12/12 WWE NXT in Sheffield – Second Report on fan run-in, reactions, chants, more


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WWE NXT Results
December 12, 2015
Sheffield, England
Report by Martin Bell, PWTorch reader

The arena was nearly full for what was put on-sale; it was cut at the halfway point with the top-tier curtained off. Ring announcer Brown Shoes welcomed us.

(1) Enzo Amore & Big Cass beat Blake & Murphy (w/Alexa Bliss). Alexa got a pop when she came out. Enzo & Cass had the only mic time of any wrestler, and were very popular.

(2) Bull Dempsey beat Tye Dillinger. Dillinger’s “Perfect 10” gimmick was very over (and continued to be through the night), and so was Bull.

(3) Samoa Joe beat Apollo Crews. I was most excited for this match, but the audience chanted “Uhaa” and sang songs with “Ooh-aah” in the whole way through. I felt this confused the more casual audience member and distracted from the match. The audience was altogether trying to be too smart for its own good the whole night. We just kept cheering the faces and booing the heels.

(4) NXT Women’s champion Bayley beat Emma w/Dana Brooke. The males in and around us deemed it more appropriate to chant at Dana. The match went a little long, and I’m not sure Bayley and Emma have the best chemistry. Nia Jax came out afterward to make belt gestures at Bayley. On Bayley’s way out, one of her inflatables got a knot in it halfway up, and wouldn’t fully inflate. She grabbed it and pulled the knot free and a huge pop went out when the thing was fully inflated.

After an intermission, William Regal came out to a huge pop and briefly addressed the audience.

(5) NXT tag champions Dash & Dawson beat Jason Jordan & Chad Gable. Best match of the night for both me and my girlfriend. Great support for Jordan & Gable. There was a fan run-in, which was disappointing and was met with a round of boos and a chant accusing the fan of being word I shaln’t repeat – a very sweary British chant. After the match, Dash & Dawson left the ring to Gable & Jordan, and they were greeted with a chant of “You are awesome.”

(6) Asuka beat Carmella. Blink-and-you’d-miss-it match. Asuka was very over.

(7) NXT champion Finn Balor beat Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin in a three-way match. Corbin had great heat. Sami came out last as if it was a surprise, but the whole arena was doing an “Olé” chant beforehand. At one point, Sami was thrown from the ring and seemed to butt heads with Greg the announcer, whose nose appeared to be bleeding afterward and he got medical help (in the form of a handkerchief, it looked like). A fun spot occurred when Sami put on Finn’s leather jacket and impersonated him, to which Finn responded by putting on Sami’s harrington jacket and scally cap. So, he “skanked” (the dance one does to ska music, for the unaware) in the ring. This was repeated after the match, which Finn won by hitting the Coup De Grace on Corbin as he was covering Zayn, and pinned Corbin. Corbin also got chants of “Jeremy Corbyn,” the socialist leader of the British Labour party.

The arena holds 13,500, but we reckon a third of it was in use, so probably about 5,000 people in attendance factoring in the floor seats. It’s usually a hockey rink for local team Sheffield Steelers.

When adverts for TLC went on the screen, they were met with boos. Highlights of Smackdown went up, and the New Day and Owens-Ambrose segments were cheered; everything else was met with silence. Well, except for Roman Reigns and Sheamus, who were booed. Announced Greg tried to plug TLC on the mic, and was booed for it.

Incidentally, when we booked tickets for this my girlfriend hadn’t watched NXT, but started watching so she was clued up for the show. She didn’t like wrestling, as her only exposure to it was Raw recently, and previously the odd WrestleMania. She actively likes NXT now and wants to continue watching the weekly show. Not bad for a niche product that only appeals to wrestling fans.

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