First match of the night is Enzo & Cass vs. the Lucha Dragons. Enzo & Cass aren’t accompanied by Carmella and it’s funny how much better their entrance shtick flows without her. The Full Sail crowd didn’t really seem to be all that into the Lucha Dragons, but Enzo’s comedic timing went over well. The match itself was pretty solid. Enzo & Cass got the win over the former NXT Tag Team champions and it wouldn’t be a shock to see eventually see them sporting the titles.
We then get a killer Kevin Owens video package recapping how he won the NXT title and showing how dominant he has been.
Next match up is Carmella vs. Alexa Bliss. If you’ve been watching NXT regularly, you know that the women’s division gets a ton of well deserved praise. However, that praise tends to largely be focused solely on Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley. It’s nice to see Carmella and Alexa get some time to shine. The match felt a little clunky at points, but the potential of both ladies was very evident. Alexa got the win with the Sparkle Splash from the top rope.
We’re then taken to a backstage Alex Riley promo. To call this promo passionate would be an understatement. With his #FreeRiley campaign on Twitter, Riley made it very clear that he wants to be an in-ring competitor more than anything you can see that he’s serious about it and giving it his all.
CJ Parker vs. Alex Riley. It seems that CJ Parker is now the go-to guy for matches against returning stars or debuting acts. The crowd was soundly behind Riley and that was great to see. Riley looked good and picked up the win with a Blockbuster. This was a decent match designed to re-introduce Riley as a wrestler and it got the job done. NXT Champion Kevin Owens came out after the match to taunt Riley and to make his presence felt, building up tension of the Owens vs. Riley match.
From there, we get right into the main event.
Tyler Breeze vs.Hideo Itami. Both Breeze and Itami are beloved guys that fanswould love to see more of, so to see them main eventing the show is great. There has been a lot of talk that Itami was struggling to adapt to the WWE style, but that doesn’t seem to be an issue any longer. Breeze picked up the win with the Beauty Shot after dodging a dropkick from Itami. I’m sure this feud is far from over.
Overall, this was a solid episode of NXT. It furthered along the Breeze vs. Itami and Owens vs. Riley feuds and we got to see Bliss and Carmella get more ring time. While this episode didn’t feature some of the top tier NXT names like Balor or Neville, the wrestling didn’t disappoint.
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