WWE NXT Results (4/22): Kevin Owens & Alex Riley Rematch, Divas Triple Threat #1 Contender’s Match, Finn Balor, Hideo Itami

HIDEO ITAMI vs. CJ PARKER

They lock up and Parker begs off into the ropes. Itami gives him a “come at me” taunt and they lock up again, with Parker begging off again. This time Itami cuts him down with kicks and strikes, until Parker yet again gets into the ropes and drops him with a cutter. CJ goes to work with rest holds and brings down the pace for a few minutes. Hideo builds it back up with kicks and chops and arm drags. He hits a hesitation dropkick in the corner followed by the Nakamura-esque one-legged kick to pick up the win. 

Winner: Hideo Itami

-Sasha Banks makes fun of Becky Lynch and tells her she doesn’t have a chance at winning the Women’s Championship. She makes fun of her accent and Lynch calls herself “kind of a big deal”.

-Rhyno is already in mid-entrance and joins an unannounced wrestler already in the ring. The match lasts about 30 seconds and ends with a Gore. I didn’t even realize there was a match happening until he was setting up for the finish. “Welcome back” chants. This whole segment lasts maybe 90 seconds from start to finish. 

KEVIN OWENS vs. ALEX RILEY

Probably a vision of things to come, Owens won the highly entertaining Twitter feud between the two, according to a Wrestlezone user poll last week. It wasn’t even close (81-19). 

Kevin taunts his opponent and bails from the ring, baiting him a crash-and-burn on the entrance ramp. After a short break Owens is beating him down and gets in his face, mocking him, and Riley slaps him in the face for his only offense. The champ is back in control with power moves and rest holds for the next few minutes. Riley out of nowhere with a clothesline and a snap neckbreaker. He goes to the top rope and Owens crotches him. That’s followed by a cannonball in the corner, followed by the pop-up powerbomb for the 1-2-3. 

Winner: Kevin Owens

After the match, Owens drags Riley out to the floor and sets up for the powerbomb on the apron. Sami Zayn comes out of nowhere and attacks the champ, followed by a heard of zebras to break them up. The crowd chants “let them fight” as Zayn gets into the ring and taunts Owens, before flying over the ropes and taking down the entire pile of guys. Owens crawls up the side entrance and retreats to the back as Sami taunts him from the ring. 

This entire episode felt like a wash before the final segment. The only stand-out was the women’s match, which was well-worked and had a clever, unexpected finish. Itami and Balor picking up wins for the sake of picking up wins, which is ultimately just screen time for the sake of screen time. Seems like a lot of talent has really fallen out of place since WrestleMania, and there’s not much going on right now. The Owens/Riley Twitter program was much better than their in-ring program, which lasted about 5 minutes tonight with no fanfare. Zayn making the save should have been this huge spot, but the announcers basically no-sold it and the crowd didn’t wake up until after the fact. With 15 minutes still left on the clock they could have taken their time with the segment, and a simple thing like hitting Sami’s music would have made all the difference in how it came across. One of the weakest episodes of NXT in quite some time.