The NXT Thread

[CRZ]

About 3 signs were confiscated and some guy got thrown out for a little while.

Believe it or else, the sign that got that guy thrown out was "BATHROOM BREAK MATCH."  I guess they decided to give him a bathroom break.

 

It still bugs me that I was probably within 10 feet of you and never found you.  Ah well.

[Skeeball Wizard]

PAC is gonna get a Pitstain from Pete and Pete gimmick

Enzo's a better Pitstain, who was a marvelous heel in that wrestling episode in Season 3. Corey Graves is a good Pitstain, too.

Sami's a natural Big Pete. Ellen ='s Renee. Bayley is a great Nona. Who is Little Pete?

Does this make Regal IGGY POP???

Bo Dallas is totally Endless Mike. Regal is the elusive Mr Tastee

[Matt D]

Tim,

 

How long did the Brotherhood match get?

[RIPPA]

Obviously I avoid this thread as I try to do my NXT viewing spoiler free for some dopey reason but I am super excited about now trying to find Tim AND Chris in the crowd

[Tim Evans]

Tim,

 

How long did the Brotherhood match get?

 

Under 10 minutes. Double FIP sections but a shitty finish.

 

And Rippa, I should be on camera multiple times cause I was in the third row in the bleachers in my Mark Henry Hall of Pain shirt. Chris was a couple rows in back of me.

[The Z]

CJ Parker vs. The Miz? Good god, that match on paper already sounds so vomit-inducing it could main-event Wrestlemania.

[Peck]

Thought one of those jobbers looked familiar in the Ascension match. Q.T. Marshall from ROH under his real name of Mike Cuellari.

 

Regal was great in putting over the danger behind Corey Graves's new attitude.

 

Renee's subtle heeling of Riley and Tom Phillips was fantastic.

 

Why would the flash be going off if Cass was taking a selfie?

[Matt D]

I know that we've played out this joke, but part of me really thinks they should hotshot Graves to the roster as sort of the fake CM Punk. I think he'd get a ton of heat and while USUALLY it'd be the wrong sort of heat, right now it seems to be the sort they're going for. 

[JonnyLaw]

I know that we've played out this joke, but part of me really thinks they should hotshot Graves to the roster as sort of the fake CM Punk. I think he'd get a ton of heat and while USUALLY it'd be the wrong sort of heat, right now it seems to be the sort they're going for.

Imagine the heat he would get if he came out in the hoodie, to CM Punk's music. I think it would be even hotter than when Punk came out as Hardy.

[Raziel]

Graves needs a new finish though. That "Lucky 13" leglock just doesn't seem to fit with his persona. Give him the Tazzmission, still call it the Lucky 13 and you could play off on him growing up a big ECW fan, so even though he isn't a big guy, he knows how to seriously hurt people and has no regard for his own safety.

So, CM Punk is what you're saying?

[rzombie1988]

 

Graves needs a new finish though. That "Lucky 13" leglock just doesn't seem to fit with his persona. Give him the Tazzmission, still call it the Lucky 13 and you could play off on him growing up a big ECW fan, so even though he isn't a big guy, he knows how to seriously hurt people and has no regard for his own safety.

So, CM Punk is what you're saying?

 

They used to team together in IWC in 2004ish.

[Gorman]

 

 

Graves needs a new finish though. That "Lucky 13" leglock just doesn't seem to fit with his persona. Give him the Tazzmission, still call it the Lucky 13 and you could play off on him growing up a big ECW fan, so even though he isn't a big guy, he knows how to seriously hurt people and has no regard for his own safety.

So, CM Punk is what you're saying?

 

They used to team together in IWC in 2004ish.

 

 

They had a few matches against each other, too. Corey (Sterling James Keenan at the time) even got a victory in one of them.

[Brian Fowler]

Tensai marking out for Emma is so very awesome.

[TimLivingston]

NXT seems to be in a holding pattern of sorts with Zayn and Paige out, which makes sense considering they want to go big on February 27.

 

Also, there was talk about someone using Vader's Face Eraser as a finish. If Rusev doesn't steal it to set up the Accolade, somebody PLEASE get the message to him to do so.

 

Corey Graves has zero appeal to me at this point. Dull character, robotic in the ring, and one of the things he actually did alright, promos, aren't even happening anymore. Neville is getting better and better, though.

 

Byron Saxton as smarmy color guy is good, but the problem is that he gets overshadowed by Tensai's outgoing nature and Regal's overall awesomeness. If it were just him and random horribly NXT PBP guy, he'd come off much better. Wade Keller talked on the Steve Austin Show a couple months back about how Renee Young has become the best interviewer WWE has and he's spot on. She comes off as someone who does her research, knows her shit, and can present it in a way that makes sense and keeps the stories straight. She's solid gold.

[TimLivingston]

EDIT: DOUBLE POST? The fuck. I pride myself in that not happening.

 

I'm going to go sit in a corner for a while. 

[The Z]

I can't be the only one afraid the quality of NXT will go way down once the show airs on the WWE network?

NXT is by far the best weekly show WWE puts out, but I'm afraid once the show hits the network, the wrong kind of people will pay attention to it and turn it into something shitty.

[Greggulator]

REVIEW!

We start right away with SIN CARA in the ring to take on Aleksander Rusev along with Lana. The announcers mention how, under Lana's lead, Rusev has only lost one match, and that was against a ten-time champion in Kofi Kingston (who he split with). This match suuuuucked. Rusev's worst showing. It was Sin Cara's speed and aerial ability against Rusev's strength but this was just off. It looked like Rusev was out of position for a few spots and/or whoever was Sin Cara tonight wasn't too interested in pacing things out a bit more and letting spots flow a bit better than they did. I think Rusev's going to be really solid on the main roster. There's no one his size on the roster they can have him do anything with on NXT. Mason Ryan sucks. Maybe Big Kass? They haven't debuted anyone else with any size yet. Bo Dallas is a face. Leo Kruger's going through a really awesome sounding gimmick change so you don't want to have Rusev steamroll him right now, and Rusev should just steamroll dudes right now.

 

ALICIA FOX takes on EMMA! Sweet T does the Emma dance. A nice, really well done match. Screw what everyone thinks about Emma's Raw debut. She's SO good. Alicia does a lot of good heeling in this -- nothing great, but she mocks the dance, just acts like a total meanie. They do a great little thing where Emma's trying to his whatever she calls her Tarantula but Alicia fights out of it and uses it to do a neck snap thing using the ropes. I love the Tarantula as a move so much. I fondly recall the first time Tajiri appeared on ECW and me and my friends saw that move and BUGGED out. But it's a hard move to set up and make look realistic. Having the move NOT work like that makes the future success of the move work more. It also puts Alicia over as someone who knows what Emma's trying to do. I really liked the end. Emma does a flapjack thing that sends Alicia face first. Emma hooks the legs for the EMMA LOCK and does her dance as she bridges back!!! Alicia taps. Emma then lays down her challenge against Paige for her rematch. She starts to dance some more when Sasha tries to sabotage her. Emma dodges but then falls prey to Summer Rae and Charlotte. All three of the BFFs look REAL nasty in this. Then Bailey and Natalya come out to even the score. They end up trapping Summer Raw who makes this really great "Wait, let's talk about this!" attempt to escape the justified beating she's about to endure. Faces clear the ring and do the Emma dance.

SYLVESTER LAFORT comes in to take on MASON RYAN. This is a squash. Nothing to it. Mason looks sorts like a world beater in this and not awful. Nasty boot, chucks La Fort about 50,000 feet in the air onto the top rope, etc. I'm still not looking forward to him in The Shield or whatever

AIDEN ENGLISH is sitting in a director's chair! He's PROUD of what he did last week -- and, yeah, that little greaseball started this whole feud by running over his foot! English is facing Tyson Kidd tonight and ends his segment by singing "Ohhhh Cannnaddaaaa. I hope I make you cry!" English friggin' rules. He'd be such a great lackey for Damien Sandow, at the very least.

Really solid match between the two. This was English's best showing, actually. Tyson was in control for most of the thing but Aiden got in some good cheapshots. The end was really good and silly. Big Kass came down and stole Aiden's hat and scarf. Naturally, Aiden was distracted and pissed off about this. This gave Tyson time to heal and get on the top rope. Kass then tossed the hat over Aiden's head over towards Kidd. Aiden went to retrieve his hat but instead was hit with the top rope neckbreaker.

 

OUR MAIN EVENT is ADRIAN NEVILLE VS. COREY GRAVES for what seems like the 85th time. Neville starts off in control. Tensai makes a great point about how getting injured at the hands of an opponent affects all aspects of your life and career. I admire Corey Graves' commitment to wear jeans bought from an Orlando-area Forever 21 discount outlet as ring gear. Neville controls the first part of the match until Graves gets a cheap shot on Neville's knee while on the apron. Second half is Graves doing knee work while Neville tries to hit a headshot since Graves as out with a concussion. On paper, this wasn't bad but maaaaan was this a drag. Corey's just not interesting. At least add some smack talk to your game or some crowd interaction. Working on a knee is a great thing to get over your eventual submission attempt. But at least do something to make it interactive and interesting. Neville's too blame, too -- no "clap for momentum" stuff or anything. He eventually wins with The Red Arrow (after crawling to the top rope) but this was a snore.

Bo Dallas comes out to inflict some punishment as Neville is hurt. He does a great slow, cocksure walk while adjusting his suit buttons. It reminds me a lot of Kurt Angle for some reason, especially when Eddie Guerrero was wrestling with one arm tied behind his back and Angle decided to strike. But HHH intervenes and instead sets up the gimmick for their match -- a ladder match!

Neville's happy. Bo's not. Great set-up -- this should give the high-flying and more mobile Neville the advantage and neutralizes Bo's ability to sneak out wins via exposed turnbuckles. Super excited for this match.

[scraylo187]

Who is that smaller dude in the Ascension? He looks completely out of place. Replace him with Mason Ryan or Haku's kid and you've got a solid beast team.

[Greggulator]

Who is that smaller dude in the Ascension? He looks completely out of place. Replace him with Mason Ryan or Haku's kid and you've got a solid beast team.

 

That would be Rik Viktor.  He's actually become a pretty good "tag team general" type and is always in the right place. I used to haaaate him but I've come to like him their past few outings.

[scraylo187]

 

Who is that smaller dude in the Ascension? He looks completely out of place. Replace him with Mason Ryan or Haku's kid and you've got a solid beast team.

 

That would be Rik Viktor.  He's actually become a pretty good "tag team general" type and is always in the right place. I used to haaaate him but I've come to like him their past few outings.

 

 

I like him too, I just don't like him here? Like, he could be a fun weird singles Gangrel type. NXT has room for demon possessed warriors and a vampire, right?

 

I may just need to get over that he's smaller than Conner. 

[Ace]

The visual of his gimmick isn't working for me. It looks like he's cosplaying 1998 Christian.

[Tromatagon]

Someone needs to get those guys ripping off The Black Family from AAA immediately.

[cubbymark]

How long has Rudy Charles been in NXT? 

 

The main event had some really good selling from Neville, but the match itself was pretty flat and the fans weren't really into it.

 

Aiden English is really, really pale. 

 

Mason Ryan is still terrible.

 

I don't quite get the charm of Emma, but the match itself was pretty good.

 

Sin Cara is in NXT, where he probably should have been all along. It's got to be a rib on Mistico at this point.

[Ace]

Mistico hasn't been Sin Cara for months. His contract's expired and he's back in Mexico. Hunico is Sin Cara now.

[cubbymark]

I know that it's Hunico as Sin Cara right now. But it would have been to the benefit of Mistico Sin Cara to have gone down to NXT for a little while and learn some of the WWE style, but he refused to do so. Hence it's ironic that Hunico Sin Cara is doing what Mistico Sin Cara should have done upon arriving in WWE.