The countdown is on for NXT on the CW. Let the speculation begin for who will be in the Dawson-Pacey-Joey love triangle.
Akira Tozawa vs. Noam Dar (Heritage Cup Match)
I haven’t had a chance yet to comment on the Tozawa/Alpha Academy angle yet, so here goes.
It sucks.
Chain wrestling to start. Tozawa goes for the dreaded roll-up for two. More exchange looks good but Tozawa is too much of a joke at this point to be taken seriously. Plenty of kicks thrown. Tozawa goes up for the Senton Bomb but Metafour distract. Superplex from Dar closes the first round.
Second Round starts with Dar going for a drink which is enough to give him the power up to get a fall… by holding the tights… god this is terrible.
Third Round is up amid a break with nothing of substance happening.
Round Four sees Dar take advantage to start but Tozawa turns the tables. Tozawa tries to better his chances by not only hitting Dar but also Oro with Suicide Dives. Dar has a brief comeback but kicks the ringpost. Tozawa takes advantage with an Ankle Lock to even the score.
Last round. Effective back-and-forth with Tozawa getting a couple hope spots. He goes up for the Senton again but eats canvas in part thanks to Lash. Dar comes back with his Leg Lariat to retain the Heritage Cup. This went way too long. The concept is just a dud.
Winner: Noam Dar
Mick Foley checks in by cell phone to announce that he is making all the matches for the Iron Survivor qualifiers. Yippee.
Elsewhere, Lyra Valkaria chats a bit then heads to the ring.
Even elsewhere, Lola Vice is all braggy about winning the Breakout tournament. Roxanne Perez shows up and talks crap.
Lyra is out next and soaks in the adulation of the NXT faithful. She sings the praises of Becky Lynch until Xia Li heads to the ring from the crowd. The two mince words until security breaks things up… ineffectively.
More backstage timewasters follow. This is the difference between Raw and NXT – on Raw, backstage segments feel at least somewhat real and less contrived.
Among these segments is Alpha Academy being confronted by a bunch of NXTers. Remember when Chad Gable was seemingly going to be the man to beat GUNTHER?
Fallon Henley vs. Tiffany Stratton
Henley goes for the early victory with a Storm Crab. Tiff gets the ropes. Henley stays on top going into the commercial.
Boo-yah battle is won by Tiff as back-and-forth continues. They head to the outside and Henley takes an awful bump on the way out.
Back inside, Henley goes for the dreaded roll-up and gets two. More back and forth including a PME attempt gone wrong, followed soon after by the real deal.
Winner: Tiffany Stratton
To the back we go, and hey, Wes Lee is back. He talks some smack before Baron Corbin enters the picture and puts us all to sleep. No seriously. I feel asleep. Lousy daylight savings time…
Elsewhere Bron Breakker is interviewed.
Bron Breakker vs. Von Wagner
Von starts out with a flurry of offence but slows up and sells the head damage. Bron takes advantage and goes on the offensive including grabbing the Steiner Recliner.
Von comes back with a series of moves including a Yakuza Kick and a Flying Knee. The action spills out to the floor and the announce table is cleared off. Stone tries to help Von but his assistance backfires and Bron takes over.
Bron grabs Stone and gets set to annihilate him but Von saves his manager. Should’ve just let it happen because the match closes soon after following a pair of spears, one on the outside the other inside to make it count.
Bleh.
Winner: Bron Breakker
Post match, Stone and Von get their revenge. Yay. NEXT!
Even more outside the ring filler. I’m getting so tired of this.
Lola Vice/Elektra Lopez vs. Roxanne Perez/Kelani Jordan
Vice is on the offence early with an Axe Kick. Shucky Ducky indeed. Perez comes back and brings in Kelani who gets some good offence also.
Vice gets the ADV for her team and tags to Lopez. More fury here, in theory, but this is so dull. Perez deserves better.
Back-and-forth until Perez is back in and starts to dominate, that is until another run for the heels takes place. High-Low gets two on Perez. Jordan comes back in with the hot tag and nearly gets the duke with the Overdrive.
Brief interchange results in the faces hitting their respective finishing moves for the win in a relatively short match. Could’ve been longer had they cut out even a third of the backstage crap.
Winners: Perez/Jordan
EVEN MORE PROMOS AND VIGNETTES follow. Oh dear god.
Otis vs. Drew Gulak
In another time and space this would have been a barnburner. Otis, however, has been re-relegated to comedy while Gulak is… well… Gulak.
Match goes just over four minutes. Otis is all comedy spots including smacking Gulak upside the head with his belly. Gulak tries offence but Otis is too powerful. A few moves, including the Caterpillar, finishes with a Jacknife for the Big Kev tribute.
Winner: Otis
Still more backstage stuff. Kiana James! Tiff! Boa! Dante Chen! Chase U! Yippee!
Dijack vs. Tyler Bate
Now this is more like it. Lengthy match to fill the time like it should be done.
Bate controls early and hits a Diving Uppercut for two. Bate’s quickness is just overwhelming Dijack here.
Dijack tries some offence but Bate is too quick until he gets caught on a crossbody attempt. You know what happens next.
Bate gets more offence in, including a nice Superplex and a Helicopter Spin into a Michinoku Driver. It gets two.
Time winding down and Bate continues to dominate a lot of the action, but ultimately Dijack finishes things off with Feast Your Eyes.
Winner: Dijack
Carmelo Hayes is out next and calls out Trick Williams. It’s reality / pep talk time with a bit of a heel leaning.
Trick says he wants his time to take the ball and run with it. He starts to ask if Melo was the assailant but Melo distracts. He can only distract so much and Melo is put on the spot, but before he can say anything, Lexis King comes out.
King stirs the pot in a manner that would’ve made dad proud. Trick has enough of King and goes for a punch, but King evades and Melo eats fist. While King escapes, Trick and Melo make amends…
Good heat segment to finish a subpar NXT ep.
Until next time, Stay Classy.
