The show kicks of tonight with a hell of a video package highlighting NXT champion Kevin Owens impressive win over the 15-time world champion John Cena. If for some reason you have not seen their match at Elimination Chamber, you need to ASAP. At this point, it should be up for match of the year honors.
Tyler Breeze vs. Adam “It’s no longer party time” Rose-
Man is it strange seeing Rose without his Rosebuds. The party guy gimmick was a bit silly, but still, it was a gimmick. Rose seems to be doing a second-rate Keith Richards impression at this point. It is far from entertaining. That said it might be time for Rose to be repackaged. Breeze seems to be floating in obscurity at this point (yes even though he is always in number one contenders matches we all know he isn’t going to win them). It was a novel idea for Breeze and Rose to form a tag team, but after Breeze attacked him the last time they were together that clearly isn’t going to happen.
Both Breeze and Rose take turns in control of this match. In a bit of unexpected comedy, Rose hits Breeze with what can only be described as a hadoken into the corner. Rose almost puts Breeze away with a spinebuster but as Breeze kicks out, Rose transitions into a deep Boston Crab. Rose looks great tonight. Best he has in months. After a Cactus Jack elbow to the outside, Rose fires up in the ring but runs right into the Beauty Shot by Breeze for the win.
Great match to open the show. It was interesting that Rose seems a lot more engaged during this match. It is still evident that WWE doesn’t have anything for him, which is shocking based on the buzz Rose got after the E60 on NXT aired. This isn’t to say that Rose could be the next big thing, but wasting main buzz is insane. Who knows what it could have let to for not only Rose but WWE as well.
Backstage segment Solomon Crowe-
Crowe talks about the fact that he will be back and he will be in the ring with the NXT champion again. Interesting choice of words by Crowe, but more on that later. Is anyone else confused as to what they are doing with Crowe at this point? It is rare to see someone have vignettes and what have you to debut and do absolutely nothing. So far the highlights of his NXT run are destroying CJ Parker and getting beat up by Kevin Owens. It may be asking too much but should NXT have a mid-card belt? It may give the mid-carders on the roster something to do instead of being fodder for the NXT main eventers.
After a break the announce team lets us know that Dana Brook has left to compete in the Arnold Classic… in the middle of her storyline with Charlotte… Let that just sink in for a bit.
On the stage, Eva Marie comes out to tell us something. It’s hard to tell over all of the boos. The funny thing about all of this is this writer can’t figure out why everyone hates her. In any event, she states she wants to compete with the best women in wrestling and the best women in wrestling are on NXT (truth). It will be interesting to see how she has improved since actually being trained. People forget that her first match was on RAW. Most people go through years of training. It’s easy to hold that against her, but we really shouldn’t.
William Regal announces that on July 4th during a special event on WWE Network in Tokyo, Japan Fin Bálor will challenge Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship. If Kevin Owens has in fact been promoted to the main roster they need to get the NXT title off of him. The title has gotten a ton of time to shine during Owens’ program with John Cena but the fact of the matter is it has no business being featured on WWE TV. NXT is supposed to be a developmental territory for lack of a better word for WWE, not It’s equal. Even though the NXT product is better than Raw and Smackdown, being on either show should be something an NXT star shoots for. They shouldn’t be a feature on a weekly basis on either show.
Carmella w/ Enzo and Big Cass vs. Alexa Bliss w/ Zzzzzzzzzz err sorry, Jack and Durphy… Err Blake and Murphy-
Does anyone actually like the NXT tag champs, Blake and Murphy? They are boring as all get out. Bliss is still a bit green, but she has way more upside than the team she represents. Carmella immediately attacks Bliss as soon as the bells rings. She is trying to stick up for her boys, which is admirable. Carmella heats up but gets tripped into the corner then rolled up from behind. Bliss grabs the ropes for the win.
It is hard to tell were the Bliss/Blake/Murphy trio will end up, but hopefully, it isn’t on the main roster before Enzo/Cass/Carmella. It would be a shame for them to be passed over in favor of the tag champs. Speaking of tag teams being passed over…
The Vaudevillains vs. Jason Jordan and Marques Louis-
We haven’t seen Louis and months, same for The Vaudevillains. The Vaudevillains work very, very well together. It is actually pretty shocking that they have never actually won the tag team titles. Blake and Murphy leapfrogged them for some ungodly reason. The interesting thing here is Jordan and Louis worked heel while The Vaudevillains were seemingly the faces here.
Jordan and Louis (who is doing his best “if Mankind and Kane had a baby” impression) spend most of the match working over Aiden English. The Vaudevillains get the win after The Whirling Dervish.
The Vaudevillains are great, but the really, really need a new tag team finisher. They should adopt The Hart Foundation’s Hart Attack Clothesline or Demolition’s Decapitation as a finish.
Fin Bálor vs. Rhyno -
Rhyno does a pretty good job of using his power advantage to keep Bálor on the ground, which really is the key to defeating Bálor. Bálor manages to take Rhyno down with a high dropkick, but Rhyno response with a shoulder block that crushes Bálor. Rhyno goes up to the second rope only to be kicked off by Bálor. Rhyno goes tumbling to the outside of the ring. Bálor dives over the top rope onto Rhyno.
After a short break, Rhyno catches Bálor mid-air, then destroys him with a power slam. Short arm clothesline by Rhyno. Bálor is out of it, writhing in pain on the mat. Rhyno takes a moment to mock Bálor’s arm raised pose, before gorilla press slamming him across the ring. Bálor hits Rhyno with the Pele kick and ascends the ropes to end this with the Coup de Grâce, but Rhyno rolls out of the way. Rhyno immediately follows up with the Gore, but Bálor sidesteps and sends Rhyno into the turnbuckle. Bálor rolls up Rhyno for the three count.
After the match Rhyno Gored Bálor on the entrance ramp.
Overall tonight’s show was good. It featured above-average in-ring action and useful backstage interview segments. One of the problems with Raw and Smackdown is the overuse of long-winded promos, usually at the start of each show. If you use the art of the promo in shorter increments, they become way more effective.
If Bálor manages to (ha, of course, he is going to) beat Owens for the title, it looks like they have a ready-made challenger in Rhyno. Rhyno will be a good placeholder until someone like Baron Corbin or Samoa Joe is ready to challenge Bálor for the belt.