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NXT: Tampa at the UDC Center
Friday Night, January 18, 2018
Attendance: 450
(Standing room only for General Admission, so a packed crowd to say the least)
Velveteen Dream defeated Rick Bugez.
This was a solid opener with Velveteen Dream being very well received by the large and active standing room only crowd in Tampa. While the Tampa crowd is always active which can be both very positive when it creates a great atmosphere for the show and negative when very stupid comments are yelled, it was great during this match. This made it easy for Bugez to get heat by acting obnoxious, almost as obnoxious as the hippie combination of Richard Simmons and Rick Rude with a high pitch scream he is trying as a gimmick. I have never seen a wrestler make such weird high-pitched screams when hitting moves on his opponents. Dream made a comeback that directly led to his Purple Rainmaker for the victory. Dream looked good tonight and I wonder why he was not brought up to the main roster like some others but who knows what will happen with the Royal Rumble coming up.
Punishment Martinez defeated Brennan Williams.
This was an average match for the loop, which is actually different than the very high quality matches delivered consistently throughout the entire cards of several recent Tampa Bay Area Loop House Shows. While this match was not bad at all with several awesome maneuvers made by Punishment, who has looked great in his recent matches on the Loop. Punishment was supposed to be the heel, but this did not work for three reasons, first about half or more of the crowd were not only aware of his previous work but were fans of it. Second, the location of this show held in Northern Tampa is surrounded by several Hispanic communities who consistently come to this particular show every time it has a show at the UCD Center. They supported Punishment because they either knew who he was and that he was from Puerto Rico or they just simply liked to support a fellow Latino. This was an interesting bit of sociology for me to witness in person which further reinforces my opinion that these little things make Professional Wrestling so interesting to me as an adult. Brennan Williams, a large former NFL player who used to have a gimmick based on him saying “More Power!” and was a little too basic to catch on. His new gimmick is on the opposite end of the spectrum with it being a little too much to ever catch on seriously. Like I stated in previous reviews, his gimmick can best be described as a flamboyant mix of Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Goldust, and a Chippendales dancer who only knew one move which involved sitting in different ways. He tries to get the crowd behind him through his flamboyance and this strange sitting taunt in does in the corner. While this worked on about a quarter of the audience tonight who I believe just think it is fun to chant “Sit” incessantly, the rest of the fans either didn’t care or really cheered for Punishment to destroy him. To the delight of the fans who want Punishment to punish the Man Who Sits, Punishment did just that with brutal strikes and power moves. While Brennan “Sit” Williams got some offense in, Punishment was able to hit his finisher, a well-executed South of Heaven Chokeslam, for the victory. The crowd chanted “Punishment” during the end of the match and after it.
Dijakovic beat Kona Reeves.
This was surprisingly good technical match with Kona working Dijakovic’s leg during the entire match which nearly led him to win with single leg crab towards the end of the match. Kona got a tremendous amount of heat from the crowd the minute he came out and his gimmick seems to be working because he gets heat without playing the cool heel so common these days. Both wrestled great this match with Kona using cheap tactics that would lead to him brutally attacking Dijakovic’s leg. While it was looking like this would end with a Reeves victory due to the great selling by Dijakovic, he was able to hit the Feast Your Eyes finisher, A GTS-like kick to the face, on Kona for the victory. Great technical match with a great story told during the action.
4-way women’s tag team elimination match: Kairi Sane & IO Shirai defeated Shayna Baszler & Marina Shafir, Vanessa Borne & Aaliyah and Mia Yim & Xia Li
This was a fantastic match with good psychology for a four-way tag match which I honestly thought would be a mess. I am happy that my inclinations were incorrect because these ladies put in a great match in a chaotic situation. Marina Shafir was wearing a face guard much like Cody Rhodes used to in 2011 but I am not sure if it was part of a new gimmick for her or if she was legitimately hurt. The story of the match was that Kairi and Io fought hard fairly to eliminate each team except Shayna and Marina who tried their best to avoid getting into the match unless they could cheaply attack someone. Kairi and Io eliminated Borne and Aliyah with their signature submissions implemented at the same time. They then took on Mia and Xia only for an epic back and forth to occur and when that was over, Shayna was able to tag herself in to choke out Li to eliminate her team. This left Kairi and Io to face Shayna and Marina which was an obvious yet great way to end the match. With Kairi and Io looking tired, it seemed they would not be victorious but after a late rally, Kairi and Io hit a double team-assisted elbow drop and moonsault on Shafir to win this great match.
Mansoor Al-Shehail Promo
This surprisingly was a babyface promo, Mansoor usually plays such a great heel on the Loop and I never have seen him play a face, but it worked to get sympathy from the crowd. He talked about how he grew up in Saudi Arabia with a dream and how it is now coming true. He vowed to fight hard to continue to reach the heights he never thought he could when out came Alex Cole to ruin his quality babyface promo.
Adam Cole Promo
The crowd gave Cole a huge positive reaction and he cut a promo on Mansoor that said he was boring and that no one cared what he was saying or cared where he was from. Cole’s promo led Mansoor to challenge Cole to a match which Cole denied at first because he stated he hated the people of Tampa, which instantly turned the crowd against him. While some might consider this cheap heat, it worked very effectively especially when you consider that he was wrestling an often very good, foreign heel that they were trying as a babyface for the night. To instigate a match, Mansoor stated something in Arabic and when he told Cole what it meant, the match was on. His Arabic statement was about Cole not having any balls, on queue the crowd started chanting “No Balls!” at Cole, which shows that he clearly did a good job of getting himself over as a heel during this segment of the show.
Adam Cole defeated Mansoor Al-Sheail
This was a good match that made Mansoor look good and he was able to show his in-ring skills by keeping up with Cole in an impressive fashion. Cole was still the key to the match working because without the Tampa comment, the entire crowd would have been cheering for him. Cole also refused to do his signature “Bay Bay” chant, which worked to garner even more heat from the crowd. This led the crowd to get very much behind Mansoor and when Cole eventually overcame the comebacks of Mansoor to pin him after hitting him with his Last Shot Shining wizard. The reaction was more negative than positive. Overall, this was a good match that still worked well despite very interesting dynamics.
Ricochet and Katy Catanzaro defeated Shane Thorne and Rhea Ripley in a Mixed Tag Match
This was the first match after Intermission and its position on the card was smart because it got the crowd back into the show. While Thorne and Ripley had their moments, this was all about the incredible moves completed by Ricochet and the up and coming Catanzaro. Both hit amazing spots throughout the match that were well planned even if they looked dangerous and while Ricochet hit most of his signature moves, Catanzaro was given time to show her skills and she did not disappoint. She hit several athletic aerial maneuvers on Ripley as well as some impressive power moves that I have never seen her do. The finish consisted of Ricochet taking out Thorne with a dive to the outside which distracted Catanzaro long enough for Ripley to attack and attempt her Pumphandle slam finisher. Ripley was able to life Catanzaro but out of nowhere Kacy was able turn it into a tornado DDT which she then followed with a modified corkscrew moonsault for the victory.
Riddick Moss Promo
Much like last week at Largo, Moss came out and talked about his “Riddick Regimen” and how it could save all the fat, stupid people in the audience. He then went on to say that he is still undefeated despite Jeet Rama beating him last week since Jeet cheated by smelling bad which distracted him enough to lose sight of what was going on. So, he continued to tout the Regimen until he called out Jeet Rama for another match.
Jeet Rama defeated Moss.
Jeet Rama then came out to a mild reaction, which surprised since he received a decent pop at Largo with far less people, and they proceeded to have a match. While Moss was able to dominate most of the match once again, he made the same mistake which allowed Rama to roll Moss up for the win. After the match, Jeet protected himself from an after match beat down from Moss which occurred last week at Largo. Jeet then left and Moss had a temper tantrum.
Main Event: NXT Tag Team Championship - Undisputed Era defeated Humberto Carrillo and Raul Mendoza
This was a fantastic match and one worthy of the Main Event spot at an important house show stop on the Florida Loop. Humberto Carrillo is absolutely fantastic in the ring and has helped Raul Mendoza become relevant. Their tag team is starting to look really good and it would be a shame if it never happens due to Carrillo leaving for 205 Live if that is correct. Both teams completed epic individual and double team maneuvers that left the crowd in awe. Carrillo and Mendoza actually looked to be at the same level of tag team ability as Fish and O’Reilly during this match and they completed several amazing maneuvers. At one point, Carrillo and Mendoza hit a handspring double slingshot suplex on Fish that was amazing to see. While Carrillo looked like a future Superstar, Mendoza was not some slouch and hit some awesome moves that in the past he never did. He hit a beautiful front dropkick on both members of the Tag Champs and after that hit a monstrous move which I do not know the name of, so I will try to explain it, but it was amazing. Mendoza lifted Strong up into belly to back suplex and when Strong was horizontal from the lift, Mendoza turned 180 degrees to grab strong and drive him head first into the canvas like a brutal Impaler DDT. While Carrillo and Mendoza had several close near falls, the UE were able to barely hold on to get the victory after Strong delivered a flying knee to the face of Carrillo out of nowhere and seconds later Bobby Fish did the same with an even higher-flying knee strike to the face of Mendoza for the pin and the win. Great match to end a pretty good show that was in front of a full house.
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