NXT SEASON 8 THREAD

[Ramsey]

Difference between them and Neville is I'm emotionally invested in the guy and what he's done in NXT/indies.  I can't say I was for those mentioned above.  If they honestly go through with this it'd be depressing.in a way.

 

And given how Vince is he's never even heard of Hobbits or LOTR.  In thinking about aliens, he's more likely to think of how they were portrayed a few decades ago.

And if JR was still around...well...anal probes anyone? But it could be a BABY FACE anal probe.

 

JBL: "MAGGLE!!! What's Aiden the Alien doin' to JR's backside?

 

Cole: Come on JB, Aiden just wants to have fun. See? He's HAVING FUN!!!

[odessasteps]

Would the Lazer-Tron costume fit him?

[JCM]

Good opening segment Neville continues to be at least passable on the mic. I really liked Becky's backstage interview, and holy shit was that a great sub 5 minute match between her and Bayley. That was like the women's version of Sting vs Rude from the clash where Sting's knee was jacked up. 

 

lol at Bull shoving Corbin and running; dude's going to get killed. Graves' hating on Enzo and Cass was pretty funny, and once again Enzo and Cass delivered the goods in the pre match stuff.

 

Man sickest ddt ever by Owens. Main event was fucking badass even with a non finish. I don't know what they'll do with Neville on the main roster, but he's been pretty great the last several months.

[Tromatagon]

It's so weird Dave calls Shaul Vickie's daughter like nobody would know who her dad is or something.

Congrats to those two though.

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

[sorry, late to the party, too much work]

Oy, such mocking.

I may not be sure of everything I see, but I am always suspicious: you can never take the carny out of an ex-worker.

I maintain it is too convenient that a debuting wrestler who is getting hot-shotted to face the new Underdog Champ gets to make a literal colorful splash, putting him over as a tough guy brawler. Am I being too skeptical/cynical/realistic? Maybe, but little goes on in a WWE ring that isn't planned. Usually the director is under strict orders to zoom out when there is color, and the medic or ref wipes it away and greases the cut. Last time (that I recall) that something like this happened was MITB '13, Heyman turning on C. M. Punk. There was speculation of a blade job then as well, but they definitely took advantage of the situation (intentional or not) with some gory pics of backstage stitchwork.

Strangely enough, at the TLC PPV after the NXT one, Dolph Ziggler got color, the announcers were not shy about mentioning it and it factored into the finish. New era?

stubbornly recalcitrant,

RAF

[JCM]

You still going on with this? Did Parker blade his hand as well? Why would Owens blade his nose at a crocked angle like he was drawing a horseshoe? Why would he blade his nose at all? How did he get tears in his eyes if he didn't legit get popped in the nose? If they were going to use blood why do it in the opening match instead of one of the main events?

 

Ziggler and Harper were bleeding all over the place at TLC shit happens.

[Big Fresh]

WWE's new policy on hardest blood.

If the match is bad, stop the match. Get it cleaned up.

If the match is good, let it go.

[SirSmUgly]

This show had some quality wrestling. Lynch/Bayley was really fun. Lynch went for the knee and Bayley's offense was off of knowing that Lynch would come for the knee and being prepared to counter anything Lynch would do to take out the knee. The match felt like a race to see which strategy would pay off first. That was really fun and every move made total sense. 

 

Kevin Owens speaking comes off too much like a badass to cheer against in some ways. He just shows up ready to punch enough faces to win the gold. It's hard to root against a guy with that type of character, especially when his work tends to back up his character. That's why Owens's stalling was such a smart move at the beginning of the match with Neville; we get to see a little chicken shit in him to counter the toughness inherent in his persona. Anyway, this match was awesome, too. Neville did a great job of being a damage sponge and selling those high-impact Owens moves as death (especially that hanging DDT sell).

 

The other match was sufficient for the eventual Cass and Enzo breakup over Carmella that I have zero interest in.

 

Lots of good stuff in promos too from Neville to Owens to Lynch to the Vaudevillains (and Regal's disgust with their batty evil laughter). 

[BEN!]

Triple H: "This Adrian Neville kid can do some amazing things in the ring.  He's out of this world."

 

Creative: "Out of this world?  He's an alien!"

[mco543]

On a show that was loaded with shit that I loved I think my favorite part of tonight's episode may be them writing Tyler off for a couple weeks by having him do a promo saying he'll be in Europe doing modeling work. So simple but so effective and perfect.

[Tromatagon]

Enzo and Cass better be all bros before hos. Carmella is better suited as a heel away from the two anyway.

NO MORE A-RY whoooooo

[TimLivingston]

It's really refreshing to see a heel act like an actual heel for once.

 

Good stuff all around.

[mattdangerously]

This might be a little fussy, but Owens has gotta do something about his gear. I get that he doesn't have the kind of body type that looks good in spandex, but he's not getting far on the main roster looking like a guy who plays pickup games at the Y on weekends.

[Vincey Greene]

Yeah, they should just give him a KO singlet or something. Are we sure they want him on the main roster anyway, though? I can see Steen finishing up his debut, getting half-assed over and putting on a great match and Vince is at Gorilla like "goddamnit Paul, you didn't tell me he was FAT! And not even fat like Kamala!" and next week he's putting Bo Dallas over on Main Event.

[Go2Sleep]

I'll give it a few weeks to see if it doesn't fall apart, but Graves already sounds 100x better than A-Ry in the booth, even though they say pretty much the same things.

 

Becky/Bayley was really, really good. The whole match was built around one move and it paid off perfectly. It felt like there was real strategy and planning involved. I was blown away by Charlotte and Sasha last week, but this was equally impressive given the constraints.

 

While I still lament Samoa Joe not going to WWE when he was elite, I feel like I'm getting a glimpse of the best possible result vicariously through Kevin Owens. He's reminding a lot of Joe early in his TNA run, and a little bit of Cesaro later in NXT. Even with guys like Dempsey, Corbin, and The Ascension around, Owens easily feels like the biggest badass on the show, even though his personality is more multi-dimensional. We can only hope Owens/Zayn will be as good as Joe/Styles from Turning Point 05.

 

Owens/Neville was a nice match with both guys showing their character versatility. Last week Neville was a cocky and of questionable integrity, this week he's a pure sympathetic babyface. Last week Owens was a full-speed-ahead wrecking ball, this week he's more calculating and spiteful. Each week they got the crowd right where they wanted them and still maintained a high level of action. Didn't dig the non-finish (might as well job Neville on his way out), but the post-match was perfect. The apron powerbomb can be the new punt.

[MGFanJay]

Fun show - really dug Regal and the Vaude Villains, as well as Owens-Neville. They've made Kevin Steen a viable WWE-branded main eventer immediately, and yet they can't get a goddamned soul over on the main roster - amazing.

 

http://jayreviewsthings.blogspot.com/2014/12/wwe-nxt-12-18-14.html

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http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/bsg8lk8jogjowoh011ifhfju4m2au485

[Brysynner]

The only reason you don't job Neville out is you want him to look strong heading into his rematch with Zayn. Once he loses to Zayn then he can start putting over the newer NXT stars

[Go2Sleep]

It's so well-booked right now, I'd hate to see them fall into the rematch clause trap. Zayn should be right behind Neville in the call-up department, and since his story arc was all about winning the big one, he doesn't need a long run especially coming off back-to-back 10-month champs. He should lose the belt to Owens at the next live special, and they can build Finn Balor to dethrone Owens in late summer or fall. A rematch with Neville doesn't really fit in, except maybe as a triple threat.

 

Edit: Also, unrelated, but was there any mention of Neville surpassing Bo Dallas as longest reigning NXT champ? It certainly wasn't a big part of the last show, but I don't even remember any announcer tidbits about it.

[Brysynner]

I think you can have the rematch and just as it starts to get going, Owens destroys both of them, leading to a Triple Threat Elimination Match at Takeover 4:Play for the title. Neville gets pinned early giving Owens/Zayn 15 minutes alone

[Craig H]

NXT was great as usual. Something not mentioned though: Corey Graves is a natural in the booth. I like Albert a lot too, but Graves is soooooooo smooth, confidant and doesn't sound annoying. I could see Albert not being behind the desk for Raw or SmackDown! because of his Bostonian accent, but Graves announcing Raw or SmackDown! has to be a given at some point. Weird to say this, but Graves being concussion prone in the ring may have been the best thing to happen to his career and him personally. As long as he doesn't get the itch to wrestle, he'll be saving his brain and he should have a long career as an announcer.

[mattdangerously]

Did he really drop an f-bomb during the Zayn-Neville match? My buddy insists he did, but I wasn't watching live.

[scraylo187]

Eh, WWE has been carried for 10 years by a guy that exclusively wrestles in jorts and khaki shorts. KO will do fine in a t-shirt and shorts.

[Greggulator]

I actually love the non-finish. KO comes in and is an equal to Neville in his first match. That makes him essentially the equal to Sami. The only thing they have different is Owens is a maniac and will chop a dude's head off.

Owens reminds me more of a modern day Vader. He's not as big but looks like a total monster with insane agility. But he is also very cagey. The apron powerbomb is the heightened version of Vader dropping Cactus on his school.

This was the best Becky Lynch has looked. She hasn't been the best flunky. But them slyly building Bayley having her bad knee Becky could destroy once she grabbed it was great.

I loved how they wrote off Tyler. I hate they wrote him off. My fears of the lovably goofy NXT going away at the expense for a boring super serious ROH 2014 is growing, although they still have a wonderful Vaudevillains bit and Enzo/Kass/Carmella.

[nofuture]

Did he really drop an f-bomb during the Zayn-Neville match? My buddy insists he did, but I wasn't watching live.

 

He said something to the effect of "Sami deserves to get fuc..." but catches himself.

[JCM]

Vaudevillains and Enzo and Cass are far better comedy than anything on the main roster(besides Mizdow  I guess). I wouldn't worry about NXT getting too serious for it's own good. They just have a lot of straight up ass kickers on the roster right now. I'm sure they'll be able to differentiate the guys they have. I'd rather have Sami come back trying to rip Owens' head off instead of spraying him with slime and mustard.

 

 Yeah Graves is already the best color guy WWE has. If anyone saw that video where HHH gave Graves the two year contract it sounded an awful lot like HHH was ready for some new blood in the announce booth on the main shows.