5 Ups And 3 Downs From Last Night’s WWE NXT (Mar 16)

3. Joe Is Gonna Kill You

Bull Dempsey was released from his WWE contract at the beginning of February, but thanks to the magic of tape delay, he was on this week's episode of NXT. Fans may have groaned as he headed to the ring, but it became clear that he wouldn't be wrestling when an irate Samoa Joe attacked Dempsey from behind, then choked him out with the Coquina Clutch. Joe, who was looking to send a message to Finn Balor, wasn't done. He rolled in the ring, singled out Dempsey's would-be opponent Danny Burch, and unleashed a second attack, choking Burch out with ease. Having made his point, he approached the camera and shouted "You will not survive" to Balor to punctuate his statement. The beating was a great use of Joe, who - with the exception of Brock Lesnar - is the most believable bad-ass in U.S. wrestling. As for Dempsey, he'll be making his last NXT appearance next week when he takes on Joe in singles action.
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Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013