By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 1/27/16)

Remnants Of An Unclear Future

– American Alpha (Jason Jordan/Chad Gable) continue to kill it right now and can easily be regarded as the NXT Tag Team Division’s hottest commodity. Their “onwards and upwards” push continued this week when they took on the former Tag Champs, Blake/Murphy in an opening contest that revolved around the quick-paced, excitable offense of AA, meshed with occasional dastardly doings by the heels to get ahead. The storyline reason for the match was AA eager to continue to prove themselves by showing that even though they weren’t in the category for “Best Tag Team Of 2015,” they could still beat one of those teams were nominated. Between Gable’s amateur background and innovative, flexible offense and Jordan’s suplex prowess, the sky’s the limit. We particularly liked how the hot tag quickly transitioned into their Grand Amplitude finisher.

– There was some nice build for next week’s Emma-Carmella bout, starting with a backstage promo with Emma/Dana Brooke, who continue to excel as a duo. It’s amazing how Emma has basically shed her former image and now has the gimmick that allows her to just flat-out wrestle. Emma brought up good arguments of why she didn’t see Carmella (#1 Contender to NXT Women’s Champion Bayley’s Title) as a threat, mentioning that her last pinfall wasn’t on her and she had been riding on flukes and embarrassing losses to Blue Pants. That seemed like a shot at Blue Pants more than anything. The story is basically that Carmella has yet to beat Emma and in order to make a mark, that’s what needs to be done.

– We applaud any Asuka hype videos. Don’t mess with her. She’ll kick you in the skull.

– Nia Jax has had many chances to settle into NXT and the only time she has really done that was at NXT TakeOver: London against Bayley. Other than that, despite her catchy theme song, not much about her resonates success. They’ve tried to pair her with Eva Marie to get over like Emma/Dana Brooke, but they have zero chemistry and look uncomfortable. Jax had another squash bout against Liv Morgan, but was far from memorable. Morgan put in about 15 seconds of convincing offense before Jax sloppily did her in. Her moves didn’t move with grace, just disgrace. Come on Jax, you’re better than this.

– The Carmella/Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady backstage promo was basically what you’d expect from the “SAWFT” trio, though the camera was placed on a stand and Enzo never looked at the camera, yet stole the segment. Carmella got in her two cents about wanting to prove Emma and everybody else, while Enzo/Cass ripped on the NXT Tag Team Champions, Dash Wilder/Scott Dawson for being chubby (we didn’t quite see that) and how they took their dream away from them. They were out for blood.

– There was some decent main event hype with the hype videos showcasing Baron Corbin as a tattooed, motorcycle-riding badass and Samoa Joe as a submission destroyer doing whatever to get his way.

– Based on how they refused a handshake the last time they were in Full Sail and the latest “silent” vignettes, The Vaudevillains appear to be turning heel, without any words in a video. Simple, yet effective. Will they now be anti-Gentlemen? More importantly, will Simon Gotch’s mustache be gone?

– It’s so odd how flat Bull Dempsey has fallen in NXT, garnering a cricket reaction with his new entrance theme. We’ll assume he’ll be out by the end of the year. Anyways, he was showcased as the victim for the returning Alex Riley, who suddenly looks like “Triple H Classic,” with his spinebuster, knee strike finisher, long brown hair,, orange skin, facial hair, even black tights with a white logo. Only thing he was missing was his sledgehammer. Other than that, we like the general story of Riley working a more aggressive heel style that should catch on much better. He’ll never be the “varsity villain” again, but this can suffice.

– Riley’s post-match backstage promo brought the right amount animosity to express his jealousy over NXT covering other returning guys like Sami Zayn three weeks before he came back while he had reached out to Stamford, CT at that same time and had no response. He also mentioned how everyone knew what Apollo Crews had for breakfast, while nobody cared about him. This was basically a guy sucking on sour grapes and this could be the start of something fun down the road. As long as that “Let’s rage” crap is over.

– Another week, another Elias Samson squash match, this time over John Skyler. He plays the guitar, wears the black shirt, jeans and scarf, rocks the Randy Savage-esuqe look with the personality of Raven by sitting in the corner. The neckbreaker ended the match and we don’t know anything more of his character, besides maybe that he wants to silence people and is a little crazy.

– The Hype Bros. backstage promo was there to basically give us the news that they’d take on the returning Vaudevillains next week, while they then debated about pointless nightclub antics. Guess who gets defeated next week?

– The NXT Championship #1 Contender’s Triple-Threat main event between Zayn, Joe and Corbin had a tremendous build on paper and even though it wasn’t as great as we thought it’d be, it wasn’t terrible either. Each guy had a moment to shine during the match – Zayn fought back constantly, getting up from Joe’s coquina clutch to break up Corbin’s End Of Days pinfall attempt. As far as the “controversial ending,” it just seemed like a way to write off Corbin from the #1 Contender argument while Joe and Zayn argued over the outcome that they both made Corbin tap out from two different submissions administered simultaneously. We just didn’t like the way it ended on a “cliffhanger” as General William Regal only confused the crowd and didn’t even speak on the microphone. Nevertheless, we still don’t know who NXT Champion Finn Balor will face next to defend his Title.

Quick Results

• American Alpha def. Blake/Murphy (w/Alexa Bliss) via pinfall
• Nia Jax (w/Eva Marie) def. Liv Morgan via pinfall
• Alex Riley def. Bull Dempsey via pinfall
• “The Drifter” Elias Samson def. John Skyler via pinfall
• NXT Championship #1 Contender’s Match – Triple-Threat – Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn Make Baron Corbin Tap via double submission; Winner Undecided