1/26 NXT in Houston, Tex.: DIY vs. Revival, Shinsuke & Dillinger vs. Rhode & Joe, Almas vs. Tozawa, No Way Jose vs. Samson

NXT LIVE EVENT REPORT
JANUARY 26, 2017
HOUSTON, TEX.
REPORT BY CARL BAKER, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

Crowd was very excited for the show.  It was not sold out but very close as there were a couple seats available for sale.  You wouldn’t be able to tell by amount of noise as crowd was loud.  There was mostly adult crowd and a feel like back in attitude era, but there were some kids in the arena too.  Crowd was loud the entire show with many chants.  I was sitting third row on floor right by the entrance area, but there really aren’t too many bad seats in that building as I was upstairs the last time NXT was in Houston.

(1) No Way Jose vs. “The Drifter” Elias Samson

Great start to the show with a lot of fast passed action by No Way Jose.  Some fun chants like “Miley Cyrus” towards Samson.  Good time seemed roughly 10 minutes plus.

Winner: No Way Jose by pinfall

(2) Three Man Tag: Cedric Alexander with ???(Reminded me of natural disasters with Owen Hart ring attire) vs. Sanity

Eric Young was very over with crowd, especially people around me.  Some funny “Shave your back” chants to Damo (Killian Dain).  Cedric Alexander was most impressive as he did some suicide dives to the outside. Didn’t know who the tag team he was paired with seemed to be new guys and they were okay, nothing special for the first time seeing them.

WINNER: Cedric Alexander via pinfall

(3) Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Tozawa

Very fast passed action as both men are incredible workers.  Very hard hitting and quick action from both guys.  Tozawa works snug which makes the action very believable. This was one of the best matches of the show as both showed how to work a crowd.  Tozawa is a great talent and everything he did looked believable and had the crowd on his side for almost the entire match.  I saw him on the Cruiserweight Classic but he is incredible to watch live.

WINNER: Andrade “Cien” Almas via pinfall

(4) Peyton Royce vs. Billy Kay vs. Nikki Cross vs. Asuka

This was the worst match of the evening.  Billie and Peyton need some more work in my opinion.  I really like Nikki Cross as she reminds me of Daffney and her ring work is good too.  Asuka seemed to have a wardrobe problem as she was constantly adjusting and it might have affected the match.  I hope the Takeover match is much better as I do like Asuka a lot.

WINNER: Asuka via pinfall over Billie Kay (I believe)

(5) DIY vs. The Revival for Tag Team Titles

Authors of Pain attacked DIY before the match.  DIY decided to still wrestle and this was the second best match of the night.  Both teams are over HUGE and there were a lot of amazing near falls and double team work by The Revival and DIY.  I hope The Revival makes it to the main roster as they are in my opinion the best tag team in the world right now.  Authors of Pain’s music played as a distraction for a pinfall on DIY but the referee saw it was the illegal man in the ring for The Revival and the match continued.  The match ended when DIY has both members of The Revival in submission holds and they tapped out at the same time.

Winners: DIY in probably 15-20 min to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles by submission.

INTERMISSION

Short giveaway segment for a young fan that had to answer some questions who was wearing a John Cena shirt so there were a lot of Cena Sucks chants.

(6) Roderick Strong vs. Blake Murphy

Murphy cut an anti-Houston promo to start saying how San Antonio (his hometown) is better and Houston is Garbage.  This would continue through the match as the crown continually chanted things like “you are garbage, garbage headlock, where’s Murphy, Murphy’s better, you’re still garbage”.  Strong won via pin after his finisher.  He then cut a promo about how it’s him vs the world and he is going for the title no matter if it is Roode or Nakamura.

Match Winner: Roderick Strong via pinfall after finisher

(7) Main Event Tag Match: Samoa Joe & Bobby Roode vs. Tye Dillinger & Shinsuke Nakamura  25-30 min

Best Match of the night and as every wrestler is over HUGE!  Great spots and a lot of fun chants such as (Royal Rumble / Number 10, SAWFT, TNA, NAKAMURA, Glorious).  All four know how to work a crowd and tell a great story.  Back and forth action between all four wrestlers.  Everyone got their signature spots (with exception of muscle buster from Joe).  The singing of Nakamura and Bobby Roode’s entrances is so fun to hear and do.

Winners: Nakamura and Dillinger by Pinfall after Nakamura covered Joe

FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall an incredible show!!  I watch Raw every week and most weeks three hours drags by so slowly even being there live.  Maybe it’s because live shows don’t have the backstage skits and “stuff” that’s basically time filler but I was never bored once and this show was three hours with a short intermission.  Crowd was very lively and into every match.  Apologize if I got any information wrong.