4 Ups & 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (Aug 24)
Farewell to Brooklyn!
Last Saturday, NXT presented its biggest and most newsworthy event of the year, TakeOver: Brooklyn II. While TakeOver: Dallas may have featured the best matches and TakeOver: The End had the blowoff of the long-running Samoa Joe-Finn Balor feud, it's the Brooklyn show that will have the longest-lasting impact.
Not only did Shinsuke Nakamura win the NXT Title from Joe in a hard-hitting match, but the rest of the card was notable - Ember Moon and Bobby Roode made their NXT debuts, while Bayley wrestled her final match for the brand. In addition, Hideo Itami kicked off a sure-to-deliver feud with Austin Aries, while The Revival tore the house down with Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.
This week, it wasn't quite back to business as usual for NXT - the fallout from the TakeOver show was still being felt. As such, the program consisted of two first-run matches (both of which were taped in Barclays Center prior to the start of the live show), and several promos and clip packages dealing with the event's aftermath. While it wasn't the most newsworthy episode of NXT, it was an appropriate follow-up to the supercard.
Here are 4 ups and 2 downs from August 24's NXT:
6. Up - Tye Breaks Blake
NXT opened with the long-awaited return of Tye Dillinger, who hasn't been seen in almost two months. His last match was a loss to Oney Lorcan that forced "The Perfect 10" to question if he was still as infallible as he believed, but there was no follow-up.
Dillinger was back without warning in Brooklyn, taking on former NXT Tag Team Champion Wesley Blake in a singles match. The sold-out crowd at Barclays Center was completely behind "The Perfect 10," giving him a superstar's reception.
Dillinger and Blake delivered in the ring, putting forth a match so solid that it would have felt at home on the main TakeOver card. Dillinger started off strong, flummoxing Blake with his offense, then cartwheeling and flashing all ten fingers at him. Blake came back, getting the heat on Dillinger and working him over, but "The Perfect 10" made a comeback, hiptossing Blake into the corner and picking up the win with the Tye-Breaker.
It was good to see Dillinger back in action, and even better to see that his losing streak gimmick has been dropped. Let's hope he gets a steady program in NXT soon, or a call-up to the main roster.