Gutteridge’s WWE NXT Hit List: American Alpha vs. The VaudeVillains, Austin Aries’ first promo, Bayley and Asuka vs. Eva Marie and Nia Jax, and the first appearance of Shinsuke Nakamura in NXT

By Darren Gutteridge

WWE NXT Hits

American Alpha vs. The VaudeVillains: My hopes of American Alpha changing up the formula a little bit for their hot tag were once again dashed, but that is about the only criticism I had of this match. It entertained, it excited, and left me wanting more from these two. In essence, that is everything a TV main event should do.

Bayley and Asuka vs. Eva Marie and Nia Jax: They booked this match well. They used Eva Marie sparingly and used her colossal heat smartly. The end result was yet another hot announcement for Takeover: Dallas. It isn’t just a possibility that TO:D may be better than WrestleMania. If anything, it will be more of an upset if Mania is the better show!

Austin Aries: Aries cut a nice, succinct intro promo, establishing his character and charisma with those in the NXT audience who are unfamiliar with his TNA and ROH work. It may have worked better in the ring with some interaction with Baron Corbin, but this alternative worked well too.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn announced: #Places journalistic integrity to one side# AHHHHHH!!!!!! #Resumes journalistic integrity#.

WWE NXT Misses

Hype Bros vs. Angelo Dawkins and Kenneth Crawford: These pointless squash matches have me believing the Hype Bros may be a post Mania call up. It’s not like they are beating established teams, so a run at the NXT Tag Titles doesn’t seem likely (nor should it with so many better teams above them). They are winning nonetheless, so perhaps the Hype Bros days are numbered on NXT. Which is good for me – they will be easier to avoid.

Emma vs. Deonna Perazzo: Similar to the above point, where are these Emma wins leading? She’s been in a holding pattern ever since Takeover: London, beating low level women for fun. Is everything on hold until Dana Brooke is healed up? That doesn’t constitute engrossing TV for me.

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