The NXT Thread

[The Man Known as Dan]

Go watch Cesaro/Regal. Right now dammit!

[Sky Blue Sam]

I think the guys who weren't lumberjacks says a lot about who may be getting TV time soon. Guys like Jason Jordan, Danny Burch and Ty Dillinger have only been used as job guys so far, but their absence implies the WWE didn't want us ti see them as mere fodder.

[Peck]

God damn that Regal/Cesaro match was brilliant. Everything from the pre-match interviews to the post-match handshake.

[Matt D]

WWE's christmas present to all of us. I can't wait to see it tomorrow.

[Greggulator]

The match was awesome. I prefer Zayn/Cesaro more but that's just because I like matches that have some flying. Just a stylistic preference because this was such a smart, well put-together match. It was also really unique in that almost all of the match happened on the mat. Regal and Cesaro were in physical contact with each other for almost all of the mat -- not a lot (or any?) moves bouncing off the ropes, etc.

[Peck]

The match was awesome. I prefer Zayn/Cesaro more but that's just because I like matches that have some flying. Just a stylistic preference because this was such a smart, well put-together match. It was also really unique in that almost all of the match happened on the mat. Regal and Cesaro were in physical contact with each other for almost all of the mat -- not a lot (or any?) moves bouncing off the ropes, etc.

 

Noticed that too. Some great, unique mat-reversals that had crowd ooh-ing and aah-ing. You had Cesaro attacking the knee which Regal sold expertly and Regal going after the arms so Cesaro couldn't lift him up for the Neutralizer. Put together very well.

 

Loved Regal's pre-match interview knowing he's the underdog old guy riding off into the  sunset and Cesaro's hesitation to finish off a man he respects and helped him get into the company. Shawn/Flair-esque in a small sense.

[TimLivingston]

It was different from the Ohno match, which was an all out slugfest, whereas this told the better story of Regal needing to use his guile to get by. Once again, he does the little things so well that everything pays off at the end. I'm quick to put this ahead of the Ohno match, which was more of a BattlArts type match, whereas this was worked liked a hybrid of that style, a Lucha maestro match and a World of Sport match. This might be Regal's crowning achievement and cements Cesaro as the best wrestler on the planet

[Matt D]

So much awesome stuff. 

 

My favorite three bits:

 

1.) Regal's foreshadowing of the leg selling after he got tossed across the ring on a counter early on. 

2.) Everything from the dickish kicks in the corner, to Cesaro grabbing the ropes and rising up to the chop block transition. One of my favorite visual segments ever in any match. I need someone to make Cesaro getting up like that an animated gif.

3.) When Regal comes back and works on BOTH biceps. For some reason that had me smiling like an idiot.

 

Every single thing after the failed knee trembler was just brilliant, from Cesaro being forced to fight with just his head and his legs to the strained battle over the Regal Stretch. Then he pops his arms back into place. It's the most well-thought out story-driven match I've seen in ages. It ends with Regal's hand sort of sliding down the referee's shoulder into the handshake. Man.

 

Which means... god damn it Gregg. There are so many themes and stories and so much performance art and little flourishes in that match and you just give us a lame "Well, I like flying more but they sure did nuzzle up against each other" post. Rewatch the thing and try again. 

[Greggulator]

So much awesome stuff. 

 

My favorite three bits:

 

1.) Regal's foreshadowing of the leg selling after he got tossed across the ring on a counter early on. 

2.) Everything from the dickish kicks in the corner, to Cesaro grabbing the ropes and rising up to the chop block transition. One of my favorite visual segments ever in any match. I need someone to make Cesaro getting up like that an animated gif.

3.) When Regal comes back and works on BOTH biceps. For some reason that had me smiling like an idiot.

 

Every single thing after the failed knee trembler was just brilliant, from Cesaro being forced to fight with just his head and his legs to the strained battle over the Regal Stretch. Then he pops his arms back into place. It's the most well-thought out story-driven match I've seen in ages. It ends with Regal's hand sort of sliding down the referee's shoulder into the handshake. Man.

 

Which means... god damn it Gregg. There are so many themes and stories and so much performance art and little flourishes in that match and you just give us a lame "Well, I like flying more but they sure did nuzzle up against each other" post. Rewatch the thing and try again. 

 

Ha! I will I didn't have time to write up a lengthy tome yesterday but I just wanted to go on about how great a match it was.

[Hagan]

I loved that Regal's mugging to the crowd lead to him turning his back for the chop block. I almost viewed it as Regal evolved into such a comedy wrestler *on the main roster* that he couldn't help but try to get a laugh out of the crowd and it led to his knee being taken from him

 

As noted, everything about this was great. Regal is such a great promo, the matwork was great, the psychology was great, the finish, the post-match. Just a picture perfect timeless pro-wrestling match.

 

I get all the reasons why Regal isn't used more on Raw or SD. With his health history he shouldn't be on the road full-time, and at his age I'm sure they see him more valuable as a mentor/announcer than as a full-time guy, and really...I'd rather see him have a long, healthy life than try to push it a year or two too far, but, man...it'd be great if they gave him that kind of time on Raw against a guy like Cesaro or Ambrose or Rollins or had him in a tag against one of the really good teams. I think it'd get over. If 2013 was the year of the Goldie Renaissance, maybe Regal can have one last sustained run.

[Greggulator]

Okay, I'll try again per Matt's order.

 

"This is wrestling." That's the chant the NXT audience broke out in the early part of the match. And I think that really just says it all.

The main thing that jumped out to me during the match is how stylistically different it is compared to what wrestling looks like these days. So much of this match are these guys in physical contact with each other. There's very little of anything off the ropes. The only time we see mat wrestling anymore is during submissions -- the Yes Lock and various reversals, Anaconda Vice, STF, etc. And even that's for such a small percentage of a match. Even guys who have amateur backgrounds, even those with that worked into their gimmicks like Kurt Angle, never put this much time on a mat. So much of this match, even beyond the opening segment, is on the mat. It's so interesting to see.

I love Regal working the kip up's early. That's such a great crowd bait spot. I mean, the NXT eats his stuff up anyways. But those kip ups lead to a "You Still Got It" chant -- well-played, Sir William. And it also looks like Regal gets confidence after it, too. Regal gets Cesaro up on his shoulders. He hooks in a nasty cross-armed surfboard thing, and even makes sure his shoulders aren't down as he does so. Even afterwards, he still works the cross-arm until Cesaro snapmares him out of it.

Cesaro gets in one of the weirdest and coolest strength spots. It's this weird reverse suplex thing out of a seated position. When was the last time the crowd popped for a strength spot from the ground like that?

It isn't until maybe 10 minutes into this thing that we have our first strikes. They come after Regal has Cesaro in the corner. The ref tries to separate them. Regal does a great "How am I cheating?" face to the ref and uses that distraction to really dickishly kick Cesaro in the face a bunch of times. Cesaro has this look in his face like "Oh, f this." Regal keeps this face up as he torments the ref but that leads to Cesaro getting up and chop blocking Regal into oblivion. He sells the chop block like he's blown out every ligament in his knee at once.

Cesaro now works Regal's knee on the mat. It's so interesting, though -- Regal is always reaching for a finger or hold, etc. Cesaro then takes off the knee brace. Cesaro eventually wraps Regal's leg around his head and hoists Regal up -- another mat strength spot that is so unique.

There's FINALLY a rope bounce. Regal gets some near falls via old-school roll-ups and backslides. He hits Cesaro with a Euro uppercut. Cesaro bounces off the ropes and explodes with one that's about 500 times harder.

Cesaro eventually gets the swing on and Tensai explains how bad a move it is to get hit with, and how it's hurting that damaged knee.

Regal counters the Neutralizer with a backdrop. He then immediately drops a knee to Cesaro's bicep. I mean, it's a kneedrop that you've seen 5,000 times. But it looks like the most vicious thing ever done because of Cesaro's reaction. Cesaro pushes Regal into the corner and charges for another European Uppercut but Regal then kicks the hell out of the OTHER bicep. How the hell does the strongest man alive deal with that?

Regal wants the knee trembler. But he doesn't have the leg strength to go for the move. Cesaro sees this. He headbutts Regal in the chest (the only weapon he has). He then goes for another but Regal knees him pretty much right in the temple. Oh man.

 

Regal goes for his butterfly suplex. Cesaro counters with a delayed bridge back thing. But Regal held on (!) and goes for the Regal Stretch. Cesaro, though, somehow fights to the ropes before Regal can get hook it on.

The end sequence I'm a bit hit-and-miss on. Cesaro uses a rare dropkick to send Regal to the mat. Cesaro then "resets his arm" into place in hopes to make his arm useful again. I sort of hate this. I don't think his elbow was dislocated. His biceps were worked over. That's not a joint popping thing. It's a muscle pain and pinched nerve thing.

We have another rope move, with Cesaro bouncing off and hitting his double stomp on Regal but right on his skull. Ugh. Regal looks legitimately dead.

Cesaro then looks sad as he's about to put Regal out with The Neutralizer. He looks down upon the man he looked up to -- who helped him get a job -- with total pity. The old dog finally gets up to his feet. Cesaro screams and puts Regal down for good. (More on this in a second.)

Post-match, Regal walks off and Cesaro stalks him, only to give shake his hand out of respect.

I sort of don't like the ending. The whole match was set up with Cesaro being a jerk to an announcer, Regal standing up to him and then realizing he may have bitten off a lot more than he could chew. It wasn't Cesaro looking to earn the respect of Regal. It was Cesaro looking to humiliate Regal. So him feeling bad about what he did at the end of the match and then offering his hand... Eh. I liked the end of his match against Zayn better where he pantomimed kicking dirt in his face. I liked the end of Regal/Ambrose better -- when Regal realized Dean got the better of him and applauded right before he ate his own finisher. I would have loved Cesaro to do some dastardly heel thing to Regal as opposed to shake his hand.

I can see why people would love this ending, though. But on a second watch... it sort of goes against what they just set up. To each their own.

The work in this is sterling, naturally. And it's absolutely completely different than anything else in years. There are no whips or even corner spots. Great, great stuff.

I still like Sami/Cesaro better. But like I said earlier -- that's just a preference for a babyface who can fly like Sami working off a heel base like Cesaro. That match had so many crazy spots -- the tornado floor DDT, Sami's dive, Cesaro's friggin' CHINLOCK, and the insane end sequence. And Cesaro was still such a total dick post-match as opposed to my thoughts on this end.

 

But if anyone wants to say this is the 2013 NXT MOTY, I'm not going to shout you down. It's Regal and Cesaro, who just rules right now.

[Patrick B.]

Can someone get a memo down there to do Regal-Wade before Wade gets cut loose?

[Peck]

Okay, I'll try again per Matt's order.

 

"This is wrestling." That's the chant the NXT audience broke out in the early part of the match. And I think that really just says it all.

The main thing that jumped out to me during the match is how stylistically different it is compared to what wrestling looks like these days. So much of this match are these guys in physical contact with each other. There's very little of anything off the ropes. The only time we see mat wrestling anymore is during submissions -- the Yes Lock and various reversals, Anaconda Vice, STF, etc. And even that's for such a small percentage of a match. Even guys who have amateur backgrounds, even those with that worked into their gimmicks like Kurt Angle, never put this much time on a mat. So much of this match, even beyond the opening segment, is on the mat. It's so interesting to see.

I love Regal working the kip up's early. That's such a great crowd bait spot. I mean, the NXT eats his stuff up anyways. But those kip ups lead to a "You Still Got It" chant -- well-played, Sir William. And it also looks like Regal gets confidence after it, too. Regal gets Cesaro up on his shoulders. He hooks in a nasty cross-armed surfboard thing, and even makes sure his shoulders aren't down as he does so. Even afterwards, he still works the cross-arm until Cesaro snapmares him out of it.

Cesaro gets in one of the weirdest and coolest strength spots. It's this weird reverse suplex thing out of a seated position. When was the last time the crowd popped for a strength spot from the ground like that?

It isn't until maybe 10 minutes into this thing that we have our first strikes. They come after Regal has Cesaro in the corner. The ref tries to separate them. Regal does a great "How am I cheating?" face to the ref and uses that distraction to really dickishly kick Cesaro in the face a bunch of times. Cesaro has this look in his face like "Oh, f this." Regal keeps this face up as he torments the ref but that leads to Cesaro getting up and chop blocking Regal into oblivion. He sells the chop block like he's blown out every ligament in his knee at once.

Cesaro now works Regal's knee on the mat. It's so interesting, though -- Regal is always reaching for a finger or hold, etc. Cesaro then takes off the knee brace. Cesaro eventually wraps Regal's leg around his head and hoists Regal up -- another mat strength spot that is so unique.

There's FINALLY a rope bounce. Regal gets some near falls via old-school roll-ups and backslides. He hits Cesaro with a Euro uppercut. Cesaro bounces off the ropes and explodes with one that's about 500 times harder.

Cesaro eventually gets the swing on and Tensai explains how bad a move it is to get hit with, and how it's hurting that damaged knee.

Regal counters the Neutralizer with a backdrop. He then immediately drops a knee to Cesaro's bicep. I mean, it's a kneedrop that you've seen 5,000 times. But it looks like the most vicious thing ever done because of Cesaro's reaction. Cesaro pushes Regal into the corner and charges for another European Uppercut but Regal then kicks the hell out of the OTHER bicep. How the hell does the strongest man alive deal with that?

Regal wants the knee trembler. But he doesn't have the leg strength to go for the move. Cesaro sees this. He headbutts Regal in the chest (the only weapon he has). He then goes for another but Regal knees him pretty much right in the temple. Oh man.

 

Regal goes for his butterfly suplex. Cesaro counters with a delayed bridge back thing. But Regal held on (!) and goes for the Regal Stretch. Cesaro, though, somehow fights to the ropes before Regal can get hook it on.

The end sequence I'm a bit hit-and-miss on. Cesaro uses a rare dropkick to send Regal to the mat. Cesaro then "resets his arm" into place in hopes to make his arm useful again. I sort of hate this. I don't think his elbow was dislocated. His biceps were worked over. That's not a joint popping thing. It's a muscle pain and pinched nerve thing.

We have another rope move, with Cesaro bouncing off and hitting his double stomp on Regal but right on his skull. Ugh. Regal looks legitimately dead.

Cesaro then looks sad as he's about to put Regal out with The Neutralizer. He looks down upon the man he looked up to -- who helped him get a job -- with total pity. The old dog finally gets up to his feet. Cesaro screams and puts Regal down for good. (More on this in a second.)

Post-match, Regal walks off and Cesaro stalks him, only to give shake his hand out of respect.

I sort of don't like the ending. The whole match was set up with Cesaro being a jerk to an announcer, Regal standing up to him and then realizing he may have bitten off a lot more than he could chew. It wasn't Cesaro looking to earn the respect of Regal. It was Cesaro looking to humiliate Regal. So him feeling bad about what he did at the end of the match and then offering his hand... Eh. I liked the end of his match against Zayn better where he pantomimed kicking dirt in his face. I liked the end of Regal/Ambrose better -- when Regal realized Dean got the better of him and applauded right before he ate his own finisher. I would have loved Cesaro to do some dastardly heel thing to Regal as opposed to shake his hand.

I can see why people would love this ending, though. But on a second watch... it sort of goes against what they just set up. To each their own.

The work in this is sterling, naturally. And it's absolutely completely different than anything else in years. There are no whips or even corner spots. Great, great stuff.

I still like Sami/Cesaro better. But like I said earlier -- that's just a preference for a babyface who can fly like Sami working off a heel base like Cesaro. That match had so many crazy spots -- the tornado floor DDT, Sami's dive, Cesaro's friggin' CHINLOCK, and the insane end sequence. And Cesaro was still such a total dick post-match as opposed to my thoughts on this end.

 

But if anyone wants to say this is the 2013 NXT MOTY, I'm not going to shout you down. It's Regal and Cesaro, who just rules right now.

 

Just reading this makes me want to watch this match again so I believe I shall.

[Greggulator]

I would love it if Wade went down to NXT to scout out members for a potential new Nexus and it led him to cross paths with Regal.

[Ace]

Who books NXT? Dusty?

[Cristobal]

If so, he's mellowed the fuck out in his old age.

[rovert]

Who books NXT? Dusty?

 

Ryan Ward is the main NXT Creative.

[BalancingAct]

Regal's promo has to be right there up at the top this year.  Do any really come close?  SO GOOOOOOOD.

 

Then we get Cena/Rollins tonight.  We're so spoiled right now.

[Valcourt]

Even though the point of NXT and Regal there is to put shine on the new stars, I'd really like to see Regal kick someones ass. 

(Did he win against Hero? I forget.)

 

Either way. Cesaro is the MVP this year. Hands down. I want him to be elevated and then feud with Bryan.

[Joe Fixit]

He beat Ohno and also beat Ambrose once in FCW.

[Kropotkin's Beard]

I've just seen Regal's promo from last week's NXT. It's real chills down the spine stuff. Has me even more excited to see them fight. I really hope the young guys there in NXT pay close attention to Regal because he's truly fantastic. I know I'm saying nothing knew, but it was such a simple idea to get across in a couple of minutes and he does it so effectively. The pauses, the acknowledgement that his opponent is the better man, that he's done some dastardly things in the past, wonderful.

[Greggulator]

RSUEV VS. KOFI -- I'm pretty sure Lana is the most attractive female wrestling personality of all-time. This is purely subjective. But I love her. Stone cold fox. Anyways, Rusev is taking on Kofi Kingston. Regal's on commentary and gives a big tip of the cap to Antonio Cesaro after their amazing match last week. Nice and quick to wrap the angle up in a bow. There's no need to linger. I can't help but think of Cesaro during this match and the next one. Alex Reilly talks up Kofi's experience and how many titles he has won. Anyways, this match lasts about 3 minutes. I don't mind Kofi but man he totally mailed this in. His boom drop stuff looks so weak. Thankfully, Rusev wins with the Accolade. This was rough.

NATTIE VS. EMMA -- This is for the number one contendership for Paige's title. This, too, is like that. Nattie does one cool spot in this -- a really nasty looking surfboard type thing. It's so awesome looking. But the rest of it is why I don't like Nattie at all -- her stuff isn't snug, her selling is awful, etc. Emma wins after the Emma lock. Afterwards, it takes about three seconds of prompting for Nattie to do the Emma dance. Ugh.

Cesaro goes to NXT and has Match of the Year type things with well thought out angles. These two come in and it's a snooze. I don't know who books WWE guys on the NXT roster or not. But it looks like from this angle that Cesaro goes down to Florida and looks to make the show his in the best way possible. Everyone else just wants to not get hurt and don't really care about making the young people look any good.

AIDEN ENGLISH/BIG CASS SINGING CONTEST -- Oh my god, this is the best. Must-see television. This is such great wrestling camp tomfoolery and a great way to set up a feud. Aiden English does his super pretentious operatics. Regal talks about their relationship and something about getting tea together with a dwarf friend. Cass responds with some lunkhead song that's not so bad and a diss of Aiden and the NXT crowd eats it up. The crowd votes for Big Cass and Aiden is beside himself. He demands a second round! Aiden sings some showtune thing to diss Cass. Cass responds with a version of My Girl, but replacing the words with "You Suck!" The crowd joins in the prompt perfectly and it's spectacular. Big Cass takes his eyes off Aiden to cheer with the crowd and English clips his knee. And a feud begins between two very silly and fun characters. Great stuff.

TYLER BREEZE/MASON RYAN  -- Regal talks about how Renee gives him the "Cobbywobbles." Breeze is now wintering in some Brazilian getaway. Man, I can't believe Mason isn't on the main roster. He looks like every wrestling promoter's wet dream. We live in a new era when guys like Bryan and Punk and a bunch of other guys are on our television while this stiff isn't. Anyways, Sylvester LaFort (I forgot to throw that in -- he had a segment where Mason called him an idiot) comes to ringside and Ryan, like a total moron, goes to attack an ineffectual French manager. Breeze hits the Beauty Shot for the win. I love Breeze's gimmick and character but he hasn't been in a match longer than 45 seconds, I don't think. I really want him to be great. Hopefully he ups his game.

 

SAMI ZAYN/KRUGER 2 OUT OF 3 FALLS -- What a great touch with this gimmick, since Leo started attacking Sami in order to capture the attention of Antonio Cesaro, who he also challenged. Is Leo officially changing his gimmick? I hope not because his hunter character is really cool. Match starts with Kruger stalking Zayn on the floor. Alex Riley says he favors Sami because of his previous experience in 2 out of 3 falls matches. Regal says he favors Kruger because he took a beating from Cesaro and thinks Zayn is still suffering from his. Kruger has most of the early part of the match but Sami comes out with an Exploder Suplex into the corner, followed by his running boot. And Sami gets the first fall.

When we come out of the break, Sami is on the top rope trying for a superplex. Kruger LAUNCHES him to the floor!  It's CRAZY. Sami barely beats a 10 count and then survives a DDT. Kruger goes back to slowing the pace down and doing his stalking style offense of chokes and punches. Zayn gets a second win and hits his spinning powerbomb thing. Zayn goes to the apron. Zayn gets caught up and Kruger hits a spinning neckbreaker with Zayn's feet on the top rope like Orton's hangman DDT. It becomes a great battle of Zayn's flying versus Kruger's methodical nature. Kruger hooks his GC3 finishier -- a cool looking arm clutch -- but Sami gets the ropes. Kruger looses his temper.

Kruger continues to lose his temper and ends up ripping off his shirt after hitting the spinebuster. He sets up Sami for The Slice clothesline. But Sami ducks and hits a facebuster type thing. And then Sami hooks Leo in some arm submission and Leo taps! Sami wins 2-0!

Has a 2 out of 3 falls match EVER ended 2-0 like that?

Anyways, I really liked this match a lot. It wasn't as exciting as a lot of other matches but the story was well-done. Sami's resilience got the better of Kruger's patience. Now does Sami learn the lessons and finally beat Bo Dallas?

[Ace]

Kruger is apparently already doing the new gimmick on house shows, which is a pity.

[Greggulator]

Kruger is apparently already doing the new gimmick on house shows, which is a pity.

Yeah, it sucks. He works the gimmick really well. But methodical doesn't always translate. It's probably smart of him to try his hand at doing something goofy like his new bit.

[Tim Evans]

Kruger's Michael Hayes mixed with Adrian street gimmick on the house shows is something to see.

 

If you hated the first Kofi/Rusev match, wait till you see the rematch. I'm hoping Miz is booked vs Rusev on the 9th. It just makes sense.