Three of VAVEL's writers headed to Liverpool to watch an NXT house show as WWE's hottest brand stopped on Merseyside to put on an excellent show, here are the 10 major takeaways from the show.
10. Carmella can work just as well as Bayley
Joel Lampkin: The women’s tag-team match of Bayley and Carmella vs Peyton Royce and Nikki Glencross was one that would clearly play to the strengths of the two friends inside and out of the ring. Bayley on her birthday was the crowd favorite as a rendition of happy birthday broke out prompting the hugger to shout “THANK YOU!” While all the attention was fixated on the birthday girl the in-ring talents of Carmella were largely ignored, despite being the best of the four females on that night. Carmella has never been truly close to propelling herself into the title picture and it is strange to see why – considering just how much of a great worker she is in the ring.
9. Wesley Blake might struggle on his own
Matthew Wilkinson: In the opening match of the night England's own Hugo Knox took on a former Tag Team Champion in Wesley Blake, now a singles star, in what was a fun match. Whilst the wrestling was solid and the crowd was always going to be behind the homegrown talent the lack of passion for Blake was telling. The Liverpool crowd who were loud and passionate all night went deathly quiet during his entrance and it was clear that he now needs a major character development for him to work alone.
8. No Way Jose has potential
Connor Bennett: The dancing star of Cuba has real potential in NXT. While his gimmick is comedic and not necessarily serious, No Way Jose can really compete in the ring. He held his own against a world-class talent in Bobby Roode and still managed to entertain the crowd. There is still obvious improvement to be made. His finisher needs a lot of work and to be a serious threat in NXT, No Way Jose needs to find his niche on the microphone. It’s very easy to be the fun loving, party character - it worked for Adam Rose, but when the time comes to make the next step, the superstar has to be ready to adapt.
Mixing in Beisbol moves, Spanish for Baseball, to his repertoire, No Way Jose represents what many people would see as a near-stereotypical Cuban. His obvious comparison is to Fandango due to having a dancing gimmick but he has much more depth. The crowd loved him as his entrance is energetic and he managed to put on a rather fun match, with a good mix of comedy and serious wrestling. The UK tour seemed to be good as a whole for No Way Jose, picking up wins over Tye Dillinger among other NXT stars.
7. The crowd can be entertained without a match
Joel Lampkin: The great thing about an NXT show is the way backstage ‘work’ their fans, even before we see any action in the ring we were treated to a warm introduction from the ring announcer and then asked to interact with the show on Social Media (Twitter) as they displayed tweets with the hashtag #NXTLiverpool. There was a poll to vote on which match we would like to see on the titantron with the options of Sasha Banks versus Bayley the ultimate winner of the three options. After the match the fans were treated to a ‘WWE: Top Ten’ prompting the younger generations to scream and mark out for one of YouTube’s most popular wrestling collections.
6. The UK crowd love NXT
Matthew Wilkinson: The NXT Takeover:London show allowed the world to see exactly how passionate and loud the UK crowds can get, but that was always to be expected for such a big show with high importance. Yet when NXT rolled into Liverpool it was simply a house show, no special importance or value yet the crowd were just as loud and crazy as they were during the NXT special, cheering their heroes and booing the heels it was a perfect crowd that added to the event, creating a unique feel to it that the wrestlers appeared to feed off.
5. Bobby Roode will be a good addition to NXT
Connor Bennett: No Way Jose’s opponent on the night, Bobby Roode, is going to be a fine addition to an ever improving NXT roster. He was one of, if not the top draw for TNA during his time there and while he may not be that for NXT, he is a really good superstar to have on the roster. He’s worked with many of the NXT stars, including former TNA superstars like Austin Aries, Eric Young, and Samoa Joe so he has that familiarity going forward as works with NXT for much longer.
The Liverpool probably expected him to appear at some as he’s been on the UK Tour but nobody expected his music and entrance against No Way Jose. Putting him in the ring with an emerging talent like No Way Jose, it could have been easy for Roode to control the match and dominate, but it didn’t turn out that way. It was fairly balanced with the overriding sense that the crowd were just waiting for Roode to pick up the win. When the pair started dancing, the crowd loved it but then Roode played the heel and broke it up with a strike to the back of No Way Jose’s head.
He will be a really good addition to the NXT as he could a lot of different things. Initially, he’s going to get good guy reactions and he’ll probably be booked that way. Ultimately, he’s a very good heel but with NXT having an abundance of good heels, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with him.
4. American Alpha are ready for the main roster
Matthew Wilkinson: The former Tag Team Champions were one of the most highly anticipated stars of the night and they certainly delivered. American Alpha had all the energy and charisma that was expected and the amateur wrestling style went down a storm with the fans. They appear to be growing in confidence and ability every time they step inside the ring and it should now only be a matter of time before that ring is a main roster one.
3. The chemistry of Balor & Nakamura was fantastic
Joel Lampkin: The chemistry of Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura is off the chain incredible, both men are veterans of the industry and their knowledge of how each other works was one of the highlights of the show. The weird and wacky mannerisms of The King of Strong Style compared to the crowd-pleasing style of ‘The Icon of NXT’ looks set to make their upcoming clash that much more exciting! Balor was playing to the crowd and Nakamura was doing his own hype just by his work rate following their victory over Samoa Joe and Austin Aries we saw a tandem Nakamura pose as the two victors clung onto the ropes and dropped down as The King of Strong Style’s music hit.
2. Tye Dillinger is ready to be pushed
Matthew Wilkinson: Every roster has a wrestler who is underutilized and NXT is no different, for them, it is Tye Dillinger. From his entrance bringing one of the loudest reactions of 10 chants to his decision to wear a Manchester United shirt to get under the skin of the fans
1. Finn Balor will be a huge loss in NXT
Connor Bennett: While Bobby Roode will be a fine addition to the NXT roster, Finn Balor is going to be a huge loss. Balor is universally loved by the NXT Universe and this has been on show during the UK Tour. The Liverpool crowd really came alive towards the end of the night and everybody couldn’t wait to join in with Balor’s entrance.
When you have a superstar like Balor, that has an interactive entrance, it’s a plus point for when he eventually gets promoted to the WWE main roster. It’s apparent that everybody is just waiting for Balor to get the call-up to the main roster but everyone loves seeing him perform inside the NXT ring.
Seeing him in a tag-team match with Shinsuke Nakamura was fantastic as it was something different to see in NXT. Balor debuted by tagging with Hideo Itami and it was evident he was going to be a star once he was allowed to run by himself.
It’s unfortunate that it looks rather unlikely that he won’t get to face Itami before his step up to the main roster.
