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WWE NXT Live Results
April 9, 2016
N. Charleston, S.C.
Report by Justin James, PWTorch NXT contributor
Like my previous NXT live experience in Philly last year, the show started within a couple minutes of the advertised time. The set-up looked like the floor section of a WWE house show. I was disappointed because the North Carolina Coliseum is a 14,000 seat arena and I had thought that they were going to pack that out, instead it was held inside of the exhibit halls.
The audience seemed to be a split between younger, energetic fans, and older fans with their kids. I brought two of my children with me (my son is 8 and my daughter is 4, and both watch NXT weekly with me). Almost all fans seemed very knowledgeable of the NXT product, and of wrestling in general. The people behind me were having conversations about what different people did in TNA, Japanese promotions, etc. The crowd was a bit less… aggressive… than the Philly crowd which is no surprise given how many more kids were there.
1 – NO WAY JOSE vs. RIDDICK MOSS
No Way Jose is actually the name of a new-ish wrestler. We first saw him sometime in 2015 with a different name as a jobber in a single match, and I remember at the time writing that he really impressed me and that I wanted to see more. Unfortunately, as is the case with many of WWE’s minority wrestlers, he was saddled with the “I dance a lot and have a great time” gimmick. He owned it, even getting Tom Phillips (alternating with Dasha Fuentes as ring announcer) to do a bit of hip movement. His opponent was Riddick Moss, who looks like a short, toothpick-less Razor Ramon. The crowd immediately dumped on Moss for this. Moss refused to take off his vest, insisting that the ref do it for him. Eventually the ref went to remove the vest, but Jose did it instead, then put the vest on to enrage Moss. Jose was over big time with the crowd with his energy and moveset. The folks behind me pointed out that Moss looks like the default wrestler from WWE 2K16 and started a “default wrestler” chant. Moss ran with it, shouting “this default wrestler is beating the hell out of No Way Jose!” after a flurry of offense. Moss did a great job as a curtain jerker heel. Jose won with a move that looked like baseball pitch. Fun match. My kids were super-into Jose.
WINNER: Jose.
2 – COREY HOLLIS vs. “THE DRIFTER” ELIAS SAMSON
Samson got nuclear heat. He tried to sing a song with Fuentes holding the mic. The crowd demanded “Freebird” and he teased it. Corey Hollis was billed as a local wrestler. He got in a surprising amount of offense. I missed a lot of this match (kids needed to hit the bathroom), but it went much longer than expected. Samson won.
WINNER: The Drifter.
3 – CARMELLA vs. EVA MARIE
If you thought Samson gets heat, Eva Marie was off the charts and I believe she got the worst reception of anyone there. Her wrestling skills seemed to have improved a bit. Carmella got a very nice pop. The match was fine, though there was a botched atomic drop (couldn’t make that up if I tried), which the crowd picked up on. Eva Marie won with her foot on the ropes, but post-match, Carmella returned to beat up Marie.
WINNER: Eva Marie
4 – ALEX RILEY vs. BLAKE (formerly Wesley Blake)
Riley got a mostly-face reaction as a result of Blake coming out first. The crowd was demanding Alexa Bliss throughout the match. A number of folks commented on how jacked Riley has looked since returning to the ring. Riley showed a relatively risk-taking offense, including a cautious move off of the top turnbuckle. Riley won, and the crowd was really happy with the win. He went around signing autographs after the match. It feels like he is being shelved for a moment so they can undo his heel re-entrance to go with the NXT audience’s natural appreciation of him.
WINNER: Riley.
5 – NXT Tag Team champions AMERICAN ALPHA (JASON JORDAN & CHAD GABLE) vs. THE REVIVAL (SCOTT DAWSON & DASH WILDER) – NXT Tag Team Championship match
The crowd was about 50/50 on The Revival, between the local connection (Southern crowds sure love Southern wrestlers) and their style. But there was 100 percent support for American Alpha. Really exciting match here, that managed to pull out a number of moves and sequences that we have not seen before, which is much appreciated; house shows too often are “paint by numbers” but both teams managed to change things up. The Revival repeated their “illegal tag to distract the ref, followed by a thumb to the eye then a real tag” routine from “Takeover: Dallas,” but this time the illegal tag was a tag to Dawson’s foot.
The crowd went insane when Jordan finally got the hot tag. I really felt every move from my fourth row seats when Jordan was in action. Gable captured the “move of the night” award with a German Suplex which he carried the momentum through to flip over while retaining the hold and deftly hit a second German Suplex into a bridge for a nearfall. It was so fluid without a moment of hesitation, similar to what he did on Aiden English a few weeks ago. Gable is just so good. Gable got the win without using Grand Amplitude, in an interesting twist.
WINNERS: American Alpha to retain the Tag Titles.
6 – AUSTIN ARIES vs. MANNY ANDRADE
Andrade got booed simply because he was facing Austin Aries. That didn’t last long. After a sequence of chain wrestling, Andrade’s impressive offense suddenly swung the crowd completely in his favor. An “Austin Aries” chant morphed into “Let’s Go Manny” in a moment of seconds, and the crowd was firmly behind Andrade for the rest of the match. During a dueling brawl, the crowd booed Aries’s strikes and cheered Andrade’s. Aries won with a rolling elbow strike. The fact that Andrade captured the crowd despite being the default heel and facing Aries speaks to his work.
Post-match, Aries cut a great promo. “I hate hearing the crowd chant my opponent’s name…” teasing heeling on the crowd… then said that tonight, his opponent earned those cheers, and he put Andrade over hard. Really classy move from Aries, to retain a babyface status, acknowledging that he lost the crowd, and making his opponent look good in defeat. Keep an eye on Manny Andrade.
WINNER: Aries.
7 – NXT Women’s champion ASUKA vs. PEYTON ROYCE – NXT Women’s Championship match
Royce got a decent heel reaction given her lack of exposure. She capitalized, teasing that she would toss her flower to the ring, then not. Asuka got an amazing reception here. Royce got in far more offense then I expected. Asuka’s offense looked brutal in person. Royce had a gorgeous suplex into a bridge. The crowd went ballistic when Asuka started working her way into the Asuka Lock. Royce tapped out quickly to the Asuka Lock. If they are going to position Royce in the “first challenger to the title” slot for Asuka (similar to Bliss for Bayley), that’s a smart move. She worked a solid match.
WINNER: Asuka.
8. NXT champion FINN BALOR & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. BARON CORBIN & TYE DILLINGER – Tag Team match
Dillinger was out first. Showing the booking smarts of NXT, they knew he would get a big pop, so they gave him ample time to cut a heel promo. to start, he handed Fuentes the “10” sign and said “don’t thing this means anything.” Then he declared himself the perfect ten, and that there were no other 10’s in the room, not even Fuentes. He said she was a two, which finally got the crowd to turn on him. Dillinger didn’t need to worry about being treated like a fan favorite after that. Corbin came out, oddly enough wearing his shirt still. The crowd was just insane for Nakamura and Balor. Both just exude cool factor on their entrances.
The match was played mostly as comedy, with Dillinger being the butt of most of the jokes. When Nakamura tagged in, Dillinger looked to Corbin for a tag out of fear, but Corbin backed up flashing the “10” hands to tell him to take care of business. Nakamura and Balor both mocked Dillinger’s mannerisms. The crowd yelled at Corbin to take his shirt off, and when he did, he had another shirt underneath. That eventually came off too. Corbin managed to get told off by a kid (10? 12?) in the front row, then engaged in an argument with this kid, who verbally got the better of Corbin. When Corbin got back on the apron he warned us that the kid was “this close to getting it.” Really solid heel work from Corbin, that was a total Chris Jericho move.
Super-stiff match all around. Balor managed to get his chest busted open on chops and bled a bit. Eventually Balor picked up the win with his new driver finisher, no Coup de Grace. Post-match, Balor and Nakamura got their shine on.
Then, Balor got the mic and talked a bit. He discussed the long week they had, with WrestleMania Week, then “Takeover: Dallas,” then the three-day tour of the Carolinas. He told us how sore, tired, homesick, travel-sick, and sore (again) the whole roster was, but they come out here and do it because they love it and because the fans appreciate it.
As we were filing out, Phillips and Fuentes thanked us for attending and said that they were sure that NXT would return to the Carolinas soon. The event started at 7:30 and wrapped up at 10:30 almost on the dot, with a brief intermission.
Overall Reax: Based on what I saw from newcomers No Way Jose and Manny Andrade as well as the developing Peyton Royce, plus the existing roster, NXT is in great shape in terms of talent for the future. No Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady, or Bayley was a disappointment, of course. I am really liking the development of Baron Corbin as a heel character. The NXT roster perfectly worked the venue and the audience, with a very engaging show. I gave up on WWE house shows years ago due to the “connect the dots” matches, but the NXT roster treated this like a major event in terms of the energy and performance.
While the tickets were expensive (after fees and taxes, my three tickets ran right around $90 each), the merch table was reasonably priced and I felt that the value for my money was outstanding. I have spent more money on Raw and Smackdown tapings where my only highlight was Undertaker’s entrance or laughing at my wife because she missed Batista because she was getting nachos. In comparison, this show was non-stop great action and entertainment.
Merch table offerings were slim, with the exception of one special piece: a match card for the night done in an old-school style. They were $10 each, but for $75 you could get one of fifty that were signed by everyone on the card. I bought #7. Torch specialist Michael Moore on Twitter guesstimated that this could fetch $150 or better on eBay, though I can’t see myself giving up a piece with the signatures of Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, and Austin Aries any time soon. That’s a “who’s who” of future WWE main-eventers.
@mmoorewriter what's your take on these? pic.twitter.com/gW2T2vJQKO
— Justin James (@justin_m_james) April 10, 2016
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