NXT 188

September 25, 2013 – Winter Park, Florida

Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy def. CJ Parker & Tyler Breeze [Tag Team Turmoil]
The backstage promo that created the begrudging Breeze/Parker team was quite funny, but when and why did Brad Maddox become an authority figure in NXT? And as quickly as it was formed it’s gone, as Parker refuses to tag out and gets caught by Cass and pinned. ½*

Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy def. Alexander Rusev & Scott Dawson [Tag Team Turmoil]
Enzo caught Dawson with a quick roll up, and I don’t understand why Rusev didn’t make the save. Rusev beats the Jersey boys up after the match. *½

Conor O’Brian & Rick Victor def. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy [Tag Team Turmoil Number One Contenders Match]
This could have been worse, but knowing what this means for the tag titles for the next year is pretty disturbing. **

Sasha Banks def. Bayley
This was pretty good. Banks is definitely more interesting as a heel. Hopefully this lets Bayley evolve her character a bit. After the match, Summer Rae dubs Banks “the Boss,” and rambles on until Emma runs out to chase her out of the ring. **¾

Aiden English def. Bull Dempsey
Watching Dempsey be a jobber is just as weird as watching Baron Corbin job. But other than that there’s nothing interesting happening here. I don’t review squashes. N/A

Sami Zayn def. El Local
I was more into this story when Zayn was fighting main roster wrestlers who we knew were main roster wrestlers, rather than main roster wrestlers’ ring announcers under a mask. This was fine though. After the match, Bo Dallas announces an invitational for next week wherein if someone pins him they’ll get a title shot in a few weeks. The only person not invited it Zayn. **

Kassius Ohno (with a much less ridiculous beard) returns and asks Maddox why he hasn’t been on the shows even though he’s been medically cleared to wrestle for a while. Maddox just thinks Ohno isn’t good. Ohno threatens Maddox, so Maddox says Ohno can come back next week and he can wrestle a member of the Wyatt Family for revenge. Storyline progression on this show is so loose (Maddox magically as an authority figure, Xavier Woods in main event storylines with no explanation or build), and I need them to tighten things up a bit.

Triple H comes out to announce that there’s some drama with Dusty Rhodes (he was called up to the main roster to be in a storyline with his sons), so he’s getting a vacation from being the NXT General Manager and he’ll be replaced by JBL. JBL craps on Rhodes, so I guess we’re in for a heel General Manager stint.