WWE NXT
June 10, 2015
Full Sail University
Watch: WWE Network

Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley vs Elias Samson & Mike Rallis

Hey, look… Zack is here! Woah, look… Mojo is back! The people were loud in reacting to the appearance of Mojo. They must be excited to see him. Boy, that won’t last.

Mojo Rawley barely fit in on NXT when NXT was, as Joe Lanza calls it, Wrestling Is NXT. That is, before the emphasis on the already well-rounded, and well-known, independent talent coming in to hold the top spots. Now, Rawley seemed out of place on his very first night back. This is a guy, by the way, that was last seen before his injury setting up a program with Tyler Breeze as a brooding, not-so-hyped superstar. Now, he’s not only back to staying hyped, but he’s added some non-stop dancing to his presentation. Even Zack Ryder couldn’t help but point and smile, as for once, he wasn’t the goofiest dude in the ring. Top help prop up the return of Mojo, WWE obviously gave out a ton of Mojo T-Shirts to a row of guys opposite the hard camera. Hilariously, on commentary, Corey Graves threw shade at the fact the row of Stay Hyped fans were probably given the shirts for free. Samson and Rallis never had a shot, with Ryder & Mojo picking up the win after a top rope Rough Ryder on Samson. If Ryder grew his hair out a bit, and turned to black trunks, he’d look a hell of a lot like NXT era Alex Riley.

A promotional video for Dana Brooke aired. In the background was her wickedly awesome theme song, and in the foreground was Dana kicking ass, posing at bodybuilding competitions, and cutting the best promo we’ve seen her belt out so far on NXT TV.

Evil Emma vs Blue Pants

Blue Pants got the “Happy Birthday!” treatment from the Full Sail audience prior to the match, leading to Rich Brennan wondering if it was her birthday. Safe bet, Richie.

The match was far more even than some may think. Blue Pants had a sustained rally late in the match, getting a near fall on Emma after a series of kicks and Big Show’s old Final Cut finisher. Why isn’t that a bigger story. Big Show and Goldust both had different moves called the Final Cut… at the same time. Enough of this Blue Pants, let us get to the bottom of that. Or not. Emma won with the Emma lock.

Big Cass straight up dropped some truth bombs on Team BAMF: Blame Alexa Murphy Factor. He said NXT would be better with out them around, so next week, Enzo & Cass will make that a reality.

Tyler Breeze vs Bull Dempsey

Tyler Breeze’s “majestic appearance” this week featured a matching cape and selfie stick, with gold tights and red boot fringe. Breeze is also getting noticeably more lean, tightening up that midsection for an eventual (I hope) main roster call up. Anyway, Tyler is good. Bull is bad. Useless, even. Well, not useless, since his current, and only, use is getting beat by guys smaller than him. I wish I could say he makes his opponents look good in defeat, but he really doesn’t. He did for Baron, at least with the finish in their Takeover match, but that was it. Tyler won with the Beauty Shot rather easily, after leading a chase at ringside which tired Bull out. Corey’s shade dealing continued, telling Bull to consider taking brisk walks around the arena once in a while to help his cardio.

Becky Lynch vs Jessie

Jessie is Jessie McKay, a relatively recent NXT signee who got a few kind words from Corey Graves on commentary. Surprisingly, due to stature but not due to basic match psychology, Jessie was in control early. With the Full Sail crowd behind her, Becky made a comeback with a series of leg drops before tapping Jessie with the arm bar. Becky still had her NXT Takeover: Unstoppable look, which commentary put over as her finally finding her own self, her own style. With Sasha Banks’ absense

Backstage, as William Regal was announcing Samoa Joe’s debut for later, Bull Dempsey walked in eating a bad of Dorito’s. Regal said he may have a problem. In perhaps the best speaking work Bull has done to date, Bull said he was doing fine in the match… until he lost. Regal told him to get his act together, taking away the chips. Bull shrugged and pulled out a chocolate bar for the win. Great. Bull’s getting a new gimmick. One that might see him on TV more. The gimmick of being a fat overeater. It’s HEAVYWEIGHTS!

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Backstage, Jason Jordan was lamenting over his loss last week, failing to secure a victory with Marcus Louis in tag action. Chad Gable walked in, again begging to be Jordan’s new partner. He said he’s ready, willing, and GABLE! Jordan said no, and next week, we’ll see who Jordan picks to hopefully sew together a win. Do you see what I did there?

Baron Corbin vs Angelo Dawkins

This paragraph won’t last longer than the match takes place so BARONWONWITHTHEENDOFDAYS. Hmm, well, the match is still going. So, uh… how about the weather in the midwest this week, huh? It’s crazy. Oh, and how about all these Superstar vs Scrub matches on NXT this week? Maybe spread them out a little there, guys. Okay, there we go, Baron won with the end of days in one of his longer NXT TV matches. Go figure it was against Dawkins of all people. Big show for Shoot Nation this week.

Samoa Joe vs Scott Dawson

Samoa Joe’s music is really, really bad. And quiet in the beginning. His music is going but you can barely here it. Get on that, guys, I know you’re all reading this there at the Performance Center.

Kevin Owens sat in on commentary, at times with his arm over the shoulder of Byron Saxton. Most of commentary was putting over Kevin Owens vs John Cena this Sunday, a fact that even Kevin Owens pointed out when telling Byron to stick to the Joe match in the ring. Dawson took the fight to Joe, to a somewhat tepid crowd reaction. When Joe took over the match, though, the crowd came alive. Joe was intense, looking great in the ring in the short spurts. Owens said he wasn’t scared of Joe, as Joe defeated Dawson with the Muscle Buster.  Owens called it a “good little first match for Joe.” He was right, it was a good little match. The key, though, is that Joe is here and his road to Owens is clear.

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After the match, as Owens was leaving, Samoa Joe called Owens out for a fight. What happened next was a series of call backs to Owens’ debut, title history, and Joe’s history. Owens told Joe he had to earn a title shot, and couldn’t just get one after one match. The crowd, knowing full well Owens’ rise to a title shot after his first match, applauded and reacted in kind to this brash hypocrisy. William Regal set Owens straight, making a non-title Kevin Owens vs Samoa Joe match for next week on NXT.

NXT is Owens vs Cena This Sunday!

We haven’t had an episode of NXT like this in a long while, where every single match was just a bridge to future storylines. Every match was meant to put over one talent, getting a win over a lesser known talent that had no chance to win. Tyler Breeze vs Bull was the match with competitors closest in stature, I suppose, but that was a set up for Bull’s new fatty direction. That’s not being mean, it’s what he’s doing. His new gimmick is that of an over eater, under athletic fatty. Good luck to him with all of that. The show ended with Rich giving us the hard sell for Owens vs Cena this Sunday, and Owens vs Joe for next week. WWE Network is Kevin Owens’ playground.