7 Ups And 2 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (April 13)
A Highly Axxess-ible Program.
After a edition of NXT TakeOver that changed titles, introduced new players, and exceeded expectations, the brand was back to taping new programming to drive it forward in the coming weeks. The day after the Dallas special, the NXT brand used WrestleMania Axxess at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center as the site for the next round of programming, and the matches brought out hundreds of fans from around the world who were in town for wrestling's grandest extravaganza.
It was a packed show, with six matches in one hour and a few interviews, but nothing felt rushed. Most of the bouts were squash matches in the sense that the winners were obvious going in, but they still had enough time to prove their points. The best match of the show - Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa versus The Vaudevillains - was an exciting back-and-forth contest that packed a lot of action into a few minutes.
There was also time for character development, as most of the main players from TakeOver: Dallas - like Finn Balor, Samoa Joe, American Alpha, Bayley, and Austin Aries - were featured on the broadcast and got to move past their most recent programs. Finally, Shinsuke Nakamura was back in action, taking on Tye Dillinger in the show's main event.
Here are 7 ups and 2 downs from this week's NXT...
9. Downs - Where's Baron?
Baron Corbin may be part of WWE's main roster now, and his last major match in NXT may have ended in a loss, but it's clear the company's got huge plans for him. That's why they tried so hard on his final NXT broadcast to make us believe that he's really, really good.
Austin Aries kicked off the program with a match against Angelo Dawkins, and even during Aries's bout, the announcers were focused on Corbin. Tom Phillips mentioned that Aries "stole a victory" over "The Lone Wolf" at TakeOver: Dallas, and during the bout, he and Graves mentioned how much difficulty Aries had during the match.
Later that evening, Corbin took on Tucker Knight in a squash match, giving the announcers even more time to put him over. They talked about his battle royal win at WrestleMania, his so-called destruction of Dolph Ziggler on Raw, and how NXT is his territory. It all felt a bit desperate, and - given the fact that Corbin is far from the brand's top talent - hollow.