Credit: PWInsider
WWE NXT began what is undoubtedly a new Wrestlemania tradition tonight; drawing over 4,500 fans to the San Jose University Event Center for a two hour event that kicked off at 10 PM Pacific after WWE’s Wrestlemania AXXESS had closed up shop for the night. The line to get in went waaaay down the block and there was a young energy in the crowd. It wasn’t a family audience but a college age crowd mixed in with diehard fans.
* WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross was sitting in the first row.
The night opened with Jojo signing the national anthem.
When they turned the lights out before the show officially began, everyone in the building was on their feet with an energy that I can only describe as ECW-esque.
Corey Graves came to the ring. His mic didn’t work so the crowd chanted, “You f***ed up.” Graves joked that they were new at this. Graves said he wanted to tell a story and that was that WWE had a little secret In a warehouse in Florida. Then came The Shield and Bray Wyatt and that started the whispers. Those turned into waking and shouts and whispers and that has led to this show. He said that they sold out thousands of seats Wrestlemania weekend in minutes and now there are wrestlers standing in the back because they have no chairs left. He rallied the crowd to chant NXT, not that they needed any prompting.
* Hideo Itami pinned Tyler Breeze. Hell of an opener. The crowd chanted for Hideo as he came to the ring. The crowd went nuts for Breeze’s music immediately. Breeze did his lay across the buckles spot and the crowd popped. Hideo mocked it and they really went nuts. Breeze had control early but Hideo nailed several kicks. He crowd chanted for the GTS. They went back and forth with a pretty hot competitive opener. Hideo missed a kick and Breeze nailed him with one and scored a two count with a crucifix bomb. The crowd loved the hell out of hat and chanted for NXT. Hideo went for the GTS but Breeze slipped out and nailed a super kick. The crowd chanted “This is awesome.” Hideo went nuts with offense and kicked the hell out of Breeze. He nailed a big hesitation dropkick in the corner and killed Breeze with the GTS for the pin. Hideo looked the most he’s looked like his old self since coming to the States here and Breeze was perfect as his foil.
* Jason Jordan pinned Bull Dempsey. The crowd booed he hell out of Dempsey but when Jason Jordan came out, they didn’t seem to know who he was. Dude never should have cut that hair. Dempsey did a lot of ground and pound and kept Jordan on the mat early, Jordan went for a back Suplex but Dempsey turned and flattened him for a two count, Jordan used some collegiate takedowns. Dempsey nailed the Earthquake splash for a two count. He drilled Jordan and scored a two count after a flying Headbutt. Jordan mounted a comeback and scored the pin with an exploder. The crowd was surprised by that as they were treating Jordan as if he was Terry Gibbs tonight.
* Bayley & Alexa Bliss defeated Dana Brooke & Becky Lynch. The crowd went nuts when they announced this was a Divas tag with lots of women screaming. Bayley got her complete entrance and a huge standing ovation in her hometown. Huge chant for her when she entered the ring. Dana Brooke is freaking impressive looking in person. Bliss and Lynch had some great exchanges, Bliss nailed a backflip into a double knee drop that was brutal. She was the perfect underdog babyface against the larger Brooke. Lynch played a great heel. Some good solid tag wrestling here. Bliss was worked over for a long time so Bayley couldn’t get the hot tag. Just as she was about to get that hot tag, Lynch pulled Bayley off the apron. When Bayley finally got the tag and hit her offense, the crowd was primed for it. She hit a nice slam into a Superplex, the ascended the ropes. Brooke kicked her legs out from under her. lynch tried to take advantage but Bayley kept kicking up. She finally nailed the Bayley to belly suplex for the pin. Perfect for this night, market and match. Big reaction for Bayley after.
Bayley was interviewed after. She said it was the coolest night of her freaking life and thanked everyone for supporting NXT.
* Solomon Crowe forced Kalisto to tap. I am pretty sure this is literally a DGUSA rematch from a previous Mania weekend. Lots of mat work early and it was really good. Crowe nailed a nice springboard clothesline to send Kalisto to the floor. Kalisto started whipping out all these sick Lucha moves and a nasty spike DDT. Crowe was pretty aggressive in the ring and has corey red hair now. It suits him well. Kalisto hit a springboard 450 splash into the ring for a two count. Fun stuff. Kalisto came off the top for a move but was caught in the air and turned into the Stretch Muffler for the submission. Damn good.
* Baron Corbin pinned Rhyno. Huge reaction for Rhyno, who was a surprise. Tons of ECW chants. This was the back and forth bruiser match with lots of big physical spots. Rhyno teased the Gore and was drilled with a kick. There was a dueling “You can’t wrestle…yes he can” chant at Corbin. Corbin worked over Rhyno. Corbin sent Rhyno into the buckles hard. They clunked heads and both went down. They battled back and forth until Rhyno nailed Corbin. Corbin came back with a sitdown powerbomb for a two count. The crowd was really cold on Corbin early but got more into the bout as it went on. Rhyno was the fave for sure though. Rhyno went for the Gore but Corbin caught him with his finisher for he pin. Solid. You can see Corbin is still a project in progress. Rhyno Gored him after to a huge pop.
After intermission, Corey Graves came to the ring and said he brought a surprise to the ring. Out came HHH. He got a huge reaction. HHH said he gets to do some cool stuff but this is badass. The crowd chanted “Thank you Hunter” and he said thank you and that this isn’t you or me, it’s us. He said it was the hottest ticket in town and half the roster is back there including Shawn Michaels, Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Stephanie McMahon, X-PAC and even Vince McMahon are all here. Vince got half booed. HHH put over that Jim Ross was in the front row and the place exploded. HHH said the best thing is that none of the fans care about any of this because they are here for the future and the future is now. He led an NXT chant.
* WWE NXT Tag Team champs Murphy and Blake defeated The Vaudevillains and Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. Huge reaction for Enzo and Colin. They had the last entrance and did all their lines, Carmella was with them. The crowd did all of the lines along with them. They were super over. The Vaudevillians got a big pop and the crowd clapped along as they came out. The Tag champs got a mixed reaction. Enzo’s charisma live is off the charts, even better than I remember it being when I went to Full Sail Live for a TV a taping. The challengers each had turns keeping the champs on the defensive early. OK match once the tag champs gained control and slowed down the pace. Crowd really wanted to chant and cheer on Colin and Enzo. Colin finally got tagged in and cleaned house on everyone. He drilled Murphy with a big boot. It was the Vaudevillains were first eliminated. The crowd booed and gave them a really nice round of applause on he way out. Carmella got on the apron to distract Murphy. Colin sent him into the ropes to roll him up and Carmellla was knocked off to the floor. Colon gave up going for the pin to check on her and was nailed from behind and pinned. The crowd gave Colin and Enzo a big ovation for the way out. Solid.
* WWE NXT Women’s champion Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte. HUGE reaction when they announced the title bout. Both Charlotte and Banks received monster reactions. Big Woos for all the chops. Charlotte was on offense early and they went to the floor where Charlotte chopped her on every side of the ring. As they re-entered ring, Banks cut her off. They had some nice back and forth near falls. The crowd chanted, “This is wrestling”. Charlotte trapped her in a head scissors and drilled Sasha’s head into the mat. Banks returned the favor by double stomping her as she was in the buckles. Real competitive back and forth bout. The crowd was super loud sigh back and forth chants for each. Banks mocked Charlotte with a Fargo Strut. That was awesome. Banks trapped Charlotte in her straight jacket submission, yanking her back all the way. It looked sick. The crowd clapped and rallied for Charlotte. Charlotte made the big comeback with chops. She sent Sasha over the top but she landed on her feet and drilled Charlotte for a two count. Banks was great at playing to the crowd. Banks locked Charlotte in the head scissors and drilled her into the mat face first before beating her rudely. Banks went for a rana but was caught, elevated and power bombed down with authority. They were both almost counted down on the mat but returned to their feet to fight each other. Banks was sent into the buckles. Charlotte was on fire with offense and scored several two counts. Charlotte’s hair extensions got ripped out which infuriated her. They went back and forth with two counts. The crowd chanted, “This is awesome.” Charlotte locked in the figure four. Banks tried to get out and even turned it but Charlotte turned it back over, Banks made it to the ropes. Charlotte went to the top but Banks pulled her off into the ring. Banks drilled her with two knees to the back and locked her in a submission. They went into a beautiful set of near falls until Banks finally caught her in the Bank Statement submission and Charlotte tapped. FREAKING AWESOME. Charlotte received a standing ovation and the crowd chanted, “Thank you Charlotte.”
They introduced Sami Zayn. He came out and he crowd sang “Ole Ole” for a long time and then chanted his name. It was a huge ovation. He said it’s been a crazy time for him and he’s gone home to clear his head. He said he has some medical issues that aren’t too serious but he’s not cleared to compete tonight. The crowd booed that. Zayn said he knows but he wanted to say how important this show is. He said there used to be a dirty word called developmental. He said that it used to be if they went there they waited and wasted away in obscurity while hoping to be saved by being called up to Raw and Smackdown. He said things have changed. The crowd popped. He said that the word revolution is thrown around a lot but he wanted to talk about his revolution. He said that his started when he wrestled Cesaro in he a best of Three Falls two years ago, he said that they could have waited and kept things the way it used to be or they could kick down the doors and work hard and make this the place to be…and that’s what this is. He said people can think he might be wrong about it being a revolution but he’s standing in front of 5,000 fans who sold this place out in an hour.
Out came NXT champ Kevin Owens on the stage. This is pretty damn surreal to see. He said it’s cute to listen to what Zayn says and how the fans are eating it up, but he knows Zayn knows Zayn better than anyone. He said Zayn uses the we did this but he really means he did is and he believes it’s all about Zayn. The crowd gave Owens the “What?” Chant and Owens told the crowd they were cute and “Let’s all go back to 2002 together, yaaaaay!” Owens said Sami has accomplished nothing since he got here but since Kevin arrived NXT blew up and sold out Ohio and tonight thanks to him. He said he has the title and he beat Sami for it.
Sami ripped Owens saying that Zayn tore the house down and was tearing it up for the last two years as Owens texted him asking how WWE is and watched him in TV. He said that without Sami, there would never have been Owens in WWE. Owens teased fighting Zayn and Zayn said lets go. Owens teased getting into the ring but then said Sami was lucky he had surgery two weeks ago and left. Sami said when Owens gets better, Sami is coming to get his belt. Better than 99% of most Raw opening segments we’ve seen in forever. Finn Balor.
For those who asked there were a few handhelds at ringside shooting the show. I didn’t notice a hard cam or anything like that.
* Finn Balor pinned Adrian Neville. Balor came out in full Demon paint and entrance. The crowd lost it for this and chanted, “Holy sh**” when it was over. Some really nice mat work early. Neville nailed a nice dive to the outside. The crowd chanted, “Better than Mania.” I wonder what Vince is thinking right now. Neville took control and ran Balor into the buckles, then chopped away at him. Balor fought his way to his feet but was thrown into the corner and taken back down. Neville controlled him with stomps and nailed a back suplex for a two count. Balor leapt out of the way of a charge and landed on the apron outside. They went for a move but Neville caught him with a guillotine leg drop through the the ropes. Neville came off the ropes with a sunset flip but Balor rolled through through and scored with a dropkick. They fought back and forth until Balor kicked him off the top rope to the floor. On the floor, Balor scored with a leaping forearm and tossed Neville back in. Neville drilled him with some kicks but Balor wiped him out and nailed a flying double stomp got a two count. The fans chanted, “This is awesome” and to a lesser extent, “Slobber Knocker.” Balor charged but was killed with a superkick for a two count. Neville went to the top but Balor hit the ropes and Neville crashed into the ring. Balor scored several two counts, He went to the top but Neville nailed him. Great competitive bout. Neville scored with a Superplex as both men stood on the top for a two count. He called for the Red Arrow but Balor moved and scored with the top rope stomp for the pin. Great main event.
Great night. That’s all from San Jose tonight!
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