So this past Saturday my wife and I went to see NXT live here in Indianapolis. It was the first live wrestling show I've seen since around 2010, so obviously I had never seen an NXT show live show. I didn't really know what to expect from the seating arrangement because the only thing I've ever seen at the venue was a John Mulaney stand-up set a couple years ago and the seating chart is completely different for a wrestling show. When we got there I was very pleasantly surprised with our seats. We were on the right side of the entrance ramp, 4 seats away from the railing. We were able to make direct eye contact and that was pretty cool. I'm pretty sure I shared a moment with Alexa Bliss.
We got seated a little too early but there was a bar literally 15 feet to our left so we had a couple drinks while we waited on the show to start. Once the show was about to start and everyone around us had filled in we immediately noticed 2 super marks sitting right in front of us. They were the guys that try to make the show about them. They're basically the bad version of the NXT crowd when they go into business for themselves and act like the performers aren't humans. One guy thought he was incredibly cool with his Bullet Club hat and shirt, and he had something snarky to say about everything, and was basically dogging the product yet had a bag full of merch that he had bought at the venue. Outside of that guy and his buddy, who was basically the lite version of BC guy, everyone around us was pretty cool and seemed to genuinely enjoy the show.
Earlier in the day, I had read on twitter that Finn wouldn't be competing because he hurt his ankle the night before in Nashville. That was a bummer but I was convinced they'd still put on a good show. The first match was Asuka vs. Emma, and it was great. It's pretty remarkable the shape that Emma is in. It's clear on tv that she's not a slouch physically but seeing her up close was pretty amazing. My wife was like "holy ****, she's ripped." They had a really good match, with Asuka winning with her rear naked choke finisher. The crowd was actually about 50/50 and we got a "Emma's gonna kill you" chant at one point.
Next was Blake & Murphy vs. Ciampa and Gargano. This match was AMAZING. Ciampa and Gargano are not strangers to the Indiana area from their indy work, so they got a ton of love, especially Gargano. Ciampa and Gargano are so good as a team it's sickening. Everything about this match clicked and the crowd ate it up. Blake and Murphy were doing their heel thing to a T and it was all just fantastic. I could have watched that match multiple times. BAM got the win, but Gargano and Ciampa got a huge standing ovation after the match.
Next up was Bayley vs. Alexa. Alexa is a damn goddess. Seriously, as hot as you may think she is on tv, multiply it by 5 and that's how hot she is in real life. She's my wife's favorite thing on NXT (and kind of mine too), and when she climbed into the ring my wife goes "her ass is insane. She can get it." I just smiled and nodded. She can indeed get it. So moving on to Bayley. When we first got to our seats we noticed a little girl sitting 4 rows in front of us with her dad and she was all decked out in Bayley gear, with a sign that she made. Her dad was rocking an old All Japan Pro Wrestling shirt and was a pretty large dude. Made me think maybe he wrestled a little back in the day but I didn't recognize him. We wanted Bayley to recognize the little girl really bad and sure enough Bayley did her usual thing and gave her a big hug and gave her a head band, then when she got in the ring she tossed her shirt to the little girl and everyone around was cool and didn't try to snag it. Bayley and Alexa had a really good match. Bayley busted out Scotty 2 Hotty's W-O-R-M routine and that got a good pop from the crowd. The match was a ton of fun and Bayley got the win on a Bayley to Belly suplex out of nowhere.
After the match Bayley stayed in the ring and got on the mic talking about how it didn't feel right because their champ was hurt, and people immediately started chanting for Finn. Sure enough his music hit and he came out on crutches with his ankle wrapped (but no cast). Bayley "assisted" him to the ring and then asked him if there was anything she could do to make him feel better. It got a little innuendo'ish and the crowd started laughing. Finn said "there is ONE thing you could do that would make me really really happy" and then he whispered in her ear. So she runs up the ramp and back behind the curtain for a few seconds. Then Finn's music hits and Bayley comes out in his leather Balor Club jacket and does his whole entrance routine. This was awesome because before we got there we talked about just wanted to do the crowd reaction portion of Finn's entrance, and this gave us that chance. It was fun. There's video of it on the internet at this point if you want to check it out. Finn falling into the ropes was purely an exaggeration of his injury. You could tell by the way Bayley ran to his aid and hugged him that it was all a work.
http://www.cagesideseats.com/2016/2/6/10929276/watch-finn-balor-crutches-fall-bayley-entrance-wwe-nxt-indianapolisAfter that we got American Alpha vs. Dash & Dawson. That match was also a blast. Jason Jordan wrestled at Indiana University so he was getting all the love this night. You could tell he was eating it up. Dash & Dawson are great heels and they were doing great work this night as well. The crowd kept doing the "Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-Hoo-siers" chant for Jordan and then at the end of the match, after Dash & Dawson won, Dash walking up the ramp chanting "Who-who-who-who-won?"
After that we got a fairly short match between Nia Jax and Billie Kay. It wasn't great but it also wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen. The super cool snarky guy from earlier was **** all over this match and kept yelling out stuff insinuating that Nia Jax is a man. After about the 4th time, I just said aloud "isn't this guy just hilarious? so much original material" which got a small laugh from the people around us and he then shut up. He was being a dick, and needed someone to make fun of him for a second. It worked to the delight of the immediate crowd.
Then we got the main event. Originally it was supposed to be Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn, then Finn vs. Corbin in the main event. With Finn out they made the main event a triple threat between Joe, Sami and Corbin. I think the injury was actually a blessing in disguise because I can't imagine the Finn vs. Corbin match topping what we got. Joe and Corbin worked together for chunks of the match, and then the old swerve happened and Corbin turned on Joe. They hit all their normal spots and Corbin was really working the crowd well. Sami ended up winning fairly abruptly after hitting both guys in the same corner with the Helluva Kick. Sami grabbed the mic and gave a pretty good rah rah speech that sent everyone home happy.
Overall, it was a complete blast. My wife is completely only slightly into wrestling because I'm into it, and she still had a ton of fun. I really like the more intimate setting from this venue vs. the larger stadium setups for Raw and Smackdown. The action was right in front of us which made the whole experience way cooler. If you have a chance to get out and see an NXT live show, do it.
