And I mean blistering entirely literally. By the end of their match, both men's chests must have been in complete distressed. So, I may have lied about Jax and Asuka being the only top monsters in NXT because, after all, let's not forget about Joe. The Samoan Submission Machine has given up all pretences of being nice and, along with it, any restraint he was previously showing towards his opponents. This was a slugfest, with Joe's kick to Ciampa's head in the corner being one of the most wince-inducing strikes seen on wrestling TV outside of Japan. Comparisons to Japanese strong style are apt, as there was a lot of stiff strikes in this match, Joe and Ciampa leathering each other in the face and chest. At one point they were just stand opposite each other open-palm-slapping each other as hard as they could in the actual face. I know wrestling is supposed to be a contact sport, but this amount of physical punishment is rarely seen in the WWE. It was like watching Bryan and Cena slap each other silly in the lead up to Summerslam. By which I mean, it was great. Ciampa/Joe was a marvellous end to a really solid night of NXT. Speaking of which...
