Authors of Pain vs Bobby
Fish & Kyle O’Reilly
Really solid opener. The
AoP haven’t really turned face, so they had a difficult job to work what is
ostensibly a heel vs heel match, and they really pulled it off. Loved the
initial mat work, felt a bit scrappier and less smooth, which works with the
size and menace of the Authors. Fish and O’Reilly take control when Akam hurts
his leg, and I really enjoyed the heat they work on the injury, with Fish
dropping it over the ropes and O’Reilly taking him down with a chop block. The
tag comes logically, as Fish loses his focus, and Rezar looks great when he gets
in. Love his combo fallaway slam/Samoan drop, and his breaking an O’Reilly
leglock on Akam by way of dropping Fish on top was terrific. There’s a melee
and the AoP hit the Super Collider, but O’Reilly uses a headscissors to cause a
collision, and gets a roll up for three to win.
The Velveteen Dream vs
Kassius Ohno
The story to this match
had Dream promising to knock Ohno out in 30 seconds, and I loved him hitting a
big blow within those 30 seconds that actually put Ohno down. Of course, it
didn’t finish him, and Ohno plastered Dream with an elbow as soon as he got up.
From there, they wrestled a match, and it was fine. Dream controls a lot of the
match, and I like how Ohno makes him earn any selling, kicking out at 1 when it
felt right to do so, but still letting him retain control. Ohno’s offence looks
better than Dream’s for the most part – his senton looks killer and the rolling
kick feels like a real KO blow. Dream is still a bit sloppy offensively, and I hate
that over-complicated Sister Abigail-esque DDT he does, but he’s got the
presence and character stuff nailed down. A DVd and a hufe top rope elbow gets
the win.
Shayna Baszler vs Ember
Moon
Liked Moon’s strategy
early on here, taking the fight to Baszler. She hits a really vicious looking
dropkick and a great low tope early doors. When Baszler gets an opening, she
really takes advantage of it, hitting some awesome looking short knees. Baszler
is like a shark working over the left arm of Moon, really methodically working
it over. Moon really sells the arm, even on offence, trying to protect it when
possible. Baszler gets hit by the Eclipse, really selling it as a knockout
blow, but Moon’s arm is too hurt to make the cover. The end is logically
worked, as Baszler tries to hook in an armbar to finish off the mat, but Moon
keeps fighting it off, preventing a full extension, before managing to roll up
Baszler for the win. Enjoyed this
Aleister Black vs Adam
Cole
Thought this was the
weakest match of the night. I really like Black, have done since I first saw
Tommy End live, but Cole is a guy who does nothing for me. There’s nothing he
brought to this match that couldn’t have been done by any one of hundreds of
generic indy wrestlers. That said, what really hurt this match was the layout. This
became one of those hardcore matches where a lot of time is spent setting up
props for the next big spot, making the match feel drawn out. Most of the
hardcore spots looks good – Cole blatantly holding a chair in his face ready
for a knee strike being the exception – and that kept the match a somewhat
entertaining spectacle. Loved the big bump where Black got superkicked off the
top through two ringside tables, and Cole eating a DVD on two chairs set up
back-to-back was a sick spot. Black also got to maintain his aura, looking like
a badass as he dropped his kendo stick at the start of a potential duel,
instead opting to use his feet as a weapon. It’s just a shame the meat of this
match was lacking.
Andrade Almas vs Johnny
Gargano
This, for my money, is the
best match in NXT history. I went into this with high hopes, having loved their
Takeover match back in August, but this surpassed those expectations. One of my
favourite things in NXT has been the development of Gargano as super-babyface.
Four years ago, I saw him wrestle in a local leisure centre (incidentally,
against Tomasso Ciampa), and sat there agog at one of the worst sequences I’d
ever seen in a wrestling ring, as Gargano superkicked Ciampa – who didn’t sell
and hit a jumping knee to Gargano – who didn’t sell and hit another superkick –and
so on and so on. In this match, he puts on a clinic in how to sell, his body
crumpling with despair when Almas is able to kick out of a certain fall or make
the rope when the Gargano Escape is locked in (and the spot right at the end
where Almas hooks his foot over the bottom rope is heartbreaking within the
story). The offensive sequences by both men looked spot on, even down to how
tightly Almas held a chinlock. It didn’t feel like a resthold, it felt like him
trying to put Gargano out, giving him no room to breathe. There’s so many
moments in the match that looked great, and worked as natural counters to what
their opponent was doing – the missed cannonball that sends Gargano crashing to
the floor, or Almas missing a mounted punch putting him in prime position to
eat a superkick through the legs. What’s great is, though they hit some big
bombs, the kickouts never felt like overkill, instead fitting into the fabric
of the story due to how well they were used. For example, Gargano hitting a
slingshot DDT onto the apron should be a killshot move, but it sent both men to
the floor so, by the time Gargano had built up the energy to roll Almas back in
the ring, enough time had passed to justify the kickout. By the end, both guys
looked dead on their feet, before Almas hits the running knees on the apron and
a hanging DDT to finally put Gargano down. If this isn’t top of my end of year
list, then I’ll have watched some bloody good wrestling this year.
