NXT 197

November 27, 2013 – Winter Park, Florida

Antonio Cesaro def. Yoshi Tatsu
Before the match, Cesaro bullies ring announcer Bryan Saxton until Regal saves his commentary buddy. In the middle of the match, Cesaro hits a very long giant swing on Tatsu and then upon release stares directly at Regal. This guy is a freak. I don’t usually rate squashes, but Cesaro stared at Regal through this whole match and it was awesome and I loved it. ***

In a backstage interview, Bo Dallas keeps accidentally(?) saying what the audience is thinking when he’s interrupted by CJ Parker and says he’s surprised to see that he’s still employed. Dallas shouldn’t be champion, but he should be on this show a whole lot more than he is.

Bo Dallas def. CJ Parker
This was fine, just fine. The crowd really doesn’t care about Parker. **½

Apparently Emma was injured by the BFFs in a backstage segment that nobody saw. Paige is still mad about that errant shot that Emma gave her in the ring. Paige is bad at promos. Later, Natalya and Paige argue over another backstage slight that wasn’t on camera. Paige offers to put up her title against Natalya, and Natalya responds by accidentally saying what the audience is thinking, that Paige (and by extension this women’s division) is all over the place.

Tyler Breeze def. Kassius Ohno
The fall of Ohno continues. He’s attacked by Alexander Rusev before the match because Rusev is mad that Ohno wiped out his Beat the Clock time (but, so did Neville and Zayn and you don’t see him attacking them). Then the guy who Ohno actually beat in the Beat the Clock Challenge pins him in until 5 seconds. N/A

Camacho & Hunico def. Conor O’Brian & Rick Victor
I did not expect to think a match between these two teams would be pretty good, but this match was pretty good. Also, it’s always satisfying to see the Ascension pinned clean. **¾

Adrian Neville def. Sami Zayn [Number One Contender’s Match]
A little less than a year from this, these two will have another match, and it will be a little more nuanced and have a crowd that will be even more molten hot. But if you sleep on this match you’re an idiot because it’s even more tightly structured and up there with the best matches on this TV show since the reboot. ****