SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NXT TV REPORT
JUNE 14, 2017
TAPED AT FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY
AIRED ON WWE NETWORK
[Q1] NXT starts with Drew McInyre facing the already-in-the-ring Rob Ryzin.
(1) DREW MCINTYRE vs. ROB RYZIN
After a bit of action, Ryzinpushes McIntyre and takes a big boot to the face. Release belly-to-belly from McIntyre sends Ryzin across the ring. Kick to the knee then a superkick gets Ryzin a one count. McIntyre with a suplex-like throw. McIntyre hits a single axe handle from the top. Ryzin slaps McIntyre and gets thrown into the corner. Big offense from McIntyre in the corner, the ref needs to pull him off. McIntyre hits Ryzin so hard he falls off the turnbuckle. McIntyre warms up the band, finishes with the single leg dropkick.
WINNER: Drew McIntyre in 3:24. Good, quick squash.
Recap of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay finding out that Ember Moon is cleared to wrestle again from two weeks ago. Ember Moon is booked to face Peyton Royce next week.
Video package on Aleister Black. Clips of his winning streak.
(2) NXT Tag Team Champions THE AUTHORS OF PAIN (AKAM and REZAR w/Paul Ellering) vs. PAIR OF JOBBERS – Non-title Tag Team Match
[Q2] Rezar is just talking to Ellering, not even on the apron, as Akam destroys the other team.
WINNER: The Authors of Pain in 0:57.
Post-match, Ellering instructs them to hit a Super Collider on the jobbers.
Ellering has a microphone and says that Heavy Machinery as “as foolish as they are large.” Funny, considering how large AOP are. Ellering reminds us that AOP are undefeated, beating TM61, The Revival, American Alpha, and #DIY. Heavy Machinery will not even be a footnote in their book of Pain.
Heavy Machinery come out looking ready for action. I feel like their music may be revised a bit, to feel a bit less Tonka-toys. They two teams go nose to nose. This is like 1,200 lbs. of wrestlers in the ring. Ellering backs AOP out of the ring.
Video on the Roderick Strong – Bobby Roode interaction from last week.
Video package on Sonya Deville. She is presented much more strongly than her win – loss record indicates. She is advertised for next week.
[ J.J.’s Reax: Deville seems to have a fair amount of upside, and I am happy to see NXT featuring her more. ]
McGuinness calls Velveteen Dream a “weirdo”. They have to be really careful with the way they phrase things here. Oh, there he goes with “ambiguous” again.
(3) RAUL MENDOZA vs. VELVETEEN DREAM
Dream with some early offense, but he begs off after Mendoza recovers. Mendoza tries a quick schoolboy. Dream and Mendoza demonstrate some athleticism. Dream moves to a more agressive style. Suplex, and Dream gloats a bit. He looks a bit silly with his hair band askew. He takes it off and smacks Mendoza with it. Mendoza makes a comeback, but a flapjack ends it. Fireman’s carry into cartwheel from Dream. Dream goes to the top for a Macho Man elbow.
WINNER: Velveteen Dream in 3:38. He doesn’t look so great for taking so long to put away an unknown, but I like the move set. Someone needs to tell McGuinness that it is 2017, not 1997, and that we don’t need to obsess over a man being “ambiguous.”
[Q3] Replay of the end of the Oney Lorcan – Hideo Itami match, where Itami turned heel and attacked his friend Kassius Ohno.
Backstage interview with Ohno. He isn’t sure where his friendship with Itami is right now, but he is embarassed that he shoved Itami last week. He makes excuses for Ohno. Ohno talked to William Regal, and has a match next week with Aleister Black.
[ J.J.’s Reax: Neither Black nor Ohno needs a loss right now. This is a match that looks good on paper, but I would have preferred to see it happen for a good reason, and on a Takeover if possible. I am not a fan of a dirty or non finish, but I think it is the right move in this spot. ]
Quick package on Ember Moon.
The announcers remind us of Asuka’s amazing streak of being lossless, comparing her to Goldberg.
(4) NXT Women’s Champion ASUKA vs. RUBY RIOT vs. NIKKI CROSS – NXT Women’s Championship Triple Threat Elimination Match
It would feel rather anti-climatic for Asuka to lose the title to either Riot or Cross, especially since neither seems terribly dominant. No idea why this match is happening now at all. Action early on doesn’t give anyone the advantage. Cross dropkicks Riot, Asuka dropkicks Cross, and poses. Cross and Riot double team Asuka, and they clear her out of the ring. Schoolgirl from Riot on Corss for one. McGuinness points out the obvious, that with the elimination format, Asuka should just stay out of the ring. Riot picks Cross apart in the corner and sends her out. Asuka is taking a nap on the ramp.
[ Break ]
Asuka is tussling with Riot in the ring out of the break. Rollup doesn’t win it for Asuka. Hip attack drop Riot, but she gets a knee up int he corner, follows with a head scissors. Cross jumps on Riot’s back. Asuka wants to kick Riot off Cross, but Riot catches the kick and chops Asuka into the ropes. Asuka sends Riot into the ropes and nails a knee to the face. Cross trips up Asuka from the outside. Riot scampers to the apron to hit them both with a dropkick. Riot puts Cross in the ring, whiffs a dropkick from the top, then responds with another.
[Q4] Riot heads up the turnbuckle, Asuka pushes her off, misses a crossbody. Spinning neckbreak from Cross, Asuka rolls out of the ring before the cover. Riot with a suplex to drop Cross, but she is too tired to follow up. Watson says they are “gassed” which is a bad look only 7 minutes into a match. Riot keeps Asuka out of the match, but Cross surprises Riot with a spinning neckbreaker as Riot is hanging from the ropes for the three count.
First Elimination at 7:45.
[ Break ]
Cross is slapping Asuka out of the break, but Asuka comes off the mat and goes head-to-head with Cross. They go back and forth with blows. Asuka hits her big roundhouse kick, then a German Suplex, bridge into a nearfall. Cross wants the neckbreaker in the corner, but Asuka escapes and delivers sharp offense from the apron. Cross is on the outside, Asuka hits a Hip Attack from the apron, then lands headbutts. The brawl against the barricades. The crowd is sadly dead. Asuka slams Cross into the barricades. Asuka drags Cross to the back, and the referee strangely calls for the bell and calls it a no contest.
No Contest in 12:26. Since when does a Triple Threat end because the wrestlers stayed outside too long or went to the back? What garbage booking. Just garbage booking.
The continue to fight outside the building. Referees find them and try to stop it. The poor gate to a loading dock gets battered. Asuka drags Cross back inside, but Cross recovers and tries to drown Asuka in a cooler of water and ice and bottled water, then covers Asuka’s both and nose with her hand to gag her. Cross brings Asuka into the arena and slams her into the announcer booth, but Asuka recovers and pays her back. A technician completely ignores them fighting right behind him. And even right next to him. Then fight on his table but he’s still at work. Cross hits a weird crossbody from a dead stop and they both fall off and through a table. William Regal checks on them, they are both out. On replay, it was a three foot fall.
FINAL REAX: The post-main event brawl was hot, but it is feeling very overdone at this point. We have seen this same thing at least twice before with Cross and Asuka. Riot has zero credibility at this point, having now been to the championship match a few times and losing quite easily each time. The rest of the episode was bland but non-offensive, other than Heavy Machinery facing off with The Authors of Pain.
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