Well… it’s been a week since Alexa Bliss turned heel. I think I’m finally ready to face the world again.

SAMI ZAY- F*CK YOU, OWENS! GRRRRR!

OPENING SEGMENT- Steen was amazing. Regal was great. Solomon Crowe came out and I didn’t care. He has the same haircut Jimmy Jacobs got after completely losing his mind, except that Crowe is totally sane when he has it. It’d be nice if they could actually develop Crowe’s character and make me give a sh*t about him.

HIDEO ITAMI PROMO- not bad, but it was really hard to hear him over whatever that annoying background noise was.

RENEE YOUUNG INTERVIEWS ZACK RYDER- Mojo Rawley is back… and no one thought to take these months off to do something to make his failing character work.

BAYLEY vs. EMMA (w/Dana Brooke)- 4.5/10
Dana is now hanging out with Emma because… um… because it is apparently completely imperative that we find a way to get Charlotte onto this show, I guess.
We got a shorter version of the match that should have been on the Takeover special, with Emma winning mostly cleanly (a lot of hair-pulling in there, not nothing like illegal leverage or a weapon). The heels went to beat Bayley up after the match, but Charlotte made the save, but then got beaten up as well, building up to… the match we just saw at the PPV. This is so backwards!

RENEE YOUNG INTERVIEWS BARON CORBIN- looks like we’re getting a rematch… just like they did with Corbin vs. Dempsey… and with Dempsey vs. Mojo before that. THINK OF SOMETHING NEW!

BECKY LYNCH VIDEO PACKAGE- umm… they do that the Takeover special already happened, right?
Oh. Okay. Here’s some new footage.

ELIAS SAMPSTON & MIKE ROLLINS vs. BLAKE & MUPRHY (w/Alexa Bliss)- squash
So they put Alexa Bliss with the most generic team in history, and as a result, it has turned her generic. Everyone loses. Hooray for dumb booking!
After the match, they let her hit her finisher on the squashed guy… and, of course, the people popped because she’s a hot girl doing a cool flip. That’s not what you want out of your heels! And it’s still apparently called the “Sparkle Splash.” For babyface Alexa, the name worked. For a heel, it’s ridiculously lame.

FINN BALOR vs. TYE DILLENGER- 0.5/10
An entirely pointless match. At least the Blake and Murphy squash establishes the change to the status quo: they now have Alexa with them and she is now a heel. This was just a random squash taking up time that could have been used to make Owens vs. Crowe better and maybe do something towards making Solomon Crowe.

AN INTERVIEWER INTERVIEWS JASON JORDAN- Chad Gable wants to be his new tag partner. Sure. Why not? Well… because he already has another tag partner. That’s why not. Also, Gable’s “here is a towel with my name on it” gimmick is terrible.

KEVIN OWENS vs. SOLOMON CROWE- 5.25/10
Just like the Alex Riley match, except there was a lot less build, so at least it was less disappointing.

JOE SHOWS UP- Owens runs away, just like last night. And just like last night, I can’t help but comment on how terrible Joe’s music is.

An okay episode of NXT. It did a good job of following up on the Takeover show, but on its own, it ranged from uninteresting to bad.

Yea, Joe's music is bad. The show wasn't as good as it usually is but that's obviously bc they want to begin a new build. Now, Rhyno and Corbin are gonna get more brutal, Bliss and Carmella are gonna become physically involved in the tag feud, and they are going to add more fuel to that divas tag feud. Kinda a main roster thing, but it sure beats short feuds that change every single month. They do need a few new ones tho.

Apparently there was a great Alexa Bliss promo that I missed. Now I'm even more sad.