12/30 WWE NXT Report – Year-in-Review of NXT’s break-out year

WWE wrapped up the year of NXT with a “Best Of” year-in-review show Wednesday night on WWE Network. Justin James has a full rundown of the show highlighting NXT’s break-out year…

WWE NXT Report
December 30, 2015
Aired on WWE Network
Report by Justin James, PWTorch NXT contributor

[Q1] No new content tonight, as it’s a “year in review” episode, hosted by Corey Graves and Rich Brennan.

– Look-back at Kevin Owens’s debut match, and the attack on Sami Zayn, with clips from their interviews and actions afterwards. Clips from “Takeover: Rival” followed.

– Short video recap of Hideo Itami’s introduction to NXT, then Graves and Brennan discuss his injury.

– They talk up the future of NXT, and the upcoming NXT DVD.

– Clips of Neville vs. Cesaro at the Arnold Classic, which Cesaro won. Looking forward to seeing this match as a full match.

– Discussion of the evolution of NXT’s Women’s Division, and its impact on the main roster. The last five minutes of the Bayley vs. Sasha Banks Iron Man match were shown.

– Summary of the big names added to NXT this year, including Rhyno, The Hype Bros., James Storm, and Samoa Joe.

– Focus on Samoa Joe, including the end to his match against Baron Corbin at “Takeover: Brooklyn.”

– Summary video of Zayn facing John Cena on Raw in Montreal where Zayn’s shoulder got injured, putting him on the shelf for the rest of the year.

– Replay of how Kevin Owens wormed himself into a U.S. Championship title match against Cena at Elimination Chamber, followed by the end of the match.

– Rich Brennan is missing as Corey Graves wraps it up. Brennan is back with a gift for Graves. Graves just chucks it over his shoulder unwrapped. Brennan closes out.

Final Reax: For a recap show, that was pretty good. The best one they’ve done, though, is still the one that had William Regal face Cesaro. Was that Regal’s final match? I think it may have been.