Quick recap of last week in case anyone missed it: We had the first few matches of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, Authors of Pain beat The Bollywood Boyz in the opener while The Revival beat Andrade Almas and Cedric Alexander in the main event, afterwards Almas turned on Cedric. In between those matches Rich Swann beat Patrick Clark, Peyton Royce beat Danielle Kamela, Tye Dillinger and Bobby Roode talked about their opponents for this week (Sanity), and the debuting Dan Matha got beaten up by Samoa Joe. Now onto this week.
We open with a first round Dusty Rhodes Classic match. Bobby Roode & Tye Dillinger battle Sanity. Roode is out first, his entrance is cool, he just revolves on a plate for a bit, it looked like he was in a microwave. I love hearing people trying to sing along to his theme, “Glorious! And I hmm hmm hmm, hmmm hmm hmm hm-orious!” ‘Perfect Ten’ Tye Dillinger is out second and everyone chants “Ten!” Both men are so over I feel bad for Sanity, Andrade Almas fought both of these guys and everyone hated him. Before Sanity even come out Tye and Roode have fun getting the crowd to shout “Glorious!” and “Ten!”
Out next is Sanity, which is four people. They’re wearing masks and hoods, so who are these guys? And which two of them are wrestling tonight? Two of them unmask to little crowd reaction. The big guy is Sawyer Fulton and his partner is Alexander Wolfe. So just who are these guys then? Well Sawyer Fulton previously worked for Mid-Ohio Wrestling as Big Jake South, but since 2012 he’s worked as a jobber for NXT. wolfe is a German indy guy, most notably working for Westside Xtreme Wrestling where he beat Sami Zayn, and this isn’t his NXT debut either as he previously jobbed to Samoa Joe. So how will the crowd treat the debuting tag team considering they’re going up against two of NXT’s most popular wrestlers?
Despite the name, Sanity appear to be completely nuts, angrily throwing their coats out of the ring. The referee again calls for the bell while both Sanity members are in the ring, which I hate, you should wait until one man is on the apron holding the tag rope! As a result Sanity batter Tye and the ref doesn’t even bother to count Fulton out. Wolfe starts off with Tye while Roode stands on the apron still wearing his robe.
The commentators are just like me, they don’t seem to know what Sanity is either, I assume they’re a cult or something. Not much happens until Roode attempts to get into the ring to save Tye, but is intimidated by Sanity, so opts to leave Tye to his fate instead. Sanity hit a Vertical Suplex/Powerslam onto Tye and Wolfe gets the three count.
Not a great match, Tye got beaten up and that was about it, the real story of the match was Roode walking out on Tye. It was wise to have Roode walk out, leaving Sanity to get the easy win, they won cleanly but it was an unfair fight.
After the match, the smallest member of Sanity, who is tiny, beats the crap out of Tye. He struggles to take off his gear and reveals himself to be… Nikki Cross? Holy crap what the hell?! Nikki Cross, or Nikki Glencross, debuted in August of this year in a Six Woman Tag Team Match teaming up with Liv Morgan and Carmella to beat Daria Berenato, Mandy Rose and Alexa Bliss. The fourth and final member hits a Wheelbarrow into a Neckbreaker, and the fans know who it is right away, and chant “holy shit!” as he takes off his mask to reveal… ERIC YOUNG! Ah wow! Great gimmick for Young, and I suddenly like Sanity now.
Peyton Royce and Billie Kay are backstage. Maybe it’s just the interviewer’s accent or maybe it’s my old ears but it sounded like she called Liv Morgan ‘Liver Morgan’. Billie asks if she called her Liv Morgan, no she called her Liver Morgan. They bitch and gossip about how Liv lost to Asuka so easily and Billie says she will make their match tonight last a little longer, and that match is next.
There’s an advert promoting NXT going to Australia, and they promote “The King of Strong Style” Shinsuke Nakamura, “The Empress of Tomorrow” Asuka, and Samoa Joe, but the way they’ve edited the video it sounds like they’re calling Joe the Empress of Tomorrow.
After the break we see Bobby Roode backstage, he calls Tye the perfect loser, and says he isn’t a tag team wrestler (despite being a six time Tag Team Champion in TNA), that Tye begged him to be his partner, and if Tye is hurt it’s his own fault, not Roode’s.
Billie Kay vs Liv Morgan. Kay is out first with Peyton Royce, and Liv is out second alone. As Liv is making her entrance the ref gives a random Nazi salute.
Tom Phillips calls Liv brave for challenging Asuka, Corey Graves says if he went to a zoo and picked a fight with a gorilla would that make him brave or stupid? He also has a go about a fan chanting the New Jersy area code, I love Corey.
The crowd are oddly silent, you can hear Kay shouting to the ref, it sounds like an indy show, and on top of that you can hear individual fans shouting like in WWF Attitude. It’s a shame people care so little about the NXT Women’s division after they lost Bayley, Carmella, Nia Jax, Emma, Dana Brooke and Alexa Bliss this year, and Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Charlotte last year. Meanwhile we also lost Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens last year, and Finn Balor this year, but we’ve also gained Austin Aries, Bobby Roode and the returning Hideo Itami, while the only new addition to the Women’s division that anyone cares about is Ember Moon. Also, Liv Morgan lost to Asuka in record time just a couple of weeks ago, and Billie Kay lost to Ember Moon in under five minutes at Brooklyn II, so why should anyone care about these jobbers to the stars?
Anyway back to the match, Kay is in charge until Liv hits a Modified STO which gets the fans going a bit. She hits a Dropkick followed by a nice Kip Up, but after Peyton Royce trips Liv, Kay hits a Big Boot for the victory. Get shit on Liv Morgan!
Not much happened that I noticed, but maybe I was just distracted by the almost silent crowd. I like Liv Morgan but she’s gone back to being a jobber after two recent wins.
We see Andrade attacking Cedric Alexander last week, turning him heel. We get a post-match interview, he speaks in Spanish and broken English. He does say he’s the best, and that’s about all I made out.
Next match, TM61 take on Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss, neither are wearing matching gear, and only Tino’s name appears on the Titan Tron, or whatever they’re calling it these days. Just like the Bollywood Boyz last week, these guys get a pre-taped promo themselves. Moss says they’re always competing against each other, but now they’ve decided to team up. Graves almost ograsms over Tino’s abs, which to be fair, are pretty spectacular. Moss isn’t as ripped as his partner, so he makes up for it with a nice golden jacket.
So who are these two guys? Well this is their debut, Tino Sabbatelli is probably better known to some as Sabatino Piscitelli, a former American football player who playing in the safety position, he’s played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Cleveland Browns and Kansas City Chiefs. He debut last year at a live event, and would go on to suffer a concussion, nine years of American football and no serious head injuries, two years training and less than a year in the ring, concussion. As for Moss I couldn’t find much info on him, but from what I can tell his background is similar to Tino’s, playing American football before joining the development centre in 2014. But with such little experience, how will they do?
Nick Miller starts off with Moss. Miller leads Moss early on, keeping it simple. Miller hits a HUGE chop on Moss before tagging out to Shane Thorne who flips over the ropes with an Eddie Guerrero style Senton. They use frequent tags and double team moves as the crowd chant “We want Tino!” and “No we don’t!”
Thorne falls out of the ring and we go to an advert for Hell in a Cell. We see a ouija board spell out help. I thought it was spelling hell, as in Hell in a Cell, not help in a selp. When we come back Moss hits a nice Snap Suplex on Thorne. Tino tags in and the crowd pick up, half seem to like this guy but half don’t. Tino does nothing and tags back out. Huh. Moss does a Randy Orton pose for no reason and no reaction.
Tino is tagged back in to a mixture of boos and cheers. Tino weakling works over Thorne’s arm for so long the crowd die of old age. Thorne manages to get onto the apron and jumps into the ring onto Tino, who grabs Thorne and slams him down with a Powerslam! Looked awesome! Great move. Moss comes back in but Thorne gives Tino an Elbow in the face which the crowd laugh at. Moss trash talks Thorne throughout the matching claiming that they’re real athletes and that Thorne doesn’t stand a chance.
Thorn manages to tag to Nick Miller who cleans house and gets Moss up for an awesome Stalling Suplex. Tino breaks up a pin and takes Thorne down before getting tagged in, doesn’t matter coz Miller gets the upper hand, tags to Thorne who hits the Thunder Valley with Miller and gets the three count pinfall.
Really good match, considering Moss and Tino are relatively new. While TM61 had the best offence, as is expected, Tino and Moss looked pretty good too. By the way, I don’t recall the announcer mentioning it but that match was a Dusty Rhodes Classic Tournament match.
Up next, Buddy Murphy vs Wesley Blake. These guys have been feuding off and on for a while now, both splitting up and going solo before briefly teaming up again before breaking up again. Corey mentions Murphy had some furniture in storage that he couldn’t pay for and so it got auctioned off on “that stupid TV show”.
I was never keen on either of these guys, they’ve always been fairly bland, and so far as singles wrestlers I’ve not been impressed either. Some fan chants “You fucked up” and neither man fucked up, so I guess his mate spilled a drink or something.
Nice Side Headlock Takedown by Murphy who kips up out of a Head Scissors, then Blake does the same, kipping up from a Head Scissors following a Side Headlock Takedown. It was around this time I started wondering where Joe was, he’s been attacking guys and ruining matches each week, but we haven’t seen him yet. It would make sense him interfering in this match too, neither man has won since they broke up, so surely one of them will have to win this match and get pushed right? Well what if you wanted to end the rivalry but not push anyone? Get Joe to attack of course.
Murphy sends Blake to the outside and hits an amazing dive to the outside, went really far too. He rolls Blake back into the ring and… Joe hits! Called it! Murphy wins by DQ as Joe attacks both men while the crowd chant “Thank you, Joe!”
Joe gets on the mic and tells Regal that time is up, and asks for Nakamura or the belt, as some annoying woman shouts “Regal? Regaaaal?” Someone shoot her please. We go to an ad break and when we come back Joe is in the still in the ring. He says “Hold number 723” sorry, wrong promo. He’s still asking for Regal or Nakamura, the fans know what’s going down and chant “Nakamura!” except that one women who is still looking for Regal. Nakamura’s music hits and here comes Shinsuke! He’s back, and he’s in a neck brace, but he takes that off, drops his belt and runs to the ring and the two fight. Security get booed when they break the fight up and the fans chant “Let them fight!” Or how about we build up to TakeOver? Nakamura batters security and goes back after Joe, prompting more security to come out, taking him backstage where we get to see a bit of the backstage area, really cool to see what it really looks like.
But Shinsuke just takes out more security guards and goes right back after Joe. The fat beardy guard (I like this guy best, he reminds me of me) stops Shinsuke though and Joe walks away, before the guard braces himself for a Forearm, a Knee and a Kinshasa from Nakamura. Nakamura stands around for a bit until Joe comes running back! There’s no security left, leaving Joe at the mercy of a Kinshasa!
And that’s the show. In-ring wise, I preferred last week’s episode, but the closing segment between Joe and Nakamura was great! Can’t wait for their rematch in Toronto. Opening match wasn’t great but the revelation of Eric Young after it was, great to see him back. Billie Kay vs Liv Morgan wasn’t very good, NXT’s Women’s division needs a lot of work to get it as good as it was before. TM61 vs Tino and Moss was alright considering half of the competitors have only been wrestling for a year or so, and one of them has previously suffered a concussion. Then of course there was the closing segment between Joe and Nakamura. It’s great to see Shinsuke back, I think they took him off NXT for just the right amount of time.
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