The following live report is courtesy of PWInsider.com
NXT had their Phoenix debut in Comerica Theatre, the same venue as the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. The ring was about halfway in the floor for concert venues. The presentation was nice, it reminded me a bit of ECW One Night Stand except it was a 2010 style stage.
Before the show, they aired clips of one of the best NXT matches ever, Bayley vs. Sasha, NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. This was a nice primer for the person I took to NXT in Phoenix for her first show ever.After that Triple H introduced us to NXT on the video screen, prior to the announcers officially starting the show.No Way Jose vs. Kona Reeves. Jose conga lined with lucky members of the audience on his way to the ring. He won with a Pop-Up Fastball after an OK match.Mandy Rose & Bianca vs. Lacey Evans & Ruby Riot. Ruby got the win with her armlock kick to the head after a solid contest. Mandy Rose could be a good heel someday.Oney Lorcan vs. Kassius Ohno. Both men adhear to the Code of Hunter to start this throwback match. Ohno won with a roaring elbow after a slow but great match that felt longer than it really was. Code of Hunter was adhered after the match as well.Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss vs. #DIY. Sabbatelli and Moss start ragging on the boys in the back taking shots at Heavy Machinery, Authors of Pain and DIY. DIY won with their finisher on Moss after Gargano was worked on most of the match.After intermission, Drew McIntyre took on Patrick Clark. After a great showing by Clark including a nice Macho elbow, McIntyre hit a spider German and followed it up with a Claymore.Sonya (the former Daria) challenged Asuka for the NXT Women’s title. They used the old NXT titles tonight. After a hard fought match and match of the night, Asuka won after a roundhiuae followed up with a buzzsaw kick to retain.Bobby Roode was set to defend the NXT title against Tye Dillinger but Roode had other plans and made it a tag team match with Andrade Almas as his partner. Dillinger evened the odds with Roode’s opponent at Takeover: Chicago, Hideo Itami. After a fun match with a lot of crowd interaction whether it was 10 counts or glorious moments, Hideo beat Almas with a Go to Sleep to send the crowd home happy.Tye Dillinger was the most over face tonight. With Asuka a close second.Bobby Roode was the top heel, especially when he badmouthed Phoenix and denied us an NXT Title match. Sabbatelli and Moss, were second on their heel heat from their pre-match promo.If you are a wrestling fan and NXT is in your area, don’t think about seeing it, SEE IT! It is a great showing. I can’t wait to take my guest to the next NXT show. And I originally didn’t even plan on seeing it tonight due to work the next day.
