NXT Review: Bo Dallas vs. Justin Gabriel, Sasha Banks vs. Bayley

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NXT’s first episode after WrestleMania, and after vignettes for Bo Dallas and Adam Rose aired on Raw. Rich Brennan, Alex Riley and Jason Albert on commentary.

Adam Rose vs. Danny Burch

The show kicks off with Rose and The Exotic Express making their way to the ring. Rose gets the win with a diving elbow drop from the second rope. Decent match. Rose appears to be trying out some different finishers to see what he goes with on the main roster.

Referee Shawn Bennett w/ Devin Taylor/Corey Graves w/ Devin Taylor

This was recorded last week, after Bennett was the referee during the Sami Zayn-Corey Graves match. Taylor asks Bennett why he decided to stop the match, Bennett says that he did it for Zayn’s safety, as that’s the most importing thing. Bennett says he was communicating with Zayn, but Zayn wasn’t responding, so he had no choice.

Taylor asks Graves if he thinks his win last week was really a win. Graves’ response was fantastic, “You’re cute, where did they find you?” He then compares himself to Barry Bonds and says that there is no asterisk, Bonds is the undisputed home run champ, and he beat Zayn.

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

Bayley picks up the win with the Belly-to-Bayley. I want to give them credit, this was a very good match. However, I will say that it could have been better. I love Banks, I think she’s very talented, but she seems like she is missing something in the ring. She’s very athletic, but she just seems a little awkward at times; it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.

Mojo Rawley vs. Sylvester Lefort/Brodus Clay attack/Brodus Clay and Adrian Neville promo

Mojo wins a squash match with the Hyper Drive.

After the match, Clay came out and hit Lefort with a powerbomb, then a splash from the second-rope.

Clay then talked about how Triple H and John Cena have been endorsing Neville, yet nobody even looks his way. He says that he is a “main event player” and deserves a chance. Neville comes out and says Clay whines a lot. The two stare each other down, but Clay leaves.

Oliver Grey and Camacho w/ Devin Taylor

Taylor is looking to do a return interview with Grey, but Camacho interrupts and talks about Adam Rose. Grey tells Camacho to stop worrying about Rose, then challenges Camacho to a match next week. Good way to set up a match next week, short segments like this can be better at building characters than long segments that become too drawn out.

Great Khali, Bayley and CJ Parker w/ Devin Taylor

Taylor asked Khali about his first trip to NXT. Khali spoke some words (I think), then Bayley came in and hugged him, impressed with his height. Parker came in and was really hoping that Khali recycles, because he must produce at least three times the amount of waste a normal human does. Khali then spoke again, and Bayley said she could translate because she’s been taking Punjabi lessons. So she told Parker that Khali said he would meet him in the ring next week. Heel Parker is incredibly funny, and Bayley is really good. Taylor is no Renee Young, but she’s good.

Bo Dallas and JBL promo

Bo talked about how he’s obviously the #1 contender still. He talked about “Occupy Raw” and how Daniel Bryan got a title shot because of it, “and he’s just a B+ player.” He then announced the Bo Movement, as he plans to “Occupy NXT” to get another title shot, but all the fans stood up and literally turned their backs on him. This greatly upset Bo, and he left the ring to start screaming at fans at ringside. JBL told Bo that he couldn’t give him a title match since this was the worst “Occupy” movement he had ever seen. JBL said that he would give Bo a match against Justin Gabriel. JBL should be on NXT way more often as a neutral authority figure who mocks both faces and heels, he is very funny.

Bo Dallas vs. Justin Gabriel

Dallas wins a pretty good match with the double underhook DDT. The dynamic Gabriel brings to a match is so fun. This was Dallas’ first match since his vignette aired on Raw, so all eyes are on him now. This was a good effort, but he needs to do better in the lead-up to his debut.

Overall Impression

This is probably the weakest show since the show started airing on the WWE Network. It’s okay, even the best of us have bad days. All eyes or on NXT, with the crop of young wrestler soon to debut on WWE TV, so this is not the time to start falling off their game.

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