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WWE NXT Report
JAMES'S WWE NXT LIVE REPORT 5/14: In-person perspective on Philly Night 1, including a verbal fight over ... John Cena?

May 14, 2015 - 10:56:06 PM
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WWE NXT Report
May 14, 2015
Philadelphia, Pa.
Report by Justin James, PWTorch contributor


Read James's in-person tweets @Justin_M_James.

I had the chance to go to the NXT event in Philly on Thursday night. I will start by saying that I have not enjoyed myself this much at a WWE live event in a long time. Honestly, the main roster product has turned me off so much that I have been "voting with my dollars" and not going to live events at all, even PPVs, despite living only 20 minutes from Philadelphia. But. I knew the NXT event would be worth going to.

Of note, NXT is happening again in Philly on Friday night. Based on things that happened tonight, I would expect the card and matches to be different enough that it is worth seeing. If I did not already have tickets to a concert, I would gladly go again.

There was a lot of filming being done of the wrestlers and the audience. I won't be surprised to see this put into a package of some kind or new credits for the NXT show.

The event was held at the Tower Theater. The ring was a bit forwards of the stage and three or four rows of chairs were set up behind it. Those were premium level seats and one of those tickets was a whopping $95 after fees. It was like sitting in front of the 'Tron at a TV taping.

JoJo was the ring announcer and Greg Hamilton did a sort of MC routine. He seemed more comfortable than he comes across on TV.

William Regal started the show with a quick "this is NXT" speech. Lots of respect for Regal in Philly.

- The night kicked off with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady facing Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy. This was a 10-15 minute match. The Philly crowd totally ate up the Amore/Cassady routine. They could have skipped the whole promo and just let the crowd cut it for them instead. Blake came out with his hair in little pigtails, which drew massive amounts of heat. Meanwhile, Carmella got booed right out of the building. Blake and Murphy won, but Amore and Cassady got their heat back afterwards with a post-match revenge attack.

- Bull Dempsey and Jason Jordan had a short match. Bull's poorly named, the crowd took it over, and they added "s---" to it. Jordan is really impressive with his amateur style. Smooth and silky moves, lots of power. He could easily fit in the Jack Swagger/Kurt Angle slot. Dempsey went over with a senton from the second rope, replacing his diving headbutt finisher.

- Dana Brooke and Becky Lynch faced Alexa Bliss and Bayley in a tag team match. Lynch was oddly playing a heel after her recent face turn on TV. The crowd couldn't bring themselves to boo Lynch, but they sure dumped on Brooke. She's a great heel. Bayley was mega-hot with the crowd, while Bliss's in-ring work impressed me much more live than it has on TV. I don't know if she was more relaxed, or if she's improved in a short time or if the cameras just expose her a bit more, but I really enjoyed her work tonight. She reminded me of Kalisto, and the crowd appreciated her performance.

Bayley hit the Belly-to-Bayley for the win. I thought a fight would break out, as two fans were arguing over whether or not Brooke actually was a good wrestler (I think she is). Someone said, "You must be a Cena fan," and then it got verbally ugly. Cooler heads prevailed, though.

- Kevin Owens defended the NXT Title against Tyler Breeze and Finn Balor in a Triple Threat match. The Breeze-Owens interactions were amazing. Breeze lounged in the ropes totally no-selling Balor and Owens as they came out, until Owens came near Breeze and he sat up and cringed. Owens started the match by booting Hamilton and JoJo from their seats, sat down, and watched Balor and Breeze go at it.

When the heels ganged up on Balor, Owens directed the traffic and Breeze acted really scared of him. Owens wanted to give Breeze a high-five, Breeze thought it was a trick, so Owens grabbed Breeze's hand and made him return the high-five. Really funny stuff. Excellent match all around. Regal booked Balor vs. Owens one-on-one tomorrow night for the title. Balor vowed to "bring the demon."

During the match, I spotted Triple H about ten feet over my head in a kind of backstage balcony. He was very intent on both the match and his phone. He did a lot of tweeting throughout the show.

- Intermission, and we were surprised by a visit from Mick Foley. He talked about how it was a long drive from Long Island to Philly, but he used to make the drive all the time (ECW callback) and tonight was worth it, too.

- Tye Dillenger faced hometown son Solomon Crowe, who did a lot of work with CZW in the area. Dillenger seems to be rebranding himself as "the Perfect 10," and carries around a judge's "10" scorecard to hold over his head. The ref took it away, so he produced another, smaller one. Basic back-and-forth with Crowe picking up the win with the Stretch Muffler. Fun match.

- Next was Rhyno vs. Baron Corbin in a preview of their "Takeover" match. This was easily the least enjoyable match of the night. Corbin spent the majority of the match in control and his limited moveset was quickly exposed. He even managed to slip in an extended nervehold, the dullest resthold in history. He has oodles of charisma, carried himself well on the mic tonight, and has athletic ability. He just needs to keep working on his in-ring game and get used to matches longer than a minute squash.

Corbin won with End of Days. Then, he cut an anti-ECW promo. He dared them to dig up an old ECW loser (Joey Styles was in attendance tonight) for him to face. On Twitter, Styles took the bait. If you are seeing the second show tomorrow, don't be surprised if a local ECW wrestler shows up. Tommy Dreamer? Taz?

- Triple H came out and cut a promo. On his way to the ring he huddled up with the audience filming himself and posting it up. He cut off a "Thank you, Hunter" by thanking the fans for making NXT what it is today. He said that NXT is starting "global expansion." Not sure how much of that is hyperbole or not, but he sounded serious. Then he talked about how NXT is his baby, and something he is most proud of is that NXT has such a strong women's division and has advanced women's wrestling so much. He then introduced the main event, an NXT Women's Championship match between Charlotte and Sasha Banks.

- Charlotte had a good connection to the crowd, but Banks was crazy popular in Philly. She's just got that cool heel thing going on, and the fact that she is nearly a foot shorter than Charlotte but acts like she is a foot taller than Charlotte with her bullying has a rather fun quality to it. Top-flight match as we've seen from these two in the past. Extended chain wrestling, high-flying, brawling, duels of submission holds, this match had everything you could want. Charlotte eventually tapped out to the Bank Statement.

Overall: Fantastic show, worth every penny of my $95. Everyone brought their A-Game and wrestled their hearts out. It was great to see Jason Jordan and Alexa Bliss in particular make their case for an expanded role on the roster.


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