8/6 WWE in New Orleans Review – Insight on each match, Joe-Nakamura interaction, NXT Tag Title preview for Brooklyn

WWE NXT Live Results
August 6, 2016
New Orleans, La.
Report by VIP member Shaun in New Orleans (@MrWrestling13)

(1) No Way Jose beat Riddick Moss. Same old Jose, and the crowd was into him. I actually enjoyed Moss and his typical “heel at a house show” tactics. At one point he took the mic and yelled at the crowd in “Baton Rouge” to shut up. Good opening match.

(2) Ember Moon (Athena) beat Daria. The crowd wasn’t into this match, as neither has been featured yet on TV. I think both of them have a bright future, though. Daria’s MMA gimmick wasn’t big with the crowd, but I loved it. Once she got the advantage, she used a ton of punches and kicks as well as some good ground and pound. Early in the match after Moon had the advantage, Daria slowly stripped off her MMA gloves, which drew ooohhhs from the crowd. Ember’s corkscrew flying stunner will get over huge. I liked them both.

(3) Oney Lorcan beat Buddy Murphy. Perhaps the surprise of the night. Lorcan was over huge with the headlocks. After only a couple of headlocks, “Headlock City” chants started. Murphy tried a few of his own, but got booed out of the building every time he’d lock one on. Basic stuff, but it works every time. The finish was great. Lorcan was firing up and hit a near fall. With Murphy down, Lorcan bounced off the ropes and slid into a headlock. The crowd popped, and after a few seconds, Murphy tapped wildly. This can be huge in the Full Sail arena. Not sure it would have legs on any kind of big stage, though.

(4) NXT Women’s champion Asuka beat Billie Kay. The crowd was terribly flat for this. I think it was a combination of coming down from the Headlock City stuff as well as not being prepared. I think a lot of the crowd expected Asuka vs. Bayley, even though Bayley was advertised for the Florida show. Nothing really clicked well in this whole match. I think Billie Kay did look pretty good during her string of offense. She had survived an Anklelock mid-match and continued to sell the injured leg the rest of the match, even during her offense. It’s a little thing, but it worked. Asuka was big with the crowd, even though she’s been working heel on TV lately.

(5) NXT tag champions The Revival (Dash & Dawson) beat Johnny Gargano & Tommasso Ciampa. Great match, but not the crazy classic most people seem to be saying since last night. That was by design, though. They spent the first 10 minutes or so doing a lot of tag team house show comedy spots. The Revival played to the crowd A LOT, and it was great. There was a “Which one’s Dawson? / Which one’s Dash?” chant which they seemed to like. At one point, Dash on the outside took his gum out of his mouth and stuck it to the top of the ringpost. The crowd laughed and a “you’re dis-gust-ing” chant started. He took the gum off the post and started chewing it again and the crowd popped.

Once they got serious, the match was outstanding. Ciampa took a beating and survived several nearfalls. The challengers then got a long string of nearfalls which had everyone believing they could actually win. In the end, there was a mild Dusty Finish with the referee counting a three count, but Dawson had put Wilder’s foot on the rope. After the third count, the ref noticed the leg and declared it was just a two count. Gargano and Ciampa were celebrating, but no bell ever rang and they weren’t handed the titles or anything. During the “confusion” Revival won with a roll-up and a fist full of tights. (Same finish as last Saturday night in Houston.) The crowd was on fire during the conclusion of this match. In front of 18,000 in Brooklyn and without as much comedy stuff up front, these two teams will absolutely tear the Barclays Center to the ground. One other note, the ref for this match was the normal TV ref while most of the other matches was a guy I didn’t recognize. I guess they were all getting reps together ahead of Brooklyn, as most Revival matches will always feature a lot of referee manipulation. Great match, but it left me DYING to see what they do in two weeks. I can’t wait.

(6) Austin Aries beat Mojo Rawley. Expectedly, the crowd came down pretty fierce after the great tag match. Austin Aries has always been a personal favorite of mine, so I was glad to see him. Mojo was able to get a few “he ain’t hype” chants directed at AA. The match was decent. I was pleasantly surprised to see Aries win via his submission hold. Both guys vacated the arena quickly after the match, setting the stage for the main event. I was also mildly surprised there was no interaction between Aries and No Way Jose at any point during the show.

(7) Shinsuke Nakamura & Andrade “Cien” Almas beat NXT champion Samoa Joe & Bobby Roode. Good match. It was a thrill to see Nakamura live and in such an intimate setting. I’d have been happy no matter what had happened. I’m also a big fan of Joe and Roode, so this ended up being a real treat. I have to say, Andrade did not look out of place in the ring with these three. He looked GREAT taking a beating from Samoa Joe. He also got in some good, high flying offense.

As for the Nakamura vs. Joe element, early in the match, Andrade and Joe were in the ring, Andrade tagged in Nakamura and the crowd stood and really buzzed. Joe and Nakamura circled a few times before Joe turned and tagged in Roode to the displeasure of the crowd. Later on they got tagged in at the same time, but the crowd barely reacted as they went at each other. Nakamura got all the offense in as it was during a “hot tag” spot, but the interaction between the two was brief. The finish with Nakamura taking out Roode with Kinshasa was hot.

Overall, such a fun show. Little things like a lot of one counts early in the matches, selling things properly, and early matches not having huge spots so it looks special when Andrade does it in the main event…they’re teaching them right down at NXT. Go see NXT Live!