The NXT Thread

[nofuture]

 

Hopefully, this means we dont have to worry about Regal's job security.

As noted, Regal's one of Hunter's guys. Also he's pretty much brilliant at his job, whether it's in-ring, talking, commentating, mentoring, etc. The only thing that could threaten Regal's job security would be if he got back into drugs, and given how rarely he wrestles, that seems reasonably unlikely.

 

 

Regal's one of their main talent scouts, too. He has a big influence on who gets into NXT.

[caley]

per Meltzy, via Playa Stunna

WWE has confirmed five releases today at this point:

Jody Kristofferson - Garrett Dylan

Danielle Jackson - Dani Jax

Shawn Ricker - Slate Randall

Sam Udell - Travis Tyler

Will McNamee - Mac Miles

[Go2Sleep]

That Rose/Kidd match has to be the best I've seen Rose look. I think the one thing his gimmick is really missing is a "get serious" moment in his matches for his comebacks. When he did the "choo choo" and followed it up with a stiff clothesline instead of a that stupid bronco-buster looking thing, I actually marked a little for him (as much as one marks when watching wrestling alone anyway). If he could sandwich Leo Kruger between Adam Rose segments, he could probably be a pretty viable midcarder in the big league. Tyson did pretty well in that match too. If they cut out those 3-4 minutes of restholds, this would've probably been a top 5 NXT match this year.

 

Also, Nattie is a lot more likable in this role.

[Jamal]

Muuuuuuuuch better showing for Charlotte this week against Becky Lynch. And I dig that they toned down Becky's gimmick. She doesn't need to drill home the point that she's Irish to get over. I had to LOL at Renee's comparing her to Lita

[Eivion]

You could tell how fast they realized their mistake Becky. The next show of the very same tapings she first appeared on she had already seemed to tone things down. Thought this week's episode was a great showcase for Charlotte. I wish she would use the figure 4 as a finish fro,m time to time because she does some really nifty leg work.

[Greggulator]

I love how her legwork sets up Bow Down To The Queen. If you work on a leg, chances are that person is going to have to get on their knees and in position for it. And since it's one of those quick strike moves -- like a slightly more elaborate RKO type -- Charlotte can look to use it at anytime. I'm fine without the Figure Four. She's completely avoided becoming a novelty act by wrestling as her own person. That's really important. If she just aped her dads moves, she'd die a slow death.

Charlotte's far from a finished product. But she does so many little things right -- her dickish covers, nasty faces when working her opponent over, good cheap shots, etc. Her and Summer Rae was bad, but I chalk that up to inexperience from both of them. But when she's in the ring with someone with experience, she's been great. She's really athletic and can do so much in the ring. It just takes someone who can pace her stuff better.

I sort of think someone took a look at Charlotte/Summer Rae and saw that the match didn't start off fast enough. They told her and Becky to do a Malenko/Guerrero type of thing -- get the crowd's attention, put Becky over as really good -- and then do the submission work to build to the finish. Charlotte versus Nattie was also really good.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Wow I haven't watched much of NXT lately but that CJ Parker and Xavier Woods confrontation was hilarious.

[rovert]

Muuuuuuuuch better showing for Charlotte this week against Becky Lynch. And I dig that they toned down Becky's gimmick. She doesn't need to drill home the point that she's Irish to get over. I had to LOL at Renee's comparing her to Lita

Why lol? She did Lita's babyface gestures.

 

 

 

 

 

On the new tapings last Thursday Becky debuted new gear that further emphasised the Rocker thing:

It is a direction I didn't forecast it makes sense as she's a Lita and a Pearl Jam fan.

[Greggulator]

We start with JJ DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN in the ring, who are a secretly very good tag team. They're taking on ENZO AMORE and BIG KASS, whose entrance is just electric right now. They've got that rare bond with a crowd. It's not just because this is NXT and it's the easiest crowd ever to get over in front of (in a good way). They're reminding me a lot of the Wyatts last days in NXT in this way -- They don't even need to think about the presentation anymore, because it's pretty much perfected. Enzo and Kass aren't The Wyatts in terms of in-ring work -- dudes were putting on a MOTD within a year of getting called up to the roster. But the Enzo/Kass have some next big thing potential.

Kass is really laying his stuff in. That's great to see. I love how Jordan/Dillinger get advantage. Kass does the "S-A-W-F-T" thing and Dillinger dekes coming into the ring, letting Jordan get a cheap shot to the stomach. That's good scouting. Kass -- the 7-foot guy -- is playing the face-in-peril. Enzo tags in and is a quick hot tag until he eats an INSANE kick. They do a thing where Dillinger doesn't go for the pin, showing his inexperience. Jordan sets up Enzo, who is out cold, for a shoulder thing in the corner but Big Kass dives in the way to block it. Jordan than sets Enzo up for something but Kass comes in and sticks Jordan with a boot with the ref's back turned as Dillinger tried to enter.

What a really clever ending. I've never seen an ending like that. Kass and Enzo end the match in a hug. That, I think, shows why these guys are sorta magic -- They come off like actual friends, and not just some tag team partners. They can't really be each other without them.

RENEE YOUNG is here and out comes a very polite Sammy Zayn, in a AGAINST ME T-Shirt! Awesome. Sami has a partner "not cleared for injury" and out comes the douche team of TYSON KIDD and JUSTIN GABRIEL. "Of course you don't have a partner. BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!" I sort of love that. It's so ridiculously dumb and 6th grade bullying. ADAM ROSE comes out to tell Sami he has a partner. Lollipops are exchanged. This was enjoyable.

CJ PARKER comes out with a "Stop fricking and fracking!" That's so great and specific. I hope next week he starts ranting about the Keystone XL pipeline. Xavier Woods interrupts in what could be his last appearance as a babyface for a while. CJ has become a really decent stooge heel. He sells chops like his chest flesh is being burned off in a refinery. The crowd starts the wave during this and I can't really blame them -- sorta boring. CJ works best as a total douche heel getting his ass beat and stoodging around the ring. Xavier's not a type of face who can work with that, though -- he has to work underneath to get over. CJ doesn't look nasty enough to make that work. It picks up when Xavier regains control and the pace picks up. They end up having a really good, quick exchange of near pinfalls and the crowd gets right into it. That's friggin' great work from these guys -- either they made a good audible, or the match was just really well put together.

There is a SICK spot. Earlier in the match, Xavier went up to the top for a move but CJ rolled out of trouble. This happens again, but Xavier walks the ropes and leaps like 95% across the ring Van Terminator style and almost got a fall. CJ ended up stealing the match after using the ropes to hurt Xavier's eye and winning after some Fireman's Carry slam thing.

Man, that match got REALLY good out of nowhere. Kudos, guys.

TYLER BREEZE is backstage and lays it on the line -- after what Adrian Neville did to HIM last week (great heel hypocrisy there), it's time he takes the title and wipes off the uggo. Then all of his Wannabreez can celebrate. AWESOME. Breeze just oozes confidence. That's part of the kayfabe stuff but also in reality. He's a star and definitely has a few years of a big run on the main roster waiting for him.

BAILEY comes out to her awesome entrance. Her opponent tonight is... oh man... Eva Marie. Bailey's entrance is terrific -- there's the waving hands thing to her girly pop music thing and her childlike, naive love of being in front of the crowd. It's great and genuine. Eva Marie rolls around on a box like some girl from Ashley Ford Kia from Eastbound and Down. She's just absolutely worthless. The NXT crowd is ALL over her, too. All she does are these really degrading "sexy" gestures that are physically repulsive. Legit -- can you imagine if a girl attempted to act like that in reality at a party you were at? I would have to leave the party. Bailey does her fun whirlybird on Eva. Eva "counters" something and it's so friggin' awful. The only thing she does is the "knee to the back and pull back your arms" thing. Bailey eventually wins with the Belly-To-Bailey. "Thank you Bailey." This sorta felt like a weird version of 911 chokeslamming "Jungle" Jim Steele 500 times in the early, early days of ECW.

Total Divas is so completely awful. I mean, it's great to have something from a business perspective to sell your product to an unexposed audience. My friend Jeff is a huge rasslin' nerd. I've known him since third grade. We were in each others weddings. I think 90% of our conversations over the course of our 30-ish years of friendship revolve around wrestling. His wife HATES wrestling but loves Total Divas. But If you want to transfer eyeballs from E! to USA! to the Network, you'll need more than reality TV dingbats who can't wrestle or carry a segment. Imagine if they had AJ/Paige/Alicia Foxx/Emma/Sasha Banks/Charlotte/Summer on that dumb show instead? I think it would be easier to create some dumb Divas drama (Emma's shoplifting?) and have it pay off with good matches and storylines on Raw than vice-versa.
 

Now it's MAIN EVENT time! Kidd comes out and is such an amazing douche. I wish Gabriel would mousse up his hair during the early Nexus days, when he was, for a brief period, one of the best heels in the business. Ska lovin' Sami comes out to his huge pop. Adam Rose is so over, too. Gabriel has a great "whatever" look watching this unfold.

 

This felt so much like an old ECW/90s indie match at the end. 95% of the match was spent with Rose in the Ricky Morton roll. Gabriel and Kidd don't really do too much interesting stuff in their control segment, but I sort of like that because they don't do anything to pop the crowd. The end comes with two crazy dives. Sami does his tope con hilo onto Gabriel/Kidd. Then Rose follows with a somersault dive to the floor from the top that ended with an absolutely horrible sounding thud on the metal floor. Sami then crowns Gabriel with his corner kick thing for the 1-2-3.

That match was disappointing. It wasn't bad but Kidd has been on absolute fire lately.

[mco543]

All I can say about tonight's NXT is God bless Bayley for trying. That being said, I'd much rather watch Eva Marie wrestle than Mojo.

[SirSmUgly]

NXT is a show that I genuinely laugh at more than any wrestling show other than maybe CHIKARA shows. This week, two things got me: First, when Adam Rose offered his lollipop to an unsure Sami, who looked at Renee for reassurance. The look on Renee's face was wonderful. I would have gone ahead and taken the lollipop too.

 

Second, Adam Rose running around the ring to smack Gabriel on the ass, and then doing it again before getting kicked right in the stomach was a pretty funny sequence.

 

Tyson Kidd has really turned into an awesome douchebag heel, and he always brings it in the ring. He's become one of my favorite WWE guys this year at this point. I really look forward to his segments. 

 

I thought Parker/Woods was pretty awkward, and then I saw Eva Marie attempt to wrestle. She does the weirdest faces for selling, like she makes an OWIE face five seconds after she was hit. Boy, she was awful.

 

Whatever CJ Parker's new finish is supposed to be, he should go back to the drawing board with it. Why not just do a TKO from that position? Actually, he's a small dude and should probably go with a finish that he can actually hit on most guys. The lead into the finish was also weird; I have no clue why Woods would try to springboard from that position for a clothesline.

 

Even though I didn't enjoy the match, though, I did like the rope-walk splash, and I thought that Woods going for a flatliner and flash pin while Parker was looking at the ref to bitch about the count was nicely done. They sucked me in on that one even though it was clear that Parker was winning.

 

I hope Jordan and Dillinger get a push. They do good work, and their shit talking ways in the ring are really awesome. 

[Tim Evans]

I went to the NXT house show tonight. Nothing really great but some good matches like Sami/Neville, Ascension/Vaudevillians and Bayley/Charlotte. Charlotte did a perfect Flair flop and I don't think I've ever seen her do that. Sami/Neville was fine but it had less heat than I thought it would. Best match of the night believe it or not was CJ Parker vs Tyler Breeze. Breeze was working as a babyface and was over. I can't stand Parker but he seems to really excel on house shows when he can work the crowd. He kept getting reactions cause he was wearing too short of tights and his ass tattoo was showing. Weirdest match of the night was Enzo/Big Cas vs Dawson and Dash. Drake was the ref and Dq'd the heels cause they wouldn't get out of the ring at 5 when they tagged. I've seen that finish before but it never stops surprising me.

[Hail Sabin]

Love that Rebecca Knox is wrestling again! I can't wait to see her in NXT but I got a ways to go since I'm only up to the Arrival 2 hour special.

[Go2Sleep]

Man, Eva Marie has zero natural talent in the ring. She was maybe a half step ahead of Jenna Morasca in her match tonight.

 

Outside of the rarity of the divas match being the worst on NXT, this was a pretty solid show. I actually kinda like what they did with Cass and Enzo. Both tag matches were solid and Woods/Parker wasn't too bad for a CJ Parker match. Hopefully they don't drag out the losing streak gimmick with Xavier, because that's pure death for any wrestler. Adam Rose continues to be 100x better in NXT than on any of the main shows and Sami is Sami. For a slopped together "we have no idea what to do with you guys" team, they could be pretty good.

[Patrick B.]

I repeat my selfish desire for these guys and girls to stay on NXT, rather than get lost in the shuffle on the main roster.

 

I have a soft spot for Xavier since I first saw him on no-longer-NWA Anarchy's online TV show as Awesome Austin Creed.  That splash was insane.

 

Looking forward to the eventual debuts of Solomon Crowe/Steen/KENTA/Devitt...it's turning into a running gag that Crowe only does dark matches, but then Ambrose was in the same boat before the Shield debuted.

[rovert]

Love that Rebecca Knox is wrestling again! I can't wait to see her in NXT but I got a ways to go since I'm only up to the Arrival 2 hour special.

Her debut from a character standpoint is probably in the conversation for the worst/most poorly received ever but she and WWE have completely changed her character into something she may go far with.

She's horrible at hide and seek though:

https://vine.co/v/MVnMFaaEYtW

Best part of that video is JoJo getting so concerned she uses Veronica Lane's real name (Erika)

[Ace]

Eva Marie has literally no presence.

[Hail Sabin]

 

Love that Rebecca Knox is wrestling again! I can't wait to see her in NXT but I got a ways to go since I'm only up to the Arrival 2 hour special.

Her debut from a character standpoint is probably in the conversation for the worst/most poorly received ever but she and WWE have completely changed her character into something she may go far with.

She's horrible at hide and seek though:

https://vine.co/v/MVnMFaaEYtW

Best part of that video is JoJo getting so concerned she uses Veronica Lane's real name (Erika)

 

Can't wait to see her matches in NXT last match of hers' wrestling I have seen was SHIMMER Vol. 6. She did manage the Knight Dynasty Volume 38-41 in SHIMMER. Her and Paige's antics were very entertaining with Saraya just scaring the crap out of everyone.  

[caley]

Enjoyed the opening tag but I would have liked a touch more Enzo offence, because he's basically had none in over a year.  Their team really reminds me of the NAO where Enzo talks and sells, then Cass comes in for the big pop ending.  Enzo needs a couple Road Dogg-esque pop-the-crowd moves (He could probably just steal Road Dogg's punching deal).

 

Parker-Woods was too good except for the surprisingly hot ending sequence.  Did anyone else noticed that Parker's sign said "Stop Frilking Fracking?" Did he forget lines on the first 'k'?  Is he a poor speller? Was he high?  Or did someone see him writing the sign and go "You better not put Frikking it's too close to Fucking, put an 'L' in there"?  It struck me this week that Parker looks a lot like Hornswoggle.  Also, the signs should be like ECW signs: paper over streetsigns that he can use to steal victories with by bashing opponents with.

 

I actually really liked Eva Marie's entrance, with her posing on the box, thought that was clever/hot and unique.  Match was pretty bad, though I really enjoyed the "Bayley's gonna HUG you" chant.

 

Main event didn't really do much for me save for Rose's spanks.

[Technico Support]

Enzo and Cass are awful.  One is a short, untalented Jersey trash dude who wrestles in a shirt and who spouts 17 catchphases like "please sing along with me, please?"  His shtick comes across desperate as a frat boy changing positions over and over trying to make his girl come.  The other has nothing going for him except height.  No good look, not that big, just tall.  Sorry, but if you're tall but not all that big, you're just pre-roids Test and honestly Test didn't set the world on fire in 98.  Time to make a little more room in development.  These guys are sad.  

[hammerva]

I am not sure what is more cringe worthy.  Eva Marie trying to wrestle or the NXT announcer trying to dance during Adam Rose's entrance.  Surprised nobody has figure out how to make a GIF of that abortion.   

 

It was funny when the spoilers came out people said that Eva Marie heat was like X-PAC heat times 10.   Boy he wasn't lying.  This crowd absolutely hates the fact that she is in the business much less in the ring

[Hollywood Cibernetico]

I just watched the Eva Marie match. Jesus Christ. WWE should do with Eva what they did to Rosa a few years back-- just make her a manger/valet. Eva doesn't have it in the ring and it doesn't even look like its coming together. She looked as though she was going to legit hurt herself no less than 2 times in that match. Eva Marie is hands down the hottest woman in WWE right now (Nikki and Layla following closely behind), but fuck, there has to be a better role for her? Eva is the Paris Hilton of Total Divas and one of the only ones who has come out of that show with nuclear heat.

 

Eva getting cat calls and heat is best served due to her pulling a wrestler's leg or distracting the ref. Not in shitty 3 minutes matches.

[nofuture]

Eva Maria just lacks any real charisma.  She really needs to work on letting her personality out.

[Big Fresh]

Eva Maria just lacks any real charisma. She really needs to work on letting her personality out.

Did you watch Total Divas? She doesn't have much of one.

[Tromatagon]

Completely dead behind the eyes and monotone at all times