Times change, and once you realize the good old days are over it's too late. NXT has changed a lot over the years, but the best memories will stay with us forever! Join Adam in his dive back in time to re-explore the 10 Best TV Matches From NXT 1.0
What are some of your favorite moments from NXT 1.0 that we didn't mention in the video? Let us know in the comments!
00:00 Introduction
01:05 #10
02:04 #9
03:00 #8
04:09 #7
04:53 #6
05:50 #5
06:48 #4
07:46 #3
08:47 #2
09:45 #1
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
What are some of your favorite moments from NXT 1.0 that we didn't mention in the video? Let us know in the comments!
00:00 Introduction
01:05 #10
02:04 #9
03:00 #8
04:09 #7
04:53 #6
05:50 #5
06:48 #4
07:46 #3
08:47 #2
09:45 #1
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 NXT, much like Ozzy Osbourne, is going through changes and look, I'm going to fight against
00:04 every red flag going. The Raw-like promo parades, weird switcheroo booking and the Von Wagners
00:09 and focus on the positives. NXT is truly a developmental show once again and that is
00:14 very much fine. And if we still get matches like Kushida vs Roderick Strong whilst also
00:19 promoting a whole bunch of new talent, that's also... it's fine, isn't it? It's absolutely...
00:25 it's fine. It's not quite the appointment viewing that a lot of us are used to, though
00:29 if we're honest, NXT hasn't been appointment viewing for a little while now, but it is
00:32 what it is. However, as we reach this turning point in the history of the brand, after my
00:36 fantasy booking video about NXT, which, hey, you should watch, please and thank you, let's
00:40 finish off our NXT 2.0 coverage by looking back at the very best of the black and gold
00:45 era. I'm Adam Hailing from PartsFunknown and here are our top 10 best TV matches from NXT
00:52 1.0. And while you're here, please like and subscribe to the video. We love you, we love
00:59 you so much. We'll protect you, we'll protect you from WWE rebranding you.
01:05 Number 10. Cesaro vs Sami Zayn 2/3 falls. In some people's eyes, the match that started
01:10 it all. Sami Zayn and Antonio Cesaro, as he was then known before his first name was mysteriously
01:16 outlawed, had a whopper of a feud in NXT, with Big Chez repeatedly getting the best
01:20 of Little Sami on what would be a months long underdog story. The two had a 20 minute stormer
01:26 in the first ever NXT special called NXT Arrival, the takeover before takeovers were a thing,
01:31 but this is the match that really caught people's attention, sent rumours of a match of the
01:35 year candidate being aired on this random developmental show that not many people had
01:39 heard of, and when those people tuned in, they saw 15 hard hitting minutes of freakish
01:43 power from Cesaro and industry topping selling from Zayn, culminating in a staggering spot
01:49 of Cesaro not quite catching Zayn but then just f***ing catching him anyway, into an
01:53 eye watering uppercut and neutraliser. Beautiful stuff, stuffed full of story, and the standard
01:57 setter for NXT not only is the home of indie quality, but a place where main roster stars
02:02 could come and get some actual work done.
02:04 Number 9. Rhea Ripley vs Shayna Baszler. Equal parts amazing match, equal parts amazing moment.
02:10 The one single time NXT beat AEW in the key demo during the Wednesday Night Wars, this
02:15 was your main event. Rhea Ripley showcasing that brutality, and finally ending Shayna
02:20 Baszler's almost 2 year run as the dominant woman in NXT, pinning her after an avalanche
02:25 riptide to be crowned NXT Women's Champion, and there was much rejoicing. Quite frankly
02:30 both women kicked the s*** out of each other, Shayna throwing elbows, Ripley using her nightmare
02:36 legs to big boot Baszler straight into hell, or the Raw Women's Championship scene as
02:40 it's otherwise known. Savage strikes, Ripley destroying both of Baszler's ineffectual
02:45 pony women, a fantastic story told around Rhea's arm, and a belter of a kick out after
02:49 Baszler DDT'd her onto a chair. After the match, as Rhea was held aloft by the NXT fans,
02:54 it was a joyous crowning of a new star, cue worrying music as Charlotte waited in the
02:59 wings.
03:00 Number 8. Samoa Joe vs Sami Zayn, 2 out of 3 falls. In case you didn't realise, NXT's
03:04 really good at 2 out of 3 falls matches, and don't you like it when your favourite TV
03:07 show does a bottle episode? But Adam I hear you cry headbutting your monitor in confusion,
03:12 what's a bottle episode? Well most episodes of TV are made up of multiple scenes, characters
03:17 and locations flitting from one to the other. Bottle episodes focus on maybe just one character,
03:22 one location, one long scene, and the entire episode just sticks with it. The fly episode
03:27 from Breaking Bad, perfect example, or the one where no one's ready from Friends, same
03:30 deal. Well this is the bottle episode of NXT. One episode, one match from start to finish.
03:36 Samoa Joe vs Sami Zayn, 2 out of 3 falls to determine the number one contender to Finn
03:40 Balor's NXT Championship. The crazy sons of bitches go 45 minutes. Joe gets the first
03:46 fall with a muscle buster, Sami equalises with the Koji Clutch, and the finish of the
03:50 match comes with a Coquina Clutch. 45 full minutes later. There are better matches in
03:55 NXT's history with a more rabid crowd, but the two men throw everything at this match,
03:59 and it's such a standout concept and achievement worthy of recognition, and a fond remembrance
04:04 for a time when NXT was the best single hour of wrestling around.
04:08 7. Asuka vs Nikki Cross - Last Woman Standing And talk about underrated classics, the first
04:14 ever Last Woman Standing match in WWE history, don't let Sasha and Charlotte tell you differently.
04:19 Also it's more brutal than the one the Queen and The Boss had. If Nikki Cross hadn't already
04:22 convinced you that she was insane with her propensity to run around like one of the witches
04:25 from Macbeth with her fucking dress on fire, then the bump she took here should make that
04:29 abundantly clear. Sometimes it's as simple as Asuka putting a trash can on Nikki's head
04:33 and just kicking it as hard as she can. Sometimes it's as horrible as Asuka being powerbombed
04:37 on a pile of chairs on the outside. There's a fucking sickening superplex from a ladder
04:41 through the announce table. The fans are a bit dead for large stretches of the match.
04:45 Annoyingly, it's a real shame, but even they wake up for some of these high spots, which
04:48 served as a proper star making turn for Nikki Cross.
04:52 6. Adam Cole vs Kyle O'Reilly - Fans may have soured on Kyle O'Reilly's super cool
04:57 and in no way lame cool guy persona, cruelly booing his big blow off win against Adam Cole
05:01 baby at TakeOver 36, but god damn it these two men couldn't go. Their two TakeOver encounters
05:06 are more notable, although both of them are crazy excessive wacky hardcore matches that
05:11 bury the lead on how technically sound both men are. It often felt like Cole and O'Reilly
05:15 were almost duty bound to live up to the carnage of Ciampa Gargano, but their TV match at the
05:19 Great American Bash might actually be their best, because it's a regular match, more
05:23 of a focus on technicality which is definitely Kyle's strong suit, and it's a really strong
05:28 example of how a blood feud can flourish under confined rules. It's a belter, both men
05:33 trading submissions and stiff strikes, each one having every single limb in the purple
05:37 on 2K by the end of the match. Wish the rabid crowd had been a little more into Kyle at
05:41 the time so they could have lost their mind at the amazing moment O'Reilly kicks out
05:44 the first last shot, with all the limb work stories paying off in the final stretch leading
05:48 to the last last shot.
05:49 5. Undisputed Era vs The Revival Once upon a time, before AEW was invented,
05:54 the home of the greatest tag wrestling in the world was NXT. DIY, AOP, American Alpha,
05:59 Enzo and Cass, The Revival, and The Undisputed Era to name just a few. It seemed like every
06:04 single takeover between 2016 and 2020, they kept finding ways to raise the bar. Two of
06:09 the most accomplished teams, and providing some of the greatest takeover matches ever,
06:13 were The Revival, now known as FTR, and The Undisputed Era, now known as Kyle O'Reilly
06:17 and Roderick Strong. Like two ships passing each other in the night, The Revival checked
06:21 out of NXT shortly before the UE checked in, and it was a long anticipated dream match.
06:26 UE vs The Revival, and it actually happened, not at takeover, but on NXT TV, and it f***ing
06:33 ruled. One of the only times The Revival ever worked face, the best team of one era facing
06:37 off against Fish and O'Reilly, often regarded as the best team within UE. All dickhead,
06:42 all seamless transitions, all the time, building to a beautiful crescendo of violence with
06:46 rare heroism from Dash and Dawson.
06:48 #4 - Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews vs The Bros Awaits
06:52 And sticking with blisteringly good tag wrestling, who doesn't love a bit of the Dusty Rhodes
06:55 Tag Team Classic? There have been a huge amount of beautiful NXT TV tag matches as part of
07:00 the tournament, American Alpha making a name for themselves, getting a 20 minute bout out
07:04 of the goddamn hype bros, DIY vs Aleister Black and Ricochet, Grizzled Young Veterans vs
07:10 UE, but this is an underrated favourite. The odd couple of The Bros Awaits vs the happiest
07:14 boys in all the schoolyard, Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. Just four dudes who'd
07:19 wrestled each other a whole bunch on the UK indie scene and beyond, this match just decided
07:23 to skip the feeling out process and go straight into silly flips and pow moves and it's
07:27 lovely. Mark Andrews hot tag is Hot Enough to Melt Vibranium, featuring a ludicrous sunset
07:31 flip tornado DDT spot, also there's an electric chair poison rana thing which just chefs kiss.
07:38 The match gets a tag team wrestling chant for a reason, if you've forgotten about
07:41 this match, go and watch it again, it's just fun. And you're right Lisa, fun is
07:46 fun.
07:47 3. Aleister Black vs Tommaso Ciampa
07:49 Hey you know what didn't happen very often? The NXT Championship changing hands on TV.
07:53 Well obviously before takeovers were invented it did, shut up dad, but once NXT got its
07:57 own version of pay per views, the big crowning moments were saved for those big shows. Not
08:01 in 2018 though, which might just be the single best calendar year in NXT history which is
08:05 f*cking saying something. Ciampa Gargano was maybe the hottest feud in wrestling at the
08:10 time, which was a shame for Aleister Black as he was the poor soul who had custody of
08:13 Goldie at the time. Not only did he lose this match, but he also lost out on a rematch at
08:17 TakeOver Brooklyn 4 as well. Poor spooky Laurie. Anyway this match ruled. Ciampa was the most
08:21 hated man in the world, no entrance music Ciampa is the GOAT, both men could go for
08:25 days and indeed they went for almost half an hour, proper babyface vs proper heel, none
08:30 of these both guys are cool indie affairs, f*ck Tommaso Ciampa. The fans are rabid for
08:35 the match by the time Johnny Idiot runs in and accidentally gifts the belt to Ciampa
08:38 but oh man the boos when Ciampa wins. No music, just gloating. Wonderful telly.
08:44 And speaking of Jonathan and Tommato Champion, Johnny Gargano vs Andrade "Cien" Almas.
08:50 Johnny Gargano's match with Andrade at TakeOver Philadelphia is when the Gargano vs Ciampa
08:54 singles feud really ignited after a terribly timed injury to Ciampa put it on the back
08:58 burner immediately after the betrayal. At the end of the show, after the 5 star match
09:02 between Gargano and Andrade, Ciampa returned to hit Johnny with the crutch and there was
09:06 much boo. Fast forward a month to the rematch on NXT TV and the most easily emotionally
09:11 manipulated man in the world, Johnny Wrestling, being goaded into putting his career in NXT
09:15 on the line for one last shot at the gold. And the match is as wonderful as you'd expect
09:19 from two men on the in-ring run of their lives. Another glorious NXT main event running over
09:24 20 minutes, it's wonderful wrestling smooth as butter, leading to another vicious crutch
09:28 attack from Ciampa as Mauro Analo is so outraged he almost screams out his spine. Unlike Aleister
09:33 Black, Andrade is able to survive the Ciampa-Gargano feud with his title reign intact, good job,
09:37 and the match ended with a wonderful bit of amdram business, Ciampa waving Johnny Gargano's
09:42 career goodbye. The best villainy.
09:45 At number 1, Undisputed Era vs Mustache Mountain. And when it comes to true emotion, this is
09:49 the often unsung crowning glory from NXT 1.0. To date, it's the only TV match in NXT history
09:56 to gain the big sweaty Dave Massive Muscles Meltzer full 5 stars if you don't count
10:00 NXT UK. After winning the NXT Tag Team Championships from UE at the special two-day NXT UK title
10:08 tournament in 2018, Mustache Mountain put the straps on the line in a rematch against
10:12 Strong and O'Reilly a month later on NXT TV.
10:14 And oh the emotion that would flow. Early in the match, Seven damages his left knee
10:19 on the ring steps, and that's the whole show. Undisputed Era grinds his knee into
10:23 a fine paste, cuing some of the best selling this side of Ricky Steamboat. This also leads
10:27 to a whole bunch of hope spots from Tyler Bate and if there's a Strong Boy. The finish
10:31 of the match is glorious, ending with O'Reilly first locking Trent Seven in an endless heel
10:35 hook and then a double kneebar face where Evan Owens wrested the title away from Sami
10:38 Zayn. Truly exceptional.
10:41 And that's our list. What's your favourite match from NXT 1.0? Let us know in the comments
10:45 below and don't forget to like and share this video around if you enjoyed it, and subscribe
10:48 to partsFUNknown for more silly wrestling content. Jam that Jam.
10:52 [outro]
10:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]