Previously on the Best and Worst of NXT: We’re finishing up those post-NXT TakeOver, pre-WrestleMania Axxess tapings, so we’re almost back to our regularly scheduled programming. Samoa Joe beat Apollo Crews so hard he fell into the main roster. American Alpha did something similar to Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. No Way Jose debuted and got us extremely confrontational about our thoughts on dancing wrestlers.
If you missed this episode, you can watch it here. If you’d like to read our older columns, click over here. With Spandex is on Twitter, so follow it, and like us on Facebook. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Shares, likes, comments and other social-media things are appreciated.
And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for April 27, 2016.
Best: Eva Marie (??)
The announce team spends most of the match comparing it to a crocodile vs. a baby deer, but I have to be honest: Eva Marie brought her worker boots. Now, don’t get me wrong, Eva got her worker boots when a crusty old pair fell off the powerlines, so they aren’t great. But she wore a pair!
This is easily the best actual in-ring performance of Eva’s career, which I guess is a testament to Askua being one of the best wrestlers in the world and giving her a hell of a lot (probably more than she deserved). But still, Eva held her own and, for once, looked like an actual wrestler. There are still some problems, of course; she still hits the ropes like she’s Kelly Kelly in a barbed wire match, a lot of her offense doesn’t connect — that kick, anyone? — and she still doesn’t look comfortable doing basic things like going for pins. The rest of it’s coming together, though, and while she might be a lifelong developmental project, she’s moving forward.
I wouldn’t say this was as good as Eva vs. Bayley, but it was good. Eva/Bayley was booked around Eva’s general assumed incompetence and played up the fact that she was in over her head and getting an opportunity she didn’t deserve. This one was built around everyone assuming it’d be over as fast as Asuka vs. Cameron, and Eva kinda miraculously sticking it out. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would, for a completely new set of reasons.
The best part was the post-match stuff, though …
Best: Nia Jax Vs. Asuka
I’ve been skeptical about NXT’s ability to believably build Asuka vs. Nia after having Nia lose clean (via submission!) to Bayley, but I love where they’re going with it. Nia losing to Bayley was about Bayley’s in-ring IQ and her heart, played against the fact that Nia was an overconfident newbie who hadn’t yet really faced anyone great. Nia vs. Asuka is a different animal. Asuka’s less about the in-ring IQ and more about just countering everything and kicking you to f*ck, and Nia might actually be way better against that style. She’s huge and strong, and Asuka think she can just kick her around and treat her like Deonna.
The key here is this post-match confrontation, when Asuka throws her big knockout kick to scare Nia and Nia just avoids it and steps forward. That’s AMAZING. That’s a direct statement that Nia isn’t afraid of Asuka, unlike literally everyone else Asuka’s faced in NXT, and that maybe it’s Asuka who finally doesn’t know what she’s in for. Asuka’s look of concern was perfect, as it wasn’t too much, it was just a hint of, “why aren’t you backing down?” Is the key to beating Asuka taking away the psychological advantage? Bayley would never consider THAT, because she’s such a reverent fangirl.
This could be very good. This could really make Nia Jax a thing, and I hope it does.
Worst: Not Showing The Entire Title Change Match
So, that title change.
The promise (as I understood it) is that we were gonna get to see the match on this week’s episode. Instead, we just saw the same fan footage and WWE.com exclusive video we’d already seen on YouTube (which is not WWE.com). What gives? You couldn’t cut a Hype Bros match? You couldn’t push Carmella vs. Aaliyah to next week to show us a full f*cking title change?
Anyway, I’ve been thinking a lot about why this title changed happened where and how it did, and I think I like it. It obviously draws attention to the live events, which NXT’s always been good about. The San Jose show had Itami hitting the GTS for the first time, the Texas shows and the shows around it had Dusty Classic tag tournament matches, and now this random show in Massachusetts had an NXT title change. There’s always something going on to justify your ticket, and unlike WWE proper you can’t just assume everyone’s gonna go through the motions and aim for the middle.
I also like the fact that by doing a title change on a live event, they navigated the very difficult question of “The Demon.” You’ve got to get the belt off of Finn at some point, but you don’t want to have The Demon lose for the first time on NXT, do you? That seems like a major milestone in his career. That’s (on a much smaller scale) an “end of the streak” kind of thing. If you have a match on a Takeover and Finn doesn’t show up as the Demon, it’s a little suspect. If you have him be confident and not go Demon in f*cking Lowell, that’s reasonable. Joe takes advantage of Finn not keeping it 100 and takes the strap. It’s unexpected, but from every angle I can see — including the one that makes Samoa Joe NXT Champion for any reason whatsoever — it seems like the right call.
Best: Holy Sh*t The Motherf*cking Revival
The best part of this week’s episode for me was Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder absolutely GUTTING jobbers. Just f*cking DRAGGING them.
You may know said jobbers as 3.0, former 2-time Chikara Pro Campeonatos de Parejas. Their role here is to get the ever-loving dogsh*t beaten out of them, and it’s spectacular. This is the match the damn Bullet Club should’ve had as their Raw intro instead of that sleepy thing with the Usos. Dawson and Wilder are immediately relevant again by Midnight Expressing the hell out of 3.0, and I can’t type the word “love” enough. Most WWE jobber squashes are guys standing around being dominant and hitting their moves and that’s that. This was a BEATING. This made you sit back and go, “well sh*t, American Alpha needs to watch their asses.” The Shatter Machine followed by a STOMP PIN was the perfect exclamation point on a desperately shouted sentence.
I couldn’t have loved this more, and it’s not even the last we see of The Revival for the night.
Worst: Bliss-free Blake And Murphy
In contrast, the next match was The Bullet Club and The Usos, but with the Hype Bros and Blake and Murphy. Blake and Murphy didn’t even have Alexa Bliss with them, which is the very last thing you should be doing with Blake and Murphy. I hope it was just a scheduling thing, or she was in the back having lunch or something and just didn’t want to watch a Hype Bros match.
Best: The Revival, Part Two
The highlight (again) is the post-match, with The Revival running back out and subbing in Mojo Rawley for 3.0. I’ve enjoyed Dawson and Wilder’s work since the Dusty Classic, but damn, they made an impact this week. I’m now actively interested in what they’re doing and which team they decide to obliterate next, especially if it’s via Demolition Decapitations from the apron to the floor.
Best: Building Carmella
1. Now’s the perfect time to use what you built with the Enzo and Cass partnership and let Carmella exist on her own. It’s important. Enzo and Cass got called up to Raw without her, so she needs legs. The women’s division is still pretty strong but needs a new underdog babyface for whenever Bayley finally gets called up, and who better for that role than the Brutus Beefcake to Bayley’s Hulk Hogan? Establishing Carmella as a sentient character who has learned and paid her dues and is ready to fight for real is a great idea. It’s the Bayley arc, but from a different perspective.
2. Carmella has spots on her face now? What, did Charlotte create her via osmosis?
3. The match with Aaliyah was perfectly fine, and I spent most of it wishing they’d go full Lucha Underground, mess with the timeline a bit and say she’s Rey Mysterio’s daughter Aaliyah. It’s a ridiculous suggestion, but I just want an excuse for WWE to air one of my favorite segments of all time again.
4. Carmella’s finish has always been a little suspect, but I like that it has a “trigger.” Like, the headscissors hurts you, but when she grabs that foot and wrenches it in, you’re toast. It’s the low stakes equivalent of Kurt Angle’s anklelock grapevine. You always had a chance to just tumble around and counter Kurt’s finish with ease, but when he wrapped his legs around yours and dropped to the ground, you were eternally f*cked.
Worst: The Drifter, Good Lord
First of all, did this dorky motherf*cker just say he was the Drifter, and that Shinsuke Nakamura should’ve never “drifted” into NXT? Are you for real right now? You know you are making your own nickname not make sense, right?
Nakamura is heaven on earth, but “Nakamura wrestling” is the only thing worth noting here. Samson is the dirt worst, and he’s not getting better. He’s a passable wrestler from another time. They clearly don’t know what he’s supposed to be or why he’s doing anything, so he’s just … well, I wanted to say CJ Parker, but CJ Parker at least had a little enthusiasm. On Twitter I saw this match described as “Misawa coming to the WWF in 95 and wrestling Henry Godwinn,” and I couldn’t say it better. If Samson had existed in 1995, he would’ve gotten the worst occupational gimmick. He would’ve been like, “The Milkman” Elias Samson. He’d wrestle in a white uniform and a little hat and win by hitting you over the head with a glass bottle, and we’d constantly complain about how milkmen aren’t a thing anymore.
The silver lining here is that Nakamura is the best and everybody seems to get that, and now that we’ve done Nak vs. Samson we don’t have to do it again.
Next Week:
Austin Aries! Uh, can I trade that in for half a Baron Corbin?
