Goodear

One is a seven footer who is a medical anomaly who is probably in the best shape he can possibly be in considering his travel schedule and whose gimmick is "Damn he is big". The other was a regular dude with a muffin top up until his last two appearances whose gimmick is "I am a striker!"

Kind of a one-match show this week as Harper has a rematch with Kassius Ohno which is just 15-20 minutes of them wailing on each other. Its amazing to me that Harper can stay compelling over such a long match without pulling out anything more complex than a cravat. The dude just knows how to work the serial killer from the swamp gimmick in a realistic way and if he was dropping moonsaults all the time it would be a detriment to the character. Damian Sandow (a guy who I'm sorry, doesn't wrestle like his character at all) could take a lesson. Watch the first match just before to get the story that KO is way more prepared this time as he counters the finishing set of moves from the prior match but still can't out fight the unstoppable Harper. Harper has done a good job of showing vulnerability to roll up finishes and nothing else and I would love to see that show up in a third match in the series where Ohno finally goes over. Mojo needs to develop some more offense to carry through his matches and I'm not a great fan of his finish. I did get a bit of a Nikita Kollof vibe when he shrugged off some chops and would be more than happy if he busted out a three-point stance clothesline as a finish. He is really letting his opponents get him through the matches right now and both of his unknown opponents have done a pretty aces job. I would love to see some more Ty Dillinger as he did well tonight. He is the third jobber in three weeks to put in a good performance which bodes well for the next series of call ups. A simple repackage and he could be the next Tyler Breeze to go from job guy to star. Ascension continues to be a drag on the show although they are starting to provide drinking game fodder. Whenever their beef curtains fall off... take a drink. Whenever Rik Victor forgets who the legal man is to make a cover (second time its happened this week)... take a drink. NXT ladies have 5 people I care about on the roster (Paige, Bayley, Emma, Summer and Sasha) which is 4 more than the main roster has to offer. I think Emma and Bayley might be my two favorite faces on any roster right now because they hit a certain sweet spot of relateable yet likable. Emma is a goofy chick who marches to her own drum but takes herself seriously and Bayley's character is just so happy to be on the show at all that her enthusiasm is infectious. She is in awe of her surroundings just like a normal fan would be. She's like a female Mikey Whipwreck just with the hero worship instead of fear.

He opened with "model of a modern major superstar" in his debut if I recall correctly.

NXT is just such a fun show, I watched the show the first time on mute but had to go back to watch the interesting bits with commentary just a minute ago. Renee and Regal are a fun pairing with Byron covering the action. I think Renee comes off a little too blase about what is going on sometimes and doesn't always sell things well as they are happening. Luke Harper is one of my favorites and his "Oh No" promo is just the right note of creepy for me. I love the shots of him off center of the camera behind a tree or something. It is nicely off-putting. But what it really does in show the gulf between him the rest of the Wyatts and Ascension. You would think that Ascension would be going for a similar vibe but are just so not effective. I spend more time watching their tight flaps (which don't match which bugs me to the nth degree) than anything else. Corey Graves looked the best he has in weeks. He is much better suited to being a heel with his offense of leg locks and his face that I want to punch so bad. His physique (and that of Aiden English truth be told) concerns me some in that he has so little body fat that it looks like he has no 'padding' and almost skinny. English looked good this week again, I think it would be fine to turn him face and change nothing about his character. I would like to see him bust out "Cats" or Pirates of Penzanse tights at some point. Aiden's squash mate had a good look to him BTW.

I'm 7 seconds into NXT and Tyler Breeze is already the best thing ever. Tyler and CJ show up to want into a tag team turmoil match... Brad: "Neither one of you have tag partners, what do you want me to do?" Tyler: "Clone me."

CJ Parker is the worst. Tyler Breeze and Aiden English do their gimmicks well, but I meant in-ring. I'm also talking about Scott Dawson, Enzo Amore and that other guy. Alexander Rusev I can get behind so far. CJ hasn't been impressive to me mostly because his gimmick isn't really hitting the same sweet spot that say Bayley & Emma hit as lovable odd balls. Wacky hippies aren't the type of people I would gravitate towards and while you are speaking more in ring than 'working the gimmick' it does cover a lot of why Tyler Breeze has been so successful in such a short time. I mean, if you are talking about moves, I don't think Breeze has done three of them in four matches but he's a stooging and stalling and bumping wunderkind. I just don't think NXT is a workrate promotion as much as a character-driven tour de force. Personally, I could give a damn if Ohno ever shows up again if I can get a heavy dose of Legionaires and the Realest Guys in the Room.

I just think they don't have the money or time to get over multiple divisions like that. To have a true X-Division, Tag division, women's division and heavyweight division you need to have something a ton of people on the roster or you are going to run all of your matchups into the ground. Plus, your good tag and X Division guys are going to want to get into the main event eventually so you need to constantly restock the pond. Look at the X Division now and it is full of people that no one cares about. There hasn't been anyone been in there since Austin Aries I have been interested in because they don't have the depth. Seriously, if I was running TNA I would forget about stealing from ECW and start stealing from NXT. TNA needs big flipping characters that can catch a first-time watchers attention in one go and drive the action from there. I have no doubt that Tyler Breeze would be the king shit of TNA in like 3 weeks. They need less AJ Styles and more Robbie E. Less Mr. Anderson and more Joseph Park.

Hawkins was actually pretty effective in that match especially after the commercial break. His bicycle kick was spot on and his weird flipping drop thing looked pretty good. The frustration leading to the gear slaps was a great way to get Zayn into fired up mode. NXT also has a weird booking structure because even unpushed main roster guys typically go over the main NXT guys so you could buy the near falls for Hawkins despite his place on (or in this case off) the cards.

The ending to the tag match was especially poor since the referee only counted to 3 before calling for the disqualification. I went and triple checked because it was so strange and it really seemed quick upon first viewing. That bear hug/kick as fas as being an actual finisher was balls out however and I think The Legionaires should be groomed for NXT tag gold at the earilest opportunity. I really dug Dawson selling his teeth after a few jabs from Enzo. Cass may be the least intimidating seven footer ever (and I am familiar with the works of Cottonwood and Morgan) but he seemed okay in limited action in this one. I'm watching the rest of the show now.