WWE NXT TV taping report
September 12, 2014
Full Sail University
Report by Josh Parry, PWTorch correspondent

Dark Match: The Mechanics beat Buddy Murphy & Wesley Blake.

Episode 1 - September 18

Titus O'Neil was out first in a suit to address the crowd. He humbly let us know that it was a privilege for us to be in the same room as him. Some of the production crew was getting really frustrated, as Titus played to the crowd rather than the hard camera. He aired grievances about NXT stars appearing on his show last week to steal the spotlight. To return the favor, NXT shall henceforth be know as NXT-I-T-U-S. He spelled it out over and over again, louder each time to drown out "bunny" chants from the crowd.

Sami Zayn's music played to a big reaction. Sami explained that NXT is his show, and if Titus is here to make a statement, then he would love to step up and defend NXT. Out next was NXT champion Adrian Neville. He's starting to get noticeable heat. Neville got in Sami's face and made it clear that if anybody is to defend NXT's name against main roster competition, it ought to be the champion. He rubbed that fact in Zayn's face a little bit. He said that while Titus is busy getting attacked by men in bunny suits, NXT's job is to come in and steal the show.

Out came Tyson Kidd sans headphones. Smirking, Kidd explained that he isn't here to stake a claim to face Titus. Rather, he's out here to antagonize Zayn and Neville, calling them both losers, unfit to represent NXT, and that he should be champion. Kidd's heat of late is starting to turn into babyface reactions. After a pause, the crowd chanted for Breeze to round out the field of men from last night's main event, but out came William Regal. Regal stated that this is not a whining show, but a fighting show, so tonight, they're going to fight. He announced that Tyson Kidd and Titus O'Neil will face Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville in this week's main event. Regal dared Titus to see what happens if he turns up on "my" show again without asking, drawing "ooohs" from the crowd.

An usually long talking segment for NXT's standards. My main takeaway was good development of the Neville-Zayn rivalry, and some really good tension between the main roster and NXT. I would love to see that develop into something more profound in coming weeks.

(1) NXT Women's Champion Charlotte beat Emma. Emma got a great reaction and "Welcome back" chants. Charlotte scored the pin with Natural Selection.

(2) Hideo Itami (KENTA) beat Justin Gabriel. Hideo's new finisher appears to be a diving foot stomp to the chest. Post-match, The Ascension laid out Itami in the ring with the Fall of Man.

(3) Baron Corbin beat C.J. Parker. Loud "Baron, Baron," chants as Corbin made his way to the ring. After running the house show tour this month with no music, his new theme is some generic hard rock with motorcycle sounds spliced in. Corbin won within seconds with his side-slam complete shot in a carbon copy match from Takeover.

(4) Tyson Kidd & Titus O'Neil beat NXT champion Adrian Neville & Sami Zayn. The finish came when Neville went for the Red Arrow on Kidd, but a distraction from Zayn allowed Titus to push him off the top and into Kidd's knees. Kidd pinned Neville. The story of the match was Zayn being frustrated after coming up short in a game of one-upsmanship with Neville in the early going.

A return date of September 25 was announced on-screen.

Episode 2 - September 25

(1) Bull Dempsey beat Mojo Rawley. Another carbon copy match from Takeover. Dempsey pinned Rawley following a diving headbutt. (More of a falling headbutt to be honest.)

(2) Tyler Breeze beat Justin Gabriel. Breeze is no longer billed from his seasonal residence in Greece. He's moved to Helsinki, Finland. Breeze kicked the crap out of Mojo outside the ring as he made his entrance. The match was a stinker.

(3) Bayley beat Alexa Bliss. The two babyfaces exchanged hugs and high-fives throughout the match. Bayley eventually hit the Belly-to-Bayley for the pin. Post-match, Bayley reluctantly asked Charlotte if she could please come to the ring. She obliged. Bayley said she wants another shot at the title after coming so close at Takeover. Charlotte explained that Bayley earned her respect, and that it would be her pleasure to have another match. It's official for next week.

(4) Enzo Amore beat Marcus Louis. Louis wore a wig under some amateur headgear, Kurt Angle style. Enzo scored a roll-up victory when Marcus' headgear got caught up in the ropes, revealing his clean shaven head. The crowd chanted "balder than Batista."

(5) NXT Tag Team champions The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto & Sin Cara) beat The Ascension to retain the NXT Tag Titles. Kalisto nailed the Salida Del Sol after Hideo provided a distraction from the ramp. The match wasn't as fast paced as Takeover, but it was good work. Post-match, Hideo beat the utter crap out of Konor on stage. I've never seen such fast punch/kick striking combos before.

Episode 3 - October 2

(1) NXT Women's champion Charlotte beat Bayley to retain her title. Charlotte scored the pin with Natural Selection, but she missed the head, and just sort of did a front flip next to Bayley that she somehow managed to sell. Post match, the two exchanged hugs and a show of mutual respect. The awkward finish didn't take too much away from the quality match. Charlotte's on a roll lately!

(2) Viktor vs. Hideo Itami was a No Contest after Konor stormed the ring for another double team attack. Referees and doctors came to assist Hideo from the ring. Of note, the name change has caught on with the crowd. I didn't hear any rebellious "KENTA" chants all night.

(3) Baron Corbin beat Troy McClain. Another squash for Corbin to show off his finisher.

(4) The Vaudevillains (Simon Gotch & Aiden English squashed Jason Jordan & Ty Dillinger. Pop of the night goes to The Vaudevillains by landslide. By far the most over babyface act outside of the main event scene.

(5) NXT champion Adrian Neville beat Tyson Kidd to retain the NXT Championship. Per William Regal, if Tyson lost, he would have no more championship opportunities as long as Neville is champion. Titus O'Neil sat at ringside, and flashed his ticket to the camera. The finish came when Titus reached over the barricade and decked Nevile behind the ref's back. Zayn made the save, and took out Titus, allowing Neville to hit the Red Arrow for the victory.

Zayn and Neville shared an intense staredown post-match. Neville gestured as if to say he didn't need Zayn's help. Kidd was the clearcut babyface in this contest, as Neville is getting absolutely slaughtered by the Full Sail crowd at this point. Chants included "No more Neville," "Frodo Bagins," "Neville's precious," and more. I have a feeling that the longer they keep Zayn away from the title, the more this is going to mirror the Daniel Bryan situation, as far as reactions to other main event stars are concerned.

This episode was a real dud. Nothing was really exciting besides the opening women's match, and fans started to slowly trickle out during the main event.

Episode 4 - October 9

(1) Tyler Breeze beat Mojo Rawley. The match ended abruptly less than a minute in. The referee called the match in the middle of an armbar. The timekeeper was on his phone and the ref had to wave his arms a couple of times before the bell was ring. Doctors rushed the ring and took Mojo away. From the gesture the referee made with his shoulder to the doctors, I'm assuming it might have been a dislocation. Here's hoping it's a speedy recovery, whatever it is.

(2) Hideo Itami beat Viktor via DQ when Konor interfered. Mid-match, Konor dragged a beaten-up Funaki onto the stage before rushing the ring for another two on one assault. Funaki tried to make the save, but got crushed while Hideo was tied up in the ropes to watch.

(3) The Vaudevillains beat Enzo Amore & Big Cass. There was some great mic work before the match. Enzo is changing things up now, as opposed to retreating the same spiel every time he comes to the ring.

(4) Sasha Banks beat Becky Lynch. Sasha won with a really nice back-cracker transitioned into a cross face. It looked brutally and convincingly painful.

At this point, around 40 percent of the crowd had left, so the event staff shuffled everybody over to the middle of the TV side. It was a sparse crowd to being with, but this is probably as empty as I've seen the NXT arena in the middle of a taping.

(5) Titus O'Neil beat Sami Zayn clean with Clash of the Titus. Yes, this really happened. I gather that it was meant to further the story of Zayn being addled by Neville, and unable to win in big matches, but losing clean to the guy who got punked by a bunny kind of goes beyond that a little bit.

Overall, this set of tapings fell pretty flat. I'm not sure if it's just crowd exhaustion after two nights of NXT, but the energy never really picked up, and none of the big stories seemed to advance very far.

We suggest these recent related articles...

WWE NEWS: Superstars SPOILERS - Results from Chicago Raw

WWE NETWORK: Monday, Oct. 12 Schedule - Raw pre-show, Sting DVD preview

WWE NEWS: Lana & Rusev reportedly engaged - follow the interesting 2015 timeline