My NXT project

[JonnyLaw]

That was Dawkins’ short lived backpack rapper gimmick. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

So what exactly is a backpack rapper?

[JonnyLaw]

Someone else can probably explain it more accurately, but basically an indie rap hipster skateboarder?

[Niners Fan in CT]

On 2/27/2019 at 9:09 PM, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

So what exactly is a backpack rapper?

Odd Future is a collection of rapper/singers that might best describe the term. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

5/1/14

Triple H comes out and cuts the same promo he cuts every time he's on NXT, basically listing a bunch of guys who graduated from NXT to the main roster. Why is Damien Sandow always on that list though? I only recall him on NXT 2 or 3 times, and he was already main roster before that, wasn't he? Anyway, he ends up announcing another network special, the first Takeover. Cool.

Tyson Kidd Vs Bo Dallas: Bo has the music he debuted on the main roster with now. Dueling chants for this one. The Dallas character has officially crossed over into popularity. For the last several weeks there has been, what sounds like, one female fan who would scream at the top of her lungs for Dallas. Very annoying. This is a decent match. One of the better Dallas matches. I hope Kidd can reestablish himself as NXT's premier TV worker. Kidd picks up the win, which is presented as a bit of an upset.

Backstage interview with Camacho which is interrupted by Adam Rose and the Rosebuds. Not interested in this feud at all.

Sasha Banks Vs Bayley: They're really running this match into the ground. This is a first round women's tournament match. We get a  look at the bracket; Natalya Vs Layla, Charlotte Vs Emma and Alicia Fox Vs Alexa Bliss are the other matches. This match is notable for two reasons; the debut of the Bayley buddies and, after Bayley kicks out of Sasha's Bankrupt neckbreaker, the debut of the Banks Statement, complete with backstabber transition, which forces Bayley to tap.

Adam Rose Vs Danny Burch: Standard Rose squash. He debuts the Party Foul as his finisher. Afterwards, Camacho comes out and clotheslines one of the Rosebuds.

Natalya Vs Layla: If Layla had come up in the NXT era she could have been really good, as her character work is always on point, and she can be a lot of fun. This is during her Fandango period, so she does a lot of dancing around the ring. Nattie finally catches her and puts her in the sharpshooter to advance. Layla looked better than Nattie here.

 Mojo Rawley Vs Oliver Grey: Grey is definitely playing stereotypical snobbish English heel here. Weird to bring him back and have his first match be ostensibly as a face against Camacho. He's doomed anyway, losing a quick squash to Mojo here. Aiden English comes out and cuts a promo on Mojo, and then the two brawl with Mojo coming out on top. That seems like a solid feud for Mojo to help bring him along a little.

Adrian Neville Vs Brodus Clay: No DQ match for the NXT title. This is a solid little match, carried really by Neville as Brodus isn't worth a shit. It says a lot that they only gave this, what I hope is the blow-off match, about 5 mins. Neville kicks out of the big splash and finishes Clay off with the Red Arrow.

Episode MVP: Happy to see Sasha back to winning ways, and Tyson back to being the workhorse of the company, but no-one made better use of their time this week than Layla, so she's my MVP.

 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

5/8/14

Charlotte Vs Emma: The women's title tournament continues. This is surely fading Emma out of NXT now, which is a shame. Disappointingly short match. Emma has a pink cobra that she pulls out. Ugh. Fuck that shit. This is a heel turn to me. She hits Sasha with it, and Charlotte rolls her up for the win. I know Charlotte is winning this tournament. I'm not happy with it, but she's already being presented as the star of this division.

El Local and Kalisto Vs The Legionnaires: Two new teams debuting here. What happened to Jordan and Dillinger already? The Legionnaires are Sylvester Lefort and Marcus Louis, who apparently grew up together. Louis reminds me of Mark Jindrak. That's not a compliment. He's got a very 2003 look. This is Kalisto's in-ring debut. He gets over pretty good. El Local and Kalisto pick up the win.

Camacho Vs Captain Comic: Captain Comic is the member of the Exotic Express that Camacho attacked last week. I'm not sure who is under the mask. Squash win for Camacho. Adam Rose is out before he can do anymore damage.

Alexa Bliss Vs Alicia Fox: So this is Bliss's debut. I love how much attention NXT puts in to its entrances, but they can't all be winners. And holy Toledo, this is hilariously bad. This is going on my Mount Rushmore of bad entrances along with the undisputed winner, Seth Rollins's spazz attack, and Charlotte bouncing out like a peppy babyface. So, I guess she's supposed to be a fairy, or maybe a Bratz doll or something? She comes out in a tutu, blows glitter out of her hands, and skips down to the ring doing twirls and curtsies. And the music, oh lord, the music. Anyway, the match is short. Fox looks good here, towering over Alexa. I really like her tilt-a-whirl bakbreaker, and the way she tosses Bliss to the mat afterwards. Bliss wins with a small package. 

#1 contender battle royal: This is to decide who will face Adrian Neville at Takeover. I'm looking forward to this. All the big NXT names in there, including Sami Zayn, Bo Dallas, Big Cass et al. And this is a really fun battle royal. Crowd is really getting behind Yoshi Tatsu, and Dallas gets a lot of heat for eliminating him. Dallas goes on a tear, taking out Mason Ryan, Big Cass and Baron Corbin, who gets a lot of time in there, but then gets caught by Tyson Kidd. Big 'Thank you Tyson' chants for Kidd. We're down to Kidd, Zayn and Tyler Breeze. Great finish which sees Kidd and Zayn dangling over the ropes, skin the cat-stylie, and then Kidd headscissor Breeze over the top, which knocks them all to the floor. This came off really well. Triple H comes out and asks the crowd what they think he should do. Big 'triple threat' chant, and Hunter concurs, making the match for next week. Really fun main event.

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd.

Edited March 20, 2019 by Yo-Yo's Roomie

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

5/15/14

The Ascension Vs Buddy Murphy and Elias Sampson: Check out this dream team. Standard squash for the Ascension, but Murphy looks good bumping around. Afterwards they cut a promo asking for new competition. Kalisto and Local come out and issue a challenge.

Charlotte Vs Alexa Bliss: Semi-final match. This is weird. It goes way too long for what it is, essentially a squash win for Charlotte, and neither girl looks very good. Charlotte wins with the Natural Selection, which I guess she's calling Bow Down To The Queen. Which is a terrible name. Bliss got practically no offence in this match, which is surprising.

Mojo Rawley Vs Aiden English: Pretty competitive, though short match. Rawley wins. A bit of heat for Mojo here, which isn't surprising. He's not good at all, and is being pushed way more than he should be. I'd say they need to do a better job of protecting him.

Big Cass Vs Angelo Dawkins: Dawkins gets a nice bit of offence in, and looks promising, but Cass ends up with a dominant win. I think this might be Cass's first singles win in NXT. CJ Parker was in the crowd during the match with a sign saying 'No Xtra Toxins'. It looks like they're going to do a Parker/Cass feud.

In the back Bo Dallas asks JBL for an NXT title match, presenting him with a bunch of letters from his Bo-lievers. JBL says he should give them to CJ Parker to recycle. JBL basically laughs at Dallas and makes a match between he and Big E, with the stipulation that if Dallas wins he gets an NXT title match, but if he loses he leaves NXT forever.

Tyson Kidd Vs Sami Zayn Vs Tyler Breeze: Disappointing match. Pretty crap actually. I don't know why people continue to get excited about triple threats, when they nearly always suck. I liked the finish at least. Sami hits the Helluva kick on Breeze, but Kidd sends him to the outside and hits a flying elbowdrop on Breeze to pick up the win. I was not expecting Kidd to win this at all. Actually I was expecting some kind of schmozz to lead to a fatal fourway, since I know that's a match we get at some point. But I definitely didn't pick Kidd. Needless to say I'm pleasantly surprised, and looking forward to a Neville/Kidd main event.

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd.

[Sky Blue Sam]

Captain Comic was Jody Kristofferson as I remember

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

I thought he was gone.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

5/22/14

Big E Vs Bo Dallas: This is the 'win or go home' match for Bo. Pretty boring stuff for the most part. It ends when Dallas exposes the turnbuckle, in a callback to how he won the NXT title, but Big E turns the tide and sends Bo into it, and then hits the Big Ending for the win. After the match, Dallas cuts a promo basically throwing a temper tantrum. He tells the crowd that they stink as they sing him out. So I guess that's it for Bo. Fair play to him and creative for taking a negative and turning it into a positive. I've not always enjoyed Dallas, but he got the right kind of heat from the crowd, which is to his credit. I believe that they should have debuted him on Raw as a babyface, and let the whole thing play out again on the main roster. I think that was his best shot, and having him debut as a delusional motivational type didn't do him any favours.

There's an interview bit in the back with Sami Zayn who gets interrupted by Tyler Breeze. They go back and forth and end up making a match for Takeover.

Paige Vs Tamina Snuka: This is basically a chance for Paige to go out with a win, rather than by dropping a fall in a tag match. Which is nice.

Adam Rose Vs Camacho: Camacho has been looking decent in recent weeks. This is really a teaser for a future match. Camacho avoids the Party Foul and then decides to take a walk, getting himself counted out.

Natalya Vs Sasha Banks: This is the second semi-final match to decide who will face Charlotte at Takeover. Charlotte is in Sasha's corner. They really haven't followed up on Charlotte talking shit to Sasha a few weeks back. This is a pretty good match, with a shit finish. Sasha delivers a bulldog but apparently hurts herself and rolls out the ring. Charlotte ends up rolling her back in under the pretext of helping her, but that just allows Nattie to lock on the sharpshooter and force Sasha to tap. I guess there's your follow-up. Charlotte and Nattie do a stare-down.

Adrian Neville Vs Curt Hawkins: Pretty much a squash win for Neville. Tyson Kidd comes out afterwards and drops some facts on Neville in what was a pretty decent promo until he bragged about being one of the few men in the world who have had a WrestleMania moment. Using the term 'WrestleMania moment' is never good. Neville gets things back on track though with a great line about how the only member of Tyson's family walking out of Takeover with a belt will be Natalya. Nice way to escalate things and add some spice to a match I'm really looking forward to.

Episode MVP: Adrian Neville.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

NXT Takeover

Adam Rose Vs Camacho: The show starts with the Rose Buds making their way into the arena from outside, which is a good visual. Short match, but decent enough. Probably the best Rose has looked so far actually. I'm starting to enjoy Camacho. Rose wins with the Party Foul.

The Ascension Vs El Local and Kalisto: Weird match. Kalisto didn't get to do any of his cool stuff. What's the point of having this match if you're not gonna let Kalisto showcase his stuff? Not very good. Local goes down to the Fall of Man.

Tyler Breeze Vs Sami Zayn: Okay, our first big match of the night, and it delivers. Zayn comes out to his proper music for the first time and, disappointingly, Breeze has a new theme too. His original theme was perfect. This one has him doing like a spoken word thing, and isn't near as good. But the match is very good. Fast paced, back and forth action. Nice finish too. Zayn goes for the Helluva kick, and Breeze ducks which causes him to accidentally low blow Sami. A Beauty Shot later and Breeze is the new number one contender. I guess they're doing a 'can't win the big one' gimmick for Sami.

Lana and Rusev come out and do their pro-Russia shtick. Oh God, here comes Mojo Rawley waving the American flag. The only thing they could do to make this guy suck more is give him a patriotic bent. Oh, this turns amazing pretty quickly as Mojo runs into the ring and just gets destroyed by Rusev. This ends with Rusev putting Mojo in the Accolade on the ramp, which looks great. Regal is great here too, saying it must be pretty embarrassing to be American right now. 

Charlotte Vs Natalya: Paige comes out first and verbally passes the torch. Ric Flair and Bret Hart are out with their respective family members. Bret looks much better here than he did the other week, which is great to see. They're really going for a big match feel here, and it works. Charlotte debuts her new theme. This match is really good. On the same level as the Paige/Emma matches. They do a long technical sequence to start the match, and Nattie is great here leading Charlotte through the exchanges. They do a lot of nasty-looking stuff, really cinching stuff in and struggling through the holds. Charlotte starts working over Nattie's leg, and they exchange submission holds. The only part of the match that doesn't work is the long figure four sequence they do, where you really wouldn't know from watching who the hold is supposed to be hurting. Naitch should have told them how to work a figure four. Finally Charlotte hits Bow Down To The Queen to pick up the win. The two women embrace afterwards, which felt earned, and felt like a babyface turn for Charlotte. I marked out for Bret and Flair embracing afterwards too. It felt like a nice, genuine moment. Big thumbs up for this. Nattie is different class here. Charlotte more than holds up her end, don't get me wrong, but this was a great performance from Nattie. Her NXT run is a revelation.

Adrian Neville Vs Tyson Kidd: 3rd big match on the show, and once again it delivers. The story early on is that these two are mirror images of one another, so we get a lot of 'anything you can do...' spots. Tyson gives Neville a little pat on the head to add a little feeling to the match. There's some great spots in this. Neville goes for a springboard, but Tyson jumps up with him and side Russian legsweeps him off the ropes. Tyson locks on the dungeon lock while stomping Neville on the head. Tyson goes for a sunset flip powerbomb but Neville backflips out of it. The match is given a lot of time, and they throw a little bit of everything in. Finish is great too. They're struggling on the top rope, but Neville finally hits a super hurricanrana, which sends Kidd all the way to the opposite side of the ring, and Neville follows up with the Red Arrow for the win. Neville offers Kidd his hand after the match, but Kidd shoulderbarges him and walks out. It looks like this is the start of a heel turn for Tyson, which I welcome.

Show rating: Just like the first network special, another home run show, with all three hyped matches delivering. I'd probably have Arrival as an overall better show, but this was still really high quality stuff.

Episode MVP: Natalya.

3 1/4 star match: Sami Zayn Vs Tyler Breeze.

3 1/2 star matches: Charlotte Vs Natalya, Tyson Kidd Vs Adrian Neville.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Yo-Yo's Roomie

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

6/5/14

Mojo Rawley Vs Aiden English: I guess they figured they needed to give Mojo a win after the asskicking he took from Rusev at Takeover. Disappointing that English has to do the job. It seems they've kinda lost interest in him, when at one point it looked like they were grooming him to be a top player in NXT.

Charlotte Vs Bayley: Charlotte is out with Sasha and is still heeling it up, so I guess I was wrong about the post-match at Takeover turning her face. Decent little match. I'm pleasantly surprised by how good Bayley has looked in-ring in NXT. With Charlotte in control, Summer Rae's music hits (not the catchy NXT music she used, some main roster nonsense), and she makes her return to NXT. Charlotte and Sasha look confused, Bayley gets a roll-up on Charlotte but Charlotte kicks out, and then Charlotte hits Bow Down To The Queen for the win. Summer leads a BFF attack on Bayley, but Charlotte and Sasha don't seem too delighted about her being back. Paige and Emma make the save. Are we finally going to get the 6-man tag I thought we would get weeks ago?

Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger Vs Stewart Cumberland and Phillip Gooljar: Cumberland and Gooljar are nobodies. This goes way to long, and is completely uninteresting. If you want to get Jordan and Dillinger over as a hot new team, having them wrestle for 6 minutes against jobbers, and not even do anything cool in that time, isn't the way to do it. Jordan wins with an Angle Slam, which I guess he calls the, wait for it, Jordan Slam.

Backstage bit with the BFFs. Summer says she thought they'd be more excited to have her back, and tells them that she's been putting the BFFs on the map. She says they don't need the Summer-on-a-stick anymore, and then walks off. Charlotte and Sasha don't look happy.

Tyler Breeze comes out to introduce his new music video, which is him recording his new entrance theme. I'm sure people were loving this, but it didn't do a lot for me. For this kind of character to work you have to believe that he believes, and this music video, complete with end credits which list Breeze in every role, crossed too far over into parody for me. Plus, his old theme was perfect, and this one, not so much.

Adrian Neville Vs Justin Gabriel: All night the graphic for this match billed it as a No DQ match for the NXT title. Which was confusing for me, because this was assuredly not that. This was a really dull match actually. Gabriel is just not good. After Neville knocks him off with the Red Arrow, Tyson Kidd comes out and apologises for his behaviour after their match at Takeover. He says he's embarrassed by the way he acted, and asks for one more shot at the title. Neville agrees and they shake hands.

Episode MVP: Bayley.

[NikoBaltimore]

14 minutes ago, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

Tyler Breeze comes out to introduce his new music video, which is him recording his new entrance theme. I'm sure people were loving this, but it didn't do a lot for me. For this kind of character to work you have to believe that he believes, and this music video, complete with end credits which list Breeze in every role, crossed too far over into parody for me. Plus, his old theme was perfect, and this one, not so much.

I absolutely loved it and I believe plenty of others on here did too.  It's parody but has that charm to it.  It also helps that at the time I was really getting into what he was doing.  As for the song I need to re-listen to the first theme but I really like this quite a bit.  While I didn't buy into his comparisons to HBK him singing his theme did have that cool parallel to Shawn's theme.

As for Justin Gabriel he has gotten a good bit better since his WWE run.  If you're so inclined check his Lucha Underground stuff and most recently he's had some matches in ROH.  The NWA title match against Aldis was a pretty good showing for him.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

6/12/14

Paige, Emma and Bayley Vs The BFFs: It's funny how Paige had to give up the NXT title because of her commitments on the main roster, but has still been on NXT TV just as much as any of the regulars. I loved Sasha trying to squeeze herself into the middle as the BFFs came out. She's so great in this role. Her and Summer show lots of personality in the entrance, before Charlotte just bores her way into the spotlight. This is a decent match, but would have been better had they not gone pretty much straight into the face-in-peril segment on Emma. Paige didn't even legally get into the match. Summer is taking pictures with fans at ringside! Bayley gets the hot tag. Charlotte and Summer start arguing and Bayley rolls up Charlotte for the win. I'm guessing Bayley will be the next challenger for Charlotte then. After the match, the BFFs are arguing, which sees Summer flick her hair into Charlotte's face. Summer has been great throughout this whole match. Sasha it seems is trying to play peacekeeper. I'm not sure what they're really going for with this angle. Charlotte was the first one to start heeling on the others when she basically took over the group and talked down to Sasha, then they didn't really follow up on that. Then they did the show of respect between Charlotte and Nattie. Summer came back in the middle of Charlotte's match, so I guess she is the heel now. Let's just say, in all this, Sasha is the best.

In the back we see JBL signing a new masked wrestler named Mr NXT, who is clearly Bo Dallas.

The BFFs are still arguing in the back. Alexa Bliss walks in, and they turn their attention to her. She challenges Sasha to a match.

Colin Cassady Vs Sylvester LeFort: LeFort is out with Marcus Louis. CJ Parker is in the crowd with a sign. LeFort must be a lot shorter than I previously noticed, because Cass looks like a legit giant next to him. Pretty standard win for Cass.

More backstage stuff sees Tyson Kidd and Natalya talking about her accompanying him to the ring for NXT title match tonight. He says he wants her out there, but lets her know that his full focus is going to be on the match. I sense this is going to backfire. They both come off well here. This seems like a believable conversation for a husband and wife to have.

Aiden English is looking disconsolate in the back. Simon Gotch (!) walks in and offers his hand. Gotch isn't talking at all, like he's from a silent movie. he impresses English by lifting up a piece of the staging. I'm really looking forward to the Vaudevillains.

Sami Zayn Vs Mr NXT: Alex Riley is pretending he doesn't know who Mr NXT is. Renee asks him if he recognises the body, and Riley gets all defensive, saying he doesn't look at the wrestlers' bodies. What an idiot. This was a fun comedy match, ending in Sami pulling the mask off and then hitting a Helluva kick for the win. But I wonder why WWE/NXT can't just end things, and why everything needs a prologue. The loss to Big E and temper tantrum from Dallas was a perfectly fine way to write him off NXT, but they can't just let things lie. Then we have a really long bit, like waaay too long, where Dallas is being chased around by security guards and escorted off the campus. When we come back from commercial, it's still going on. It seriously feels like this goes on for 10 minutes. I hate it.

Adrian Neville Vs Tyson Kidd: This isn't as good as the Takeover match, but is still really good. Tyson is throwing everything he can at Neville, including the hands down best blockbuster I've ever seen, but can't get the job done. He gets a three-count off a somersault legdrop, but the ref spots the foot on the rope and waves it off. Tyson, frustrated, grabs a chair, but Nattie tries to talk him out of it. The distraction allows Neville to kick Kidd in the head, and then hit a huge Red Arrow for the win. Really good match and angle development.

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd.

3 1/4 star match: Tyson Kidd Vs Adrian Neville.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

6/19/14

Alexa Bliss Vs Sasha Banks: The BFFs come out showing a kind-of united front, but eventually Summer and Charlotte start arguing on the outside, which distracts Sasha long enough for Bliss to roll her up for the win. Sasha needs to kick these fools to the curb.

A black and white, silent movie-type backstage segment airs, introducing us to the Vaudevillains. The mistake here is that they overdub their voices, when really there should have been title cards. Otherwise, this is great.

Mojo Rawley Vs Garrett Dylan: This is the standard Rawley squash. Seemed to be mixed reactions for Mojo.

The Vaudevillains Vs Angelo Dawkins and Travis Tyler: Here we are, the debut of the Vaudevillains. As always with NXT, a lot of thought put into the entrance, and this is another good one, with everything turning black and white, and Aiden using the old school megaphone to introduce them. It gets immediately over with the crowd. Regal has a lot of fun telling us about Gotch's family history. They need to work a bit on their in-ring routine, as they don't do anything terribly interesting, but I can definitely see why they got over as babyfaces. Hell, they're already one of my favourite acts in the company.

Devin interviews Big Cass in the back. He says things are going well, but they could be better, and that something is missing. He then sings the opening of 'That's amore', which obviously means Enzo is on his way back.

Devin again with RVD. RVD says he's here to check out the talent in NXT, and challenges Adrian Neville to a match. No thanks.

Tyler Breeze Vs Kalisto: I found this super boring, and not a match that did a lot for either guy. Another match, weirdly, where Kalisto doesn't get to do a lot of his showcase stuff. Breeze goes over after about 10 mins.

The Ascension Vs Sami Zayn and Tyson Kidd: They've been building this up all night with backstage segments. First we saw Natalya suggesting the match to JBL backstage at Raw. Then we got a bit between Tyson and Nattie in which he told her that he appreciates what she's doing, but he could have got the match for himself. Once again, I liked the work the two of them did together. Then we had Sami and Tyson talking strategy, with Sami saying this is a chance for both of them to redeem themselves. Well, it's obvious how this is going to end up. Sami starts out and gets beaten down. He can't make it to Tyson for the tag, so Kidd decides to leave saying 'you want the whole match, go ahead and take it'. Zayn goes down to the Fall of Man. Effective angle to advance Kidd's heel turn.

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd.

Edited March 19, 2019 by Yo-Yo's Roomie

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

6/26/14

The Vaudevillains Vs Matt Sugarman and Tee Perkins: Renee dancing to the Vaudevillains music is adorable. Great spot with Gotch getting one of the jobbers in a headscissors and doing push-ups complete with claps. The Vaudevillains go over.

We see a backstage interview from last week with Sami Zayn expressing his disappointment in Tyson Kidd, and basically threatening to settle things between them.

Bull Dempsey Vs Xavier Woods: This is the official debut of Dempsey. Alex Riley is talking him up big, and I guess they're going with the idea that he's a throwback style wrestler. Dempsey dominates much of the match, and picks up the win. He then cuts a promo putting everyone on notice. This guy doesn't come off as threatening at all. 

Becky Lynch Vs Summer Rae: The BFFs are still together, it seems. It's the debut of Becky Lynch, and good lord, she's straight onto my Mount Rushmore of bad entrances with this Irish jig shit. She's committing to it, I'll give her that. She's instantly over with the NXT crowd, with big Becky chants. I guess you can't keep a good man down. The BFFs have fun mocking Lynch, but Becky gets the last laugh, putting Summer away with a Bexploder. Charlotte and Sasha mock Summer for losing.

Big Cass Vs Sawyer Fulton: Fulton is a big dude. Almost as tall as Cass, and definitely burlier. Cass picks up the win in a quick match, but then The Legionnaires come out. As they're about to attack, Enzo's music hits, and he returns to NXT to a big pop. Enzo does his usual shtick on the mic as the fans sing along.

Adrian Neville Vs Rob van Dam: Man, RVD looks like a 50-year-old man cosplaying as himself. Which I guess isn't that far off what he is. He really doesn't seem to have any definition to his body anymore, and he looks super old in the face. That hairstyle ain't helping any either. Watching him trying to keep up with Neville in the ring is just sad. The only good thing about this match is Tyler Breeze on commentary, who drops some really funny lines. Credit to RVD for putting Neville over clean with the Red Arrow, and the show ends with a Neville-Breeze staredown.

Episode MVP: Simon Gotch.

[Greggulator]

The Tyler Breeze video ruled.

The Bo Dallas Mr. NXT angle is probably my all-time favorite NXT moment. It is a comic gem. 

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

7/3/14

Big Cass Vs Sylvester LeFort: Enzo and Marcus Louis are the cornermen. Total squash win for Cass.

Charlotte and Sasha Banks Vs Bayley and Becky Lynch: The NXT 4 Horsewomen in the ring together for the first time (on TV at least). Distinct lack of jigging from Becky. Distinct lack of Summer in the BFF corner. On commentary they say that Summer has parted ways from Charlotte and Sasha. Decent enough match, given a fair bit of time. Becky is in the midst of a comeback when Charlotte tags herself in and pretty simply puts her away with Bow Down To The Queen. A bit of an anticlimactic finish. Charlotte leaves while Sasha seems upset for some reason that Charlotte won the match. Sasha talks trash to Becky and Bayley attacks her from behind and tosses her out of the ring. As an aside, Byron Saxton, who generally isn't that bad, is a real chore to listen to during BFF matches, constantly defending and making excuses for them. 

Devin is interviewing Justin Gabriel in the back, who has a match with Sami Zayn tonight. Tyson Kidd comes in and tries to angry up Gabriel, telling him that he's heading to purgatory and doesn't even realise it, and the only way to stop it is to put the boot to everyone trying to rise up. Pretty good segment to explain where Kidd's head is at.

Backstage bit with Charlotte and Sasha arguing. Charlotte says that's the last time the two of them will be teaming up. Sasha points out that she and Summer were fine until Charlotte came on the scene. We then learn that Summer will face Bayley in a number one contenders match next week, and Sasha tells Charlotte to watch out. This whole BFFs storyline, let's be honest, has been really poorly booked. It seems like they've never really known which direction they wanted to take it in.

CJ Parker Vs Steve Cutler: We're told that Cutler is a former marine. He's jacked. I can't find anything about him. He does a quick job to Parker here, who has refined his look a bit, and has new music and entrance video. He cuts a promo targeting Xavier Woods.

A pre-taped interview airs with Renee Young and Tyson Kidd. Strangely, it looks like they're sitting in front of a green screen. Kidd tries to explain his recent actions as just not being in the right mental state, and says that he and Natalya are equals. When Renee asks if they're having marital issues, Kidd just walks away. I know Renee feels that what goes on in a marriage is private, so I'm a little surprised she went there. This was okay, and fleshed out Kidd's story arc a bit more.

Sami Zayn Vs Justin Gabriel: Kidd is in Gabriel's corner. Gabriel with a more heelish approach to this match, which makes it better because I think Gabriel is a better heel. Still not high end for a Zayn match though. Zayn pulls out the win with the Koji Clutch. After the match Kidd attacks Zayn, officially cementing his heel turn. Gabriel then joins in the assault, until Adrian Neville makes the save. That could be a good tag match.

The show also featured a backstage interview with Adrian Neville in which he was interrupted by Tyler Breeze. Breeze says he'll cash in his number one contenders match on his terms. Neville challenges him to a match tonight, but Breeze says he can't because he suffered a career-threatening injury on a hand modelling job, and then gives him the finger (which is in a splint).

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd.

 

[Ace]

 

5/8/14

Alexa Bliss Vs Alicia Fox: So this is Bliss's debut. I love how much attention NXT puts in to its entrances, but they can't all be winners. And holy Toledo, this is hilariously bad. This is going on my Mount Rushmore of bad entrances along with the undisputed winner, Seth Rollins's spazz attack, and Charlotte bouncing out like a preppy babyface.

 

The worst is yet to come. 

 

 

6/12/14

 

Sami Zayn Vs Mr NXT: Alex Riley is pretending he doesn't know who Mr NXT is. Renee asks him if he recognises the body, and Riley gets all defensive, saying he doesn't look at the wrestlers' bodies. What an idiot. This was a fun comedy match, ending in Sami pulling the mask off and then hitting a Helluva kick for the win. But I wonder why WWE/NXT can't just end things, and why everything needs a prologue. The loss to Big E and temper tantrum from Dallas was a perfectly fine way to write him off NXT, but they can't just let things lie. Then we have a really long bit, like waaay too long, where Dallas is being chased around by security guards and escorted off the campus. When we come back from commercial, it's still going on. It seriously feels like this goes on for 10 minutes. I hate it.

 

However, you are now dead to me.

 

[Sky Blue Sam]

On 3/20/2019 at 2:14 PM, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

 

CJ Parker Vs Steve Cutler: We're told that Cutler is a former marine. He's jacked. I can't find anything about him. 

 

Cutler is still in NXT, he's half of this year's Dusty Classic finalists, the Forgotten Sons.

[JonnyLaw]

I knew Cutler had been around for a long time, but I didn’t realize it had been that long. 

[MORELOCK]

3 hours ago, JonnyLaw said:

I knew Cutler had been around for a long time, but I didn’t realize it had been that long. 

Five damn years - and his partner Wesley Blake debuted the same year. Makes you wonder why they bother keeping both of them around if they won't do anything with them. Could've had a nice showing at Takeover, but I guess all of us really, really needed to somehow see even more of Aleister Black and Ricochet for some reason.

Edited March 22, 2019 by MORELOCK

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

7/10/14

Summer Rae Vs Bayley: Number one contenders match. Charlotte is watching on from the back. Albert is back on commentary after a few weeks off, and is noticeably awful. This second string team of Rich Brennan, Renee and Albert/Riley is a big drop down from the A-team (which itself is made to seem better than it probably really is because of Regal). As for the match itself, it's a similar pattern to what I've been seeing from these girls from the start. Bayley generally looks good, and is certainly one of the better girls on the roster. Summer has things she does well, and is fine as long as she sticks within her comfort zone, which she largely does here. A little surprised to see Summer pick up a clean win here. A Charlotte/Summer match isn't something I really needed to see, especially for the title. It will be a good test for Charlotte though.

They air a promo from last week with Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn reacting to the attack by Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel. "You haven't heard the last of us".  I guess we're getting that tag match tonight. Next Devin Taylor is interviewing Kidd and Gabriel. I've come to develop a soft spot for Devin. Seeing her debut as the worst interview girl they've ever had, I can't help but take some joy in her journey to probably not the worst interview girl they've ever had. Whenever she reacts to something I'm like 'aw, good for you, Devin'. Anyway, Gabriel does the talking here, saying that he started in NXT and now finds himself back here. He says the talent in NXT is good, but he's better. Kidd is just nodding along like a douchebag in the background.

Sin Cara Vs Wesley Blake: Blake has got a proper 80s/early 90s jobber look. I kinda love it. Good outing from Cara here as he picks up the win.

Another backstage bit with Kidd and Natalya talking about the interview Kidd did with Renee last week. It makes it seem like they haven't talked to each other in a week. Kidd says he was just dropping some facts, and he's sorry if she took it the wrong way. Nattie tells him his attitude lately has been awful. The way this storyline has developed has been quite realistic. They've built the cracks in the relationship pretty well.

CJ Parker comes out and says he wants to apologise to Xavier Woods for his comments last week. Woods comes out and Parker says sorry and offers his hand. Woods says he's not an idiot, but then turns to walk away, leaving himself open to a big kick from Parker. A kick that missed his head by some distance, but that's by the by. This feud doesn't really make sense, and has had a less than auspicious start.

Another Vaudevillains video. It's bugging me now that they're using the bad overdubbing rather than title cards, since they're supposed to be parodying silent movies.

Bull Dempsey Vs Angelo Dawkins: I mentioned before Blake's 80s jobber look. Well, you can throw Dempsey into that same bracket. I see a lot of upside in Dawkins. The guy looks to be a great athlete. Dempsey with the win, and he then cuts a promo signalling his intent to become NXT champion. I'm not feeling this guy at all.

Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel Vs Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn: Natalya comes out with Kidd, and the crowd chants her name. Good basic tag match here with a really nice finish. Kidd seems to have hurt his knee, so Nattie climbs on the apron to check on him. Sami punches Kidd which sends him into Nattie, knocking her to the floor. Both men look concerned and head out to check on her, but Kidd doubles back and rolls Sami up for the win. He then heads up the ramp celebrating, before remembering to check on his hurt wife. Kidd is such a great douche here, expecting Natalya to be proud of him for his win. Even Gabriel is kinda like 'dude, that wasn't cool'. I'm loving so much Tyson Kidd as the lead heel on this show.

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd.

3 star match: Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel Vs Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn.

[Robert S]

On 3/22/2019 at 4:03 AM, MORELOCK said:

Five damn years - and his partner Wesley Blake debuted the same year. Makes you wonder why they bother keeping both of them around if they won't do anything with them. Could've had a nice showing at Takeover, but I guess all of us really, really needed to somehow see even more of Aleister Black and Ricochet for some reason.

The Dusty Cup final is airing next week, correct? Do I now have to avoid any thread that contains the letters "NXT" in the topic name (even if the topic is about 2014 NXT) to not get spoilered?

[MORELOCK]

16 minutes ago, Robert s said:

The Dusty Cup final is airing next week, correct? Do I now have to avoid any thread that contains the letters "NXT" in the topic name (even if the topic is about 2014 NXT) to not get spoilered?

Maybe?

You're on the internet talking about wrestling. The tapings happened some time ago. At some point it might be time to take responsibility for your own watching habits and avoid circles of NXT discussion until you're caught up if remaining spoiler-free is that high a priority for you.