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NXT - 2021


Dolfan in NYC

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10 minutes ago, Tarheel Moneghetti said:

Pro wrestling is fairly basic, imo.  Fans don't pay tickets or decide to boo or cheer characters because they are well-rounded or have deep back stories.  Workers usually get over because they have physical charisma and can connect with the crowd.  Or they can make the character fun and likeable.  Or make the character hateable.  Or they can talk.  Sometimes  they're just great athletes and can jump really high or do a cool submission

Honestly - and I really don't want to sound like Vince here - but I feel like look, physique, and ring attire are more important than the character.  That's what fans base their first impression on.  

Exactly why you don't need to paste on these half-assed character sketches that NXT's become rife with.

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The skateboarding thing is a bit specific because if you carry a skateboard to the ring and never ride it you put the focus on how fake your gimmick is, like the Dynamic Dudes over 30 years ago. Nobody knows that the Poker guy is not a real Poker pro just by watching the show.

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10 minutes ago, Robert s said:

The skateboarding thing is a bit specific because if you carry a skateboard to the ring and never ride it you put the focus on how fake your gimmick is, like the Dynamic Dudes over 30 years ago. Nobody knows that the Poker guy is not a real Poker pro just by watching the show.

Ooooooh, somebody missed the 120-minute* in-ring poker game with Grimes. ?

*That's what it felt like, anyway

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I didn't listen to this show/watch said video so Bryan could have brought it up again but he was ranting last week about the new women they are doing the videos for (the spoiled rich girl one - Lord don't ask me for names).

Basically she is an accomplished athlete in something (gymnastics perhaps???) and instead they had her playing tennis which was something she clearly didn't know how to do.

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59 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I didn't listen to this show/watch said video so Bryan could have brought it up again but he was ranting last week about the new women they are doing the videos for (the spoiled rich girl one - Lord don't ask me for names).

Basically she is an accomplished athlete in something (gymnastics perhaps???) and instead they had her playing tennis which was something she clearly didn't know how to do.

Gymmastics,  Tiffany Stratton/Jesssica Woynilko competed in gymnastics at the national & international level and won a few competitions.  She's also competed in pro bodybuilding competitions and has some sort of MMA background.  Naturally, WWE took a look at her, noticed she's young and blonde, and gave her a mean girl socialite character.  So far she's giving off a vibe similar to Frankie Monet's character.

The tennis video came first, but they did run a promo for her after that that acknowledged her gymnastics background, so Alvarez' criticism seems a little unfounded 

Edited by Mark
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Tiffany Stratton. Her gimmick is some rich Daddy's girl deal. She is a general super athlete from training he paid for her to have in various shit. Not the best choice of gimmick, but that is more because its dumb and kind of dated.

I find the 2.0 gimmicks to be a mixed bag. Some definitely feel like something pulled from the mid 90s mindset while others just have minor side pieces meant to add a extra bit of flavor. I can find the former entertaining to a degree, but they work better when there are only of few of those working among the latter. Chase U is dumb, but it mostly works as he is meant to be a comedy jobber. Hudson being a pro poker player made no sense considering everyone had seen him around for a few months playing no poker. Seems like they could have easily just had the man setting up games like the Acolytes opposed to making it a full gimmick. Would have made more sense and worked just as well, if not better. Cora Jade's skateboard is just side piece to her character though if she doesn't ride or use it occasionally one does start to wonder what the point is. I assume that is why she has been doing a little of both the past few weeks. I have no idea why D'angelo acts the way he does, and Lash Legend show is one of the few things in NXT that gets an instant ff from me. I feel like the only gimmick heavy characters that should be around right now are Chase and Lumis. No one else really feels justified. The effort is there on the part of wrestlers, but writing isn't.

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6 minutes ago, Eivion said:

Tiffany Stratton. Her gimmick is some rich Daddy's girl deal. She is a general super athlete from training he paid for her to have in various shit. Not the best choice of gimmick, but that is more because its dumb and kind of dated.

I find the 2.0 gimmicks to be a mixed bag. Some definitely feel like something pulled from the mid 90s mindset while others just have minor side pieces meant to add a extra bit of flavor. I can find the former entertaining to a degree, but they work better when there are only of few of those working among the latter. Chase U is dumb, but it mostly works as he is meant to be a comedy jobber. Hudson being a pro poker player made no sense considering everyone had seen him around for a few months playing no poker. Seems like they could have easily just had the man setting up games like the Acolytes opposed to making it a full gimmick. Would have made more sense and worked just as well, if not better. Cora Jade's skateboard is just side piece to her character though if she doesn't ride or use it occasionally one does start to wonder what the point is. I assume that is why she has been doing a little of both the past few weeks. I have no idea why D'angelo acts the way he does, and Lash Legend show is one of the few things in NXT that gets an instant ff from me. I feel like the only gimmick heavy characters that should be around right now are Chase and Lumis. No one else really feels justified. The effort is there on the part of wrestlers, but writing isn't.

Sounds like the Marv Marinovich/Richard Williams/Earl Woods thing I was talking about the other day. THAT a could be a good gimmick if done correctly. Insert “WWE everybody” joke.

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I saw a clip on YouTube in passing and it remains jarring to dip your toe back into the world of WWE speak when you haven’t heard it for a while. They made sure to say she was the “self-proclaimed” daddy’s little rich girl. I swear that if Kamala was out there today he’d be the “self-proclaimed” Ugandan Giant. 

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19 hours ago, zendragon said:

You mean like Mark Henry was the "self-proclaimed silver back" 

It's less racist if you pretend it was the black guy's idea to compare himself to a gorilla.

As far as NXT gimmicks go, I think the gimmicks are fine.  The workers are the problem.  They're a mostly bland lot, imo.  I feel like a pro poker player gimmick would be fine if you give it to someone who can play the gimmick broadly and go over the top with it.  Young Ted DiBiase, for example.  Duke Hudson is not that person.  I don't think Duke has showed a lot of charisma so far, so giving him a colorful gimmick and sending him out to peacock is probably not going to work.

90's-style gimmicks are a ymmv sort of thing.  Late 80's/early 90's WWF with ridiculous gimmicks and cocaine-fueled promos is easily my favorite WWF/E, but modern audiences may need some convincing to go that way.  As noted earlier, Bray  Wyatt was one WWE's biggest merch sellers the past few years and he played a psycho cult leader and a demon from Hell.  AEW isn't as over the top as 90's WWF, but I don't think I'd call it realistic.  Miro's "God and my flexible wife" promos are nearly as out there as Brutus Beefcake's - and Miro presumably did a lot less blow prior to the show.

Edited by Mark
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So, which belt had more prestige in the end, the purple CW title or the European title? The CW title probably had the better matches between Kendrick, Pac, Murphy, etc, but the Euro title can always say it was held by Shawn Michaels, HHH, and Kurt Angle.

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22 hours ago, D.Z said:

636e2396c5ee61f87607539de58dc8eb

When it seemed like WWE UK title wouldn't pick up any steam, I figured the unification match between then king of the cruiserweights Neville and Bruiserweight Pete Dunne would end up taking place back in 2016(?), never did. I'd imagine Hayes prevails here, but who knows?

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Like Kevin Owens' honesty:

Today’s NXT is very different than the NXT I was part of, to the point I believe it should have a totally different name. And I don’t think it’s better or worse, but it’s just too different. So when I’m watching NXT, I don’t see the NXT I was part of. It’s not the same thing. It’s a little bit like Ring of Honor. The ROH of old days and the ROH now, it’s just not the same thing. So to me, it’s completely two different products, so when I’m watching it, I put myself in the mindset we had when I was at NXT and the mindset there seems to have right now, it’s completely different. It’s very hard for me to compare them. I don’t even consider that to be the same show. I don’t really feel any attachment to NXT now. Listen, there are very talented people working there, and I have watched the last TakeOver show they did and there were parts of it that I thought was really good, but it’s like a few years ago, if they had asked me to go back to NXT, I would have said yes. But f they would ask me that now, I don’t think I would be as receptive to go back, because it’s not the same thing. I don’t think I fit in the new NXT as I was fitting in the NXT I was part of, with guys like Sami, Finn, Samoa Joe and Nakamura. When I watch NXT now, I don’t feel the same thing I felt when I was watching NXT two years ago.

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So I really like the reboot overall. It's back to something of a true developmental show and not an indie alternative. With that said, I'm not sure if that should be a 2 hour show on a cable network but I'll keep watching. 

Also, I have a feeling that most of these folks with over the top gimmicks will be something else once they hit the main roster. 

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I don't get that they have this heralded blue chipper in Gable Steveson and let him keep his name and then sign his brother and give him a gimmick name. But then again, they didn't make the new Fatu brother an Uso so it's right out of the WWE playbook lol

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1 hour ago, Infinit said:

I don't get that they have this heralded blue chipper in Gable Steveson and let him keep his name and then sign his brother and give him a gimmick name. But then again, they didn't make the new Fatu brother an Uso so it's right out of the WWE playbook lol

Just like Bron there is even a weird semi-acknowledgment that he is an Uso, but nothing ever said straight up.  Not sure why they keep doing this shit.

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12 hours ago, odessasteps said:

In theory, letting a young guy develop with the pressure of a famous relative in a good idea. But when everyone already knows it, there’s prob no point to it.

That makes sense for generational wrestling families...but it's so weird for the Steveson brothers, where they are starting at zero in pro wrestling at basically the same time.

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