Austen Aries defeated No Way Jose and attacked him after the match, until Hideo Itami made the save. Hideo hitting the G.T.S. on Aries got a rise out of me. I haven't seen that move since a certain someone took his ball and went home a couple years back. Following that, mysterious newcomer Ember Moon destroyed Billie Kay in quick fashion. I'm not familiar with Moon's earlier work, so I look forward to seeing what she's capable of. (I should mention Kay got in some good offense too!)
Despite his acrobatic shenanigans, Bobby Roode put the kibosh on "Cien" Almas. No big surprise here. Expect Roode to be challenging Shinsuke in the near future, but you don't need to be a fortune teller to see that coming.
The first real breakthrough match of the night came from the tag champs, The Revival, defending against Gargano & Ciampa. The Revival showed they have a few more tricks up their sleeve than the challengers were ready for, retaining the titles via submission. Asuka and Bayley put on a show, with the champ retaining. And Bayley got a hug from Asuka to boot!
Samoa Joe and Shinsuke had a damn fine main event match, but I feel like something was held back in case of future rematches. The bit mid-match where they were reversing each other's holds into various other submissions was top notch. That kind of mat work warms the cockles of my heart. They kicked out of each other's finishers until Shinsuke sealed the deal with a trio of kicks to the back of Joe's head. Nakamure joins the ranks of Seth Rollins, Neville, etc. as the 9th NXT champion!
But that was just night one of WWE's invasion of the Empire State. Howabout Summerslam? Here are some quick and dirty predictions:
The Miz vs. Apollo Crews (Don't care. This has zero heat behind it.)
Enzo & Cass vs. Y2J & K.O. (Will make a great opener. Enzo and Cass need this one. Jericho and Owens are the type that can bounce back.)
The New Day vs. Gallows & Anderson (Are we still calling them The Club? I want Gallows and Anderson to win here just so more gold can go to Bullet Club Alumni--Kenny Omega won the G1 Climax and Adam Cole won the ROH title the other night.)
Rusev vs. Roman Reigns (Are they having another match tonight? I'm not sure . . . Either build sympathy for Roman or make him a monster. I want Rusev to retain; if their match on Raw was any indication, this could really surprise people.)
John Cena vs. AJ Styles (Fall is coming, so expect Cena to take some time off to film a show or two. I want AJ to take this one for the same reason as Gallows & Anderson. Bullet Club 4 Life dur dur dur.)
Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler (Dean ain't losing that belt yet. Dolph is gonna wrestle circles around him though.)
Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte (Was Sasha more interesting when she was chasing the belt? Maybe Flair's baby girl should win this one? I dunno, I'm torn.)
Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins (Could be a Match of the Year contender if all goes well, although I think they gave away Finn's "Demon" character a little early. In my personal fan fiction, Balor wins the new belt and a big ol' Bullet Club banner appears. See also: AJ Styles and The Club. I'M CALLING FOR A WORLDWIDE TAKEOVER!)
Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton (I want to care about this more, but Brock's Suplex City shtick is wearing thin with me. I want Orton to take him out of his comfort zone. Let's see a little of that 2013 Brock that was jumping all over C.M. Punk and stuff. Orton wins to punish Brock for his various doping scandals and whatnot with an RKO onto a table covered in barbed wire and possibly set aflame.)
Thanks for reading! You can hit me back on Twitter (@ChrisBComics) or via e-mail (backissuechris@gmail.com).
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