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Wow... where do I start? NXT made their first venture outside the state of Florida tonight and man, did it mean something. From top to bottom, this was THE best wrestling show that I've been to in years. From the in-ring performance, to the promos, to the crowd... this was a memorable night, to say the least. It was a very "adult" crowd, definitely not the commonplace PG type that's commonplace at WWE shows now. There were a few children in attendance, but not many. Some of the crowd's chants will undoubtedly be dubbed over, in the WWE Network broadcast (that we were told would be airing in the near future). I will say this, unequivocally:
This is what we all wish WWE could be.
There were several surprises, throughout the night. Corey Graves kicked off the show by telling the crowd to expect some, throughout the night, then said the first would be right now... out came Triple H, to his old Motörhead music. The crowd gave him a huge reaction! Hunter said that NXT was in Columbus to make history and to show the world that the future is in the locker room, in the NXT fans and that tonight, they anchor their place in history. It was a great way to start the evening! There were several surprises throughout the night; some good, some bad. The crowd hated the Big Show/Ryback match, not solely because of the two men involved, but because it's not who they paid to see. Hopefully WWE management took note of all the good (and bad) crowd reactions, this evening.
The women put forth an amazing amount of effort, tonight. The Bayley & Charlotte match easily had some of the best crowd reactions of the night. Having Ric Flair at ringside didn't hurt, but both women were given the opportunity to showcase their talents and it was appreciated by all those in attendance. There were "this is wrestling!," "this is awesome!," and other chants throughout the match. It really was great to see in person.
I'm sure the show will be edited down quite a bit, but I hope they show Sami Zayn's in-ring promo, in its entirety. He showed a tremendous amount of passion. It was easily one of the best promos in all of WWE in the last year. Also of note, the main event of Cesaro vs. Adrian Neville was amazing. The men and women who performed tonight deserve to have as much of the show be seen in an unedited nature, as possible. More people should have the opportunity to see what I saw, tonight. Hopefully sooner, rather than later, they'll be on the main roster for all of us to see.
Match #1:
Hideo Itami & Finn Balor defeated The Vaudevillians via pinfall
Match #2:
Alexa Bliss defeated NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks via countout
Match #3:
Baron Corbin defeated Tyson Kidd via pinfall
Match #4:
Wesley Blake defeated Big Cass via pinfall
Match #5
Ryback defeated Big Show via pinfall
Match #6
Tyler Breeze defeated Kalisto via pinfall
Match #7
Charlotte defeated Bayley via pinfall
Match #8
Kevin Owens defeated Alex Riley via pinfall
Match #9
Cesaro defeated Adrian Neville via pinfall
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