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 3/2/16)

Past Meets The Present 

– The opening video hyped the big NXT Champion Finn Balor-Neville main event, high flying against death-defying. How much better could it get?

– The Vaudevillains-Hugo Knox/Tucker Knight was a buffer bout to further establish The Vaudevillains as newfound heels, back to their old ways. It’d be nice if their entrance was more emphatic of that. Despite a moment where Knight (almost Hugh Morrus like in look and build) got to display some power, Vaudevillains finished it off with the Whirling Dervish. Still not completely sold on the “new” Vaudevillains, but it is what it is.

– Dana Brooke/Emma continue to run the house below NXT Women’s Champion Bayley, coloring themselves as geniuses since everything they predicted came true, as Brooke threw in an insult at Deonna Purrazzo, calling her a nobody, and Emma predicted she’d make an example out of whoever she would fight later.

– We had solid progression behind the Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady-NXT Tag Team Champions Dash Wilder/Scott Dawson (renamed The Revival) feud, with separate promos to hype their Tag Title encounter at WWE’s Roadblock Network Live Special on March 12. A random match to put on that show, but at least it’ll get some NXT love and maybe it’s indicative that the Titles will change hands. Liked the little detail of Enzo/Cass cutting the promo from outside the WWE Performance Center where they were attacked and promised revenge, while The Revival put themselves over as the fighting Champions, acting all tough and Southern and such.

– Emma’s latest squash offering over Santana Garrett (who resembled Wonder Woman with that get-up) wasn’t anything groundbreaking or unforeseen, but held our interests. It’s amazing how far Emma has come and we desperately hope “Emma 2.0” gets to see the main roster. Brooke was her usual loud self and got physically involved when the Referee was distracted and although the crowd was at least into Garrett, it wasn’t long before Emma won with her Emma Lock submission.

– It was hard to see why General Manager William Regal was praising Eva Marie/Nia Jax so much as a team until we realized he was buttering them up for a future showdown against Bayley/Asuka. Perhaps this will advance the storyline between Bayley/Asuka. How will they do as a team?

– The second best part of the show was the segment with Austin Aries (the latest NXT acquisition), Baron Corbin and Regal. Aries is one of those guys who has name recognition so just seeing his name on the LCD screen was a mark-out moment in of itself. Tie that in with Corbin ambushing Aries from behind and it’s perfectly logical, since Corbin was still angry at Regal for not being put back into the #1 Contender’s battle and then it also helps Aries, as it puts him into a program right away. We know the guy can cut a great promo, so maybe we’ll get that in the near future. Aries’ angry facial expressions to close out things was well-done.

– We’re so over “The Drifter.” We thought this had potential at the start, but the lack of development and his limited moveset makes us yawn. The fact that they did more to put his opponent Steve Cutler over as a former marine than anything related to Samson other than his wrist bracelets was embarrassing. As you’d imagine, the crowd poo-poo’d this and a neckbreaker ended our misery.

– The backstage segment with The Hype Bros. and The Vaudevillains was a decent way to advance their feud, as the faces were more tame and eager to show The Vaudevillains they were nobody to be messed with, while Vaudevillains sneaked out from behind the set, only grinning devilishly. Could be worse.

– As we expected for the Balor-Neville main event, this was everything and more you could’ve hoped for. Both guys were on their game and their chemistry was tight, exchanging high-flying moves with technical-styled wrestling. Neville showed a little bit of that mean streak here that we miss, and it helped the action out even more. So many counters and reversals, it was well-established that both guys had each other well-scouted. Some awesome highlight-reel maneuvers too, whether it was Neville’s top rope hurricanrana or Balor’s plancha dive. The last few minutes of this were brilliant, as it was basically a battle to see who’d pull out their finisher first. The Coup de Grace won out, with an added Brainbuster for dramatic effect and it was Balor who went over, the logical choice since he was the Champion, but man, what a gem of a match. We almost didn’t want to see it end. The post-match sportsmanship was also a nice moment as the crowd stood in applause.

– The final backstage segment with Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe was great hype for next week’s NXT Championship #1 Contender Best-Two-Out-Of-Three-Falls match with the two of them. Animosity was well-established from different perspectives, as Joe referred to Zayn as “ungrateful” since Joe saved Zayn the moment he walked in the door and warned him that he wouldn’t have a career. Zayn on the other hand, defended himself as one of NXT’s top faces, but it was smart to let Joe get the last word in. That should be a great match.

Quick Results

• The Vaudevillains def. Hugo Knox/Tucker Knight via pinfall
• Emma (w/Dana Brooke) def. Santana Garrett via submission
• Elias Samson def. Steve Cutler via pinfall
• Finn Balor def. Neville via pinfall