No sleep only wrestling, no sleep only wrestling, no sleep only wrestling. Sorry, It’s that time of the year where the Steel chair Magazine crew start to be absolutely pumped about all the wrestling events there will be this week, but also dread the late night write ups. It’s a blessing and a curse, but with that out of the way, here is what happened this week on NXT.

Match 1: Johnny Gargano w/ Tomasso Ciampa vs Dash Wilder w/ Scott Dawson vs Akam w/ Paul Ellering & Rezar

This almost looked like a lumberjack match, which is obviously the best match stipulation and I’m currently ashamed of the WWE not bringing us more lumberjack matches. It started off with Akam being double teamed by Gargano and Dawson which seemed like the only way for him to be taken down. The teamwork didn’t last too long as Dawson tried to take out Gargano when his back turned, but Johnny was way ahead of Dawson and took advantage. Fortunately for Dawson, he was pulled out the ring by Dash and left Akam and Gargano in the ring to fight it out.

The strength of Akam kept Johnny under control until Gargano managed to fight out of the dominant hold, threw some punches and repeatedly tried to get Akam off his feet. Finally, Johnny managed to take control of the match but was halted by a big boot by Akam. The match culminated with a Superkick by Johnny, then his final big kick and went for the pin, sadly it was broken up by Rezar. Ciampa then got involved by attacking Rezar but was then stopped by Akam. Gargano was power bombed leaving him open for a pinfall, but after being distracted by Dash Wilder,  Scott Dawson got the pin right behind Akam’s back.

This felt like a pretty quick match, sends an interesting message that it gave The Revival momentum going into NXT Takeover, planting the seed that they could possibly steal the titles right under the Authors of Pain’s noses. But overall, the match wasn’t really engaging.

We got another Aleister Black promo, this time we actually saw his face. Now we start the build to his debut at NXT Takeover where he’ll face Andrade ‘cien’ Almas, still a little confused why they revealed his identity now? When they could’ve kept the secret going. But that’s the way it goes I guess.

Match 2: Heavy Machinery vs Johnathan Ordikan & Mike Marshal

I decree that this is the most appropriate match to call a “Squash Match” because God damn they didn’t hold back. We got a lot of impressive strength from Tucker and Otis who tossed their opponent’s around like they’re a ragdoll. Marshal did manage to get some offence in, but the overall power and weight of heavy machinery were enough to completely destroy them and win. Even using each other in a power slam onto the enemy.

I’m looking forward to seeing what NXT has planned for Heavy Machinery as they seem like they are going to get a decent push. The chemistry that they presented to us in this does show some promise so I’m optimistic about the future for these guys.

We got a contract signing backstage for Asuka vs Ember Moon. Ember made her intentions clear by saying “My fate is to dethrone you”. Asuka responded to Ember by stating “I know who you are, and I know you are not ready”, the confrontation ended by Ember getting in the final word, saying “I’ve been ready for a long time”. This was a strangely tame contract signing, no one got hit, smacked, or bonked. Even the table didn’t get shoved or broken. I’m not complaining, it’s just rare to see a calm and collected contract signing

A promo for Bobby Roode vs Shinsuke Nakamura played as we watched Bobby recollect his match on a projector in his own personal cinema where he won the title. All I can say for this is…

Vanity thy name is Roode 

Paul Ellering addressed the challengers for the NXT Tag Team titles. He proclaimed to DIY, “Welcome to our yellow brick road from hell” and to The Revival that “Your fate is in our hands”. Even more edginess from the Authors of Pain here, nothing really new. It was also confirmed that there will be an 8-man tag match at NXT Takeover: Orlando, where all of Sanity will take on Tye Dillinger, No Way Jose, Rodrick Strong, and Ruby Riot. Could be a good match, I’ll give it a chance anyways.

Match 3: Kassius Ohno vs Elias Samson – Loser Leaves NXT

Here we began a match that had barely any build but overall was quite fun. It started off with the two of them trying to one-up each other until Ohno dominated the match but Samson knocked him onto the steel steps. Samson took control and even proceeded to kick him while he’s down. There was an interesting moment when Ohno tried to roll Samson up, but this was blocked when Samson locked in the “totally not a cross face” submission move. After some time, Ohno finally managed to reach the ropes and the two of them went into a back and forth segment. Each of them wanted to win the match as quick as possible, Ohno’s big cyclone boot was still not enough to put Samson away, Samson tried to pin with his feet on the ropes, luckily the referee caught it. The match’s pace picked up with pin attempt after pin attempt by Samson. After another attempt at a neck breaker by Samson, Ohno hit a Rolling elbow and gave him the win.

Kassuis Ohno celebrated his victory, whereas Samson had to come to the realisation that he now has to leave NXT. I felt sorry for him as he acted desperate to not leave this brand, Security came down to escort him and all he asked for was his guitar. Kassius held the guitar and started to hand it over to Samson. Ohno decided instead to smash it and revel in victory. That’s what good guys do right? they smash the only thing left in a person’s life after getting fired from their only source of income, who’s also desepetatly trying to stay and not be dragged away. That’s faces for you I guess.

We’re on our way to #NoSleepOnlyWrestling-Mania and NXT Takeover is right around the corner, only wish that this episode got me hyped for the PPV. Felt like last week’s episode did a better job of that to be perfectly honest.