12/5 NXT in Perth, Australia: Results and thoughts on attending first pro wrestling live event with Nakamura, Samoa Joe, Revival, Asuka

NXT LIVE EVENT REPORT
DECEMBER 5, 2016
PERTH, AUSTRALIA AT HBF STADIUM
REPORT BY CHRIS PHELPS, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

(1) Buddy Murphy beat Wesley Blake.

(2) Andrade “Cien” Almas beat Oney Lorcan.

(3) Ember Moon beat Billie Kay.

(4) Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano beat Tino Sabbatelli & Roddick Moss to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles.

(5) Bobby Roode beat Tye Dillinger.

(6) Asuka beat Peyton Royce to retain the NXT Women’s Title.

(7) Shinsuke Nakamura & TMA61 beat Samoa Joe & The Revival.

The Perth NXT show was the first pro-wrestling event I had ever been to despite having watched almost every Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and PPV show the past couple years or so and listened to every post-Raw/Smachown/PPV PWTorch Livecast since January, so perhaps bare that in mind.

I’d give NXT Perth a solid 7.5/10. I had an incredible experience but also have nothing to compare it to. Every Australian male wrestler was over with the crowd (Buddy Murphy surprisingly so), as well as was Joe, Nakamura, Roode, Tye Dillinger (10 gimmick very over), DIY, and Asuka. Ember Moon was the only wrestler who surprised me as being less over than I expected.

As is probably evident from the long list of who was over, the crowd was really into the show. It seemed like most people were having a really good time and the crowd was vocal.

In my opinion the best performers on the night were Joe, Nakamura, Roode, and Asuka. Roode particularly stood out as talented. Perhaps also worth noting it looked like he lost a couple teeth and seemed concerned with his mouth while walking up the ramp. The Revival were also good at working the crowd and responding to/feeding off them. Wesley Blake was surprisingly effective as a heel and was very true to his heel character, getting plenty of boos. I heard it already mentioned on livecast Drifter got a ton of heat, which is true. Kay and Royce were also good at projecting their heel characters in the ring during their respective matches, although the crowd popped less for them other than chants of ‘Sydney sucks!’

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS LIVE EVENT REPORT: 12/5 WWE Smackdown Live Event Report: Major changes due to Styles ankle injury, IC Title match headlines, more TLC fallout