That building is no dump, it's a great venue for concerts and it was a great one for wrestling too. Can't imagine it was great for the wrestlers in terms of decent dressing rooms though.
I was up in the General Admission seats, it was like a worn down comfy old movie theater seat and I had a great view. The sleek black and yellow design up against that rustic historical theater backdrop looked so cool. It felt like we were at a play with the way all the seats were set up facing the entrance way, with just a few on the sides in small balconies/loges. Enzo Amore cut a promo from one of those while Big Cass was in the ring, which I thought was really cool.
There was barely any ringside seating since the area was so small. The entrance "ramp" was about 10 feet long.
Overall the wrestling was good but nothing out of this world. They weren't going out there to put on masterpieces. They did their thing, got their characters over, and kept it pretty basic in the ring. It was just a good solid show and I cared at least a little bit about everyone on the card, which is what is most important. It was presented with pride, respect and passion. Sami Zayn's promo captured the vibe of the show well, he was great on the mic and sold the event, NXT, and pro wrestling as a whole as something special.
Before the show, they had this Todd Pettengill type hyping the crowd, asking ringside fans who would win in the upcoming NXT title match between Balor and Owens.
JoJo sung the National Anthem to a very CFO$ sounding backing track and with really weird lighting going on. It was presented like she was on American Idol or something, weird shit.
Corey Graves come out to a good pop to start the show. S(terling) J(ames) K(eenan) chants which he acknowledged and appreciated. I think he's a Pittsburgh native so I'm sure he's wrestled around town in his indy days. It's strange just how much more I like this guy now that he's retired, he's an excellent talker. I wish I would've appreciated him more when he was active, but his work on NXT mostly bored me. He's a lot better to me just being himself, he showed a ton of charisma tonight just in this little bit welcoming us to the show.
Anyway, he introduced NXT General Manager Lord Steven Motherf***ing William Regal, which got a massive pop and even more massive chants of "REGAL" and "THANK YOU REGAL" and even "WE'RE NOT WORTHY". It's so fun to show these guys respect for all the entertainment they've given us over the years. I've been watching William Regal since the mid 90s and this was the first opportunity I've had to see him in person, and it the perfect time and place for it. Regal kept it short and sweet, and said let's get the show going.
Match #1
Tyler Breeze def. Baron Corbin
-Corbin's entrance is really underwhelming without the lights synching up and the srs close-ups. He got some boos, I guess because he feels like not one of "our" guys or something. He did get cheers for a couple of impact moves, but overall he does seem limited.
-Breeze is almost too much like Shawn Michaels, he did a nice job playing the cowardly, vain heel. His desperate need to take selfies during the match has grown on me, I dig it. His offense is too weak looking though, also a criticism many threw at HBK.
-Finish came with a superkick followed by the Beauty Shot. Really made Corbin look weak, I must say.
Match #2
Simon Gotch def. Buddy Murphy
-The Villains came out to different music and worked face, it went over very well. Fans chanted for Gotch and he started doing squats in rhythm with the chant, I loved that.
-Finish came when Blake and English brawled to the back, distracting Gotch and allowing Blake to get the win with a dastardly tights-grab.
-Blake came back and they started double teaming Gotch, until BIG CASS ran in and cleaned house. Dude looked way more impressive live, for some reason TV negates his size for me. Enzo appeared in the balcony with Carmella and cut his usual promo, which ruled, and Big Cass finished it up by telling us they're taking the tag titles, and the champs are S-A-W-F-T SAAAAAWFT!?
Match #3
Rhyno def. Kallisto
-I wanted to see bummed out Lucha pointing Sin Cara SO BAD and he wasn't there. I considered leaving, but decided to tough it out. The fans were about as excited about Lucha pointing as Sin Cara usually is.
-Rhyno got a huge pop and lots of Gore and ECW chants. I get the ECW chants, but I guess Rhyno is a big liberal or something?
-Match was a fun little face vs. face style clash, with Rhyno doing a great job taking Kallisto's ranas etc. and playing a bit of a heel in terms of being on the offensive, though he never stopped acknowledging/encouraging the crowd support. Ended with a flurry of counters into a super cereal Gore Gore Gore!
-After the match, in the restroom, there was a baby in there (in someone's care I assume) chanting "lu-uh lu-uh lu-uh" and it was the cutest thing ever.
Match #4
Hideo Itami def. Tyson Kidd
-Crowd loved both guys. I especially wanted to cheer Itami. With the sacrifices he's making, moving half-way around the world and re-learning his craft while learning a new language and culture (all for a developmental deal!), I wanted to make him feel as welcome as possible in my frozen dump of a city. In turn, I booed the hell out of Kidd, I love the guy but he's fun to boo because he's such a little shit. Booing heels is really fun, I decided to do it more often.
-They did some really good chain wrestling to open the match, culminating in a rope break and cheers. A much more subtle, less pandering way of indy wrestling exchange stand-off. These two are pros.
-After Kidd controlled the match for a bit, Hideo went into beast mode with an electrifying KENTA combo and a dropkick in the corner. GTS chants everywhere. He went for it twice and never scored it, eventually winning with that damned kick which got an audible groan out of me but Kidd sold it great, splayed out on the mat for minutes selling unconsciousness. Big ovation for Itami after the match, I saw a lot in him tonight. Just needs a finish and a little better build to the end of his matches.
*Intermission*
Match #5
Fatal 4 Way for the NXT Womens' Championship
Sasha Banks (c) def. Charlotte, Bayley and Alexa Bliss
-Sasha is so over. With great reason.
-Right off the bat, Sasha and Charlotte locked up aggressively, fell through the ropes, got up and double clotheslined the piss out of each other on the floor. This left Bayley and Bliss to lock up, and proceed to botch around a little bit. They tried doing one of those standoff things but the fans didn't respond to Bliss (who they'd played up as being the hometown favorite) because of the messed up moves. This affected things later in the match when Sasha was supposed to get heat for cutting Bliss's momentum off, but instead she just got cheered harder.
-The women worked hard and felt like they went out to try and steal the show. There were definitely good spots, but it didn't quite click to me. The fans gave it a lot of love though, NXT and This Is Awesome chants. Sasha won after Bayley started Hugplexing everyone in sight like a gorgeous Ken Shamrock but Sasha tossed her out of the ring and pinned...one of the blonde ones.
Match #6
Cesaro def. Finn Balor
-Balor's entrance is a blast live, even without the histrionics. They did do the AHHHHHH! thing with the lights along with the music, which was fun to emulate. Dude comes off like total heel though, someone who's doing him and does not give a shit what the crowd thinks.
-Cesaro, predictably, blew the roof off the place. I had no idea he was gonna be there, so yeah, I was hyped.
-This was a pleasure just to sit back and watch. Like Itami/Kidd, they did some great chain wrestling to start off the match.
-Cesaro seems to have so much more fun in this setting, he was doing his HEYYYY! stuff and being a ham.
-At one point, fans started chanting for the Swing, so Cesaro gave it to them...for 5 revolutions before twisting it into a leg grapevine submission.
-Late in the match, Cesaro went on this running uppercut rampage, I think he hit 6 of them in a row before Balor countered with a Sling Blade. He hit a top rope double foot stomp to the back of Cesaro's head for a believable nearfall.
-Finish came when the two were countering each other and Cesaro shoved Balor into the ref, allowing Cesaro to roll him up and get the win. Kind of a meh finish, but I like it in that the most over guy in the building wins and you protect your #1 contender.
This is where Zayn cut the aforementioned promo, it was great stuff. He can really talk, and I believe what he says. He closed by telling us we were about to see a great main event.
Match #7
Kevin Owens (c) def. Adrian Neville
-People were not into Adrian Neville. I get why, because I didn't used to be either, but now I think the guy is awesome, kinda sucked to see him get so little of a reaction. Freaking JoJo was getting chants all night, and this guy gets crickets, you know? He'll be better off on the main roster, he might just be too dry and serious for NXT. Owens came out to mostly cheers, with some boos.
-Early on, Neville hit his twisting dive to the floor. Outside of that, the match was heavily dominated by Owens, who wrestled a very methodical, brawling oriented style. They tried to get fans behind Neville but it wasn't really happening. Fans were chanting for Owens as he dominated the match.
-Neville scored with his rebound German suplex and reverse rana for near falls, then went for the Red Arrow only to be thwarted. Steen went for a swanton and got nothing but knees. Neville went for the Red Arrow again, but got stopped. Owens hit that f***ing pop-up powerbomb and won, it's such a heel move to me to end a match with a "f*** you powerbomb I win" out of nowhere. Owens did his job as a heel tonight, for sure. I thought we might see Zayn run in and try and exact some revenge, but not tonight.
Todd Jr. came out and thanked us for coming, implying that NXT would return to Cleveland soon. If it does, I will definitely be there. I hope it's the exact same venue, and I get the exact same seat, and buy the exact same beers, and just take it all in. One of the best times I've had at a wrestling show, no doubt.
