SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
It was a very eventful two weeks for WWE with the main roster in Europe, the NXT roster in the Northeast U.S. for a rare non-televised major title change, and the second NXT roster home in Florida.
WWE NXT Northeast Tour Summary (April 21-23)
– Samoa Joe won the NXT Title from Finn Balor on Thursday in Lowell, Mass.
Joe and Balor were in a tag match with Shinsuke Nakamura and The Drifter on Friday in Kingston, R.I.
The tour concluded with an advertised NXT Title re-match of Joe vs. Balor turning into Joe vs. Balor vs. Austin Aries, who took the fall.
– Throughout the tour, Balor teased leaving NXT to join the main roster, doing all of his Bullet Club (Balor Club? Bulletproof?) poses. The crowd in each town greeted Balor with “See you Monday” chants.
– Shinsuke Nakamura wrestled and made sport of The Drifter throughout the tour. First was a singles match on Thursday, then the tag main event on Friday, and singles again on Saturday.
– Asuka defended the Women’s Title against Alexa Bliss on Thursday and Saturday, and Peyton Royce on Friday.
Former NXT Women’s champion Bayley was in undercard tag matches with Carmella.
– NXT tag champions American Alpha beat The Revival each night of the tour.
– Austin Aries wrestled in the main event on Saturday, faced Tommaso Ciampa on Friday, and beat Manny Andrade on Thursday.
– Manny Andrade (the former La Sombra) impressed the audience throughout the tour. Fans started off being unfamiliar, then were wowed by the end of his matches.
– New England Patriots star TE Rob Gronkowski was in the crowd for both Thursday in Lowell, Mass. and Friday in Kingston, R.I. supporting Mojo Rawley.
WWE Florida Tour Summary (April 22-23)
– International tag team TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste) made their NXT in-ring debut Friday night in Tampa, Fla., losing to Sawyer Fulton & Alexander Wolfe.
TMDK then won the semi-main event against Fulton & Wolfe Saturday night in Jacksonville.
– Nikki Storm made her NXT in-ring debut teaming with Tough Enough contestant Mandy Rose in the semi-main event in Tampa.
Fellow Tough Enough contestant Sara Lee wrestled a similar tag match Saturday night in Jacksonville.
– Alex Riley beat Tye Dillinger in the main event of Friday’s Tampa show.
No Way Jose then beat Dillinger in the main event of Saturday’s show.
– Patrick Clark from Tough Enough and the MCW promotion wrestled singles matches both nights.
– Daria from Tough Enough completed the former cast members list on the tour. Daria wrestled singles matches both nights.
WWE European Tour Summary (April 13-23)
– Bray Wyatt was injured on the first night of the European Tour, changing up the line-ups for the rest of the B Tour.
WWE World Hvt. champion Roman Reigns faced Sheamus for two weeks after the Reigns-Wyatt kick-off.
– Triple H joined the second-half of the A Tour for the final four shows. Hunter faced Dean Ambrose in singles main events the first two nights, then teamed with Kevin Owens against Ambrose and Sami Zayn the final two nights.
– A.J. Styles beat Chris Jericho throughout the A Tour in a featured singles match.
– New Day defended the Tag Titles against The Dudleys and The Usos in three-team matches throughout the tour. Kofi Kingston left early to be with his family for the birth of a new child.
– U.S. champion Kalisto continued his WM32 feud with Ryback in singles and some multi-man matches.
– IC champion The Miz was in the main event of the first-half of the A Tour and in the opening match of the second-half of the A Tour.
Miz (accompanied by Maryse) was paired up with Dolph Ziggler either in multi-man main events or in the opening singles matches.
– Women’s champion Charlotte (accompanied by Ric Flair) beat Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks on the B Tour. Their title match was placed in the semi-main event leading into Reigns-Sheamus.
– The Women’s match on the A Tour was an eight-woman tag version of the 10-woman tag at WrestleMania 32.
– Big Show & Kane continued their feud with The Wyatts henchman, matching up the four large wrestlers.
– Goldust wrestled throughout the tour and continued his program with R-Truth forming an uneasy alliance.
– Zack Ryder joined the tour mid-way through and went undefeated teaming with Darren Young against the Social Outcasts.
– Curtis Axel of the Outcasts unofficially introduced Viktor as a new member. Adam Rose and Konnor were suspended for Wellness Policy violations last week, prompting Konnor’s tag partner, Viktor, to slide into Rose’s spot.
Axel also tweeted out his reflections after a long two weeks of traveling and wrestling…
Usually don't do this but I gained a lot of respect for some good brothers this week! @FightOwensFight @iLikeSamiZayn @TheDeanAmbrose Thanks
— Curtis Axel (@RealCurtisAxel) April 24, 2016
And take this how u wanna, but special respect and thanks to @TripleH for being a true soldier and @KaneWWE for being a true good brother!
— Curtis Axel (@RealCurtisAxel) April 24, 2016
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