WWE NXT Review: Sami Zayn vs. Justin Gabriel

Enzo Amore, Colin Cassady and Sylvester Lefort promo/Colin Cassady vs. Sylvester Lefort

Enzo and Big Cass came out and did their usual shtick “Bada boom, realest guys in the room” and all that. It was all insanely over and the crowd was really into it. Lefort came out and called them boring and said that they come from a wasteland of human garbage.

Big Cass quickly hit East River Crossing and an Empire Elbow to pick up the win. Squash match.

Adrian Neville and Tyler Breeze w/ Devin Taylor

Neville began to talk about his win over Rob Van Dam last week, but they were interrupted by Breeze. Breeze talked about being #1 contender and becoming NXT Champion. Neville was willing to put the title on the line tonight, but Breeze revealed that he suffered a “career-threatening” injury in a “tragic hand modeling accident”. Neville is good at these, it does feel like he overacts some times, but he does get his point across. Breeze is flat-out hilarious.

Bayley pre-taped promo/Charlotte and Sasha Banks vs. Bayley and Becky Lynch

Bayley was backstage talking about taking on what’s left of the BFF’s, and how she has her own BFF (Bayley Friend Forever), Lynch. Bayley always plays her overexcited character really well.

Charlotte hit Lynch with Bow Down to the Queen for the win. Pretty good tag match. Lynch is proving to be very good in the ring, she can certainly hang with the other three members of this match.

After the match, the referee went to raise Charlotte’s hand but she shook him off, saying “Don’t even touch me”. Banks let the referee raise her hand, then stood over Lynch, taunting her after the match, until Bayley showed serious fire, attacking her from behind and throwing her out of the ring as Charlotte just watched.

Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd w/ Devin Taylor

Gabriel was talking to Devin about his match with Sami Zayn, when Kidd came in and talked about Gabriel being a main roster talent who was floundering as he feel down the ladder. Gabriel said he would show Kidd what he can do when he beats Zayn.

Charlotte and Sasha Banks backstage

Charlotte and Banks split up here. They were fighting, then Banks announced that Bayley would have a match next week with Summer Rae to determine the new #1 Contender. Banks mockingly wished Charlotte good luck, then said she would need it. I’ll miss this awesome duo, they’re both really good characters who played really well off each other.

CJ Parker vs. Steve Cutler/CJ Parker promo

Parker squashed Cutler with a heel kick.

Parker talked about Xavier Woods being the most-educated man in WWE, yet doing nothing with that education since he left NXT. He said if he was Woods, he would be wining titles and saving the world. Parker then said he would be coming after Woods.

This was boring. The second he grabbed the mic, I immediately dreaded his promo. It wasn’t that bad, but he just didn’t really feel invested in this promo.

Tyson Kidd w/ Renee Young

Kidd said he didn’t shake Adrian Neville’s hand after his loss at NXT Takeover, because he just wasn’t in a good mental place after dealing with Natalya’s loss, just before his. Kidd then said he left the Takeover Fallout show because he knew he would say the wrong thing. Kidd said that he was thankful for all Natalya did during his rematch for the title a few weeks later. Kidd said he felt no ill will towards Sami Zayn, he just wasn’t into their tag title match. He said that him and Natalya are equals, then he walked off when Renee asked about rumors that he was having marital problems. I think Kidd is a bad guy, who acts like everything is great and that nobody realizes how terrible he is. If that’s the goal, he’s killing it and I really hope they don’t do that masked character, because this one is money.

Sami Zayn vs. Justin Gabriel

Zayn got the win with the Koji Clutch in a really good match. After the match, Gabriel and Tyson Kidd attacked Zayn until Adrian Neville made the save. NXT loves angles like this to set up tag matches, and this is a tag match that I would be beyond okay with.

Overall Impression

Good show. NXT has made a serious habit out of putting a solid show together, then blowing people away with an incredible main event. It’s an incredible formula if you can follow through with it, NXT is pulling it off every week. CJ Parker needs to step up, but he had the only slow part of the entire show.

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