6/27 Gutteridge's WWE NXT Review: Kassius Ohno and Corey Graves vs. Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan, Big E Langston vs. Aiden English, Bo Dallas vs. Mickey Keegan, Leo Kruger vs. Dante Dash, Women's Title Tournament continues

By Darren Gutteridge

WWE NXT on Sky Sports 3
Taped May 23 in Winter Park, Florida
 
[Q1] After titles, Big E Langston came out to little reaction. This is the last show of the tapings so I’m expecting similar reactions all night. Aiden English was already in the ring...
 
1. Big E Langston vs. Aiden English. Big E threw English to the corner, but English just ran up the turnbuckle and blew a kiss to the crowd. He rolled back into the ring and Big E gave him a back body drop. Following the running body check, Big E took his straps down and delivered the Big Ending for the squash win...
 
Big E Langston defeated Aiden English in 0:43.
 
Big E hit Aiden with another Big Ending and counted a five count after the match, before being egged on by the crowd do to it a third time...
 
A graphic teased tonight’s Tag Team Title No. 1 Contender match, pitting Kassius Ohno and Corey Graves against Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan. The Rob Van Dam video followed it...
 
Backstage, Renee Young was trying to interview Emma, who was too busy playing with a bubble gun. She asked Emma what her strategy was, and Emma said “win”. She asked Renee to hold the bubble gun, as she had a match to get to. As Renee went to use it, Emma came back into shot to tell her not to... [C]
 
Gutt Reaction: I’ll get flak from Zim, but I still don’t get the Emma thing at all. She has a Brad Maddox style – intentional awkwardness, but not in a way that it seems deliberate. Different strokes for different folks I guess. Big E looked dominant, but I was hoping for some interaction between him and Dallas. He may have also come off more intense if he had dropped English the second time and then left scowling, instead of playing up the crowd for the third Big Ending.
 
[Q2] Aksana entered first for the last quarter final of the Women’s title tournament, followed by Emma, who did get a good pop for her dancing...
 
2. Emma vs. Aksana in a NXT Women’s Title Tournament Quarter Final match. Aksana tried to keep Emma grounded during the early going, building to a head scissors. She bashed Emma’s head into the mat a few times in a very un-PG way, before taking her to the corner and chopping her. Aksana went for a body slam, but Emma slid out and tripped her. Emma applied the Dil-Emma, a bridging STF, and Aksana tapped...
 
Emma defeated Aksana in 3:00 to advance to the Semi Finals of the NXT Women’s Title Tournament.
 
Some kids were brought in the ring to dance alongside Emma. The tournament brackets showed Emma will take on Summer Rae in the Semi Finals...
 
Gutt Reaction: Aksana’s mannerisms in the ring certainly don’t gel with a ‘kid friendly’ product. That is by no way a criticism, just an observation. I think the submission that won her the match was Emma’s first real move. I know the best submissions are meant to seem like they can tap anyone out at anytime, and it is a mean looking hold, but I would have still appreciated a little time spent wearing down Aksana’s legs.
 
After a Leo Kruger video package, Dante Dash was shown in the ring awaiting him. Kruger came out to what I think was new music, as Regal explained his absence by saying Kruger told him he went back to South Africa to “take care of a little business”...
 
3. Leo Kruger vs. Dante Dash. Following a few chops in the corner, Kruger took it to the mat and started working over Dash’s arms with a series of arm locks. When Dash got up, Kruger kept up the attack by throwing him into two ring posts. Following an arm trap suplex, Kruger went to the corner and started chanting “Ooo”. He hit Dash with a cricket bowl style clothesline, that Regal dubbed “The Slice”, and then applied the GC3 submission, to which Dash tapped ...
 
Leo Kruger defeated Dante Dash in 2:43.
 
Kruger rolled out of the ring and sat in the corner of the barricade while smiling. A graphic said that Bo Dallas will be in action next... [C]
 
Gutt Reaction: A solid, if unspectacular reintroduction of Kruger. His offense was all tailored towards his submission hold, but unlike Alberto Del Rio for example, he mixed up the wearing down offence between holds, throws and utilising the ring posts, instead of just kicking Dash’s arm a bunch of times.
 
[Q3] Conor O’Brian was shown in a close up, under mood lighting, backstage. He said he had fallen into the ashes, but the hands of mercy had freed him. He said “we” are the Ascension, and “we” will rise again...
 
Mickey Keegan continued tonight’s jobber roll call when we cut back to the arena, and was joined shortly by Dallas, who got a seemingly mixed reaction. Leo Kruger was still sat at ringside, and Dallas looked nervously at him before getting in the ring...
 
4. Bo Dallas vs. Mickey Keegan. Dallas hit a few atomic drops before Keegan dropped him with a back suplex. Dallas kicked out at two, and when he got back up, he managed to hit Keegan with a clothesline. He hit two more, and then landed a turnbuckle assisted bulldog. This set up Dallas for his body to body suplex and the 1-2-3...
 
Bo Dallas defeated Mickey Keegan in 1:40.
 
Dallas stood under a spotlight with the NXT title, while Kruger slid in the ring. Kruger hit Keegan with an arm trap suplex and the Slice, before kicking him out of the ring and squaring up to Bo. Kruger tapped the title, and then said “Tat Ta” before rolling out of the ring and backing up the ramp...
 
Gutt Reaction: I’m not sure where this leaves the expected Dallas heel turn. Kruger is essentially the only well established heel on NXT who isn’t in the Wyatt Family, so they won’t be turning him babyface, so the presumption is either they go down a heel vs. heel route, or just let the fans decide who to cheer. I hope they aren’t expecting people to get behind Bo.
 
Ohno and Graves entered separately, before Sylvester Lefort walked on to the stage speaking French. He eventually introduced himself, before claiming Dylan and Dawson will be the next NXT Tag Team Champions...
 
5. Kassius Ohno and Corey Graves vs. Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan for the No. 1 Contendership for the NXT Tag Team Titles. After initially isolating Dawson, Graves got caught by a punch to the midsection following a distraction from Dylan. Dawson and Dylan kept Graves in their corner, with Dylan dropping him with a neckbreaker before we went to commercial... [C]
 
[Q4] The heels kept Graves in their half of the ring until Graves hit a jawbreaker and tagged Ohno. Ohno got in and lit up Dawson with punches, before hitting him with a scoop slam, a senton, and then a suplex for a close two count. Ohno pushed Dawson towards the ropes, and Dylan tagged in blind. They hit Ohno with their double team finisher, a spinebuster followed by a double axe handle, which Tony Dawson dubbed the Southern Comfort, but Graves managed to break up the pin.
 
Dawson and Dylan still managed to isolate Ohno for a while, until Ohno nailed Dylan with a back elbow and tagged Graves. After a few punches, Graves tied Dylan’s legs in the ropes, propped him up in the corner and threw some more punches in a unique spot. Graves followed this up with a backbreaker out of a fireman’s carry, which forced Dawson into the ring to break up the pin. Ohno took Dawson out of the ring, while Graves hit Dylan with a low chop block. Graves applied the Lucky 13, and Dylan quickly tapped...
 
Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno defeated Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan in 9:24 to become No.1 Contenders for the NXT Tag Team Titles.
 
The Wyatt Family stormed the ring after the bell and started attacking Ohno and Graves. Adrian Neville eventually ran out to even the score. Neville got the best of everyone, and eventually went top rope for the Red Arrow, but Dawson and Dylan got on the apron and threw him off. They got in the ring to make it five on three.
 
Regal took his headset off and ran to the ring. He got in and started throwing punches at everyone, taking down everybody before Dawson and Dylan jumped him and held him down. The Family cleared the ring of Ohno, Neville and Graves, and then attacked Regal in the corner. Wyatt hit him with a body splash, before stomping on him a little and leaving up the ramp. This brought NXT to a close...
 
Gutt Reaction: The tag match itself was solid enough, and more than likely Dawson and Dylan’s best outing so far, but the post match attack was far more interesting. With Dusty Rhodes being in the condition he is, this is as close as NXT can come to an “Attack Vince McMahon” angle, and I think Wyatt can make this work possibly even better than Ohno did. With Ohno and Graves positioned to take the titles off of the Family, which I presume is the plan, a feud with Regal can be Wyatt’s send off from NXT. Wyatt can leave with a big win, and no NXT tied superstar will lose anything in the process. Smart booking throughout.
 
This episode echoed last week in that the matches themselves majorly underwhelmed, but other interesting things happened elsewhere. Typical of the last episode of a taping, everything has been set up for next week – the Women’s title tournament is now in the semi finals, Kruger and Dallas seem to be on a collision course, and there is still the next phase of the Sami Zayn/Antonio Cesaro feud to look forward to. With Wyatt/Regal added to that mix, things are looking exciting for the weeks ahead.
 
Thanks for reading. If you had any comments or thoughts on the show or this review, add me on Twitter via @Dazatheg