Before the show began, they had a countdown featuring clips and tweets reaction to last week’s premiere. Then, it transitioned to a recap of last week’s episode focusing on Nick Aldis and Tim Storm in the main event.
Each week they are going to adjust the open to reflect the performers featured on that week’s show.
Joe Galli and Jim Cornette welcome everyone to the show and preview what’s ahead on the show tonight.
David Marquez brought out Aron Stevens (the former Damien Sandow and Arox Rex in TNA). Stevens discussed moving away from wrestling over the past two years and then heard about the NWA’s return and therefore, he is back. He explained to Marquez that he doesn’t want to make eye contact with anyone, outing himself as an introvert, and put himself over as a thespian and departed.
TREVOR MURDOCH VS RICKY STARKS
Cornette discussed Murdoch’s history being trained by Harley Race and reminiscent of Dick Murdoch. Cornette compared Murdoch to a “baked potato with arms and legs.”
The match consisted of Starks attempting offense off his feet and constantly being struck down by Murdoch and cut off. In the end, he caught Murdoch with a backslide for the pin.
WINNER: Ricky Starks at 3:29
Murdoch shook his hand on the podium and said that it wasn’t his name. Starks spoke to Marquez and said Murdoch walked out with dignity. Starks’ goals are beyond just winning titles and now has a platform. God didn’t have a lot of beauty left over after he created him. He ended by stating “Ricky may act like a little funny but at the end of the day, I’m counting your money”. It was a good delivery, Starks has a lot of personality that will resonate in this format and they seem very high on Starks as a prospect.
Joe Galli had a rebuttal to Nick Aldis’ comments last week calling Galli’s line of questioning “clickbait”. He said he will continue to ask pressing questions as a broadcast journalist.
Galli introduced Colt Cabana and wanted to address the elephant in the room…James Storm.
Cabana has a partner and Mr. Anderson walked out and did his introduction for the two as a team to set up the next match.
COLT CABANA & MR. ANDERSON VS SAL RINAURO & JORDAN KINGSLEY
They chanted “Welcome back” at Anderson (or it was aimed at Rinauro who was out for the last episode taping).
Anderson stopped a tilt-a-whirl and delivered a side slam to Rinauro.
Kingsley was trained by Robert Gibson and got his offense in on Anderson before absorbing a back body drop and inside-out lariat.
Anderson hit Kingsley with a Lambeau Plunge and another to Rinauro landing on top of Kingsley. Anderson hit the Mic Check and pinned Rinauro.
WINNERS: Colt Cabana & Mr. Anderson at 3:34
It was just a quick match focusing on Anderson with a quick tag from Cabana in the middle.
Nick Aldis was filmed outside and isn’t speaking to them because it isn’t TMZ. He complained about Galli’s questions and the answers shouldn’t even air.
This week’s ad featured Tony Falk, discussing waffles and tire irons that he sells. I have no idea what this was and what he was selling.
Kyle Davis interviewed Eddie Kingston and Homicide, with the former cutting a quick promo on The Wild Cards.
ALLYSIN KAY VS ASHLEY VOX IN A NON-TITLE MATCH
Cornette insulted David Marquez and said “he’s no Freddy Miller”, who handled the interviews on Georgia Championship Wrestling.
Kay hit a fallaway slam that Vox kicked out from. Vox fired up with chops before she was caught with a wheelbarrow slam. Vox got a lot of offense in mixed with near falls, including one from a cannonball into the corner.
Kay stopped her and hit the Omori Driver for the win.
WINNER: Allysin Kay at 3:47
This was great for the goal of the match, which was Vox taking Kay to the limit and getting over in defeat and they told this story in under four minutes. Kay was great, Vox showed the fire necessary and I thought this was well-done.
Kay said they are hungry athletes and called Vox over to the interview area and said she did good, but her good wasn’t enough today. She is happy that Vox is here, her future is bright just not with her championship.
Tim Storm was asked for a comment after his loss last week and walked away when pressed by Kyle Davis.
James Storm came out with his National championship. He took the microphone away from Joe Galli. Storm said the title is a prop to get him back into the fast lane to get the ten pounds of gold. With Tim Storm out of the way, he is the next one in line. He cut a total throwback promo, including singing a church hymn.
Eli Drake confronted Storm, he said being National champion is a big deal and he shouldn’t minimize it. Drake’s goals are to become NWA champion and being National champion proves you’re next in line. He told Storm if he wins the title to “remember your boy”.
The Austin Idol commercial for his Universal Wrestling College ran next. These are something else.
ROYCE ISAACS & THOMAS LATIMER VS HOMICIDE & EDDIE KINGSTON FOR THE NWA TAG TITLES
Kingston and Homicide double-teamed Isaacs.
The champions took control of Homicide in their corner. They worked with quick tags and keeping Homicide away from Kingston. Kingston threatened to poke Isaacs’ eyes out with an f-bomb thrown in there.
The tag was made to Kingston while Galli and Cornette argued over who the legal man was among the champions.
The Dawsons ran in to attack both teams as the match was thrown out.
WINNERS: No Contest at 6:10
The finish got heat with the run in and it was a solid yet short tag match. Homicide and Kingston are a great addition to the roster and represent a different style than so many of the other personalities.
The entire show built to the sit-down interview with Galli speaking with Nick Aldis and Camille, which was taped earlier.
Aldis said he felt like he was in a car accident after the match with Tim Storm and put over how tough he is, although he isn’t at his peak as a subtle dig that wasn’t overly emphasized.
Aldis blamed his loss to Cody at All In because of outside interference and led to the addition of Camille as an insurance policy that led to him regaining the title from Cody. Aldis pressed Galli to cite any time Camille has illegally entered the ring and Galli couldn’t name one.
Galli asked what’s in it for Camille to be his insurance policy and she refused to speak. Aldis said he doesn’t want to hear anything about him refusing to allow her to speak and therefore, it’s her choice to remain silent.
The show closed with a promo for their December 14th pay-per-view called “Into the Fire” at GPB Studios in Atlanta, Georgia. The show is on a Saturday night at 6:05 pm eastern.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This show is such an easy one-hour show to watch and it’s a very fast-paced hour from one segment to the next with no downtime.
Last week, the entire show focused on the NWA title match with constant reminders of what was coming later in the show. This week, it was Nick Aldis sitting down for an interview with Joe Galli and the promise that Galli would grill him with questions and build anticipation for the sit-down.
This week’s show had the disadvantage of being the follow-up instead of the new toy that everyone was unwrapping last week, and it is the follow up episodes that will show what kind of audience they are going to attract beyond the initial buzz.
The interview segments are a big plus to this show with strong promos from Nick Aldis, James Storm, Eli Drake, Ricky Starks, and Allysin Kay.
Of the matches, I thought Allysin Kay and Ashley Vox told a great story and accomplished the goal of establishing Vox as a future challenger not yet at the level of the women’s champion. Kay has the aura of carrying herself like a champion and this format feels like a strong fit for her.
Another strength was that 75% of the talent on the show was fresh faces that were not seen last week and you don’t see the same faces over and over. It was a big strength of NXT in its one-hour format where you weren’t guaranteed to see every big star weekly and they spread out their appearances and certainly weren’t wrestling each week, unlike the main roster where that becomes a necessary evil because of the length to fill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21wZ00iNvb8
