The NXT Thread

[The Z]

I don't know. I've watched every episode of NXT since they started this version of NXT and I've always said NXT is the best weekly show WWE puts out.

Since the last two months or so I would not say that anymore. I'm not even looking forward to the show anymore apart from the Sami Zayn matches.

[Greggulator]

CJ Parker sucks but he sucks in an interesting fashion. It's really fun watching him try out a new character. It's a lot better than his big league equivalents of someone like Kofi who are just there.I like NXT because it's fun. The characters are great and there's a lot of enthusiasm in both the performers and the fans. Any good matches are a bonus. But they've had a lot of good, tight matches (aside from the Sami classics or the Kassius/Regal stuff).

[Marty Sugar]

Slowly getting into NXT. Found a good source for it, so  I'm happy about that.  Just watched the Zayn/Hawkins rematch and...wow. So good. 

 

I love some of the gimmicks down there: Aiden English? Love it. A heel Bo Dallas? I thought the kid would be dull forever, so kudos to him and whomever put that together.

 

And Leo Kruger: so many friends of mine think he's dull but I think he's a great heel.

 

EDIT: The only negative is Alex Riley. Holy shit, he's a horrible announcer. Just...yikes.

[scatterheart]

The problem with NXT at the minute is that the babyfaces are all terrible (except Sami, Emma and Bayley). That became obvious in the eight man tag match from this week. Why would you want to cheer bores like Graves and Neville? How can you take TNA -style idiots like Xavia Woods and CJ Parker seriously?  Ohno won't make much difference, he hasn't got it character wise yet. They should turn the awesome Rusev face and push him as a Big E type deal. Or wait for Solemn Crowe and his mate from that workhouse vid to come up. They look like fun.

[Casey]

I'm more interested in the current crop of Divas they have in NXT than I am for hardly anyone else. Bayley, Paige, Emma, Charlotte... whoever the chick is that is supposedly related to Snoop Dogg... You go, Sara Del Ray. Keep that division in check.

[scatterheart]

I'm still waiting for Rebecca Knox to show up. I kind of wish the NXT Diva's could stay put to be honest. It's nice to see smart, nifty women's matches that get given enough time to tell a story in WWE. I can't see that happening on Raw, especially now they're pushing the Total Divas thing.

[TimLivingston]

Liked the Tag Team turmoil. Once again, Enzo and Big Cass are a license to print money. Big Cass looked awesome. Tyler Breeze reaching for a tag only to see CJ run into the finish was fantastic. Loved the segment to set up CJ and Tyler tagging up, as Maddox was on point.

 

Scott Dawson FINALLY busted out the spinebuster after weeks of being called an Arn Anderson clone, so there was that. Fuck The Ascension, though. The gimmick has run its course.

 

Aidan English is also a license to print money. Two matches in and the crowd has the chants down. NXT rules.

 

Ricardo can go. I want to see more El Local. Bo Dallas really does a good job of hamming it up. Also, welcome back, Ohno. But is he in shape???????

 

If JBL as the new commish leads to some type of Florida/Texas Rhodes feud, I'll lose my shit. HHH saying "Actually, yes" to the crowd was awesome.

 

This is worth all the Hulu Plus right here. 

[Goodear]

I'm 7 seconds into NXT and Tyler Breeze is already the best thing ever.  Tyler and CJ show up to want into a tag team turmoil match...

 

Brad: "Neither one of you have tag partners, what do you want me to do?"

 

Tyler: "Clone me."

[JonnyLaw]

This is worth all the Hulu Plus right here.

I thought NXT got added to regular Hulu?

[MarcosLoura]

Is Rusev doing a Samoan Savage gimmick while being Bulgarian? Updates on this please.

 

Awww I love Bailey. She's fun and bubbly, plus dat ass. BTW boob slaps are vicious, "holy shit" chants were totally appropriate.

 

I'm eagerly waiting for the angle that will make Sami start wearing a lucha mask. El Local vs Sami was too short, but sweet. I loved the nifty clothsline-backbreaker from Local.

 

Bo has the best dumb face off all the dumb faces ever.

 

Oh look it's Chris Hero. Kassius Ohno is such a weird name is there a pun in there that I'm not getting?

 

Triple H entrance was awesome. So many goofy kids doing DX chops. Awesome moment.

 

JBL's promos. YES! I missed this shit.

[MORELOCK]

I'm eagerly waiting for the angle that will make Sami start wearing a lucha mask.

 

Really don't think it's going to happen, nor should it.

 

"K.O." is the terrible pun you're missing (is that technically a pun?).

[manzk]

well, he probably can ask Kid Russel to adapt the KOW theme to "K-O! Kassius Ohno!", that would be a good reason.

 

The other pun is the "Oh No!", but then again is that really a pun.

 

But yeah, not sure if I can handle this name

[Rev Ray]

Maybe he should put on the weight, switch to a red outfit and have him steal Arik Cannon's old chikara gimmick.

 

Perfect entrance:

 

"OHNO!  OHNO! OHNO!"

 

(crashes through constructed wall at the entrance)"OH YEAH!"

[Justin877]

"Bada Boom !  Realest guys in the room!"  I am sold on Enzo Amore already

 

NXT is on the free version of Hulu still

[Greggulator]

Really good show again. Duh.The tag gauntlet was a lot of fun. I loved the Breeze/Brad/CJ interactions a lot. Hysterical. "Clone me." I like that CJ Parker now has an airplane spin since that's how cornball Ratdog fans dance. Breeze trying to get tagged in was great. Amore/Cass are really good and a lot of fun. I never saw anything in Dawson but his stuff -- he really was doing a good poor man's Arn. He's been watching a lot of those tapes and it shows. The Ascension absolutely blow. Rik Victor is the worst. He looks like a total creep who would try and hang out with teenagers at a mall food court.

 

Aiden English brings it again. I loved him finding his artistic center and doing a brief breathing exercise during his match. 

Bailey was super fun in her match, per usual. Sasha showed that she can go a little bit. Summer Rae's a really good heel. Renee Young is as good at commentary as she is at interviews. I loved Regal's little flirtatiousness with her. Her referring to him as "Mr. Regal" at a Veronica Corningstone/Ron Burgundy vibe. Summer breaking Bailey's $1 hair accessory while pantomiming crying was great. Summer was also really good in her backstage bit with Renee. I loved Renee actually leaving when scolded.

 

Sami had a really good squash match against Ricardo. Bo Dallas has become an epic-level heel. So great.

 

Happy Kassius is back. JBL was born to play heel authority manager. I love how this ties into everything going on in the big shows. It's the same universe but with different people.

[kiguchi]

I loved the butt hurt smark who had his back turned to Triple H. Take that, H.

 

[nofuture]

You can tell at some point with FCW/NXT they said "we need character development" because they gone away from generic wrestler to all out characters.  CJ Parker and Tyler Breeze could have easily been in WSX.  But it's amazing how much more developed character wise the NXT Diva's division is compared to the WWE Divas.  I mean really, who are Alicia Fox or Aksana character wise compared to Emma or Bailey.  NXT definitely have more interesting characters right now than a lot of WWE mid-carders like Kofi Kingston or Axel Curtis. 

[Greggulator]

It makes sense when more of these guys start popping up on the big roster and taking the place of guys like Justin Gabriel or your other random Main Event guys. You want people who at least have the potential of selling a shirt. I don't see Enzo Amore ever main eventing Night of Champions but I could totally see that guy getting a Zack Ryder-esque cult following. Just find guys who add value to the programming in any small way possible.

[Bustronaut]

I don't see Enzo Amore ever main eventing Night of Champions

Why not? Are you saying he's S-A-W-F-T - SAAAAWFT?

[Patrick B.]

"YOU get a heel boss!  YOU get a heel boss!  EVERYONE gets a heel boss!"

[JonnyLaw]

I loved the butt hurt smark who had his back turned to Triple H. Take that, H.

 

 

 I assumed that was Ohno.

[caley]

I loved the butt hurt smark who had his back turned to Triple H. Take that, H.

 

Reminds me of when a bunch of them started doing this during Bo Dallas' appearance a couple weeks back, only to turn around when they realized he was intentionally heeling it up.

[nofuture]

As bad as Bo Dallas was on Raw a few months back, his current character is pretty awesome, including the "Don't Stop Bo-lieving" line.

[caley]

I loved this show.

 

-Enzo-Cass really dominate on the mic like...no one in WWE I can currently think of.  I think Cass needs to wear different tights, something like Kevin Nash's to make him look bigger.  I'd like to see them keep Breeze/Parker together as a team for a while, and sort-of build up a Goldust/Booker T Raven/Dreamer kind of thing where Breeze keeps brushing off Parker, then finally helps him out.  The pop will be huge.  I'd like to see Lefort's Legionnaires add one more member to team up Dawson (Maybe the jobber guy that English faced), and keep Russev as an enforcer and singles guy.  I still see something (however small) in O'Brien but I think he needs a name  change/gimmick change and to be someone on the main roster's bodyguard.  Visually, he's totally impressive.

-English-Guy was totally entertaining.  I actually really like the no-name guy (I seriously can't remember his name) as he bumped well, threw some okay moves, he's like a better Michael Elgin.  English is totally perfect.  He could probably use a manager/agent/director.

-Bayley-Banks was entertaining but the ending came out of nowhere.  I loved Renee Young correcting the PBP guy by mentioning it was the Hug-Plex and Regal said "Renee Young corrected you. Aren't you just withering in shame? You're such a sad little man, aren't you?"  Also, loved Regal's story about his girlfriend with the 40 inch in-seam on one side, with 36 on the other.

-Zayn-Local was a bit abrupt.  The Dallas-Zayn feud is so good.  Dallas is just nailing it now.

-JBL as the boss was good.  I hope some time in the next little while he interrupts the show and reminds Renee that a woman's place is not behind the microphone.  I love the way JBL and Triple H bothh such gravitas that they can just shut a crowd down/turn heel on a dime.  Triple H correcting the 'Yes' chants was good, JBL telling the chanting fan "It's not sing-a-long with the Wrestling God" and making fun of the Rhodes family was better.

[Rev Ray]

Maybe WWE will throw some money these guys ways for Bo's theme:

 

http://youtu.be/waacof2saZw

 

You're Un-BO-lievable!  BO!