The NXT Thread

[hammerva]

My smart mark booking for Takeover would be Flair introducing KENTA or whatever he will be called and then Prince Devitt introduced by William Regal comes out wanting the spotlight and that leads to a fun 10 minute match.  I mean given the current lineup they could have time.  I can't imagine we are getting 5 plus minutes from Bull vs Rawley, Enzo vs Sylvester, or Ascension vs Kallisto/Sin Cara

[PuroresuFan]

Was he specifically addressed as KENTA or was it more a case of knowing that's who Flair would be introducing from the announcement?

 

Edit: I was aware of the pics they put out on WWE.com but hadn't seen this before today:

 

[rovert]

Was he specifically addressed as KENTA or was it more a case of knowing that's who Flair would be introducing from the announcement?

 

Addressed as Kenta in a video package.

[MGFanJay]

Charlotte-Bliss was okay. I didn't like the post-match deal though since it telegraphed a Bayley loss, and I want her to win. The Enzo/Cass stuff made them come off as dicks in both the skit and the post-match deal. I liked that the show was set up to showcase every single title match, but all of the matches were just boring squashes. There are good squashes and then there are boring ones - these had the show dragging badly.

 

http://jayreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2014/09/wwe-nxt-9-4-14.html

 

Screens -

 

http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/pp93wvhkq3yod3xw8ou3bzqnanwopdkf

[Greggulator]

Out first come our favorite pixie girl ALEXA BLISS. There's something so great when CHARLOTTE's music cues up. It just has this air of menace to it -- a confident, arrogant, rough metal lick with 2001 in the background. It just works for Charlotte, perfectly. She's really becoming seriously good. Alexa's got some fun gymnastics roll-ups. Charlotte counters with a great strength catch into a stomach buster. Charlotte is REALLY effective at using her height in this. She's making herself look bigger.I love how she just decides to end it after nearly losing after her powerbomb was countered. Man, Charlotte has gotten REALLY good. I want to see her against Paige stat.

BAYLEY comes out. I absolutely love this matchup. "It's time you take me seriously because at NXT I am seriously taking your title." That's an awesome line. Bayley hold out her hand for a handshake. Charlotte, naturally, pie faces her. Bayley counters with a Belly-To-Bailey. Charlotte's face is awesome -- she really can't believe it.

TYLER BREEZE has a sit-down about why he will win. He brags about his good looks first. "Maybe it's because I've been the best looking person in every single room I've ever walked into my whole life." And THEN he mentions about how good he has been in the ring. I love that -- even though Tyler has become an absolute threat, his vanity is still what drives and defines him, not the quest to win the title.

SIN CARA and KALLISTO come out to speak with Devin. Sin Cara speaks in Spanish as Kallisto translates. This Kallisto dude can talk a little bit. He sounds like a really good face and places an emphasis on the right words. Then the interview ends with Sin Cara, who has only spoken Spanish, leaving by saying in perfect English: "Thank you very much." AWESOME. Please keep that gimmick.

TYE DILLINGER comes out first and is followed by Tyler Breeze. Dillinger controls early and at one point does a chest pec flex like Super Macho Man -- awesome. Dillinger has some weird charm to him. But Breeze finally gets the advantage and just unleashes his vicious side. They work a front facelock spot that Dillinger fights out of. they criss-cross a few times and dodge some corner moves before Breeze hit THE BEAUTY SHOT out of nowhere. He then does a real arrogant pose on top of Dillinger before going back to his camera. That match sort of told his story arc before the biggest match of his career perfectly -- He's not the strongest or most athletic, but he's a vicious little prick and also a smart one who has a move he can hit at any moment to win, but his hubris might be his downfall.

TYSON KIDD is now talking about this match. And this is AWESOME and I didn't even pick up on it until it ended. He mentions how there's one man in this match who i the best high flyer in the world. There's one man in this match who has all sorts of heart. There's one man in this match who believes he is so good looking. And there's also someone like him, who is the most callous and cold person in wrestling -- the most dangerous man walking. And then there's Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, and Tyler. I love how Tyson's THAT pompous. Man, this dude has come out of nowhere to be the best thing on NXT.

Now we get the great ENZO/CASS promo at a Staten Island beauty parlor that also introduces CARMELLA. This is wonderful and all things perfect. This is perfect wrestling comedy and why I will always, always, always watch grown men playfighting.

Tyson/ADAM ROSE is next, tying up their mini-feud that saw Rose get a win by giving a lollipop to Nattie. Rose controls most of this until Tyson gets a cheapshot on Rose's knee, does a dickish knee work, pie faces Rose as he's trying to put on the Sharpshooter and finally gets Rose to tap. Nice.

SAMI ZAYN does a quick promo talking about how he'd like to beat Neville in this so there's no doubt who the better man is. Great little psychology bit for that and I hope it comes into play in the 4-way.

The VAUDEVILLAINS come out to do a backstage promo and the screen turns black-and-white for this. Their gimmick is next level. English's delivery is absolutely spot on with his artistic pompousness. Simon's so awesome at doing his Charlie Chaplain silent film thing before leaving with EXCELSIOR! I love those guys so much.

Sami's out with his ska-punk song. Does this dude have a hard time going to sleep at night knowing he wrestled under a hood all those years with a gimmick of being a generic luchador? He should have been doing his current stuff from Day 1. He's taking on MARCUS LOUIS, Sylvester LaFort's goof stoodge. BTW, Sylvester's wearing some sort of gaudy jacket with the French flag on it. Terrific wrestling trash. Louis controls most of this as Tom Phillips puts over his resilience. Sami does fired up so well. I love how he puts on the Koji Clutch in this -- such an awesome finishing move.

Enzo and Cass then come run out to get some revenge from Sylvester's attack, with the hair cream in tow! LaFort, naturally, flees.

ADRIAN NEVILLE is out to talk about how this match is a risk, and he likes to take risks. Nice, simple, easy, effective face champion promo. They've figured out how to have him present himself -- keep it nice and simple for him. Don't have Neville need to do too much acting. Just simple promos.

CJ PARKER is out. His character is so silly and funny. Renee: "I saw him filling up his car with regular gas at Sheetz." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! The only way I would love that more is if Renee said Wawa instead of Sheetz. (And they have those in the Orlando region.) Parker's gotten really good as a stooge heel jobber. Guys like that have value -- the WWE obviously wants, via its development team, to have everyone with some sort of character. No more Kofi's or Dolph's or Gabriel's. A dumb, annoying hippie type there to get his ass beat is a solid, solid thing we can all live vicariously through.

Team Lucha comes out first. The Vaudevillains come out to their awesome entrance. I love Renee sort of still flirting with Regal. There's a great little bit with this. Kallisto nearly rolls up English early and gives him the "I was THIS CLOSE" gesture. English does the same a few moments later after he almost gets a pinfall. The Vaudevillains have a LOT of really fun double team moves. They've put a lot of thought into their pairing, and it shows. English eats it HARD after Kallisto rolls onto him through the ropes near the end. Really fun match. The ASCENSION comes out and hold up the belts and that's how we end.

Super pumped for Wednesday.

[Patrick B.]

This was the best go-home edition of WWF Wrestling Challenge ever.  Everyone in next week's title match gets a showcase win going into the special.

[rovert]

Decent enough NXT. Just simple and effective - if not dreadfully exciting buildto Takeover.

Continue to see major potential in Alexa Bliss. One thing that is underrated about her is her facials. Shows off aggression, surprise, pain and determination well.

Kalisto's promo was a surprise as I heard horror stories about his talking ability when he was on the Indies.

[Go2Sleep]

I wish the 4-way was an elimination match. It'd be a nice way to get a 5+ minute Neville/Zayn showdown at the end. Right now, I'm getting the feeling that Zayn will steal a pin and gradually turn heel in the weeks to come. It might seem to overload the heel side of things at the top, but I think KENTA, Devitt, and Steen will balance that out soon enough.

 

Also really looking forward to KENTA's debut. Hopefully they don't make his name all caps so it's easier to type. Wonder what his finisher will be.

[scraylo187]

Tyson is killing it right now. I really want him and Gabriel in a death feud with Kalisto and Sin Cara on the main show. Is that weird? It's probably weird.

 

Tyson really needs to drink some water before he tapes his segments though. He was nervous-thirsty, you could hear it.

[SirSmUgly]

Continue to see major potential in Alexa Bliss. One thing that is underrated about her is her facials. Shows off aggression, surprise, pain and determination well.

Kalisto's promo was a surprise as I heard horror stories about his talking ability when he was on the Indies.

 

Agreed on both accounts. Both Bliss and Kallisto did a great job of portraying a "never-say-die babyface" quality: Bliss in the ring with her facial expressions and body language,and Kallisto in his part of the promo. Both of them are really likeable. 

 

I say it each week, but Tyson Kidd is so good...like I might say he's had the best year of anyone in WWE so far, that level of "good." His work is excellent; he's so crisp in the ring. I also think, besides becoming better at cutting promos to the point where he is actually pretty good, his shit-talking and facial expressions are also at the point where they are a plus for him, especially when he is showing frustration or smarmy cockiness. 

 

This show has quite a few lovable babyfaces, however. Zayn, Kallisto, Bayley, Bliss fit that mold and really work well when they lose more than they win in some ways. 

[stanhain]

So no word on who is at the tryout camp this week? I guess that means there are no known Indy names there then. If there were any there I figure word would leaked out by now.

[Greggulator]

Their synched up training center is the best thing to happen to the company in... I have no idea how long. But a really long time.

 

Characters getting mega over or not clicking with the crowd is always going to be a crapshoot. Some things jut work and some things don't. But there hasn't been one NXT call-up who hasn't at least had a fully-formed personality when they debut on the big shows.

They've developed some guys who should already main event PPVs, and are a few months away from likely doing so in Reigns, Ambrose, Rollins, The Wyatts and Rusev. I'll even throw Bo Dallas into that mix, since he's hit it out of the park. Paige has been absolutely wonderful. And in their brief public appearance, Xavier Woods (the weakest of the call-ups) showed himself as a really great mouthpiece. Big E.'s flailed at times but has proven himself as at least a competent hoss-ish type. They even have Renee Young as an amazing interview type person who is also starting to really get it as a commentator (her best showing was this week).

Unless I'm missing some folks, the only true bombs have been Emma and Adam Rose. Emma failed largely because NXT fans got attached to her as they saw the character develop. The WWE audience just saw some ditz dancing with Santino -- not her fault, since she plays the hell out of the role, and a good learning mistake in the future. I really don't know why Adam Rose doesn't work -- the presentation is excellent, and he's a quality worker. I think maybe he came up a bit too soon because the entrance got over so quickly and he didn't quite figure out how to wrestle as the persona.

But developing these characters to the point where, when they get called up, are fully-formed is so wonderful.

I wonder, though, if Sami might end up stuck. Is he more valuable on the big roster, where he'll likely get lost because of his size? Or is he more worthy as the NXT kingpin as he's so friggin' great and everyone he's worked with so far has come out a better worker. (And this includes Cesaro, who showed the WWE brass he's a main event-level player.)

[stanhain]

I think Sin Cara and Kalisto are matching together very well in terms of their gear and work. This is certainly better than Kalisto teaming with whatever Ricardo was suppose to be.

[Jamal]

Unless I'm missing some folks, the only true bombs have been Emma and Adam Rose. Emma failed largely because NXT fans got attached to her as they saw the character develop. The WWE audience just saw some ditz dancing with Santino -- not her fault, since she plays the hell out of the role, and a good learning mistake in the future.)

Emma started off rough but I wouldn't say she was an out and out bomb. She's been getting good fan reactions for weeks on Superstars. I think the crowd has finally gotten the character.

I agree that Charlotte has gotten really really good and I predict Alexa will be there too.

[Ace]

Byron Saxton is SUCH an improvement over A-Ry.

[Patrick B.]

It'd be nice if WWE had different commentators for each show.  They've got more than enough color commentators(Lawler, JBL, Byron, Riley, Albert, Renee) and the list of PBP guys drops off FAST(Cole, then Tom Phillips, then Rich Brennan).  Is Scott Stanford still on the payroll or did he get cut a while back?

[Rev Ray]

Scott's the sports anchor for WPIX in NY.

[Go2Sleep]

Any news on why they dropped Regal as an announcer? He was by far the best one in the company, was hoping he'd get to one of the main shows. Maybe he didn't want the schedule.

[Ace]

I assume the commentators for NXT don't have to travel to do looping unlike Smackdown and company. Philips and Renee are already travelling with Smackdown and Raw, tho.

[Tromatagon]

Regal has reportedly been having trouble with his voice

[rovert]

Any news on why they dropped Regal as an announcer? He was by far the best one in the company, was hoping he'd get to one of the main shows. Maybe he didn't want the schedule.

 

WWE thought he was too bland.

[JonnyLaw]

Any news on why they dropped Regal as an announcer? He was by far the best one in the company, was hoping he'd get to one of the main shows. Maybe he didn't want the schedule.

WWE thought he was too bland.

Since when does bland mean awesome?

Sigh... So compared to A-Ry, Albert, several interchangeable non-wrestlers, and Saxton... Regal is the bland one?

[Tromatagon]

You forgot the one McNugget looking motherfucker who only says stupid shit

[Go2Sleep]

I guess with Riley, Saxton, Phillips, and Brennan waiting in the wings, there won't be any trouble maintaining the current announcing standards on the big shows if Cole, Lawler, or JBL disappear.

[hammerva]

Not sure when they debuted it but the promo video on the NXT countdown show tonight for Baron Corbin was great.   It looks like they are taking the Corey Graves character and making it more dark and less CM Punk like.   

 

Also love the Bayley feature.  You have to be a cold hearted person to not root for her.