SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE NXT Live Results
April 22, 2016
Kingston, R.I.
Report by Sean Radican, PWTorch columnist
– Live Photos & Commentary from ringside @SeanRadican.
– Full Photo Blog Gallery HERE.
The show began with highlights of Samoa Joe beating Finn Balor for the NXT Championship last night in Lowell, Mass.
Rob Gronkowski is in the crowd.
(1) Chris Girard (Biff Busick) beat Mojo Rawley. Insane pop for Busick. The crowd hummed his indie theme as well. Rawley jumped him while he was playing to the crowd. Big heat on Mojo. Girard won with a running blockbuster after Mojo dominated most of the match.
(2) Bayley & Carmella beat Dana Brooke & Alexa Bliss. Bliss and Brooke cheated most of the way, but Bayley managed to pin Brooke with the Bayley- to-belly.
(3) Manny Andrade beat Riddick Moss. Andrade looked good here and won with a running double knee strike in the corner. The crowd was a bit flat during Riddick’s time on offense, but overall this was good.
(4) NXT Tag Team champions American Alpha (Jason Jordan & Chad Gable) beat The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder). Jordan and Gable mounted a comeback early and hit stereo slams into a double bridging pin and The Revival bailed to the floor. This got a big “NXT” chant. They went to a long heat segment on Gable. It looked like Jordan had gotten rolled up for the pin, but the ref restarted the match quickly. The fans really fired up for the near alls late in the match. American Alpha won with the tandem bridging suplex on Wilder. This was one heck of a match down the stretch.
[Intermission]
(5) Austin Aries beat Tomasso Ciampa. This was a good back and forth match. The crowd was a bit down post-intermission, but both guys worked hard and won over the crowd by the end. Aries drew some boos during the course of the match. He won with a 450 splash.
(6) NXT Women’s champion Asuka beat Peyton Royce. Very good match. Royce looked good here and was competitive during the match. Asuka eventually won with the cross-face chicken wing. The crowd was way into Asuka.
(7) Finn Balor & Shinsuke Nakamura beat new NXT Champion Samoa Joe & Elias Sampson. Joe and Nakamura facing off got a huge “holy s—” chant, but Joe tagged in Sampson before engaging with Nakamura. Nakamura mocked Sampson by playing guitar and then tossed it to Balor, who threw it into the crowd, Tanahashi-style. Joe threw his towel at Balor and Balor posed like Joe with it, which allowed Sampson to jump him from behind. Finn took a long beating before Nakamura got the hot tag and ran wild. Balor got the win with Bloody Sunday on Sampson. Tremendous main event. Afterward, Balor stood over Samson and pulled the “Bullet Club” trigger over him.
Fans chanted “See you Monday” at Balor after the match. Balor cut a promo after the match and said he’s a little sore physically and emotionally after losing the NXT Championship last night to Joe. Nakamura then closed it with the “We are NXT” phrase. Then, he did his signature yeaoh!
To close out the show, Nakamura and Balor did the “too sweet” hand gesture to each other. They then ran to opposite sides of the ring and hit Nakamura’s pose. Balor left last and smiled and gave a knowing wave at the entrance ramp. It very much seemed like a good-bye.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.