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Tag: Nakamura

  • NXT Oklahoma City, OK, live results: Finn Balor & Nakamura vs. Tye Dillinger & Samoa Joe

    Submitted by Kevin Ely

    The crowd was pretty into everything, and the whole tone of the show was about fun, so a lot of comedy and not a lot of super intense action. All the performers seemed to be having a blast in the ring. Bayley and Nakamura seemed to be the most popular merch, even ahead of Balor (though there were a lot of Bullet Club shirts).

    – Bayley def. Alexa Bliss

    Bayley won with a Bayley to Belly. Everyone loved Bayley, of course; she got one of the best reactions of the night.

    – Manny Andrade def. Chris Girard

    Crowd had no idea who either were and chanted “Let’s go rookies” at the start of the match. A few people were giving Girard grief for resembling Cesaro physically. Crowd was into Manny by the end. He teased a few dives but never pulled the trigger, and won with the double knees to the corner.

    – Austin Aries def. Murphy

    Austin worked an extended headlock sequence that got a “Headlock city” chant. He won with a running dropkick to the corner followed by Last Chance-arie for the submission.

    – NXT Tag Champions American Alpha def. Sawyer Fulton and Alexander Wolfe

    Alpha was over huge and people were buzzing for Jordan’s hot tag. Fulton and Wolfe’s Mad Max outfits got a brief “You look stupid” chant. The did a lot of contrived double team moves on Gable that kind of dragged the match, but the people went crazy for the ending. Alpha won with Grand Amplitude.

    Intermission

    – Tyler Breeze def. No Way Jose

    Breeze got one of the biggest pops of the night for his surprise entrance. Crowd was super into Jose’s entrance music, and chanted his name to the Ole Ole cadence. Tyler made a brief promo on being one of the people who put NXT on the map, and the people chanted “Thank you Tyler.” This was probably the most fun match of the night.

    Crowd treated both like babyfaces, and they did some really clever comedy spots. Biggest pop of the whole night might have been when Tyler did Scotty 2 Hotty’s worm, and Jose was booed when he tried doing the people’s elbow. Finish came when Tyler brought a chair in and tired to get the Eddie Guerrero DQ, then hit Jose with the supermodel kick over the bent-over referee’s back for the pin. Super fun match.

    – NXT Women’s Champion Asuka def. Eva Marie

    Eva was fine, and did a decent job of playing heel. Asuka won with the choke, which was kind of a flat ending. The event was in a convention center hall with no elevated seating, so for anyone past the first five rows, it was sometimes difficult to see mat level. I think many people couldn’t even see what was going on when they went to the finish.

    – Finn Balor & Shinsuke Nakamura def. Tye Dillinger & NXT Champion Samoa Joe

    Dillinger came out first and cut a promo on the Thunder, who were losing an NBA playoff game to the Spurs in the arena across the street. Nakamura got a great reception. People definitely see him as top-tier. Balor got a main event pop, and I was completely unprepared for the effect he had on the women in the audience. There were women around me who were nearly breathless seeing Finn in person. Joe came out last. Match was really entertaining but not super exciting, if that makes sense. Mainly, it centered around Tye working most of the match with Finn trying to get at Joe and Joe wanting nothing to do with either of his opponents.  

    When Joe and Nak entered the ring to square off, the atmosphere was electric. Of course, Joe immediately tagged out for great heat. Nakamura worked Tye’s fingers of all things, doing a fun snapping move that made it sound like he was breaking Tye’s finger. Each time he’d do it, the crowd would subtract from ten and chant “nine, eight,” and so on. Good action once Joe really got in there. Good guys won when Balor hit Tye with the Bloody Sunday after Nakamura knocked Joe out with the Kinshasa.

  • NXT Salina, KS, live results: Tyler Breeze vs. Nakamura; Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor

    Submitted by August Baker

    – No Way Jose vs Murphy

    Crowd loved chanting with Jose and popped for his antics. Match itself was tame, with lots of stalling and wristlocks. Jose won with a half nelson slam.

    – Chris Girard vs Manny Andrade

    Crowd didn’t react at all to their entrances, but got into it as it went along. Manny faked a moonsault from the top, then immediately hit a standing moonsault as Girard tried to roll out of the way for a huge reaction. Manny won with a running double knees to a sitting Girard in the corner.

    – Tye Dillinger vs Austin Aries

    Crowd was hot for both guys, with lots of dueling “Austin Aries/Perfect 10!” chants. They did a lot of mat wrestling, with a bunch of counters. The match was really good, and Austin eventually won with a roaring elbow.

    – Triple Threat NXT Women’s Championship: Alexa Bliss vs Bayley vs Asuka (c)

    This was a change from the online card, as it was supposed to be Bliss vs Asuka and Bayley vs Eva Marie. Pretty standard triple threat match, with one girl out of the ring most the time. Bayley hit Asuka with the Bayley to Belly, but Bliss threw her out, and got caught by the Asuka Lock for the finish.

    – There was an intermission, where Tom Phillips came back out and pronounced the name of the town wrong. There was much booing.

    – Tyler Breeze vs Shinsuke Nakamura

    Before the match, Tyler cut a promo, essentially reminding us of his status as NXT gatekeeper. He’s fought everyone in NXT, and any new faces have to get through him. Cue the Nakamura chants. Nakamura got a huge reaction for everything he did, but the crowd loved both guys. They did pure comedy at first, with Nakamura trying to mock Breeze’s corner pose, and unable to get to the top rope, doing it on the bottom rope instead. Breeze tried to do Nakamura’s entrance pose on the rope, but couldn’t lean back far enough, so Nakamura gave him a hand. Later, Nakamura got a hold of Breeze’s camera and took a selfie. Nakamura kicked out of the Beauty Shot, and Tyler went for a chair. When the ref took it from him, Nakamura threw Breeze with the reverse powerslam and hit the Kinshasha for the win.

    – Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton vs. NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan)

    Wolfe and Fulton look like Mad Max characters. They overpowered Gable until he finally got the hot tag to Jordan. Alphas are fun to watch, but the crowd was a bit out of it after the Nakamura match, and Wolfe/Fulton didn’t do much interesting to get us back. American Alpha won with their assisted suplex.

    – NXT Champion Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor 

    Another split crowd here. Finn got a huge “Bullet Club” chant before the match. The match itself was good, with a lot of their signature stuff being countered by each other. Joe won with the muscle buster.

    After he recovered from the match, Balor had Phillips come back out and apologize for pronouncing “Salina” wrong, doing his best Stone Cold and The Rock impersonations to send Phillips packing, then finished with the “We Are NXT” slogan.

  • NXT Kingston, RI, live results: Finn Balor & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe & The Drifter

    Submitted by Ryan Thompson & Brian Bayless

    – Chris Girard pinned Mojo Rawley with a running blockbuster out of the corner

    This was perfectly fine. Rawley played heel in this match since everybody loved Girard. He was a goofy, annoying heel and everyone was into his spots. He dominated most of the match until the comeback. New England Patriots’ star Rob Gronkowski was in the building wearing a Get Hyped t-shirt, since he goes way back with Rawley. As you might imagine, he’s a god in these parts.

    – Bayley and Carmella defeated Dana Brooke and Alexa Bliss

    End came when Bayley pinned Dana with the Bayley to Belly. Carmella went to school here (University of Rhode Island) so, naturally, she was beloved. Standard women’s tag match.

    – Manny Andrade pinned Riddick Moss with the double knees in the corner

    Andrade is ridiculously athletic and ridiculously good. This match was real good. Best spot was probably when Andrade did a moonsault, but Moss moved. Andrade landed on his feet and immediately hit a standing moonsault.

    – NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) def. The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) to retain

    End came when Gable pinned Dawson with Grand Amplitude. This was my favorite match on the show. They did a false title change near the end. Dawson was the legal man and was getting pounded on by Jordan. Wilder switched places with Dawson behind the referee’s back and pinned Jordan with a small package. The referee noticed his mistake, however, and Gable eventually pinned Dawson.

    > Intermission

    – Austin Aries pinned Tomasso Ciampa with the rolling elbow and the 450 splash

    I was expecting this to be the best match, but I felt like there was something missing. Still real good though. Aries played subtle heel (very subtle really, as it was essentially a babyface match). The finish was botched when Aries missed his elbow, so they immediately did a quick spot and went back to the finish.

    – NXT Women’s Champion Asuka submitted Peyton Royce with the Asuka Lock

    Asuka’s incredible. She comes out looking like an absolute killer with the crowd telling Peyton that she’s about to be killed, yet she has an incredible rapport with the fans and all the kids seem to love her. There’s something she has that I don’t think any other woman has ever had in this company. Good match.

    – Finn Bálor and Shinsuke Nakamura defeated NXT Champion Samoa Joe and Elias Samson when Bálor pinned Samson with the 1916 (Bloody Sunday)

    Samson came out first and the place just hated everything he tried to do or say. “Drift Away” chants. “Nobody Likes You” chants. He tried to sing his song but Nakamura’s music hit and the place came absolutely unglued. There was a great spot early where Nakamura was in the ring and Joe tagged in. Joe circled around, teasing an encounter, but then immediately tagged out for massive heat. Nakamura mocked Samson throughout the match, pretending to play guitar and throwing the imaginary guitar to the crowd. Joe and Nakamura finally went at it and it was outstanding. They have to do a feud for the championship. This was either the best or second best match on the show.

    After the match, Bálor took the mic and talked about how bad he felt after losing the championship. The crowd chanted “See You Monday” and he smirked. He wasn’t sure if he’d be himself anymore after losing the championship. He said that the Kingston, RI crowd made it clear that he was still Finn Bálor. He handed the mic to Nakamaura who said: “This Is NXT!” After a long pause, they too-sweeted each other and did a simultaneously Nakamura back-bend pose. Then Finn slapped hands with everyone at ringside. 

  • New Japan on AXS results: Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Part 3 of our look back Wrestling Dontaku 2015, which took place on July 5, 2015, features two big title matches.

    IWGP Jr. Champion Kushida vs. Kenny Omega

    I forgot just how great this match was. Omega’s work on Kushida’s leg was great. Kushida made such a great comeback. Both of these guys are just simply phenomenal and showed that here. It’s worth going back and watching these title matches again as NJPW title matches are ALWAYS a big deal and this match came off as something important. Crowd heat was awesome towards the end too. Omega went for the One Winged Angel but Kushida went for the hoverboard lock and eventually got it, securing the submission.

    Omega says that Kushida has now made the title garbage. Omega says he’ll clean him up. Kushida says lots of things have changed in the last year. He used to think the title was too far away for him, but now he wants to make sure it never leaves his grasp.

    Hirooki Goto is interviewed this week. He mentions that before, he only went to Osaka Jo Hall for concerts. He doesn’t want to comment on the match but he would have loved to be in the main event.

    Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

    Jim Ross made a good comparison at the start of this bout, comparing Nakamura and Goto to Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. It doesn’t fit perfectly, but there are some aspects here that work. This was a really great match. Everything just seamlessly clicked and these two were on a roll. Nakamura did everything well and got some cool nearfalls, including one where he straight up hit the boma ye and Goto kicked out. Finishes are so protected here that when people actually kick out of them, it’s a surprise. Goto powered back, hit his neckbreaker and walloped Nakamura with the shouten kai to retain the Intercontinental title. Another one of those matches where if you rewatch again, you kind of forget just how awesome it actually was.

    Nakamura in the post match interview said you should be interviewing the champion. He says there is magic to that belt. Goto cuts a rather short promo to the fans after winning, simply saying “cheers”. Backstage, he feels things have calmed down. He destroyed his path, and that’s something to take pride in. There’s only one thing left, and that’s the G1. He’ll take it with his own hands.

    Reflective interview: Goto says in the end, he broke Nakamura’s pattern, but there was still G1. He wants to fight in that tournament like they are all title matches.

    Great show this week. If you’ve been missing out and want to check out just one show, check this one out. It’s really strong in two great title matches.

  • NXT Citrus Springs, FL, live results: Nakamura vs. Dillinger; Asuka, Bayley, more!

    I’m here at NXT Citrus Springs and we are expecting approximately 300 people for Shinsuke Nakamura’s NXT Florida debut.

    No Way Jose beat Noah

    Fun opener with Noah wanting to shake hands and be friends with Jose, which, of course, led to chants of “No Way Jose” for the handshake offer. Solid action before Jose hit the wind0up punch and his new finish — a full nelson slam — for the win.

    Liv Morgan beat Peyton Royce

    Peyton tried to offer her flower to Liv, who tossed it away. Royce was going for her Venus Fly Trap submission, BUT Morgan was able to roll through and win the match.

    Manny Andrade beat Elias Samson

    Major heat for The Drifter and his attempted pre match song. Manny entered to a good reaction and we’re off. Great work by Andrade, countering moves, flipping over Samson and keeping the tempo up. Drifter works the headlock of doom before Manny fired up, ran wild and hit the running knees for the win.

    Riddick Moss beat Alex Riley

    Moss has fresh new gear and a fancy gold vest. He ordered the ref to take his vest off for him, BUT ARy snuck behind and did so himself, only to put the vest on and upset Moss. Physical match with Moss scoring the win over a distraught ARy.

    NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha beat Alexander Wolfe and Sawyer Fulton

    Big reaction for Alpha showing off the titles for the first time in FL. A lot of impressive matwork by both Gable and Jordan early on before the pace was picked up. Jordan ran wild with big dropkicks before the heels took advantage of a distraction and stun-gunned Gable on the top rope. Wolfe and Fulton took turns working over Gable’s arm before he was able to escape and make the big hot tag to Jordan, ran wild again and this time, Alpha finished them off with the Assisted German Suplex.

    NXT Women’s Champion Asuka beat Adrien Reese

    A good, yet clearly toned down, reaction for Asuka, the usual crowd favorite had more of a guilty reaction here after beating Bayley for the title. Good early exchanges with Reese even putting Asuka in holds. The champion took advantage of a counter and rolled through for the Asuka Lock victory.

    Shinsuke Nakamura beat Tye Dillinger

    Huge superstar reaction for Nakamura. This match was everything you could ask for at a live event. They taunted each other, played one upsmanship, and finally, it broke down in to a fight. Dillinger did Nakamura’s taunts himself, Nakamura did Dillinger’s cartwheel; it was exactly what you could ever want in a WWE Shinsuke Nakamura match. Dillinger and Nakamura even exchanged strong style strikes before Shinsuke hit the knee to the midsection and the Kinshasa for the win.

    Bayley and Mojo Rawley beat Nia Jax and Samoa Joe

    Joe got the heat on Mojo for a long time while Bayley lead cheers. She finally caught the hot tag and fought off Nia, even ending up on her shoulders punching down at Nia. Joe even tried to break up a pin but the ref dove at him to prevent the boot to Bayley. Nia tried to gain control but Bayley To Belly for the win.

    Post-match, they celebrated and Bayley snatched Joe’s towel, Joe was kicking the stairs on the outside as Bayley waved the towel and danced with Mojo.

  • NXT North Charleston, SC, live results Nakamura & Finn Balor team up

    Submitted by Bryant Tallon

    No Way Jose vs. Riddick Moss

    Simple match with Jose pinning Moss clean for the victory

    Elias Sampson vs. Corey Hollis

    Hollis being from Charleston got a huge pop! Crowd chanted “Play Freebird” at Sampson so he started playing it and made the lyrics heelish by taunting the crowd. Sampson pins Hollis clean for the victory.

    Carmella vs. Eva Marie 

    Pre-match, Carmella walked around ring with a fans sign “Eva sucks”. Eva pins Carmella with the help of putting her feet on the ropes. Post match, Carmella punishes Eva Marie until she rolls out of the ring.

    Blake vs. Alex Riley

    Nothing special. Riley pinned Blake clean for the victory.

    NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha vs. The Revival

    Great storytelling match. This match drew my non-wrestling fan wife in and she loved it. Alpha retains belts over Revival via pinfall.

    Intermission for 20 minutes. Crowd pops loud for a picture of Bayley on the screen.

    Austin Aries vs. Manny Andrade

    Manny won the crowd over big time. He moonsaulted off the middle rope, landed on his feet and flipped into a backflip on Aries. Maybe the biggest pop of the night for that move. Aries pinned Manny for the victory and post-match, the contenders shook hands. Aries gets on the mic and puts over
    Manny although Manny has already won the crowd over during the match.

    NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Peyton Royce

    Royce controlled most of the match but Asuka wins in the end via submission with the Asuka lock.

    Tye Dillinger and Baron Corbin vs. Nakamura and NXT Champion Finn Balor

    Crowd chants “take your shirt off” at Corbin because he is wrestling in a shirt. Match stops and he finally takes shirt off to reveal a second shirt under that. Crowd pops. Balor’s offense was Flair chop heavy and he did the Flair strut a few times during the match. Of course crowd loves it. Balor pins Dillinger for the victory. Balor and Nakamura get on the mic post match and thank the fans and NXT universe for the support.

  • NXT Columbia, SC, live results: Nakamura bleeds; Finn Balor & Austin Aries team up

    Submitted by James Gates

    No Way Jose d. Steve Blake

    Jose got the crowd going with chants early on. He and Blake worked the crowd for a good 3 minutes before they locked up. The crowd chanted Jose to the tune of Sami Zayn’s Ole, and “Hey, we want some Jose”. Jose was a good comedy character and did some comedy spots with Blake. The match was good for an opening match to get the crowd going. Jose won with a wind up baseball pitch punch to Blake’s head.

    Riddick Moss d. John Skyler

    Riddick came out with the mic and cut a generic “this town sucks” promo. Skylar came out and is from Columbia, SC, apparently. He was mildly over throughout the match. No mention of why Patrick Clark got swapped out. The match was very bare bones like a tryout match. At the start, Riddick wanted the ref to take his vest off. He turns his back and Skyler takes it off for him, then poses with it. He then teases a toss the vest to the crowd spot, then tosses it to Riddick and dropkicks him to start the match. The match was very basic, but Riddick got the majority of the offense in. Riddick pinned Skyler while holding onto the ropes. I don’t know how the ref didn’t see it, since from my angle it looked like he was looking right at it. 

    Carmella d. Peyton Royce

    Carmella cut her standard promo before the match. She said that she wasn’t the Queen of Staten Island today, but the Queen of Columbia. This match was slow and painful. Crowd wasn’t really into it. Lots of holds, lots of slow kicks from Royce. Carmella eventually won in a short match.

    Elias Sampson d. Alex Riley

    Elias comes in from the crowd to boos. He gets in the ring and cuts a short promo about the city. He then starts playing for a couple of seconds before being interrupted by Alex Riley. This match had the longest chinlock spot ever: at least 8 minutes of Samson putting a chinlock on Riley. They teased Riley breaking from it multiple times to no avail. The crowd was really turning on the match until the very end of the chinlock spot where they started getting into it. Then, Riley broke out and the crowd really didn’t react that much. It was like they wanted to see how long the chinlock was gonna last. This match was decent and Samson gets a lot of heat. Riley is overlooked by the crowd. Samson wins with his neckbreaker finisher.

    NXT Tag Champions American Alpha d. The Revival

    This was by far the best match and the one the crowd reacted to the most. AA come off as stars and were so hot with the crowd throughout the entire match. The match itself was almost like a repeat of the Takeover match, with the same spots being repeated, like Dash and Dawson holding onto each other while they get German Suplexed. It was still very fun.

    During the match, either Dash of Dawson inside cradled Gable and pinned him. The crowd was stunned silent for about 3 seconds until Drake reversed his decision when he realized the wrong Revival member was in and kept the match going. AA then did their spots and hit Grand Amplitude for the win. Crowd is ecstatic.

    NXT Women’s Champion Asuka d. Eva Marie

    Eva was booed coming out, but during the match, she was cheered quite a bit. However, it felt more like the crowd was cheering Eva to spite the fans who were booing her. There was a “You Can’t Wrestle/Yes She Can” dueling chant going on with both sides equally loud. Eva worked heel throughout the match. She got a lot of offense in, it was pretty much evenly split. The match was decent. Eva didn’t botch any moves. Asuka put a lot of work in though wrestling circles around eva. Asuka won when she transitioned the armbar into the Asuka lock.

    Shinsuke Nakamura d. Manny Andrade

    Manny came out first and got a pretty mild reaction while Nakamura came out like a star, People overwhelmingly cheered Nakamura. The match was really good but was short because it was a house show. I think it went no longer than 12 minutes. As the match went on, there’s blood on the side of Nakamura’s head, and the match is stopped. The doctors came out to work on Nakamura causing the crowd to chant “PG Sucks” among other things.

    They worked on Nakamura for a long time, and I thought he might actually not be okay. Then Nakamura started thumping his foot against the ring to get the crowd going and then he went after Manny. He didn’t seem affected by his time on the ground. Manny did a lot of lucha moves that got under Nakamura’s skin throughout the match. When Manny would hit a lucha move, Nakamura would immediately go outside and sell for a bit.

    Manny did a moonsault off the stage ramp onto a standing Nakamura on the floor. Manny didn’t much of a reaction until he did the Kota Ibushi spot. The moonsault off the rope that misses and then follows up with another moonsault. It got a nearfall and the crowd popped and chanted for Manny. Nakamura then quickly cut him off and hit the Kinshasa for the win. It was a good match that could’ve been a lot better if given the time.

    NXT Champion Finn Balor and Austin Aries d. Baron Corbin and Tye Dillinger

    Tye comes out first and starts talking about Columbia and himself and how he’s a perfect ten. He hypes up Corbin as his partner. Corbin comes and keeps his shirt on. He kept his shirt on for the entirety of the match despite the pleas from the crowd to take it off. Finn and Aries hit the ring and Finn cuts a promo hyping up Corbin on his debut and winning the Battle Royale. He then says that he’s gonna throw Corbin over the rope tonight in Columbia.

    The match starts and it revolves around whether Corbin or Finn will throw the other over the top rope. Corbin throws Aries over very early on, grabs the mic and says to Finn, “See how easy it was for me to throw that little guy over the top rope, now im gonna do it to you”. The match is good, Tye takes around 70% of the offense for Finn/Aries. Finn and Aries trade getting the heat from Corbin throughout the match. Then Finn hits slingblade on Corbin and Corbin staggers to the rope. Finn then finally clotheslines Corbin over the rope. Aries dives outside onto Corbin.

    Finn hits the Sling Blade on Tye, then hits the Blood Sunday for the win. Finn then gets the crowd to sing Nah Nah Nah Nah Wave Goodbye to Corbin. After the match, Aries and Finn get the ref (not drake) to toss Tye over the rope and he does to much applause. This was a really good show overall, wish some matches got more time than others.

  • Shinsuke Nakamura suffers possible injury during WWE NXT live event

    After a scare, Shinsuke Nakamura seemed to be okay and finished his match tonight.

    Nakamura was wrestling Manny Andrade, the former La Sombra, in Columbia, SC tonight during a WWE NXT Live Event. Andrade did a moonsault off the top rope to the floor and Nakamura was down.  The match was stopped for two minutes as medical officials were attending to him.

    Nakamura was able to get up and finish the match.

    We’re waiting for an update but I believe he did suffer a significant cut during the move.

    Nakamura and Sombra had a program together in both Japan and Mexico in 2013 where Nakamura lost the IWGP IC title to Sombra at Arena Mexico, but regained it later in the year.  The program established Sombra as a star outside of Mexico.

  • NXT Concord, NC, live results: Finn Balor & Nakamura team up

    Submitted by Jason Sitek

    No Way Jose defeated Riddick Moss

    Both guys are pretty green, but this was a prelim house show match. Jose got some solid chanting, and has a Latin baseball player’s walk-up music. Lots of dancing and then he won the match with a baseball pitching wind-up punch.

    Elias Samson defeated John Skyler

    As soon as Samson’s music hit, the place starts booing. He cut a promo and sang a song but the sound at floor level was not great, so you could not really make anything out. Skyler is from Concord but fans were more focused on booing Samson.  Lots of “drift away” and “you can’t wrestle” chants.

    Alex Riley defeated Blake

    No Murphy or Alexa with Blake who is pretty dead without them. Lots of “Where’s Alexa?” chants. Alex Riley smiled at the “young Triple H!” chants, commenting on his look, but that’s about the only good thing to say about this. Riley won the match, but I’m not sure anyone was the better for it.

    Eva Marie defeated Carmella

    Carmella out first to a huge pop. Eva came out to tremendous heat and boos, but you can tell the crowd loves booing her and she loves getting that reaction. Lot of knee-in-the-back rest holds from Eva to Carmella. Carmella got her comeback, but Eva got the win by keeping her feet on the bottom rope. Carmella left, but came back and hit her finisher on Eva to pop the crowd.

    NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha defeated The Revival

    Gable is great, but I was most impressed by Jordan, Dash, and Dawson. Revival got lots of heat on Gable and were bantering back and forth with the crowd.  They were sarcastic and heelish, and it was great. Jordan got his babyface comeback and took off the shoulder straps, then later in the match emphatically put them back on and immediately got fired up and took them back off — to the roar of the crowd. 

    Spot of the night was a new one for this match-up (from what I can tell) where Gable was in the corner and one member of Revival tries to schoolboy him, but Gable has his arms around the other Revival member and suplexes him. Alpha wins, but no signature finisher.

    – Short promo from Tom Phillips and Dasha Fuentes about merch & and then intermission.

    Austin Aries defeated Manny Andrade

    Manny out to generic Latin music and very little reaction — but that would change by the end of the match.  Most people, including NXT fans, may not know who Manny is/was and how good he is. Very quiet during the first half of the match, but some of the best wrestling of the night. Aries had the crowd support at first but credit to him for getting Manny over.  By the time this match was done, Manny was the star leaving the ring.  Aries pinned him but helped up him and pointed at Manny in a way that let the fans know the former La Sombra is the real deal.

    NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Peyton Royce

    Peyton Royce out with new heel music, attire, and heel mannerisms. She has a small flower she carries with her and smells from time to time.  Asuka was out but had no belt. Eva Marie came out before the match got underway, carrying the “belt” underneath a blanket, challenging Asuka to a match for the title at NXT Columbia the next night. 

    The crowd loved Asuka, and was really one of the best on this show tonight. Peyton got a lot of offense in, but Asuka tapped her out to the Asuka Lock.  Asuka then asked for a mic and in confident English said “Eva, I’m going to kick your ass.”

    NXT Champion Finn Balor/Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Tye Dillinger/Baron Corbin

    Wildly entertaining man event. Dillinger out first and the “10” gimmick is over. He cut a promo about how this crowd/show is a 4 but since he’s a 10, he’ll give them a perfect match and perfect victory.  Corbin out next and the banter was excellent.  Nakamura out third and the crowd made known who they came to see. The entire arena could not have been more excited to see him live. Finn Balor still wildly popular as NXT champ and cheered but not as big as Nakamura. Corbin worked the match with his shirt on and bantered with the crowd, rubbing his fingers together to show the only way he’d take it off would be for money.

    Finn was up first and the crowd erupted when he tagged in Nakamura.  Tye and Baron tagged in and out to delay eventually facing him. Lots of the usual Nakamura spots like the vibrating stomp, knees and kicks, but you don’t even care if you’ve seen it before because it’s so great live. His facial features sell it even further.

    Since Concord is just outside of Charlotte, the Flair chops were used heavily. Finn hit Tye with chops and then went FULL-Flair and started strutting and WOO!-ing.  He sold it like he had dreamed of working the Carolinas as Flair as a kid. The Flair spots culminated in a perfect Flair-flop from Dillinger and the crowd laughed uproariously and applauded.  Nothing bad but nothing memorable from Corbin.  After some grappling, Nakamura hit Tye with a knee strike from the top rope and tagged Finn who hit the Bloody Sunday for the pin.

    Finn and Nakamura celebrated, and then Balor grabbed the mic and cut a promo. He was very passionate and said that after ‘Mania there were a lot of tired, sore, and even some homesick wrestlers, but crowds like tonight make them want to go out and not let anyone down.  The crowd appreciated the candor.  He then handed the mic to Shinsuke who said he only had one thing to say: “YEAOH!”  — and the entire crowd did it with him.

    Fun moment after the match: Finn grabbed a fan’s sign and held it up to all sides of the ring.  The sign read “WHERE ARE DOC AND KARL?” 

  • NXT TV tapings results & notes: Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Asuka

    Here’s some notes from today’s NXT tapings as part of Fan Axxess. Three weeks worth of tapings were held in a different part of the Bailey Kay Hutchison Center as the show the night before. It’s clear that a lot of stuff will be added between backstage and probably a lot of videos from the TakeOver shows as they didn’t tease much in the way of future directions.

    4/6 show

    – Asuka beat Eva Marie.  This was to set up Asuka vs. Nia Jax as a title program as they had a staredown.

    – Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson beat two wrestlers who weren’t named, possibly Scott Matthews & Scott Parker from Quebec.

    – Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley beat Blake & Murphy.  No Alexa Bliss with Blake & Murphy. Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson jumped The Hype Bros after the match so that looks to be a new program.

    – Carmella beat Aliyah

    – Shinsuke Nakamura beat Elias Samson

    4/13 show

    – Jason Jordan & Chad Gable beat Enzo Amore & Big Cass.  There’s been talk of Enzo & Cass coming up to the main roster.

    – Nia Jax b Deonna Purrazzo

    – No Way Jose, whose debut has been pushed for the last few weeks on NXT, debuts on this show over Alexander Wolfe

    – Samoa Joe beat Apollo Crews via choke.

    – Austin Aries beat Angelo Dawkins.

    4/20 show

    – Alexa Bliss beat Tessa Blanchard

    Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa (who have signed NXT contracts but not developmental contracts, believed to be similar to the deal Austin Aries has, to where they can still work indies) beat The Vaudevillains.  So looks like they are now in for a push.

    – Baron Corbin pinned Tucker Knight in a basic squash

    – Bayley beat Liv Morgan.  Bayley cut a generic promo about it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, it’s how many you get back up.  She never mentioned Asuka’s name.

    – Nakamura beat Tye Dillinger.  Nakamura was great at connecting with the crowd.