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 5/18/16)

Not Like Most Girls 

– The opening video highlighted the Nia Jax-Bayley main event that was somewhat polished up to appear better than it actually is. With Bayley on the road to her rematch with NXT Women’s Champion Asuka, it’d be nice to see how she fared against Jax, who she boasted a winning record against thus far.

– Ever since his arrival, Austin Aries had retained his “Greatest Man That Ever Lived” gimmick, but had cooled down considerably. Things appeared to be set in motion for him as he introduced a “mystery partner” to take on Blake/Murphy as per a backstage segment in General Manager William Regal’s office. Based off his tag team history with Bobby Roode in TNA and Roode’s current status, all signs pointed to this being Roode’s potential NXT debut. Aries’ theme music is also great the more we get to hear it. All eyes were fixed upon the stage for the mystery partner and out came… Shinsuke Nakamura. Never hurts to see him either. It was interesting to see if they tested the waters for an Aries/Nakamura team or if this was a potential hybrid to a singles feud. Based on the match itself, it appeared to lean towards the former, which was also good. Nakamura got to kick some faces, everyone is happy. A little confusion towards the finish where it looked like Aries wanted to tag in but Nakamura instead went forward with the Kinshasa, but nothing was mad bout of it. Rather, post-match developments belonged to dissension upon Blake/Murphy, as Bliss walked out on them, followed by Blake on Murphy. Was this the end of the dubstep squad?

– Bayley’s backstage promo hyped her match with Jax, as she made it clear that Jax’s intimidation wouldn’t work with her and looked to get past her and refocus on the task of repossession of the NXT Women’s Championship.

– On the other side, smart idea to air a hype video for NXT Women’s Champion Asuka, which seamlessly went along with Halestorm’s “Mayhem,” which was used for TakeOver: Dallas. This kept her in the focal point of conversation.

– No Way Jose has evolved to no more than a happy guy who loves to dance. His promo didn’t build on this, but rather told us what we already knew. Oh, he apparently wants to fight. Right…

– With Enzo Amore/Big Cass now on the main roster, Carmella was still on NXT in a mission to pursue her dream of being NXT Women’s Champion. Her backstage promo touched upon this fact and helped provide necessary background on why she was still there. After all, she’d be proud of her boys no matter what and wants to build herself up in the process.

– The Carmella-Peyton Royce match served as a buffer bout for Carmella, who continues to improve in the ring even though she could tighten up in a few areas. On the other hand, Royce owned her look from the moment she came on stage, but she’ll need a better character than the “human flytrap.” Though it does show a kind of “deadly innocence,” let’s hope it develops into something darker. Royce got to show off some in the ring too, but the bout revolved around Carmella logically. The faceplant/inverted triangle submission finisher was excellently applied and Carmella gets better and better at working the crowd.

– As if the feud between NXT Champion Samoa Joe and Finn Balor didn’t feel big enough, we saw footage of a brawl between the two that closed a recent live event that prompted a Facebook video where Regal booked the two to fight in a steel cage for TakeOver. Joe’s intensity was great here, as he stood by Balor’s own words that he “barely survived,” while Balor was desperate to end things. Either way, this match is designed to be the “end-all.” Going to be great and it was an excellent idea of selling that these two guys truly hate each other.

– The backstage segment with Blake, Murphy and Bliss played off what we saw earlier, as it seemed that Bliss finally ridded herself of the “460 pounds of useless weight.” We also liked that Bliss wanted an easier road to get to the NXT Women’s Championship, another person with a clear goal of gold. Excited to see what happens with Bliss and Blake/Murphy headed forward.

– Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa continued their tag team streak, as they squashed Danny Burch/Rob Ryzin in great competition. Commentary expressed that after they failed as singles, Ciampa/Gargano were back on the tag hunt. We won’t complain about that. It was also funny that the crowd chanted “Terra Ryzin” at Ryzin, which we also can’t blame them for as that was the first thing we thought of when we heard the name. An entertaining squash to say the least, as Gargano/Ciampa have nice chemistry together and we also liked that there is effort to establish other acts in multiple divisions.

– To go along with the tag progressions, we got the official announcement from Regal that NXT Tag Champions American Alpha would defend their belts at TakeOver against The Revival. That should be excellent.

– Give the two ladies credit, the Jax-Bayley main event was easily the best of their matches. A slow pace to start when Jax dominated, but it got pretty good when things kicked into second gear. Easily Jax’s best effort to date, even though we were shocked that she went over here, with Bayley the one in pursuit of Asuka. That said, it seemed to be that we’d get a potential triple-threat for the NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver. Not the worst thing to happen.

Quick Results

• Austin Aries/Shinsuke Nakamura def. Blake/Murphy (w/Alexa Bliss) via pinfall 
• Carmella def. Peyton Royce via submission 
• Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa def. Danny Burch/Rob Ryzin via pinfall
• Nia Jax def. Bayley via pinfall