WWE NXT Review - May 8, 2014

Who emerged victorious in the Battle Royal?

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Charlotte def. Emma in a Quarterfinals Match in the NXT Women's Championship Tournament

Charlotte still has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to her in-ring work, but she's come along nicely in the last year since her debut. She a decent enough outing against Emma, who I thought would be more properly showcased. Emma would have been the perfect fit for Women's champ, especially if they aren't going to utilize her to her full potential on the main roster. It seems pretty obvious that Charlotte will be winning the tournament and I'm fine with that as long as she's put against opponents that can help carry her to a good match.


Kalisto and El Local def. The Legionnaires

Along with Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger and The Ascension, we now have two more teams in the tag division! It's about damn time. It might not be enough tandems, but it'll take it over just having The Ascension as the sole tag team in NXT. It's a start, I'll say that much. This was a very fun match and I believe it was the first time we were exposed to Kalisto on NXT. He's a blast to watch work in the ring and he can definitely be WWE's next top luchador if he is booked properly. Unlike Sin Cara/Mistico, he's spent a considerable amount of time down in developmental, so he'll be ready once he's eventually called up. I'd love to see him and El Local be the ones to take the titles off The Ascension.

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Alexa Bliss picks up a win in her debut match.

Camacho def. Captain Comic

I don't know what it is about him, but I'm just not a fan of Camacho. He's fine in the ring, but maybe it's the stereotypical entrance music and gimmick. At least he isn't riding a bike to the ring anymore. Why not take the opportunity when he was split from Hunico to repackage him? As much as I love Adam Rose, not even he can salvage this feud. It might be their way of reintroducing Camacho, but with Rose now on the main roster, this rivalry does nothing for him. This match was pretty pointless and seeing Captain Comic attempt to wrestle a match with the cape on was asinine (just like it was with Damien Sandow a few weeks ago).


Alexa Bliss def. Alicia Fox in a Quarterfinals Match in the NXT Women's Championship Tournament

I have been anticipating the debut of Bliss for some time now after seeing her for the first time late last year. First off, she's gorgeous. That must be said. Secondly, she's better in the ring than I expected her to be. Yes, there's still room for improvement, but she had an impressive debut match against Alicia and I'm happy to see her advance in the tournament. Does beating Fox in 2014 still mean anything? Well, she is a former Divas Champion, so that has to account for something.


The No. 1 Contender's Battle Royal for the NXT Championship Ended in a Draw Between Tyson Kidd, Tyler Breeze and Sami Zayn

All Battle Royals are mostly the same, and this one specifically should have been tiresome considering we saw one on Raw only a few days ago. However, I was entertained by this much more than I probably should have been. There were a handful of cool spots and the action down the stretch was especially exciting. I liked how Bo Dallas eliminated four people in a row, looking dominant before ultimately getting eliminating. That will make him look good before he arrives on the main roster. The match ending a draw between three people was an "only in wrestling" type of finish, but I loved it. All three guys deserve a shot at the gold and I am excited to see them collide in a No. 1 contender's battle royal next week.


Overall Show

I thoroughly enjoyed last week's show and was entertained by this episode even more. A handful of new faces were introduced to the NXT Universe and there was some very good action throughout the night. The NXT title picture, Women's Championship tournament and even the tag team division are all exciting at the moment and I am very much looking forward to what the rest of this set of tapings brings as NXT: Takeover draws closer.

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