Yo-Yo's Roomie

Funnily enough, I saw a kid with a Firefly Funhouse shirt on just today.

10/5/16 The Authors of Pain Vs The Bollywood Boyz: The Boyz get a little pop-up promo introducing themselves, and then have the crowd dancing with them as they come out. And then job very quickly to AOP. This was a Dusty Rhodes Classic first round match. We get a quick look at the bracket and on first glance there seems to be a lot of thrown together teams in this. I hope we get some big stars in it like last time. I see Tony Nese and Drew Gulak, and I see Rich Swann teaming with No Way Jose. And then Cedric Alexander and Andrade Almas are teaming up later tonight. Rich Swann Vs Patrick Clark: This is interesting. Clark is pretty much doing the Velveteen Dream gimmick here in all but name. Swann has some great facial reactions to this. Swann works the crowd into a frenzy with his entrance and dancing, and they're big into him during this match. The more I see Swann the more I like him. He picks up the win here. Liv Morgan is recuperating in the back last week after her loss to Asuka. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce come in and mock her. The Iconic Duo are born. Peyton Royce Vs Danielle Kamela: Kamela is Vanessa Borne, who I guess is still in NXT. Kay is out with Royce. They have a great look. Royce still doesn't look too good in the ring, but she picks up the win with a fisherman's suplex. I'm looking forward to seeing the Iiconics develop their act. Tye Dillinger and Bobby Roode are in the back being interviewed about the Dusty Rhodes Classic. I guess they are facing the debuting Sanity next week. Should be interesting. Roode is leaning into the inherent goofiness of the Glorious shtick here, which is entertaining. There's no way this doesn't end with him attacking Tye though. Next we have Dan Matha coming out for his debut. This is a big dude. I don't normally notice this kind of stuff, but he has a lot of acne on his back. Hahaha, this is amazing. Three weeks of hype for this guy, and he comes down for his debut only for Samoa Joe to come out and beat the shit out of him. Seriously good stuff, defying everyone's expectations here. The crowd was abuzz when Joe made his way out. Of course, this killed Matha dead pretty much, but I really liked this. Joe told Regal he has one week to make up his mind. The Revival Vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas and Cedric Alexander: I thought we might see an upset here, maybe due to #DIY involvement. Pretty good match, and the Revival pick up the win with the Shatter Machine on Cedric. Almas consoles Cedric after the match. But wait, is it coming? Is it? Yes, it is. Almas turns heel on Cedric and beats him down. Is the legacy of the DRC the amount of strong heel turns that come out of it, rather than the amount of good teams/matches it produces? This was solidly done, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Almas goes from here. Episode MVP: Samoa Joe.

I understand where you're coming from, but I think most people, myself included, don't care about what would work in a shoot, so much as they care about the established rules of pro wrestling and its own internal logic. And yes, that isn't a black and white issue, because those rules change and evolve over time. Really, I think Matt D's post should have been the last word on this issue. And for the record, I like Joey Ryan but think the penis-plex is stupid and I have no interest in shit like that, or other 'performance art' aspects of wrestling (hand grenades, invisible men etc). I'm not joyless. I like comedy in wrestling. I just like comedy within the framework of wrestling's own internal logic. And whether it would work in a shoot or not, I can believe a trained pro wrestler being able to straightjacket suplex a dude.

A dragon suplex, and most other suplexes is a guy using leverage and technique to throw another guy. A penis suplex is just a guy holding onto someone else's dick and doing a front flip. I don't see how they're comparable.

9/28/16 William Regal, in his office, announces the return of the Dusty Rhodes Classic, which will begin next week. Cool. Tye Dillinger Vs Angelo Dawkins: Dillinger is on a role after beating Blake and Murphy back to back. He picks up another win here, but then is greeted by Bobby Roode on the ramp. Roode says he came to NXT to win the Dusty Classic (really?), but he hasn't really made any friends in the back. He says he and Tye have known each other a long time and thinks he could be the perfect partner. The crowd is loving this possible teaming of two of the their favourites. Tye milks it a bit and then shakes Roode's hand. This is an interesting turn of events. Hideo Itami is interviewed in the back. He has a match with Lince Dorado tonight, and calls Dorado a fighter with a lot of heart, unlike Austin Aries. The Revival Vs The Ealy Brothers: The Ealy Brothers are a set of identical twins. I don't know anything else about them. This match never starts as Samoa Joe bypasses the Revival on the ramp and beats down both Ealys. He cuts a promo warning Regal to make his decision or the beatings will continue. Good stuff. Ember Moon Vs Mandy Rose: Big blow-off match to the feud which started last week based on something Mandy said on social media. I'm excited. Well, to be fair, this does have blood as Many busts open Ember's mouth hardway. Ember wins with the Eclipse. Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano cut a promo in the back about winning the Dusty Classic and then winning the tag titles. The Authors of Pain Vs Jesus Yernat and Jonathan Cruz: Yernat is Mr 450, back to do a job. Cruz is another Puerto Rican guy, trained by the Dudleys. The jobbers do a great job dying for AOP. Just when I was having my doubts about Ellering's involvement with the AOP, he actually cuts a promo here, saying a new chapter is beginning and it will involve pain. Short and sweet. AOP have their names now, by the way. Regal is in the back making a statement about Joe, saying he won't bend to his will. Blake and Murphy come in demanding to be put in the Dusty Rhodes Classic. Seriously with these two? Just fucking end it already. They begin arguing about who was to blame for the dissolution of their team the last time, and Regal just blows them off. Asuka Vs Liv Morgan: This is perfect. Liv throws some strikes and a dropkick at Asuka, who no-sells them, and then quickly taps Liv out with an arm submission.She gets on the mic and says no-one is ready for Asuka. Hideo Itami Vs Lince Dorado: Decent enough match, which was the crowd was into. And I learnt what a Lince Dorado is (Golden Lynx, if you didn't know). I also learnt Dorado is Puerto Rican, which makes me wonder why he's carrying a pinata around with Kalisto and Metalik. Big 'Go To Sleep' chants, and Itami obliges, putting Dorado away. After the bell, Aries attacks, but when it looks like Itami is about to fight back, he scarpers. I'm not really into this Itami/Aries build. It needs something to spark it into life. Episode MVP: Asuka.

9/21/16 Again, we start with Joe coming out. He has a copy of Shinsuke Nakamura's medical report, and gleefully reads off all the injuries he inflicted on the champ. It recommends Nakamura go through a 6-12 week period of rest and rehab, which Joe has an issue with. He calls out William Regal to address this. Regal comes out and says he doesn't fully know what the situation is yet, but that he will deal with it in his own way. Joe gives him an ultimatum: give him Nakamura or hand him back his title, otherwise the whole roster will pay. We see highlights of the CWC match between Kota Ibushi and Cedric Alexander, with Alexander getting a standing ovation after his losing effort, and chants of 'please sign Cedric', after which Triple H comes out and shakes Cedric's hand. That seemed like a pretty cool moment. So, now we have an interview with Cedric who is making his NXT debut tonight. He says he asked Regal for the best competition, and tonight he has a match with Andrade 'Cien' Almas. Backstage interview with Liv Morgan. She basically reiterates what she said last week. Asuka comes in and invites Liv to find out if she's ready. Austin Aries Vs Oney Lorcan: Hey, remember when Lorcan won that match, what, 2 months ago? That was put over as a big deal. And then cut that promo about needing to go back to his roots? Which wasn't explained at all. Well, here he is, the same old Lorcan. Phillips is still on his soapbox about Aries not confronting Hideo Itami last week. Aries is such a good heel, doing a lot of stooging here for Lorcan before picking up the win with the Last Chancery. Nice match from these two. Aries gets on the mic and says that last week he was busy, but he's here now and calls Itami out. Itami comes out, but Aries runs away. Hype video for Dan Matha. Don't know anything about this guy. He looks confused. Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano are being interviewed in the parking lot. The Revival show up and a brawl breaks out. This feud is probably the best thing in NXT right now. Billie Kay Vs Aliyah: Woah, where did this come from? I wasn't expecting these two to come out and have this kind of stiff match. Billie Kay has shown me more in these few weeks in NXT then she ever has on the main roster (in the ring, that is?), and I don't know what to think of Aliyah because she always does short jobs, but does look like she has more in her locker. This was a cool little match won by Kay. Mandy Rose is being interviewed in the back about her social media comments towards Ember Moon. What these comments are, I don't know. She says that Ember doesn't fit the mold here in NXT. Oh, get the fuck out of here with this lazy garbage. Liv Vs Asuka is announced for next week. None-title I believe. Cedric Alexander Vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas: This is a good showcase match for these guys, and especially to get Cedric over to a larger audience. Lots of flipping and exhibition-style stuff, but done in a non-annoying way. I feel bad for Almas. The crowd isn't really hostile towards him. They just aren't really interested in him at all. They don't think he's cool, is I guess what it feels like. And he really isn't in this babyface persona. Some big nearfalls, and then Cedric catches Almas with the Lumbar Check out of nowhere to pick up the win. Almas shakes his hand afterwards, and then pulls him in for a warm embrace as the crowd applause. This was all to make Cedric feel like a big deal. I'm such a cynic because I really thought Almas was going to beat him down here, and that's usually my reaction when they do these kinds of spots. Episode MVP: Cedric. 3 star match: Cedric Alexander Vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas.

9/14/16 We kick off with Samoa Joe making his way out. He cuts a promo about how losing the title has caused him to take stock, and he realises that he went too far in a lot of his actions, all because he wanted to be NXT champion so much. He invites Shinsuke Nakamura out to join him. The champ obliges, and Joe tells him that he was wrong when he said that he was an unworthy challenger, and that he is, in fact, a worthy champion. He says that when he is medically cleared, he wants his rematch. Nakamura agrees. Joe offers his hand, and they shake on it, and Joe leaves. Nakamura soaks up the adulation of the crowd, but, as he poses on the ramp, Joe returns and attacks him, eventually laying him out with a urinage on the ring steps. I thought they might have dragged this angle out a bit longer, as they could have easily got a few weeks out of this to take them to whenever Joe is ready to come back. They really put over how heinous this attack was, with Nakamura being stretchered out and Phillips and Graves condemning Joe. I dunno, it seemed a bit tame for that kind of response. I mean, a urinage on the steps should be a big deal, but you see similar stuff on the weekly. In the back we see Regal furiously searching for Joe, but then see Joe speeding off in a car. Liv Morgan Vs Rachael Fazio: Fazio is Rachael Ellering. She gets very little offence in as Morgan picks up the win. Liv then cuts a promo saying that Asuka may think she cleared out the division, but she is still here and is coming for the title. Not a good sign that Liv sounded really winded after a sub-2 minute squash. She's the last person I'd buy having a chance against Asuka anyway. Hideo Itami Vs Drew Gulak: This is definitely an example of NXT using a CWC guy that I can get behind. I love me some Gulak. He starts the match off with a big slap to Itami's face, and the two proceed to have a fun little stiff-fest, ending with Itami hitting the GTS for the win. Tom Phillips has got a bee in his bonnet about Austin Aries not showing up to confront Itami. The Authors of Pain Vs Chris Payne and Doug Sessa: I don't know anything about these jobbers. Standard win for AOP. I'm getting a bit worried about Paul Ellering. He just stands there and doesn't actually do anything. Bobby Roode Vs No Way Jose: Decent match. Roode has already abandoned the Glorious Bomb as a finish, and is using the DDT now. It isn't perfect, but it's much better. Episode MVP: Joe. Really good promo and good beatdown.

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Crawford has appeared at least once before, and actually teamed with Angelo Dawkins to do a job.

9/7/16 TM61 Vs Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese: I'm not sure how I feel about using these cruiserweight guys as jobbers on NXT. I'd probably like it more if I wasn't already used to seeing these guys on WWE TV. This is a good little match, and totally gets Tony Nese, of all people, over. He looks really good here. After some close nearfalls for the underdogs, TM61 pick up the win with their finisher, Thunder Valley. Tom Phillips conducts a sit-down interview with Asuka. Asuka puts over Bayley's heart, and then debuts the 'no-one is ready for Asuka' line. Steve Cutler is facing Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event tonight and cuts a quick promo in the back about making everyone respect him. Ember Moon Vs Leah Von: Moon picks up the straight-forward win. She's getting over pretty good. No Way Jose gets interviewed about his interaction with Bobby Roode last week. He says he hasn't changed for anyone in the past, and he's not going to start now. Ciampa and Gargano are in the trainer's room and say that if they are cleared to compete they will have a match on the Cruiserweight Classic finale, and after that they will be coming for the Revival. Austin Aries Vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas: Good match here between two good workers. Crowd is more behind Aries. I can't wait for Almas to turn heel. Aries gets the win with the Last Chancery. Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Steve Cutler: Samoa Joe joins the commentary team, and plays it babyface throughout the match, putting over Nakamura, saying the better man won etc. Nakamura runs through Cutler, which makes giving Cutler a win last week seem a bit pointless. I mean, they gave him nothing in this match to make him seem like a threat or a guy on the ascendancy. Episode MVP: Tony Nese. 3 star matches: TM61 Vs Daivari and Nese, Austin Aries Vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas.

8/31/16 We start with a bit in the trainer's room with the doctor telling William Regal that Samoa Joe will be out for a while due to the injuries he sustained at Takeover. Did he legit get his jaw broken by that Kinshasa? Tye Dillinger Vs Buddy Murphy: Murphy still has his old Blake and Murphy music and look. Decent match with Dillinger going over. In the back, Tommaso Ciampa is being interviewed. He talks up Johnny Gargano's heart. The Revival walk in, and Ciampa doesn't wait for them to attack, instead throwing the first shots. He gets overwhelmed and The Revival beat him down. The fight spills into the arena and eventually into the ring. Ciampa refuses to stay down and ends up taking a Shatter Machine. It kinda looks like Ciampa gets the brunt of the impact right on his balls, or else he does a great job selling the effect that might have. Really good segment to continue this feud. Steve Cutler Vs Kenneth Crawford: This seems ripe for someone to do a run-in and lay both guys out, but it doesn't happen. Instead it looks like they're trying to do something with Cutler, as he gets a little pop-up promo talking about how everyone will respect him. Well, it's Crawford who looks the more impressive during the match, but Cutler picks up the win. No Way Jose Vs Angelo Dawkins: Standard win with Jose. Andrade 'Cien' Almas is in the back being interviewed. Austin Aries comes in and complains about people always trying to steal his spotlight. Almas challenges him to a match for next week. Liv Morgan Vs Aliyah: Man, this show is awfully short on in-ring star power. Liv picks up the win. Jose is in the back celebrating his win and runs into Bobby Roode, who just glares at him. More lazy setting up of future matches. This episode has been a bit of a dud apart from the Revival angle. 'Main event' is Shinsuke Nakamura making his triumphant return to Full Sail. He comes out, cuts a short promo about the beginning of the era of Strong Style, poses, and that's your show. Episode MVP: Tommaso Ciampa.

8/24/16 This show featured lots of video packages from Takeover, as well as a couple of matches taped before Takeover began. Tye Dillinger Vs Wesley Blake: Blake has new entrance music and a new look. I'm not sure what he's going for here. Tye is super-over as always. Standard match with Dillinger going over to snap his losing streak. Amongst the post-match interviews we see from Takeover, we get Bayley talking about her tough loss to Asuka. Ember Moon comes up to her and tells her that she pushed Asuka to the limit and that she's an inspiration to her. Featuring Ember like this kinda killed her mystique a little bit and made her seem like just another girl. We see footage of Johnny Gargano losing to TJP in the Cruiserweight Classic, in part, as Ramo mentioned above, due to the damage done to his leg in the match against the Revival. We also get a hype video for Sanity (actually one aired during Takeover too). The Authors of Pain Vs TM61: Like AOP's match against American Alpha, this is a lot of fun and shows that AOP are already a very capable power team when in there against smaller guys willing to make their offence look great. TM61 put up a good fight, but eventually go down. Episode MVP: Shane Thorne.

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NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II Nice video package to start with some of tonight's competitors looking back to where they were a year ago. Austin Aries Vs No Way Jose: Jose comes out with the conga line for the first time. Interesting that Aries got turned heel by basically being paired with someone more popular than him (Nakamura), and now his first programme as a heel is against someone he's bound to get cheered against. This is a decent match. Jose has convinced me that he deserves better than being cannon fodder. In another universe he's having bloody brawls in Puerto Rico. Cool finish from Aries hitting a sunset flip powerbomb and then transitioning right into the Last Chancery and forcing Jose to tap. Aries locked the hold in again after the match and Hideo Itami's music hit to a big pop. Itami came out looking badass in a suit, but Aries attacks him. Itami fires right back and ends up hitting a GTS on Aries which sends the fans into a frenzy. Is that the first official on-screen GTS Itami has hit? Cool moment. Ember Moon Vs Billie Kay: Moon gets over pretty good on her debut. Standard match. The Eclipse gets a huge pop though. Bobby Roode Vs Andrade 'Cien' Almas: Big entrance for Roode as he comes down on a podium over the stage. The crowd sings along with Roode's entrance music. Didn't take long for that to get over. I like Roode, but there's something that doesn't click about him in this gimmick for me. I don't know if it's because the music is just too goofy and comedic to be taken seriously for a main event-calibre guy (and Roode doesn't have the right kind of charisma to bridge that gap) or if it's just because when he smiles his face gets all wrinkly like that teen idol in that one Simpsons episode, and thus he looks too old for the gimmick. It just has never felt right to me. Just like the Aries match, this is another heel who was bound to get cheered over his opponent in front of this crowd. Another pretty good match here. Roode hits a shitty pump-handle slam, dubbed the Glorious Bomb, for the win. The Revival Vs Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa: A backstage bit before the match shows Ciampa presenting Gargano with their own shirt, which introduces us to the #DIY name. It's a pretty crummy name for a tag-team, but I prefer teams have names anyway. This is a cracking match, and the crowd is super-hot for it. Not on a par with the Revival/American Alpha matches, for me, but still very good. Gargano gets his leg worked over during the match, which ends up leading to the finish, as the Revival hit their leg-breaker double team move on him (the same move that took out Big Cass), and then Dawson makes him tap to the reverse figure-four. Gargano is disconsolate after the match, but Ciampa consoles him. It kinda looked like they were setting up for Ciampa to turn heel on Gargano with how long this bit lasted, but obviously that didn't happen. Asuka Vs Bayley: Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Charlotte are all in the crowd for this one. Nice touch that Charlotte is sitting away from the two babyfaces. Another hell of a match from these two. They have the best chemistry because their styles don't really mesh at all but somehow it works and everything looks like a struggle. Asuka gets to kick out of the Bayley-to-Belly, and Bayley escapes from the Asuka Lock. IN the end, a clearly beaten Bayley invites Asuka on to her, and Asuka obliges, putting her down with a rounhouse kick to retain the belt. There've been some great finishes tonight, and this was another one. Asuka helps Bayley up after the match, and they hug. This is obviously the end for Bayley in NXT, as she hugs her fellow Horsewomen after the match, and soaks up the adulation of the crowd. I didn't expect to be saying this going into this project, but I think that Bayley is probably the MVP of NXT. Her whole journey has been a joy to watch, and she had the best connection with the fans. Just a great run from her. Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Samoa Joe: Joe gets a Goldberg-like entrance in the back, and I laugh at him shoving one of the security guys against the wall. I laugh even harder when I realise said security guard is MJF. Awesome entrance for Nakamura with the violinist playing him to the ring. It would have been better had it not lasted so long (I think the violinist was even getting bored), and if it were just the violin on its own and not the actual music playing too. Anyway, it was still cool. The fans keep singing his theme throughout the match too. Once again, this is a title match that delivers. Lots of stiffness in this one, as you would expect. Joe dominates a lot of the match, but Nakamura kicks out of a Muscle Buster and escapes the Kokina Clutch. Another good finish for this one. Nakamura escapes another Muscle Buster attempt and kinda falls in exhaustion which allows Nak to hit a quick Kinshasa. Joe kicks out but Nakamura stays on him, hitting the diving dive from the second rope to the back of the head, and then another Kinshasa for the victory and the championship. It looks like Joe got legit rocked by that first Kinshasa, and may have even got his jaw broken. For some reason, I was expecting Joe to retain here, so the finish came as a bit of a surprise to me. Show MVP: I'm gonna go with Bayley. Really good babyface performance in her match, and I'll likely never get the chance to give her one of these again. Show rating: This was, surprise surprise, a really good show. Not as significant as last year's show, but definitely a great night of wrestling. Nothing bad on the whole show, and the top three matches all came through. 4 stars. 3 1/2 star matches: The Revivak Vs Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciamps, Asuka Vs Bayley, Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Samoa Joe.

Remember when Seth Rollins literally did fuck some racism?

8/17/16 The Takeover: Brooklyn 2 go-home is heavy on the hype and video packages and light on original content, but here we go. Hideo Itami Vs Mustafa Ali: Here's Ali playing a heel, which already feels very wrong. Itami is just lacking a crispness and fluidity since he came back. He never was really firing on all cylinders before the injury actually. This doesn't really click, but is short and gets another notch in the win column for Itami. William Regal is in his office making an address about Takeover. He's interrupted by Billie Kay, who is complaining that she's not on the card. Regal tells her she'll face the debuting Ember Moon. NXT goes to this well for making matches way too often, and it's really lazy and, frankly, tiresome. Carmella, Nikki Glencross and Liv Morgan Vs Alexa Bliss, Mandy Rose and Daria Berenato: Very weird match here. Mella and Bliss are no longer on NXT, and this is Glencross (Nikki Cross), Rose and Berenato (Sonya Deville) debuting cold (ie. with no hype whatsoever), making Liv Morgan the only actual NXT TV wrestler in the match. And she's a jobber. Straight away Graves is doing his gross horndog act with Rose. I didn't know Rose and Deville came from Tough Enough. This is actually decent, considering who's in it. Just solid structure really. Cross looks the best worker here. Just completely guessing that she's the most experienced worker in the match. Funny seeing her and Alexa's interactions here. Carmella probably looks the worst out of anyone. It took her a while to get decent I think. The face team win when Carmella makes Rose tap to the Code of Silence. I think that's Morgan's first ever televised win. The 'main event' is a sit-down interview with Joe and Nakamura. This is fine, but nothing groundbreaking. Joe thinks Nak is disrespecting him, but security steps in to keep them apart. They've done a decent job of not having these two get physical with each other, saving it for the match, but nothing about this build has really clicked for me. I think they've tried to make it a personal rivalry thing, but it isn't really there. They'd maybe have been better off just going 'pure sports build' for this one. Elsewhere, I think I said before the last Takeover that the card makes sense and looks good, but the build hasn't really been there, and you could kinda say the same about this one. Although the card feels even more thrown together this time. Bayley/Asuka is by far the best booked match. They waited until real late to make the tag title match official, even though it was obvious it was coming. But that kinda hurt the build a bit. Roode/Almas has no build. Ember/Kay is just the standard debuting star Takeover match, which I guess makes Kay the female Tye Dillinger. And Aries/Jose does have a storyline behind it, but they seemed to just forget about progressing the story and jump right to making the match. I dunno, I'm sure the show will deliver, but this feels like a lazy effort from NXT. Episode MVP: Nikki Cross.

8/10/16 We're kicking off tonight with the contract signing for the women's title match at Takeover. Bayley and Asuka make their way out. Always seems weird to see Asuka dolled up. Just not used to it. Bayley says htat last time they met, she wasn't ready for how good Asuka is, but this time she is. Asuka retorts that Bayley doesn't have what it takes to beat her. She offers her hand, but Bayley slaps it away and tells her to sign the contract. Bayley is very aggressive here and gets in Asuka's face. Asuka just walks away with her signature smile. Very simple, but effective, story being told of Asuka condescending Bayley, and Bayley acting in defiance to that. I like the dynamic here, and am looking forward to this match, probably more than any other that we'll see at Takeover. The Authors of Pain Vs Rob Ryzin and Adrian Nails: Nailz is back! Quick squash for AOP, who continue the assault after the match. TM61 come out for the save, but get beat down too. Andrade 'Cien' Almas Vs Angelo Dawkins: Seems liek it's been a while since we saw Andrade. Dawkins, meanwhile, is still stirring the shit. Almas debuts the hammerlock DDT to pick up the win. After the match, Bobby Roode comes out and says Almas was a little sloppy, and then announces that the two of them will face off at Takeover. Man, I can see Almas getting killed by the crowd in Brooklyn. William Regal is in the back in his office. Austin Aries comes in and is bitching about not having a match at Takeover. Regal puts him in a match with No Way Jose. Aries looks flustered, but what did he expect? Pretty weak way to make that match, after those two guys had had a couple of hot brawls prior to this. Billie Kay Vs Liv Morgan: The Billie Kay mini-push continues as she puts away Morgan. Kay being a big time Charlie because she did a job on Smackdown once is a weird, but kinda fun, gimmick. Some of the Cruiserweight Classic guys are at ringside, and we see highglights of Johnny Gargano Vs Tomasso Ciampa from the first round. Looked like a good match. Then we cut to them in Regal's office. Regal says he hopes their match didn't affect them teaming up together, because they're getting a match with The Revival at Takeover. They promise to win the belts. Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano Vs Patrick Clark and Tucker Knight: Gargano and Ciampa win with the knee/kick combo on Clark. Samoa Joe Vs Mojo Rawley: Mojo comes on strong in the early going, but Joe soon turns the tide and picks up the win with the Kokina clutch. He locks it in again after the bell, and that brings out Shinsuke Nakamura. Security is in to keep them separated, but Nakamura gets in a cheap shot on Joe while he is being restrained. Episode MVP: Bayley. I'm liking her fire in this feud with Asuka.

8/3/16 Hideo Itami Vs Sean Maluta: Itami makes his return to a big pop. I'm interested to see what his role will be in NXT now. Never heard of Maluta before. I guess he's a Cruiserweight Classic guy, and has some connection to the Samoan dynasty. Not really a great deal to this match. Itami gets in most of his signature stuff and wins with the running knee. The Revival are in the back being interviewed, and say they've beat everyone. TM61 enter the scene and say they want a shot. Revival tell them to get to the back of the line. Then Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano show up and say they're waiting for their shot. Revival say they've already promised a match to TM61 so can't defend against them. Mojo Rawley Vs Chris Atkins: Atkins is some big, burly Australian dude. I was hoping we'd seen the last of Mojo in NXT. This ends pretty quickly when Samoa Joe comes out and beats both these guys down. Joe cuts a promo about how he is pissed at William Regal for making the match against Nakamura. Mojo comes back in and attacks Joe and the two have a little brawl, which ends with Joe laying him out with the Kokina Clutch. Bayley is interviewed in the back about her upcoming match with Asuka. Asuka comes in and invites Bayley to ringside for her match tonight. Asuka Vs Aliyah: Bayley joins the commentary team, but when Asuka comes out she grabs a chair and sets it up at ringside, inviting Bayley down for a closer look. Bayley heads ringside, but folds the chair up and tosses it aside in an act of defiance. This was all cool little character stuff to build up the rivalry between Asuka and Bayley. Asuka lays a beating on Aliyah and finishes with the Asuka Lock, which she keeps on after the bell until Bayley hits the ring. Asuka was pretty much wrestling as a heel in this match. A video airs of Oney Lorcan cutting a promo after his win against Tye Dillinger, whenever that was. Lorcan says he has to keep getting better and that means going back to his roots. No idea what this is leading to. Then we get a vignette for Ember Moon. Bobby Roode comes out for his debut appearance in NXT. They made it sound like it was going to be a match (you know, when they say someone is debuting tonight, you assume it's a match), but he just comes out in a suit to cut a promo. A long promo. A really long promo. It starts off as a typical babyface promo ("I'm happy to be here" etc) but then turns into a heel promo when he says he's going to replace all the regular fans in NXT with executives and CEOs. I think they should have held off on this until after Roode had wrestled at least one match, because the fans were crazy into him. The Revival Vs TM61: So, this is a non-title match, and it's pretty solid. The Revival end up getting the win after Dawson hits a DDT. They then cut a promo listing all the teams they've beat, whcih brings out Gargano and Ciampa, who point out that the Revival hasn't beat them. They have a brawl, which Gargano and Ciampa come out on top of, and Gargano covers Dash with Ciampa symbolically counting to three. The show ends with them holding up the tag titles. Obviously that's gonna be the Takeover match. Episode MVP: Bayley.

What is he doing these days? Is he still commentating 205 Live?

I enjoyed him when he first came to WWE. He was one of my standout performers of 2001 before he got injured. Of course, that was 15 years prior to this, so it's understandable that he isn't the same performer.

Kevin Nash has the proportions of a muppet.

7/27/16 Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Wesley Blake: Blake has new music and new get-up. I'm not really sure what the idea is. It kind of reminds me of when they tried to make Rob Conway, the Con-man, a thing. Except without the awesome Randy Newman-esque music. A video shows Blake and Murphy arguing earlier about I don't even care anymore. I guess they each want to prove they are the better man. Blake shouldn't be getting much in against Nakamura, and he doesn't. After the match, Regal comes out and says that at the next Takeover, which is the return to Brooklyn, Samoa Joe will defend the NXT title against Shinsuke Nakamura. Crowd is very happy with that one. Billie Kay Vs Santana Garrett: So Kay's thing now is that she recently made her Smackdown debut against Dana Brooke (I presume she was just doing a job), and now she thinks she's a big star or something, and has a bad attitude. This is per Phillips. Graves isn't really on board. It is a first win for Kay though, against the always solid Garrett. Speaking of main roster debuts, we see footage of Bayley's debutat Sasha Banks's mystery partner, and then cut to Bayley in Regal's office. She asks for her rematch against Asuka in Brooklyn, and Regal agrees. TM61 Vs Rob Ryzin and Adrian Nails: What's funny is that wiki lists one of the jobbers here as Nailz, complete with link to his page. It definitely is not Nailz. It's some scrawny guy wearing jeans who looks barely trained. Squash win for TM61, who then shake the jobbers hands and applaud them after the match. Nice guys. Oh shit, Hideo Itami is returning to the ring next week. No Way Jose Vs Steve Cutler: I guess Cutler has a new mean attitude. He's tired of seeing these new guys come in and get all the opportunities. Of course, he still jobs pretty quickly. That must have been so disheartening for him. He had all this anger and frustration and he thought that he was going to use that to launch himself to the top. "I'll show them. I'll show them that Steve Cutler is a man not to be messed with". And then he goes out and gets beat in like 2 minutes. Jose cuts a promo on Austin Aries. Kota Ibushi Vs Buddy Murphy: It's Cruiserweight Classic star Kota Ibushi making his NXT debut. Did they think Ibushi was going to sign with them or something? I seem to remember hearing that at the time. Big pop for Ibushi and this is a fun match. It should have ended when Ibushi gave a wicked kick to Murphy's ear and then followed up with a quickfire German suplex. That was the apex of the match as far as crowd excitement went. Samoa Joe comes out to address Regal's announcement from earlier. He refuses to face Nakamura, saying that he hasn't earned his shot. Regal comes out and says that he makes the decisions around here, and if Joe refuses the match then he will have to forfeit the NXT title. Joe is pissed but agrees to the match, saying it's the biggest mistake Regal ever made, and that Nakamura might not make it to Brooklyn. Nakamura's music hits and the challenger comes out to a big pop. This is lame though, as he just stands on the stage doing his mannerisms in Joe's general direction as the show goes off the air. Episode MVP: Kota Ibushi.

7/20/16 This is billed as 'Fight Night' as we have three big matches on tap- American Alpha Vs Authors of Pain, Bayley Vs Nia Jax and Samoa Joe Vs Rhyno. Samoa Joe Vs Rhyno: Two big burly dudes going at it, but this didn't really get going for me. I don't think Rhyno has much to offer anymore. At least, not in this type of match. The crowd seemed kind of uninterested too. Joe picked up the win with the clutch. A video package shows us that a bunch of NXT stars have been drafted to the main roster- Finn Balor, Nia Jax, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, American Alpha and Mojo Rawley. AA are the only ones I'll really miss. It seems like they're run in NXT was pretty short, and there was still a lot they could have done with them. The Authors of Pain Vs American Alpha: AOP attack AA before the match, leaving them lying in the aisle. Regal comes out to check on them, and I'm thinking this is pretty lame that they're not gonna do the match, but then AA start pushing people away and we are going to get the match. And what a fun match it is. AOP, who still don't have names, are pretty green you can see, but Gable and Jordan make this match work with their bumping and selling and fighting spirit. Gable is particularly good as guy who doesn't realise he's the smallest man in the fight. Great pop when he T-bones one of the AOP. Another great pop for Jordan diving over the top rope to take out one of AOP. AOP pick up the win in the end, as they should really. AA jobbing on their way out of the territory. Really good sprint. The Revival are being interviewed in the back. They say that no team has beat them or could beat them. This brings in Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa. They point out that they have beat the Revival before, and they're coming for the belts. Austin Aries Vs Patrick Clark: Phillips and Graves inform me that Clark was a Tough Enough competitor. He's dressed ridiculously in an American flag outfit, but looks to have a lot of charisma, and some good athleticism. I'm wondering why I've never heard of him. Only after the fact do I find out that this is The Velveteen Dream. Awesome. I don't really know anything about this guy, but I'm looking forward to seeing him do his thing. This is a squash win for Aries, but after the match, No Way Jose attacks and chases him off. Jose looked good here, showing lots of fire. Bayley Vs Nia Jax: Oh man, I loved Bayley in this. Like, I fell in love with her a little bit in this match. Her performance was aces. To Nia's credit, she looked pissy and reckless in a good way, and was really clobbering Bayley. She should never do a jackhammer again though. Man, she's lucky she didn't kill Bayley with that. Nia can't put Bayley away, so she takes a chance going up to the second rope. That's her downfall as Bayley climbs up and delivers a super Bayley-to-Belly for the win. The crowd pops huge. They just love Bayley so much. This was a good David Vs Goliath match, to end an awesome episode of NXT. Episode MVP: Bayley. 3 star matches: The Authors of Pain Vs American Alpha, Bayley Vs Nia Jax.

7/13/16 The show starts with Samoa Joe making his first appearance at Full Sail since the last Takeover. He comes out and says he's here to see Finn Balor Vs Shinsuke Nakamura, but that the winner of that match won't be getting a shot at the NXT title. He says he already beat the Demon, and that he brought strong-style to the US a long time ago, and if Nakamura is the king, then Joe is the emperor. Rhyno comes out and says that he has to go through Joe to get to the top so that's what he'll do. They have a staredown, and then Joe walks off and says he does things on his time. Good promo from Joe. We've already seen Joe/Rhyno so I'm not particularly interested in that. Shinsuke Nakamura Vs Finn Balor: Lots of ballyhoo, video packages and whatnot, and it's already time for the main event. Definite big match atmosphere for this, and the fans are chanting 'this is awesome' before the match even starts. The match is fine, but for me it's the weakest of Nakamura's 3 big matches so far. It didn't really have a hook, other than both guys working really hard. And the crowd of course was really into it, which always helps. Balor got to kick out of a Kinshasa, before finally falling to a second one. Afterwards, the two embraced, and the fans thanked Finn for his efforts. This definitely felt like his NXT goodbye, putting over the new ace. Episode MVP: Balor. 3 star match: Finn Balor Vs Shinsuke Nakamura.

7/6/16 Bayley Vs Alexa Bliss: Bayley picks up the win to continue her comeback. She cuts a promo saying she may get knocked down but she always gets back up again. She mentions having to watch Nia Jax take her opportunity at Takeover. Jax comes out and they have a little staredown, and then agree to have one more match. Blake and Murphy Vs The Hype Bros: What are they even doing with Blake and Murphy? Just end it already. This is basically an angle to set up Rhyno's return to NXT. He comes in and gores everyone. I'd forgot all about him. A video airs hyping up next week's Balor/Nakamura match, with a bunch of different guys giving their opinions. You know it's a big deal because even Triple H is on here. The Revival Vs American Alpha: 2/3 falls for the tag titles. This is awesome. I loved this. These two teams just have great chemistry. They do a bunch of elaborate shit, but it never looks choreographed because they all have great timing. This is kind of a greatest hits match for them, taking all the really good Southern tag stuff they've done, and all the bomb-throwing, and putting it in one match. We're already deep in the match when the first fall occurs, AA picking it up via submission with the ankle lock. Revival pretty quickly tie with a submission victory of their own after having worked on Jason Jordan's leg throughout the match. There's some great nearfalls now, and a great spot where it looks like Jordan is going to eat a Shatter Machine, but Gable comes in and shoves Dash out of the way before he can complete the move. In the end, it's Gable who takes a Shatter Machine on the apron, and gets pinned, and the Revival retain the belts. Real quality work. All four guys were great in this, but Scott Dawson was the definite standout. It just seems like he was born for tag wrestling. Episode MVP: Dawson. 4 star match: American Alpha Vs The Revival.