The CW Network premiere episode of "WWE NXT" opened with an entertaining NXT Women's Championship match where Roxanne Perez successfully retained her title against Giulia who was making her "NXT" in-ring debut. While being a guest on "Busted Open," AEW star Thunder Rosa, who personally knows both Perez and Giulia, commented on their match.
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"Well, I was surprised it was an opening match, but it makes sense," Rosa remarked, "I think that's a huge spot to be in: opening, because that's where you get everybody's attention and you retain the public. They did an amazing job on doing that. I really liked the finish... Giulia did really, really well. I don't if this is her first really, really big show, there's a lot of pressure because of the what the expectation of what everybody had of her, so you gotta take that into consideration what critiquing the match... Of course, Roxanne Perez just looked as good as she's ever been and I'm just very, very proud of her."
"Busted Open" host and current TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth, who also held the NXT Championship, felt opening the show was a big show of faith in the two women to open the show on the right note. The former Intercontinental Champion has opened many PPVs, including a show-stealing opening contest at SummerSlam 2009 against Rey Mysterio.
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"Most of the time it didn't seem like one (demotion), it seemed like we wanted to have a fun match, but we wanted to set the tone for the night and have everybody go 'damn, that's just the opener? Where are they going in the main event??'" Nemeth said. "And I feel like that happened a lot, and again, putting that responsibility on those women to come through and they did, that's pretty awesome. They better feel good about themselves."
