The NXT Thread

[The Man Known as Dan]

The thing is I love Bo's gimmick but still don't view him as anything above passable during matches. His heel stuff is solid enough, but he's never a guy I could see myself paying to watch in a match.

[hammerva]

These presentation skills videos are really cool to see.   Would have been really interesting to see for current stars to see how they evolved in promos.  Here is a early gimmick for Solomon Crowe that I guess is a stoner version of the Festus and buddy gimmick:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-64AFGYrgg

 

And here is current gimmick.  Funny how Crowe has a Jimmy jacobs like vibe to him which I didn't really get from a hacker gimmick:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrtO3luDdXg

 

 

 

 

[Piston Honda]

After watching a couple of those, I really want to see Boss Yoshitatsu get his revenge.

[caley]

Enzo/Cass-English was my favourite promo in years.  The interviewer asking Enzo when he's coming back which he responds with his gibberish, then she says "so when are you coming back?" and he says "I just told you."  Then English interrupts and says "Why are you interviewing these two neanderthals?" and Enzo completely deadpan turns to Cass and goes "What's a neanderthal?" and Cass pats him on the shoulder as if to say "I'll tell you later" and it's absolutely the best delivery and almost in the background but so perfect and funny and then he runs over his foot on the way past.  Enzo should sell a lot of merchandise, as everything he says sounds like a catchphrase and he's quite possibly the best comedic actor to come along through WWE since Santino.

[Tromatagon]

If Solomon Crowe had yelled WHO RULES BARTERTOWN? those two would be on the main roster right now

[Harbinger]

I guess whoever rip nxt this week said fuck the Miz and Ascension, because neither was on mines.

[MGFanJay]

So I was thinking about NXT today and came to the realization that the characters in the promotion are like totally High School to the max.  You have your goth girl in Paige, your jock who everyone actually likes in Mojo, the other goth kids who just like the outfits in the Ascension, the shy kid in Bayley who just wants acceptance, the marching to her own drum kid in Emma, the mean girls in the BFF, that annoying stoner kid in CJ... and that I thought, "What about Bo?  Where does Bo fit in?"  BOcause you can't really have a NXT analogy without Bo.  

 

And then it hit me.

 

Bo is the guy who wins student class president because only 6 students actually voted.  But man, now that he won?  Woof.  He is making speeches at lunch about having a mandate to make this the best year ever at Vince McMahon High!  He will change the cafeteria to vegetarian meals only.  He will wear his campaign button allllll year long.  He has spirit!  How aBOut you?

I demand an NXT/Saved by the Bell crossover episode.

[Goodear]

NXT SHOOOOOOW.

 

Ascension had a good squash match this week!  The crowd has gone all Hack Myers for Konnor and are shouting YAH with his every move.  It makes the matches better.  I don't know why.  But the squash was good too, short enough to get the point across without being dull.  The point being The Ascension have matching tights things!  FINALLY.

 

Cauliflower ears are gross.

 

Corey Graves is back in all his glory of being so fucking punchable.  His skinny jeans are a new high of being a naturally unlikable douche.  The dragon screw in the ropes was pretty nasty but he went right to the finish after so it didn't make for a great return.  Camacho was there too.

 

'What audition?'  Sawyer Fulton is a STAR.  You know when Sylvester is wiping his palms after shaking your hand that there is good things.  All the good things.

 

Bayley!  Da Boss!  Vice Principle Renee Young!  Renee is a sexist!  And wants to bang Regal!  Belly-to-Bayley!  Exclamation POINTS!

 

Big Cass versus Tyler Breeze?  Sweet Jesus yes.  This is the match I have always wanted but didn't know I wanted.  They don't touch for like 5 minutes and it is glorious and I don't care.  Cass is so great.  Just so charismatic doing simple stuff and Breeze is bumping off all of it.  That boot to the mush was super nice.  We come back from break and Enzo and Cass have a conversation I guess?  Words are said.  One was boulderdash.  Regal hates Enzo Amore and I drink in his hate.  Not because I hate Enzo but because I love that Regal hates him.  

 

CJ Parker and The Miz... well they can't all be winners.  Miz's hair is weird tonight.  Like it is floppy.  They have a match.  CJ makes the weirdest noises in the figure four.  I throw a stuffed otter to my poodle.  I think about having a peanut butter malted milk ball.

 

Sami?  He said no to you last week, to your face, pretty sure.

 

Why does Mason Ryan hate Sylvester so much anyway?  Its like a totally one-sided thing.

 

Vice Principle Young is back out for a contract signing.  Bo is sirius business!  Danny Burch!  I love the short arm elBOs.  He also hits a double arm DDT as a finish.  They do a thing where Bo still looks serious but snaps back and forth into his smile.  Its off putting.

[Greggulator]

We start with the dark lords of NXT The Ascension. I've been coming around to them very quickly. Their gimmick has no backstory or explanation but the presentation is great. And they've gotten over as an Eliminators sort of thing -- just friggin' beasts. The Eliminators didn't have much in terms of characters either, besides "Best Tag Team In The World." I'm fine with these guys just taking that role.

They're taking on... I don't know. Two jobbers. I wish NXT had another good tag team. I like Viktor's wrist-lock thrust thing a lot. Viktor smokes one of the dudes with a clothesline. Conor with a crazy shoulde rtackle off the corner. I can definitely see these guys getting called up. Great look, great teamwork, great finisher. I've come around on them.

LeFort is in the background taking on interviews. Someone named Cal Bishop comes in wearing a really crazy-dumb singlet. It's more like a yoga unitard. He has cauliflower ear. LeFort calls next.

COREY GRAVES comes out for the first time in eternity. I haven't really missed him. He's doing a very good cocksure walk. Regal describes him as having "an air of menace." A-Ry says Graves has compared himself to James Dean. He claims Adrian Neville tried to end his career and he will never be forgiven. He has a message for everyone: "Stay tuned." Whatever.

He'll be taking on CAMACHO who comes on out on his racially degrading bike. Graves has jeans that make Batista look like he's a skinny raver. Geez, these things are tight and disgusting. Graves gets a good early takedown with a weird spinning knee. Followed by some eh looking punches. Then he gets Lucky 13 and Camacho has to tap. Graves keeps it on well after he gets the victory. Post-match, he has a great, dickish smirk. Regal: "I know what it's like to have your heart filled with spite." Graves is still dumb but I think he has more potential as a cocksure heel.

ANTONIO CESARO comes out to be interviewed with Not Renee. Cesaro doesn't want to explain himself for saying no. Sami's delusional because he's on crutches. The only reason anyone talks about that match is because he's in it. He bounces.

We go back to LAFORT'S OFFICE. Some dude Sawyer Fulton comes in. He has a really bad Eminem haircut and a tattoo of a necklace. He has on an Andre The Giant-type singlet. LaFort dismisses him, too.

 

BAYLEY is out (w/ Natalya) to take on SASHA BANKS for what feels like the 20,000th time. Renee is out for color. Sasha's joined with Emma AND Charlotte. Bayley makes a bee line right for Charlotte.  And another. The second time, Sasha takes advantage from that. A-Ry talks about how hard it is for women to control their emotions after Renee brings up the topic. Renee and Regal flirt a bit, too.  Bayley gets to the top for the win, but Charlotte gets on the apron. Natalya runs and takes her down. Summer Rae attacks Natalya. Bailey runs to her assistance. Sasha rolls her up, but Bayley gets out and hits the Belly-to-Bailey for the win! The BFFs make some mocking gestures post-match. Nice little match.

BIG KASS VS. TYLER BREEZE -- Breeze's fur is made of Peruvian chinchilla fur. The first like 20 minutes of this thing is Breeze stalling and taking selfies. Kass walks out, gets a phone from someone and takes selfies of his own. Gets a "This Is Awesome" chant. It's super funny, how much he's doing stuff for the phone. Breeze makes a great sulking face and is now angry. This IS awesome. Breeze starts off mad and with some strong kicks. But Big Kass gets a punch to Breeze's face and gets advantage.  Man, Kass friggin' is great in this. The guy's a star. HUGE big boot to the face that gets a 2. Then AIDEN ENGLISH gets on the Titantron. "Everone's a G until an artiste is on the room. Aiden opens the door behind him and Enzo's on the phone with some woman. The door shuts as Kass watches. Breeze hits The Beauty Shot and gets the cheap win.

This was Kass's best showing. The dude has IT.

We see KASS hurrying backstage to check on Enzo! He opens the door. And.. Enzo's fine! He said Aiden came in, threatened him, and left. "He wants to play games?" They then start listing various board games they play. This friggin' segment rules. Man, Kass all of a sudden looks like a total keeper and one of the best guys in NXT.

CJ Parker vs. THE MIZ -- Ugh. Regal talks about how he always wants to punch him in the face. He speaks for all of us. Miz gets in some stiff chops right away.  They're adding to CJ's pretentious background -- his car, how he now hates the word "commune" and prefers intentionally shared community. CJ taps to the figure four and makes these great, weird yelps. Miz gave him some to work with. Parker has a nice thrust kick, if nothing else. Parker as a smarmy tool is the way to go with him. The Miz here was pretty much how everyone not named Cesaro acts when he comes to NXT. A lot of high-fiving the crowd. This was okay for a Miz squash.

Sami is going to force Cesaro to answer his challenge next week. I -- and everyone else -- keeps saying it. But no one feels more natural than Sami Zayn does. It's unreal how much he just feels like himself.

Mason comes in. "Did you get my texts?" I forgot LaFort and Mason had some sort of thing earlier, but I can't remember what it was. Mason agrees to work for LaFort if the Frenchman can beat him next week. I'd love to see Ryan as an indentured servant of some sort. I know it was a stretch to think Cena would get fired if he disobeyed Wade Barrett but that angle was great, seeing Wade throw water in Cena's face and boss him around. That was the one time Cena didn't get pestered with "Cena sucks!" chants. Wade was such a friggin' great bully -- someone who justly felt victimized by the WWE's power structure and using every little inch of his power to humiliate the face of the company with all these petty little tasks. That might have been Cena's greatest work. He put that angle over. I don't think any other star would have the guts to lower themselves that way, even though it's acting. But he did it and made it work. He made himself completely vulnerable.

I loved the end segment. Neville comes out with Renee to sign the contract for the title match. Neville signs. Of course Bo doesn't come out right away. He eventually does and acts overtly heelish towards Neville. He brings out his challenger to teach Neville a lesson. It's Danny Birch. This is a Bo squash, pretty much. Bo looks really good. Finally, match ends. "Sure, I'll sign your contract!" Neville comes in. Bo signs it. And then Bo finally goes full-fledged heel and jumps Neville. He walks out, thinking he has the upper hand. But Neville comes flying onto him and they brawl. FTB.

 

[TimLivingston]

That dumbass announcer said that The Fall of Man came out of nowhere. You know, the same move where both guys were waiting for the guy to slowly get up so that they could kill him dead with their finish while he tried to figure out where he was.

 

I bet he thinks the sun rises out of nowhere, too.

[The Man Known as Dan]

Been catching up on NXT after being a few weeks behind, the last two weeks were not the best NXT has ever brought us but were fun enough. As for this week...

 

So... Ascension.squash. I've watched them in squashes a lot and usually it just feels like fast forward material. This one was not. This was a very fun tag team squash. A nice comfort level with these two is developing. It's good to see after a solid year of just being "oh... those guys", after there match with Hunico and Camacho, which was also real solid, they are becoming an act I enjoy watching. Good for them, and potentially good for the E's tag division.

 

Corey Graves is so damn good at being just a smarmy little douche. Punchability. I will say though, felt odd that this was a total Graves squash, though the Dragon Screw in the ropes was rather awesome.

 

Yay Bayley! Poor Sasha is in such a rough spot: She's actually really solid in her role, but the rest of the NXT Divas division is Paige, Emma, Bayley, and Summer Rae, and all 4 of them are all really fun to watch and she just doesn't stand up to it a lot of the time. And it's of no fault of her own, it's just really hard to live up to. This was fun, and I'm looking forward to Bayley getting her hands on Charlotte.

 

It is completely uncanny how much Big Cass is a Edge/Test hybrid. And I mean that in the best way. Test with Edge circma E&C style charisma. Big upside. This stalling is also completely awesome, and Cass is fucking amazing. Good God he throws an amazing Boot. And now Aiden English gets to keep stepping into his heel routine. This entire story is really good stuff, but man, as much as everyone loves Enzo, Cass is really becoming a complete package. Probably not ready for real long matches or anything, but overall, he might be up with Mojo and Sami for best overall prospect on NXT right now. I wouldn't be surprised if Enzo becomes more of a manager role for Cass in the big league.

 

I'm curious how Parker does as a heel, as I think his entire gimmick was doomed from the start as a face. Miz went from Main Eventing Mania to wrestling CJ Parker on NXT in his career. That's almost impressive. Kind of a nothing match. I miss the Skull Crushing Finale.

 

The Bo/Neville leading to Bo/Birch was... hmm. Bo was so good at Disingenious face him as straight up heel is gonna be a bit of a culture shock.

[cubbymark]

Haven't seen NXT in a while outside the Regal/Cesaro match that made a bunch of MOTY lists, but figured now is as good a time as any to jump back in.

 

The Ascension's overall presentation is so much better now, and having them be world-beaters is pretty cool. Not sure they're ready for 15-20 minute tags on RAW vs the Rhodes Boys or The Shield, but they're pretty good.

 

Corey Graves looks like the biggest hipster douche with those skinny jeans. His promo was kind of bland and for a squash it was really clunky.

 

Bayley/Sasha was bleh. Haven't seen either one of these two and I wasn't overly impressed. The nastiest bump was when Natalya pulled Charlotte off the ring apron and she took quite a tumble. The four person booth in this match was a bit distracting as Renee was struggling to not talk over people.

 

Cass/Breeze was a freaking phenomenal comedy match. That's the best stalling this side of Larry Zybysco. I was very impressed with Cass, and he's gotten SAWFT over like a motherfucker. Breeze gets the cheap win, but I'd like to see these two rematch as I think they could pull even more stuff out in a house show match or 15 minute RAW match.

 

I skipped CJ Parker/Miz because fuck those two dudes.

 

Adrian Neville's not the world's greatest promo but he was adequate. I was however distracted because he was sweating out of his salmon polo like crazy. The Bo squash was very random, but him signing the contract to then clock Neville in the back is Heel 101. 

 

I'm excited about the 2/27 match.

[Tromatagon]

PAC is gonna get a Pitstain from Pete and Pete gimmick

[Greggulator]

PAC is gonna get a Pitstain from Pete and Pete gimmick

Enzo's a better Pitstain, who was a marvelous heel in that wrestling episode in Season 3. Corey Graves is a good Pitstain, too.

Sami's a natural Big Pete. Ellen ='s Renee. Bayley is a great Nona. Who is Little Pete?

Does this make Regal IGGY POP???

[w. josh]

Screw Little Pete. Who's Artie?

[Greggulator]

Screw Little Pete. Who's Artie?

Mark Henry. Both are the strongest man in the world.

[scraylo187]

 

Screw Little Pete. Who's Artie?

Mark Henry. Both are the strongest man in the world.

 

 

THAT'S WHAT I DO LITTLE VIKING

[Tromatagon]

Mark Henry is already the bigger, blacker Pitstain

[Matt D]

COREY GRAVES comes out for the first time in eternity. I haven't really missed him. He's doing a very good cocksure walk. Regal describes him as having "an air of menace." A-Ry says Graves has compared himself to James Dean. He claims Adrian Neville tried to end his career and he will never be forgiven. He has a message for everyone: "Stay tuned." Whatever.

He'll be taking on CAMACHO who comes on out on his racially degrading bike. Graves has jeans that make Batista look like he's a skinny raver. Geez, these things are tight and disgusting. Graves gets a good early takedown with a weird spinning knee. Followed by some eh looking punches. Then he gets Lucky 13 and Camacho has to tap. Graves keeps it on well after he gets the victory. Post-match, he has a great, dickish smirk. Regal: "I know what it's like to have your heart filled with spite." Graves is still dumb but I think he has more potential as a cocksure heel.

 signs it. And then Bo finally goes full-fledged heel and jumps Neville. He walks out, thinking he has the upper hand. But Neville comes flying onto him and they brawl. FTB.

 

 

You shouldn't talk about CG Punk that way. 

[Tromatagon]

Does if count as racially degrading when you're just pretending to be another race?

Shit I guess that makes it extra degrading

[Matt D]

They need to give Sasha Banks Victoria's music.

 

[scraylo187]

The big question here is not Pitstain, it's who on NXT gets to be Endless Mike.

[Greggulator]

The big question here is not Pitstain, it's who on NXT gets to be Endless Mike.

 

Cesaro? Bo?

[Matt D]

I kind of want Adam Rose

 

to have a split personality and now and again become Leo Kruger.

[Tim Evans]

Adam Rose's entrance is incredible. People are gonna love it when they see it.

Tonight's taping was pretty much all about CM Punk chants. They started right off the bat before the show even started. It started to die off as the show went on. About 3 signs were confiscated and some guy got thrown out for a little while. Can't wait for Raw during Authority promos. As for the show, it was basically a build up to the February 27th show. It was announced that the special guests for the night will be, HBK, Bret Hart, John Cena, Kevin Nash and Paul Heyman. They will also be at Full Sail the next night with Sheamus and the Outlaws.

The Ascension had 3 matches. Two against jobber teams and the main event vs the Brotherhood. The main ended in a DQ which was a shitty way to end the night I thought. Ascension have gotten really over with the crowd with Konnor's "Yah" chant.

The BFF"s had a mixed night. Summer lost to Emma on the first taping while Sasha lost to Bayley during the second. Charlotte finally returned to action on the third taping and beat Bayley in a bad match. The final taping had Summer beat Aksana.

The two best matches of the night were Neville vs Breeze 2 and Cesaro vs Justin Gabriel. I'm pretty sure Breeze got a concussion in his match on a powerbomb. He looked out of it after that. Cesaro was in full babyface mode which was weird but he's easily the most over guy on NXT these days. Bo Dallas came out after the Neville match and they had a confrontation. Neville is really bad on the mic and Dallas was really serious all night. Bo faced Mason Ryan but Alexander Rusev interfered with NEville making the save. JBL came out and made a Teddy Long tag match. Neville pinned Bo Dallas.

As I said, the Adam Rose introduction was awesome. They showed a video of a party of his with a whole bunch of the developmental guys and divas including Alexa Bliss, Kalisto, Becky Lynch and I think even Crowe although I'm not sure on that. Even Dusty Rhodes showed up. He faced the cowboy that Neville faced 2 weeks ago. Rose was over right from the start. Also Marcus Louis debuted with Lefort vs the returning Oliver Grey. Grey won which was weird but I guess they want to make Lefort a jobber group.

Rest of the show was pretty uneventful. Lots of Big Cas losing to both Cj Parker and Aiden English. CJ's new character is awesome. Rusev also beat Xavier Woods again.