Rich: On January 16th, Jeremy and I Attended an NXT house show in Tampa that was an instant classic. We immediately dubbed it, “The Best Night Of Wrestling No One Saw.” What were your overall thoughts on the show before we dig into this Jeremy?

Jeremy: I thought it was a great show. The house was packed and full of die hard wrestling fans. As the show went on it felt like the wrestlers were trying to one up each other.

Rich : Aside from the diehards, we both brought the ladies in our lives out to the show. A very diverse crowd that reacted to different things. It was a night full of “I can’t believe they did this at a house show.”

Jeremy : Yeah, my wife is not a fan of watching it on TV, but she likes to watch it live. I brought her and our nephew. She was impressed with Tyler Breeze’s butt and he loved all the high flyers. What did your girlfriend think of the show?

Rich : She seemed to enjoy the first few matches, but the bright lights kind of threw her into a headache, but being the loving boyfriend I am, I continued to heckle wrestlers and pop on command lol.

Jeremy : You should have been getting paid the way you were heckling! I think I’m going to write a post on to teach your wife/girlfriend to watch wrestling lol.

Rich : You hear that WWE? Just give me a live mic and let me size the heck out of each performer! That would be a heck of a column, however, I think we are in the minority of wrestling fans with women in our lives. So maybe it’ll just be a future guide for them lol. Anyway the first match was Tony Briggs vs. Tye Dillinger. Tony Briggs was immediate fodder for hecklers and drew some okay heat, what were your thoughts on this?

Jeremy : Yeah, I thought Briggs got some okay heat. I wasn’t a fan of his Brooklyn Brawler attire. Which lead us to chant Tampa Brawler. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. He didn’t seem to like that. I think he has potential if they give him a gimmick to work with.

Rich : He was one of my favorite targets of the night. Someone else also chanted Walmart Jeans at him. Things seemed to just be happening when something CRAZY happened out of nowhere. Not Randy Orton…But KEVIN OWENS SHOWED UP????

Jeremy : YES! I popped so hard when Owens made his way down to the ring. He wrecked Tye and Briggs with two nasty powerbombs. Half of the crowd was chanting Kill Owens Kill and the other half was chanting Fight Owens Fight. Then all together we chanted Thank You Owens! He tried to cut a promo, but then the mics kept cutting out. I thought a tech guy was going to be the 3rd victim!

Rich : Yeah, I was afraid for him. Owens sprinted to the ring and I’m sure the guys wrestling went through the seven stages of grief. He didn’t break up a good match like Bray Wyatt so everything was all good. He informed us that he would be back later, and we knew it was on. KILL OWENS KILL!

Jeremy: As soon as he said that I knew who his target was for later in the night. The next match was a tag match between Shoot Nation and The Duck Dynasty looking dudes a.k.a The Mechanics. What were your thoughts on this match?

Rich : I was looking forward to Shoot Nation, as the concept sounds pretty interesting, however, The Mechanics stole the show. Them going over felt like a good booking decision as they dominated most of the match. Never really got into them before, but they might have a shot. Did you expect shoot nation to lose?

Jeremy : At first, I thought Shoot Nation was going to win after the beating Fulton took. It looked like Dawkins was going to save the day for his team. But in the end Fulton was too beat up to help out Dawkins and The Mechanics dominated and got the win.

Rich : Out next was Enzo Amore, Big Cass & Carmella. You stood in line to meet them, how was that?

Jeremy : It was awesome! I’m a huge fan of Enzo and Big Cass. I did their whole intro promo with them at the table. They were not impressed with my Roman Reigns shirt and wanted to know where my Sawft shirt was. Overall, they were very nice and thanked me for supporting them. How does future look for the this team?

Rich : I tweeted (@dangerrich32) GOTTA GET THESE PLUGS IN…that I wasn’t worried about them on the main roster, because Enzo is so entertaining on the mic, and they have a great connection with the crowd. Who doesn’t love calling someone else…SAWWWWFT? However, as soon as Carmella started talking about winning the NXT divas championship the crowd kind of gave her a well…the title of this song…

Jeremy: I don’t really think Carmella fits in with Enzo and Cass all that much. They’re faces and she is a heel. So far her only matches have been against ole blue pants (who the crowd desperately wanted to see). They need to start booking her against the other NXT divas so we can see what she is made of. She might prove she is not SAWFT!

Rich : I also dropped the DJ Mustard tag as a heckle when her music dropped. What match happened next?

Jeremy : Next we had Kalisto versus Solomon Crowe. I was surprised that Kalisto got a mixed reaction. Of course, all the indy marks were losing their mind over Crowe. I’ve seen Crowe’s work on the indies and he never really interested me and I can’t see the hype. What are your thoughts on Crowe?

Rich: I have the same feelings as you. He has weird gear and is REALLY small. Now I’m a fan of small guys, but I literally do not get what the big deal is with him. I yelled “THEY’LL CHEER FOR ANYONE THAT WAS IN THE INDIES!’ And that seemed to get a pop. Immediately I knew he was about to do a job to Mini Ultimo Dragon. This was my 3rd time seeing him live, but maybe I’m missing something. Social Suplex readers, tweet us or leave it in the comments on what Crowe’s appeal is. Was that right on Jeremy?

Jeremy : I couldn’t have said it better. It was okay a match. I think Kalisto has potential to be the next Rey Mysterio. All the Crowe fans were disappointed when Kalisto hit the Salida del Sol and got the win. After this match Devin Taylor and the other announcer guy came out and hyped the next match.

Rich : And what a next match it was. All of a sudden I heard the koto and watched the room come unglued as Hideo “The Kickmaster” Itami came out. I didn’t bother heckling him because of the language barrier, but he was just the first guy to walk out.

Jeremy : After Hideo came out I was pumped and was wondering who else was going to be in this match. Then the lights went out and the heartbeat sound hit which, leads into FINN BALOR’s music! The whole audience popped for Balor. Balor saw a Bullet Club shirt in the crowd and pointed the Bullet Club gun signal to the fan. How could this match get any better?

Rich : Fresh off of buying NJPW world, I’ve gotten into Balor a ton, he seems like he will be THE MAN one day. But the next man out was none other than “The Man Gravity Forgot” Adrian BLEEPING Neville! At this point the entire crowd knew we were in for a treat. Immediately, I tweeted a photo and put it on the Squared Circle Reddit page and watched it go viral. Technology was how we got to let people know this stuff exists! Im sure they could have used this stuff in Mid-South Wrestling.

Jeremy : Yes, without technology no one would have known about the awesomeness we were about to see. I also tweeted (@ProBlackGuy) out pics and posted in the International Wrestling Fanbase group and watched them all go crazy. As the match began we attempted to count how many kicks Hideo was throwing but, we loss count quickly.

Rich : “THE MOST DEADLY KICKS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH.” The match stole the show, as each combo of the 3 showed some basic stuff. They sold us on the awesomeness of this match before they even locked up. After about 12 minutes or so, Adrian Neville pinned Itami with a 450 Splash. Was a bit bummed there was no Red Arrow, but the match was incredible.

Jeremy : My nephew’s eyes and mouth were wide open after that match. He loved the 450. That match was so good you could have ended the show right there and gotten your money’s worth. But it was not the end. There was a brief intermission, then we rolled into the next match.

Rich : The next match was a Women’s Fatal 4 Way between Sasha Banks, (who was looking amazing) Bayley, Becky Lynch and in my opinion the #1 Overall Prospect in NXT….Charlotte.

Jeremy: Before the match started, we had the famous “Sasha’s ratchet, no she’s not chants”

Rich : I hope the word ratchet dies a fast painful death.

Jeremy : Me too. For a majority of the match Sasha and Lynch worked together, beating down Charlotte and Bayley. Then they realized only one of them can win and match finally was all women for themselves. Charlotte started rallying at the end. She hit the Natural Selection on Bayley but, Sasha threw her out of the ring and stole the victory.

Rich : It was a good match, the ladies were clearly having a good time, and preparing for their next major match at NXT Takeover. I expect it to be another match to add to at to NXT women’s lore. Up next it was Baron Corbin taking on a guy who I think has a bright future, Jason Jordan.

Jeremy : I believe you said that Jason Jordan is a future world champion and I agree with you. He has the look and great in ring work. Now he just needs to nail the gimmick that will get him over.

Rich : Yes I did. Now I didn’t say where he would be a world champion…but he has a look and ability. And I support our Brothers in the business!

Jeremy : Maybe he’ll be the next black WWE champion. Jordan wrestled Corbin in what has to be Corbin’s longest match. It was great to see Corbin work for more than 20 seconds. He has a presence about him that makes him stand out. The match was interrupted by Bull Dempsey. As soon as he came out you and I were booing the hell out of that man. He attacked Corbin and went for a top rope headbutt. Corbin moved out of the way and nailed him with End of Days.

Rich : Bull Dempsey Sucks…Sorry Bull. Corbin has a long way to go. Oddly, he seems to be an IWC favorite, although his skillset doesn’t usually qualify for their adulation. Like you said, he has presence and we all know that can cover up any holes a guy might have. Glad to see him whoop Bull’s ass though.

Jeremy : Up next we had a tag team match between the Vaudevillians and the new NXT Tag Champions, Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake. WAIT WHAT? We have new NXT Tag Champs? And it’s the team that has been jobbing since NXT has been on the network? What’s going on? I’m confused!

Rich : I no sold the fact they were champions out of respect for kayfabe, and that it hadn’t happened on TV yet. It’s weird they have the belts now, it’s like they gave them the belts to specifically get over. I sat in utter confusion throughout the entire match.

Jeremy : So did I. I guess we should have noticed that Kalisto didn’t come out with his half of the tag team titles. What were your thoughts on this match up?

Rich : I think the Vaudevillians are miscast as heels. I didn’t really watch this match attentively, by this point I was ready for the main event.

Jeremy: I agree, the Vaudevillians should be a face team. I had a hard time getting to this match. Blake and Murphy pick up the win. I really hope they build them up on TV because right now I’m not buying them as champions.

Rich : Finally, it was main event time. We both stood up as Tyler Breeze’s music hit and anticipated a great close to the evening. When Zayn appeared he came out without the title to the bewilderment of the fans. He quickly went and grabbed the title to a huge pop. Expect to see that at NXT sometime soon.

Jeremy : After the ring introductions the whole crowd broke out into to ole chants. I had to explain to my wife the whole El Generico background and how the ole chants started. With this being a title match at a house show I knew Zayn wasn’t going to lose but, I knew it was going to be a great match. Zayn has the NXT crowd in the palm of his hands. Do you agree?

Rich : A while ago I wrote a column about NXT in Florida being the modern day Florida Championship Wrestling. I called Zayn The Dusty Rhodes of NXT. There are bigger guys, more dynamic athletes, and more colorful characters, but Zayn has the crowd sold on him. He’s a junior Daniel Bryan in a sense. Even in defeat, he manages to capture excellence.

Jeremy : I think he’ll be able to get over quickly on the main roster as well. Zayn and Tyler shifted momentum and hit all their signature spots. After a Super Model Kick, KEVIN OWENS showed up again to get his hands on Zayn.

Rich : Zayn was able to actually fight him off for the first time. Owens played cowardly heel and scooted to the back. Zayn threatened to whip Owens ass at NXT Takeover, and the whole crowd wanted to see him do it. After the match, Zayn thanked the crowd and talked to us all for a few minutes. It felt very human of him. What did you make of that Jeremy?

Jeremy : I thought it showed how much Zayn truly loves the fans. He is very humble and knows we could have chosen to back any other guy, but we chose him and we’ve stuck with him no matter how many times he lost.

Rich : All in all it was a great night of NXT. Having attended Full Sail for some of the tapings, this night was right up there. NXT didn’t hold back because it was a house show. For 10 Bucks, this was a great value. Where do we buy tickets for next time?

Jeremy : You can find tickets by going to nxttickets.ticketforce.com. They have the tickets for all the NXT house shows, tapings, and Takeovers. I’m looking forward to going to another NXT show.

Rich : WWE needs to CTC (Cut The Check) for this free promotion Jeremy. The greatest night in wrestling no one heard of has now been brought to you all by Social Suplex. Anything else to add Jeremy?

Jeremy : This was a lot of fun and looking forward to putting together another piece like this. Social Suplex readers, stay tuned! 2015 is going to be a great year. Be on the look out for some new columns and potential video content. Subscribe to our mailing list to make sure you don’t miss a post or announcement.