We open up with Paige rocking all the gold but then JBL goes and ruins it by stripping her of the NXT Championship, boooo!
On the plus side, tournament to crown the second champion, yaaay!
Alexander Rusev vs. Travis Tyler – Winner: Alexander Rusev
I have noticed a lot of people appreciating Rusev’s assets since joining the main roster. By that I obviously mean Lana.
Having already established Rusev on NXT, with copious amounts of squash matches, I’m not sure what this set out to achieve.
Rusev looked dominant but Rusev always looks dominant on NXT.
Paige & Emma vs. Charlotte &Sasha Banks – Winner: Charlotte &Sasha Banks
Obviously things have changed with Paige and her belts since this episode was first filmed but to see Emma’s mystery partner hyped and then come back to Paige being in the ring was disjointed.
They clearly edited in some commentary to address the stripping of the NXT title from Paige.
Emma Emma Emma, Oi Oi Oi chant. Simple but brilliant.
Charlotte beating Paige is obviously huge and puts her in pole position for the NXT Women’s Champion. Is she the right choice? I’m not sure. She obviously has pedigree but I’ve not seen enough from her to suggest she is the natural choice to spearhead a division that has been so commendable since its inception.
Tyson Kidd vs. Mason Ryan – Winner: Tyson Kidd
I was not expecting much going in but that wasn’t bad.
The commentary was bad but the match wasn’t.
I like Tyson Kidd but he is lost amongst the shuffle on the main roster, hopefully he can shine during a run on NXT.
Even the promo was more than I expected Kidd capable of.
Tyler Breeze vs. Angelo Dawkins – Winner: Tyler Breeze
Speaking of being lost in the shuffle, I feel like Breeze has been since his match with Adrian Neville. Hopefully he will be one of those to shine when others move on up to Raw and SmackDown.
The crowd are into Breeze, something meaningful just needs to be done with him.
Something meaningful this match was not.
The Ascension and Corey Graves vs. The Usos and Sami Zayn – Winners: The Usos and Sami Zayn
The Ascension not in a squash match? Sami Zayn going into a match fully fit? What is this magic?!
I appreciate the hell out of the Usos not being affected by clashing heads. One of my favourites from of all wrestling mythology.
The Usos brought a great energy to the match and the others responded and it made for a better match.
It fell a little flat in the middle when Jey were grounded. It would have been fine but went on a little long.
Jimmy coming in hot livened things right back up again, which led to a frantic finish. The back and forth between the two teams there was a really great watch.
I enjoyed the match a lot, even with the lull in the middle. It is a match worth checking out for the fun finish alone.
Overall Show
So Paige is no longer Champ. I both hate it and love it. She’s dominated the division for so long and it is time for somebody else to step from behind her expansive shadow. Is that going to be Charlotte? Only time will tell.
Creative needs to find something more meaningful for Tyler Breeze and question the purpose of Rusev squash matches on NXT.
Tyson Kidd impressed and I hope this leads to something meaningful for him. He deserves it.
The main event was a fun watch with a cool ending. It is great to see The Ascension in a different type of match.
NXT was a large mix of extremes this week. Some of it was pointless and some of it was entertaining. One consistency that ran through it though was the quality of announcing. Was it just me or was it really bad this week? Certainly not up to the high standards we have come to expect.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section and be sure to check back in next week for The Wrestling Mania NXT report.
–Â by Richard Thompson Â