BRM Reviews the 6/7/2017 NXT (exceeded expectations)

[Big Red Machine]

OPENING HYPE- I’m sorry but I just can’t see Hideo Itami vs. Oney Lorcan and No Way Jose vs. Killian Dain as “big main events.”

Speaking of “big”…

HEAVY MACHINERY vs. LARS SULLIVAN & VICTOR ANDREWS- no rating, good segment.
We got an inset promo where the jobbers weren’t getting along (Andrews was the one who was kind of being a jerk). So yeah. If, for some reason, you thought the jobbers had a snowball’s chance in this one, this should disabuse you of that notion.
Yup. They got squashed. At least this kept me paying attention to see if anything happened with the jobbers. It… kind of did. Sullivan was actually almost holding his own but then Andrews tagged himself in and got squashed. Sullivan beat him up after the match with a lot of nasty strikes and a… kind of… pumphandle Ore ga Taue, maybe? Also there was a backbreaker submission. This was a very good way to introduce two new wrestlers, although apparently Sullivan isn’t actually new because the announcers said he was done this before.

CHRISTY ST. CLOUD INTERVIEWS KILLIAN DAIN AFTER LAST WEEK’S SHOW- fine promo by Dain.

RODERICK STRONG PROMO- this… came off like an old Roderick Strong promo, and that’s not a good thing. It came off very rehearsed, and true or not, it felt staged.
When Roddy said that he wanted to win the NXT Title Bobby Roode came out to mock him and completely blew him out of the water with an AWESOME heel promo.

NIKKI CROSS “PROMO”- I have no idea where she was, but it looked exactly like the sort of place I would expect a member of SAnitY to be. She did what she did very well.

PAUL ELLERING/AUTHORS OF PAIN VIDEO- fine.

SARA LOGAN vs. PEYTON ROYCE (w/Billie Kay)-2.25/10
Sara Logan apparently made a number of absolutely outrageous claims to Nigel about her history, but at least this seemed to have been done to draw a contrast between her and Royce/Kay. I’m really sick and tired of Royce and Kay at this point. They fell like they’ve been in NXT forever without actually doing anything.

ANDRADE CIEN ALMAS GOES OUT TO PARTY AFTER HIS LOSS LAST WEEK- he ignores. Christy’s question. Then some random woman yells at him for losing and slaps him. Didn’t seem to care beyond being unhappy that he was slapped.

SETH ROLLINS NETWORK SPECIAL COMMERCIAL- it would be nice if we could avoid blatantly breaking kayfabe in commercials that air in the middle of a kayfabe show.

ITAMI INTERVIEW FROM EARLIER TODAY- well… I guess someone was very concerned about that question someone mailed in to Dave and Bryan recently about Itami possibly going back to Japan when his contract is up.

HIDEO ITAMI vs. ONEY LORCAN- 6.75/10
Is Oney Lorcan’s music the same as the Camp WWE theme?
The match was EXCELLENT for the time it got. It was a hard-hitting brawl with the idea that Itami is slowly turning heel, both by feigning a knee injury to get an advantage and by continuing to hit the GTS instead of going for the pin, to the point where he probably could have been DQed for excessive punishment. Ohno came out to save Lorcan. Itami shoved him so Ohno shoved Itami back, which should have caused a DQ but didn’t. Instead the match was “thrown out.”

EMBER MOON INTERVIEW- great. I don’t get why people are so down on her.

NO WAY JOSE vs. KILLIAN DAIN- 6.75/10
Dain has his own, more ethnic remix of the SAnitY music. I don’t like it. SAnitY should come off like one big bloc, as much as possible. For that reason I also didn’t like Nikki Cross not coming out there with them. Or EY & Wolfe leaving ringside right away, although like Percy Watson, I think they’re up to something nefarious.
Okay… I laughed at the “FUZZY WUZZY” chant for Dain, but major props are due to the announcers for finding a way to spin it as the fans chanting it to get on Dain’s nerves. The match was very, very, good. Jose got to be the fighting babyface and look like he had a real chance even with Dain almost never leaving his feet.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE COMMERICAL- oh my G-d they should be ashamed of themselves. Like, really, truly, this is the worst PPV hype video you’ve ever seen. There is no way to possibly take any of this seriously anymore. Even Brock.

HYPE FOR NEXT WEEK’S MAIN EVENT- good.

A GREAT episode of NXT. I came in quite skeptical, but they did indeed manage to make both of those matches feel very big.