6 Ups & 1 Downs From Last Night's WWE NXT (Jan 17)

Ups...

6. Malfunctioning Machinery

Four of NXT's most basic in-ring performers they may be, but Heavy Machinery and the Tino Sabbatelli/Riddick Moss tandem got the show off to a solid start with a concise tag bout that accomplished everything it needed to.

It helped that Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic, who might actually be a cave troll, were over with the crowd. Say what you will about their work, but their enthusiasm is palpable. This elevates their simplistic shine periods beyond shoulder blocks and headlocks, and means they mesh well with the likes of Sabbatelli and Moss, whose heel characters are pure slime.

The Steaks & Weights Squad controlled much of the bout, but fell to their opponents' opportunism. Moss stole it. He rolled the rampaging Knight into a rope-assisted victory, then quickly bailing out of the ring. This was exactly the right kind of finish if WWE plan on keeping the feud going, as the bad guys left with the heat, and Heavy Machinery have the right to feel hard done by, giving them grounds for a rematch.

Nothing remarkable here, but not everything has to be a five-star classic, and the tag teams hit the right notes.