NXT 337

June 1, 2016 – Winter Park, Florida

The Revival starts the show. They talk trash about their upcoming title match until they’re interrupted by Gargano & Ciampa. Ciampa says that the Revival is on a downswing, and they’re not as good as American Alpha. And they’re not as good as G&C. The Revival calls them undersized, generic, bearded guys, which Ciampa calls out as a description of everyone in the ring. The Revival bugs out a little bit, but then they just walk out. Gargano calls them out for being scared, so they brawl and a match is more or less made for later. .

Tye Dillinger def. Buddy Murphy
This was fine, I guess. It was more of a headlock than a real match. Dillinger’s signature moves sure are pretty, though. **¼

Samoa Joe and Finn Balor are both interviewed by Corey Graves. Joe calls out Balor for saying he’d take on all comers at all times when that’s not true. PREACH, JOE! Balor calls Joe a complainer. Joe is so much better in this setting than he is doing a promo on the mic in the ring or backstage. Balor is too, for that matter. Balor doesn’t think he’s at a disadvantage because this will be his first cage match, mostly because he defended the title in his first ladder match against Kevin Owens. Joe says that nobody can interfere in the match, the way the doctors interfered during their match in Dallas. This was a great segment.

Austin Aries def. Elias Samson
Samson is just such a bore and he controlled most of this litle match. *½

Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano def. Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson
I was genuinely surprised by the finish, which came when Gargano caught Dawson with a rollup up after bouncing off the mat due to a superplex. The match wasn’t nearly as exciting as their later Takeover matches would be, but it was a solid bout that gave the good guys a nice boose. And then the Revival beats on them after the match until American Alpha makes the save. ***

Nia Jax and Asuka come out for their contract signing. William Regal starts yammering about Asuka, so Jax steals the microphone. She broke Bayley and she’s going to break Asuka. Asuka wants her to stop talking. She gets in Jax’s face but gets caught with a powerbomb.