NXT television report (02/03/16): Finn Balor, Apollo Crews go at it; No. 1 contender controversy resolved

This week's episode of NXT wasn't the most exciting hour of television ever produced, but it was still very effective at forwarding the ongoing stories within the promotion.

The highlight of the program was the main event between NXT champion Finn Balor and Apollo Crews, who challenged the former to see if he could prove to himself that he could beat NXT's top man.

Matches between two babyfaces are always kind of weird because wrestling is based of the never-ending battle between good and evil, which usually means the fans have someone to cheer for and someone to root against.

When there are to good guys facing each other, the crowd can become kind of split, which happened in certain spots during this match.

However, it didn't take away from the quality, as it was a showcase of their ability in the ring.

The pace of the match started off slower than what fans are used to seeing in 2016, especially from NXT, but the slower pace was actually a nice change from the sometimes frantic nature of matches today.

Since there was no real animosity between the two, the beginning of the match was a leverage battle with each competitor exchanging holds back and forth.

The pace quickened as the match went on and the crowd came alive as a result. At the end of the contest, Balor came out on top and proved why he is the face of NXT.

The commentators told the story of Crews fighting valiantly, but falling just short of upending the top man.

After the match, Balor and Crews showed some sportsmanship and shook hands out of respect for one another as the program went off the air.

This match represented one of the major positives about NXT and that is that it takes such a simple approach. This match could have been full of shenanigans and outside interference, but it wasn't.

It was a simple yet effective story that saw both men progress in some way. Yes, even Crews progressed in defeat. Crews didn't lose for nothing like we see on a routine basis on Monday nights. His valiant effort will not be lost on the creative minds of NXT.

As far as Balor's next major opponent, that will be deciding in the coming weeks, as NXT general manager William Regal decided that after last week's controversial finish to the No. 1 contender match, Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe will face each other one-on-one for the right to face Balor for the NXT title.

While that is sure to excite wrestling fans, one person that wasn't excited was Baron Corbin, who by virtue of him tapping out in that controversial match, was left out of the equation.

Other than those two major happenings, the rest of the show was pretty standard. It wasn't a very memorable episode of NXT, but like I said earlier, it was still effective in progressing the stories.

There were a number of good backstage interviews that were sprinkled in throughout the show, including a hilarious one with Samoa Joe, where he literally said nothing. Instead, he jumped at an unseen interviewer, which probably made him soil his drawers. After scaring the interviewer to death, Samoa Joe just walked away.

There was one with Carmella, where she acknowledged that her father was once an enhancement talent for WWE back in the day, lending her some athletic credibility. Carmella showcased some of that athleticism in a win over Emma.

The match itself wasn't great, but it helped lend a little more credibility to Carmella.

Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder also a good backstage interview, where they added more fuel to the fire between them and Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady.

Finally, we saw The Vaudevillians return to their more vicious side during a victory over The Hype Bros, who have the most elaborate entrance for a team that will probably never win the NXT Tag Team titles.

We also got a Santana Garrett signing. Fans of independent wrestling were probably excited to see her. Then, Asuka kicked really hard a couple of times and beat her. It was a good match though. Hope to see more of Garrett on NXT in the future.

While this week wasn't anything to write home about, I expect things to ramp up on NXT in the next couple of weeks with their tapings from the CFE Arena in Orlando coming up.

Here are the full match results:

- The Vaudevillians def. The Hype Bros

- Carmella def . Emma

- Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady def. Some guys

- Asuka def. Santana Garrett

- Finn Balor def. Apollo Crews

Carmella has sit-down interview

Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn for No. 1 contender spot

Crews, Balor have a very good match