NXT Green Bay, WI, house show results: Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn, Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss

Submitted by Josh Hayes and Vash

NXT Tag Champions Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder vs. Enzo and Cass

Enzo and Cass are just the perfect act to kick off a show. Crowd loved them, and did Enzo’s introduction right along with him. Match itself was a solid opener, with Enzo being the babyface in peril for most of the match as he worked to make the hot tag to Cass. In the end though, Dash rolled up Enzo and used the ropes for leverage to get the win. But after the match, Enzo and Cass fought them off to make the crowd happy.

Bull Dempsey vs. Elias Sampson

Elias Sampson won. Nothing much of note in the match itself, but Bull wore a cheese head hat to the ring, which led to a spot after the match where Sampson acted like he was going to put the cheese head on to get a pop but then he just stopped, spat in it, and threw it out of the ring and left. Then Bull retrieved it and looked at it for a while and so, since it’s cheese, the crowd chanted for him to eat it. So he bit it and the crowd cheered. 

Tomasso Ciampa vs. Tye Dillinger

Good match, but the crowd wasn’t that into the match itself. They were more into doing the 10 chant. Tye Dillinger won, meaning yes, three matches in and a face had yet to win a match at this point. But that was about to change.

NXT Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss

Please indulge me while I state the obvious: Bayley should be on the main roster, as she is a megastar. She was the first person to get a loud pop when her music hit since Enzo and Cass in the opener. The crowd did the usual Bayley chants and songs. She responded to the “Bayley’s gonna hug you” chant by hugging the ref, and the crowd then chanted “one more time” so she did. And here’s how over Bayley is — after all the usual singing and chanting died down and the match was really getting started, one (1) guy shouted “BAYLEY YOU SUCK!” and the entire crowd boo’ed that guy out of the building. He got what he wanted.

Good but basic match, with Bayley doing all her usual spots, which is what the crowd wanted to see, especially the Belly-to-Bayley Suplex, which is what won the match. At one point where, if I remember the pretense right, Alexa was almost counted out, but when she got back in the ring, the crowd started chanting 10 again. So Bayley just did Dillinger’s Perfect 10 shuffle with the cartwheel and everything.

> Intermission

Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews

Crews was really over during his entrance, but he seemed to be a little less over during the body of the match, until he made his comeback at least, and won. Corbin was boo’ed at first but then people in my section started getting into him. There was a portion of the match where Corbin threw Crews out of the ring, and Crews lied outside for a while before getting back into the ring, only to be thrown right back out. Then after spending a lot of time outside the ring again, Crews got back in and threw Corbin out. Seemed like a good spot on paper (perhaps) but crowd seemed kinda bored during this long-ish period of non-action.

However, immediately after that, Crews hit a big assai moonsault which was the first real high spot of the show, and from then on the match was really good. Crews is great at making comebacks. Corbin went for the End of Days at one point, but Crews did a back-flip over his arm, took him down, and hit a standing moonsault, followed by a standing shooting star press to get the win. Probably the best pure match up to that point. 

Eva Marie and Nia Jax vs. Carmella and Peyton Royce

Eva was hated as usual. In fact, every time she tagged in, the entire crowd immediately gave thunderous boos. She probably had the most heat on the show. Eva and Jax won when Jax pinned Peyton. I know it’s a house show and all, but on a show where a bunch of heels won, it was weird that the new #1 contender to the Women’s Title didn’t get the win. 

NXT Champion Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn

In this face vs. face match, Finn played the role of the subtle heel. Although the crowd in my section at least seemed to be more behind Finn anyway. He did a LOT of Bullet Club pistol gestures for what it’s worth. At the beginning of the match, there was a dueling chant, but eventually the crowd just started chanting “Both these guys”. Another chant-related thing happened when just a few seconds after they locked up for the first time, a small portion of the crowd started the “this is awesome” chant. I thought there was no way that would catch on yet, since it had just started. But it did pick up a little bit of steam as the chants got somewhat louder. But then thankfully someone chanted the obvious: “It just started”, and that became a dueling chant. It should be noted that later on in the match, the “this is awesome” chant occurred again, as well as “this is wrestling” but it was more warranted that time.

Anyway, the match itself was probably the match of the night. Although I got the sense that by their standards it was probably really basic. No false finishes except for one where Sami hit the Blue Thunder Bomb for a 2 count. They told the story of Sami taking a beating but still getting back up. Finn knocked him down once, started to go to the top rope, but then he would notice Sami getting to his feet so he’d get back in the ring and knock him down again. That happened a few times until Sami fired back with a flurry of punches of his own and made a comeback. They ended up brawling outside the ring and Sami went for the Torpedo DDT, but Finn hit him with a pelee kick and Sami ended up knocked out draped over the bottom turnbuckle. So then Finn went up to the apron, casually pushed Sami’s limp body back into the ring, went up top and hit the Coupe De Grace for the win. After the match, they shook hands and Sami raised Finn’s arm.

Notes:

Bayley and Apollo Crews and maybe a few others that I didn’t notice spent a lot of time after their matches taking pictures with fans in the front row as well. NXT is a very enjoyable experience live. If you’ve never been to one of their shows, you’ve probably heard people say that before, but it’s completely true. I had a blast. Crowd was hotter than most Green Bay crowds I’ve been in. The show itself, while very good, was a bit strange in that a lot of heels went over which seems to go against what they usually do at house shows.