NXT Coverage: Zayn Insanely Good

It’s hard to argue with six matches, even if three were pure squashes. With depth in the mid-card, Tag Team and Womens’ divisions, NXT can survive on nights when they keep their optimum talent off the card. This past week’s episode was a perfect example of that.

With the continued development of Aiden English, Simon Gotch, Hideo Itami and Sami Zayn, NXT fans are beginning to see a new wind of top-flight stars.

Things are about to seriously change. With Itami set to bring in Prince Devitt and Zayn prepared to take on Adrian Neville, the card is about to get a full injection of spice.

Matches:

NXT Tag Team Battle Royal for #1 Contender Shot: Viktor and Konnor vs. Colin Cassady and Enzo Amore vs. Jason Jordan and Ty Dillinger vs. Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy vs. Aiden English and Simon Gotch: The rules were if any team member got eliminated, both members were. All five teams held their own through the early going with several near eliminations. Viktor and Konnor got sick of the stalemate however and eliminated Murphy, Blake, Dillinger and Jordan, leaving Amore and Cassady left with The Ascension, while the Vaudevillians were on the outside. After Viktor and Konnor eliminated Cassady and Amore, Gotch and English crawled back in the ring. Hideo Itami then hit the ring and with The Ascension’s back turned, Gotch and English eliminated them for the win. After the match, Itami attacked Konnor and Viktor before they retaliated with a vicious monied double slam.

Carmella vs. Emma: A solid Divas match as Emma guided Carmela along and made sure the rookie sold and earned her stripes. From the Tarantula to the Side Splash in the corner, Emma was on the offensive. But after she countered Emma’s signature Emma Lock submission, The Princess of Staten Island won with her Head Scissor submission.

Bull Dempsey vs. Justin Gabriel: Dempsey was in control for most of the match in spite of a Reverse DDT and some High-Flying theatrics from Gabriel. After some strikes and an Avalanche, Dempsey ultimately won with the Diving Headbutt.

Baron Corbin vs. Tony Briggs: Corbin quickly won with the End of Days on the debuting Briggs.

Sylvester LeFort vs. Marcus Louis: LeFort sold and eventually lost to a Louis Chokeslam variation.

Sami Zayn vs. Titus O’Neil: Although he nearly lost after O’Neil hit the Canadian Backbreaker, Zayn won with the Exploder Suplex in the corner and the Helluva Kick. After the match, Tyler Breeze hit the ring and told Zayn that if wanted a shot at Neville, he had to go through him first.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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