I can live with Samoa Joe starting each episode of NXT with a promo. As I’ve said a million times before, the man is untouchable on the mic. Whether it’s a promo or a match, Joe’s segments are becoming must-watch, and this week’s opening promo continues that trend.
*****
On the other end of the show, Cruiserweight Classic standout Cedric Alexander debuted in the main event against Andrade “Cien” Almas. I’m not sure how the Cruiserweight division is going to be handled on RAW down the road (though it did have an impressive start), but giving someone like Alexander time down at Florida allows him to shine outside the division.
*****
The Rest of the Show:
- Austin Aries def. Oney Lorcan: Aries is a great heel—that’s something we already know. Lorcan can work in the ring, but his generic jobber package isn’t going to win people over. Aries calling out Hideo Itami then bailing when the latter showed up is old-school heeling and is A-Double’s bread and butter.
- Billie Kay def. Aliyah: With all the brilliant matches NXT’s Women’s division has had the past year, it’s easy to forget that they all started as developmental talents. With most of the players in the division now on the main roster, seeing green talents jockeying for the opportunity to get kicked in the head by Women’s Champion Asuka isn’t fun.
*****
After a handful of weeks treading water, it seems that NXT's finally back on track. With the next TakeOver already in mind, the yellow brand is slowly setting up the pieces for Toronto. With the NXT Championship angle already on its way and the introduction of a new face for the midcard, NXT has an inkling of direction, which was missing from the past weeks’ episodes. It gets a B+ this week.
Thoughts on this week's episode? Let us know by dropping a comment below!
Photo from WWE.com
*****

Jocs Boncodin (@caboncodin) is a Managing Editor of Smark Henry. He answers tweets by day and watches wrestling by night. An aspiring writer, Jocs spends most of his idle time fantasy booking angles and overthinking wrestling storylines. A big fan of the WWE, his introduction to the local online wrestling community Smark Gilas-Pilipinas has opened his eyes to the wonders of puroresu and lucha libre. He currently handles Smark Hen-XT, smarkhenry.ph's weekly NXT review.