Original Airdate: Wednesday, April 8th, 2015
McEnery Convention Center
San Jose, California
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
After only exclusively filming at Full Sail University, we have our second out of town episode in the last four week. This one is coming from WrestleMania Axxess. They are going to show the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal tournament. They show highlights of Finn Balor defeating Baron Corbin, Tyler Breeze defeating Bull Dempsey, Hideo Itami victorious over Jason Jordan and Adrian Neville over Kalisto.
Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Qualifying Tournament Semifinals
Hideo Itami vs. Adrian Neville
We don't see entrances or anything here, which seems odd since the show only has 3 matches. The look of the show definitely reminds me of going to Ring Of Honor back in the day. Hideo gets the best of Neville early on in the match, knocking him over the top rope. It's kind of interesting that they had a "Previously Recorded" up in the corner of the screen. After a fairly short slowdown by Neville, Itami is back with some kicks and a top rope clothesline for a 2 count. Itami hits a fisherman suplex, but Neville is able to avoid the GTS. Itami runs into a superkick, but kicks out at 2. Itami is able to move out of the way of the Red Arrow and hits the running dropkick in the corner. He hits a running kick and that is all. It started off a little slow, but the ending was enjoyable.
Match Rating: ***
Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Qualifying Tournament Semifinals
Tyler Breeze vs. Finn Balor
Neither competitor really gets a good string of momentum in the early going. Finn is able to hit a Sling Blade and a running dropkick. He hits the Coup de Grace and that's all? I know my review doesn't reflect a 5 minute match, but it was extremely quick. The action was good, but I was expecting a lengthier match with there only being 3 matches on the card.
Match Rating: **1/4
They show highlights of the big arena show that NXT ran during the WrestleMania weekend that proved that this was a little bit more than something small. Scott Hall even hypes it up.
Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal Qualifying Tournament Finals
Hideo Itami vs. Finn Balor
They trade sequences and then Itami slows it down with a chinlock. Itami tries to capitalize, but Balor hits him with a kick to the head in the corner. Itami hits a kick as well and follows it up with a top rope clothesline. He goes for the GTS, but Balor comes out of it. Itami hits a kick and then Balor hits one as well. They trade forearms, with Balor getting the best of it. Itami hulks up and hits a running dropkick. Balor comes back with the Sling Blade and goes up top for the Coup de Grace. Itami crotches him and gets him up for the GTS. He escapes again and Balor gets a nearfall out of it. Itami hits him with the Shotgun Kick and that's all. All three matches were good here, even if two of them were short.
Match Rating: ***1/4
There is still 15 minutes left in the show, so let's see what they fill the air with here.
We get a look at a day in the life of Hideo Itami at WrestleMania. First, they go back to when KENTA signed with WWE and Hulk Hogan announcing it to the Japanese fans. We then see him letting NXT fans know that he is now known as Hideo Itami. They show him with his family and then defeating Tyler Breeze at the WrestleMania NXT event with the GTS for the first time. Itami is very likeable and it really is one of the big disappointments that he didn't become a thing in WWE. Itami eliminates Bo Dallas, but then gets knocked out by Big Show. "Welcome to the big leagues" says Michael Cole and it's easy to see why he didn't make it. They try to hype it up like it was some grand thing, which is so WWE and that's all for this week.
This was a good show with all three matches delivering on some level and then a nice video package of Hideo at WrestleMania, even if it was the typical crap of having him eliminated extremely quickly to remind him that his stardom in Japan means nothing to Vince McMahon.
Overall Rating: 70%
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