The NXT Thread

[DreamBroken]

First part of this week's show was my NXT favorites back to back with Sasha & Charlotte then Adam Rose, always entertained when they are on. That backstage segment with Khali was the first time I've enjoyed Bayley so far, Khali rules. Bo Dallas was entertaining again as well, pretty good main event.

[JRGoldman]

I think for the Adam Rose gimmick to work on Raw, the party needs to continue on the outside while he wrestles as opposed to leaving then coming back. At the very least it will distract people from his matches, which will be for the best until he learns to work the character in ring without relying on specific 'comedy' spots like that awful seesaw elbow in the ropes.

[Hokuto in Winter]

I think Corey Graves has cemented his status as my favourite NXT guy since I've been watching(since Arrival).

 

Bo was amazing selling the confusion and anguish of realising the crowd did not love him, turned him face for me until the match got under way and I was bored. Not that it was awful but we've had some really good main events these last few weeks and this was a step below. Plus I don't really want to see Justin Gabriel here.

 

I have faith that Adam Rose will make it, I like Bo and hope he does also but if I was laying real money on the line I'd not be taking that bet.

 

Sasha Banks gets overlooked sometimes and its fair because she isn't super out there with her act and its a reflection of two other people.  By the same token, I like that her performance is a little more subtle and the rabid fire girl strikes stuff works.  She needs a high spot or two to make the middle of her matches a bit more engaging but is good at a mannerisms.

 

Agree on all counts. <3 Sasha.

[hammerva]

Man are we really going to get a Great Khali vs CJ Parker match next week.  I remember when I heard of Miz vs CJ Parker and thought "well it can't possibly get any worse".  Well that match wasn't too bad so they are trying with Khali vs Parker.  Yikes 

 

After watching the NXT experience video, it reminded us of Colin Cassidy and SAWFT.  Remember about three months ago when him and Enzo Amore was the greatest.  Yeah seems like years ago 

 

The new announcer with Riley and Albert has a lot of work to do.   Wasn't overly impressed.  Meanwhile Alex Riley went from having potential as an announcer to the stereotypical Michael Cole heel announcer who says extremely stupid thing that nobody can take seriously

[odessasteps]

Did i read right that heel announcer thinks there is global warming and the babyface announcer is the climate denier?

[scraylo187]

I think for the Adam Rose gimmick to work on Raw, the party needs to continue on the outside while he wrestles as opposed to leaving then coming back. At the very least it will distract people from his matches, which will be for the best until he learns to work the character in ring without relying on specific 'comedy' spots like that awful seesaw elbow in the ropes.

 

This would be kind of amazing. They make all of his matches lumberjack matches. JBL losing his shit about all of the outside interference would be pretty great.

[Patrick B.]

This was an odd week where I was able to pull up the international download early.  Was fun for what it was.  Nice to see the Snapshot make a comeback as a double-team finish.  Laughed at the "Global Warming" chant for C.J. Parker.  Neville-Brodus was a pretty good smaller guy/bigger guy bout.

[KidKash202]

NXT

1. Collin Cassidy might be able to make it on the main roster. Aiden English and him had a nice little watch.

2. The Chemistry between Renee Young and Steven Regal is cool man. I hope those two will eventually get to do their thing on the main roster. But not be watered down.

3.Camacho was on the show. It is funny that he (A "Mexican") uses the Samoan Drop. Get your racism together WWE.

4. Yea I just skip Ascenion's matches at this point man. Like watching Batista, I get nothing from the experience.

5. Keep your eyes on Oliver Grey. Great British talent. Just got back from an injury. Watched a lot of his matches from home country when I was doing WWE 2K14 movesets. Dude is legit man.

6. Jason Jordan and Ty Dillinger looked like a young Benjamin & Haas tonight. Jason Jordan gets UP on those dropkicks. My goodness.

7. Renne Young during the Neville/B. Clay match: "I would run around him like Mario runs around Koopa." Cool stuff.

8. Noticed Neville had a mouthpiece in. Which leads me to ask, who else wears one? Someone could pull a Mike Miller and/or Blake and be known for using a mouthpiece.

9. Black Ref in NXT makes some funny faces man.

[KidKash202]

Taking it back. I miss seeing the Shield and Wyatts in the D-League

 

http://www.hulu.com/watch/480112#i0,p15,s7,d0

 

WWE NXT Wed, Apr 17, 2013

Leo Kruger vs. Juvsstin Gabriel

Emma vs. Bayley

Bray Wyatt (w/Erick Rowan & Luke Harper) vs Yoshi Tatsu

Seth Rollins vs Corey Grave

 

[JRGoldman]

I thought the tag match with Jordan and Dillenger was probably my favorite match on nxt since Arrival. Really well done from both teams. I actually kind of liked the Khali match as well. It's probably the best match he is capable of at this point excluding a miracle worker like Bryan being involved, so kudos to Parker for his part.

The Ascension have basically wrestled the same match four it five times now. I like squashes, but they don't do much for me.

I think whomever wrote that Paige segment set her up to fail. I don't think a babyface should ever talk about being a role model for people who are different, but then say 'you don't need to know anything about me'. It's just bad writing. They don't actually have to tell us anything about her, but don't have someone actually tell the audience that she doesn't want her fans to know what she is really like.

I thought the Clay/Neville match was worse than the Khali/Parker, but I'll readily admit that Neville has never really appealed to me. I did think the finish was good. Between this finish and the Graves/Zayn finish they have managed to keep people over but still make the main events satisfying.

Also, can someone put the Heart Punch on the banned moves list? I never want to see it used pointlessly ever again. Two weeks in a row and Brodus has used it once as a transition spot and once as a mid match near fall. Unless he is trying to get heel heat specifically from me, there is no excuse for this.

[Newb82]

My review of this week's show.

 

Thought this was pretty much a nothing show until the final two matches, both of which I liked very much.

[Big Rob]

Considering that they probably don't want Brodus to be pinned straight away, how was the ending "weak sauce"? Is it just because it wasn't a clean pin or submission?

[scraylo187]

How long until Wesley Blake being a 'real life cowboy' actually gets him ironically over?

Do you guys think the Ascension will make it to the big show, or will Viktor get mad at Konnor and turn on him so that Konnor gets a singles push? He's the only one of them I see with an upside.

Crowd chanting 'one more YA' was great.

God help me, I like CJ Parker. He yelled "I JUST WANT TO CHANGE THIS WORLD" at a ref.That's the new 'I've got till 5." He sells well, too.

Sami continues to kill in the promos department. I can't believe he just ran around saying 'si!' for years. The 6 man with the Usos ought to be rad.

The JJ Dillenger Escape Plan looked impressive as hell. I think they're supposed to be babyfaces, but something about the way they both carry themselves makes them seem like assholes. They have clearly taken Christian's in ring clapping workshop.

The only way I'll like Brodus is if they do a series of video packages about him finding his way in life by going on a wilderness spirit quest to find PN News.

Adrian, secure the back of the title. You look like you're wearing your dad's dress shoes. Dude's a solid babyface champ, though.

[truename]

I feel sick to the stomach for having missed this show for so long. I took a break from wrestling and while slowly catching everything, NXT has been a fun surprise. Can't believe how I missed the evolution of stars I like so much, like Cesaro, Rollins, Paige, the Wyatts... and how was Chris Hero? Wasn't he good enough for WWE or something else happened?

 

And with the interest of ESPN on her, I was paying attention to Renee Young on commentary, and oh man is she great. Fun, natural, charismatic and light, I really want her to stay on WWE.

[Greggulator]

I feel sick to the stomach for having missed this show for so long. I took a break from wrestling and while slowly catching everything, NXT has been a fun surprise. Can't believe how I missed the evolution of stars I like so much, like Cesaro, Rollins, Paige, the Wyatts... and how was Chris Hero? Wasn't he good enough for WWE or something else happened?

 

And with the interest of ESPN on her, I was paying attention to Renee Young on commentary, and oh man is she great. Fun, natural, charismatic and light, I really want her to stay on WWE.

 

Hero was really good. Supposedly he was a diva backstage or whatever. But his feud with Regal was aces.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

 

I feel sick to the stomach for having missed this show for so long. I took a break from wrestling and while slowly catching everything, NXT has been a fun surprise. Can't believe how I missed the evolution of stars I like so much, like Cesaro, Rollins, Paige, the Wyatts... and how was Chris Hero? Wasn't he good enough for WWE or something else happened?

 

And with the interest of ESPN on her, I was paying attention to Renee Young on commentary, and oh man is she great. Fun, natural, charismatic and light, I really want her to stay on WWE.

 

Hero was really good. Supposedly he was a diva backstage or whatever. But his feud with Regal was aces.

 

Rumblings said he was also a bit "tubby".

[Newb82]

Considering that they probably don't want Brodus to be pinned straight away, how was the ending "weak sauce"? Is it just because it wasn't a clean pin or submission?

I guess I would have preferred a double count out with them fighting the whole time.

[JRGoldman]

 

 

I feel sick to the stomach for having missed this show for so long. I took a break from wrestling and while slowly catching everything, NXT has been a fun surprise. Can't believe how I missed the evolution of stars I like so much, like Cesaro, Rollins, Paige, the Wyatts... and how was Chris Hero? Wasn't he good enough for WWE or something else happened?

 

And with the interest of ESPN on her, I was paying attention to Renee Young on commentary, and oh man is she great. Fun, natural, charismatic and light, I really want her to stay on WWE.

 

Hero was really good. Supposedly he was a diva backstage or whatever. But his feud with Regal was aces.

 

Rumblings said he was also a bit "tubby".

 

 

It's funny that this is what has been rumored and sort of accepted as gospel at this point, because NXT has a lot of guys being pushed heavily that don't exactly have the most flattering midsections. Mojo and Bo Dallas come to mind. I tend to put more stock in to the reports about him not being the super interested in weight training and working out as opposed to just doing in ring training.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

I think he pointed out that he looked tubby as he tried to put on mass because it's pretty hard for most people to put on mass without at least temporarily adding some fat. 

 

I suspect the body thing is not why they released him. I think, if anything, he was too much of a wrestling veteran already and those aren't the guys they want anymore. When it's a DB or a Cesaro they'll make an exception, but there wasn't enough upside with Kassius.

[J.H.]

Liked this week's NXT, if for nothing else the random Starlight Express mention by Regal on commentary

 

James

[Go2Sleep]

Zayn/Usos vs. Graves/Ascension sounds like an oddly intriguing match.

[Hokuto in Winter]

Do you guys think the Ascension will make it to the big show, or will Viktor get mad at Konnor and turn on him so that Konnor gets a singles push? He's the only one of them I see with an upside.

 

 

I think the gimmick is strong enough they'll come up as a team. As for upside Viktor is a handy worker* and Konnor is big but not by WWE standards. For the near future they have way more to offer as a unit as sick as I am of watching them squash teams every show.

 

* Actually it's worth quoting Meltzer on Viktor. 'He's the kind of good hand that would have a place on the roster of any company in history, but right now you need more than that as WWE is so stacked with talent'.

[KidKash202]

I feel sick to the stomach for having missed this show for so long. I took a break from wrestling and while slowly catching everything, NXT has been a fun surprise. Can't believe how I missed the evolution of stars I like so much, like Cesaro, Rollins, Paige, the Wyatts... and how was Chris Hero? Wasn't he good enough for WWE or something else happened?

 

And with the interest of ESPN on her, I was paying attention to Renee Young on commentary, and oh man is she great. Fun, natural, charismatic and light, I really want her to stay on WWE.

 

Go on Hulu and start watching NXT from the middle of 2012. Or you can even go on YouTube and watch some old episodes of FLorida Championship Wrestling. I made a thread for it in this sub-forum.

[Goodear]

Nestea!

 

Well Aiden English vs. Colin Cassidy may have officially become the Dolph Ziggler-Kofi Kingston of NXT if that crown wasn't captured by Russev and the other guy who is a 90's nerd.  Holy crap am I having a senior moment.  Let us see how long it takes me to remember his name!  I'm not going to look it up.  So this is pretty much every English and Cassidy match except they prolong the finish with English sliding out of the swinging slam twice before getting Colin by the tights to roll him up for three.  They really need to freshen up the show a bit guys, they are really relying on the same stuff over and over again and even with only an hour a week to fill, it is getting repetitive.  Hopefully with Enzo healthy again (according to reports) maybe we can get Big Cass a win against English so he doesn't lose all of his momentum.

 

Whats his face?  Damn, damn, damn.

 

Tyler Breeze is so good you guys.  He is on camera for all of 15 seconds this week and he comes off like the most charismatic heel on the show.  I'm ready for the Breezeway talk show like now kids.  He literally has nothing to say and just wants to make the show more gorgeous.  That's just so awesome.

 

Camacho looked maybe the best I have seen him and I actually like him laughing off Oliver Grey's stuff since its the closest he's looked to being his father's son this whole time.  I think its totally time to drop the Latino street stuff from his act and move in a more Meng Dynasty direction.  Without Hunico, the vato stuff just isn't as good.  'Macho needs to roll back a little more on his heels to really get the no sell as effective as he can but its a start at least.  Grey came off looking like a guy and clearly needs some sizzle to the steak.

 

Honor roll guy!  You know the one.  Teams with R Truth.  The former Consequences Creed...

 

Bo is a great getting his gimmick over now that he has had a chance to collect himself and had a week to convince himself why no one stormed the ring last week.  I think its important that Bo thinks he's the John Cena of NXT when he is really the Damian Sandow.  Its the self delusion that makes it compelling and if he knew what he was, it wouldn't work as well.

 

Ascension squashes guys again.  Well at least something new is happening next week.  Again, they've been in a holding pattern way too long now.  I think the squashes were valuable for them, but its gotten to be a bit much.

 

Khali vs. Parker was a fun time.  Khali worked his chops in pretty well with Regal selling the devastating nature of the giant.  Regal makes this match work for the most part and its a fun 3 minute affair with the Punjabi Plunge getting the closest its been to Cena flying into the atmosphere when they had a feud a while ago.  CJ looked pretty good selling and bumping but his offense still sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls.  I don't know what that means but it sounds pretty bad.

 

I can see him in my mind, but I can't pull the name.  GOD!  

 

JJ Dillon vs. Baron & Sawyer was pretty fun with Jordan and Dillinger starting their steps up from job guys to featured performers.  Danny Burch was the other one on my list and now Corban is on that list after a strong effort here.  Baron looked okay against Neville (was it Neville?) but looked more confident and snugger here.  His clothesline (which Regal says is so awesome it graduated to lariat) and vertical suplex were the knees of bees.  Sawyer looked a little loose for me but the stories the announcer told about him being a weird duck jives with his first appearance as an applicant for Sylvester LaFort so I'm cool with that.  Jeff and Ty looked good if a little generic.

 

Adrian Neville vs. Brodus was the best match Brodus has had in months.  His strikes are way slow and not hurty looking which really pales when Adrian is pasting him in the face with forearms.  This might have been one of Adrian's best individual performance in terms of carrying the action.  Clay held up his end okay and the splash from the steps would have been a really good spot if his splash didn't suck so very, very bad.  I don't get the heart punch hate up thread since it was just a mid-match thing here and looked okay to me.  Neville is like the least annoying flippy guy ever for me since he makes all of it actually work and his stuff looks like it actually connects.  God gawd that flying forearm was smashy good.

 

Xavier Woods.  I had to look it up.

[JonnyLaw]

I want Konnor and Viktor to start painting their faces to really go full on Road Warriors/Demolition/Powers of Pain.