BRM Reviews the 3/8/2017 NXT

[Big Red Machine]

TYE DILLINGER vs. ERIC YOUNG- no rating, very good segment.
The rest of SAnitY came out with EY but he sent them to the back. That was unexpected.
Wait. Never mind. Now they’re back, and they’ve brought Roderick Strong with them, by force. I honestly can’t ever remember seeing Roddy look this beaten down in his entire indy career. Even during his ROH and FIP babyface runs. It just goes to show you that Roddy has talents we didn’t even know about, even after over a decade of watching him be arguably the most consistently excellent wrestler in the world.
SAnitY lets Tye check on Roddy as they head to the ring to stand with their leader. No Way Jose comes out to check on Roddy as well. EY shouts “You did that!” at Tye.
Tye and Jose attack SAnitY to get avenge their friend but get overwhelmed. Wolfe and Dain hit a big tag team move that I’ve seen some other team do before in a semi-prominent manner but I can’t put my finger on it at all. Maybe it was the Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer Decade finish? (That would actually make some sense considering what Jimmy Jacobs’ current job is… and, now that I think of it, a lot of this SAnitY stuff does feel very Jimmy Jacobs, both in terms of the big things and the use of symbolism and the attention to little details done to highlight character quirks).

PEYTON ROYCE & BILLIE KAYE LOOK FOR A PLACE IN THE WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER TO HANG THEIR “BREAKOUT STAR OF THE YEAR” AWARD- hokey
Um… shouldn’t they be hanging it up in their apartment or something? (And come on… does anyone have any doubt that these two kayfabe live together?)
They come across Ember Moon in the training room and shouting ensues. Ember says she’ll beat them both up but the guy she’s training with says “it’s not worth it” and scolds Billie & Peyton to “let her train!”

“FADE TO BLACK” VIDEO- huh. Not sure who this is.

HO HO LUN vs. ANDRADE “CIEN” ALMAS- good squash.
Almas has new, more dancy music, but he’s still a mean heel.

EMBER MOON vs. BILLIE KAYE (w/Peyton Royce)- 2.25/10
They pushed that Regal would be paying “close attention” to this match so that he could “make an informed decision” as to who would challenge Asuka at Takeover. Ember Moon won, and they did a “scary moment,” “almost injury” angle to put over Ember’s finisher as devastating.

Royce and Kaye are SOOOOO stale to me at this point. They’re basically the same character, which just cuts both of their shelf-lives in half. Then you add in that they have no depth, and that they only really have one trick, I’m just sick and tired of them already. They’re like Raven’s Nest in ECW if Raven only had one lackey instead of many, and that Lackey was an exact clone of him.

TJ PERKINS PROMO- decent

THE REVIVAL vs. THE EALY BROTHERS- no rating, fine segment.
The Ealy Brothers get jumped on their way down to the ring by the Authors of Pain. The Revival flee so the Authors destroy the Ealy Brothers. I like how the Ealy Brothers’ gimmick is that they show up once every few months and always get jumped by someone else before they can ever have a match.

REGAL ANNOUNCES THAT EMBER MOON WILL FACE ASUKA FOR THE NXT WOMEN’S TITLE AT TAKEOVER: ORLANDO- Ember cut a one line promo that was, quite frankly, nothing but really bad trailer fodder.

KASSIUS OHNO SIT-DOWN INTERVIEW WITH TOM PHILLIPS- meh

BOBBY ROODE PROMO- good

TJ PERKINS vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA- 7.75/10
They push that TJP is “the first Cruiserweight to challenge outside of the division.” There are two problems with this:
1. Gallagher was in the Royal Rumble
2. We see Kalisto, who was in the Cruiserweight weight limit (or else he wouldn’t have been able to challenge for the title at Survivor Series) do it all the time on Smackdown
3. We’ve spent years watching guys like Neville do it with no comment, so why is it so impressive now?
The match was GREAT, but that’s not really a surprise. I was shocked that they only got about fifteen minutes. TJP was the perfect first opponent back for Nakamura because they styles mesh extremely well and because of his knee-targeting submission. After the match, Regal announced that Nakamura would challenge the winner of next week’s Roode vs. Ohno NXT Title match at Takeover: Orlando.

A pretty darn good show from NXT.

[KILLdozer]

Ember Moon sounded soooo strange during that one line thing.

Also, Royce and Kaye almost look identical. I thought of something when I was watching them earlier-how many times are they going to keep getting beaten down and yet continuously be given opportunities in big matches they don't deserve?

[KILLdozer]

From what I've read, "Fade to Black", is:

Hidden text.

Tommy End

[Big Red Machine]

From what I've read, "Fade to Black", is:

Hidden text.

Tommy End

Oh. Right. Isn't his NXT name, like Alistair Black?

[cero2k]

From what I've read, "Fade to Black", is:

Hidden text.

Tommy End

Oh. Right. Isn't his NXT name, like Alistair Black?

Aleister as in Crowley