NXT MARCH 7TH 2018
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC ROUND 1
The Authors Of Pain vs. TM61
Solid way to open up the tournament, with the final of the last tournament. The first half of this match was worked at a good, quick pace and looked to be on the way to being a hot opener. The match kinda lost that momentum with the commercial break chinlock, but both teams worked hard to get things back. Not least of all Shane Thorne, who is a crazy person, as evidenced by the powerbomb from the ring onto the apron that he took from Rezar. I’m very much desensitised to apron bumps at this point and see them as basically a cheap pop. This was an exception. Miller took the Last Chapter moments later to send the AOP through. I fully expected TM61 to win here coming in, given that they’re coming back and AOP have basically done everything in NXT already. Evidently, I was wrong.
Regal was asked by the faceless media backstage for a favourite and a dark-horse for the tournament, but stayed impartial. This was basically a set-up for Pete Dunne to show up and get asked about Strong. He said the UK title was going nowhere, at which point Strong appeared. He congratulated Dunne on his victory but said he couldn’t wait to do it again. Undisputed Era interrupted to mock Strong for begging for another big match he’d only lose, Dunne pointed out that Cole hadn’t won anything since showing up and Regal came back in to see an annoyed Undisputed Era off.
Sanity cut a promo backstage on the Dusty Classic and Dain told Black that chaos would win.
Bianca Belair vs. Drew Renee
Simple squash, with Belair winning with the Alleyoop.
Lacey Evans was interviewed by Christie at an NXT live event about facing Dakota Kai. Lacey called Dakota classless and she fully intended on testing how much her arm had healed since facing Shayna. Shayna herself showed up (there’s a lot of burning ears at NXT shows), causing Lacey to make a quick exit. Shayne said it was another week without hearing from Ember and she guessed she knew the answer to her challenge.
Wacky short promo from Heavy Machinery at the Performance Center on the Dusty Classic.
Tommaso Ciampa came out onto the stage sans music and slowly made his way to the ring. They milked the entrance and milked the crowd booing Ciampa every time he went to talk, before eventually, he gave up and started to leave. He ended up grabbing a Johnny Wrestling sign, tearing it up and smashing the sign with his crutch in rage. This was all really effectively done. They shot Ciampa leaving well, to the point I thought they might actually have had him attack someone. Ciampa grabbing the sign actually got an ooh from the crowd, so maybe they thought that too.
Aleister Black vs. Killian Dain
While this wasn’t an official #1 contenders match, it was basically an unofficial one given the way it was set up. These guys tried hard, but this was a bit of a flat main event. Maybe it was just that super awkward promo exchange these two had a few weeks ago stuck in people’s memories. Can’t really blame them. I don’t think it was just that though. People seem to like Sanity and they seem to be into Dain when they have him do big spots during tag matches. Any time they’ve put Dain in a big singles environment though, it simply hasn’t worked. This wasn’t as bad as the Dain/McIntyre match from a while back in terms of dead crowds, but at the same time, the most Dain really got out of the crowd here was a “Dollar Shave Club” chant and that’s kinda not what they’re going for. I don’t think he himself is doing much wrong, people just aren’t interested in him as a singles at the moment. The crowd did at least get behind Black’s comeback, ensuring this wasn’t all for nought and the action did pick up by the end. Dain got a near fall with a Vader Bomb, before Black countered the Ulster Plantation and won with Black Mass. This mini feud didn’t really work as well as intended, but Black can now move on to Almas, which is the right match to go to.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING: TM61 versus AOP was good stuff and the Ciampa segment was very effective.
NXT WEEK: Pete Dunne against Adam Cole for the UK Championship, Sanity against Sabbatelli and Moss and Street Profits against Heavy Machinery in the Dusty Classic and Lacey Evans against Dakota Kai.