SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NXT TV REPORT
JANUARY 4, 2017
TAPED IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
AIRED ON WWE NETWORK
Report by Justin James, PWTorch contributor
[Q1] No pre-credits package. This is being presented from Melbourne, Australia. Tonight we are seeing Shinsuke Nakaura defend against Samoa Joe in a steel cage, and then #DIY will face TM61 in a Tag Team Championship match. To kick things up we have The Revival. Riddick Moss and Tino Sabattelli are the opponents.
1. THE REVIVAL (SCOTT DAWSON & DASH WILDER) vs. RIDDICK MOSS & TINO SABBATELLI
The Revival get the heel corner. Moss and Dawson start with a lockup. Leaping schoolboy from Moss for two. Dawson is able to fight out of the corner and bring Wilder in. Jumping crossbody from Sabbatelli for a two count. Double team to Wilder also gets two. Moss fights off a double team but it catches up to him. Moss catches Dawson from the top. Distraction from Wilder lets Dawson jam a thumb in Moss’ eye and break free. Moss is stuck in a corner. slingshot suplex from Dawson to Moss for two. Wilkder crashes and burns, but Dawson comes in before Moss and tag. Dawson misses Moss, letting Sabbatelli tag in and dropkicks The Revival out of his life. He press slams Wilder into Dawson. Power slam to Dawson for two and a half.
[Q2] Moss ducks and Wilder clobbers Dawson by mistake, Moss covers Wilder and almost gets the win. Shatter Machine for the win.
Winners: The Revival in 11:04. Moss and Sabbatelli made a competant team against The Revival. Sabbatelli looked particularly good.
Elias Samson threatens to not sing if the crowd won’t be nice to him. then he says that he likes the sound of his own voice too much to not sing. Thankfully, the dulcet tones of “Glorious” cut off Samson’s song. Philips says that the NXT Universe has been “manipulated” by Roode’s robes, music, and flash. Buddy Murphy predictably gets s nice reception in his hometown, and plays the face. Graves claims that Murphy’s passport was revoked so we may never see him outside of Australia again. Dillinger also gets a very good reaction from the crowd.
2. ELIAS SAMSON & BOBBY ROODE vs. TYE DILLINGER & BUDDY MURPHY
Roode and Murphy start. The Australian crowd is a lot of fun. Roode with a quick takedown then humiliates Murphy. Murphy then plays to the crowd. Shoulder block sends Murphy to the mat. Sunset flip but Murphy rolls through and covers for one. Dillinger gets the tag and stares fown Roode.
[Q3] Roode teases action with Dillinger, then tags Samson in. “Drift away” chants from the crowd. The larger Samson ties Dillinger up pretty well. Snapmare breaks Dillinger free and he flashes tens at Samson. Slingshot splash to Samson from the apron, and Murphy gets the tag. The crowd dubs Murphy the “Aussie Ten.” Dillinger drags Roode into the ring for stomps in the corner, then fends off Samson to deliver ten perfect punches in the corner. Roode teases getting into the ring to distract Dillinger, and Samson capitalizes with a high knee. Roode takes a tag to take advantage of the stunned Dillinger. Back elbow from Dillinger in the corner but he runs into a spinebuster from Roode. Samson gets the tag. Clothesline gets two for Samson. Roode wants punches in the corner, and Dillinger can barely stand up. Roode jaws at the crowd, letting Dillinger recover and hit a superkick, but he is too wounded to follow up. Double tags and Murphy runs Samson down. Spinning heel kick then a kip up, running double knees for two. Double knees from the top forces Roode to break uo a cover. Murphy is able to send Roode out of the ring, then a flipping dive to Roode on the outside. Dillinger is legal, preps the Tyebreaker, and hits it on Samson. That’s three.
Winners: Buddy Murphy and Tye Dillinger in 11:19. Murphy looked like a winner at the end, and it is good to see Dillinger pick up the win.
A very rare (for NXT) triple threat match is up, with Liv Morgan, Ember Moon, and Billie Kay. you have to think that one of these three is going to become a #1 contender to Asuka very soon.
3. LIV MORGAN vs. EMBER MOON vs. BILLIE KAY – Triple Threat Match
[Q4] Staredown at the beginning, and Kay manages to anger the other two. she ducks out of the ring though. Moon and Morgan lock up. Moon looks amazing in early action, Kay tries to take advantage but Moon scares her away, letting Morgan hit a drop kick. Morgan rolls Kay around the ring, the Moon breaks up the cover. Double bulldogs, Morgan covers but the kickout sends her on top of the other woman, and this goes back and forth a number of times. Morgan leapfrogs Kay into a Thesz Press to Moon, Kay ambushes Morgan. Kay builds offense against Moon. Morgan gets a ton of boots to the middle when she tries to roll into the ring. Morgan comes into the ring with a dropkick to Kay and a two count. Moon accidentally clears Morgan off the apron, then eats a rolling elbow for two and a half. Huge shot from Moon, but Kay prevents a follow up, then Kay sends Morgan over the ropes, Morgan hits the apron then lands on Moon. Morgan gets rolled into the ring, cover for two. then a two count cover on Moon. Then Kay lands chops to both, and then respond in stereo. Moon and Morgan go at it. Crossbody from Moon, Kay breaks up the cover. Kicks from Moon to Kay, then a double underhook suplex to Kay, handspring elbow to Kay, Moon wanta the Eclipse but Morgan meets her on the turnbuckle, and preps a superplex. Kay gets up for a tower of doom spot, but only gets a powerbomb on Morgan. Moon, still on the top, eclipses Kay for the win.
Winner: Ember Moon in 8:25. Really solid effort here from everyone. Why is Moon not the #1 contender?
4. NXT Tag Team Champions #DIY (JOHNNY GARGANA & TOMMASO CIAMPA) vs. TM61 (NICK MILLER & SHANE THORNE) – NXT Tag Team Championship Match
Pre-match handshakes add a nice touch to the matchup of two face teams. Thorne and Ciampa start. High speed, exciting action that fails to cause a cover. quick hand touch to acknowledge each other. Miller and Gargano tag in. Gargano gets double teamed.
[Q5] Big delayed suplex to Gargano for two. Stereo knnes to the face, suplex from Ciampa almost win it. Falcon Arrow from thorne almost topples Ciampa.
[ Break ]
Thorne lands uppercuts to Ciampa, but Ciampa takes thorned out and tags Gargano. thorne kicks oout of a weak cover from Gargano. Gargano with a sudden submission hold mid-ring, but Thorn rolls into a cover to break the hold. Ciampa in. Thorne makes a comeback out of the corner including a really nice dropkick. Miller gets the tag and cleans house on Ciampa and Gargano. Suplex to Ciampa then Gargano. Diving forearm gets two. Tag from Gargano and he nails the spear through the ropes to Miller. Gargano fights out of a double team, covers Miller, but can’t quite get the win with a DDT. Miller in the #DIY corner, and dodges the stereo knees, and puts Ciampa into the TM61 corner with a suplex. Miller wants a superplex, but Ciampa blocks. Thorne tags in, Ciampa headbutts him, to TM61 sets up a tower of doom, crazy sequence where Miller pushes Thorne onto a corner and Gargano breaks it up. Back to Thorne and Ciampa, clothesline and powerbomb backbreaker, cover and Miller dives in to save the match.
Now it is Miller and Gargano. Miller with a powerbomb for a nearfall. Gargano manages to stumble into his corner and get the tag, #DIY hits stereo kicks to retain the titles.
Winners: #DIY in 15:43. Lots of athleticism here, but I struggle to connect to TM61 for some reason. They haven’t had any real promo time time and their matches do not develop them as characters.
[Q6] Post-match, #DIY return from the back to show respect to TM61 with handshakes and hugs. They all raise each others’ hands.
Asuka is advertised for next week, back at FSU. Also next week, #DIY faces The Revival for The Revival’s championship rematch.
Shinsuke Nakamura is to face Samoa Joe (yet again…) for the NXT Championship in a steel cage. They already aired this match a few weeks ago, on December 14th 2016 in a truncated form.
5. NXT Champion SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. SAMOA JOE – NXT Championship Steel Cage Match
Slow start, this doesn’t feel like a hot feud. Vibration kicks in the corner. joe throws Nakamura into the cage.
[ Break ]
Joe is continuing to attack Nakamura out of the break. elbow drop for two. Bizarre “Let’s go Cena! Cena sucks!” from a few people in the crowd. Nakamura blocks a powerbomb attempt and hits strikes.
[Q7] Nakamura gets put into the cage, the Joe rolls into the legs for a two count. Nakamura starts rolling with kicks. Nakamura gets Joe over the corner ropes to nail the running knee to the midsection. Joe gets rolled into the ring but kicks out at two. Nakamura runs into an atomic drop, eats a boot, but dodges a senton. Nakamura climbs the cage, but Joe grabs his feet and yanks him down. Joe with a powerbomb into a cover, but Nakamura kicks out, Joe transitions to an STF. Nakamura rolls backwards into a cover for two, but gets clobbered for two hiomself. Joe delivers knees through the ropes, then a big clothesline for a nearfall.
[ Break ]
Nakamura does his “miss with one kick, hit the a second kick” routine. Joe gets out of a guillotine. Joe blocks suplexes, but Nakamura then hits a German suplex. Joe beats a Kinshasa with a powerslam for two. they trade forearms. Joe with a sudden Coquina Clutch mid-ring. Nakamura pushes off the turnbuckle to break free, then delivers a knee to Joe. Slow cover earns a two count. Nakamura staerts climbing, and Joe meets him there and looks for a super Muscle Buster. Nakamura blocks and hits a powerbomb off the top, then starts to climb the ropes, to get Kinshasa from the top. Nakamura drags himself to the open cage door, but decides to stay in the ring instead, and closes the door. A second Kinshasa. then a third. Cover and the win.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura in 19:25. The first time they sired this, they effectively removed the second segment, but it did not add much to the match. This match just did not have the right feeling at all in my opinion, it came off as neither a steel cage match nor the end of a hot feud.
FINAL THOUGHTS: NXT really does not do well with these non-Takeover shows outside of FSU. for the most part they feel like excellent house shows, but are not up to the level of a good NXT episode. The last two episodes have beene extended, but if this is a format they are thinking about commiting to, they need to do a lot better than they have been.
CHECK OUT THE PRIOR REPORT: 12/28 NXT TV Review: Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe, Asuka vs. Nia Jax, Lorcan vs. Almas, and more from Japan
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