Josh Briggs def. Anthony GreeneI've seen Briggs and Greene compete in person at different points of their respective careers here on the northeast independent wrestling scene and they're both very good. Briggs has great size and is incredibly athletic as well. As for Greene, the "retro" act looks like it's working for him and I'm a fan of his pairing with Brandi Lauren (who I'll talk more about during her match later). This was a strong start to the show. Stephen Wolf def. Harlem Bravado, Curt Stallion and Sean Maluta in a Four-Way Freestyle MatchThe only guy I was familiar with from this match was Maluta, who took part in 2016's Cruiserweight Classic and has had a ton of enhancement matches on NXT over the years. All four of them had their time to shine and made the four-way formula fun. Granted, it came across like a spot-fest, but that isn't always a bad thing, especially on shows like this where you don't know everyone and just want to be entertained for some of the matches. It was smart to position this earlier on in the card.
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Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor def. EliasElias did his usual shtick before the bout and Balor even joined in at one point. Their match wasn't anything out of the ordinary as a result of being only six minutes in length. The finish coming across as botched didn't help matters, either. This would have been the perfect time for Balor to drop to the Intercontinental Championship to a Raw wrestler, but since that didn't happen, I guess that all but confirms that Samoa Joe and the United States Championship are Raw bound. Bayley and Ember Moon def. The Riott SquadThis marked The Riott Squad's final appearance as a unit on WWE TV with Liv Morgan being sent packing to SmackDown Live in the Superstar Shake-up, so it was weird that Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan were the ones who teamed up and Morgan wasn't involved at all. The match itself was perfectly fine but hardly worth writing home about. Bayley and Moon made for a good team, but I'd much rather see them showcased in singles competition on SmackDown.
Velveteen Dream, Aleister Black and Ricochet def. NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano and Adam ColeI loved the way this bout was built up immediately following last week's NXT TakeOver: Phoenix special and wasn't announced out of nowhere. All six stars have crossed paths at one point or another over the last year, so it was an amazing clash of styles that resulted in an extremely entertaining and exhilarating six-man tag team match. I have no doubt that they went all out on purpose in order to impress anyone who was tuning in for the first time and isn't familiar with the folks of NXT, and they certainly succeeded in grabbing people's attention and showing the world what they're made of. Dream picking up the win for his team was logical considering he recently won the Worlds Collide tournament (which earned him a future title shot). By the way, I popped big for Cole bringing back the Panama Sunrise. The execution was just beautiful. Overall ShowTruth be told, I haven't watched a full Super Bowl in years, as I have little interest in the commercials and even less interest in the football. That said, I went out of my way to watch Halftime Heat (despite being at work) and was very happy with what I saw. Whether you're an avid NXT fan or not, Halftime Heat is well worth the time (way more than the game itself from what I gathered). The presentation was awesome and the actual match was exactly what it needed to be and so much more. It's such a cool concept that I hope is brought back next year. The WWE Network has been around for almost exactly five years, so why this didn't happen sooner is beyond me.
Elias Performed with Ric FlairIt was cool for Flair to make an appearance on this show given his history with Starrcade and how he was a part of the inaugural installment almost exactly 35 years ago. Elias' concerts are always harmless and this was fun while it lasted, though I could have done without Nia Jax, Tamina, Mickie James and Alicia Fox interrupting them. I wouldn't be surprised if this was cut for time and was actually longer. Sasha Banks, Bayley, Ember Moon and Alicia Fox def. Nia Jax, Tamina, Mickie James and Alicia FoxThis was your typical house show-style match in that everyone shined at one point or another and it was well-wrestled, yet it wasn't anything incredibly special. On the bright side, they made the most of the time they had and the crowd was into the action. It was also nice to see Banks, Bayley and Moon win for a change, even if it was a totally meaningless matchup and didn't factor into anything storyline-related.
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