In a relatively shocking move (shocking to anyone who familiar with how WWE traditionally books superstars during their initial run) Baron Corbin brutalised Solomon Crowe in the first match on the card. Crowe started strong, with NXT's resident hacker blasting Corbin with kicks and strikes from the opening bell and forcing him into the corner. But Crowe just wasn't able to run with the Lone Wolf, being turned inside out by a vicious clothesline. The commentary team didn't give Crowe much credit either. There was the obligatory "Crowe put up a good fight" jargon post-match, but during the bout itself, they under-served the poor fellow, playing up what a thorough job Corbin was doing of demolishing him. Shortly thereafter, Corbin caught Crow in midair and planted him with the End of Days for the decisive win. Though he's lasted longer than some against Baron Corbin, Crowe has to be disappointed with that booking decision. He's still in his debut phase and one would expect him to be booked consistently strong (or at least not suffer huge losses like this) in order to get him over. There were a number of different endings this match could have had. Rhyno could have run in and caused a DQ, or maybe even cost Corbin the match. Corbin could have refused to stop attacking Crowe leading him to be disqualified. All endings could have fuelled Baron's upcoming match with Rhyno without handing Crowe and out and out loss. Perhaps this, and Crowe's lack of a match for Takeover, is a sign that he has fallen out of favour backstage, which would be a great shame.
