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Here are full results from NXT Live in Cocoa Beach, FL on April 30 2016.
Tom Phillips is your host for the evening. Andrea D'Marco is your ring announcer.
- No Way Jose def. Mojo Rawley. An decent opener. Crowd was very much into both guys and the match started with a dance off between the two. As the match progressed, we got to see a little bit more of a heelish Mojo Rawley. It's not full blown evil, but he wasn't the same fun loving guy either. Not sure if it's his best fit, but it's an interesting experiment. Either way, No Way Jose got the win and the crowd loves him.
- Patrick Clark def. Dan Matha. Another fun match, albeit kind of short. Matha has that build WWE loves, being that he's about 6'7. He's got some personality and skill for someone who is still very new in the business. Clark played the underdog trying to overcome having his arm worked on. He eventually pulls out a win. On a side note, Clark wears the most over the top set of tights. They're long white tights with a huge American flag, an eagle, and Clark's face all airbrushed on it. It's kind of amazing.
- Carmella def. Aliyah. Another solid match. Not quite as good as their tv match, but still entertaining. Aliyah seems so much more comfortable working as a heel. She looked solid tonight. The one criticism I have is that she throws the worst looking kicks of anyone I've seen in NXT. She could do to tighten those up. Here theme music is pretty awful too. I hope she finds a better one soon.
- Tino Sabbatelli def. Chris Girard. This was a really good match. These guys had some good chemistry and it was a fun back and forth match. Girard is so solid, but Tino more than held his own. I can't say enough about how far Tino has come over the last few months. His in ring work is much more crisp and he's more comfortable taunting and jawing and doing the kinds of things a heel should do. Girard is also really finding a groove in these matches. He could really show himself off to the world, either in NXT soon or as part of the Global Cruiserweight Series.
- Mikey Knicholls and Shane Veryzer def. The Authors of Pain (Sunny Dhinsa and Gzim Selmani). This was surprisingly fun and an interesting choice for a match to go on before intermission (a prime spot on these house shows). Knicholls and Veryzer (aka the Mighty Don't Kneel) looked fine as the babyfaces working front underneath. I was especially impressed by Dhinsa and Selmani. They may not be Giants as far as height goes, but they both have very thick builds and very physical style. For being so new to working live events, they looked very comfortable as dominating heels. Besides the kind of awkward team name, they could be a very interesting addition to the NXT Tag division that is in desperate need of new blood.
- Asuka and Adrienne Reese def. Nia Jax and Mandy Rose. Another really fun match. Most of the match was the heels working Reese over, but it never dragged. Nia has grown so much as a worker, but she's also very good at taunting from the apron. Plus, Mandy more than held her own. There are still the occasional rough moments, but for how new she is to the business, she's actually quite impressive. I really enjoyed this. I really hope Reese gets her chance to impress on NXT TV soon.
- Elias Samson def. Noah. Noah, who also works under the names Noah Kekoa and Noah Potjes, is working a gimmick of wanting to be friends and freaks out when they turn him down. Samson has nuclear heat. Before the match, he told the crowd he would play them a song. He was booed with every single word he said. Only Eva Marie gets more heat. I guess Cocoa isn't much of a music town. As for the match, it was short and kept mostly to the basics, but fine for what it's intended to be, and that's being a break before the main event.
Main Event: Finn Balor, Manny Andrade and Tye Dillinger def. Samoa Joe and The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder). Holy crap was this fun. The crowd was red hot for the match. As always, the Revival brought it in a position of importance. Each guy looked good, but especially Dillinger who worked the majority of the match. Dawson always gets credit as the workhorse of the group, and he is amazing, but Dash Wilder should never be undersold. He absolutely is a major cog to that group. He is so solid in the ring and absolutely amazing at taunting and working a crowd into hating him. This was just so much fun and had a great ending. Finn dropped Dash, Andrade hit a beautiful twisting dive onto Samoa Joe outside, and Dillinger super kicked Dawson onto Dash. Finn hit the Coup de Grace on both Revival members. The three heroes received their adulation at the end, but Finn and Manny made a special point to put Dillinger over and they played Tye's music, even though he didn't get the pin.
This was an incredibly fun show and a great balance of how to build a card when they have the full crew available. I really loved the main event and hope it can one day be seen by the rest of the public, even if it's just in the single hard camera format. There are some amazing matches that happen at these house shows that deserve to see the light of day. Hopefully, one day they can be seen on the Network, or DVD, or even WWE'S YouTube channel.
Notes:
- Meet and Greet before the show was: Aliyah and The Ealy Twins (Gabriel and Uriel Ealy)
- NXT returns to Cocoa Beach on May 27.
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