Previously on the Best and Worst of WWE NXT: Shinsuke Nakamura said goodbye to the NXT Universe, Oney Lorcan took a hell of a beating, and we got a terrible new theme song. Womp womp.
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And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for April 19, 2017.
Best: Go To F*cking Sleep
This week’s episode opens with Bobby Roode entering the ring to cheers (thanks for that, “Glorious Domination”). He cuts the classic entitled heel promo, full of braggadocio (he claimed Shinsuke Nakamura fled NXT because of him) — though Roode is secretly insecure, as he expresses disgust at the locker room filling the ramp to honor Nak last week. The champ accuses both the audience and other wrestlers of not being worthy of Roode’s NXT, at which point a wild Hideo Itami appears!
The man formerly known as KENTA, who has never really gotten out of the blocks in NXT thanks to myriad injuries, calmly walks down to the ring wearing a nicer suit than Roode’s, stands face to face with the champ, slaps the taste out of his mouth, and then, we finally get it: Hideo hits the GTS on Roode and leaves the ring without saying a single word.
I loved this. It’s not like Itami is a strong talker, so might as well have him go the silent assassin route, with his actions speaking volumes. This is the first time we’ve seen Itami hit the GTS since TakeOver: Brooklyn II, which was nearly eight months ago, so hopefully we get to see it a lot more on this run.
Supplemental Best for Roode continuing to sell the GTS like a shotgun blast to the skull after the commercial break. It’s the little things, y’all.
Best: Creo Que Soy Lindo, Sé Que Soy Sexy
Andrade “Cien” Almas appears to be working a party boy gimmick now, with the commentators discussing his after-hours behavior. It feels like a modernized version of Shawn Michaels’ original “Heartbreak Kid” persona, and Almas has just enough cockiness and swagger to sell it. He squares off against Jason Statham Danny Burch.
The last time we saw Burch, he was bleeding from the back of the head in the WWE UK Championship tournament, so it’s nice to see this jacked Englishman healthy and back in the ring. He lost quickly following flying double knees into a hammerlock DDT, which is fine, because Almas needs to look strong before presumably getting thrashed by Drew McIntyre next week.
Worst: Aliyuck
We get an awesome video package of the majority of NXT’s women’s division discussing just how dangerous Asuka is, but how they’ve all noticed she’s gotten cocky recently, and how they’re all — from Ember Moon all the way down to Daria Berenato — gunning for her NXT Women’s Championship. It was a really nice way to remind everyone that, yeah, Asuka can f*ck your day up, but that, yeah, every other woman in NXT has goals and motivation and talent, too.
Of course, then we get Peyton Royce and Billie Kay in a tag match against Liv Morgan and Aliyah. Again coming out with cat ears and posing in front of a very obviously planted “THE CAT’S MEOW” sign in the crowd, Aliyah still has zero idea what she’s doing in the ring. Of course, she’s not helped by her tag team partner.
Like, I get that pro wrestling has a lot of potentially wacky elements, but at least there is the illusion of competition and the vague concept of physics behind a lot of it — for example, Cesaro’s giant swing is goofy as hell, but it actually works in terms of centrifugal force. Liv Morgan’s rolling mat spot is so unbelievably dumb that it makes me want to turn off my TV.
The match is nothing to write home about, and it’s made even worse by Aliyah, who appears to botch a kickout, which is covered up by clever editing — granted, the crowd reaction wasn’t nearly as bad as Eva Marie when she made the same error in NXT, but that’s mainly only because no one cares about Aliyah.
Alyah scores the victory on a flash rollup against Royce, which was even more dumb because it happened after Royce was holding onto Kay to stop her fall, which should have resulted in a legal tag — they were literally holding hands! And the ref was right there! Kay should’ve come in right there and kicked the cat ears right off Aliyah’s head. Ugh, this match makes me angry.
One small Best, though: Billie Kay revealed new ring gear which showed off her abs for the first time. A+ decision, Billie.
Best: Blood, Sweat, And Tears
The Tye Dillinger/SAnitY blowoff match was a long time coming, and it really was a tale of two halves: The steel cage match was plodding along at a pretty slow pace, then we get an ad for WWEShop or something, then bam! We come back from commercial break and a bleeding Eric Young is getting whooped pillar to post by a fired-up Dillinger.
While this was Dillinger’s NXT farewell match, it was EY who was really putting his back into it, really throwing himself into (and off of!) the steel — his elbow drop from the top of the cage was huge, and was only topped by Dillinger’s flying cross body from the top of the cage a few minutes later.
But before Dillinger took to the skies, we get interference from SAnitY, who shows up to keep the Perfect 10 in — but then Roddy Strong, Kassius Ohno and Ruby Riot show up to even the score. Killian Dain ends up wrecking the good guys and climbing into the ring, leading to Dillinger’s high-risk maneuver and subsequent crawl to victory.
And with that, Tye Dillinger finally wins a match of note, and his post-match reaction feels genuine and 100 percent earned. I expect his win/loss record on Smackdown Live to mirror that of his record in NXT, but assuming his charisma never fades, he’s in for a long career of being a fan favorite. See you in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal next year, Tye.
Next week: Tyler Bate defends the WWE UK Championship against Jack Gallagher, Andrade “Cien” Almas steps out of the club and into the ring with Drew McIntyre, and Aleister Black probably murders another local talent.
