The NXT Thread

[w. josh]

I really like Dempsey - pretty much everything he does looks good, and even though his character is just "surly fuck," he plays it really well. He'd be fun as some pretty-boy's mistreated bodyguard on the main roster who finally snaps and beats the crap out of his employer.

 

Other than that, this week's show was sort of bleh. I know there's been a running discussion about this, but I really don't like the number of main roster guys on the shows lately. One or two is fine, but this week we had Gabriel, Kidd, Woods, Sin Cara, Summer Rae, and Nattie all taking up television time on a one hour show.

[Patrick B.]

I really like Dempsey - pretty much everything he does looks good, and even though his character is just "surly fuck," he plays it really well. He'd be fun as some pretty-boy's mistreated bodyguard on the main roster who finally snaps and beats the crap out of his employer.

 

Well, Tyler Breeze is right there...

[JonnyLaw]

I like Dempsey too, but his look absolutely screams DOA after his callup.

[SirSmUgly]

The tag match was interesting. There were a couple of neat spots and a couple of blown ones. However, Tyson Kidd's facial expressions after he pinned Zayn were really the best thing about it. He had this wonderful smirk on his face as he backed up the ramp, but then it hit him: Oh yeah, he has to go show concern for his meddling wife! He immediately gets this unbelievably douchey fake concern face going as he walks back to check on her. 

 

I like Bull Dempsey's look. That egg-shaped King Kong Bundy thing he's got going is a nice contrast to the more chiseled wrestlers and the skinnier guys like Zayn. 

 

Jason Albert has very good chemistry with Renee, and as it turned out, this was a much better week on commentary for her.

 

This show needed more Tyler Breeze. All the NXT shows need more Tyler Breeze. 

[w. josh]

I like Dempsey too, but his look absolutely screams DOA after his callup.

 

I think most people would have said that about Husky Harris. too. if they like the guy, they'll find a gimmick that hides his weirdly high belly button imperfections.

[Patrick B.]

That was an oddity of the show:  They had the ring announcer do the "Tyler Breeze has entered the building" thing and then he never appeared on the show.  Did I miss a backstage bit or something?

[Hagan]

Don't know if you guys know this about Big Cass, but he's seven-feet tall...and you can't teach that. 

[scraylo187]

Is it weird that I really liked that Sin Cara match? Hunico is really making the mask his own now that he's not having to rehash Mistico's moveset.

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

Tyson Kidd's "I DID IT!" had me cracking up. WWE really need to allow Tyson to go back to his old hair style. With his new attitude and his old hair cut, the guy would be a huge fucking heat magnet.

 

Sami and Bryan working together on the main roster would be the biggest babyface team WWE would possibly put together at this point. I can imagine those two clearing the ring (Mega Powers Style) of The Wyatt Family and Rybxel. The pop would be huge.

 

I've watched NXT since its launch on The Network and I STILL do not see the appeal of Bailey. She is barely passable in the looks department (though gets an A+ for her ass) and I just don't get the character or the ring-work. She is decent and nothing more and I don't see her getting called up to the main roster. Maybe I will be wrong in 2 years and she will be one of the biggest Divas in WWE history- but right now- totally passable.

 

Rene needs to learn that less is more. All dead air doesn't have to be filled with talking. Hopefully she finds her way because WWE has NEVER had a good female commentator. The least offensive one was Lita, but that's not saying much.

 

Hunico playing Sin Cara is probably the best thing that is going to happen to him. Mistico didn't work out for reasons already documented. Rey Mysterio probably has less than 10 matches left in him before hanging it up. As long as WWE doesn't get on some late 80's kick in thinking they no longer need smaller guys- Hunico will pretty much be employeed for at least the next 10 years (barring any crazy injuries/personal shit).

[rovert]

The NXT live event sounded like it sucked largely last night:

http://masonsringsideview.blogspot.ie/2014/07/nxt-tampa-7-12-14.html

 

But they changed the worse aspects of Becky' act.

 

Next up was divas action as Carmella took on Becky Lynch. I've only seen Carmella wrestle a handful of times now and this was definitely her best outing yet. Her natural athleticism along with her princess of Staten Island gimmick equals big time potential. Becky Lynch continued to prove why she is probably my favorite female wrestler on the roster with her high energy and a bit of a rougher style than you are used to seeing from the ladies. Lynch had new ring gear and new music, it seems they are relying less on Irish stereotypes and relying more on the skills and energy of the self described “life enthusiast. It was an entertaining match culminating in Lynch winning via pinfall.

 

Apparently her new theme sounds like Smash Mouth. Her new gear big upgrade from the ill fitting pants from the NXT taping:

 

 

She has joined the Corre too!

 

 

 

 

Elias Sampson has a new Evil Western singerdesperado cowboy gimmick.

 

 

[Skelemania]

I think Bayley is adorable but it doesn't really matter what the fans think, it's more what the WWE brass thinks.

[Raziel]

I really think some people should just excuse themselves from discussion about females.

[caley]

I like Dempsey too, but his look absolutely screams DOA after his callup.

Not necessarily.  There's the aforementioned Bray Wyatt.  WWE has no problems putting guys with less-than-bodybuilder physiques, provided they believe they're worth it.

 

I mean this guy

held the tag titles a few times.

[rovert]

Poor Tyler. As if the career threatening finger injury wasn't enough.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

 

I like Dempsey too, but his look absolutely screams DOA after his callup.

Not necessarily.  There's the aforementioned Bray Wyatt.  WWE has no problems putting guys with less-than-bodybuilder physiques, provided they believe they're worth it.

 

I mean this guy

held the tag titles a few times.

 

 

He was never anything for more than a week at a time. Cade & Murdoch could have been really great, but they were never allowed to build any real momentum. I think he even beat Flair in a singles match and they teased an IC Title push, but it was nixed quickly. Point being, Murdoch was/is a really talented guy but his look clearly stopped him getting any kind of sustained push. Bull has Bam Neely written all over him.

 

Hunico is in an odd position - he's still much better as Cheat2Win2, but of course the merch money you get with the Sin Cara gimmick is cash on the table. I still think he'll go back to the Eddie gimmick in time though, one way or another.

[Patrick B.]

Bull has Bam Neely written all over him.

 

He's already won more matches than Bam Neely ever won.

[rovert]

They are taping tomorrow at Full Sail.

 

WOULD YOU EVER DEBUT SOLOMON CROWE AND VERONICA LANE!!!

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

 

Bull has Bam Neely written all over him.

 

He's already won more matches than Bam Neely ever won.

 

 

That isn't strictly true even in terms of TV, but Bam held the tag-belts in OVW when it was the primary developmental.

[JonnyLaw]

They are taping tomorrow at Full Sail.

 

WOULD YOU EVER DEBUT SOLOMON CROWE AND VERONICA LANE!!!

 

If HHH said after Takeover that the next Live Event would be around September, does that mean this taping will lead into that?

[rovert]

 

They are taping tomorrow at Full Sail.

 

WOULD YOU EVER DEBUT SOLOMON CROWE AND VERONICA LANE!!!

 

If HHH said after Takeover that the next Live Event would be around September, does that mean this taping will lead into that?

I hope it isn't a victim of a budget cut. 

[The Man Known as Dan]

The Vaudevillians entrance is the best entrance in NXT history.

[Greggulator]

We start with ENZO AMORE and BIG CASS teaming up together for the first time in 8 months! Curiously, they do no stick work. Their chemistry and connection with the audience is what makes them great. But what's interesting -- they still have it even without the audience prompts. And they're taking on THE VAUDVILLAINS who have a new-ish entrance (hence with Enzo/Cass cut theirs due to time purposes) and it's awesome. Aiden English has an early armbar on Enzo and sings falsetto for some reason, which completely rules. This match ends abruptly as the beginning of the French national anthem plays, distracting Cass who gets rolled up by Simon Gotch.

Man, I really want to see a long-form rematch between these teams. They are four ridiculously entertaining characters with great gimmicks. They could have a good, competitive match. They could also have a really fun comedy match. Either way, we sort of need this in our lives.

We then get a promo from The Ascension. They still need to get defined a little bit more. They have a great look and I love them as the New Eliminators. But they just need a mission statement for it to get to the next level. What's their motivation, essentially? They're trying to find it, and this isn't a bad start, with the, "You are always the hunted" thing. They're really not too far away from being a final package with a lot of legs. I went from HATING them to getting very much behind them.

There's a nice video recap of The Fall of the BFFs, setting up a match between Charlotte and Summer next week. I love the mirror promo with Summer and Sasha -- "When I'm the champion, you're going to want to be best friends with me again, so get used to the Summer of Summer." That's SUCH a perfect middle school popular clique brat mean girl line. Summer's straight-up one of the best Degrassi characters we've never known.

Regal is once again the best as CJ PARKER comes to the ring. "I have no standards." Here's a match with XAVIER WOODS. This was a decent little match until the likely blown ending. In fact, I think this is the most I've ever liked Xavier Woods in the ring. This looks and feel like a fight between two people who don't like each other. CJ's got really great heel stooge facial expressions and selling. There was also a really nasty deal where he threw Xavier head first into the bottom ropes. CJ missed his kick finisher, which led to Xavier trying to reverse, but CJ countering that while he was reaching for the ropes. It looked like the rope holding cheap victory was what was intended but they were out of position.

We get some words from SAMI ZAYN in anticipation of tonight's main event. It's again wonderful face stuff. He talks about how we've seen the real Tyson Kidd -- megacreep Tyson Kidd -- unfold over the past few weeks. A few months back, Sami would have been thrilled to wrestle against Tyson Kidd. But now? Now it's all about embarrassing him. I love that. Tyson has been a major prick and jerked Sami around a lot -- walking out on him in a tag match, beating him down with Gabriel, etc. So Sami does want some sort of justice and vengeance, and the best way to do that is to prove he's the better man in the ring, and to do so with honor and not stooping down to his level.

ALEXA BLISS comes down and they have an insert where she talks about her first match with Sasha. "You underestimated me because I'm so small and so nice." Yeesh. Saying you're nice doesn't make you nice, and niceness is based around humility -- you don't do nice things to claim you're nice, you do nice things because they're the right thing to do. They have to tweak her a little bit. She's certainly adorable but her persona is really all over the place. SASHA BANKS comes out next. This starts off with Alexa trying to catch Sasha in a roll-up, doing the "one inch" gesture that I loved when Shelton Benjamin busted it out in HHH's face during his legendary upset. The match flows like this -- Sasha's largely in control, with Alexa getting some counters. Sasha's finisher is NASTY. She hits a  Backstabber, but then rolls it into an Anaconda Vice sorta submission. It's a seriously great, vicious looking finisher.

TYLER BREEZE is backstage to answer the questions we all want -- nay, NEED -- to know. When will he take on Adrian Neville for the title? Well, his attorney is drawing up legal papers as we speak. Tyler's really finding a great balance here of being a self-deluded goofball to mock AND also a character someone has to take as a threat. A move a little far makes him a cartoon wanna-be supervillain. A move the other neuters what's so great about him by becoming too serious. He has a really fine line to walk and I think he and NXT are cognizant of that and paying attention to it. AND we also get his terrific music video.

We now have words from TYSON KIDD. Man, when Tyson Kidd came onto NXT, I was dreading it. He's sort of exactly what I hate about wrestling sometimes -- a guy who is technically good, but has never showed any sign or care in the world for the goofier acting/character side. In 1997, I would have absolutely loved him. But i grew to appreciate so much more about wrestling than the whole world of workrate. Wrestling as a form of performance art needs to take us into a universe filled with heroes and villains, and the only times shades of grey really appear is when someone changes from face-to-heel (or, at times, when the fans change their views of what heroes and villains are, but that's another essay for another time). There are a lot of wrestlers who are talented in-ring but never really got into that part of the universe.

I pigeonholed Tyson for that part of it when he came back to NXT. But I was completely wrong. In just a short few weeks, he turned into a magnificent douchebag. And his motivations for acting the way he does are so clear in the subtext -- He's jealous of his wife, he thinks he deserves a bigger spot than the netherworld of WWE Superstars and NXT, and he's trying to assert his manhood by winning matches, but in doing so he forgot his morality. He won a tag match against Sami Zayn because Nattie got bumped off the apron and Sami showed concern for accidentally hitting a woman (perhaps naively, but we've all come to understand that Sami's a very thoughtful person), and seeing that as a means to victory. Tyson put his own need for his ego above the well-being of his wife. He's become a fantastic heel, and I've loved seeing it develop. Nattie's not great as the Miss Elizabeth to his Savage, but she's at least giving it a go.

This is exactly what I want in wrestling.

ADAM ROSE comes out next, with the Rosebuds. They don't time the fall-back crowd surf thing with the song. Sorry, Matt. He's taking on Jason Jordan tonight, who recently started tagging -- and even wearing matching gear with -- Ty Dillinger. They do an insert to explain the match: Ty was injured, Jason doesn't know how, but the last time he was seen was partying with The Rosebuds. Awesome.

Adam Rose got rushed up to the big shows too quickly. I think that's pretty obvious. Someone saw how quickly the entrance got over and how Rose in his previous incarnation proved he knew what he was doing. But he still didn't quite figure out how Adam Rose should work in the ring. Well, he's finding that now. He had a great thing where he caught Jordan with his legs while hung up in the ropes and brought JJ's face into his butt a few times before wiggling it. He later broke out a Hurincanrana from the top rope. That's what he needs -- a hybrid of comedy spots AND some flashy spots. I mean, a party boy like him WOULD love attention, so having some of that in his moveset makes a lot of sense. This was Adam Rose's best match yet in terms of being Adam Rose.

Now we have quick words from CALLISTO! "I'd prefer to talk about my future wins and not my previous losses." He's then interrupted by the Vaudvillains as their piano theme plays and we go to black-and-white. They hold up a WHITE BOARD because it's silent film and everything. "WHERE'S YOUR PARTNER!" El Local and Callisto have parted ways... but the luchador can find a NEW tag partner next week! So silly and goofy and fun.

This is main event time and this match RULES. Oh my god. This is just fantastic. Tyson does some good stalling to start, which gets the crowd to chant "Tyson Chicken" and later do the chicken dance. These guys have so many great athletic sequences and spots. But it's the little things -- Tyson's smirk to the crowd, using their attempts to humiliate him as fuel, Sami's facial selling -- that make this next level stuff. The end also tells such a great story. Tyson and Sami have a really good counter sequence before Tyson hooks on the Sharpshooter. Sami, fueled by the Ole chant, pulls through to get the bottom rope. Kidd goes to the top but Sami catches him with a Flatliner-type thing he then rolls over into whatever his Clutch is called and Tyson taps IMMEDIATELY.

Sami Zayn doesn't give up. He always tries to do what's right and fights in the face of adversity.

Tyson Kidd always looks to take shortcuts. But as soon as he's faced with an uphill battle, he taps out like the gutless turd he truly is.

Awesome.

[SirSmUgly]

I really like CJ Parker's entrance theme.

 

I really hate Sami Zayn's entrance theme and the dancing, on the other hand.

 

Sasha Banks was awesome tonight. 

 

I am looking forward to Callisto/??? vs. the Vaudevillains so very much. 

 

That's all I got for this week. 

[CSC]

I know it's been said a million times, but Regal brings so much to the broadcast.  He was exceptional during the main event.  The match itself was excellent, and he really made it feel like it was a big deal.

[PuroresuFan]

The Vaudevillians entrance is the best entrance in NXT history.

 

I think their entrance is great but the original Ascension entrance is still the best IMO:

 

 

Even their debut vignette was solid: