Gutteridge’s WWE NXT Hit List: Shinsuke Nakamura and Finn Bálor, Andrade Almas vs. Tye Dillinger, Carmella vs. Tessa Blanchard, and TM61 vs. Blake and Murphy

By Darren Gutteridge

WWE NXT Hits

Finn Bálor and Shinsuke Nakamura: Over the past weeks on NXT, Bálor has shown the progress he has made on the mic during his stint in NXT. That’s excellent news, as he clearly needed no help in any other part of his game. His nice, grandstanding speech about “Where does Finn Bálor go next” was then topped off so well with the huge announcement of Bálor vs. Nakamura. As always seems to be the way, Bálor looks to be “passing the torch” to the next face of NXT before he departs for the main roster.

TM61 vs. Blake and Murphy: It felt like the ending was inevitable given the strife Blake and Murphy are going through, but this was still a fun first win for TM61, AKA Team Will-O-Wisp. They certainly do bring a lot of movement, and Shane Thorne has a very unique charisma to him. I’m glad Blake and Murphy are going their seperate ways. Their stock has plummeted since losing the titles, so why not see what they have as two singles acts?

Andrade Almas vs. Tye Dillinger: A minor Hit. I know this match was cobbled together from two separate ones, but they could have edited it to play out much smoother than it did. The first half was dead, but thankfully they found a second gear later on. Why even go back to this though? The Full Sail University crowd is more than ready to see new sweetheart Dillinger get pushed, so it may have been smarter to move both men away from each other.

The Authors of Pain: An impressively hard hitting and dominant TV debut for the Paul Ellering fronted team. NXT lacked a big man team, so having one on hand is always good for variety. That said, no doubt there are already question marks are already being raised as to whether they are up to scratch with the rest of the roster ring-work wise. The last big man team, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, certainly were, so fingers crossed the AOP can live up to those standards.

WWE NXT Misses

Carmella vs. Tessa Blanchard: The match was fairly by the numbers – not bad, but not good either – but this Miss is based on the question “What are they doing with Carmella?” We’ve seen her win these types of matches quire a lot over the past six-plus months, but it never seems to go anywhere. She’s over as a babyface, but no one is taking her seriously as an NXT Women’s Title challenger. It might be time to let her join Enzo and Cass on the main roster.

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