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September 7th, 2016 On commentary tonight, at Full Sail University, are Tom Phillips and Corey Graves. Opening Segment Tag Team Match: TM61 vs. Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari Nese & Daivari are here by way of the Cruiserweight Classic. Although both men have been eliminated from the tournament, they saw fit to have a go at tag team wrestling. Should be an interesting match. It’s Thorne and Nese to begin. The opening grapple sees a few reversals from both opponents until Thorne unleashes an uppercut on Nese. Whip into the corner. Nese with the back elbow. Springboard off the top rope by Nese. Matrix-style lean back to avoid Thorne’s attack and here come the kicks from Nese followed by a leg sweep and pinfall for 1. Thorne retorts with a hesitation dropkick to Nese’s back and the two men retreat to their corners to tag in Miller and Daivari respectively. From the grapple, it’s Daivari pushing Miller into the corner. Daivari with a cheap shot and Miller fights back. The two trade right hands and then a jawbreaker from Daivari. Miller charges again and Daivari trips him into the ropes. He tags in Nese. Double team Irish Whip. Miller stops his progress. Daivari charges…he gets sent through the ropes. Dropkick by Nese knocks Miller out of the ring. Nese with a twisting flipping splash to the outside on his partner and Miller. Then, it’s Thorne with a front flip senton on all 3 of them! Miller rolls Nese back into the ring for a 2 count. He tags in Thorne, as all members are back on the ring. Senton from Thorne. Another 2 count. Daivari tries to enter the ring without a tag which distracts the referee so Nese can catch Thorne off guard. Daivari is tagged in and he goes for a pin but is unsuccessful. Nese and Daivari tag again so Nese can hold Thorne in a vertical suplex position for a few moments. He brings him down halfway and then lifts him again to throw him on to the ropes gut-first! Running knee! 1-2-…kickout. Daivari gets the tag and he drops the elbow on Thorne a few times. Another cover and Thorne kicks out at 2. Snapmare and a side headlock by Daivari slows the pace. This may allow Thorne to come back. He reaches for Miller in the corner but Daivari slams him back to the mat. Miller distracts him long enough for Thorne to deliver a nasty uppercut but to no avail. Daivari tags in Nese who yanks Thorne away from Miller’s outstretched hand. Commercial time. On the return, a rolling elbow by Daivari brings Thorne to the mat. Daivari tags in Nese but Thorne manages to tag in Miller finally. A slap-off ensues…Nese changes to knees. Miller with a running clothesline. The cover lasts for 2 counts and Nese lifts his shoulders. Momentum is turning. Miller tags Thorne back in and he’s rested enough to uppercut Nese in the corner and then run and knock Daivari off the apron. Miller clotheslines Nese. Then the two execute a high and low (clothesline/leg sweep) on Nese. 1-2-…the count is broken by Daivari. The referee cautions him back to his corner. Nese begins to fight back against Thorne. He slides under Thorne’s legs while holding the left arm, tags in Daivari, picks up Thorne on to his shoulders…Daivari with a superkick. He ascends the top rope and lands a Frog Splash on Thorne! 1-2- Miller saves the day. He clotheslines Nese over the top rope. Daivari spears Miller out of the ring. He covers Thorne, holds the tights but still can’t get the 3 count! Thorne misses one clothesline but gets him with a vicious left arm. He tags in Miller. The two lift Daivari up in the air and… THUNDER ALLEY! Miller covers Daivari for the win. Winners: TM 61 via pinfall in 9 minutes One cool point for both teams. This match was full of reversals and offense and excitement. It was hard to keep up with everything. Very entertaining, which is especially impressive considering Nese & Daivari are not a regular team. TM 61 is building up a fanbase, similar to the way Gargano & Ciampa did. Won’t be long before they’re in the mix for a tag team title shot. Interview Tom Phillips meets with Asuka earlier today for an interview with the nXt Women’s Champion. He asks Asuka about her match with Bayley at nXt Takeover: Brooklyn II. Asuka says the crowd was great. She says Bayley was the heart of nXt. She fought hard BUT Asuka fought harder. Phillips says since Asuka’s debut last fall, she is undefeated and many of the women she beat are now on the main roster. Asuka says those women are safe now because they don’t have to face her anymore. Phillips asks about how important it is for her to represent her home country of Japan in the USA. Asuka says she defends it for herself and her fans in Japan. She concludes with a message in Japanese for those fans. Phillips asks if there’s a superstar who is ready to challenge her right now. Asuka says no one is ready for her. I can’t help but agree. Coming Up: Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Austin Aries, and Ember Moon’s Full Sail debut. Second Segment WWE has launched a new promotional campaign for Connor’s Cure, an organization they started to raise money for pediatric cancer. It’s in honour of the famous Connor who touched the hearts of many fans during Daniel Bryan’s run to Wrestlemania XXX. To support them, go to www.ConnorTheCrusher.org. Backstage, Steve Cutler is interviewed about his match against Nakamura. Cutler says there’s no sacrifice made by Nakamura. Cutler says he gave up 4 years of his life to work for this opportunity. He doesn’t care what people think about him but he will be respected. Singles Match: Ember Moon vs. Leah Von Moon and Von lock up. Von does a front roll, cartwheel and reverses the wristhold applied by Moon. Moon transitions it into a side headlock. She bounces off the ropes and knocks Von down. Off the ropes again, Von tries to flip Moon to the mat but Moon does a front flip and grabs Von’s head back into the side headlock! Swift. Von reverses it. She whips Moon who springboards into a 180 splash on Von for a pinfall attempt. Von with a hard knee to Moon’s abdomen. Takedown to the mat. 1 count. Von applies a chinlock on Moon as the crowd claps for Moon to come back. She bridges out of it, delivers a few axehandles but Von stops her in her tracks with a club to the neck. She whips Moon into the corner. Cartwheel and tackle by Moon for a 2 count! Wow…Moon follows it with a sharp kick to Von’s left side. Moon with a running hip smash in the corner on Von. She screams out and delivers a front flip springing clothesline. Von’s standing up again but dazed as Moon stands tall on the top rope in the corner. She jumps…360 front flip and a neckbreaker on Von! Graves calls it the Eclipse. I call that the end of the match. 1-2-3. Winner: Ember Moon via pinfall in 4 minutes One cool point for the intensity and the agility of Ember Moon, both of which will be needed for her eventual confrontation with Asuka. Their styles will match up well and I think Moon won over the crowd tonight. A few more matches like that and fans will be calling out for her to take on the champion. Backstage, No Way Jose is asked about Roode’s disrespect of him last week on nXt. Jose compliments Roode’s clothes and shoes but says it was unoriginal. Jose has heard it before. Even though he’s wearing all white after Labour Day, Roode will find out that you don’t mess with Jose. Up Next: Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Austin Aries Third Segment Singles Match: Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Austin Aries Aries with the wristlock on Cien. Cien tumbles and flips his way into a reversal of the same hold on Aries. The crowd is split between cheering for both guys. Aries reverses the hold and locks Cien’s arm. Cien pushes Aries into the corner. Aries jumps up, lands behind the charging Cien. Armdrag takedown. Beauty dropkick by Aries gets him a 1 count on Cien. Aries relaxes on the top ropes in the corner and the crowd mostly cheers. Pretty arrogant but typical Aries. Another wristhold by Aries on Cien begins the next sequence. Cien reverses it, does a jump up of his own in the corner, runs the ropes again and as Aries slides along the mat, Cien dropkicks him hard. Running headscissors from Cien, followed by a pinfall attempt. Aries escapes from the ring to catch his breath. Cien chases him around the entire ring until Aries re-enters. He bounces off the opposite ropes, kicks Cien hard in the face and goes to throw him through the ropes. Cien stops himself and leans on the middle rope, with style. Aries charges him and Cien flips him up and over the top rope, Aries’ head hits the ring apron on the way down. Ouch. As Aries is smarting, corkscrew plancha over the top by Cien! He rolls Aries in for a 2 count pinfall attempt. Aries remains down on the mat. Cien climbs to the top and Aries pushes him to the floor! Commercial time. On the return, Aries has mounted Cien for a dish of fists to the face and head area. A few stomps later, Aries gloats to the audience. He returns to Cien who, by then, has regained his energy and fights back. Into the corner, Aries halts Cien’s progress and knocks him down to a seated position. An elbow from the second rope gives Aries a 2 count on Cien. He follows it up with a front chinlock as the crowd cheers for Cien to get up. Cien elbows his way out but Aries hits him back to the mat with a kidney shot. He grabs Cien by the left leg and attempts a suplex. Cien backflips and lands on his feet! He kicks Aries and backflips over the top rope to the apron. Aries tries to kick Cien but Cien evades it. Aries gets his leg caught in the ropes and it’s Cien who lands a sharp back heel kick to Aries’ head. Cien, off the top rope, lands the dropkick on Aries. Cien charges up in the opposite corner and slams into Aries in the corner. He kicks out Aries’ legs from underneath him and as he prepared for the double knees, Aries catches up with him and delivers a huge dropkick to the head. 1-2- kickout by Cien! Aries lifts Cien up in the corner. He joins him on the second rope. Cien with punches and elbows. He forces Aries to the mat. Cien attempts a backflip plancha. Aries rolls away. Cien lands on his feet and flips again and this time he does catch up to Aries! 1-2- kickout again by Aries! That was something else. Aries struggles to his feet. Cien grabs and twists Aries’ arm. Aries doesn’t like that and he elbows Cien. Big chop. Cien’s response is another high kick to the head. Whip into the corner is reversed. Cien waits for Aries to run in and Cien moves away, forcing Aries into the turnbuckle. He goes for double knees again but Aries slides out of the ring. Cien makes for the corner and a springboard plancha but he lands on the apron when he sees that Aries has returned to the ring. Cien springboards in for a hurricanrana but Aries catches him for a powerbomb, transitioning it into the Last Chancery. Cien’s not getting out of this one without a loss. And he taps out quickly. Winner: Austin Aries via submission in 10 minutes One cool point for Austin Aries because he is showing off just how talented he is by having matches like this one. This is the kind of match I got used to seeing him wrestle on Impact, the kind of match that gets the crowd engaged and behind him, even if he’s supposed to be the bad guy. I’m excited for ANY match or ANY feud this guy has. One cool point for Cien, although his high risk style was defended against quite well by Aries. Cien will have to be smarter next time…ensuring his opponent is more beat up before he tries too much fancy stuff from the top rope. Up Next: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Steve Cutler, and Samoa Joe will be at ringside to watch this one! Final Segment Non-Title Singles Match: Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Steve Cutler Samoa Joe is on commentary with Phillips and Graves for this match. As we learned last week, the injuries he sustained from Takeover: Brooklyn II prevent him from competing at present. Pre-match, the crowd sings along to Nakamura’s theme music, amidst the strobe lights. Will we ever get tired of the energy produced by this theme? It’s borderline iconic already and it’s only been played for 5 months in nXt. Joe says he has a few injuries that are healing at present that are keeping him out of the ring. He’s obviously upset about this. To cap off the match, Nakamura receives friendly chants from the crowd and Cutler’s not sure how to begin. He’s at a disadvantage as far as reach is concerned. Nakamura’s long legs prevent Cutler from getting too close and he gets kicked a few times before brawling with Nakamura into the ropes. The referee breaks them up and Nakamura hangs his head against Cutler’s abdomen, one of his trademarks. Nakamura’s striking forces Cutler into the corner. As he’s seated there, Nakamura chokes him in the neck with his boot. Nakamura runs into the corner and Cutler lifts him up, face-first on to the turnbuckle. A flurry of strikes to the mid-section stun the champ and Cutler tries to pin him. Nakamura kicks out. Rear chinlock from Cutler is only held briefly until Nakamura gets to his feet. Cutler attempts a suplex. Nakamura fights it off in mid-air and drops Cutler with a right hand. Now it’s knee strikes to the chest, knocking Cutler back to the mat. Joe says those strikes suck, when Graves asks him how they feel. Duh! Inverted exploder suplex to Cutler! KINSHASA! 1-2-3. Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall in 2.5 minutes Post-match, Nakamura drapes the nXt championship over his shoulder. Then, he lifts it up and celebrates with the crowd. Joe stands up at the commentary booth and stares down Nakamura. Joe walks away from Nakamura’s celebration and that’s a wrap. One cool point for Nakamura for making quick work of Cutler. Naturally, this match was never going to be a long one. It was more to keep Nakamura in condition. Cutler hasn’t done anything to deserve a title shot yet. With the next Takeover not happening for another 2 months, I’m curious whether Joe’s injuries will heal in time for a rematch. There are a number of guys who would do well in challenging Nakamura for a short feud. Anyone willing to predict who might fight him besides Joe? Aries or Roode would do well, I feel. Looking forward to your own cool point suggestions and comments on tonight’s episode. Peace!
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