would expect from these teams, with DIY picking up the win with a double pin. All four of these guys are so much better than a goober like Baron Corbin it’s not even funny. And speaking of mediocre, The Authors of Pain hit the ring and beat down DIY after the match. Big and dumb, that’s the recipe for success, right WWE?
10. Regal closes out the show by announcing DIY vs The Authors at Takeover, along with Nakamura vs Roode and Asuka vs Everyone. And next week, we can look forward to a contract signing between Nakamura and Joe. Because everybody loves a contract signing…
