WWE NXT taping
Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University
Report by Joseph McGuirk

Byron Saxton came out and did the obligatory "exits are here" speech. He put over the Women's Title Tournament and mentioned that the Hurricane Sandy auction raised $500k. Someone named Jenna apparently paid to be special guest timekeeper. She even got an NXT style TitanTron. She did the time keeping for the dark match.

Dark Match

1. Mojo Rawley beat Danny Burch. Mojo clearly brought friends and family as he got a mild chant. Mojo won with an Earthquake-esque butt drop. By the numbers, short match.

Episode One

Tony Dawson and William Regal were on commentary. There was a video that recapped the NXT Title change. I kid you not, they changed the ring apron after one match during this video. Byron Saxton did the "beg the crowd to chant NXT for the open" routine.

1. Paige defeated Alicia Fox in a Women's Title Tournament Semi-Final Match.

2. Conor O'Brian (w/Rick Victor) defeated Andy Baker. Baker got a jobber entrance. A little suggestive man-on-man action with Connor & Victor in the corner during the entrance. Connor won. Quick match.

3. Xavier Woods defeated Scott Dawson. Sylvester Lefort introduced Scott Dawson. Garrett Dylan's name was still on the Tron. Against Xavier Woods. After "It's Morphin' Time," Woods won.

The crowd got bored during down time and started a "Byron Saxton" chant. I guess it's better than tourists chanting for their countries like they did at the Impact Zone...

4. Mason Ryan beat Enzo Amore. Hilarious mic work by Enzo. Ridiculous one punch from Mason put down Amore. Amore complained that he was not ready. Enter Colin Cassady. Ryan made quick (thankfully not as quick) work of Cassidy.

5. Bo Dallas beat Antonio Cesaro to retain the NXT Title. Partway through the match, Leo Kruger came out. Cesaro had the upper hand the majority of the match, but when Krueger got on the apron Bo threw Cesaro into him and got the pin. During the celebration, they shot smoke down on Bo, then Kruger jumped him. Bo fought off Kruger, but then Cesar jumped Bo. As soon as Bo got the upper hand, Leo came in. Both pounded on Bo until Sami Zayn came out for the save. The dumbass crowd still did the "Ole" chant. I think that's going to start holding Zayn back if that keeps happening. They continued the "Ole" as they went up the ramp then the crowd booed when Bo held up the belt.

Episode Two

Brad Maddox and Tom Phillips were on commentary. Kendall Skye got in the ring to announce.

1. Emma beat Summer Rae in a Women's Title Tournament Semi-Final Match. Considering they had Emma work heel in Cocoa last month, I expected a heel turn tonight. Summer attacked Emma and Paige ran her off. There was a stare down between Emma and Paige.

2. Leo Kruger beat Sami Zayn by submission. The lights didn't go all the way out for Leo's entrance, which was kinda funny since he just walked out. It probably won't be obvious on TV. Sami tried to pull as good a match as possible out of Leo. More dumbass O-lays from the crowd.

3. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady beat Mason Ryan in a handicap match. More fun mic work by Amore. "1+1 = 3.14 time to eat your pie." Clip to the knee from Amore helped Cassidy get the pin. Logic prevailed! The camera missed Amore and Cassidy leaving the stage so they came out and "left" again.

Bray Wyatt came out with The Family. Erick Rowan (aka upside down Sheamus) was wearing his sheep mask. Wyatt cut a promo about Regal and crew.

4. The Wyatt Family beat Adrian Neville, Corey Graves, and William Regal. Neville played face in peril for quite a long time. Anticlimactic finish with Bray getting the pin. Awesome "Bray Wyatt Eater of Donuts" sign.

An RVD video aired. We then got the occasional RVD chants randomly from some folks near me for the rest of the night.

Episode Three

Kendall Skye begged the crowd for NXT chants. Unlike two tapings ago, she didn't piss off the crowd beforehand and got a few. Tony Dawson and William Regal were on commentary. Regal joined while Leo was coming out and wore a t-shirt chugging water to get ready after having just wrestled.

1. Leo Kruger beat Antonio Cesaro and Sami Zayn in a three-way. Zayn almost took out the tall Chick entering the ring in a near Charlie Haas-Lillian Garcia moment (ok not that bad/close). With Leo out of the ring, Cesaro hit The Neutralizer, then Kruger ran in and threw Cesaro out and got the pin on Zayn.

As Kendall Skye entered the ring, I actually noticed that she hides what she is announcing on a sticky note on the mic. Super suck! This comes back later... 😉

Sylvester Lefort came out to put over Scott Dawson, calling him his protege and a future champion. Against Bo Dallas. Not sure if this happened during the other match but many in the crowd turned their back on Bo during his entrance. Kruger attacked Bo after.

Bailey came out like she had a match. Ric Flair came out and cuts a promo saying he likes Orlando and that he likes to support the up and comers. He announced that his daughter Charlotte was debuting and said he would be in her corner. Charlotte was actually in the six-man at the Cocoa Beach show last month. She looked like an '80s American Gladiator that time traveled to today to wrestle. She strikes me as unattractive and muscley. Charlotte did a stupid cartwheel outside the ring and then rolled backwards once in the ring. A corny gymnast. Ok, I'm done bashing her.

2. Charlotte defeated Bailey. Flair threw off his jacket for no reason during the match. A friend pointed out that Flair was wearing sneakers. Charlotte won and did the Flair strut after the match followed by dueling struts.

I got a small post it note chant going for Skye, which actually got her to laugh a little.

3. Neville and Corey Graves beat The Wyatt Family to win the NXT Tag Titles. The match seemed like it was going to be a paint by numbers tag with Bray interfering, but then Sheamus's music hit. He took out Bray, then Neville hit the corkscrew and WE HAVE NEW TAG CHAMPS. Sheamus celebrated with the new champs Neville and Graves.

Byron announces that because of what just happened, we would see Bray Wyatt vs. Sheamus tonight!

Episode Four

Maddox and Phillips were on commentary. Bryon Saxon handled the ring announcing.

1. Paige defeated Emma to win the NXT Women's Title tournament. A fun back and forth match, no heel turn yet. Paige won and is your first NXT Women's Champion. All of the women minus Summer Rae came from the locker room in dresses clapping for Paige.

Triple H's music hit -- nothing to take away from someone else's moment like coming out after they win a title. Paige cried. He raised her hand, they posed a few times around the ring, then he left. Renee Young came out to interview Paige. It was a mediocre interview. The WWE photographer was walking around the crowd throughout the night and came up near us to get pictures of the win.

2. Tyler Breeze (Mike Dalton) beat Angelo Hawkins. Dalton was on the stage before his entrance actually began. Dalton filmed himself with his phone the whole time. It was clearly a vanity gimmick. He spent a few minutes (almost literally) in the corner starring at his phone. I imagine this will get edited. Tyler won a short match. He stayed in the ring quite a while doing the stare at his cell phone gimmick after the match. *yawn*

3. Rick Victor and Conor O'Brian beat Mickey Keegan and Aiden English. Victor and O'Brian were billed as billed as "The Ascension." There was a great "You Suck" chant at the end of Connor's song from the crowd. Mickey never got formally tagged in. Ascension won. Many yawned. Let English be funny please!

Bryon announced, "I have just been informed that Tyler Breeze has left the building."

4. Sheamus beat Luke Harper. Apparently, they changed their mind on it being Bray Wyatt (or as I later found out Bray may have hurt his arm). Harper busted out his "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" gimmick again so guess it's sticking. This match also appears that it will be on TV. There was a funny moment when Sheamus got Rowan in his little punch gimmick. A friend joked that Sheamus should absorb Rowan's beard because there can be only one. Sheamus won with the Brogue Kick. Sheamus got credit for staying and greeting fans for quite a while afterward.

RECOMMEND THIS ARTICLE: