NXT Philly at The Tower Theater results

NXT Philly: Night 1

The first stops on the first NXT Tour were in Upper Darby last Thursday and Friday at The Tower Theater. I saw a wrestling show there before (TNA) and they put the ring on the stage which wasn’t great for the people sitting close to the stage (aka where I was sitting). But NXT’s set up was great – they had some bleachers set up on the stage next to an entrance way with the ring set up on a platform extended out from the stage. People in the balcony had a good view of the action and seats from the floor were even better (I had balcony seats on Thursday and floor seats maybe 10 rows back from the stage on Friday).

The show opened with Enzo and Cass with Carmella taking on Blake and Murphy for the tag team titles. Enzo and Cass got a huge pop from the crowd, one of the biggest of the night. They did their usual “Certified G/Bonafide stud” routine and the whole place chanted along with them.

Blake and Murphy retained with their running suplex/frog splash combo. Afterward, the champs attacked Enzo and took the turnbuckle off a corner but before they can use it, Cass and Carmella stop them and all three take turns forearming Blake (or Murphy, I don’t remember) in the face. Blake and Murphy were really hated, especially because Blake came out with his hair in pigtails.

My view from the balcony wasn't too bad on night one of NXT Philly

Next match was Jason Jordan vs Bull Dempsey. Jordan had new music but the same singlet as always. Bull won the match but I don’t remember how, it was pretty lackluster and the crowd was hating on Bull the entire time. Plus, the biggest reaction Jordan got was taking his straps down like Kurt Angle, which tells you how into this match the crowd was.

Dana Brooke came out next to huge boos. She tagged with Becky Lynch against Bayley and Alexa Bliss. Becky and Bliss got good pops from the crowd but nothing like Bayley – people absolutely loved her. There was a big “We Want Blue Pants” chant during this match and also, I’m pretty sure I saw Danny Doring (ECW original who tagged with Roadkill) in the crowd.

Bayley got the win with a Belly to Bayley. Solid match, nothing too flashy though.

The final match before intermission was a triple threat NXT Championship match between Tyler Breeze, Finn Balor and Kevin Owens. The crowd went nuts hearing we were gonna see a title match, as well as three of the most popular guys in NXT. (It’s too bad Sami Zayn and Hideo Itami are hurt because they were the only ones who could’ve maybe gotten a bigger response than these three guys)

Crowd starts a huge “Ole” chant soon as the match starts and Owens immediately heads outside and sits down next to Jojo and Greg Hamilton as Breeze and Balor fight in the ring. Owens retains after Balor hits the Coup de Grace on Breeze and Owens throws Balor out and collects the win.

Afterward, William Regal announces that Balor gets a title match and Balor says he’s bringing the demon!

After intermission, Mick Foley comes to the ring and gets a few cheap pops and he and Joey Styles sit at ringside. The next match is Solomon Crowe taking on Tye Dillinger. Dillinger has a new gimmick where he refers to himself as “The Perfect 10” and carries a sign with him that has a giant 10 on it. Crowe gets the win with a stretch muffler.

Dillinger’s new gimmick got over surprisingly well, even though he was the heel in the match. Crowe got a huge reaction the crowd, getting “Sami” and “CZW” chants for all his time as Sami Callihan in Combat Zone Wrestling.

Baron Corbin came out next to a mixed reaction, which only got way worse as the match went on. He took on ECW vet Rhyno who got a big reaction and lots of “ECW,” “Gore,” and “Rhyno’s gonna kill you” chants.

Corbin was working heel in this match and was really working well as the bad guy, riling up and antagonizing the crowd. Lots of “Corbin sucks” chants to the tune of the “New Day sucks” chants. There were also “Corbin’s gonna bore you” like the “Rhyno’s gonna gore you” chants, but I can’t remember if this was Thursday or Friday.

Their match actually wasn’t too bad and Corbin gets the win with the End of Days. Afterward, he trash talks ECW guys and the crowd was chanting “Shut the f*ck up” at him so loud it was drowning out his promo over the PA system. He talks down to Joey Styles and tells him to bring another ECW original Friday for him to beat.

Before the main even, Triple H came out which was a huge surprise to everyone. He puts over NXT, specifically the women’s division and acknowledges the crowd chanting “Better than Divas” by saying he doesn’t care what you call them because they kick ass.

The main event is Sasha Banks vs Charlotte for the Women’s title, which was just an awesome match, one of the best they’ve ever put on. It was also really cool that the women got to main event the first show.

Sasha gets the win with the Banks Statement, nearly wrenching Charlotte in half, pulling her over a few times to get her away from the ropes.

Overall, the first night of NXT Philly was just a great show from top to bottom. The crowd was into everything and chanting almost the whole time. Plus, The Tower is a pretty good venue for wrestling when it’s set up right and draws a hot crowd.

My only complaints were that the music was really loud and sometimes it kill the crowd’s enthusiasm during some entrances. Also, there were lots of kids and families in attendance and the smarks were sometimes chanting some really vulgar stuff which made participating in some of those chants really awkward. Plus, this felt like just a warm up show for Takeover since so many of those matches are also happening on Wednesday. But still, the matches they put on were really good and they got a lot more time than they usually do on WWE programming.

NXT Philly: Night 2

Greg Hamilton opened Night 2 with a recap of Night 1 and Jojo did a great performance of the national anthem.

The first match saw Enzo and Cass take on Tyler Breeze and a mystery partner, which turned out to be Bull Dempsey. Breeze said he was going to be a champion for them because the Eagles aren’t winning any championships any time soon. He also talks down on cheesesteaks which really got the crowd going. Enzo and Cass came out with cheesesteaks and interrupt Breeze, saying they like their rolls toasted so they hard and aren’t…well, you know.

Lots of comedy spots in this match with Enzo and Cass tempting Bull with a cheesesteak and Breeze stopping him from eating it. Also, Enzo chased Breeze around outside the ring until Bull started chasing Enzo with Breeze, but got winded quickly and Breeze and Enzo lapped him around the ring.

Enzo and Cass got the win with the assisted splash and Bull turns on Breeze and eats one of the cheesesteaks. Also, Tye Dillinger came out after the match and gave it a 3 and points to Bull.

View from my seats night two were even better but unfortunately, most of my pics came out terrible

Next, Alexa Bliss takes on Dana Brooke. Alexa is really over and the crowd still really hates Brooke, giving her “You can’t wrestle” chants, even though she was doing pretty well in the ring. Brooke gets the win with the Samoan Driver. Afterward, Dillinger came out and gave the match a 9, but then turned it over into a 6 after getting booed.

Baron Corbin came out next to huge boos and called out Joey Styles. Lots of loud ECW chants as Styles announces Corbin’s opponent – The Innovator of Violence, Tommy Dreamer!

Fun match with Dreamer taking Corbin around outside the ring, hitting him with a can of soda and a cup of beer. Takes him in the ring and gets a 2 off a DDT but then Corbin takes control and wins with a End of Days. Tye Dillinger comes out and gives Dreamer a 0 and Styles gets in his face. Dillinger grips him up but Styles pushes him into Dreamer and Dreamer DDT him.

Next match is a fatal fourway for the NXT Women’s title between Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte and Becky Lynch. Sasha and Charlotte took bumps outside the ring which I thought was nuts because it didn’t sound like there was much padding down. Sasha and Bayley fought off the stage and into the crowd a little too.

There were lots of other cool moments like a big superplex/powerbomb tower of doom spot with all four women and Becky got a “Suplex City” chant after tossing people with a few t-bone suplexes. Bayley hits a Belly to Bayley on Becky but Sasha throws Bayley out to pin Becky. Huge pops for each girl after the match and before they leave, Charlotte, Becky and Bayley raise each other’s hands. Just an awesome, crazy match.

First match after intermission was Jason Jordan and Solomon Crowe taking on Blake and Murphy for the tag team titles. Crowe gets beat down for a while and Jordan gets the hot tag and goes nuts with suplexes and shoulder blocks into the corner on Blake and Murphy. There was also a cool spot where Crowe and Jordan had the stretch muffler and ankle lock applied at the same time but the champs didn’t tap. Jordan and Crowe worked pretty well together despite seeming like an odd pairing.

Main event time – Kevin Owens vs Finn Balor for the NXT Title. Balor enters through the crowd with the demon paint (though it’s the usual paint and not new paint as was reported by the dirtsheets).

Owens runs out of the ring a few times before locking up with Balor and plays the heel really well, despite the crowd wanting to love both guys. There were loud “Cena sucks” chants all night and Owens busted out a You Can’t See Me followed by a 5 Knuckle Shuffle, but Balor dodged it.

Owens picked up the win after a great match by hitting Balor with a chair on the outside. He then tried to powerbomb Balor on the edge of the stage but faces came out to stop him, followed by the heels to start a big brawl to end the show. Great match overall though, honestly, I think the women’s fourway might’ve been better.

Finn Balor's demon makes an appearance at The Tower. (Not my picture)

Both shows were awesome and the turnout for both shows was really good so hopefully WWE and NXT come back to Delco soon.