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NMM #2 - JORDAN DEVLIN


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JORDAN DEVLIN

20180518_UK_JordanDevlin--520edb8f3fb722

Cagematch

 

SOME THINGS TO WATCH (w/ links)

(2) vs. WALTER (OTT)

vs. Trent Seven (ICW) - link is via Facebook so I hope it works

vs. Pete Dunne (NXT UK) - also can be found on WWE Network

SOME THINGS TO WATCH (non linkable sources)

(1) Devlin/Starr vs. Ringkampf

(3) vs. David Starr (OTT OnDemand) - This is the Hype Video that got a lot of buzz

vs. Will Ospreay (Progress 72)

RANDOM INFO

Did you know he was trained by Finn Balor? The WWE should really mentioned that

Seems to have a less restrictive NXT UK contract than other guys

Was in SSS 16 2018, WWE UK Title #1 Contender Tourney and When Worlds Collide (Semis)

If you plan on watching all the OTT matches - watch the in numerical order presented (the hype video explains it perfectly if you can't)

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I checked out the Devlin vs WALTER match, fully understanding that I was missing context. I was happily surprised, actually. Let me put it this way, focused on some natural comparison points. 1.) I thought it was leaps and bounds better than Finn vs Brock. 2.) I don't think Finn could have had this same match with WALTER.

Devlin brought more to the table than I was expecting, fighting really well from underneath, selling properly and emotively and letting things breathe enough when it was his turn to hit some stuff, ultimately mounting a comeback that was believable and still carried the weight of all that happened to him. There was one exchange about a quarter of the way in that ended in a double stomp that I felt was way too choreographed but other than that, most of this felt natural enough. The atmosphere was great and even without context, you could by into the idea that he was some great Irish hope against the unstoppable monster. There was a spot where the announcer said that he'd only be able to fight back if he had the crowd and he didn't, in that moment, have the crowd going, but they came back up a moment later and it all worked out. The finishing sequence wasn't overdone (and some of that had to do with the simplicity of WALTER's rear naked choke relative to a bunch of complex headdrops). 

This was a good one and people should check it out. 

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Yeah, that Walter match is GREAT.  Most of my exposure to Devlin has been as a heel in NXT UK, and that has been...fine, I guess.  Solid.  But, wow, he was an amazing underdog babyface here.  Sure, part of that is the aura that accompanies Walter, but he brought a lot to the table himself.  It makes me think NXT is kinda dumb for fucking around with him as a heel.

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I like Devlin but that Trent Seven match you linked makes me cringe. Kid has a concussion BEFORE the match starts, and then proceeds to split his head open and keep going. Like, I appreciate toughness and I wrestle injured all the time (I can barely walk on my left ankle anymore), but shit....too much, man.

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I like Devlin, and have watched a decent amount of his work since NXT UK started.  I'll have to watch the WALTER match, because I can't even imagine him as a babyface.  He's like Lacey Evans, sure he can probably be a babyface, but it doesn't make any sense to make someone so naturally hateable a babyface.  Maybe that match will change my mind.

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4 minutes ago, Ryan said:

In OTT he's THE babyface. They push him rabidly on commentary.

I watched it and yeah, he's clearly the ace of the company.  That opening video was really effective in getting him over as a babyface in my mind.  It is one of the best non-WWE wrestling videos I've ever seen.  The match was good, but there was far too many Devlin power spots in a match with someone who has about 150 lbs. on him.  Seriously, he shouldn't be trading shots and fighting over suplexes with someone that much larger than him.  

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On 3/5/2019 at 2:26 PM, Matt D said:

There was one exchange about a quarter of the way in that ended in a double stomp that I felt was way too choreographed but other than that, most of this felt natural enough.

I thought that spot was okay since Walter pulled off the leapfrog to the big boot spot earlier in the match and I'm all about the psychology of a heel going to the well and it not working the second time.  Speaking of being a heel, Mick Foley wrote in Have a Nice Day about his disagreement with (I think) Randy Hales about how not all heels are the same and that Jaws wasn't a heel because he hid a chain in his tights but because he was a really big shark.  Walter is a Jaws Heel where he doesn't need to be a cheater or to stooge as much.  He's like a Vader or Samoa Joe that needs some slight tweaks to get all he can out of himself.  He's a major tights adjuster and it's distracting once you notice it (much like Misawa or DiBiase).  Devlin kind of gets overshadowed which happens when you're putting over the monster but I can't deny that he did it.  He did enough to make me believe that the sunset flip out of the powerbomb attempt would have been a perfect roll up finish for the match they were having.  I also appreciated how he was invited into a chop exchange and he just punched Walter in the face instead.  Good stuff, I'm interested to see more of Devlin from this.

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20 hours ago, Goodear said:

I thought that spot was okay since Walter pulled off the leapfrog to the big boot spot earlier in the match and I'm all about the psychology of a heel going to the well and it not working the second time.  Speaking of being a heel, Mick Foley wrote in Have a Nice Day about his disagreement with (I think) Randy Hales about how not all heels are the same and that Jaws wasn't a heel because he hid a chain in his tights but because he was a really big shark.  Walter is a Jaws Heel where he doesn't need to be a cheater or to stooge as much. ..

Even then, though, related to that, it ties to the related point to that argument: Using the argument, Jaws isn't a heel at all. It's just a really big shark. A shark has every right to eat too- and if it thinks a human is prey, it's not the shark's fault that it thinks the human's a seal- the shark just was trying to eat. It's not killing for sport or for fun, and so Jaws wasn't a true "villain" until "The Revenge" where they took the story off the rails to decide 'oh, this shark has a vendetta against one specific family and will follow them down the coast" 

Same token for that argument. A heel like WALTER wouldn't need to be a cheater or to stooge as much because they're so much bigger and more dominant than their opponents. That's the point- they DON'T NEED TO cheat, but they do it anyways because they just like to. 

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But you don’t cheer for the shark, you cheer for the guys who are hunting the shark because they didn’t eat a pupper (and some people too, whatever who cares, keep the beaches open Mayor Vaughn).  I would say that Walter can be a giant prick, beat up everyone and their mothers, but if he does a Flair flop and escapes matches like the Honkytonk Man, you’ve done goofed.

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