[NXT] DEC 20 2017 TV SHOW

[ChesterCopperpot]

Goddamn Dunne/Bate ruled - might even have edged the Takeover match for me.

 

[MonteCarl]

Can those two have a bad match with each other? When the match started and there was only 10 minutes left until the top of the hour, I was sad that it would be a shorter match. But then it got "special time allotment" and went an extra 10 minutes. It's amazing how those two had one of the first MOTY contenders of the year as well as one of the last of the year. Let's see a 60 minute Iron Man match with these two!

And, oh yeah, the tag titles changed hands.

[Godfrey]

Great episode. Dunne/Bates was awesome but the tag match and Strong/Sullivan were both also really fun. I'm excited for the 4-way match. NXT has done an amazing job of making any of those guys viable contenders, and I can get behind any of them winning. Such good booking.

[HumanChessgame]

How to Bate and Dunne's UK matches against eachother compare with the bouts they've had in WWE?  These guys are two of the most well-rounded wrestlers I've seen in a long time.  How big a guy is Bate though?  He's billed at 5'7'' but looks smaller, however it might just be his build.

The rest of the card was solid as well.  Kinda surprised Sullivan went over Roddy, but he's ready for a bigger push.  I think Roddy's at the point where he should debut at the Rumble for a main roster spot.

[Greggulator]

I love Pete Dunne so much. What an amazing performer. He is such an amazing heel. He just has this natural dark charisma about him -- he's less a wrestler and more a movie villain like Darth Vader. He has such a great expression of Machiavellian evil, utter disdain, panic, cowardice and smug triumph. I know Regal is the de facto comparison for any UK wrestler, especially a heel who does finger work. But Dunne reminds me more of Kevin Owens, who has that insane cold expression where he goes somewhere very morbid in his mind when he's about to do something awful. Eddie Guerrero also had that ability to convey all sorts of emotions, too. Dunne is a platonic ideal of wrestling. 

Bate is also just a great foil for him -- the young upstart with a polite and genteel nature. He's just someone you naturally want to root for - with his queen's wave and mustache stroke. But I love how much he fights fire with fire. He wants to beat you fair and square, but he will also do unto you and has the best punches in wrestling. 

That was a spectacular wrestling match. I loved how it was given more time. I loved how the finger work set up the final stretch run of the match. I loved Bate's reaction to having his fingers snapped --  a shock/disbelief feeling you get when you're in a car accident and say everything's okay and then an hour later you're going to the doctor.

I loved Roddy/Lars, too. Roddy made Lars look like one million bucks. I love Lars but he's green. That was just a great, simple story -- Everyman Roddy throws everything he can at the unstoppable monster as fast as he can, but doesn't have enough. 

That tag match sucked. The Undisputed Era guys do absolutely nothing for me. They had a spot right in the beginning where Fish had Killian in a headlock and was screaming "I'VE GOT HIM! I'VE GOT HIM!" That's a great spot if it's like heel Xavier Woods or someone who is clueless. But it's not a great spot if you're one-third of a cunning trio. Everything the Era does is just really dull or doesn't fit in to what they're trying to do. It sucks because NXT is so great at developing guys who do all those little things to telling stories. But those guys don't have it. All I kept thinking about is how The Revival would have had about 500 great cut-off spots and the like in that match and with those guys it was a snooze.

Also: Sonya Deville can talk. Great interview. 

[Kyuubi]

Watching the match right now and I got to the part where Dunne stomped on Bate's fingers. I haven't read any results, but...Pete Dunne is fucking brutal. Holy shit.

Edit: He did that shit again!

[sydneybrown]

My favorite NXT show since the last time I said it was my favorite NXT show.  I kinda agree with Gregg in that Fish and O"Reilly are just two guys right now.  They are playing the notes but I'm not feeling the music.  And I say that after Kyle really did have a kickass match with Black a few months ago.  We need an extra layer right now that they just don't have.  But they were able to rehab Strong and Almas, so we'll see.

LOVED Strong/Sullivan.  Such a great little man/big man match with the little guy exploiting the lack of experience of the big man. Totally thought this made both look better by the end.

And I watched Dunne/Bate on delay so I really didn't know what was happening when the show should have been over and it just kept going.  And I loved how the expressions by the end were less "what do I have to do to beat this guy?" and more "I hurt so much, I don't want to keep doing this...will you just FUCKING DIE ALREADY?"  

[BurningBeard]

I could watch these two put on matches ad infinitum. My ideal style of wrestling match - nice blend of WOS, strong style and sensible high spots 

[Kyuubi]

Yeah, my match of year is Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate III. Holy shit.

[turk128]

Fantastic match. And the crowd shockingly were not asshats (for the most part).

Truly a great holiday present from NXT, indeed.

[w. josh]

I know the height, pockmarks, and pot belly are going to complicate things a bit, but Pete Dunne deserves to be a megastar already.

[Greggulator]

I know some ripped on the crowd for being silent through the match. But I sort of thought the silence at the end was great. It felt sort of like a real tense scene right near the climax of a movie. You know the end is coming. But the how isn't known, and no one wants to miss a thing. 

I really can't get over Bate's reactions to his fingers getting popped. It was such a great mixture of shock and badass. His face showed insane pain -- like the kind of pain that makes you go into a numb place in your mind where you're not even part of the world. And then he put his fingers back in place to begin again, because he sure wasn't going to let that beat him, even though it should have.

The word from the taping was that the Ohno/Gargano match was THE match. Like... am I missing anything from people there live for this raving about it? This is probably up there with Sasha/Bayley Ironwoman, Sami/Neville, Sasha/Becky and Sami/Cesaro for best matches at Full Sail. 

[turk128]

4 hours ago, Greggulator said:

I know some ripped on the crowd for being silent through the match.

I rip on the crowd for letting the couple of asshats start the inane "10" count at a really tense moment where the 10 count meant a hell lot. Props to them for not doing the "2 sweet" chant throughout.

I thought Ohno/Gargano was fantastic too (we just never got a thread for that NXT show). I can understand why the crowd thought that was better since Dunne/Bate  hat a lot of little details that many wouldn't catch.

[mattdangerously]

I'm not a fan of intergender matches, but I would make an exception for Nikki Cross vs Adam Cole.

[quackhell]

8 hours ago, mattdangerously said:

I'm not a fan of intergender matches, but I would make an exception for Nikki Cross vs Adam Cole.

Their interaction was the highlight of that tag-team match no doubt. It will never happen, but Cole would get some serious heat sucker superkicking Nikki sometime and then scuttling off to avoid retribution. 

It is a shame an NXT tag title switch was so lackluster considering some of the epic matches that have been delivered in the past. 

Roddy seems to be getting in that mechanic role of a guy who can have good matches with anyone while putting them over. I think he is better than that and I hope he gets in a solid program and push sooner than later. 

It has been enjoyable watching Sullivan continue to improve and really embrace the big monster role that suits his looks and physique. Lots of upside as he keeps learning and growing.

Dunne and Bate was tremendous yet again. Lots of little touches done well and they just seem to be the perfect match-up right now. Fight forever and all that stuff.

[DeathyBoy]

Full Sail Crowd didn't deserve a match that good. They got into it by the end, but the shots of people literally not getting into a Goddamn classic were tearjerking.

As it stands, that was a brilliant match. These two building off earlier spots and then throwing in that sick step-plex before ending it with a lucky finisher...

I mean these two could main event any show on the planet with that match. And while I want them to face new guys, I say WWE bites the bullet and has Bates - Dunne 4 at Mania. 

Because those two deserve a big crowd losing their shit at two guys beating the shit out of each other.