Detailed Report From Last Night's WWE NXT Live Event In Philadelphia

Thanks to Nick Malfitano for the following recap from last night's WWE NXT live event in Philadelphia:

NXT made its live event debut tonight in front of a red-hot crowd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Tower Theater, and did not disappoint. From start to finish, this was an outstanding show. I scored a ringside ticket on the stage and was about 5 feet away from both the ring and entranceway, which was pretty awesome.

Kicking things off as our MC's for the night were NXT backstage interviewer Greg Hamilton and NXT ring announcer Jojo, who performed a stirring rendition of the National Anthem before things got underway.

Also introduced before the show started was the "Voice of ECW" Joey Styles, who was sitting front row in the venue's orchestra pit section, along with William Regal, who came out to the ring and cut a promo. The General Manager of NXT deflected the chants of "Regal!" that came his way and said that it wasn't about him tonight, it was all about the great athletes of NXT.

Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady w/ Carmella vs. Blake & Murphy. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady were over huge with this crowd, and might have had more fans wearing their merchandise than anyone else's. They did their usual intro schtick, which the crowd completely ate up. Blake & Murphy were their opponents tonight, with Blake drawing a lot of old-school heat for doing up his hair in Wendy's-style pigtails and getting "You Look Stupid!" chants, a la Sheamus. The NXT Tag Team Champions cut the ring off and worked over Amore for most of the match, until he could make the hot tag to Cassady. You really can't appreciate how huge Cassady is until you see him up close, the dude is just a monster. The big man cleaned house, but with Amore down on the outside, the champs got the better of his partner and finished off Cassady with the stalled vertical suplex-frog splash combination for the victory.

Jason Jordan vs. Bull Dempsey. This was a heel against heel match-up, with neither guy being received well overall. Jordan tried to use his amateur wrestling style against Dempsey's straight-ahead powerhouse offense, but to little or no avail. Dempsey was also the recipient of plenty of "Bull?S**t" chants during the match, but with this being Philadelphia, that's definitely par for the course. Dempsey landed a huge seated senton splash from the top rope to put Jordan away for the victory.

Dana Brooke & Becky Lynch vs. Bayley & Alexa Bliss. Next, we had divas tag team action, which the crowd popped huge for. Dana Brooke and Becky Lynch alternated working over the smaller Alexa Bliss, with Lynch's vicious technical offense wearing down the smaller Bliss. But when Bliss managed to tag Bayley, the tide of the match turned temporarily until Lynch began taking it to Bayley as well. All the divas worked very hard in this match, but Lynch and Bayley particularly shined. After a late-match rally, Bayley ended up hitting the Hug-Plex on Brooke for the win. Brooke and Lynch looked to both console each other and argue their way back to the curtain over losing the match.

Tyler Breeze vs. Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor for the NXT Championship. Already, it was title time, as these three did battle in a triple-threat match for the NXT Championship. Kevin Owens initially sat the match out at ringside, which led to some funny chants of "Sit Owens Sit!" and "Chill Owens Chill!" from the crowd. As Finn Balor and Tyler Breeze brought the fight to each other, Owens kept looking for the right opportunity to insert himself into the match. When he finally did, he along with Breeze began to double-team Balor with tandem clotheslines and elbows. In a funny spot, Owens kept offering a high-five to Breeze, who was at first reluctant to accept, but later did. Of course, Owens ended up turning on Breeze, and soon it was every man for himself. Balor landed the Coup de Grace on Breeze, but Owens pulled him out of the ring and scored the winning pinfall.

Regal came back out after the match and said Owens may have won tonight, but he would have a singles match for the NXT Championship the following night against Balor. Balor cut a promo and said the demon was coming out for Night #2 of NXT in Philadelphia.

(Intermission)

After intermission, special guest Mick Foley came out to the ring for a promo, explaining that it was great to be back in Philadelphia and that making the four-and-a-half hour drive from his home to attend this NXT show was well worth it. Foley was wearing a Christmas-themed T-Shirt and fans who know of his all-consuming love for that holiday enjoyed the reference. And with that, it was back to action.

"The Perfect 10" Tye Dillinger vs. Solomon Crowe. Tye Dillinger came out with his "10" scorecard sign for his gimick of being "The Perfect 10", and was initially booed strongly. Solomon Crowe got a huge return pop, from the years he worked the indies in Philadelphia as Sami Callihan. Though booed at the start, Dillinger interacted with and began to win over the crowd over during the course of the match, and ended up getting a great response to his "Perfect 10" gimmick. That might sound shocking to a lot of people, but in this match, Dillinger was a far cry from the silent, characterless enhancement talent we see on the NXT television show ? and it made me wonder why he hasn't yet been given more of an opportunity to really show what he can do on NXT TV. After a very solid back-and-forth match, Crowe locked in the Stretch Muffler for the win.

Baron Corbin vs. Rhyno. Baron Corbin entered to boos raining down from every corner of the arena, and was over huge as a heel. Of course, Rhyno got a total babyface reaction, with huge "E-C-W" and "F*** Him Up, Rhyno, F*** Him Up!" chants. This was a much longer match than we're accustomed to seeing out of Corbin, who went out of his way to really heel it up with the fans as he took the fight to Rhyno. Rhyno battled back and just when it looked like he had the match won, Corbin came from nowhere with the End of Days and got the 1-2-3. Corbin then got on the mic and claimed he would bury the memories of ECW forever, just as he had the ECW Original Rhyno. Further, Corbin challenged Joey Styles at ringside to bring him another ECW Original to face for Night #2 of NXT in Philadelphia. Styles accepted, and Corbin turned around just in time for a Gore from Rhyno.

Greg Hamilton and Jojo said even with the surprises that had already happened tonight, they weren't done yet. Triple H then made his entrance to a gigantic pop, holding his phone up and broadcasting live video of the Philadelphia crowd. When massive chants of "Thank you, Hunter!" broke out, he said, "No, it's thank you!" Triple H added that this isn't WWE, it's NXT. He made mention of how NXT spotlights its talented female competitors, and announced the evening's main event would be for the NXT Women's Championship.

Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks for the NXT Women's Championship. Both women got a great reaction from the audience, and their match was similarly fantastic. As already seen in their prior matches, Charlotte and Sasha Banks have outstanding in-ring chemistry, and this match was no exception. Plenty of "Whoo!" and dueling "Sasha's Ratchet/No, She's Not!" chants from a still red-hot crowd, who showed no signs of slowing down in its enthusiasm. Banks utilized a variety of submission holds in order to try and wear down Charlotte, but the daughter of the Nature Boy later responded with some athletic offense and trademark knife-edge chops. In the end, Banks's ground-based submission maneuvers were too much for the former champion, as Banks used the Bank Statement to defeat Charlotte.

From top to bottom, this was an amazing show. It's one thing to watch the weekly NXT television show, but to see it live and in person is a whole other experience entirely. NXT has everything to be proud of, and if shows like this are any indication, make sure to check out an NXT live event if and when it comes to your area. I promise you won't be disappointed.