The commentary was great tonight. Legit, got the story over, and actually funny. Corey Graves was a Mania Weekend MVP, from his stuff on the Kickoff show to his performance here. And the freakin’ bowtie. Phillips’ powder blue suit was aces too.
1. NXT Tag Team Title: The Revival [c] vs. American Alpha
American Alpha vs. The Revival was a great, great match. Both teams aren’t elite yet, but for the time they’ve each spent together, their ability to play to their strengths and put out a match like this is amazing. Loved how this was laid out, with Alpha finding a bunch of ways to avoid the usual Revival beatdown. Dawson vs. Gable as a singles might be real interesting, as they were tearing it up at the start. Revival again brought the great teamwork spots while Alpha brought the FIRE. Loved the Dash under-the-ring tag cutoff. Oh, and the POP! for Alpha’s entrance and finish was amazing. A couple surprisingly rough moments from Dawson threatened to pull it off track, but they recovered nicely on both. My second favorite match on the show, which is amazing. ****
2. Austin Aries vs. Baron Corbin
Aries vs. Corbin was the weakest thing on this show but would’ve easily been a top-tier WWE TV match on any given week. Bonus points for Corbin’s amazing jacket. It wasn’t the most engaging match but both guys played their parts well, and at this point Corbin being boring is part of the gimmick. The Deep Six on the outside and End of Days counter finish were both wild and brought this up from being just an average match. **3/4
3. Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (debut)
Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura had an AMAZING fucking match. The ATMOSPHERE for Nakamura’s entrance was insane. It was like the goddamn Japanese Undertaker was coming out. I saw a LOT of Shinsuke Nakamura matches from 2002-2006, and he was always alright with occasional flashes of greatness, but this was my first go-around with Shinsuke the Charismatic Enigma. And yeah.. the hype is real. Nakamura’s mannerisms were all on point, as was him finding a million different ways to kick Zayn in the head. This started off super fun, carried by the feeling of “Wow, this is actually happening,” but it eventually built into a fucking WAR in a professional wrestling ring. The kick counter to Zayn’s turnbuckle tope DDT was such a great peak moment. Wrestling is real folks. Best match the WWE did this weekend. ****1/4
4. NXT Women’s Title: Bayley [c] vs. Asuka
Bayley and Asuka for the first 5 minutes or so felt a little off, like they were just kind of trading moves, and the crowd was drained from Zayn/Nakamura. I’d like to see what these two could do with a clear heel/face dynamic, but it’s kind of silly to nitpick here, as this eventually built into something great with an amazing finish. Asuka is one of the most impressive wrestlers in WWE right now, while Bayley continues to be a tremendous ace. ***3/4
5. NXT Title: Finn Balor [c] vs. Samoa Joe
Joe vs. Balor would’ve probably stood out on any other show – as it was, it was really physical, and I liked it better than TakeOver: London, but it lacked a really peak moment towards the end to take it over the top. The constant ref stoppages for blood messed with the flow, but weren’t terrible. This is actually my favorite Joe performance in forever too. Balor has a certain type of match – lots of impressive stuff, and he’s good in an ace role, but it never feels like something truly great. ***1/2
This show was a lot of fun. Just five matches, and everything pretty much delivered. NXT crowds are always so amped and help bring everything to another level. Two legit MOTY candidates, and two others I could understand arguments for. And the most important thing is that this was a wrestling-focused show that was just plain fun. And everything made sense. WHAT!? 9/10
