My NXT project

[JonnyLaw]

This is definitely around the point where I started paying attention to NXT, seeking out matches that got some hype here, like the Regal match, Zayn/Cesaro stuff, and the Emma stuff.

[DreamBroken]

8 hours ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

5/15/13

Renee interviewed Sami Zayn in the back about his debut match next week. He almost sounded heelish with how confident he was.

Definitely feeling this, I thought he came off very unlikeable from almost the moment he showed up, never liked him and thought he was at least infinitely more tolerable in his most recent heel run.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

The thing with Emma is, when she came up to the main roster, I remember thinking 'this is fucking stupid, Emma sucks, why are all these NXT nerds so into her?', and now that I'm actually watching NXT, she's pretty much my favourite thing on the show.

With Sami, if I didn't know better, I would have totally thought he was doing the obnoxious heel who thinks he's a face act with that first promo.

[JonnyLaw]

IIRC, Emma was one of the first people to be called up with their NXT gimmick fully in tact, which in hindsight, really sabotaged her since NXT wasn’t as popular yet.

[Greggulator]

Emma’s importance to NXT really cannot be emphasized enough. They needed some levity to compare with Paige’s super serious character. It worked, especially since she could also work.

I need to rewatch Sami’s debut. I remember that promo and thinking I was watching a character that was portraying me and my friends in high school - nerdy ska fans who were really nice people.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

6/5/13

Show started with the contract signing for the Big E/Bo Dallas title match. Pretty short and sweet, and nice to see a contract signing not end in the predictable manner. Big E cut a decent comedy-style promo calling Dallas a nerd, and said he would crush Dallas's dreams in 5 seconds.

Paige Vs Tamina Snuka: Women's title tournament first round match. Short match with Paige winning with a roll-up. I'm guessing Paige is going to win this tournament.

Mason Ryan Vs Colin Cassady: Cass's in-ring debut. He looks like Edge exploded and was put back together using pieces of Test. Call me crazy, but I don't mind this little run of Ryan squashes. With his size and physique, I'm really surprised they didn't take more of a punt on him. He looks soooo much like Batista though. It's crazy. That probably hindered him a lot actually.

Conor O'Brian Vs Alex Riley: What does Riley do between these sporadic NXT performances? O'Brian is the fucking worst. Never wanna see this guy again. Not as a featured singles guy anyway. Pretty much a squash win for 'The Ascension', after which he is joined on the stage by Rick Victor. The two do a pose together, but nothing else is said.

Luke Harper and Erick Rowan Vs Kassius Ohno and Corey Graves: Tag team championship match. Ohno and Graves both got promo time earlier in the night talking about putting their differences aside to take down the Family. Decent bout. Both Graves and Ohno took a turn playing face in peril. Graves looks much better working as a straight babyface here than he has as a heel. Ohno is solid as always. Bray gets involved leaving Ohno open for the discus lariat as the Family retain.

There was also a pull apart in the back between Sami Zayn and Cesaro as they set up a rematch for next week.

Episode MVP: Luke Harper.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

6/12/13

Antonio Cesaro Vs Sami Zayn: Tremendous match, with a particularly strong performance from Cesaro, who is just relentless in his attack here. He attacks Zayn before the bell, and dominates most of the match, with Zayn getting in some well-timed hope spots before eventually going down to the Neutraliser. Cesaro with a derisory slap to the face after the bell too. Cesaro is the best.

Renee Young interviews Bayley in the back. This is the debut of Bayley having a character and it's odd to say the least. I thought she was just supposed to be a starstruck fangirl, but she comes off here as having special needs. She tells Renee she likes robots, asks Renee if she thinks she's pretty and if she likes her headband, and asks if she'd like to play with her after her match tonight. Not really what I was expecting, and especially weird given that Bayley has shown none of these characteristics in her previous NXT appearances.

Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan Vs Travis Tyler and Baron Corbin: Basic squash win for the Dawson/Dylan team. Dylan has maybe the dumbest finisher ever. He's coming off the second rope with a double ax to a grounded foe, but he's taking a bump like he's delivering a legdrop. Such a needless bump.

Backstage bit with Neville, Ohno and Graves arguing because Neville has a match next week with Bray Wyatt  and they all want him. Regal comes in and tells them they need to band together if they want to have a chance against the family. Ohno and Graves agree to be in Neville's corner. Ohno then tells Regal that one day he'll pay Regal back for all he has done for him. That could be taken two ways.

Alicia Fox Vs Bayley: Tournament match. Bayley hugs Alicia before the match. Alicia dominates, but Bayley gets a nice reaction for her comeback. Fox picks up the win.

Big E. Langston Vs Bo Dallas: NXT title on the line. Dallas is getting booed out of the place. The crowd really turned on him hard. It seems a bit harsh. I mean, his only real sin is being average. He wasn't even getting pushed that hard until they started slow-burning the heel turn. Langston dominates for most of the match. I love the move where he just runs right through his opponent. The turnbuckle pad ends up being dislodged, and Big E goes face first into it a couple of times, before Dallas hits the belly to belly for the upset win. Well done finish actually. I can't say I'm looking forward to a Dallas title reign, but we'll see.

Episode MVP: Cesaro.

3 1/2 star match: Antonio Cesaro Vs Sami Zayn.

[NikoBaltimore]

This is around the time I started watching NXT on a regular basis.  The only thing I vividly remember from this episode was Bayley going on about robots and stuff.  I never took it as her being special needs but rather she was just a huge nerd.  It's one of the main reasons why I became so invested in her journey because she did start out like this and over time she had to learn to step it up.

[John from Cincinnati]

I'm afraid to go back and watch, but early Bayley was almost a fangirl version of Katy t3h PeNgU1N oF d00m.

[Brian Fowler]

I think Bayley was supposed to be a cross between fangirl and child. They fine tuned it over the next little while though.

[JonnyLaw]

I don’t think it’s long after this that Regal starts calling her something like his niece’s favorite wrestler.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

He says it in that episode.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

6/19/13

Adrian Neville Vs Bray Wyatt: Neville comes out alone, while Bray has the family with him. Short match that Neville looked on course to win with the Red Arrow before Harper and Rowan get involved. Here's Graves and Ohno now, making good on their promise to watch Neville's back. The babyfaces chase off the heels, and Dusty Rhodes comes out to make a 6-man tag for later in the night. I was just starting to wonder where Dusty was. Not seen him in a while.

Sami Zayn Vs Angelo Dawkins: Dawkins, I guess, is one of the Street Profits now. I know nothing about this team. Pretty standard win for Zayn.

Summer Rae Vs Sasha Banks: And here's Sasha, who we haven't seen in ages either. Kinda sad seeing her get basically squashed by Summer here, even though I know there's better things to come for her. This was a tournament match, by the way.

Xavier Woods Vs Jake Carter: Man, this dancing nerd gimmick Woods is doing is goofy as hell. He's playing along with it, to be fair, but he really deserves his success being saddled with this out of the gate.Woods goes over, and does some more dancing.

The Wyatt Family Vs Kassius Ohno, Corey Graves and Adrian Neville: This was fine but I would expect better given who's involved. Wyatt pins Neville to give his team the win.

This show also had Zayn challenging Cesaro to a rubber match, and Dusty making Ohno/Graves Vs Garrett Dylan and Scott Dawson for a tag title match, which will be next week. Then we had Bo Dallas cutting a promo from his car, thanking the fans for supporting him, and saying he will be back in the arena next week. He came across very much as a delusional heel here, but in the recap video of his title win, they made it look like the fans were with him, showing Bo Dallas signs and cutting to fans cheering when he wins. So, I don't know what they're doing.

Episode MVP: Adrian Neville.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

6/26/13

Thank God this is a Regal and Tony week on commentary and not Phillips and Maddox. Maddox is awful.

Big E. Langston Vs Aiden English: Langston is all business here and dispatches English in double quick time. I like Big E, but this is the same shit he's been doing for months, and I'd rather not see it again.

Emma Vs Aksana: The final first round match in the women's title tournament. Emma wins. Aksana is awful. We've got Paige/Alicia and Summer/Emma as our semi finals. Paige/Emma final would be interesting to see who the crowd is behind.

Leo Kruger Vs Dante Dash: So, they've been showing the same Leo Kruger vignette for weeks on end now, and show it again before this match. So, if anything, I'm glad he's back just so I won't have to watch that anymore. Except I'm not glad he's back at all because he's boring. He puts paid to Dash after some solid arm work, and then squats down by the barricade to watch the next match.

Bo Dallas Vs Mickey Keegan: Mickey Keegan is Axl Keegan obviously. Oh God, they're going to do a Dallas/Kruger programme, aren't they? So they are just pushing ahead with Dallas as a babyface for now? NXT arena rocking with its first, and probably last, Keegan chant. Dallas wins a squash, and then Kruger is in to lay a beatdown on Keegan. Dallas and Kruger have a staredown. Big Kruger chants. If this is the last stab at getting Dallas over as a face, it has failed.

Kassius Ohno and Corey Graves Vs Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan: This was okay but nothing special. Basic tag formula stuff. Graves made Dylan tap to the Lucky 13. The post-match, however, was excellent. First the Wyatt Family came out and started to beat down Ohno and Graves. Neville made the save, but Dawson and Dylan got back involved and a 5 on 3 beatdown commenced. Cut to commentary, as William motherfucking Regal throws off his headset and hits the ring. He comes in a house of fire, taking out all 5 guys, but eventually the numbers game proves too much, and he cops a beatdown from the Wyatts. I'd love to get a 10-man tag out of this somehow.

Episode MVP: William Regal. He looked awesome in that couple of minutes he was in the ring.

 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

7/3/13

We start with Renee interviewing Bo Dallas. Dallas talks about his Bo-lievers, and is again sounding very heelish. He is interrupted by Cesaro, and they set up a match for the NXT title for tonight. That sort of came out of nowhere. Right now it looks like Dallas is playing a heel, but still being booked as a babyface. And through being booked as a babyface, he's getting more heel heat. So this is smart. I think.

Paige Vs Alicia Fox: Women's title tournament semi-final. Decent short match with Paige picking up the win with the Paige Turner. 

Conor O'Brian Vs Andy Baker: Noooo! You have a tag team partner now (Rick Victor is accompanying O'Brian to the ring), stop being booked in singles matches. Baker is a British dude, that's all I can really say about him. O'Brian with the squash win.

Interview with Graves and Neville in the back. Apparently, Ohno is out injured, so (with no mention of the tag title match Graves and Ohno earnt last week), Neville and Graves ask William Regal to partner them against the Wyatts. Well, it's not the 10-man I hoped for, but this will do very nicely indeed. Cut to commentary and Regal says of course he'll bloody team with them, what's he going to do, sit on commentary like a lemon? Yes! Regal is the best.

Xavier Woods Vs Scott Dawson: Sylvester Lefort introduces Dawson as his protegee. No sign of Garrett Dylan (though his name still appears on Dawson's entrance video), so I'm wondering if he's done. Woods is pretty over with this crowd. He shouts "It's morphin' time" when he gets fired up. I can't even... Woods picks up the win.

Mason Ryan Vs Enzo Amore: Enzo is out with Cassady, who he refers to as Big Cass. They do the full entrance spiel, can't teach that, sawft, the works. It seems to be over with the crowd too, and there's even a couple of signs, which confuses me. Enzo gets knocked out with one punch and that's all she wrote.

Mason Ryan Vs Colin Cassady: Enzo sends Cass in, and Ryan puts him away in pretty short order too.

Bo Dallas Vs Antonio Cesaro: Cesaro is a Real American now. Huge boos for Dallas and 'No More Bo' chants. Great performance from Cesaro again here, completely dominating the match with a range of offence. 2013 is the year he won March Madness, right? I still think Bryan should have won that year, but there's no doubt Cesaro is on fire. Leo Kruger comes out to observe, and ends up getting accidentally run into by Cesaro, which allows Bo to hit the belly to belly for the win. Kruger attacks Bo to a big pop, then Cesaro takes out Kruger and continues the assault on Dallas himself. Finally, the two heels double team Dallas until Sami Zayn makes the save. Really interesting booking of Dallas.

Episode MVP: Antonio Cesaro.

3 star match: Bo Dallas Vs Antonio Cesaro.

[Ramo2653]

I always figured that Dawkins must be a great person to have hung around for so long without breaking out until the last year or so.

[Greggulator]

On 12/5/2018 at 10:47 AM, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

6/12/13

Antonio Cesaro Vs Sami Zayn: Tremendous match, with a particularly strong performance from Cesaro, who is just relentless in his attack here. He attacks Zayn before the bell, and dominates most of the match, with Zayn getting in some well-timed hope spots before eventually going down to the Neutraliser. Cesaro with a derisory slap to the face after the bell too. Cesaro is the best.

Renee Young interviews Bayley in the back. This is the debut of Bayley having a character and it's odd to say the least. I thought she was just supposed to be a starstruck fangirl, but she comes off here as having special needs. She tells Renee she likes robots, asks Renee if she thinks she's pretty and if she likes her headband, and asks if she'd like to play with her after her match tonight. Not really what I was expecting, and especially weird given that Bayley has shown none of these characteristics in her previous NXT appearances.

Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan Vs Travis Tyler and Baron Corbin: Basic squash win for the Dawson/Dylan team. Dylan has maybe the dumbest finisher ever. He's coming off the second rope with a double ax to a grounded foe, but he's taking a bump like he's delivering a legdrop. Such a needless bump.

Backstage bit with Neville, Ohno and Graves arguing because Neville has a match next week with Bray Wyatt  and they all want him. Regal comes in and tells them they need to band together if they want to have a chance against the family. Ohno and Graves agree to be in Neville's corner. Ohno then tells Regal that one day he'll pay Regal back for all he has done for him. That could be taken two ways.

Alicia Fox Vs Bayley: Tournament match. Bayley hugs Alicia before the match. Alicia dominates, but Bayley gets a nice reaction for her comeback. Fox picks up the win.

Big E. Langston Vs Bo Dallas: NXT title on the line. Dallas is getting booed out of the place. The crowd really turned on him hard. It seems a bit harsh. I mean, his only real sin is being average. He wasn't even getting pushed that hard until they started slow-burning the heel turn. Langston dominates for most of the match. I love the move where he just runs right through his opponent. The turnbuckle pad ends up being dislodged, and Big E goes face first into it a couple of times, before Dallas hits the belly to belly for the upset win. Well done finish actually. I can't say I'm looking forward to a Dallas title reign, but we'll see.

Episode MVP: Cesaro.

3 1/2 star match: Antonio Cesaro Vs Sami Zayn.

I decided to watch this episode. 

The Sami/Cesaro match was really good. I remember at the time the 20 of us who were watching NXT were bugging out about how good it was. It's crazy it's objectively a good match, but NXT has gotten so good that now it would be something we'd talk about for a minute before moving on. 

Bayley's promo was adorable. I didn't think she came off with special needs as much as she did incredibly awkward and not really too eager to go out and do the promo and started talking about her love of robots. Renee Young is at her best here. She reacts so naturally. I love the "ohhhh come on" when she sways Bayley to stop hiding.

I completely forgot about Sylvestor LaFort. He definies "so bad he's good." He has such a great sleaze look, too. The "ineffectual scumbag manager" is a role every wrestling promotion should have. The ring graphic for Scott Dawson and his partner with a convertible car is hilarious. Man, even in this Scott Dawson is great. And also Baron Corbin! 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

7/10/13

Emma Vs Summer Rae: The second women's championship tournament semi-final. Summer did her usual stuff, work an arm, talk some trash. Emma picked up the win, which was played off as a bit of an upset. Paige came out afterwards to run off Summer, and then Emma and Paige had a little stare-down. I'm looking forward to that match.

There's a bit in the back with Dusty and Bayley being interrupted by Ric Flair and Charlotte. This is Charlotte's debut. Bayley says she'd like to be Charlotte's first opponent, and that match is made for next week. Bayley came off much better here, much more the starstruck fan.

Leo Kruger Vs Sami Zayn: Will I never be done with Kruger? Pretty decent match actually, but Kruger is just so boring. He wins via submission. 

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady Vs Mason Ryan: Enzo and Cass win when Enzo clips Ryan's knee while he has Cass up for a slam. The finish looked like a mistake actually, like it wasn't supposed to end there. 

The Wyatt Family Vs William Regal, Corey Graves and Adrian Neville: The faces cut a good promo in the back earlier, with Regal being the standout. Super hyped for this match, and it was a good one. The highlight was Regal coming in off the hot tag and just forearming and kneeing everyone in sight. It came down to Bray and Regal, with Bray hitting Sister Abigail for the win. 

Episode MVP: William Regal.

3 star match: The Wyatt Family Vs Corey Graves, William Regal and Adrian Neville.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

7/17/13

Leo Kruger Vs Sami Zayn Vs Antonio Cesaro: Triple threat number one contenders match. Solid match, though it was obvious Kruger was going to win. He stole the pin on Zayn after Cesaro delivered a Neutralizer. 

Bo Dallas Vs Scott Dawson: Dawson is still with Lafort. Regal puts Dawson over a lot, comparing him to Arn Anderson. He also called him Tony Dawson, before realising that Tony Dawson was the guy sitting next to him. I quite like Tony Dawson actually. I imagine that's not a popular opinion. He just seems very genuine, and excitable. And respectful too. I prefer him to Tom Phillips at this point, but that might just be because he's paired with Regal whereas Phillips is paired with Brad Maddox. Anyway, Dallas picked up a quick win in front of the usual hostile crowd, and was then attacked by Kruger.

Charlotte Vs Bayley: Ric Flair comes out to introduce Charlotte, and Bayley marks out. Oh boy, Charlotte skipping out blowing kisses and smiling is bringing to mind the debut of Rocky Maivia. Charlotte goes over with the Natural Selection. Short match. Charlotte looked fine, but I was more impressed with Bayley. I'm gaining much more appreciation for Bayley as a worker and character by seeing her in this embryonic stage. She's becoming one of my faves.

Sheamus is in the back talking about how he will compete on NXT next week. He gets jumped from behind by Bray Wyatt.

Adrian Neville and Corey Graves Vs Luke Harper and Erick Rowan: The Family are defending the tag titles, with Bray at ringside. Neville looked really good in this, and has looked good in general. Bray tries to get involved, but Sheamus comes out with a receipt, and Neville ends up hitting the Red Arrow for the win. Sheamus celebrates with the new champs. I like the potential of a Neville/Graves team. I have to imagine the Wyatt Family are nearing the end of their run here.

There was also a backstage bit hyping the debut of Tyler Breeze. I'm looking forward to that.

Episode MVP: Adrian Neville. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

7/24/13

Paige Vs Emma: We're kicking things off with the final of the women's title tournament. Shame there's no Regal to call this. It's pretty much a 50/50 split with the crowd, which is what I suspected, and they're very vocal throughout, which certainly adds to this. This ends up being a good match, and a worthy testament to how popular women's wrestling has got in the short period that NXT has been on the air. This has got to be one of the longer women's matches the company had ever promoted up to this point, as well as one of the most heated and, yes, one of the best. There's nothing real flashy that makes this stand out. What makes it good is how much these two lay everything in. The strikes look good, and there's a real struggle to the submission attempts. Paige eventually pulls it off with the Paige Turner. A gaggle of babyface women make their way out to congratulate her (Sasha, Bayley, Charlotte, Alicia is there) and then Triple H's music hits and he comes out to raise Paige's hand. Historic first time Triple H has come out to congratulate himsel... I mean, one of the NXT performers. I hope Emma gets another shot.

Tyler Breeze Vs Angelo Dawkins: Breeze spends a lot of time before the match taking selfies. When he's finally coaxed into action he dispatches of Dawkins pretty quickly with a spin kick. I like Breeze, and am looking forward to this run.

The Ascension Vs Mickey Keegan and Aiden English: Man, Keegan and English could almost be brothers. This is the tag team debut of this version of the Ascension. Keegan never gets in, as English gets destroyed. When is English going to be not a jobber? I don't know if I can handle the Ascension every week.

Sheamus Vs Luke Harper: This was everything you'd hope it would be. Plenty hard-hitting with some big bombs thrown. Sheamus wins with the Brogue Kick but it was very competitive. Bray laughed at the outcome.

Episode MVP: Paige.

3 star matches: Paige Vs Emma, Sheamus Vs Luke Harper.

[JonnyLaw]

I think you’re less than three months away from the start of Aidan’s push.

[Greggulator]

I really love that Paige/Emma March. It’s really likely that we have a woman’s match main eventing WrestleMania this year. That does not happen without this match. 

We all saw Paige becoming champion from the jump. But she needed a good foil to go against. I don’t think anyone would have guessed that Emma would develop this really great comedic self-absorbed Elaine Beddis dancing character who could also wrestle. And they made the story perfect, with the ultra-serious Paige having fits against the bubbly Emma. 

It is one of the most important matches in wrestling history. They proved that serious women’s wrestling could get over and that it was certainly worth dedicating a good amount of TV time towards. And the quality of the women just gets better from here on out. 

 

[JonnyLaw]

Additionally, Charlotte has talked about sitting in the crowd watching their Arrival rematch (IIRC; if not it would’ve this match she’s talking about) and becoming more motivated to push herself to be the one in that match.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

7/31/13

We started with Enzo and Big Cass coming out, followed by Tons of Funk. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a match or not, but Enzo and Cass decided they wanted no part of Clay or Tensai. Then Mason Ryan came out and the three babyfaces beat down Enzo and Cass, then danced together. Pretty lame segment, probably designed to give Ryan more personality.

There's a bit in the back with Dusty congratulating Paige and Emma on their great match, before they are interrupted by Summer Rae. This ends up setting up a dance contest for next week between Summer and Emma, which is a bit of a depressing development considering how serious the women have been presented on NXT. Although at least it makes sense given that Summer and Emma both have dancing gimmicks. Very dance heavy show so far.

Charlotte Vs Sasha Banks: Here comes Charlotte Maivia. Sasha showing some very Boss-like attitude here, which is good to see. Charlotte picks up the win. I'm predicting that the fans are going to turn on Charlotte pretty soon unless she changes things up. There's only so much goodwill being Ric Flair's daughter will allow her.

Luke Harper and Erick Rowan Vs Aidan English and Mickey Keegan: The Family won a squash, and then Bray added a Sister Abigail. Bray then cut a promo basically saying they were moving on to go take down the machine, and invited the fans to follow the buzzards. Really good promo and, I assume, end to the Family on NXT.

Corey Graves Vs Scott Dawson: Graves goes over in a short match and, as he and Neville celebrate, The Shield surprisingly come out. Rollins and Ambrose both cut promos running down the NXT tag champs, and that leads to Neville challenging Ambrose to put his US title on the line against him next week. The match gets confirmed. Ambrose Vs Neville should be good.

Antonio Cesaro and Leo Kruger Vs Sami Zayn and Bo Dallas: Man, I wish they'd just run this Kruger/Dallas match already to get it over with. Pretty good match. Zayn puts in a really good shift as the face in peril, and Bo does okay as the hot tag. In the end Kruger puts Bo away with his Slice clothesline as Cesaro and Zayn brawl up the ramp. 

Episode MVP: Sami Zayn.

 

[JonnyLaw]

As I recall, Leo Kruger was well-liked, seemed to work hard, but just did not connect at all.