CM Punk won’t be here tonight, so all the minions running Facebook pages won’t be talking about NXT. But I will…
The Family vs. LDF Futera (NXT Tag Team Championship Match)
Punches to start for the faces but LDFF takes control beautifully. Tony retaliates with a spear to get out of the heel side of the ring. Wash, rinse and repeat, this time with Stacks as the victim, proves more fruitful. More hot tag exchanges is taking the crowd on a roller coaster.
LDFF regain control and get a two off a wicked chain combo. Intensity is up from here on in. Garza goes on the offensive with Stacks again hitting a Double Underhook Driver for two.
Family fire back and hit the double Flapjack for two, quickly followed by a hip toss splash for three. Decent match but I’m tired of the Family.
Winners: The Family
Backstage time! Axiom! Nathan Frazer! Ilja! Jerry Lawler for no good reason! Henley, Brooks and Jensen! Lexis King! None of it matters!
Kelani Jordan vs. Kiana James
Nikkita Lyons is in the crowd for this battle of the KJs.
Another longer match despite the backstage run.
Standard stuff to establish the even Stephanie nature of these foes. James shows off some good athleticism before going to the Diva’s standby of going to the hair. James gets more vicious on the outside with a drop onto the announce desk.
Jordan fights back coming out of a PiP break, but James regains control and hits 401k, then sets up for Reverse Overdrive but Roxanne Perez distracts (because she’s the… face?) by ringing the bell. Jordan takes advantage of the distraction and finishes things off with a split-legged Moonsault.
Feh.
Winner: Kelani Jordan
More backstage overload. Alpha Academy and NXT anonymous dude (or dudette) lead into the Chase U presser where we learn the university is in debt due to Chase having a gambling problem. Oh The Simpsons lines I could use here…
Bron Breakker vs. Eddie Thorpe
Another longer match. Good on them for getting the pacing better.
Basics to start including an Alligator Roll by Bron. Eddy comes back and hits a nice cross body but comes up hurt as a result. Suplex attempt shows just how “injured” he is. Bron goes scientific soon after with a gutbuster and gets two.
More rib work by Bron. Eddy tries a comeback but Bron hits a German. Slaps and trash follow soon after. Eddy goes for a legsweep to try getting back into the match but his injury is too severe. Spear ends it for Bron.
Winner: Bron Breakker
Back to the locker room we go. Trick is tripping. Lexis King is a deadman or something. Elsewhere, there’s a second-chance match setup for the Survivor thingy for the women. They throw down!
Ilja Dragunov vs. Nathan Frazer
It’s good that your primary champion is an afterthought… so I’ll reflect that here. Basically a squash by Ilja finishing things off with not one, not two, but three H-Bombs.
Winner: Ilja Dragunov
Corbin pops up on the screen post match. Oh yea, that’s why Ilja is an afterthought right now…
More backstage – Lyra! Karmen! Meta4! Joe Gacy!
Ariana Grace vs. Karmen Petrovic
Decent match is stilted by a sudden Joe Gacy appearance, stealing the ring bell… the hell?
Grace gets a cravate and slam for two. Karmen rallies with strikes, including an interesting mulekick for two. Karmen goes for the submission victory. Grace goes for the eye and then hits Wasteland for the win
Winner: Ariana Grace
Brooks Jensen vs. Lexis King
Jensen and Briggs, at one point, looked bound for a call-up. Now they feel like Jobberinos.
Jensen has good offence including a swank spinning heel kick, but King slows things down measurably well. Jensen fires back up and decimates King with wicked offence including a Belly-to-Back Suplex.
More domination by Jensen but Carmelo Hayes shows up and… wait, is he the babyface?… I’m sure he was… Or…
Anyways, King pulls out some odd rolling finisher for the duke.
Winner: Lexis King
Wes Lee vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Bronson Reed vs. Cameron Grimes
Wow has Grimes fallen off the map completely.
I’m spent, folks. Let’s hit the fast forward button.
Reed spends a lot of the time dominating the smaller competitors. Grimes gets a good sequence in though, including hitting one of his signature kicks on Reed. Reed blocks various attempts as this becomes a three-on-one in a way that it’s not supposed to happen given the focus.
With Reed down thanks to a b—shot, Grimes takes over and shows just how good he is in the ring. Reed recovers though and again becomes the focus of the offence.
Eventually the faces gang up on Reed and hit a Shieldbomb, that doesn’t take him out of the equation as much as it should have!
The focus is completely off balance here and Reed almost looks to have this match in hand until Ivar comes around. With the big man gone, the match goes to finish quickly (rather than, you know, having Reed pulled away earlier and having a competitive three-way), with a Cardiac Kick by Wes to Grimes for the win.
Winner: Wes Lee
Better ep this week but the nonsensical last match takes it down a few notches.
Until next time, Stay Classy.
