As with NXT in Osaka, love the taped house show vibe. The Aussies were game for some NXT. This might have also been an all-time great Corey Graves performance – great one-liners and his attacks on Phillips were extra spicy. Hope he eventually gets enough cred that we can hear this Corey Graves shitting all over Michael Cole one day.
1. The Revival vs. Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli
Liked The Revival vs. Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss – the timing was glaringly off on some of Tino and Moss’ stuff but still enjoyed the perverse fun of the Revival working two pretty green young boys. That POP for The Revival!! Tino and Moss are basically blank slates but they look sexy and move OK so the potential is always there. If Tino is any good and not an asshole he might be huge. As always a few fun little touches from The Revival, highlighted by Dawson’s headlock shtick with Moss, Dawson dragging Dash into the ring as a distraction and raking Moss’ eyes, and Dawson’s look of pure glee after ducking the enzuigiri. Always a mark for a good corner bump to the nuts as well as a guy getting wrecked with the Shatter Machine too. **3/4
2. Tye Dillinger & Buddy Murphy vs. Bobby Roode & “The Drifter” Elias Samson
The sheer randomness of the Tye Dillinger & Buddy Murphy vs. Bobby Roode & The Drifter tag was something else. Drifter is an absolute heat magnet. Forgot Buddy Murphy was from Australia for a second so freaked out for the insane pop. This was just a fun match, lots of neat moments that made for an entertaining watch… Roode taunting after the “reverse Curly” spot, Roode and Buddy tearing it up, Tye vs. Roode teases, Buddy milking the crowd’s love, Drifter being an annoying stiff. The ONE chant for the corner punches! AMAZING superkick by Tye and spit-take by Roode!! BUDDY MURPHY HOT TAG!!! Forgot that Buddy Murphy is actually very good. Enjoyed about the same as the opener but the wrestling was smoother. ***
3. Triple Threat Match: Ember Moon vs. Liv Morgan vs. Billie Kay
The Ember Moon/Billie Kay/Liv Morgan Triple Threat was kind of messy but weirdly fun and had a couple neat spots. Liv’s fall on the apron trying to plancha was scary. Finally starting to see what WWE sees in Billie Kay – she’s a solid heel, just doing jack nothing on TV. Her bump on the Eclipse was tremendous. **
4. NXT Tag Team Title: #DIY [c] vs. TM61
At TakeOver: Toronto, “We learned that Shane Thorne is a crazy person,” says Corey Graves. #DIY vs. TM61 was a fun face vs. face kinda tag match with some cool individual moments that didn’t completely connect with me. Felt like they had some good ideas but they didn’t come together all the way (i.e.: Gargano throwing Miller to break the count). Liked Ciampa and Thorne’s early matwork, milking the tag to Johnny Wrestling, Miller’s tope, Ciampa’s dropkick counter of the Thorne handspring. Miller could do better on the hot tag. Had fun, didn’t love. ***
5. Steel Cage Match – NXT Title: Shinsuke Nakamura [c] vs. Samoa Joe
Was more impressed with WWE’s editing of the cage coming down than anything in Joe vs. Nakamura in the cage. They aired this clipped a few weeks ago and it was painfully average and seeing it in full didn’t help. Norman Smiley dropped on Talk is Jericho this week that Nakamura’s back is hurt, so there’s that. But still. Yeesh. It was basically a solid extended Superstars match in a steel cage. A decent match, but a decent match I disliked more than a lot of other decent matches. Nakamura closing the cage door is still cool though. **1/2
A really solid show – nothing to go out of your way for, but all the tags are well worth watching. 6/10
