WWE NXT Rankings & Evaluation
By George Chiverton, NXT specialist

Last Week's Network Era Rankings

(1) Sami Zayn
(2) Charlotte (NXT Women’s champion)
(3) Adrian Neville (NXT champion)
(4) Tyler Breeze
(5) The Vaudevillians
(6) The Ascension (NXT tag champions)
(7) Enzo Amore
(8) Kalisto
(9) Alexa Bliss
(10) Sasha Banks
(11) Colin Cassady
(12) Bayley
(13) The Legionnaires
(14) Mojo Rawley

8/14 NXT Episode Analysis

- The WWE Network has been released outside of the U.S.! Well, sort of, as I am still without it here in the U.K. As a result, I missed the first five minutes of the first match of the night: Bull Dempsey and Mojo Rawley vs. The Vaudevillains (Simon Gotch and Aiden English). A miscommunication between Bull and Mojo saw Rawley tag himself in which eventually allowed the wrestlers with a splash of "old-school cool" to pick up the win and advance to face Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady.

After the match, Bull looked angry before he turned on Mojo. I don’t know whether it’s because Mojo is not that good in the ring (very few moves, short matches, etc.) or whether the crowd blamed him for the loss, but they were heavily on the side of Bull during the attack. At very least the vocal males were, and let’s be honest they’re the real trendsetters around here. Anyway, it’s an interesting turn of events and this generates some fresh match-ups.

- Backstage, Bayley was getting ready for a match before Sasha Banks came in. Banks was a nasty piece of work in a standard procedure, with both of them saying they should be facing off against Charlotte. Their match was next.

- The commentators discussed tonight’s NXT Title match between Adrian Neville and Tyler Breeze before getting to the women’s match. Both ladies looked angry early, a feature which has been missing from Bayley’s game up to this point. They exchanged some pinning combinations to crisp effect before ... hey ... that ref is Drake Younger! I saw he was signed to WWE as a ref, but actually seeing the smiley indie star in the black and white was a bit surreal. Anyway, right, the match. Sasha stalled on the outside which drew Bayley to the ropes. Banks pulled her feet from underneath her giving her an advantage going into the break.

Back from break, Bayley rolled over onto Sasha, pinned her shoulders to the mat, and it was good for the win. This suddenly made her the number one contender. Bayley went up the ramp to celebrate her win before Charlotte appeared to shake her hand. There was a nice tension between the two, although Charlotte could have gone full heel here to make the most out of the potential match-up. Bayley vs. Banks was very good, though, and Banks isn’t the jobber she once was, meaning Bayley got a good bit of momentum from the win.

- Up next, Kalisto and Sin Cara were against Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake (who had some top music) in the tag team tournament first round. Kalisto and Sin Cara’s quickness impressed early, including some fun lucha tag work on Murphy. Murphy looked good here and I’d like to see a bit more of him, for sure. Kalisto built the hot tag for all of a minute before Sin Cara cleaned house. They then hit a tag move where Cara deadlifted Murphy into a powerbomb position before Kalisto came off the top with a dropkick. This brought them the win via Kalisto’s finisher. Impressive outing for the Luchas and they’re ruddy exciting to watch.

- Backstage, the Legionnaires were complaining about not being in the tag team tournament (that’s a good point) before establishing a beef with the New Jersey Boys. I think we may see a run-in during Enzo and Colin’s next match in the second round.

- Main event time with Tyler Breeze challenging Adrian Neville for the NXT Title. This came far too soon for me; with a couple more weeks, this match could have really heated up. Perhaps there is going to be a non-finish. In the crowd was a gentleman wearing a Newcastle United jersey in support of Adrian Neville. He is a good person because of this.

The two exchanged some marginally polite wrestling before Neville kicked off on Breeze properly, firing up ‘Prince Pretty.’ Neville’s speed allowed him to keep his distance until Breeze kicked the Geordie’s legs from underneath him while he was on the apron. Neville sold like a champ. Tyson Kidd then emerged by the commentary table, drawing a ‘Nattie’s wife’ chant. I think we have found ourselves the non-finish here, eh, chaps? NXT cut to break.

Back from the break, Neville hit a standing Shooting Star Press for a two count. Neville went for a springboard forearm smash only to be hit with a dropkick for a close two. Breeze assumed some control for the first time, hitting a bulldog into the second turnbuckle a la Miz’s corner clothesline. When Breeze turned around, though, he was confronted by a huge superkick from Neville, which got a close two.

Neville went up top, but Breeze met him, some fighting happened, and Neville hit a sunset flip powerbomb. Neville went back up top, Breeze rolled out of the way, even more fighting happened, and Breeze hit the best Tornado DDT I’ve ever seen. Neville hit the mat at a perfect right angle, right on the top of his head before popping up onto his feet and falling forward to sell the effects. Neville is amazing. It was only good for another close fall, though.

Later, Kidd wandered over to the barrier where Neville and Breeze were laid out. The audience chanted ‘No! No! No!’ at the potential interruption of what had been a great match. Neville got to his feet first and, BOOM, hit a massive superkick on Kidd before rolling Breeze back into the ring. Neville hit an enziguiri and was going up top for the win when ... what do ya know? Kidd popped up and shook the ropes to send Neville tumbling and draw the DQ. He then pulled Breeze out of the ring and went to town on Neville.

Post-match, Breeze came back in and got in Kidd’s face about ruining his opportunity. Kidd pushed him and Breeze took him down and went to town. The audience was going crazy with Breeze apparently turning face against top heel Kidd. The three men exchanged take downs before eventually the heels got on the same page setting up someone to make the save. I WONDER WHO? On cue, here came Sami Zayn, who saved Adrian. Me thinks a tag match is going to occur down the line.

Overall, this was a fantastic match with really fast pacing and great back and forth offense from both men. Neville’s selling in particular elevated the match in the way that only he can. Continuing the feud was predictable, but the right decision in all. Not to mention this was the cherry on the top of the cake for this episode of NXT. Despite missing a sizable chunk this was definitely a good episode and NXT is on track for a great Network special next month. Lovely stuff and I’ll hopefully see you soon.

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