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KILLIAN DAIN RETURNS TO NXT: 5/16 LIVE REPORT FROM TAMPA, FL

By Chris Hendricks on 2019-05-17 16:08:00

NXT Tampa 
May 16, 2019
University Development Community Center
Attendance: 250

Attendance was surprisingly low for this event which I believe is due to the top tier talent wrestling at another NXT show in Pennsylvania tonight. With this talent gone throughout the weekend and Florida Loop shows still occurring, I wondered how they would handle it. I was pleasantly surprised with a local loop angle that connects with tomorrow night’s show in St. Petersburg.

Eric Bugenhagen defeated Nick Comoroto

Good opening match with Bugenhagen receiving a good pop during his entrance which was very over with the crowd. Comoroto showed that he is improving with his new heel Ultimate Warrior like gimmick called “The Beast” with his performance tonight. After the match and his victory, Bugenhagen rocked out and the crowd went wild. It is really awesome to be part of an active crowd with what he does even if you might think it is silly.

MJ Jenkins Promo

MJ Jenkins came out to a slight positive reaction and sang the intro to her entrance music. She was probably lip singing although she had a microphone but it sounded good regardless. She then danced in the ring which the crowd cheered before she picked the microphone back up. She then belittled the fine people of Tampa and said that we smell! Well, it is hot and we sweat MJ! Anyways, her promo worked as a local heel turn because people really started booing her with one elderly fan hissing. Jessie Elaban’s music then hit which popped the great making this segment not only functional but also entertaining.

Jessie Elaban defeated MJ Jenkins 

This was a good match between the two although some spots were missed due to the wrestlers and the referee in the ring. The referee was a new woman who I had never seen before and it was pretty obvious she is still learning the craft. At one point, she was in the way of MJ when she went to hit the ropes to then deliver a flying forearm to Jessie, who was thrown into the turnbuckles. This caused a botch where MJ yelled “move” loudly when she nearly collided with the referee. The ref did play this off naturally and MJ acted appropriately afterwards to make it seem like it was part of the match but it clearly was not. Jessie got the pin to win this one.

Brennnan Williams and Brandon Vink defeated 3.0 (Matt Lee and Jeff Parker)

This was another strange tag match around the loop where the regulars in attendance, like me, were baffled due to the teams switching up who were the heels and who have been the babyfaces in previous weeks. It also suffered from both teams going for the eccentric, androgynous gimmick with Matt and Jeff kissing before the match while standing together on the second corner turnbuckle. Last week at Largo, this tag team did the same thing to get homophobic heat but this week, the team used it to get a positive reaction but there was only confused silence. Vink and Williams then played the eccentric, androgynous evil heels with Williams unfortunately reverting back to his Jimi Hendrix twerking Goldust gimmick where he sits hard directly onto his rear end to the few people in the crowd chanting “sit”. The wrestling in this match was actually good but the crowd was dead for it due to the characters involved and it is not due to homophobia but to the general weirdness central to these wrestlers’ actions with their gimmicks. Williams got the pin to win but no matter who won this match everyone lost and I now have a better understanding of why the Golden Lovers angle was considered so well done.

Mansoor defeated Cezar Bononi 

Bononi came out to a light reaction from the crowd and was doing the “quiet down” gestures he was doing on the recent NXT TV show. Mansoor then came out which popped the crowd to my surprise because I really appreciate his ability but I did not know everyone else did as well. While he usually is the heel around this part of the loop, he was the babyface tonight and played the role well. The crowd loved him and he seemed to turn this average loop match into a great one. Mansoor has such tremendous talent and I hope that he is utilized correctly moving forward. Mansoor won with a surprise roll-up of Bononi.

Malcolm Bivens (formerly Count Moore, formerly Stokely Hathaway Promo
Malcolm Bivens came out with Jonah Rock and cut a promo about Jonah’s greatness and how with his guidance, Jonah will become the best big man in NXT only to be interrupted by a theme that some seemed to have heard before. The music was the Sanity Scottish them and out came Killian Dain who has apparently recently returned to NXT. The crowd popped loudly for Killian who acknowledged this and went into his normal yet slightly more individualized entrance into the ring.

Killian Dain defeated Jonah Rock with Malcolm Bivens

This was a pretty good match with Dain looking really good. He seemed to have lost some weight and trimmed his beard. He also seemed to be crisper in the ring and was able to move more athletically. Dain won with a Vader Bomb only to then be attacked by Kassius Ohno who “welcomed back” Dain to NXT and cut a vicious promo on him. Ohno stated how he should not be back in NXT and that he would show everyone why the next night at the NXT show in St. Petersburg which is the local angle I referenced earlier. Dain was able to get back on his feet for what seemed to be a comeback only to then be cutoff by a vicious elbow by Ohno.

Roberto Garza Jr. vs Boa

This was another great match during a night full of them on a card you would not expect that to happen with. Garza Jr. was incredible and even though he was the heel during this match, he was over with the crowd which was about 40% Hispanic and seemed to know who he was. They would chant “Papi” at him which I did not understand until he ripped off his bland grey tights to reveal EC3 like red sparkly trunks which popped the crowd. While Boa did well in this match with impressive kicks and a powerful mushroom stomp in the corner, when Garza Jr. ripped off his tights, he hit another level of offense. He hit several hard Eddie Guerrero-like dropkicks and performed impressive innovative maneuvers even though he won with a classic Lionsault. This was a good match.

Mia Yim defeated Reina Gonzalez 
Yim came out to a solid reaction from the crowd and Reina Gonzalez came out swinging her bull-rope with her female Stan Hansen gimmick in full swing. Reina controlled most of this match and looked really good throughout the match while Yim sold her power moves very well. Reina was able to hit a huge lariat only for Yim to be accidently knocked out of the ring by it preventing Reina for getting the pin. She went for the lariat again only for Yim to duck and put Reina into a front-facelock guillotine submission which led to a submission victory.

Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel defeated Albert Hardie Jr and Humberto Carrillo 

While I thought this would be a lackluster main event for NXT Tampa which usually delivers fantastic major bouts at the end of the show but I was wrong as this was fantastic. This match went a little over 15 minutes and was very well put together with the heels, Aichner and Barthel, controlling the match through cheating only for the babyfaces, Carrillo and Albert Hardie Jr., to comeback with a hot tag. Both Carrillo and Albert Hardie Jr. sold very well throughout the match and were able to deploy amazing aerial maneuvers when they made a comeback. Aichner and Barthel utilized power moves and technical wrestling mixed with cheap tactics to cut them off which led to a series of near-falls that really got the crowd into this match. The match was on the same level as other high-level NXT tag team matches which surprised me when it shouldn’t have due to the wrestlers involved. The match ended when Barthel hit a Flying European Uppercut from the second turnbuckle on Carrillo who was held up by Aichner in a Powerbomb which was delivered after the uppercut which led to the win for the heels. While the heels won, the crowd still cheered the match due to how great it was. This was a great end to a surprisingly great show.

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