WWE NXT
Thursday, November 27
Full Sail University

Pro wrestling on Thanksgiving day! If you haven’t read Dave Meltzer’s piece on the history of wrestling on thanksgiving, leave this review now and check it out. You should come back of course because we have a brand-new episode of NXT to cover!

Tyler Breeze vs. Marcus Louis: Marcus beings his slow (and I mean slow) march down to the ring with a towel over his head. Of course, he’s still playing the crazy gimmick because he lost his hair at the most recent NXT Clash of the Champions. The two stand off for another 15 minutes with Breeze looking visibly ill at the thought of Louis being bald. Louis takes off the towel and Breeze tells him nobody will ever love him and that he’s disgusting. Finally, Breeze hits the Beauty Shot and it’s over. Well okay then, that was pretty cringy. NR 

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/537971312774631424

We get a clip of the commercial break showing Louis walking around Full Sail University in a trance. This is no good, no good at all.

Carmella vs. “Ol’ Blue Pants”: Leva Bates is still introduced as “Blue Pants” and Enzo calls this “the biggest rematch in Divas history.” Bates is owning it so good for her.

This was over in less than a minute as Carmella threw some bad dropkicks then locked Ol’ Blue Pants in her body scissors submission. 1/2*

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/537971754577457152

Lucha Dragons vs. Tye Dillinger & Jason Jordan: SDS (Salida Del Sol) and this was over in a little under five minutes. Dillinger and Jordan looks decent as usual but this was the Kalisto show. Sin Cara had some nice spots including a good looking topé but Kalisto impressed once he got the hot tag. Not much here but a decent enough match. **

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/537972149349527553

Awesome, awesome, awesome Kevin Owens (Steen) vignette with the most simple but effective character introduction I’ve seen in quite some time: “I want to provide for my family and I do so by fighting.” Perfect.

Bayley comes out to talk about how she’s sick of being bullied by Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch and how she’s been bullied her entire life including stories of coming home from school with tears in her eyes. Becky and Sasha come down and start double-teaming Bayley. Officials come down to the ring to break up the fight as Bayley sells her knee.

The Vaudevillains had a sweet silent move vignette building up to their match against the Lucha Dragons at NXT Takeover: Our Revolution.

Tyson Kidd vs. Finn Balor: Natalya is looking 5* tonight, it’s too bad Tyson would rather Facetime with his cats than hug her, what a loser! Anyway, this is the singles TV debut of Finn Balor who gets a main event in his first match — go him. Finn also has incredible music, one of the best I’ve ever heard for a debuting wrestler. It’s serious, to the point, fits his character, fits his look and gives across the vibe of a true badass.

This match fit the mold of a standard Tyson Kidd NXT match as he attempted to slow the action with a series of armbar, side headlocks and using Natalya as a shield outside the ring. Balor finally grabbed the momentum back and hit a beautiful spike suplex. Finn attempted a double stomp from the top but Kidd slid out of the way and teased a sharpshooter. Springboard elbow from Kidd but Balor got his knees up and followed up with a penalty kick. Balor to the top rope but The Ascension run down to cause the DQ. Oh man. Hideo Itami ran in for the save as we go off the air. **1/2

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/537973629146116096

Final Thoughts:

Meh, this was just an okay episode of NXT. The opening segment/match thing was really bad and I couldn’t wait for it to end but otherwise the rest of the show was watchable. The Kevin Owens vignette should be watched and while the main event wasn’t given enough time to ability to get a great match, it was still very entertaining.