The live WWE NXT: Arrival show on WWE Network started out with a 30 minute special before the big two hour live broadcast. Rene Young opens the show with a panel that includes Bret “The Hit Man” Hart, Kevin Nash and Paul Heyman. What a team.
We get a look first at the WWE Performance Center. After that, we see the names of men who came from NXT including Big E, Fandango, Xavier Woods, The Wyatt Family and The Shield (Seth Rollins was the first ever NXT Champion). Up next Paige and Emma talked about their history and upcoming NXT Women’s Championship match. Then, Natalya interviewed Emma in the ring from earlier in the night. Next up is a pre-recorded interview from Tensai with Paige.
The next talent the panel profiled was NXT tag team champions The Ascension, which Kevin Nash said was an impressive team but they didn’t show them yet.
Up next is the NXT title preview between Bo Dallas and Adrian Neville. From earlier in the day, Alex Riley interviewed Bo Dallas, who dedicated the match to his “Bolievers.” Adrian Neville declined interviews so he could focus on the match. Bret Hart picked Neville to win, Kevin Nash picked Dallas to win and Paul Heyman picked the winner to win.
JBL was next as the NXT General Manager. He said that Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro would wrestle in the first match on the NXT: Arrival show tonight and then there was a promo for the show. That was the end of the pre-show.
Now, WWE NXT: Arrival begins. The lights go out. Triple H in the ring: “Are you ready? This is NXT! NXT is the next generation and the next generation has arrived!” The fans are all chanting “NXT!”
Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn is out first for their big opening match and then Cesaro came out to the Real Americans music. This is the fourth match between the two and the last time they fought it was what many NXT fans call the match of the year. William Regal calls Cesaro a better wrestler than he ever was. The match almost lasted 30 minutes and Sami Zayn fought with a lot of heart. Even though Cesar won with the Neutralizer, Zayn finished the match looking like a star. That was a fantastic opening match. This was even better than their Match of the Year. After the match, Cesaro returned to the ring, helped Sami up and hugged him, whispering something in his ear. Whatever he said made Sami smile and then the crowd chanted his name and then did the El Generico “Oley” chant as he left.
Winner: Cesaro (*** ½)
CJ Parker vs. Mojo Rawley
Parker is a hippy, I guess. Rawley is a very energetic star who used to be a Maryland football star who holds a lot of strength records at Maryland. The crowd is behind Mojo Rawley. This was a major come-down match and Rawley won with the “Hyper Drive” which was just running and dropping his butt onto Parker. The fans liked Rawley but didn’t care about Parker.
Winner: Mojo Rawley (*)
Next up is an Emma promo. After that is a short promo for The Ascension.
NXT Tag Title Match: The Ascension vs. Too Cool
This match has a mystery challenger for The Ascension which turned out to be Too Cool. Brian Christopher tried to dance after an early move and Connor just jumped up and made him pay for it. The Ascension is the longest reigning NXT tag champions, longer that The Wyatt Family. Just like on Old School WWE Monday Night Raw, Scotty too Hotty was caught in the middle of his WORM and that led to the loss when The Ascension hit the Fall of Men (Total Elimination) for the win. This was a good move to give fans someone they knew to lose and Too Cool looked dangerous enough through the match, but The Ascension looked powerful.
Winners: The Ascension (** ½)
Next was a promo for Paige, who is the only person who ever help the NXT Women’s championship and has held it for 141 days. Back to the arena, Ric Flair is in the audience with his daughter Charlotte, who wrestles in NXT as well.
NXT Women’s Championship: Paige vs. Emma
Stephanie McMahon came out before the match started. The fans chanted “You still got it” and Stephanie said “I never lost it.” She talked about how the first live program to stream live on the WWE Network is NXY: Arrival. She then said that she was proud to be there as a woman because of the NXT Divas division. Stephanie danced when Emma came down and shook Paige’s hand. Just like Sami and Cesaro, there were duel chants here as well. The two started out just brawling and it soon turned into an actual match with moves and countermoves. The two really know how to use submission rest holds and pace it out. This is a good match and Emma is a ton better than I dreamed she could be. She hit a big powerbomb, had some impressive submission holds and even hit a nice running dropkick. Emma even kicked out of the Page Turner (her finishing move), the first person to ever kick out of that move. Emma then won with an AMAZING submission hold called the Scorpion Cross. The women shook hands after the match.
Winner: Paige (****)
Xavier Woods vs. Tyler Breeze
Dusty Rhodes and Pat Patterson is at ringside. Xavier Woods came out to Tons of Funk music. (* This was the first major glitch as the show flipped back to the end of the Paige match and started over from that point. It did this for like 15 minutes – This was apparently a PlayStation 3 issue). Alexander Rusev attacked both men and beat them down. He locked in the Accolade on Xavier Woods. Lana finally stopped him and called him amazing.
NO CONTEST
Next up is a Bo Dallas promo. Then they showed a promo about the history between Bo Dallas and Adrian Neville. This is also the first ladder match in NXT.
NXT Championship: Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville
Before the match started, Shawn Michaels came out to the ring. Chants: “HBK,” “One More Match,” “You Still Got It,” “HB-Schizzel,” and “Yes Yes Yes.” He then pimped his new DVD and said he needs the money to put his kids through college. He then put over both Bo Dallas and Adrian Neville. Shawn shook both of their hands and left for the match to start. The match was great and ended with Adrian Neville actually winning the match and becoming the new NXT Champion. John Cena was in the crowd and gave a standing ovation.
Winner: Adrian Neville (****)
