From the Venice Community Center in front of approximately 250 fans
– Bayley beat Mandy Rose
Bayley was wearing a knee brace to sell the angle after losing to Nia Jax on TV this week. She hit the Belly To Bayley for the win.
– Tucker Knight beat Tino Sabbatelli
The slimmed down Knight won with a big punch and what seemed like a Thesz Press.
– Mojo Rawley beat Chris Girard
Rawley got the win after a combination and clothesline while Girard was in the corner.
– Angelo Dawkins beat Dylan Miley
Dawkins got the win out of nowhere.
– NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha beat Sawyer Fulton and Alexander Wolfe
The heels got a lot of heat on Gable before Jordan got the hot tag and they score the win with the assisted suplex.
– No Way Jose beat Hugo Knox
Knox returned as a heel since the last time he’s worked. Jose hit his signature spots and won with the ripcord cobra clutch slam.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka and Carmella beat Nia Jax and Peyton Royce
Asuka Lock on Royce for the win.
– Shinsuke Nakamura beat Elias “The Drifter” Samson
Loud heat for Samson’s pre-match promo and attempted song. Huge reaction for Nakamura. Some comedy spots with Shinsuke air guitaring then passing the air guitar to referee Drake Wuertz who then jammed out and even slid on his knees to the center of the ring like the rock star he is. Shinsuke was the victim of many Drifter headlocks before laying in some vicious kicks before his finishing series and Kinshasa for the win.
I’m at Full Sail University in Winter Park FL for tonight’s NXT tapings.
– Dark Match: Manny Andrade beat Tino Sabbatelli
Manny had a new name, but I couldn’t hear over the reaction. (Editor’s note: Andrade “Cien” Almas). This was a very good match as Tino is much improved, and a showcase for Manny as he’s clearly the gem of the non-TV roster. Andrade teased dives to the outside, and in the end, Manny hit the running double knees in the corner for the win.
– Dark Match: NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha beat The Authors Of Pain
This was the Full Sail debut of Gzim Selmani and Sunny Dhinsa, and they did well in working the Alpha style of match. They got the heat on Gable before the Jordan hot tag. End was the Assisted German Suplex for the win for AA.
– Mr Regal announces Nia vs. Alexa vs. Carmella for the right to face Asuka for the title at TakeOver .
– Ciampa and Gargano beat TM61 (Nick Miller and Shane Thorn)
TM61 are the former TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste). Excellent match, hard hitting and fast paced. Big reactions for both teams. Ciampa and Gargano got the heat on Shane for most of it before we got the hot tag to Nick. TM61 hit an amazing double team DDT for a near fall, broken up by Johnny. Finish was the double superkick by Gargano and Ciampa for the win. The teams had a stare down post match.
– In-ring promo by Austin Aries saying he wants to be champion. Nakamura interrupts him to the loudest pop in Full Sail history. The crowd was even singing along with his music. In English, he says he wants to be the champion. Regal makes his way to the stage and makes the match for TakeOver.
– No Way Jose beat Johnny Vandal
Showcase match for Jose who was incredibly over. NWJ won with his punch and cobra clutch slam.
– Nia Jax beat Carmella and Alexa Bliss in a triple threat for the right to face Asuka at TakeOver
Very good match with Alexa outsmarting the other two. Carmella went for two dives and had her leglock on Alexa before Nia broke it up and hit her big legdrop for the win. Post match, Asuka confronted Nia in the ring and held the title above her head.
– In ring promo by The Revival who say American Alpha are a fine amateur team. They’re interrupted by Ciampa and Gargano who want a match with The Revival. Entertaining stuff, Revival was cleared out of the ring.
– Tye Dillinger beat Buddy Murphy
No Alexa or Blake with Murphy tonight. Big reaction for Dillinger. Murphy tried to work headlocks, yet Dillinger was able to fire up with a superkick and an over the knee neckbreaker for the win.
– Austin Aries beat Elias Samson
As always, major heat on The Drifter with long booing throughout his promo. Aries won via Last chancery submission. Post match, he cut a promo saying he will beat Nakamura.
– Regal is out for the women’s title match contract signing. Nia puts down Asuka and says she broke Bayley. Asuka said “You talk too much” then went off in Japanese to a huge pop. A brawl broke out and Nia powerbombed Asuka who stayed down and sold in the go home angle.
– Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa beat The Revival
Great match with a big upset surprise win when Gargano hit a superplex. Post match, The Revival beat down the indie darlings before Alpha made the save. Alpha and Revival brawled for a long time with Alpha clearing house.
– Adrienne Reese beat Nikki Storm
This probably doesn’t make tv. It was a fun match with the top rope spinning stunner as the amazing finish.
– Dark Match: Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura beat Tye Dillinger and NXT Champion Samoa Joe
We got a great dark match main event to send the crowd home happy. Amazing reactions for Shinsuke and Finn with a lot of fun spots and Shinsuke being the star that he is. Shinsuke pins Joe with the Kinshasa.
With the June 8 match set to be their third consecutive TakeOver main event, Joe vs. Balor has become the first program to reach that milestone since NXT started doing WWE Network specials.
Balor retained the NXT title on a December 16 special from SSE Wembley in London, and did so a second time on April 1 as part of the WrestleMania weekend activities in Dallas.
Evidently, today was “No Way Day” on social media. I haven’t the foggiest what that was supposed to indicate, but it did translate into the crowd being into Jose, whom right now is a perfect opening match guy.
– Tucker Knight d. Tino Sabatelli
Knight is from Portland and carried a Trail Blazers’ “Rip City” sign to the ring. Sabatelli looks like a generic wrestler from 2005, cut from the Randy Orton/Mark Jindrak mold. As basic as a match can get, lots of armbars and chinlocks. Knight won with a rather clumsy powerslam.
– Bayley d. Nia Jax
It’s been repeated ad nauseum, but there’s something special about Bayley. When she entered the arena, a different kind of energy took over the room. She has a Dusty-esque natural everywoman charisma to her. Match was what you would expect, Nia kept using her weight against Bayley, but Bayley ended up winning with a roll up.
– Austin Aries d. Mojo Rawley
Mojo was only below The Drifter as far as drawing crowd hatred, which seemed to amuse Aries. He picked up Mojo’s shirt off the mat and threw it to the crowd, only for the crowd to throw it back. There was a funny spot where Aries and Mojo were running the ropes and Aries stopped and watched Mojo run the ropes a few times like an idiot before he noticed Aries laughing at him. Aries tapped him out.
– NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha d. The Revival
Match of the night. Pretty much the same formula we’ve seen between these two team, but it’s a winning one. One thing I noticed is that Jordan’s facials while he’s on the apron are fantastic. He seems to be totally absorbed in the story and drama of the match and his enthusiasm draws you in. Alpha won with their finish on Dawson whom I finally figured out tonight is the bald one with the handlebar mustache.
– Shinsuke Nakamura d. Elias Samson
Drifter was easily the most hated guy on the show and he ate it up. This was a nothing match really that was just carried by Nakamura’s charisma and mannerisms. Entertaining nonetheless.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka d. Alexa Bliss
Fans responded well to the entrances of these two, but seemed a little drained after the tag match and Nakamura. Asuka tapped Bliss out after about 10 minutes.
– NXT Champion Samoa Joe d. Finn Balor
Balor was only slightly more popular than Joe, and they had a great match. Joe won with a roll up and a handful of tights. Afterwards, a brawl erupted between the two and the entire locker room (Nakamura included) came out to break it up. Once it was cleared out, William Regal came out and scolded Balor from the entrance ramp.
Notes:
Good crowd. The Moda Center was set up in the “Theater Of The Clouds” configuration, which holds about 6,500, and I would say the building was 75-80% full. Only the seats on the far ends of the upper bowls were empty. Crowd was into pretty much everything, and most of the chants were the ones you hear on the NXT TV and TakeOver shows. As Bryan noted from the Seattle show, there were a lot more women at the show than I’m used to seeing at RAW or SmackDown tapings.
Image & results courtesy of Katie Latronico who estimates a crowd in the 200 range
– Dan Matha beat Patrick Clarke
First match of the night was Tough Enough contestant Patrick Clarke still using his new heel gimmick, wearing very patriotic pants with his face on them, and a Donald Trump “Make America Great Again” t-shirt. He was against Matha, a genetic freak of nature that looks a lot like Mr. Clean. It was a fun match that Matha won with a pretty sweet finisher, which looks like a pop up stunner set up after a chokeslam.
– Carmella and Daria beat Mandy Rose and Peyton Royce
Carmella teamed up with former Tough Enough contestant Daria “The Jersey Devil” Berenato against the team of Tough enough runner-up Rose and Royce. Carmella and Daria won with Daria looking really good. Carmella ended the match having Mandy tap out.
– Jeet Rama (Satender Dagar) beat Chris Girard
Rama, one of the Indian signees, came out to hardly any reaction, but quickly won the crowd over. Girard is a great heel, very erratic and aggressive. Jeet won with a roll-up after Girard worked on his leg for awhile; he celebrated while still selling the leg, and danced a bit with Jacksonville’s favorite referee, Drake Wuertz.
– Hugo Knox beat Angelo Dawkins
This was a very fun match with Knox picking up the win. Dawkins has really seemed to get his “two headbands” thing over, or at least, it seems in Jacksonville. Knox cut a promo at the end, which seemed to be something along the lines of him being “liquid money” and “a cover model”, but unfortunately, his accent made it hard to understand with him being post-match out of breath and speaking very fast. Got lots of “WHAT?!” chants as a result.
– Adrienne Reese beat Nicola Glencross
After intermission, we saw Reese vs. the former Nikki Storm, which was a spectacular match. The crowd was really into it, and both girls worked very well with one another. Nikki came out and immediately got heat by screaming at everyone that Jacksonville sucked and Scotland was better. She’s extremely aggressive and working the “crazy heel” angle seems to really work with her. Adrienne picked up the win with her finisher.
– Manny Andrade beat Alexander Wolfe via DQ
The next match was supposed to Andrade vs. Wolfe with his tag team partner Fulton in his corner. Wolfe and Fulton have this new Mad Max type of look that really works for them. The singles match was a good one until Sawyer ran in and clotheslined Manny, which led to him and Wolfe beating him down, and Tye Dillinger running in to make the save. That led to…
– Tye Dillinger and Manny Andrade beat Sawyer Fulton and Alexander Wolfe
Fun match that was mostly Sawyer and Wolfe, who work very well together, beating down Tye. Eventually, Tye and Manny turned it around for the win. The winning team celebrated in the ring and then outside greeting the fans around ringside before the show ended.
Couldn’t even hear what Sampson tried singing he had so much heat. Mid match a “You like Nickelback” chant broke out which was hilarious. Jose won with his full nelson slam.
– Mojo Rawley vs Murphy
Pretty much blah but I’m not a big fan of either. Murphy’s prematch antics were like old school HHH. Mojo won, missed the finisher, crowd wasn’t too into it either.
– Bayley vs Nia Jax
Really good. Crowd was nuts for Bayley. Jax mid-match pranced around mocking Bayley which was a funny sight. Was close to being as good as their Takeover match. Bayley won with a roll up after Jax missed a tackle in the corner.
– Nakamura and Finn Balor vs The Revival
Good match. Crowd was way hot for Balor and Nakamura. Hard to tell who was more over. Nakamura must be being protected because he mainly did his big spots. Balor won hitting his finisher on both men.
– After intermission, William Regal came out to our joy saying thank you.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs Alexa Bliss
Surprisingly really good and the crowd bought a couple of Alexa’s near falls. Asuka ended up winning with the chicken wing.
– NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha vs Tino and Tucker
Decent. Tino is a physical specimen but that’s about it. Gable is crazy over as well. They won with their usual finisher that I forget the name of.
– NXT Champion Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries
Best match by far. Duel chants for both throughout the match. Aries had a nice near fall hitting the 450 but Joe got his foot on the rope. Joe won with the muscle buster. After it was over Aries scooted to the ropes and put his foot on one. Then as he left, he somehow got a banana and was eating it.
I’m here in Largo FL for NXT Live in front of approximately 250 people.
– Mikey Nicholls and Shane Veryzer beat The Authors Of Pain
Early power work by Dhinsa and Selmani with bearhugs, stomps, and overall destroying Mikey. The finish was a flash pin as Shane dropkicked one of the big men which allowed Mikey to get a roll up for the win.
– Adrienne Reese beat Peyton Royce
Early lock-up and mat work before Reese took to the ropes for a big cross body. She hit lots of speed moves and finished Royce off with the top rope jumping stunner.
– Alexander Wolfe beat Josh Woods
Wolfe and tag partner Fulton are out together. Wolfe puts a beating on Woods before the hope spot of Woods catching an ankle lock on Wolfe. Wolfe then hit a big boot for the win. Post match, Fulton and Wolfe cut a promo but were completely drowned out. The gist: Fulton challenged anyone in the back which leads to…
– Angelo Dawkins beat Sawyer Fulton
Hoss match; two large men just throwing each other around. The finish came out of nowhere when Dawkins rocked Fulton with a big punch.
– Chris Girard beat Patrick Clark
Hard-hitting action with Chris taking the attack to Patrick. The finish was a vicious running uppercut by Girard to lay Patrick out.
– Daria and Carmella beat Mandy Rose and Lana
Pre-match promo by Lana saying she is excited to be back in this poor village. This was a safe and basic match. Lana did headlocks when she was in, and Mandy did most of the selling for her team. Carmella ran wild on Mandy and then tagged out to allow Daria the win via submission.
– Tye Dillinger beat Manny Andrade
Great match and they added even more from last night. Early grappling followed by flashy rope running and one upsmanship. Tye had Manny up for an apparent GTS yet it was countered in to a front roll pin attempt and near fall. Big slingshot dive over the top by Manny onto Tye. Action really picked up towards the finish when Tye had Manny up for a powerbomb yet again it was reversed into a forward roll. Yet, Tye countered and kept rolling through and scored the pin. Post-match, the two shook hands and their live event series is 1-1.
Note: you can get a live recap of the show by our Bryan Alvarez, Craig Proper, and Vincent Q. Verhei here.
Balor and Bayley shirts everywhere. Probably 90% males in their 20’s-40’s, 10% girlfriends and kids.
– No Way Jose vs Murphy
No Way Jose wins with his finish. Jose came out with a Russell Wilson jersey to cheers, led a “Sea-Hawks” chant. Great energy.
– Tucker Knight vs Tino Sabatelli
Sabatelli wins via pinfall. Never seen him before but he’s a good athlete for sure.
– Alexa Bliss vs Bayley
The crowd went with every move Bayley made. She picks up the win with the belly to Bayley.
– Austin Aries vs Mojo Rawley
Aries is the solid favorite but Mojo had his fans. The crowd began a “Mojo’s butt” chant which gave me a good laugh. Aries wins with a submission after a fun match.
– The Revival vs NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha
This was match of the night. So many great sequences that felt organic. AA hit a dual ankle lock spot that got a standing ovation. Gable got another standing ovation when he hit a series of moves on Dawson that I can’t begin to describe. Awesome match.
Intermission
– William Regal addressed the crowd. That was a pleasant surprise.
– Elias Sampson vs Shinsuke Nakamura
The Paramount exploded when Nakamura did that taunt he does on the rope during his entrance. Shinsuke wins with Kinsasha in a basic, short match.
– Nia Jax vs NXT Women’s Champion Asuka
Asuka had Jax in a submission before Alexa Bliss ran in to break it up. Both Alexa and Nia attack Asuka until Bayley runs in for the save.
– Finn Balor vs NXT Champion Samoa Joe
Balor enters to many Clique and Bullet Club taunts. After a good back and forth match, Joe wins with the muscle buster.
Crowd didn’t know who either of them were but they won the crowd over by the end.
– Bayley defeated Eva Marie
Huge reaction for Bayley. She is way over with the crowd. A lot of Bayley shirts. Eva Marie was hated, except for a small group of guys that chanted “Let’s go Eva” through the whole match. It was pretty funny!
– Austin Aries defeated Tye Dillinger
Crowd was 50-50 this match. Was surprised to see how over Dillinger was.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Alexa Bliss
Pretty slow match. Bliss started bleeding in the match and it was either a busted nose or lip.
– Intermission
– Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Tyler Breeze
Both were over with the crowd but Nakamura got a huge reaction when he arrived.
– NXT Tag Team Champions American Alpha defeated Sawyer Fulton and Alexander Wolfe
Good match. American Alpha got one of the biggest reactions of the night.
– NXT Champion Samoa Joe defeated Finn Balor
Huge reactions for both men. Best match of the night. After the match, Balor sang karaoke with the crowd and sang “Friends in Low Places”.
I’m at the Orlando National Guard Armory for NXT Live in front of approximately 300 people.
– Nia Jax and Mandy Rose beat Aliyah and Daria
The faces were able to work over Mandy, but once Nia got involved, her power was just too much. Tree Slam by Nia on Daria for the win.
– Josh Woods beat Kishan Raftaar
Kishan kept Josh grounded for most of this one until Woods was able to catch Raftaar with a grapevine ankle lock.
– In ring interview w/ Mikey Nicholls and Shane Veryzer. They proclaim that they are the best team on the planet and the world.
– Elias “The Drifter” Samson beat Cezar
Massive booos for Samson tonight, and he couldn’t even finish his song, drowned out by “You need lessons/your song sucks” chants. There were a few good hope spots by Cezar (including a standing rana), but The Drifter won it with his spinning neck breaker.
– Tino Sabbatelli beat Angelo Dawkins
Good showing by both men. Tino was the face tonight and had the crowd on his side. Some great rope running and leapfrogs, and Tino hit a cross body to finish off the sequence. Tino picked up the win with a running power slam.
– Patrick beat Dan Matha
Big power moves by Dan early on, throwing Patrick around. Roll through with a bridge for Patrick to score the win.
– Adrienne Reese beat Peyton Royce
Fast paced match. Adrienne was flying around the ring, Peyton taunted her flower and by ducking out of the ring. Adrienne used her off the top rope rotating stunner for the win.
– The Vaudevillains beat The Revival
Early grappling and mat work. Gotch worked with both Dash and Scott before Aiden tagged in to pick up the pace. Revival used dastardly tactics to take the ref and get the advantage at all turns. Heat segment working over English before Gotch could make the hot tag and run wild. Great sequence with an attempt at the Vauds finish yet Revival pulled Gotch out, some roll up attempts, and finally they hit their Whirling Dervish for the win.
