NXT Spoilers/Updates/News

[Fnord]

- Nikki Storm, Hugo Knox, Tino Sabbatelli, Riddick Moss, Austin Aries, Dash, Dawson, Manny Andrade, Nia Jax, Alexa bliss, Tye Dillinger and WWE NXT Champion Samoa Joe have been announced for the NXT UK live events in June. As noted, Bobby Roode was announced earlier by the WWE UK Twitter account but the post was quickly deleted.

[Fnord]

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

- Hideo Itami is scheduled to finally return to WWE NXT in the next few weeks. He had shoulder surgery 13 months ago but his recovery has gone much slower than expected as his first surgery did not go so well.

[Cory]

Show was great, wonder if AA is getting called up?

and the camera work in the cage match was fucking dreadful, but that finish was unreal.

Not the best takeover, but still very good.

[BamBamBunglow]

Just started watching.

First match - WHY is La Sombra wearing the Godfathers hat? He looked like the bastard son of Los Boriquas.

Tag match - Decent again, right team won. AA would do much, much better on the main roster. Lets hope this leads to a call up. Having Paul Ellering with the new slabs of ugly is a great twist, lets hope they don't disappoint.

Arias/Nakamura next.

[Rob]

Any team with Paul Ellering is going to be badass next level heel. They obviously need training first as their timing was gimpy in the 2 minutes they were on screen.

I'm hoping American Alpha, Balor and Shinsuke are next to be called up with the brand extension.

[Duckman]

I thought this was a really solid show and very telling about who is moving up to the main roster in July with the brand split.

I think with Alpha dropping the titles they'll be coming up soon.  Probably going to have a month long feud with the new big guy team and then move up.  Which is awesome for the main roster tag team division - which must be the most talent deep it's been in years.

I wasn't that impressed with the former La Sombra - Andrade Almas.  He just seems like a regular guy, nothing majorly impressive with his look, his charisma or his in-ring work.  He's good, don't get me wrong, but he's got a bit of work to do.  I get why WWE would take the mask off him, but maybe on this occasion they could've kept it and it might've helped him settle more?  Tye Dillenger is a great worker.  He's in there to help these new guys look good and put them over, but at the same time he's got himself over and the ten gimmick is over like crazy with the NXT crowd.  I was really impressed with him when I saw him live in Glasgow last year.  Not sure he'll get to the main roster but he's doing really well with what he's been given.  A decent opener, nothing more.

Tag Title match was my favourite match on the show.  I thought it was as good as the last TakeOver match they had at WM weekend.  Alpha are so damn talented and charismatic and The Revival are just great old school heels.  They really do click as opponents and know exactly how to pace their matches.  This match was a ton of fun and although the finish left the crowd a bit down, because they love Alpha, it was still an excellent match.  Can't wait to see Alpha in the mix with the likes of The Club, The Usos, New Day and Enzo and Cass on the main roster!

Aries v Nakamura was great too.  While Nakamura doesn't do half of what he would do in big NJPW matches (and he shouldn't on these shows, and on this spot on the card) he's still so great.  He doesn't have to kill himself or his opponent to get over and has the superstar charisma down pat.  Aries was excellent here too.  He's such an under rated worker and if he was 6 inches taller, he'd be on the main roster for sure.  He's a really strong promo guy too.  This match had the crowd going nuts thanks to the charisma and character of both guys, along with really solid in-ring work.  I hope Nakamura is brought up in the draft, he's more than ready for the big time.

I was actually more impressed with the Nia Jax v Asuka match than I was with Jax v Bayley.  Asuka is a legit bad ass, so when she works with the other women in NXT, unless she's squashing them it doesn't really work as her selling for them isn't that great.  When she's in there with a good worker, or a bigger woman like Jax, she can sell much more convincingly and that really helps the drama and heat of the match.  Jax is still green as hell, but she's improved a lot and has the right look (and the right cousin) to be a star on the main roster in a year or so.  Fun match, good story and Asuka looked strong in the finish.  Hoping they go for a rematch with Bayley at the next TakeOver and then Bayley moves up to the main roster.

Joe and Balor was a really solid cage match.  Although Cory's right about the camera work - they missed some moves and spots which was annoying as hell.  That said, this was a really good PG cage match.  Both guys worked their asses off, they made good use of the cage and it had that big fight feel to it.  The only downside was the crowd seemed a bit quiet to me while the match was going on.  The finish was bad ass and ended that feud nicely.  I think Balor will be up in July, and Joe should be too but I can see him staying in NXT for a while longer to help that brand.

It's weird because NXT has been such a fun, hot, logically booked show for a while now, with a really talented roster, but with the draft coming up I could see them really getting raided for talent.  In a way that's a good thing, because those people deserve to be on the main roster, but it's also bad for NXT as they'll lose some top talent.  Still, the production line is working and they've got their pick of indy guys so it should work out ok.  But I do expect some rebuilding of NXT after the draft in July.

A fun show as always, not totally blow away amazing, but an entertaining two hours, with good matches and logical booking.  Can't really ask for more than that.  A solid 7.5/10.

[Rob]

The crowds for NXT are always totally into the product and when they are, it makes the show infinitely better. In my wrestling group on Facebook I'm forever telling the guys there that the reason crowds are dead for main event segments on Raw is because they'll give away a match like Miz/Cesaro vs Zayn/Owens half way through the show or in the first hour. By the time they get to the end, the crowd are dead. It's the same on PPV's, they don't build up to the big segment.

That and the fact they're putting a better show into 2 hours, that should be the most telling thing of all.

[Cory]

If they stopped signing Nakamura's theme I woulda been happy with the crowd, but fuck they got annoying. I can deal with constant singing at UK shows, that's almost tradition, but its starting to get overkill with Nakamura now, and ripping off the Bayley chant.

[Black Death]

I love his song ...I listen to it when I need some inspiration. it very moving , becoming one of my new favorites 

[Duckman]

I love that song too but the crowd do sometimes come across a little try hard in the way they act at the NXT shows.  Reminds me of the IMPACT zone when they used to care.

Still, it is an awesome song and a bad ass entrance.

As HHH said on the new Breaking Ground documentary on the Network, "you know you're doing something right when they're holy sh***ing the entrance."

[Rob]

It annoyed me when they were shouting Who Are You at Paul Ellering... Made themselves look like utter smarky turds there

[Cory]

i figured they were chanting that at the tag team

[BamBamBunglow]

Me too, I don't think they even noticed Ellering was there.

[Black Death]

think it might be  TMDK

[Tezmission Black]

TMDK debuted a few weeks ago as TM-61 against Gargano and Ciampa, this new team is called The Authors of Pain.