I’m here in Cocoa Beach FL, where they are expecting approximately 250.
– Liv Morgan beat Nikki Glencross
Fun opener with heel antics by Nikki, telling people to shut up, declaring herself the best in the galaxy, and all while womanhandling Liv. Towards the finish, Liv was able to matrix under a clothesline to begin her comeback, hit a big monkey flip out of the corner, a high spin kick and a standing moonsault for the win.
– Alexander Wolfe beat Kishan Raftaar
Crowd wasn’t in to this as neither are have been on TV that much, if at all. Both guys were heckled with “USA” chants for the two foreigners. Wolfe kept working the armbar and finally put Kishan away with an arm submission.
– Noah beat Steve Cutler
Cutler had the heel advantage early, as Noah just wanted a handshake and to be friends. Crowd chanted BFF to encourage him yet Cutler took the cheap shot. Noah fired up to hit a pop up powerbomb for the win.
– Wesley Blake beat Bronson Mathews
New ambient trance music for Blake who wearing trunks and boot tassels. Headlocks were traded early. Crowd was all giggles as Blake ended up with a wedgie. Blake then settled his trunks, went to the top, and hit a splash for the win.
– Andrade “Cien” Almas beat Angelo Dawkins
A lot of trash talk by Dawkins which prompted loud “WHAT?” chants. Front face lock and headlocks by Dawkins to keep Andrade grounded. The finish saw some flashy moves by Andrade such as a wheelbarrow bulldog and smooth rope running before the running knees to Dawkins in the corner.
– Oney Lorcan beat Tino Sabbatelli
Physical match. We got a lot of aggressive chin locks by Tino. Oney finally fired up and hit the running blockbuster for the win.
– In ring promo by the debuting Binky Blairwho says she’s going to be the “ist” of NXT: prettiest, baddest, etc.
– Daria beat Billie Kay
Billie taunted Daria early with her fancy gloves, so Daria got upset and threw down her own MMA gloves, and the fight was on. After some action, Daria locked in what looked like an triangle armbar for the submission.
– TM61 and Mojo Rawley beat The Authors of Pain and Bobby Roode
NXT Florida debut for Roode who entered to a Queen-esque theme that declared he is “Glorious!”. Roode was a heel and hid behind the Authors at times, worked over whomever he was working with, and looked great doing so. The finish saw TM61 hit their double team spinebuster finisher on Roode with Shane Thorne getting the pin for his team.
A lot of the upper section was empty. Pre-show, Dasha interviewed some fans asking who they wanted to see tonight. Also, there was a pre-show vote to see a past NXT match: Rollins vs. Mahal, Neville vs. Zayn or Bayley vs. Banks. The latter won the vote so they showed highlights of the match.
Hugo Knox vs Wesley Blake
Fairly basic match. Crowd started chanting in the middle of the match but wasn’t into either superstar much. Knox won with a split leg moonsault on the second attempt after messing up the first one.
Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton vs. American Alpha
Loud pop when American Alpha’s music hit and a loud chant for American Alpha before the match had even started. Crowd chanted “Jordan give us a wave”. Crowd booed him when he didn’t but when Gable did a takedown in the ring, he waved to a big pop. After early back and forth action, Gable is worked on until he makes the hot tag to Jordan to a loud pop.
Match then ends quickly after two belly to belly suplexes and two German suplexes. AA wins with the double ankle lock spot and a double tap out. Post match, The Revival come out and cut a promo putting over the TakeOver title match from last week. They offer AA a tag title match, then change their mind and walk off before running to the ring to attack. AA then hit Grand Amplitude on Dash and count to 3 for a good pop.
Bobby Roode vs. No Way Jose
Roode comes out to generic music which confused the crowd until he walked out and the crowd popped for him. Good reaction for Jose. Crowd was into him. Comedy spots early in the match then mid match, Jose’s music plays and they both dance before Roode attacks Jose. Jose in control for a short while until Roode makes a comeback and wins with the Double A spinebuster.
Nikki Glencross & Peyton Royce vs. Carmella and Bayley
Good reaction for Carmella who cut her usual pre match promo. Bayley came out to loud pop, loudest so far. Crowd sang to her then sang Happy Birthday to her. Peyton and Nikki work over Bayley until she makes the hot tag to Carmella. Peyton tries to kick Carmella but hits Nikki instead. Carmella tags in Bayley who pins nikki with the Bayley to Belly for the win.
Tye Dillinger vs. Andrade Almas
Dillinger out to a loud pop and loud 10 chant. He cut a pre-match promo and revealed he was wearing a football shirt belonging to a rival team to a loud chorus of boos. Early part of the match saw the 2 of them play the crowd with the football shirt with Almas making Dillinger stamp on it. Fairly basic match with the odd high spot. Almas wins with the running double knees to Dillinger in the corner.
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax
Good reaction for Asuka, but little reaction for Alexa & Nia. Good back and forth action. Alexa was impressive in the match. Asuka makes a comeback after a few near falls and hits Alexa with a jumping knee and makes her submit to the Asuka Lock for the win.
Finn Balor & Shinuke Nakamura vs. Austin Aries & NXT Champion Samoa Joe
Good pop for Balor but really loud for Nakamura with the crowd singing his theme song during his entrance and after his music had stopped. Another good reaction for Joe as well. Good back and forth action with Balor getting the hot tag to Nakamura. The finish comes when Balor kicks Aries as he attempts a suicide dive followed by Nakamura hitting Aries with the Kinshasa followed by Balor hitting him with the Coup de Gras for the 3.
Post match, Balor cuts a promo on Liverpool and puts over Robbie Brookside, saying how he welcomed him to the Performance Centre and helped so many NXT stars and helped NXT as a whole. Balor and Nakamura then pose for the crowd to complete a good show.
Local crowd promo before match. Great reaction to Tye. Mid promo, it turned into cheap heel ‘your sports team sucks’ promo, but crowd still loved him. Knox wins with split legged moonsault. Knox looked very green, but is massive with a great look and moves incredibly well.
– Wesley Blake v Andrade Cien Almas
Blake’s ring gear is a weird combination of Bayley and Ultimate Warrior. Crowd more into mocking Blake than the actual match, though liked Andrade’s flashy offence. Andrade wins with double knees in the corner.
– Goldberg video game ad plays on the screen. Fans notice that Drake Younger is the referee.
– Sawyer Fulton & Alexander Wolfe v American Alpha
Mad Max style gimmick for the former. Couldn’t believe it was actually Fulton. Alpha are massively over, with the ‘no limit’ & ‘angle theme’ chants before the bell. Chad Gable may be the best pro wrestler I have ever seen. Just so quick, so smooth in his movements. Seemed even quicker on this house show than he did on television. USA Chant for Alpha in Dublin. That’s how over they were. Alpha win with Grand Amplitude.
The Revival run in afterwards, cut a promo, tease a title match then go to leave. Dash Wilder tries to ambush Alpha, is caught, get him in double ankle lock (each man had an ankle). Heels run to the back.
– No Way Jose v Austin Aries
Aries; ribs still taped. Crowd split on who to like. Aries was as good as he has been in the last few years, seems to have settled into NXT finally. Brief dance off spot to Jose’s music, Aries interrupts & ambushes Jose but gets massive cheers and ‘Thank you Aries’ chants. Any attempts to turn the crowd fail. Aries in control most of the match. Jose does his closing sequence (baseball swings, bulldog etc) for a near fall. No Way Jose wins with schoolboy roll up after Aries missed his discus elbow finish.
– Ad for Mania 33 on the big screen. Described Orlando as a “magical place where anything can happen”. Seemed weird they would play that promo so close to the shooting.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka v Peyton Royce
Asuka’s gonna kill you chant. Back and forth match. Asuka does her hip attack then pose sequence early. Peyton still a little rough but has improved immensely. Asuka is much better against someone her own size. Asuka wins with crossface chicken wing.
– Bobby Roode v Shinsuke Nakamura
Roode had generic theme & Titantron still. Great reaction for Roode, and there’s no other way to put this, lose their sh*t for Nakamura. ‘Holy sh*t’ and ‘this is awesome’ chants for the entrance alone. F*ck TNA chants. Crowd behind Roode as well, but Nakamura clearly the favourite. Beer Money chants throughout the match. Near fall with the spinebuster from Roode. Dublin crowd are normally appreciative but dead, but not here. Red hot throughout. Nakamura wins with the Kinshasa.
– Alexa Bliss & Nia Jax v Bayley & Carmella
I never have seen grown men fight so fiercely over pink wristbands in my life. Great chicken fight spot to start off. Great heel facials from Alexa. Same headlock & guillotine spots on Nia as in all of her matches. Bayley wins with Bayley-to-Bayley on Jax.
– NXT Champion Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor
Crowd red hot with chants for Finn. Joe hated with a passion. Back and forth match, everything looked great. Muscle Buster blocked, 1916/Bloody Sunday blocked. Joe gets Balor in his choke finish, Finn powers out. Balor closing sequence (sling blade, dropkick etc). Misses the double footstomp, and as he rolls through Joe grabs him & rolls him up for the win. Finn thanked the crowd for all their support.
Notes:
– Nakamura sold out almost immediately. Balor merch sold second to him, though they obviously had a lot of stock.
– Nakamura had the biggest reaction of the night. Some people around me were in tears during his entrance. Balor had a massive reaction as well, and it was more sustained than Shinsukes, but Nakamura had the better reaction out of the gate.
Knox is a former soccer player from England who looked decent but needs work. Tremendous body. Crowd chanted for Bailey during the match – didn’t care much about the in-ring action here.
– No Way Jose b Wesley Blake
Jose is super over. He got the crowd to do a Mexican wave after he won, and danced with the referee.
– Bayley & Carmella b Nikki Storm & Peyton Royce
Sloppy match. Bit disappointing from the NXT women. Lots of botched spots. Bayley was the best in-ring trying to cope with three girls who need a lot of work.
– Bobby Roode b Angelo Dawkins
Bobby played the heel, lots of stalling & running away from Angelo. Crowd did the stupid spot where they chant a different number than the referee. Longest match on the show so far. Roode won with a spinebuster — a finish that came out of nowhere.
– NXT Tag Champions The Revival b American Alpha to retain
The Revival worked over Gable for a long time. When Jordan finally tagged in, it was easily the biggest reaction for a hot tag I’ve seen live. All four of these guys have so much talent. Dawson got the pin after knocking Gable into an exposed turnbuckle.
Intermission
– Andrade Almas b Tye Dillinger
Great, fast paced match. Great showing for the former La Sombra.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka b Nia Jax & Alexa Bliss to retain
This felt like this had the potential to be great but it was sloppy at times. Seems like they weren’t on the same page. Asuka made Alexa tap with the Asuka lock.
– Shinsuke Nakamura & Finn Balor b NXT Champion Samoa Joe & Austin Aries
This was quite the spectacle to see so much talent in the ring at once, especially at a house show in Ireland. Match of the night. Balor got worked over for a while until the hot tag to Shinsuke. Place went nuts. Shinsuke pinned Aries with the Kinshasa. After the match, Finn and Nakamura did each other’s poses.
Overall, this was an excellent show with great wrestling and a good environment. Arena was taped off – around half the attendance of a WWE show.
Bobby Roode made his WWE in-ring debut Saturday at the NXT show at the Download Festival in Derby, United Kingdom, defeating Angelo Dawkins.
Roode had very briefly been advertised for the tour, before it was pulled because they wanted his debut to be a surprise. He had appeared briefly on the last two NXT Takeovers in a backstage segment on Wednesday and in the crowd in Dallas.
It is expected the 39-year-old will work the remainder of the tour.
Here’s what happened Friday:
– Hugo Knox defeated Sawyer Fulton after hitting a split-legged moonsault
– Nikki Glencross defeated Peyton Royce after clamping on a swinging fisherman’s suplex.
– Baron Corbin returned to defeat Angelo Dawkins & Alexander Wolfe in a handicap match via End of Days. Corbin put Wolfe through a table after the match.
Here’s what happened Saturday for the first of two 90 minute sessions:
– No Way Jose def. Alex Wolfe
– Tye Dillinger def. Sawyer Fulton
– Carmella def. Nikki Glencross
– Bobby Roode def. Angelo Dawkins
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka def. Peyton Royce
– Finn Balor and Hugo Knox def. NXT Tag Champions The Revival in a non-title match
Here are the results for the second 90-minute session:
Last week, Gail Kim and Awesome Kong main evented the show and Gail advanced in the tournament. DJZ beat the X Division Champion Tigre Uno, while current NXT wrestler James Storm advanced by beating Abyss with his cowbell and hitting two superkicks. Aiden O’Shea beat Crazzy Steve, and Drew Galloway beat Grado. The show begins with a recap of last week’s events. Eddie Edwards faces Davey Richards tonight, while the main event will feature Robert Roode vs. Eric Young, and we’ll get a Jeff Hardy interview. Josh says that tonight is the most pivotal of nights and talks about it being a must-win situation for both Davey and Eddie.
Madison Rayne faces Brooke tonight as well. We see a brief clip of the Hardy interview talking about how he can’t believe he broke his leg after winning the tag titles. Madison Rayne comes out to face Brooke. Madison says that the knockouts started the women’s wrestling revolution and how what Ronda Rousey has done for UFC, they’ve done for wrestling. Madison says if she doesn’t win, it’s over for her with this series. She likes having the odds against her while Brooke just quickly comes down.
Madison Rayne vs. Brooke
They start off with a back and forth collar-and-elbow tieup and a “Brooke’s gotta booty” chant starts. Brooke slips out of a headlock and grabs her wrist in an odd spot. Ah – it’s her fingers – she broke some in her last match. Brooke goes down due to the fingers again. Madison chops away and knocks her down with a dreadful forearm. Brooke gets a flapjack and a chant from the fans. Brooke goes up top and gets 2 off the flying elbow. Brooke drops her because she can’t lift her for the facebuster, so Madison hits the Rayne Drop for the win. Madison picks her up and holds her hand high. Eric Young rants and raves about being cheated in the World Title Series and how he makes his own luck. After a break, we see a recap of the last year of the Roode vs. EY feud. Pope and Josh ramble on for a bit while Spud comes down to face Bram in the World Title Series.
Rockstar Spud vs. Bram
Pope picks Bram to win, while Josh mocks him for calling that a fearless prediction. Spud slaps Bram and lands some forearms. Spud would be so great in WWE as Spudley Dudley. Spud bites the thumb to gain a further advantage. Bram sends him down and misses a pair of elbows. Bram slams him down and sends him to the floor onto the steps hard. Bram fish-hooks him and sends him into the ring. Bram misses a Stinger splash and Spud runs wild with corner forearms. Drop toehold leads to a shining enzuiguri. Bram avoids the Underdog and wants the Impaler DDT, but Spud schoolboys him for 2. Bram hits the Impaler for the win, and we see a graphic showing that he’s up 3 points.
Bobby says he could care less what EY says to him, and still blames him for losing the TNA Title earlier this year. He says he’s KOTM Champion and by winning this series, he’ll close out the year with two titles. So I guess the KOTM Title’s importance is now that it’s a bragging right if you win the World Title. We see another clip of Jeff Hardy talking about how great it was to see Matt as World Champion at BFG in North Carolina. Josh uses more WWE speak as the title is in a “state of abeyance” while we learn that Manik vs. Mandrews is up next. Mandrews skates down to the ring while Manik saunters down to one of the better themes in the company right now.
Manik vs. Mandrews
They have a little standoff to start before Mandrews trips him off the ropes. Lots of wacky armbars and cradles here before Mandrews focuses on a hammerlock. Mandrews goes for a reverse rana, but eats a face plant and Manik locks him in a Muta lock surfboard combination before Manik transitions into a straightjacket choke. They exchange more cradles before Mandrews gets 2 off a sunset flip. This is one of the most mat wrestling-heavy matches in this division in quite some time. Manik stands on the elbow and stomps it. Manik eats a backdrop and a dropkick before being hit with a giant DDT. Manik grabs him the tiger codebreaker, but it gets countered. Mandrews goes for a standing moonsault, but eats a knee and gets locked in an armbar. Mandrews takes him down with a Northern Lights suplex and gets a standing corkscrew moonsault and goes up top. Shooting Star Suplex is met with knees before a modified Go To Sleep wins for Manik. This was one of the best X division matches in quite some time – Mandrews has shined quite a bit in each of his World Title Series matches.
We see a recap of the Wolves beating Brian Myers and Trevor Lee way back… a few months ago in the super-rushed GFW vs. TNA invasion. The Wolves say they’re in wrestling for the competition, and tonight, the best man will win. The Jeff Hardy interview is next. But first, we get EY saying that he’s going to attack Roode at the right time – so him just standing in a hallway is strategy. Jeff talks about the big bump at Lockdown off the cage and how his comeback proved that he could be as good as ever. They show clips of the cage match, but him doing a see-saw dive off the top of it. The Hardys winning the Ultimate X for the tag titles is shown and we see him ride dirt bikes. He says he made three big jumping spots on his property. He did one, then landed a second one, and wanted to topple this third one for years. He says if he’d hit it harder, he could’ve landed it. He was knocked out and his first thought was breaking his leg after the win. We’ll hear more of it later. Next, it’s the battle of the Wolves. Davey comes out first in black, while Eddie is in white. We see Matt Hardy beating Davey and Robbie E beating Eddie.
Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards
They tie-up and go back and forth. They then grab hands and try to win the leverage game. Back and forth monkey flips get quick covers for 2. We get some cool mini-kip ups to bring them to their feet and exchange headlocks. ‘O Connor roll leads to a submission and then a cradle for 2. They each grab one another’s foot in a spot I don’t recall seeing before. They stand off for an ad break . Davey avoids a dropkick and lands one of his own. Eddie gets an inverted atomic drop and a superkick for 2. Eddie lands a running back elbow for 2. Eddie gets a snapmare and chinlock before landing a facebuster.
Davey lands a running elbow in the corner and a big spin kick to Eddie up top. Davey lands a big superplex, but can’t follow up. They exchange big forearms and Eddie hits an even bigger flapjack facebuster for 2.5. Davey avoids the backpack stunner and lands a big kick and German for 2. In the final minute, we get a series of cradles before a chop exchange. They go for kicks and chops and Davey lands a lariat, but can’t cover in time – it’s a draw so they each get one point. They raise each other’s hands and had yet another fantastic match. Between that and Manik vs. Mandrews, this has been a very satisfying show wrstling-wise. Series recap video shows how Hardy is advancing to the round of 16, and the second part of the Jeff interview is coming up.
We see clips of Davey vs. Eddie and they go to the back with Davey saying that Eddie chopped his claw paint off. Eddie says if he couldn’t get the win, he’s glad they at least got a draw. Davey says that the third person in the ring was the Wolves Nation. Davey says that the Wolves are an organic team, and we see more clips of Jeff Hardy at BFG. Jeff says he was heartbroken watching Matt give up the tag titles on Impact. Jeff says that sucked, but he was glad to see Matt go for the World Title. He goes through working for EC3 and being humiliated, but gets in a great line about making sure Tyrus watched Sesame Street. He loved seeing Matt win the title at BFG in NC in a repeat of clips they showed earlier today and last week. Jeff says yeah, he was a bit unfair to EC3, but he’s glad that Matt did the brave thing and gave up the title. He’s been banned from every show, but he’ll use that time to heal up and hopefully get in the ring again soon.
Roode stands around a truck and asks where EY is and he confronts him – EY tells him he already won the fight because he’s got Roode worried about him. Well, that was an unsatisfying way to spend an hour of TV time – but it makes for a fine story point. Josh and Pope play Swipe Left and Swipe Right. Pope predicts Shera to win. Shera is out not doing his dance, but in his blue non-Khoya gear at least. King doesn’t want to take about what Shera has done to him stealing his girls. This is apparently a storyline that’s been happening or something.
Mahabali Shera vs. Kenny King
Shera twirls his mustache while King does pushups. King locks on a headlock , but he gets tackled down. King takes him down with a headlock and gets backdropped hard. Kenny King gets a blockbuster, but Shera goes to the floor. King goes for a tornado dive and mostly misses Shera. Pope says that Shera isn’t dancing in the series because it’s serious business. I greatly appreciate them at least trying to find logical ways to patch things together. King goes for the shotgun knee shot in the corner, but it misses. Shera misses a lariat a mile above King’s head, but lands a better one to send King down. Shera lands a scary suplex holding onto King’s tights for dear life to hang onto him. Shera gets the Sky High to win. Kenny King tried, but he couldn’t do much with Shera, who is far too limited to do be on national TV at this point.
Josh recaps tonight’s matches and Matt Hardy faces Eddie next week. Gail Kim faces Madison Rayne, while Mr. Anderson faces EC3 in the main event. We get another recap of the EY vs. Roode rivalry. Eric Young comes out and they show clips of him in the series and he talks about being a world class pro wrestler. Roode comes out while Josh talks about how Roode demolished Storm in the series, but Storm beat Abyss. Roode poses and we go to a break.
Eric Young vs. Robert Roode
Roode slugs away in the corner and sends him up high for a backdrop. EY is sent to the floor and he bides his time and insults the fans. A little kid in a Superman shirt almost flinches as EY threatens to punch him. EY hops off the top rope and eats a punch to the gut, doing a perfect flip as a result. EY rakes the eyes to avoid a Roode Bomb and lands a neckbreaker. Josh blamed EY for sending TNA on a downward spiral in 2015. Josh recaps all of their epic wars, and leaves out that at least one of them was hyped up as their final match ever. EY gets a chinlock, but Roode fights out and gets a dropkick slightly above the belly for 2. EY charges, but eats an elbow after yelling at the fans. EY takes a big shot and does a delayed Flair Flop. Roode punches away some more, but EY flips to the apron and lands a shoulder to the gut. EY eats a spinebuster for 2. EY avoids the fisherman suplex, while Roode avoids the piledriver. EY rushes in and eats a boot. EY uses the ref to distract Roode and hits a piledriver to win the match. This was technically fine, but nothing special or memorable at all. Josh runs down next week’s card and we see hype clips for its matches. To see every screenshot taken for the show, just click here.
