NXT 1-30-13 Review

Original Airdate: Wednesday, January 30th, 2013
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida

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Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match
Alex Riley & Derrick Bateman vs. Kassius Ohno & Leo Kruger

This is a group of guys that never hit their potential in WWE for a variety of different reasons. Ohno is the one that still doesn't make sense to me. Riley surprisingly gets the advantage on Ohno early on.. Bateman then clears out both men headed into the commercial break. The heels go after Bateman's knee and work on it with multiple tags in and out. Bateman finally gets the tag and Riley hits a big spinebuster on Ohno. Ohno is able to hold him off and knocks him silly with a kick to the face and finishes him off with a submission. That was pretty standard tag team wrestling.

Match Rating: *3/4 (out of 5)

Out comes Corey Graves and he puts Alex Riley in the 13th Step.

They show an interview from earlier today with Big E. He says he can't wait for Konnor to find out about the 5 count.

Sakamoto vs. Mason Ryan

Sakamoto has a pretty decent entrance for a jobber. Ah, the Mason Ryan era. I'm still shocked this guy didn't get a Roman Reigns-esque push. That pretty much tells you all you need to know about his talent. Regal talks about Ryan's beautiful muscles. His finisher was the Jackhammer? Sakamoto did his best here, while the announcers cover up the lack of reaction being due to the fact that they are in awe of Ryan.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Aksana vs. Paige

Aksana pushes Paige over the top rope to the floor. Aksana looks very green here, but she gets to dominate pretty much the entire match. Paige pulls her off the turnbuckle and puts her in a submission for the victory. Summer Rae and Paige bump into each other and Summer Rae then attacks her from behind and storms off. Not a good match.

Match Rating: 1/4*

Renee Young is with Sasha Banks. Sasha says her first win last week was one of her biggest accomplishments. She is then handed a note that's a cheesy "Roses are red, violets are blue" secret admirer letter. Ugh.

Tag Team Championship Tournament First Round Match
Bo Dallas & Michael McGillicutty vs. Primo & Epico

The most notable thing about this match so far is that Epico doesn't have corn rows. I would have never guessed that Dallas and McGillicutty would still be a team here in 2019. At least I think they are. The action has actually been pretty good to start. McGillicutty slingshots Epico over the top rope as we go to commercial break. Epico and Primo regain control and work on McGillicutty. I have to say, this match feels like it's on fast forward compared to a lot of NXT matches of this era. Both teams are working a quick pace and it is benefiting this match greatly. Epico and McGillicutty collide and both men are down. Dallas gets the better of Primo and they have a somewhat awkward segment. Primo almost gets the win with a roll up. He hits a cool variation of the DDT and again can only get the 2 count on Bo. Bo hits a belly to belly suplex/body slam and picks up the victory. That was a much better match than I was expecting. All four men looked to be on a mission to have a good match here and they did.

Match Rating: ***

Well, the show ended on a surprising high note despite the rest of the show being pretty dull. Aksana and Mason Ryan aren't exactly two stars I would want to build around, but that's me. Paige continues to be popular with the crowd and Ohno continues to succeed in his role. All in all, this was just okay.

Overall Rating: 55%