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Tag: NXT

  • Kevin Owens rekindles Sami Zayn rivalry at NXT Milwaukee house show

    Image courtesy of Count Counterpoint

    Submitted by Andrew Vrchota

    Packed house at the Turner Hall Ballroom. Crowd was hot for the entire show.

    NXT Tag Champions The Mechanics (Dash & Dawson) def. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady

    Show opened with Dash and Dawson vs Enzo and Big Cass for the tag team championships. Enzo said that tonight they would get redemption for what happened in the UK. Lots of Enzo flying around spots. Dash and Dawson ended up getting the win on a roll up after the ref was getting Cassady out of the ring when he didn’t see him tag in.

    Carmella def. Alexa Bliss

    Carmella got on the mic and said for tonight only she was going to be the princess of Milwaukee. Good chain wrestling from these two. Carmella gets Bliss to tap out with a choke via her leg around Alexa’s neck.

    Elias Samson def. Bull Dempsey

    Bull comes out with a youth cheesehead on, which gets a great reaction. Then, the lights went out. A spot light shined on the bar to the left of the ring and Samson’s music hit to which he got up from the bar and went to the ring. Pretty neat concept for an entrance, just not sure how this character sets him apart from the rest. The match takes a while to get underway after Samson is not thrilled with Dempsey’s squats. Dempsey also removed the cheesehead, but the crowd urged him to wear it while he wrestled. Samson won with a swinging neck breaker (I believe). This was a total comedy match. After the match, Samson spit on the cheesehead and ripped it into pieces. Dempsey got ahold of Samson’s guitar, took the money from it, and threw the bills into the crowd.

    NXT Women’s Champion Bayley def. NIa Jax

    Jax was in control for much of the match. Bayley eventually made her comeback and actually hit the Bayley to belly finisher on Jax.

    INTERMISSION

    Sami Zayn def. Tommaso Ciampa

    Crowd was split 50/50 for this as Ciampa calls Milwaukee home. This was easily match of the night. Get, stuff match. Ciampa was chopping and slapping Zayn so hard that blood blisters were seen on Zayn’s chest and neck. Zayn hit his usual dive to the outside. Ciampa hit Zayn with a power bomb back breaker for a 2 count that had everyone fooled as the actual finish. Crowd really got into this match. Zayn won with the helluva kick.

    After the match, Zayn and Ciampa shook hands out of respect in the ring. Zayn got in the mic and talked about ECW running shows in Turner Hall 15 years ago and that what NXT is doing today is exactly what ECW was doing 15 years ago. Zayn mentioned that someone told him that Turner Hall was their favorite venue to work at, and after wrestling in it tonight, he agrees….Kevin Owens!

    Owens comes out and says that person was him that told him that and that Turner Hall was supposed to be the last venue he worked as an independent wrestler before he went to WWE but do to circumstances beyond his control, he never got to wrestle at Turner Hall. Owens said that Sami is probably getting a little upset at Owens, but said he knew Sami wasn’t going to do anything about it because Owens is too important. Owens said that while he’s been main eventing Raw, Smackdown, live events etc, Zayn has been sitting in his couch nursing his injuries. This lead to Zayn kicking Owens in the face. Owens retreats and Zayn says that he can have his Raw and Smackdown, because NXT belongs to Sami Zayn.

    Eva Marie def. Peyton Royce

    Yep, they followed up the match of the night and biggest surprise of the night with EVA MARIE. Nothing really to write home about. Royce has some great leg kicks. Eva wins with a spinning neck breaker.

    NXT Champion Finn Balor vs Apollo Crews vs Baron Corbin

    Corbin stayed out of the ring to start but while Finn and Crews were tied up, Corbin would trip one of the two. Finn and Crews teamed up to take out Corbin and his shenanigans. Finn and Crews had a great series of moves, counters, holds, etc. Corbin eventually got some offense on both Finn and Crews. Couple cool, fast paced spots involving all 3 competitors. At one point, Corbin had Crews in a head lock, which allowed Finn to drop kick Corbin and Corbin’s momentum caused Crews to be DDTed. Finish saw Crews hit the standing moonsault on Corbin, Finn broke up the pinball with a Cope de Grace and was able to pin Corbin. After the match, Crews and Finn posed for the crowd. They shook hands, hugged, and threw up the “2 Sweet” sign.

  • NXT Citrus Springs, FL, results: Rich Swann, Biff Busick, Finn Balor, Bayley title match

    Submitted by J.J. Williams

    – Rich Swann defeats the debuting Chris Gerard (aka Biff Busick) with his standing 450. Good showing here by both newcomers.

    – Elias “The Drifter” Samson defeated Steve Cutler w/ his neck breaker finish. A lot of heat on Elias now with “Drift Away” chants.

    – Eva Marie, Emma & Billie Kay w/ Dana Brooke & LeFort defeated Liv Morgan, Adrien Reese, & Carmella. Eva held the tights and got the pin on Reese. A lot of booing for Eva here, two heel managers at ringside got a lot of distractions going.

    – Promo segment w/ Noah Kekoa saying he no longer wants us in his Friend Zone before Bull Dempsey came out to talk to him about being friends. Noah got upset with Bull and called him fat over and over before Bull laid him out and did his seated splash to teach Noah a lesson.

    – Tye Dillinger defeated Levis Valenzuela Jr. Fun match with comedy early on, the crowd chanted diece for Levis as opposed to Tye’s ten. Dillinger got the upper hand and picked up the win with his knee finisher.

    – Hype Bros defeated BAMF w/ Alexa Bliss & Tucker Knight and Hugo Knox in a triple threat tag match. Crowd was hot for Tucker and Hugo, singing the Silver Boots song for Tucker. Blake and Murphy heckled the crowd for cheering the other teams so much. A lot of action before the Hypes got the win.

    – Apollo Crews defeated Alex Riley w/ his big slam. Tough guy match here. Apollo had a lot of support so Riley taunted the crowd back.

    – NXT Women’s Champion Bayley defeated Peyton Royce in a NXT Women’s Title Match w/ the Belly to Bayley. This Citrus Springs crowd was even rowdier than the recent Full Sail taping, singing both Bayley songs. Bayley danced along to them as Peyton sassed the crowd. Bayley even did some mat work tonight such as a surfboard. After doing ten punches in the corner, the crowd chanted Ten as per Dillinger so Bayley did his hands routine and even a cartwheel to a huge pop. Peyton escaped one Belly to Bayley but couldn’t avoid it the second time. Great match here. Hope to see more.

    – NXT Champion Finn Balor, Enzo Amore, & Big Cass defeated Tino Sabatelli & NXT Tag Champions Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder. Dash & Dawson got a lot of heat on Big Cass in this match before the hot tag to Finn who cleared house and scored the win. Faces went around the ring for high fives to send everyone home happy. Enzo even stopped to talk to some younger fans and pose for pictures, these three are great.

  • NXT Tampa results: Manny “La Sombra” Andrade debuts; Finn Balor, Asuka, more

    Submitted by J.J. Williams

    – Hype Bros defeated Marcus Louis and Sawyer Fulton via pinfall with the Hype Ryder on Marcus. Good reaction for the Bros here. Fun action.

    – Elias Samson beat Rich Swann with his new neckbreaker finish. Good match, Swann is beloved already and Elias had a lot of heat here. After the win, Elias hopped the barricade and drifted away.

    – Eva Marie, Alexa Bliss and Peyton Royce defeated Liv Morgan, Aliyah, and Adrien Reese. The negative reaction for Eva is amazing these days. Eva got the pin on Aliyah.

    – Manny Andrade (the former La Sombra) made his NXT debut and defeated Riddick Moss with running knees to the face while Moss is laying with his head on the bottom turnbuckle. Manny wasn’t known yet, so he had to win over this crowd.

    – Jason Jordan, Chad Gable and Apollo Crews defeated NXT Champion Dash & Dawson and Angelo Dawkins. American Alpha is very over, a lot of solid wrestling here. Gable hit a delayed roll through Chaos Theory. It was a thing of beauty. Jordan is the best hot tag in NXT, and cleared house before Gable scored the pin after the assisted German Suplex.

    – Baron Corbin defeated Alex Riley with the EOD. Physical match. Baron was jawing with the crowd a lot.

    – Asuka defeated Billie Kay (w Sylvester LeFort) via Asuka Lock submission. Good match here, all about Asuka.

    – NXT Champion Finn Balor and Bull Dempsey defeated Tye Dillinger and Tino Sabatelli. A lot of comedy with Bull doing his jumping jacks routine and upsetting the heels with his antics. Finn was extra animated in this match as he Irish whipped Tino across the ring and chopped him 9 times before Dillinger got in his way to stop the tenth, Finn then chopped Tye for the large ten chant. Balor got the win with the stomp and sent everyone home happy.

  • WWE NXT Breaking Ground Episode 10: Respect; Breeze called up

    Breaking Ground Episode 10: Respect

    Key Takeaway: The first season of Breaking Ground caps off with a really strong episode focusing on the NXT performers at TakeOver: Respect.

    Show Recap: In terms of a single episode, this edition worked better than any other episode of this season, and arguably works entirely on its own as a backgrounder on the NXT performers. Last week left off with fans beginning to line up outside Full Sail University for TakeOver: Respect. From there, we branch off into several parallel paths:

    Jason Jordan and Chad Gable: Gable and Jordan talk about the importance of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – we get a nice video package explaining Dusty’s death and legacy – and then shift to the excitement of them getting to wrestle on their first TakeOver event. They lose to Baron Corbin and Rhyno, but afterwards get a lot of praise backstage for their performance and view the experience as something to build on.

    Baron Corbin: Before the show, Corbin and Tino Sabbatelli have a nice chat about their shared background as NFL players. Corbin notes how he came in and people didn’t like him because he didn’t come from the indies or pay his dues, but he worked hard and got to the top – basically saying that he hopes Sabbatelli can do that, too. Anyway, Corbin and Rhyno beat Jordan and Gable, then lose to Samoa Joe and Finn Balor in the finals. (There’s a really cool segment with Stephanie and Triple H looking at the trophy and talking about the presentation of the trophy with Cody and Dustin Rhodes before the show.) After the match, we get Cody’s speech and then see Corbin backstage, a bit gutted that a trophy was being presented and he wasn’t part of it. The guy is competitive.

    Dana Brooke: Dana’s mom visits before the show and helps her prepare for the show. She and her mom visit with Tara, the NXT physical therapist, who explains the injury is a pectoral tear and she can work through it. Dana guts out the match with Asuka and does really well, getting praise backstage.

    Apollo Crews: Before the show, Triple H and Apollo talk about a new finisher for him. He has a match with Tyler Breeze, who he repeatedly puts over in interviews, and beats him with his new finisher – which is basically a back suplex spun into a power-bomb. It looks cool.

    Bayley: The show caps off with highlights from the Bayley/Sasha Iron Man Match, which is edited to look like the most epic match in history. Afterwards Bayley and Sasha get flowers and hug and it’s all very nice and emotional.

    After the show, Triple H has a meeting with the agents and producers and praises the show, noting they basically made four acts into stars (Apollo Crews, Dana Brooke, Asuka, and Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) in one show, one of which was somebody who lost. Then he heads to the all-talent meeting, where he praises the talent and says that Dusty would be proud of all of them. Then he calls Tyler Breeze down to the front of the meeting and announces that Breeze has been called up to the main roster, leading to a standing ovation from the assembled NXT talent.

    The episode ends with a montage of updates on how everyone’s doing now: Dana had pectoral surgery and is rehabbing. Apollo and Corbin are still in NXT and working on their promo skills. Jordan and Gable are one of NXT’s most popular teams and might get called up soon. Sami Zayn returned to action on the European tour. Bayley is still NXT women’s champion and beat Nia Jax in London to retain the title in a match Jax dominated. Bayley hopes to get her call-up soon. Tino, ZZ and the others are still working hard at the Performance Center to pursue their WWE dreams. Tyler Breeze made his debut on the main roster, with the last image shown on Breaking Ground being Breeze coming through the curtain and facing the crowd as Michael Cole and JBL react to his entrance on commentary.

    Final Thoughts: This episode was good enough to make me wonder why they spent nine episodes spinning their wheels to get here. It was really focused and somewhat resembled the superb WWE 24 series, which tended to focus on a single event and drill down into the events surrounding it. The emphasis on the importance of the TakeOver events as a means of getting to the main roster really helped make this episode seem really important. The focus on the handful of NXT stars that we’ve gotten to know and care about – rather than random people like Josh, Nhooph or ZZ – really made the episode feel important rather than something crammed with random segments to fill the time. It’d be great if every episode was this focused next season, because then the show could be something special.

  • Can WWE grow their own talent to be stars anymore?

    Once Upon A Time, in a Business Far, Far, Far Away…the idea that Vince McMahon could push main eventers who had never experienced success outside of the WWF was absurd given how aggressively they had poached the biggest and the best pro wrestlers from rival promotions. Indeed, with only two exceptions, the WWF did not own the exclusive rights to their champion’s gimmick until “Stone Cold” Steve Austin won the title in 1998.  

    Even then, at a time when McMahon’s main even roster was arguably at its weakest, it was still focused on guys such as Mick Foley and Austin who had won championships in WCW. Even The Undertaker had a notable run in WCW as part of The Skyscrapers. But Triple-H and The Rock were different; the former had achieved nothing during a short-stay in Atlanta whilst the latter didn’t even get that far south after leaving the Canadian Football League. Instead, they were WWF-lifers, men who debuted to much fanfare, suffered a vicious yet deserved backlash, only to finally grow into the shoes they had been given upon entering the Titanverse.

    It’s a journey that most of WWE’s late Attitude era draws have trodden. Whether it’s John Cena, Randy Orton, Dave Batista or Edge, they are all were similarly devoid of pro wrestling accomplishments away from the McMahons, and were all strongly pushed upon their debut only to temporarily falter due to the promotion and performer having failed to perfect their persona away from the main stage. Yet, they all eventually achieved real success after tweaking their characters.

    It has been more than a decade since the promotion has found the same success in ‘hothousing’ talent in this way. Whether that’s due to the developmental system not recruiting the right performers or creative not letting talent grow into more marketable personas is up for debate. What cannot be argued is that the inability of WWE to grow its own superstars has had the most profound impact on the product they present.

    The careers of CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are all evidence of how the WWE has been forced to reach into the very same independent scene they used to dismiss to find the next generation of superstars. Still, at least, the promotion was able to console itself with the fact that these men all needed the McMahon Family to get them to the big stage. After all, without the WWE, they wouldn’t be performing in arena shows or on national television.

    Indeed, it seemed that this became WWE management’s collective egos’ Maginot Line; anybody could be hired provided they had no national television exposure and weren’t so infamous that WWE couldn’t remould them. Kevin Owens was the first to hint that this defence was creaking. Sure, he was given a slightly different name but he was essentially playing the same character as he had in Ring of Honor. Worse, he had appeared extensively on ROH syndicated television and had even had his own action figure produced.

    But that was nothing compared to this week’s news that A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are on their way to WWE. While both men are just as revered by smart fans as the ‘indie darlings’ that WWE has been busily signing to NXT in recent years, they have far more tenure in “mainstream” pro wrestling.

    Styles was not just regularly featured on Spike TV rom 2005 to 2014, but was the TNA champion during the period Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan tried to turbocharge TNA to new heights. A show Styles appeared on as champion was watched (at one point) by more than 3 million people. His merchandise includes action figures, t-shirts, DVDs and video games. He’s wrestled all over the world, and so while the WWE could insist on renaming him, it would likely hold them up to ridicule and lessen the impact of his debut.

    Styles has also been the highest profile foreign star in New Japan Pro-Wrestling for the past two years. However, his impact there has been nothing like that of Shinsuke Nakamura. An art-college vision of bad-ass, he is easily the flashiest character and most dynamic performer in New Japan’s main event scene. Not even Sting could boast having headlined a show with as high a paid attendance as Wrestle Kingdom 8, where Nakamura’s Intercontinental Title defence went on last in front of more than 30,000 people.

    To underline how significant a change in WWE’s recruitment policies these signings are, consider this. The last person to be recruited by WWE having successfully drawn more than 10,000 buys on pay per view for a rival pro wrestling promotion within a year of their debut was probably Hulk Hogan in 2002! Other than the ill-fated Mistico, WWE has simply not recruited anybody with the success or profile of either Styles or Nakamura since they cemented their dominant market position.

    And the reason they are doing so is not because they want to, but because they’ve finally acknowledged that they can’t grow their own talent. That they are being forced to face up to his failure does raise questions about what the millions of dollars being invested into NXT are actually achieving.

  • WWE NXT TV taping spoilers: Finn Balor vs. Apollo Crews, #1 contender’s three-way dance

    From Winter Park, FL:

    They opened with two matches taped for a show called WWE Kids. The idea is that Corey Graves announces with two kids and that kids handle the interviews and ring announcing.  One of the ring announcers was Izzy, the Bayley fan who had been featured on TV during her matches the last several months.

    • Becky Lynch beat Natalya
    • Big Show beat Heath Slater

    NXT for January 13, 2016:

    William Regal announces a battle royal with the winner getting a shot at Bayley’s championship. Sami Zayn came out, not to enter the battle royal, but to challenge Finn Balor for the NXT title. Samoa Joe came out so this set up Zayn vs. Joe. Baron Corbin then came out and it set up a three-way for the next title shot.

    • Tommaso Ciampa beat Danny Burch
    • Dash & Dawson beat The Ascension
    • Elias Sampson beat Corey Hollis
    • Carmella won the battle royal. Eva Marie stayed outside the ring and they teased she had won, but Carmella was never eliminated and threw her out. Bayley and Carmella celebrated after the match.

    NXT for January 20, 2016:

    • Sami Zayn beat Adam Rose
    • Apollo Crews beat Tye Dillinger.  Crews then issued  challenge to Finn Balor, saying he just wanted a match with him now and  it’s not about the title.
    • Baron Corbin pinned Rich Swann with the End of Days
    • Bayley & Carmella beat Alexa Bliss & Emma.  They celebrate like best friends (which they are in real life)
    • Samoa Joe beat Johnny Gargano

    NXT for January 27, 2016:

    • Chad Gable & Jason Jordan came out with the new name American Alpha. they beat Blake & Murphy with the double team back suplex.
    • Nia Jax beat Liv Morgan.  Nia Jax & Eva Marie are together as a unit.
    • Alex Riley (first match back after knee surgery) beat Bull Dempsey
    • Elias Sampson beat John Skyler
    • #1 contender’s match: Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin saw Zayn put Corbin the sharpshooter and Joe put Corbin in the crossface. Corbin tapped out, but the question was who did he tap out to, which will lead to a Zayn vs. Joe singles match for the shot.

    NXT for 2/3

    • The Vaudevillains beat Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder
    • Carmella beat Emma
    • Enzo Amore & Big Cass beat ?
    • Asuka beat Santana Garrett
    • NXT Champion Finn Balor beat Apollo Crews in a non-title match.

  • WWE announces February NXT tour dates & WrestleMania AXXESS details

    On Monday, WWE announced its non-Florida February NXT touring schedule with tickets going on sale on Friday:

    • February 4 in Memphis at the Minglewood Hall
    • February 5 in Nashville at the Auditorium
    • February 6 in Indianapolis at the Old National Centre Egyptian Room
    • February 18 in Philadelphia at the Tower Theater
    • February 19 in Asbury Park, NJ at Boardwalk Hall
    • February 20 in Albany, NY at the National Guard Armory

    ​*****

    The company has also announced details of WrestleMania AXXESS in Dallas, held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, the same site as the NXT show on Friday night.

    There will be activities on Thursday, March 31, from 6-10 p.m.; Friday, April 1 from 5-9 p.m., and three Saturday sessions from 8 a.m. to Noon, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The latter session goes head-to-head with the Hall of Fame ceremony. There is also a Sunday event from 8 a.m. to Noon.

    The events are in direct competition with a ton of other indie shows that will be held in the area as well as Jim Ross one-man show events. There is also a Sunday event from 8 a.m. to Noon.

  • B&V 12/31: Breaking Ground, Granny, Monday Night Raw!

    It’s the return of the Bryan & Vinny Show, either the first of 2016 or the last of 2015, however you want to look at it! A packed show as we’ve got WWE Breaking Ground, Granny with a look at everyone’s New Year’s Resolutions, and Vinny’s Monday Night Raw review! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • WWE NXT Breaking Ground Episode 9: Countdown, Bayley at a PPV

    Breaking Ground Episode 9: Countdown

    By Ryan Pike

    Key Takeaway: TakeOver: Respect draws near as we follow several NXT personalities as they prepare for the big event. The focus on TakeOver adds some much-needed urgency to the show.

    Recap: As with the past few episodes, this edition of Breaking Ground wasn’t focused on one or two competitors, but the episode’s focus on the road to TakeOver: Respect helped make up for it.

    Bayley visits Natalya at “Night of Champions” and picks her brain a bit about the upcoming Iron Man match. Natalya reassures her that she’s the right person to lead the way for the young NXT female locker room as champion. Later, Bayley shoots promos for the match and gets a bit choked up as she discusses the importance and historical nature of the bout, which they emphasize is the first time females have main-evented a live WWE special. When she arrives at Full Sail for the event, Bayley seems a bit relieved that the day has arrived – she mentions how she’s been constantly running around preparing and promoting the event (and while she does this in voice-over, she is constantly shaking hands with different people at the arena backstage who greet her) that she’s a bit wired at this point. In a cool moment in this episode, Bayley gets a chance to play with her own action figure as Mattel comes to do facial scans of other NXT stars.

    Nia Jax is getting ready for her TV debut (which was taped after TakeOver, but appears in this episode because of narratives). Her mom has flown in and helps her prepare. Nia has no idea what to do for her entrance. Her mom advises her not to over-analyze her entrance and just enjoy the moment when she walks out there. Her mom mentions what she has already overcome, and Nia tells the story of getting in an accident with a drunk driver in August 2014 (with The Rock’s mom with her in the car). In a funny moment, Rhyno and Baron Corbin joke around with her about being nervous about her debut, sharing horror stories of their past debuts. (Rhyno came out during the commercial break because he thought the generic rock music was his entrance music, advising her to “remember her music.”) She likes her new gear. Her debut happens, the crowd reacts well to her. She tears up discussing how much it all meant to her having her mom there. (Weirdly, she has a talk with her mom outside the venue wearing her more recent gear with the cool shoulder-pads.)

    Sami Zayn begins doing conditioning in-ring with Tye Dillinger. He goes through a series of holds while a trainer assesses him. He notes afterwards it’s unclear if he’s going up to the main roster or not, as it wasn’t clear to him if his Montreal match with John Cena was a full call-up or a one-off.

    In a strange quirk, last week’s cliffhanger with Dana Brooke getting injured is not really followed up on. They establish that she was hurt and injured some muscle in-between her pectoral and her shoulder, but she decided to work through it as the trainers felt whatever damage had been done wouldn’t get worse. She does get choked up a bit chatting with Jason Jordan prior to Takeover, but she gets to make her TakeOver debut with Asuka regardless.

    In lesser news: Tino Sabbatelli gets video feedback from Adam Pearce and Matt Bloom, and does extra work in the ring at the Performance Center with the hopes of working his way back up from the beginners class to the touring roster. Tyler Breeze and his girlfriend adopt a stray dog that followed him to the Performance Center. Jason Jordan and Chad Gable order custom track suits for their TakeOver match, but they don’t arrive in time.

    And the beginning of “TakeOver: Respect” is this episode’s big cliffhanger, as we’ll follow up on that event in next week’s season finale.

    Final Thoughts: A fairly strong episode of Breaking Ground, if only because of the focus on TakeOver and the time it spent with personalities like Bayley, Nia Jax and Sami Zayn who the show has spent time with and given reasons for viewers to care about.

  • WWE NXT Breaking Ground Episode 8: Crossroads; Scott Hall dops by, plus Sami Zayn, Dana Booke, and Apollo Crews

    Breaking Ground Episode 8: Crossroads 

    Submitted by: Ryan Pike

    Big Takeaway: Tino Sabatelli takes a step backwards, Sami Zayn works on his shoulder rehab, and Dana Brooke gets injured by Asuka’s ass on another chaotic episode of Breaking Ground.

    Show Recap: As with last week, an unfocused journey through NXT.

    Building off last episode’s cliffhanger, Triple H commends Bayley and Sasha Banks for their performance at TakeOver Brooklyn, notes that he thinks they left some “story on the table,” and asks them to main event the next TakeOver event in an Iron Man match. They (obviously) accept.

    Scott Hall visits the Performance Center for a week and is asked by Matt Bloom to work a bit with Baron Corbin. He gives him a few pointers as far as working heel goes, but aside from that and giving Apollo Crews some pointers on doing interviews – don’t make it seem like you’re cutting a promo, just speak like you usually do – he doesn’t really do much of anything.

    Sami Zayn is back at the Performance Center working on his shoulder rehabilitation and hopefully to get closer to a return. He’s not cleared yet and he does some resistance exercises that are designed to test his shoulder. Regal still thinks Zayn has a ways to go yet as a performer and wants him to focus on the basic notion of pro wrestling: at its core, it’s two people competing. Since he’s not cleared yet, he focuses on helping Tyler Breeze tutor Eva Marie. He offers her this advice on using pin-fall attempts to pace a match: “If we’re selling a story, these [sequences] are sentences, [pinfalls] are the punctuation.”

    Tino Sabbatelli is given a match, his second match ever, on a house show against Apollo Crews. He develops his character by looking at sweet suits. Tino does not look great in his match with Apollo. His striking looks terrible and he turns away from contact on a drop-kick in a way that almost endangers Apollo. Bloom gives him a rundown of what he did wrong, emphasizing paying attention to details and his striking (Vince’s motto is apparently “Men throw punches.”). Corbin pulls him aside and gives him some advice, too (noting that he’s had two matches and to put in the work). After the show, Bloom tells Tino that he’s being put back in Robbie Brookside’s beginners class (presumably so he can work on some fundamentals).

    Dana Brooke works out with the new Australian girls – Billie Kay is specifically identified – and talks about not being intimidated working with Asuka, who’s finally identified on this show. Anyway, immediately after talking about not being intimidated, she’s knocked loopy by an Asuka hip attack in a work-out and that’s the big cliffhanger: did Asuka’s ass kill Dana Brooke? (Spoiler: no.)

    In less important news: Josh from Tough Enough’s wife and daughter move to Florida finally, Nia Jax designs her ring gear for her TV debut, and Mojo Rawley has a party.

    Final Thoughts: Sadly, it was another fairly unfocused episode, as it included way too many NXT personalities for any of them to really register as important.