NXT Coral Gables, FL, live results: Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe; Sami Zayn, more

Photo: @TripleH

Notes from Ernie Quincosa from University of Miami’s BankUnited Center

– Sami Zayn beat Baron Corbin

They kicked this house show off with a match that could have been near the top of the card. Crowd was pretty hot for Sami and heckled Baron throughout. Typical Sami Zayn match, Baron got quite a bit of offense in, more than Sami, and looked much much more experienced than he has recently, he came across to me as a main event of NXT caliber heel for the first time. Sami won with a Heluva Kick to the corner and a pin.

– Carmella and Aliyah beat Emma and Billie Kay

Match was flat. People tried to get behind Carmella and booed Emma, but this was the quietest they were all night. Everything looked very soft and not very stiff, but all the women in the match did look like great athletes. Emma and Billie Kaye worked over Aliyah and Carmella got the hot tag and submits Billie Kaye with her neck choke finisher.

– Rich Swann beat Riddick Moss

Crowd liked Rich Swann but kept heckling through the match.  Very back and forth match, and Swann won with a 450 splash. Riddick Moss seems to be improving, and Rich Swann seems like a solid baby face.

– NXT Tag Champions The Revival vs. American Alpha ends in a draw

This felt like a dry run of a pay-per-view match. Match started slow with Chad Gable getting a lot of shine. Revival tries to cheat, start cutting the ring in half with Gable. Jordan gets a very hot tag and goes to town with the spot where he pulls his singlet straps down, pulls them up, and pulls them back down. Crowd loses it. Match ends with pinning trade-off between Dawson and Gable, ending in a double pin. Referee calls the match a draw, Jordan asks The Revival to go five more minutes and they refuse and try to jump American Alpha. Jordan and Gable get a come back and hit Grand Amplitude, then soak in the applause from the crowd.

– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley beat Nia Jax

Big contrast between this match and the earlier women’s match. Every time Nia hit Bayley, the crowd gasped. Nia dominated Bayley for most of the match, until Bayley had a comeback and hit the Bayley-to-Belly suplex and pinned Nia. 

– Manny Andrade beat Tye Dillinger

Surprisingly, it seemed like a good amount of the crowd knew of La Sombra, and there were multiple Sombra chants during the match. Manny seemed VERY popular with the crowd, which garnered multiple chants in Spanish. A lot of the crowd was Latino, but it’s also important to remember Miami has a lot of Cubans and Central Americans, and not so many Mexicans specifically. This match got the first (and possibly only) “This is Awesome” chant of the night. Dillinger and Andrade went back and forth, lots of chops and reversals in this match. Much more high-flying than I’ve seen in an NXT match before. Andrade won with a very impressive moonsault from the corner to standing into a standing moonsault.

– NXT Champion Finn Balor beat Samoa Joe

This was more or less the same match these two have had before. The pacing was a little different, however. Samoa Joe seemed like a monster throughout the match, dominating Finn early with a very physical style. Finn won with a brainbuster, however he was not able to lift Joe all the way up and so it ended up being more of a face slam. Samoa Joe was very popular with the crowd, who sang happy birthday to him during the match without prompting. After the match, Finn led the crowd into singing happy birthday to Joe again, and then sang “Danny Boy” for the crowd, it being St. Patrick’s Day.