Gutteridge's WWE NXT Review: Adrian Neville vs. Corey Graves in a best of three falls match, Charlotte and Bayley vs. Summer Rae and Sasha Banks, Aiden English vs. Camacho, and Mason Ryan vs. Danny Burch

By Darren Gutteridge

WWE NXT on Sky Sports 3
Taped October 10 in Winter Park, Florida
 
[Q1] Byron Saxton introduced himself, Sweet T and William Regal on commentary as Charlotte and Bayley made their way to the ring for Divas tag action. Their opponents, Summer Rae and Sasha Banks, were dubbed the "Beautiful Fierce Females" (the BFFs) by Saxton...
 
1. Charlotte and Bayley vs. Summer Rae and Sasha Banks. I think I’ve figured something out – to get a last name as a Diva, you have to turn heel at some point. You start off with one name, turn heel, and you gain another one. AJ, Eve, Layla - all the same story. NXT is rife with one name faces and two barrelled heels.  Charlotte showed off her gymnastic skills to begin with, but Bayley soon found herself being dominated by the heels when she tagged in. She was stuck in their half of the ring for quite a while as both Rae and Banks took turns applying holds.
 
Bayley eventually fought out of a headlock/body scissors combo from Banks, and hit a hug-plex (now dubbed the "Belly-to-Bayley" by Saxton), to set up the hot tag. As she went to tag out, however, Charlotte slapped her across the face. As Bayley sold, Charlotte got in the ring and hit her with a somersault cutter. She got back on the apron, and a shocked Banks covered Bayley for the 1-2-3...
 
Summer Rae and Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte and Bayley in 6:13.
 
Charlotte got back in the ring, and raised Rae’s and Banks’ hands as all three started to smile. The three of them left together as Bayley sold her injuries on the outside of the ring...
 
Backstage, Aiden English was doing vocal exercises by himself. He finished, and a little graphic advertised that he was up next...
 
The same confusing, heel slanted Bella Twins promo that aired last week ran again... [C]
 
Gutt Reaction: I guess we’ll see if my theory is right next week if they redub her "Charlotte Flair". I have a feeling this faction will be short lived, as it contains half of the NXT Divas roster currently on TV. This all but guarantees a six-man match in the near future with Paige and Emma included. But then what? Having said that, in looking at the NXT Divas roster, I’ve just seen that Raquel Diaz, a.k.a Shaul Guerrero, re-signed. A) I am a poor journalist for not knowing this, and B) her return could certainly add something to a division quickly running out of feuds.
 
[Q2] Camacho (?!) made a rare appearance on TV, and his long-term absence was explained away by Regal saying he has been spending time in his summer residence of Guadalajara. Aiden English walked onto the stage, and asked for the spotlight. He sang about how he feels the need to perform for his fans...
 
2. Aiden English vs. Camacho. English threw a few weak looking punches until Camacho levelled him with a clothesline. Camacho started to dominate with his power, but English begged him off following a back body drop. Camacho ignored him and stomped him on the mat, before continuing to throw him around with ease. After a legdrop, Camacho picked English up, and looked to be setting up a Samoan drop, but English escaped. He took this as the opening to hit the Directors Cut, and quickly got the pinfall...
 
Aiden English defeated Camacho in 2:06.
 
English performed an encore, and the camera showed that Regal, who had admitted to having a man crush on English during the match, was giving a standing ovation. He also dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief before blowing his nose on it...
 
Backstage, Alexander Rusev and Lana spoke to each other in Bulgarian. No explanation of what they were saying was given before we cut to commercial... [C]
 
Gutt Reaction: What an utterly pointless promo. I actually re-watched it, because I thought I must have missed something. Nope, completely in a foreign tongue to the vast majority of the viewing audience. Push multiculturism by all means, but you have to give everyone an entryway. As for English, nothing new was shown, so I’ll take this chance to wonder how English got hired by the very "look" orientated WWE. I’m not a "body guy" by any stretch, but English is pale, oddly built and showing signs of hair loss– doesn’t seem like the WWE mould on paper, does he?
 
[Q3] Danny Burch stood in the ring as Saxton touted the return of Bo Dallas next week from his "World Tour". Mason Ryan made his way to the ring, and Regal relayed the deep lying feud between the Welsh and the English...
 
3. Mason Ryan vs. Danny Burch. Ryan dominated straight from the bell, as Sweet T described him as "the freak of nature". Burch rallied with strikes, but Mason soon regained control with a running big boot. He motioned that he would "break" Burch, and did so using the cobra clutch slam...
 
Mason Ryan defeated Danny Burch in 2:35.
 
Adrian Neville  vs. Corey Graves in a 2 out of 3 falls was advertised for the main event...
 
A stylised vignette for Emma aired, showing her giving a speech about the Emma-lution. She said it isn’t the WWE, but the World Wrestling Emma-tainment. She called for her Emma-crats to "Viva the Emma-lution"...
 
Gutt Reaction: Mason Ryan is a big guy, and that is all there was to take away from that non-descript squash match. I find it weird that I find the Emma-"word" stuff so cringe worthy, yet the Bo Dallas "Bo-Livia" stuff funny. As I’ve said before, it’s all in the delivery – being delusion will always be funnier than being awkward in my opinion.
 
Corey Graves received a subdued mixed reaction when he came to the ring, whereas Neville just got a few cheers for his entrance. Maybe it wasn’t wise to make the last match of the tapings a two out of three falls match ...
 
4. Adrian Neville vs. Corey Graves in a Two out of Three falls match. Both men went for quick pins early on. Neville utilised his speed, whereas Graves tried to use more calculated strikes. Regal and Sweet T praised both strategies, saying Neville could get it finished quickly, but pacing yourself like Graves is doing will benefit you the longer the match goes. Graves shot Neville to the corner, but Neville dived over him, performed two head-stand flips, jumped onto the apron, and delivered a roundhouse kick. This set up the early Red Arrow attempt, which Neville landed to score the first pin ...
 
Adrian Neville scored the first fall via pinfall in 2:10.
 
Graves rolled to the outside, and Neville followed him to try and keep his momentum up. When they ended up back inside the ring, Neville went to the top rope to try for the Red Arrow again, only for Graves to roll back out of the ring again. Neville followed, but Graves slipped back into the ring, before kicking Neville’s previously injured left knee as he stood back on the apron. Graves began targeting the knee as we went into the final commercial... [C]
 
[Q4] A World Tour report aired, this week featuring a promo from R-Truth. Maybe they’re trying to scare people away for some reason...
 
Graves continued to work the knee over as we returned. Neville took a while to escape a single leg Boston crab, and Sweet T pointed out that Neville may be better served by tapping out and avoiding further injury for the third fall. He tried to fight back with kicks, but Graves hit him with a running chop block, and applied the Lucky 13. Neville held on for a while, but he eventually tapped...
 
Corey Graves scored the second fall via submission in 8:05.
 
Graves got straight back on to Neville, but when going for a sitdown gutbuster, Neville landed on his feet and hit him with a kick to the head. This caused Graves to roll out of the ring, and when he got back in, Graves came at him with chops, clotheslines and elbows. He backed Graves into the corner, and Graves kicked him in the knee out of desperation. Neville sold, but when Graves charged, he managed to catch him with a dropkick for a close two count. Neville tried to capitalise by climbing to the top rope on one leg, but as he went to stand, his leg buckled and he fell to the mat.
 
Graves reapplied the Lucky 13, and Neville seemed on the verge of tapping, but he dug deep and powered his way to the ropes. Graves tried to apply it a third time, but Graves caught him with an inside cradle, which got him the surprise win...
 
Adrian Neville defeated Corey Graves by 2 falls to 1 in 12.57
 
Neville hobbled up the ramp as the ref raised his hand, Graves looked devastated, and NXT came to a close...
 
Gutt Reaction: A very well put together match, building on everything that has happened in this feud. Neville looks like a champ coming out of this, and for someone who is likely going to have to rely solely on his in-ring work to get him over, it’s great seeing that he may just be able to pull it off. How could you not want to see Neville now get a shot at the NXT Title? Not that Graves lost much in defeat, and unlike Neville he can cut a promo or viciously attack someone next week and be right back to being a perceived threat.
 
Thus concludes the somewhat disappointing set of tapings from the start of October. The presence of the NXT Title feud was missed, as were main roster regulars like JBL and Cesaro. Even NXT ever-presents like Leo Kruger were nowhere to be found for the most part. The Neville/Graves feud was fun to watch play out, but I am more than ready to get back on track with everything next week.
 
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