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Yo-Yo's Roomie

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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?

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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.

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7 hours 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?

Not typically, some posters are just inconsiderate. 

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19 hours ago, MORELOCK said:

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.

I don't really care about this specific instance (mostly because the result seeming to be a forgone conclusion with Ricochet and Black not having any other program for TakeOver) but it's a matter of principle. This board used to have pretty clear rules (or at least practices) regarding spoilers, i.e. if it has not aired yet, use spoiler tags (unless it is a spoiler thread, of course). And if I have to expect spoilers in a thread about a 5-year-old-program I have to expect then on the whole board.

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7/17/14

The Vaudevillains Vs Enzo Amore and Big Cass: This is Enzo's first match back since his injury. The Vaudevillains have a new entrance, the one they would take to the main roster, and it really puts them over the top. I love the individual spotlights they get. This is very short. A couple of minutes in, the music of La Legionnaires plays, and Marcus Louis and Sylvester LeFort come out to the top of the ramp. This distracts Cass, and he gets rolled up and pinned by Simon Gotch. It's nice to have some more tag teams around. They just need to let them wrestle some competitive matches.

CJ Parker Vs Xavier Woods: Okay match between these two, continuing their rivalry. The finish is a bit blown. Looks like Parker should have been grabbing the ropes on a roll up, but was too far away. 

Sasha Banks Vs Alexa Bliss: The fans are starting to appreciate Banks for what she brings to the table. It also seems like they're starting to turn on Bliss. Bliss is incredibly green in the ring. Sasha wins with the backstabber/Banks Statement combo.

Adam Rose Vs Jason Jordan: Jordan has a pop-up promo about Tye Dillinger being injured. He says the last time he saw him he was partying with the Rosebuds. I honestly thought he said the Rhodes boys, and I was trying to figure out what that was a reference to. This is probably Rose's best showing in this gimmick. I wish he wouldn't do the Adrian Street shtick though. I don't remember him doing that on the main roster. Rose with the win.

Devin interviews Kalisto in the back. It goes to black and white and The Vaudevillains show up. They ask Kalisto, via a sign, where his partner is. Kalisto says he and El Local have partnered ways but he can find a new partner to face them. I guess that's the debut of the Lucha Dragons.

Sami Zayn Vs Tyson Kidd: Big main event here, and they get a lot of time. A lot of heat for Tyson with 'Nattie's husband' chants. He does a lot of stalling to start, which is a good, simple way to show his change in character. The finish plays into this too. After Sami survives a sharpshooter for a long period of time, Tyson taps quickly to the Koji clutch. This was a good match, though I preferred Tyson's matches with Neville.

Episode MVP: Sasha Banks.

3 star match: Sami Zayn Vs Tyson Kidd.

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7/24/14

The Ascension Vs Johnny Vandal and Aaron Solo: These jobbers are just billed as a couple of local guys. You know how this match goes.

Tyler Breeze Vs Mojo Rawley: Breeze beats Mojo in a matter of seconds here with the Beauty Shot. I thought they might have protected Mojo more. 

Charlotte Vs Summer Rae: This is for the women's title. Yeesh, this is a terrible match. I predicted this would be a disaster, and it pretty much was. Having Summer win the number one contenders match was a bad idea to begin with. It may make sense in the storyline, but it was destined to be a bad, heatless match because neither of these women has given the fans any reason to get behind them. Maybe if they'd have done a triple threat with Sasha involved it might have been better received. Apart from that, Summer is very limited in what she can do, and Charlotte isn't in any position to be leading matches. So, this was an overlong mess which saw the fans occupying themselves with the Mexican wave. Charlotte retained.

The Vaudevillains Vs Kalisto and Sin Cara: Renee is very excited for this new pairing, but really should have done a bit of homework beforehand. She calls them both 'luchas', and says they're mixing two different styles of lucha libres or some such nonsense. The match is okay, but a bit short to really get going. Sin Cara looks good again. Kalisto picks up the win for his team.

Adrian Neville Vs Rusev: Lana cuts a promo beforehand saying that America worships stars, whereas Russia has heroes. This is a pretty good bout. The Rusev act has come on leaps and bounds on the main roster (even though the cheap heat stuff was a bit silly), and he looks great here bullying Neville around. Neville is primed to hit the Red Arrow when Breeze comes out and knocks him off the top rope for the DQ. Rusev then puts Neville in the Accolade.

Episode MVP: Rusev.

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

The Ascension Vs Johnny Vandal and Aaron Solo

Not sure if you knew but Aaron is Bayley's fiancee who's been doing fairly well for himself.  I know he's done some job duty the past year or two but didn't realize he was on NXT in '14.

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7/31/14

Tyler Breeze Vs Angelo Dawkins: This is the same as every Angelo Dawkins match so far. He does a takedown to start to show his athleticism, and then gets squashed. I wonder when they let him do a bit more. Interesting that Mojo looks to be on basically the same level with the same background as this guy, but he gets a pretty good-sized push, while Dawkins is a jobber. Breeze cuts a promo teasing that he's going to cash in his number one contendership (since when is being number one contender like holding Money in the Bank?), but he actually announces that he's submitted his music video for Oscar consideration. Adrian Neville comes out and makes a lame joke about Breeze's mom snapchatting him, and the two get into a brief brawl before Breeze retreats.

Charlotte Vs Becky Lynch: Lynch has all-new music, has dropped the jig, and I guess is just going with a generic intense babyface gimmick now. Which is miles better than the walking stereotype she was. Big Becky chants from the fans. She and Bayley are by far the most over women on the show now. They get about 4 mins here, and Becky looks pretty good. Then, pretty much out of nowhere, Charlotte hits Bow Down To The Queen and wins. Charlotte is such a dullard.

The Ascension Vs Mac Miles and Steve Cutler: On a show, of which the taping structure doesn't really allow for anyone to become stale, The Ascension have somehow managed to achieve it working mostly 1-2 minute long squashes. And yet, the fans are eating it up. Cutler is back. No idea who Miles is. I guess there's a number one contenders tag team tournament starting next week. NXT loves tournaments. Which is fine, because I do too. The Ascension cut a promo after with Konnor using the horrendous 'anni-YAH-lation' line. Fuck off Konnor, you worthless fucking joke.

Mojo Rawley and Bull Dempsey Vs The Mechanics: So there was a bit in the back with Mojo being interviewed by Jojo (!- I hope that doesn't mean the end for my girl, Devin [or, Interview-Bot-3000, as it says on her packaging), saying that he's looking for a partner for the tag tournament. Dempsey shows up and says he'll partner him, but that Mojo better not make him regret it. So this is there team debut, against another team, who would go on to slightly more success, making their debut. The Mechanics, of course, are The Revival, and it's amazing how good they look here in this sub-3 minute match. You can already see the chemistry and the knowledge of what makes good tag team wrestling. Bull and Mojo, of course, go over, but I'm excited to see more Mechanics.

Bayley is being interviewed in the back, and wonders if she could be the new number one contender for the women's title since she pinned Charlotte in a tag match several weeks back. Charlotte comes in and tells her not to say her name again.

Adam Rose Vs Tyson Kidd: This main event was set up earlier by Jojo, for some reason, asking fro Nattie's thoughts on Adam Rose. Nattie apparently loves Adam Rose, which Tyson Kidd didn't like to hear. Hence, we get this match. I would have to say, off the top of my head, that this is the best Adam Rose match I've ever seen. Kidd really is on a role right now as far as having good TV matches, and is staking his claim for wrestler of the year. At one point, Adam Rose goes up to Nattie sucking on a lollipop, and then gives her the lollipop, which she proceeds to put in her mouth. Now, I know Kidd is the jerk in this relationship and all, so I'm not trying to babyface him here, but I think, in this instance, it's pretty reasonable for him to be upset by this. This would prove to be his downfall as later in the match he would turn, once again, to chastising Nattie for the lollipop incident, which allows Rose to small package him for the win. 

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd.

3 star match: Tyson Kidd Vs Adam Rose.

 

 

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

The Ascension Vs Mac Miles and Steve Cutler: On a show, of which the taping structure doesn't really allow for anyone to become stale, The Ascension have somehow managed to achieve it working mostly 1-2 minute long squashes. And yet, the fans are eating it up. Cutler is back. No idea who Miles is. I guess there's a number one contenders tag team tournament starting next week. NXT loves tournaments. Which is fine, because I do too. The Ascension cut a promo after with Konnor using the horrendous 'anni-YAH-lation' line. Fuck off Konnor, you worthless fucking joke.


At their worst Ascension are just boring. Seems like an oddly high level of venom for a segment that couldn't possibly have taken up that much time.

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I feel like I've seen this same Ascension squash a hundred times at this point. Realistically it's probably like 10-15 times, in a pretty short timespan. It's annoying, because no-one else on NXT is booked this way. But, for the record, I'm not really angry about it, or them. I don't think Konnor really has anything going for him, but I think Victor is a talented guy. Which, going back and reading old NXT threads from this period, seems to be the opposite opinion to most other people. I guess me hating on Konnor is just a running joke I'm doing with myself.

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On 3/26/2019 at 4:59 PM, NikoBaltimore said:

Not sure if you knew but Aaron is Bayley's fiancee who's been doing fairly well for himself.  I know he's done some job duty the past year or two but didn't realize he was on NXT in '14.

 

On 3/26/2019 at 5:15 PM, Yo-Yo's Roomie said:

I did not know that. Thanks.

Likewise. Cheers, @NikoBaltimore

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Aaron Sollow turning up unadvertised to work a tag match in a Mansfield WMC was one of the more confusing "why has my local indie booked THIS guy?" moments I've had in recent years. 

If I was Tyson, I'd be horrified at my wife suckling a lolly from Adam Rose - who knows what you'll catch from that guy?

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8/7/14

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady Vs Tye Dillinger and Jason Jordan: We're kicking off with the tag team tournament first round. Dillinger and Jordan have new music and a new entrance, and they look the part. This is a decent little match, and I like the way Enzo is booked as basically a guy whose mouth and heart are much bigger than his actual talent. He tags in and gets pretty much battered. Jordan has Enzo up in a firearm's carry, but Cass hits him with the big boot and Enzo falls on top of him to pick up the win and advance. 

Renee is interviewing Sami Zayn in the back. Nice to have Renee back on interview duty. Sami and a mystery partner is taking on Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel in the tournament. Kidd and Gabriel show up and mock Sami for not having any friends, but then Adam Rose enters, and offers to be Zayn's partner.

CJ Parker Vs Xavier Woods: I give these guys a lot of credit here for turning a hostile crowd around on this match. Most of the credit goes to Woods for his babyface performance. Great spot where Woods hits a splash off the top fully the length of the ring. Should have been the finish, but Parker kicks out and ends up winning with a DVD.

Bayley Vs Eva Marie: The debut of Eva Marie. Her entrance sees her posing on a podium. It's pretty cool. The fans immediately don't like her, giving her 'you can't wrestle' chants before she's even done anything. Very basic stuff from Eva Marie on offence, before Bayley wins.

Sami Zayn and Adam Rose Vs Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd: Good tag match. I think Gabriel and Kidd should have won, given they're the established team, but not to worry. Rose has looked good the last couple of weeks, busting out some high flying stuff. Here he does a somersault dive off the top to the outside, and lands with a pretty bad splat. That allows Zayn to pin Gabriel with a helluva kick. Fun show.

Tyler Breeze also cut a promo saying he was ready to face Neville for the title, so I guess that's next week.

Episode MVP: Xavier Woods.

3 star match: Sami Zayn and Adam Rose Vs Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd.

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8/14/14

The Vaudevillains Vs Mojo Rawley and Bull Dempsey: Tag tournament match. Vaudevillains win pretty quickly, pinning Mojo with their Regal roll/senton combo. I guess they didn't want to drag out this Mojo/Bull odd couple team any longer than necessary. Bull lays out Mojo after the match to 'thank you, Bull' chants. 

Bayley Vs Sasha Banks: This is a number one contenders match for the women's title. We've seen a couple of Bayley/Banks matches already, but this one is head and shoulders the best, and feels like a bit of a coming out party for both of these girls. Especially Sasha, I'd say, as Bayley has got quite a bit of spotlight before, whereas Sasha has always been kinda under the radar. She gets to do a lot more here, and looks great on offence. This is not quite on the top tier of NXT women's matches (the two Paige/Emma matches and Nattie/Charlotte), but it's the best of the rest. Sasha has the Banks Statement applied, but Bayley rolls back into a pinning position to get the win. Charlotte comes out and raises Bayley's hand on the stage.

Sin Cara and Kalisto Vs Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy: The debut of the Blake/Murphy team as the tournament rolls on. Strange that they get in whereas there's no Mechanics, who just debuted a couple of weeks ago. And now that I come to think of it, no Le Legionnaires either. What's stranger is that this is pretty much a total squash win for the 'luchas'. 

Some new interview woman is with the Legionnaires in the back, and they say the tournament is a sham without them in it, and Marcus Louis says they're going to "Frenchise" is. 

Adrian Neville Vs Tyler Breeze: Here it is, the longest-awaited NXT title match. And it's a good one. Tyson Kidd make his way out and takes a seat at the commentary table, but doesn't say anything. Breeze hits Neville with a tornado DDT that sees Neville bounce off his head back onto his feet before collapsing. Great sell. Kidd heads down to the front row, and Neville takes him out with a superkick after wiping Breeze out with a suicide dive. He goes up top for the Red Arrow, but Kidd crotches him on the top rope, giving Neville the win by DQ. This angers Breeze, and all three of them start brawling, until finally Breeze and Kidd team up on Neville. That brings out Sami Zayn to make the save.

Another good show this week.

Episode MVP: Sasha Banks.

3 star matches: Sasha Banks Vs Bayley, Adrian Neville Vs Tyler Breeze. 

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8/21/14

The Vaudevillains Vs Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady: Jojo is on ring announcing duty now. I guess Eden got called up to the bigs. This is a tag tournament semi-final. Well, this is weird. Enzo and Cass's entrance spiel lasts almost as long as the match itself. The Vaudevillains win clean in basically no time at all, Gotch catching Enzo coming off the top and then performing 'That's a wrap' (the Regal roll/senton combo). Enzo and Cass's booking is totally schizo. After the match, The Legionnaires attack Enzo and Cass, and they shave off a bit of Enzo's beard.

Triple H comes out for a big announcement, which is the same as all his other big announcements; that there's another network special coming up. He also says that next week a new GM will be announced. William Regal hasn't been on commentary for a few weeks now. I'm guessing it will be him.

Tyson Kidd Vs Tyler Breeze: Tyler is interviewed in the back by Devin beforehand, which makes me so happy. This is a grudge match based on Kidd getting involved in Breeze's title match last week. Kidd quickly gains control, and Breeze walks out on the match, saying he doesn't need this. Kidd celebrates the win like he just won the world title, and then puts on Breeze's jacket and poses in the corner.

Charlotte Vs Becky Lynch: Another random match between this pair. Becky's new headbanging entrance is actually awful, and not much of a step-up from the Irish jig. It's like she saw Seth's early NXT entrances and thought it was a good idea. Crowd loves her though. Short-ish match with Charlotte winning. 

Enzo and Cass come back out and Enzo challenges Sylvester Lefort to a hair vs hair match at the network special. That will probably be an awful match, but it's always cool to see a hair match on WWE TV.

Mojo Rawley Vs Steve Cutler: Cutler gets a bit of offence this week, but Mojo soon puts him away, and then cuts a promo on Bull Dempsey.

Kalisto and Sin Cara Vs Adam Rose and Sami Zayn: Tag tournament semi-final. Wasn't sure how these two teams would mesh, but this is a pretty fun match. It's nice to finally see Kalisto get a break-out performance, which is what I think this was. His headstand into a backflip into a headscissors was a thing of beauty and the fans popped big for it. Rose and Zayn played de facto heels and control most of the match until Sin Cara makes the hot tag. Kalisto hits the Solida Del Sol on Rose, and Sin Cara finishes up with the senton.

Episode MVP: Kalisto.

3 star match: Kalisto and Sin Cara Vs Sami Zayn and Adam Rose.

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8/28/14

The Ascension Vs Jobbers: Can't find identity's for the two victims this week. No matter. This is a tremendous squash. The Ascension are such a great act. Konnor, in particular, just gets it. A big dude, dripping in charisma, who can work. How has this guy not held multiple world championships? I could watch Ascension squashes on a loop. Oh, awesome. They cut a promo afterwards too, and the big man busts out his 'anni-YAH-lation' line again. They're just spoiling me now.

Jojo introduces the new GM, and it is, indeed, Bill Regal. Regal talks about having to decide who will face Adrian Neville at Takeover. He asks Neville to come out, who obliges, and he is soon joined by Tyson Kidd, Tyler Breeze and Sami Zayn, who all state their cases for being number one contender. Neville, stupidly, says that he wants to face all three in a fatal fourway match, and Regal makes it so. He then announces that tonight Kidd will team with Breeze to face Neville and Zayn. I've actually seen that fatal fourway match, so I knew that was coming. It seems pretty logical given how intertwined the four have been recently.

Bayley Vs Sasha Banks: This is the debut of Sasha's main roster music, one of my favourite jams. She needed it as her old theme was very generic. We need some new girls on the roster. Bayley and Sasha have another good match here, albeit short. But you've got Sasha dropping multiple falls to Bayley, and then Becky dropping multiple falls to Charlotte. There's no-one else who can do some jobs? Where did Bliss disappear too? After the match, Renee interviews Bayley, who cuts a pretty good promo about wanting to be the women's champion. That brings Charlotte out, who gets distracted by the crowd. Bayley offers Charlotte her hand, but Charlotte walks away.

Bull Dempsey Vs Angelo Dawkins: Dawkins gets his full 'backpack rapper' (did I say that right?- I still don't know what it means) entrance. I like Dawkins. Bull has a pop-up promo on Mojo Rawley. I guess we get that match at Takeover. He then mows through Dawkins. Bull is probably the least interesting guy on the roster to me. They should pair him with The Ascension.

Devin interviews the Legionnaires in the back, and Marcus Louis accepts Enzo's challenge to a hair match on Sylvester Lefort's behalf. Sly doesn't seem pleased. Louis has a great look. He looks like some bit-part hood from an old French gangster movie. He's the guy who double-crosses Jean Gabin. He's Jean-Paul Belmondo's uglier brother.

Tyson Kidd and Tyler Breeze Vs Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville: Fun main event, with a really good finish. Neville gets crotched on the top rope by Breeze. Zayn comes in with a Helluva kick, but Breeze moves and Neville takes the kick. Kidd tags himself in, shoves Breeze into a Blue Thunder Bomb from Zayn, who was checking on Nevile, and then throws Zayn out of the ring and pins Neville. It really made Kidd look opportunistic, got over the chaotic nature of a fourway match, and Kidd really needed the win here since he's already lost twice to Neville and, in kayfabe terms, doesn't really deserve another shot. Good stuff. As Kidd celebrates, Zayn comes back in and lays him out with the Helluva kick, and the show ends with Zayn standing tall, holding the NXT title.

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd.

 

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9/4/14

Charlotte Vs Alexa Bliss: Oh, there's Alexa. This match isn't too good. Bliss needs a lot of work still. Charlotte definitely needs a new finish as Bow Down To The Queen rarely looks good. Bayley comes out afterwards and tells Charlotte that she earned her shot at her, and that Charlotte should take her seriously. She again offers her hand, but Charlotte pie-faces her, and then tries to attack her. Bayley puts her down with a Bayley-To-Belly. I'm interested to see what these two do at Takeover.

Tyler Breeze Vs Tye Dillinger: I guess tonight all four of the men in the fatal fourway match are going to be in action, with a pre-recorded promo before the match. Breeze says he's going to win because he's better looking than everyone else, and he always gets the job done in the ring. He and Dillinger have a decent little match, with Breeze winning with the Beauty Shot.

Devin interviews Sin Cara and Kalisto in the back about their tournament final match against the Vaudevillains tonight. Devin speaking Spanish, oh my. Can someone get me some more info on this girl?

We get the debut of Carmella in a on-location skit of Enzo and Cass going to a hair salon to get some hair removal cream. This is nonsense, basically, but good character stuff. Mella looks great.

Tyson Kidd Vs Adam Rose: Kidd has the best promo of the night. It seems like he's describing each of his opponents- one is one of the greatest highfliers, one has the most heart, one is cocky but looks great so can get away with it, and the other is the hungriest- "oh, and Neville, Zayn and Breeze are also in the match". Great heel stuff. He then has another pretty decent match with Rose, making him tap to the sharpshooter.

Sami Zayn Vs Marcus Louis: Zayn says that he wants to pin Neville, so there's no doubt that he deserves to be champion. He puts away my boy, Louis, with the koji clutch. Enzo and Cass come out and it looks like they're going to throw the bucket of hair removal cream on Sylvester Lefort, but he runs away.

Adrian Neville Vs CJ Parker: Neville's promo is him saying that he's a risk-taker, and that's why he asked for the fatal fourway match. I buy that, I guess. Parker might have the best music in NXT. It's funny that since becoming a heel he dropped most of the goofy hippy stuff that made people hate him to begin with. Red Arrow for the win, but Parker is improving his all-around act a bit.

Sin Cara and Kalisto Vs The Vaudevillains: I wish this match had got more time. The Vaudevillains have the best entrance in the company, and I love the character stuff, but they haven't really done anything of note in the ring yet. This whole match is a bit flat actually. Has the distinct whiff of an end-of-taping affair. Sin Cara pins Gotch with the senton. The Ascension come out and stare down the new number one contenders ominously from the ramp. Depressingly, The Ascension are way more over than their babyface challengers.

Episode MVP: Tyson Kidd. I like Kidd, in case anyone hadn't figured that out.

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

Konnor, in particular, just gets it. A big dude, dripping in charisma, who can work. How has this guy not held multiple world championships?

Please seek medical help.

 

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NXT Takeover: Fatal 4-way

Sin Cara and Kalisto Vs The Ascension: Cara and Kalisto have new music, and there's a Lucha Dragons sign in the crowd, even though to the best of my knowledge they've never been referred to as that on TV. Well, this is it. Finally, The Ascension are beaten, with Kalisto pinning Viktor to win the tag belts for his team. The end of one of the worst title reigns I've ever seen. Almost a year long and not a single good match, not a single good feud, and they haven't beaten a single team of any worth the whole time from beginning to end. I can't imagine sitting through this in real time. Kalisto and Sin Cara get interviewed by Renee after the match, and Kalisto declares they are to be known as the Lucha Dragons. Smart crowd, this.

Baron Corbin Vs CJ Parker: Apparently Parker begged for a match on Takeover, and here it is. I think they were going for a debut of Goldberg type vibe here, with the guy who it looked like was just out to do a job (Corbin) actually getting the strong win. Corbin hits the End of Days fairly quickly to win, and the crowd enjoys it. I'm looking forward to Corbin's run.

Enzo Amore Vs Sylvester LeFort: Hair vs hair match. Both guys have their tag partners with them. As always, Enzo is booked to be pretty useless in the ring, gettign dominated here by LeFort, before getting a roll-up win as LeFort is distracted by Cass attacking Lino Ventura, I mean, Marcus Louis, on the outside. What follows is a travesty. LeFort tries to high-tail it before he can get the haircut, and Louis attacks from behind. However, he gets overwhelmed, LeFort scarpers, and poor Louis ends up getting beaten up and then the bucket of hair removal cream poured on his head. He runs off covering his head. This is a minor angle, of course, but it would be nice if they paid off on their promise of either LeFort or Enzo getting a haircut. Later in the night, Enzo and Cass hunt down Louis in the back, and drag him out to the arena, revealing his head, which is completely bald apart from a few scruffy spots of hair, to the world.

Next, William Regal comes out to introduce new NXT signee KENTA to the crowd. Big KENTA chants as he announces that he will now be known as Hideo Itami. He is interrupted by, godammit, The Ascension? They couldn't find someone else for this spot? I have to suffer them twice in one night? Well, they beat down Itami and throw him out of the ring, and then demand that Regal gives them a rematch for the tag belts. Itami comes back in and lays a beating on both of them and sends them scurrying. Pretty decent way to introduce Itami.

Bull Dempsey Vs Mojo Rawley: This is a quick squash for Bull. Mojo getting embarrassed on Takeovers is a fun running gag. The crowd is very anti-Mojo.

Charlotte Vs Bayley: Bayley debuts her Bayley music here. I liked her old music too, but this theme is better. Izzy is in the crowd here too, and gets a hug. That's the first time I've noticed her. These two have a pretty good match. Better than I was expecting, honestly. The story is simple: Charlotte is better than Bayley, stronger, more athletic. But Bayley has heart and is better than Charlotte is giving her credit for. And both girls play their part really well. Apart from the moonsault by Charlotte, in which she over-rotates, lands more on her knees, and then just kind of leans forward onto Bayley with minimal impact. But otherwise I enjoyed this a fair bit. Bayley is way better in NXT than I thought she would be. Charlotte retains with the newly named Natural Selection. After the match, Sasha comes out and starts to lay a beatdown on Bayley, but Charlotte pulls her off. I look forward to Sasha finally getting a shot at the women's title.

Adrian Neville Vs Sami Zayn Vs Tyson Kidd Vs Tyler Breeze: This is mostly a fun match, but I'm annoyed at Tyson working a couple of chinlock spots in the middle of this, during a long period when it was just he and Sami in the ring. You're better than that, Tyson. Tyson is actually, that aside, awesome in this. He's front and centre for pretty much the entirety of the match, which is 25 mins long. Zayn is probably the MVP of the match though. He, too, is pretty much present throughout the whole thing, and has some great selling and high spots. Breeze doesn't get much of a shine here, but has two great nearfalls which have the crowd on their feet. Neville actually does the least in the match, probably, which kinda plays into the finish, as he's depicted as stealing the match from Sami. This is obviously to start his heel turn, but I don't see what he did (pulling the ref out of the ring as he was counting Zayn over Kidd, and then finishing Kidd himself with the Red Arrow) as particularly heelish in this environment. It arguably should be, but babyfaces have been pulling refs out of rings for years. Overall, this is a lot of fun, with lots of fast action, big moves and exciting nearfalls.

Show rating: This is the weakest of the network specials so far for me. Both the women's match and the main event delivered, but the rest felt more like TV stuff, and there wasn't that strong third match to put it at a level with the other two specials. Still a fun, breezy couple of hours of wrestling though.

Episode MVP: Sami Zayn.

3 star matches: Charlotte Vs Bayley, Adrian Neville Vs Tyler Breeze Vs Tyson Kidd Vs Sami Zayn. 

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Thinking back on Kenta's debut here and how it all turned out for him (the two surgeries, the 205 Live assignment) it's a bit of a bummer. He looked like such a badass grabbing the chair and sitting down in the ring.

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9/18/14

The show opens with a long promo segment, which I hope isn't going to become a trend. Titus O'Neil, of all people, starts it off, coming out and heeling on the crowd. He says since the fatal 4-way main event boys had a match on Raw, taking precious time away from him, then he is going to return the favour. Solid heel motivation. Sami Zayn comes out to defend the honour of NXT, followed by Adrian Neville, who says that if anyone is going to defend NXT, it should be the champion. Zayn and Neville have a little back and forth about the finish to the fatal fourway match, before Tyson Kidd comes out and calls them both losers. Finally, William Regal comes out and makes a tag match for the main event pitting Kidd and O'Neil against Zayn and Neville. Really convoluted way to get to that match. Neville came off quite heelish here.

Charlotte Vs Emma: Big 'welcome back' chants for Emma. Bit depressing to see Charlotte pretty much dominate her here. Poor Emma was such a flop on the main roster. She came around just like a year or two too early.

Hideo Itami Vs Justin Gabriel: The in-ring debut of Itami. Gabriel should be a good opponent for him, and it turns out to be the case. He makes all Itami's offence look good, and Hideo gets over really well. After Itami finishes Gabriel off with a top rope double stomp (I have to think that gets changed soon), the fucking Ascension do a run-in and lay Itami out with the Fall of Man. I don't think a newcomer who they want to push should be getting left lying after his very first match.

Baron Corbin Vs CJ Parker: Parker requested this rematch apparently. It doesn't go any better for him. Corbin has an entrance this time (with a motorcycle motif), and Renee dubs him the Lone Wolf. 'Thank you Corbin' chants from the crowd.

Next is a camera phone video of Enzo and Big Cass working out in the gym. Carmella barges in and says she got fired from the salon because of them, so now she wants to be a fighter. She says they better make it happen for her, and knocks Enzo down with a medicine ball before storming out. Really good way to introduce Mella, and these leaked phone videos are miles better than the usual invisible camera bullshit.

Tyson Kidd and Titus O'Neil Vs Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville: Neville and Zayn are playing a little bit of one-upsmanship in the early stages here. Crowd is firmly with Zayn, chanting 'better than Neville' for his standing moonsault. Zayn plays face-in-peril for a bit. It's a decent match. Finally Neville gets the hot tag but gets pushed off the top rope by Titus as he's going for the Red Arrow, and Kidd surprisingly pins Neville. I wasn't expecting that finish, but I'm happy to see Kidd is staying in the mix a bit longer.

Episode MVP: Hideo Itami.

 

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