Block 1:

Taz mentions that he saw most of NXT last night, and he was particularly impressed with the match between Johnny Gargano and Fabian Aichner. He says this was just a strong, straight forward wrestling match and Taz urges all his listeners to check it out. He was surprised that they booked Aichner to win, but he thought this was a good decision because losing here doesn’t hurt Gargano.

He says that winning this match is a big step for Aichner and he thought Aichner looked very good in this bout, especially since he’s only been in the business for a couple of years according to reports. Taz does point out that Gargano is a lot like A.J. Styles in the sense that he can have a good match with anybody, but what really impressed Taz about Aichner is that he took advantage of this opportunity and had a very good showing.

Taz is very excited to see the NXT Championship match between Drew McIntyre and Andrade ‘Cien’Almas at the upcoming NXT Takeover event. He thinks these two guys are going to put together a great match and it won’t surprise Taz if Almas picks up a surprise victory here.

Block 2:

He thinks it’d be beneficial for WWE and NXT to have a strong hispanic Champion and the loss will not hurt McIntyre. Almas had struggled to find his footing in NXT but ever since he teamed up with Zelina Vega the pair have been picking up steam every week. Taz doesn’t think it’d be a bad idea at all to put the Title on Almas right now.

Taz points out that some talents need a valet or a manager in order to take the next step in their development due to their verbal restrictions. Brock Lesnar was a successful, ass-kicking talent for years but once he was paired with Paul Heyman his stock reached an all-time high. Vega has had a similar effect on Almas as of late.

He says that Nakamura is an example of a current main roster talent who could potentially benefit from a valet or manager. Taz thinks a female valet would really benefit Nakamura. Paul Heyman would obviously be fantastic as well but he’s tied up with Lesnar.

Block 3:

A listener calls into the show and asks Taz if he thinks Drew McIntyre will make his way to Smackdown Live following a potential loss to Almas at Takeover. On Smackdown, McIntyre versus Mahal would be a very interesting match given their former connection in 3MB. Taz wouldn’t go that far as of yet, but he does agree with the caller that McIntyre might drop the Title to Almas in a couple weeks.

Taz thinks McIntyre has the complete package and he can definitely have success on RAW or Smackdown Live, but Taz’s instincts are telling him that McIntyre won’t be a main event talent on the main roster at this point. He hopes he’s wrong because he’d love to see McIntyre move to the main roster and make a fortune as a main event talent.

He adds that this entire conversation may be pointless anyways because McIntyre may defend his Title against Almas and continue his NXT Championship reign. If McIntyre does lose because NXT officials have given up on his Title run, Taz thinks that’d be unfortunate because it’s been the booking that has let McIntyre down during his reign.

Block 4:

Taz says that the NXT Takeover: War Games card is shaping up to be a great one and this shouldn’t surprise anyone because these Takeover events never disappoint.

A listener calls into the show and asks Taz if he thinks it’d be too early to have a Finn Balor/A.J. Styles rematch at Survivor Series. This booking would also allow Rusev to defeat Styles on Smackdown Live next week, making him a part of the RAW versus Smackdown Survivor Series match. Taz doesn’t think it’d be too early for that rematch at all, and he’d actually love to see that happen.

Taz had no issue at all with Triple H joining The Shield for a WWE live event earlier this week. He points out that WWE guaranteed certain matches for these house shows and due to illness they weren’t able to deliver those matches. They had to pull out all the stops in order to give the fans their money’s worth, so Triple H stepping into that spot makes sense. He adds that this type of thing will never make it’s way onto WWE television.

That sums up today’s episode of The Taz Show. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya tomorrow for another recap!