NXT Asbury Park Live Event Results
2/10/17
Asbury Park, NJ
Results courtesy of PWInsider.com
NXT returned to Asbury Park last night and it was a wildly different show from last year’s debut in Convention Hall.
Last year felt like a pre-season football game, a lot of “vanilla” action, with the focus being put on entrances, catchphrases, and select finishers. It made total logical sense as most of the competitors on the card were not long for NXT after this show came to a close.
This year, the venue was probably about 75%-80% full, and while some may see that as a negative, it was a solid showing despite the fact the big draws for NXT one year before (Enzo & Cass, Sami Zayn, Bayley, and Finn Balor) have all moved on, and one of the advertised main eventers for this show (Samoa Joe) was not on the show.
As stated in a previous review only one wrestler from the 2016 returned to Asbury this year — Asuka. The majority are main roster talent while Alex Riley has been released, Austin Aries is injured, Eva Marie is elsewhere, and Peyton Royce was not on this tour
This show had a lot of talent that have yet to officially (re)debut on NXT television, or get very little exposure. Most of them acquitted themselves very well…some not so much.
Match #1: Steve Cutler vs. Aleister Black aka Tommy End
Cutler, who is a Monster Factory graduate, had the announcer change his hometown from New Jersey to Orlando, Florida. He then cut a classic heel promo running down NJ – saying he wanted to go on first so he could leave Jersey faster. He also thought Asbury had been wiped out by Hurricane Sandy, and was sad to see it still standing. That scored some legit (or cheap depending on who you ask) heat from the crowd.
Black, who appeared on WWE TV for the first time under his Tommy End moniker at the UK Tournament in January, got a mild reaction from the crowd. Since the crowd is mostly made up of kids, and those who just watch Takeovers, this was bigger than I expected.
Cutler dominated the majority of the match working over Black’s back, and playing to the crowd for automatic heat. We even got a “Florida Sucks” chant. Black got some nice reaction from his fancy footwork, using his martial arts background to his advantage. In the end, the former Tommy End, scored a win with a huge spinning roundhouse kick, which the crowd loved.
Winner: Aleister Black
Thoughts: Solid match overall. Black scored some fans here, and Cutler could be an effective heel as he has the gift of gab, but his in-ring work was pretty basic. Would like to see more from him.
Match #2: Ember Moon vs. Daria Berenato
Ember got a big reaction, while Daria got a pop when she was announced from being from New Jersey.
This was a tremendous match was the two trade moves and counters like mad women which often ended in a stand-off, which the crowd loved. Ember wowed with her dogged determination to lock in a Fujiwara arm bar, and he second rope spring board reverse cross body block. When she went for this move a second time Daria caught her with a huge spear, which lit the audience up. Daria was extremely impressive with her MMA style, and again, being a hometown girl didn’t hurt either — so she had a ton of people behind her. In the end, the two women are wiped out, but Ember is able to get to the top rope and hits the Eclipse (or the “O Face” as many know it) — which is one the most impressive finishers I’ve ever seen (Ember’s wild hair really adds to the visual).
Winner: Ember Moon
Thoughts: When Asuka is ready to pass the torch, I think Ember Moon will be ready to take it. People really like her and she’s super talented and charismatic. As for Daria, A friend of mine put it this way — in one year’s time Daria will be in Ember Moon’s role as the #2 woman in NXT. I hope we see these two battle again with higher stakes on the line.
Match #3: Eric Young with Nikki Cross vs. Oney Lorcan
Given the fact EY and Tye Dillinger fought the night before, the crowd was chanting “10” loudly. Well, they chanted “10” throughout the night regardless of Dillinger’s involvement. You could tell they were let down when the former Biff Busick came out instead of The Perfect 10. Well, not everyone was disappointed, there were some audible “Biff” chants in the crowd. One thing that was really interesting was the crowd was chanting “Let Her Wrestle” in support of Nikki Cross, who seemed to want to take Oney on and was begging the referee to let her fight. Very interesting development, and I wonder if this continues will we see a Cross face turn? This was a solid match that saw Oney get a lot of offensive including a sequence where Oney had EY in the corner and would charge and nail a hip attack into Young’s midsection. He must’ve done this 15-20 times. Lorcan hit a massive half nelson German suplex off the top which was nuts. EY did his usual crowd work, while Cross was amazing with everything she did on the outside, which eventually got her booted from ringside.
In the end, Young tosses Lorcan over the top. Lorcan skins the cat, but Young grabs him in a body scissor position and then tosses him up for a neck breaker.
Winner: Eric Young
Thoughts: Oney Lorcan looked good, but is really falling victim to there being too many performers on NXT television. He’s very talented and could be an impact player if given the time. As for EY — he’s a made man and is a nice piece to have in the arsenal for WWE. If they need him on the main roster, he’s ready. If they need him to anchor NXT, he can do that too. As mentioned before, Cross was over big time.
Match #4: Authors of Pain vs. #DIY — NXT Tag Titles
Man, DIY is over. People LOVE them. And rightfully so, they’re awesome. Tons of “Johnny Wrestling” and “Psycho Killer” chants for the former tag champs. Authors of Pain were sans Paul Alluring and got a decent reaction.
This was a classic monsters vs. underdog tag team match. Every time DIY would build up momentum, AOP would cut them down. There were a few wonky spots, and that was mostly due to the Authors of Pain being a little off. But, let’s be honest these guys aren’t seasoned vets like DIY, they’re going to make mistakes. Luckily, they compensated for their mistakes by crisply executing their beast power moves. As for DIY, Ciampa had a great sequence hitting a running knee strike from every corner of the ring. Gargano was the Ricky Morton of the team again, playing the uber sympathetic babyface in danger. When he wasn’t taking a beating he hit a beautiful tornado DDT (coming out of a submission), and a crisp super kick. When DIY went for their finisher, Gargano got caught by one of the AOP members and thrown outside. This allowed the Authors to hit their Russian leg sweep/lariat combo.
Winners: Authors of Pain — retaining their tag team titles
Thoughts: This wasn’t an off the charts big money DIY style match, this was the abridged version of it. Honestly, WWE really does have something special with these guys. They’re going to be the anchors for NXT for the next year at least.
Match #5: Patrick Clark vs. “The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger
Clark came out in a Tom Brady jersey to big time boos. He kept talking about “the number 12” which got the crowd to start chanting “10” and then, their prayers were answered – Tye Dillinger came out. He got mega pop. It was a great entrance, and in a perfect world, Tye Would’ve gotten in the ring, whipped Clark into the corner, done the “10 punch 10 count” in the corner, hit the Tye Breaker, and we go to intermission.
Instead we got an unbearably long match that really killed the crowd. There was way too much stalling from Clark, who played to the crowd outside of the ring excessively. There was also a lot of rest holds, and waist locks from Clark too. The crowd lost interest in the match. Luckily, Dillinger was able to come back with his 10 count in the corner, and some flashy moves. After some more back and forth, Dillinger dropped the knee pad and hit the Tye Breaker for the W.
Winner: Tye Dillinger
Thoughts: WOOF. Patrick Clark needs a lot of work. Yes, he can talk but he needs to some seasoning. This match was about 10 minutes too long, and needed to be short and sweet. This exposed Clark, and really burned the audience out with its plodding pace.
Match #6: Sanity (Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dane) vs. Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford
Worst match of the night by far. Crowd gave Sanity a lukewarm reaction. They gave Dawkins and Ford nothing. Tumbleweed. Crickets. For some reason Ford was drinking from a red solo cup on his way to the ring. There was a tiny “red shoes” chant from the handful of people that saw the Philly crowd chanted about in Philly the night before. These two teams did not click at all. Dawkins had some nice big man moves, including an impressive spear. Ford was able to do a few backflips counters which raised the crowd’s pulse slightly. Wolfe had a nice German suplex, not much else. Killian Dane (the former Big Damo) was solid in his limited ring work…until he had a big mistake. He was supposed to go over the top rope, but couldn’t go over, so he obviously did a jump and pushed himself over the top. The crowd crapped all over it. In the end, the crowd was put of its misery when Sanity a powerslam, dropkick combo that barely connected.
Winner: Sanity
Thoughts: All four of these men need more time to hone their craft, especially in front of a big audience. Damo and Wolfe should be something awesome, but they’re a little too rough around the edges, and NXT already has a monster heel tag team in Authors of Pain. Wolfe and Damo don’t have their chemistry yet, but given Damo’s veteran knowledge, and Wolfe’s seeming endless enthusiasm, they could make it work. As for Ford and Dawkins — this a team in dire need of television wins, and vignettes. Neither are known to the NXT crowd, but their is potential here.
Match #7: Asuka vs. Mandy Rose — NXT Women’s Title
Mandy Rose came off like Eva Marie — all blonde everything. And that made the crowd who wasn’t chanting “10” at her, a bit worried. Would we see a repeat of last year’s intolerable Bayley vs. Eva Marie snoozefest?
Nope.
Mandy Rose more than held her own against Asuka. Was some of this Asuka carrying the match? Of course it was. But MR had the ring awareness, charisma, and where with all to pick up what Asuka was putting down. As always, Asuka was awesome — playing the killer, the clown, and the beatdown victim throughout the match. Instead of her normal finish, Asuka went for a flurry of Tajiri-esque kicks to defeat “The Golden Goddess.”
Winner: Asuka
Thoughts: Like Bayley before her, you have to wonder if NXT can afford to lose Asuka, especially since the Women’s division is still being developed. Mandy Rose, like Daria, Peyton Royce, Billie Kaye and Ember Moon has big upside in 2017.
Match #8: “Cien” Almas & Bobby Roode vs. Kassius Ohno and Shinsuke Nakamura
Chen did not get much of a reaction coming out, but that changed mid-match. Bobby Roode’s entrance was…you guessed it…glorious. Watching Roode now as opposed to TNA few years ago is like night and day. He exudes such confidence, and seems to be having a ball.
Chris Hero aka Kassius Ohno, came up to a strong reaction, and his theme music is light years better than his original NXT music. It’s more hip-hop based and fits his personality perfectly. You could tell he was stoked to be there.
Then the rockstar came out. I’ve never seen Shinsuke Nakamura before, and when he walked out, I got it. I got why he has such a cult following. The man is charisma personified. He’s weird and intriguing, and awesome. The crowd, like they did with Roode, sang his entire song, and continued it through the beginning of the match.
Nakamura and Cien started and the former champ was a house on fire. He didn’t look like his knee was an issue at all. Roode tagged in, and looked like was going to lock up with Nakamura, but in a classic Memphis heel move, he tagged Cien back in before they even touched. This brought Ohno in, and this is when things got good. Ohno got in his greatest hits — lighting Cien up with big punches, kicks, and chops. He got a couple of big “Hero” chants, which he acknowledged each time. By the third time this happened you could tell the people who had no clue who he was were joining in the chants. Ohno impressed everyone, and is going to be huge in NXT. The move of the night had to be when Cien did his “tranquilo” spot in the ropes for a second time and Ohno hit a big bicycle kick which resounded throughout the arena, and sent Cien to the mat. After this spot he got knocked around a lot by Cien and Roode. Finally he tagged Nakamura back in and The King of Strong Style cleaned house. In the end Nakamura was able to his the Kinsasha after Hero wiped out Roode.
Winners: Kassius Ohno & Shinsuke Nakamura
Thoughts: All killer, no filler. All four mean busted their asses in this match, and they gave the crowd a great main event. Ohno became a made man in NXT after this match. The same goes for Cien who is just so good as a heel right now. The future is super bright for him. Roode and Nakamura really have two of the most over entrances I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
