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 1/25/17)

Femme Fatale Four-Way 

– The Ember Moon-Liv Morgan match was set up last week as a friendly competition to see who’d “unofficially” face the NXT Women’s Champion coming out of NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. Moon was still undefeated, yet Morgan was the one to challenge her. The story was there at least. They exchanged some chain wrestling and rolled around in package pin attempts for a good 25 seconds. Morgan seemed to have improved a bit as she hit a huracanrana. Moon applied a crossface, though Morgan fought out of it with a pin attempt that took Moon’s momentum back. Morgan laid on a guillotine, but was taken and dumped over the top rope by Moon. A minute later, Moon Eclipsed Morgan to take the win. It’s obvious how Moon’s in a holding pattern until TO:SA, but it also helped Morgan here. She could use more of a gimmick than “tough Jersey girl.” It was enough to make us want more, but what we got was good. They shared sportsmanship after the bell to keep the friendship going.

– The Andrade “Cien” Almas/Roderick Strong backstage segment was purely to hype their TO:SA encounter. Not much of a story, though the characters have a good contrast. Almas was coming for Strong, yet Strong wasn’t worried. We got progress as Almas laid out Strong to end things. Enough to progress the feud, but again, it’s their in-ring styles that will ultimately break or make the bout.

– The No Way Jose-Kona Reeves match built off last week’s promo segment where Reeves displayed his disdain for Jose because he wasn’t saved by him when he was attacked by SAniTY. The dynamic consisted of Jose’s dancing nature against Reeves’ “Asian Tiki Boy” no-nonsense delusional attitude. He did score some heel heat with his own dance maneuvers that transitioned into cheap attacks. Reeves avoided the first pop-up punch attempt, but couldn’t avoid the second and that was it. Easy, logical filler. The post-match promo angle that involved Elias Samson was meh at best. If anything, it screams last-minute addition to TO:SA. At least they’re giving Jose something to do. Samson needs an extra something to elevate this “Drifter” gimmick.

– The Chris Atkins-Eric Young match was all about putting Young over as he awaits Tye Dillinger at TO:SA. We also got footage of an interview from Dillinger last week, where he was eager to take on Young and all his followers. This was a squash in many ways, with a little case of “sending a message,” as Young shouted, “10!” as he laid on thick strikes in the corner on a seated Atkins. Young hit his wheelbarrow neckbreaker (not as strong this time) to get the win. Young’s post-match promo was basic threats towards Dillinger.

– We were shown footage of Shane Thorne having reconstructive surgery on his knee with a timetable for recovery being seven to nine months. A tough break for TM61, but we liked that they tied the injuries storyline-wise to The Revival. It’s what they do. It’ll also set up a feud in the future if need be.

– The General Manager William Regal/NXT Women’s Champion Asuka/Billie Kay/Peyton Royce/Nikki Cross in-ring segment was a well-hyped “Face To Face” segment that needed some animosity to lead us into TO: SA correctly. They’ve done a decent job since the match was announced in establishing all three ladies as separate threats, even if they’ve kept The Aussie Mean Girls together throughout. AMG got some mic time and put over their abilities, Cross was crazy and had no words, but plenty of actions. Asuka joined the fray and put things over the top as she went right for AMG numerous times. AMG attacked whenever it suited them, but it was the constant Cross-Asuka face-offs that made this segment work. It was also cool to see a wide array of male security guards get their clocks cleaned by Asuka. The spot where Cross took everyone out with a leap from the top rope provided a worthy closing shot as AMG looked fearful, but sort of awkward. Never seen a leap from the top incapacitate everyone for five minutes.

Quick Results

• Ember Moon def. Liv Morgan via pinfall 
• No Way Jose def. Kona Reeves via pinfall 
• Eric Young (w/Killian Dain, Nikki Cross, Alexander Wolfe) def. Chris Atkins via pinfall