The NXT Thread

[Goodear]

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

[Roman]

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

 

Yeah, but I mean with the same rhythm and meter as the actual Pirates of Penzance bit.

[Greggulator]

I'd love if Aiden English started hailing from the Winter Garden Theater.

[caley]

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.  

 

I actually agree.  Renee is really good, but sometimes when she wants to get in a point about fashion or hanging out or flirting with the wrestlers, she does so even if it's at a point when the wrestler in question is trying to/being decapitated by a clothesline and inappropriate.  For someone who got her start hosting a smark-lite wrestling talk show, though, she's incredible.  It's just the little things left for her to refine.  I have no doubts she'll get there.

 

 I spend more time watching their tight flaps (which don't match which bugs me to the nth degree) than anything else.  

I know exactly what you're talking about and agree, but your choice of words here make it sound like you're offering up some sort of grotesque compliment on their vaginas.

 

I loved Cass/Enzo-Russev/Lafort, loved Breeze-Parker (Though I feel like Parker needed to get a lock of hair this week to really propel their feud).  Such a fun show.  Every week is good to great.

[NikoBaltimore]

This Aiden English segment is something I can be confortable showing to non-wrestling fans.  How can you not love him singing to the ring, singing in the match, singing afterwards, AND getting roses and a teary Regal to boot?  This guy is a highlight of most episodes he's on for me.  I remember thinking before they should do roses, and seeing that brought a huge smile to my face.

 

And Alexander Rusev with more experience is going to be a big star.  I can just sense they're going to be pretty high on him going forward.

[TimLivingston]

The rose throwing for English is incredible. Fuck streamers. Real pro wrestlers get roses thrown at them.

[Greggulator]

RUSEV VS. LAFORT -- It's been said that we now live in a "post-racial" America after Barack Obama was elected president. However, my dream of seeing this reflection of hope and change shown through the prism of a mismatched heel stable in the WWE's farm system has officially died as Aleksander Rusev has fired his former mentor, trading the Frenchman for the services of LANA, the newly named sultry blonde woman who has been pacing ringside lately. We are only as strong as our differences. Rusev taps Lafort out in about three seconds via The Accolade.BAILEY AND CHARLOTTE are talking about Bailey's broken headband, which was torn asunder at the hands of the BFFs recently. And if on cue, SUMMER RAW and SASHA BANKS come strutting in with a faux apology and what appears to be an attempt to win over the naive Bailey's services. Summer has been an absolute revelation the past few weeks and has been one of the best female heels in a long time. Charlotte's a bit stiff in her delivery but I do like how she really doesn't like Bailey "WOOO"-ing and a "don't touch me." Hmm, Bailey, maybe you should be careful in who you trust!LEO KRUGER VS. EL LOCAL -- I assume Local is Rciardo? This is a squash. They're getting over Kruger finding a new viciousness since he lost to Cesaro a few weeks back. Our Girl Renee mentions how she was Kruger Google "ghost prisons" recently. I think I heard her right. Kruger's finisher is pretty cool -- he hits a few snap suplexes and then bridges up in some MMA choke looking thing. I'm bad with names. I like Kruger. He wrestles as a hunter very well. I don't know if he'll be main eventing any WrestleManias ever but he has a lot of upside. I think he just has to quiet down a bit. His vocal tick sounds a lot like Luke Harper's YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAH thing.PAIGE and EMMA are in the back having a heated conversation about who hit who first in their various matches with Sasha and Summer lately. Good little argument. Paige looks like a total psycho and Emma comes off as really serious and not bubbly. Their match for the title was REALLY good. Excited to see what they can do next.

 

ASCENSION VS. THESE GUYS -- The crowd is chanting "Let's go these guys!" at the two dudes in the ring who are running with it. They should TOTALLY make that a thing. Another quick squash. O'Brien had a cool "rolling headlocks" spot that I thought was pretty cool. Whoever was in the ring with them had a terrific singlet -- RVD Euorpean style with airbrushed Rocky Mountains and what I think is the flag of Colorado on the back. I really want them to flush out who these dudes are more, especially Rik Victor. That is SUCH a great wrestling indie sleaze name. I would love for him to "live his gimmick" and his gimmick is him ripping off pre-teens on Magic The Gathering original art purchases outside of a Wizards of the Coast at a suburban Orlando mall.MOJO RAWLEY VS. TY DILLINGER -- Mojo's got so much energy. Just overwhelming. I really like what Ty Dillinger did here, though. A goofy little heel gloat dance, some clever winks to the crowd. I like Renee talking about how much she hates noses getting worked. A-Ri gets so dismissive of Renee here. Also, Mojo apparently worked for Merrill Lynch between high school and college. I would love to see some tape of this. "AHRHRHRHRHRHRHRHA I HAVE DEVISED A DERIVATIVE WITH SUB-PRIME INSURANCE FUNCTIONS AHAHAHAHAHA GET HYPE!"LUKE HARPER VS. KASSIUS OHNO -- Do you like matches where two big dudes just beat the absolute crap out of each other for about 20 minutes? THEN YOU WILL LOVE THIS! This is insanely good and stiff. Two world-class dudes putting together a world-class match. LOVE THIS.

[Matt D]

You know what I kind of love? The NXT Narrator. "Should Charlotte be concerned after the BFFs seemingly tried to recruit Bailey?"

Find out next week, Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel.

[Roman]

This week has turned me into a big Luke Harper fan. First that pretty good match with Punk on Raw, and now this match with Ohno. It just leaves me a little anxious about what they'll do with Harper once the Wyatt Family breaks up. I hope he doesn't become the new Kane as 'that monster guy who punishes people who are actually involved in an angle and need some exposure'. Ohno looked to be in great shape as well, and he certainly held up his end of the match.

 

Mojo Rawley also seems to have a lot of potential, but he needs some more credible offence. I think the Pounce would fit him wonderfully.

[Goodear]

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.  

[Patrick B.]

Ty Dillinger = Shawn/Gavin Spears, if I'm not mistaken.

 

This was an odd taping with Bo and Zayn on the foreign tour and the tag champs only doing squashes, leaving them to focus on the midcard and the women.  WWE's women's division has improved, but NXT's has been better in-ring for a while now(IMO).

[PuroresuFan]

 

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.

 

 

 

 

I cracked up when O'Brian had to make a loud audible for him to pin the guy.

[Greggulator]

The thing that sucks about the NXT girls is they might be stuck there for a while. The Total Divas girls are going to keep their spots as long as that show is on the air. At least Brie Bella has upped her game in recent weeks but the rest of them are still just the absolute dregs. Eva Marie is going to have a PPV match at some point and she can't even TAG IN properly whereas Paige and Emma had a legitimately terrific PPV quality match against each other in the championship finals.

 

At least Summer was already on the main roster and is getting some shine.

 

I legitimately would pay money to see what AJ could do with actually talented workers. She's like a miracle worker in getting anything watchable.At least we'll have this division and see actually good women's wrestling with characterization and storytelling.

[Patrick B.]

I'm getting to the point of selfishly not WANTING them to be called up.  Stay in NXT and keep having good matches or go to the main roster to make the Total Divas crew look passable.

[Matt D]

I kind of never want to see Paige called up, too. If you look at NXT almost as its own territory, it kind of makes everything better. It's the world's second best 1993 Memphis.

[TimLivingston]

Fuck yeah, an actual Butterfly Lock from Kruger. That popped me.

 

That last match was fantastic, too. I don't see how Ohno gets brought up, though.

[ebbie]

I think people are too hard on the divas. AJ is getting all these praise because she was actually given more than 90 seconds in the last 2 years to show what she can do. Not saying the likes of Rosa Mendes or whoever will make magic if given 10 minutes, but to be given only 90 seconds to do your thing, have your opponent do her thing, then finish has never helped anyone.

 

That or the divas can't help it that ones who have gotten the "good" label since Trish left have been absolutely terrible. Beth tried to do moves with chicks that didn't know what the fuck she was doing. Nattie only has one thing to identify her and she still has trouble setting up the sharpshooter. Michelle was a charisma-less MOVEZ machine. Mickie was ugh. Melina was one dimensional.

[Niners Fan in CT]

What?! Mickie is awesome. She was great as a psycho heel and got over and then as a face she always received the most reaction of anyone. I loved her in tag matches, she'd get the hot tag, come in like a house of fire and the audience actually gave a crap..

 

I hope they sign her back.

[LooseCannon]

I think people are too hard on the divas. AJ is getting all these praise because she was actually given more than 90 seconds in the last 2 years to show what she can do. Not saying the likes of Rosa Mendes or whoever will make magic if given 10 minutes, but to be given only 90 seconds to do your thing, have your opponent do her thing, then finish has never helped anyone.

 

 

Probably has something to do with the number of Divas who could botch three moves in 90 seconds and the few who could call that an above-average outing.

[ebbie]

What?! Mickie is awesome. She was great as a psycho heel and got over and then as a face she always received the most reaction of anyone. I loved her in tag matches, she'd get the hot tag, come in like a house of fire and the audience actually gave a crap..

 

I hope they sign her back.

 

She could not have cared less towards the end of her run. She got lazy and refused to adapt to the lesser experienced girls. Hell, there was that one match with Gail that was way worst than anything you could think of involving the current women.

 

 

I think people are too hard on the divas. AJ is getting all these praise because she was actually given more than 90 seconds in the last 2 years to show what she can do. Not saying the likes of Rosa Mendes or whoever will make magic if given 10 minutes, but to be given only 90 seconds to do your thing, have your opponent do her thing, then finish has never helped anyone.

 

 

Probably has something to do with the number of Divas who could botch three moves in 90 seconds and the few who could call that an above-average outing.

 

 

Okay. So women aren't as athletic as the men. But when the women who know how to do a move thinks the other broad can take it, then you got problems. And I hate when people say "well, that isn't there fault most of the women can't wrestle." Nah. Good workers work around the other person's strengths and weaknesses.

 

Naomi would be amazing if she didn't have to work a match against someone else.

[caley]

Haven't watched the whole episode yet, but that main was frikkin' fantastic.  Harper just demolishes Ohno for the first 2/3rds then Ohno goes on offence hits some bombs, then Harper takes everything he has and just kills him dead.  And Alex Riley (I think it was Riley) delivers the perfect line after the finish: "That was hard to watch."  There might have been better TV matches this year, matches with more crowd heat, more moves etc. but I'm not sure I've enjoyed a TV match more this year than this (Although I'll concede the one thing that could cloud one's enjoyment of it is watching through a sorta 'smarks lens' as it's hard not to watch it as "Hey Harper, you're on TV, beat up this indy guy who thinks he's too good for NXT, take everything he has, but still beat him clean").

[Big Rob]

The whole "women need more than 90 seconds" could be accurate enough. I genuinely saw some decent (and one good by any standards) Kelly Kelly matches on house shows that went like 8 mins. Sure, her personal execution of some stuff was a little off, but her and the Bellas seemed to work way better in the house show environment than when they got thrown in to a minute long tag on TV.

Back to NXT, I'll echo most everyone's sentiments on the main event. Harper is a pretty great throwback to when guys didn't have to kill themselves to be over or have good matches.the more I see of Ohno, the less I think he'll get the call up. Green as he is, Mojo Rawley looks a ton better and had discernible attributes and personality. Without a complete overhaul, I just don't really see what Ohno is, as talented as he can be in the ring.

[Sky Blue Sam]

the more I see of Ohno, the less I think he'll get the call up.

Perfectly timed comment. I suggest you buy a Lotto ticket tonight

[TimLivingston]

ROB! WE SEE THE FUTURE!

[Big Rob]

Damn!