NXT 2015 THREAD

[Firebreaker Chip]

 

Sadly, I'm pretty sure I read something about Regal getting career-ending neck surgery a while back.

No, that was Daniel Bryan.

 

 

Think that was career-ending homeopathy?

 

Cole was fucking awesome in that sitdown with Owens

 

Whoever hates Bull Dempsey enough to book him in actual match with actual Rhyno is a cold, cold man

[PetrolCB]

Just bring Brock in for one night, and let them beat the shit out of each other to a double DQ, or something.

Vince: "Brock, can we use one of your 4 dates for the nXt show next week?"

Brock: "What's nXt? Paul, get Dana White Brooke on the phone!!!!!"

[Ziggy]

Do you know how much I love NXT? I am now wearing a Sami Zayn and The Zayniacs shirt. I think this is the first rasslin' shirt I've ever owned. I can't remember if I had any of the ECW ones back in the day.

I bought my 8 year old neice a sasha banks shirt 3 weeks ago and her mom told me she wants to wear it 3 days out the week.

I thinking about gettin a Balor shirt or a Zayne shirt for myself

[turk128]

These injuries just opened up a whole lotta opportunities for a whole lotta talent in NXT.

 

How NXT reacts to these key injuries is a good test for the brand.

 

EDIT: Samoa Joe debut would be kinda hot-shotting it but, with the circumstances, it's a great opportunity that they may not be able to overlook.

[Godfrey]

What a great hour of television. Both sit down interviews were spot on, Emma/Charlotte was hugely entertaining, Enzo and Cass getting taken out had exactly the right effect cause I didn't get to hear the catchphrase and was therefore bummed out, and the contract signing was a classic wrestling trope I never get tired of. The only things I didn't like were Alex Riley's bit (what a schlub) and Dana Brooke's painful promo.

 

Not sure how Takeover is going to shape up with the reported injuries but I hope it doesn't stall their momentum cause right now they are on such a roll I never want it to stop.

[Cristobal]

This is where the deeper bench helps. Itami out? Balor/Breeze is still a great match. Zayn out? OH MY GOD IT'S SAMOA JOE!

Or if they wanted, they could plug Rhyno in, but I'm really intrigued by the Rhyno/Corbin match and want to see that.

[Big Fresh]

Samoa Joe taking that spot would be HUGE. Screw "hot shotting", people's heads would explode. It would end in a double count-out or DQ anyway, so it's not like the potential angle would be dead there.

[Big Fresh]

Dana Brooke looks like a chipmunk.

[Patrick B.]

Dana Brooke looks like a chipmunk.

 

The dirtsheets never said that.

[Technico Support]

Dana Brooke looks like a chipmunk.

 

But playing over/under on how many times she does the "sensually rub my armpit" taunt never gets old.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

 

Dana Brooke looks like a chipmunk.

 

But playing over/under on how many times she does the "sensually rub my armpit" taunt never gets old.

 

I haven't seen her yet, but it sounds like she could be taking a place in my Fave 5.

[Matt D]

Watching a bunch of NXT to catch up, I think the entire (and really the ENTIRE) reason why it's so good, relatively, is that guys are protected in a way they never can be on the main roster. A guy like Tyler Breeze, for instance, would be chewed up and spit out by being on TV so much and, just by the nature of that, have to lose as much as he wins, or close to it. Because of the lack of TV, they can have him win most of the time that we see him and make sure to protect him in the times he doesn't win. 

[NikoBaltimore]

Dana Brooke looks like a chipmunk.

Her look sends conflicting messages.  Her body/outfit is tremendous and worth checking out.  But that damn face is just hard to look past.   I'm not sure what she was thinking with that surgery, but crap on a stick is it horrible.  Maybe she can use that to her advantage and be a damn good heel.  I'm willing to overlook being a green wrestler and lack of promo skills, but that face is a tough one to overlook.

 

As for Joe being a surprise, yes please.  How huge a moment would that be to see him against Owens?  I don't think they ever faced each other, but damnit I badly want to see that match.

[Technico Support]

Overexposure is a huge problem on the main roster.  NXT is on TV for an hour per week versus the main roster's 6+ hours per week.  Everything, characters, feuds, storylines, is burned through so quickly because they have so many hours to fill.  It's not going to get any better as long as WWE keeps getting the rights fees they get for generating that much content.  Who cares if the shows are hit of miss (more miss than hit, really)?  As long as USA wants to pay for 3 hours a week for Raw, they'll keep shoveling it out.

 

The whole business model has changed.  It used to be about creating a compelling wrestling show to draw fans to house shows and buy PPVs.  Now they have their loyal base paying 9.99/month and they've seemingly given up on attracting new fans.  It's just about "generating content" for USA and how good the show actually is doesn't matter unless the core audience goes away.

[Brysynner]

I think Balor vs. Owens as the main makes sense, especially if Becky wins the Women's title. Owens can drop the strap here and have the obvious out of he was planning on wrestling Zayn, and wasn't planning on wrestling Balor. Balor then retorts that as he had to defeat a world class athlete in Tyler Breeze before he wrestled Owens which is a bigger disadvantage than not knowing who his opponent was.

 

Also a subtle interaction between Becky and Balor as champions would be interesting.

[NikoBaltimore]

Actually, I'm a huge fan of Balor but feel he shouldn't win the belt.  Sami should be the only one to beat Owens due to the feud.  If he's out for a while and they feel they have to, then that's one thing.  But Owens should hold it for a long time anyway and be a world-beater before losing to Sami.

[Matt D]

Overexposure is a huge problem on the main roster.  NXT is on TV for an hour per week versus the main roster's 6+ hours per week.  Everything, characters, feuds, storylines, is burned through so quickly because they have so many hours to fill.  It's not going to get any better as long as WWE keeps getting the rights fees they get for generating that much content.  Who cares if the shows are hit of miss (more miss than hit, really)?  As long as USA wants to pay for 3 hours a week for Raw, they'll keep shoveling it out.

 

The whole business model has changed.  It used to be about creating a compelling wrestling show to draw fans to house shows and buy PPVs.  Now they have their loyal base paying 9.99/month and they've seemingly given up on attracting new fans.  It's just about "generating content" for USA and how good the show actually is doesn't matter unless the core audience goes away.

 

I think what it really does is give NXT an illusion of higher quality. We've heard Hunter talk about this too. He knows. Theoretically, splitting the brand would fix things somewhat, but I'm not sure we've seen that in practice, because it's a matter of scale. I do think structuring might help though. 

 

Really, a season format where they cycle talent in and out would do them so much good on so many levels. 

[Cristobal]

I could see Demon-Balor winning the belt as a great way to establish that Demon-Balor is more than just some paint, that it brings something extra out of Finn.

[NikoBaltimore]

In that case it would have been nice if they could have saved that for another time.  The build is still Sami-Owens and nothing's been established that Demon-Balor is any bit different aside from paint.  If they had time to establish that leading up to the match then I'd be fine with it.

[muhammedboehm]

So way not do what someone else said have Breeze-Balor wrestler then after the pin Owens hits the ring and fights Balor right then and wins. Balor in the next week or so says he should get another shot since he didn't get to give the fans what they wanted to see and Ownes hasn't beaten the Demon yet.

[Matt D]

The good thing about this is that even if they completely screw it up, there isn't really any immediate negative consequence. 

[Brysynner]

To me Owens/Zayn doesn't need the belt and if you get it off Owens, you can continue that narrative that Owens is defined by Zayn, this allows yet another crack in the armor of Owens that everything he does is for his family. You can now have the blood feud (without blood) between Zayn and Owens end inconclusively without doing any damage to the title (I'd have Zayn beat the hell out of Owens, get DQ'd during the beating or have the match end no contest, allowing for Zayn's first win over Owens to be on a WWE PPV not a NXT show)

 

The biggest problem with Owens being champion is there are very few people who are currently built up to where they could take the title from him in the near future. That list of active NXTers is Balor. Zayn and Itami are out, I'm not sure Breeze is at that level yet, Corbin theoretically should be once he beats Rhyno.

[Iron Moose]

I'd be reluctant to debut someone against Owens in the main, but I agree that the list of plausible candidates within NXT is limited to Balor. (Maybe with an assist from Riley?) 

 

I think that if they adopt a narrative of someone external stepping up for Sami, and are willing to pull someone from the main roster back down for it, Neville, Cesaro and Cena are the best candidates.  They could also make it non-title and Owens could let himself be pinned early on since he can spin it as only caring about the title/wanting to stay 100% for the next real challenger. 

 

 

I also just find this situation fascinating. Do they end with something other than Owens? Do they record new voiceovers and backstage bits and recut the episodes they've already taped? Is there precedent for a live show that's two weeks out where two of the big players are out with two weeks of pre-tape to go?

[Matt D]

If Zayn hasn't gotten surgery yet, they can go with him and just do a low impact (far less so than Zayn vs Cena even), limbwork heavy match playing on the injury. It's a way for Zayn to keep face, but to sort of end the feud. I think Owens is savvy enough to really play up the heat and might even be able to put on more of a heel performance without some of his bigger moves.

[Josh Mann]

If Zayn hasn't gotten surgery yet, they can go with him and just do a low impact (far less so than Zayn vs Cena even), limbwork heavy match playing on the injury. It's a way for Zayn to keep face, but to sort of end the feud. I think Owens is savvy enough to really play up the heat and might even be able to put on more of a heel performance without some of his bigger moves.

This is a sentence you don't hear much, if at all. But given the needs of this match, Ole Anderson needs to be Owens' spirit animal. Work the arm, then work it some more, throw Sami a hope spot now and again, and then work the arm some more. No powerbomb even needed.