Fans very pleased with WWE NXT matches, shows, talent in South Florida
NXT drop-kicked off November by making a rare trip to West Palm Beach and Miami.
With solid numbers at each venue, South Florida fans were excited to see WWE’s hot brand, and they were not disappointed, cheering two action-packed shows.
NXT brought its “A” game to the Palm Beach County Convention Center on Nov. 1 and the University of Miami on Nov. 3. Sandwiched between was a usual stop in Fort Pierce at the Havert L. Fenn Center.
West Palm Beach drew more than 800, and Miami (Coral Gables) sold out The Fieldhouse at the Watsco Center at The U.
What’s cool about NXT touring is each card features different match-ups for the most part. West Palm Beach and Miami shared only two matches.
West Palm Beach featured NXT Champ Tommaso Ciampa (Champa Ciampa) defending the belt against the returning Aleister Black in the main event.
Not to be outdone, Ricochet put his North American title on the line against former champ Adam Cole of Undisputed Era. Those were the matches of the night.
Velveteen Dream, a crowd-pleaser, and Kona Reeves delivered, too.
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) against tag champs Undisputed Era (Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly) in another good battle.
Bianca Belair against Taynara Conti worked well together.
In Miami, the War Raiders teamed with Aleister Black to confront the Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly and Adam Cole), and that six-man tag stole the show.
Velveteen Dream and Kona Reeves stepped up in the 305. Each youngster did a good job, with Dream in the main event against Champa Ciampa and just prior Reeves facing North American Champ Ricochet.
The women also shined as Bianca Belair tagged with Lacey Evans against Taynara Conti and Candice LeRae.
We learned Fish is funny, and Conti can scream.
Fan favorite Matt Riddle appeared both nights, wrestling England’s Luke Menzies. The crowd enjoyed chanting “Bro, Bro, Bro, Bro,” which is the next “Yes” from “What?”
Two of the Four Horsewomen (Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir) wrestled Kairi Sane and Dakota Kai on both shows. In the openers, Adrian Jaoude and Cezar Bononi annoyed the audiences.
In Miami, Bononi blurted the line of the night. As fans mocked them in Spanish, he shouted from ringside, “We don’t speak Spanish. We speak Portuguese.”
Referees included two of NXT’s finest-- Drake Wuertz and Jessika Carr.
Your NXT host and ring announcer Sarah Schreiber returned to familiar surroundings.
A Jersey girl, she lived in West Palm Beach and graduated from the University of Miami. Friends showed their support by attending the South Florida shows.
In Fort Pierce, Punishment Martinez made his NXT debut, and “believe it” Rhea Ripley successfully defended her NXT UK women’s title. Pre-show meet-n-greet featured NXT superstars Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch (Martin Stone) and EC3.
There’s plenty of talent on the NXT roster. What once was developmental only is now developmental with a developing, growing brand, seen Wednesdays on WWE Network and occasionally with NXT TakeOver specials.
NXT is in Fort Pierce once again on Friday, Dec. 7 at the Havert L. Fenn Center.
Tickets $20 and $10 with free preshow meet and greet.
Bell time 7:30 p.m.
Click this link for NXTFortPierceTickets.
Click this link for NXTTicketInfo.
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This story was originally published November 7, 2018 at 11:03 AM.