2016 NXT GENERAL DISCUSSION THREAD

[Rev Ray]

So results from Asbury Park:  

 

Asuka over Alexa Bliss via crossface chicken wing, Asuka seemed pretty over and got "Asuka's gonna kill you chants"

 

Apollo Crews over Alex Riley via the sort of blue thunder powerbomb

 

Carmella over Peyton Royce via headscissors neck submission.  Peyton was doing a gimmick with a flower that she kept smelling until the ref confiscated and then Carmella got it and was mocking Peyton causing her to throw a tantrum

 

Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy over the Vaudevillains via the Rocket Launcher.  Enzo and Cass did a bunch of stick work before the match and were super over with everyone doing their usual intro, working in a bunch of Springsteen references but perhaps trumped by Big Cass singing "Sherry" by Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons

 

Intermission

 

Austin Aries over the Drifter Elias Samson via rolling elbow.  Samson was singing before the match making fun of the city.  He should really be handing out and posting fliers for his upcoming open mics as part of the gimmick.

 

Bayley retained the NXT Women's title over Eva Marie via the Belly to Bayley.  Eva got a ton of heel heat and Bayley got a ton of face heat.  Tube men are in the house

 

Sami Zayn & Finn Balor beat Baron Corbin & Samoa Joe when Sami hit the Hooluva Kick on Baron followed by Finn hitting the bloody sunday.  Fun main, Joe was working heel by teasing he was starting the match and then immediately tagged in Corbin.  Main was fun, noteworthy spots, Finn hit a double stomp (not off the top) and sold his ankle, this led to a tag to sami and when sami needed to make a tag, Finn wasn't there, but recovered for the finish making a blind tag.  Post match, Sami got Finn's jacket and was doing the pose, so Finn in retaliation took Sami's sweatshirt and put on the cap and did the dance selling it a little.  Of note during this that when Sami was doing the jacket open bit, Finn told him "but Sami.... you need to do the belt to do that.", so nice bits of possible story elements for future angles.

 

Overall, a fun show, the main was very good, most of it was ok.  The women's title match was fun just for the heat of super babyface Bayley and how much the crowd hates Eva Marie.  I'm not sure if he's ever going to become something of note, but I think they're using her very well to capitalize on their troll of their fan base heat she gets.  I hadn't realized until after the show that a co-worker told me all the babyfaces won tonight.

[Greggulator]

It was a super fun show. Had a blast. I am the proud owner of an "I'm A Hugger" shirt. In thought the Vaudes vs Enzo/Cass match was the best of the night. Finn and Sami were funny wearing each other's coats. Glad I went and totally will go again.

[RIPPA]

Since NXT hates Ray - in Florida last night American Alpha and Dash/Dawson did another 2 out of 3 Fall 30 minute match

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

The ticket aspect Philly event of was interesting. I looked into getting seats on the day they went on sale, and they were 96% sold out a couple hours later. I checked StubHub a couple weeks ago and there were many tickets available, only marked up a bit before fees. I ended up waiting for some comps that fell through and went back to StubHub. Tix were now well below the original asking prices and most balcony seats were $25. There were many many empty seats just before they opened, and I noticed lotsa folks that were waiting outside (not in the ticket holder line) got comped. 

There's no need to paper an event that is not being taped. Also, most of the first rows was comp seats - friends of the venue, I assume. I interpret all this thusly: early sales were fans and ticket speculators (private and professional) based on the success of the first Philly NXT show. Closer to the event, the NXT fans were holding onto their seats but no movement on the ones held by resellers. On the last week, the dumping began. Casual fans may have trickled in but I think they were never really there (or scared off by the high prices in the beginning). The ticket middlemen are throwing off the tracking of the popularity of NXT. Also to be factored in is that Thursday is an odd night for a wrestling card, although there were lotsa wee kids there (less so than a WWE crowd).

Please excuse this amateur MBA (Meltzerian Business Analysis). 

- RAF

[RIPPA]

The ticket middlemen throw off everything.

I mean like when the Adele tickets went on sale they sold out in like 4 minutes and I know people who looked immediately on the secondary market and tickets were already there going for 3 times the price

[Jiji]

How is scalping tickets still legal in most of North America?

[JCM]

Since NXT hates Ray - in Florida last night American Alpha and Dash/Dawson did another 2 out of 3 Fall 30 minute match

Just imagine if that were Bayley and Asuka the would be getting accused of rehearsing their match for Takeover.

[Matt D]

Since NXT hates Ray - in Florida last night American Alpha and Dash/Dawson did another 2 out of 3 Fall 30 minute match

 

What the hell do we have to do here? Can we start a kickstarter to get Black Terry, Jr. across the border or something? I can't believe the Sombra/Sami match never popped up. I mean, I can, but it's a crime.

[RIPPA]

I would seriously pay like triple for my Network subscription if it was just NXT house shows

[Niners Fan in CT]

Since NXT hates Ray - in Florida last night American Alpha and Dash/Dawson did another 2 out of 3 Fall 30 minute match

Just imagine if that were Bayley and Asuka the would be getting accused of rehearsing their match for Takeover.

That's my argument in March Madness. House matches are a form of rehearsal and it's been going on since forever and I'm cool with it

[Phil Schneider]

Although that makes high end indy performers more impressive. Sami Callihan and Mike Baliey had a corker on a CZW show last week and that was the first time they were ever in a ring together.

[Niners Fan in CT]

That's true also I don't believe Brock and Reigns were ever in a ring before maybe I'm forgetting something.

[Matt D]

That's true also I don't believe Brock and Reigns were ever in a ring before maybe I'm forgetting something.

 

That match felt like the Daffy Duck cartoon where he had a great trick, but he could only do it once for a very specific reason.

[Niners Fan in CT]

But you hate Lesnar.. well we'll discuss this in march I'm sure lol

[Matt D]

That match felt different than everything else he did this year. I don't see the world in black and white. 

[Rev Ray]

So there is video of Finn doing the bayley entrance on Twitter

https://twitter.com/3ManBooth/status/701258709612294144?s=09

Edit

OR just got to the animated gift thread

[Niners Fan in CT]

[Ramsey]

She's the best heel they have....to the point where the crowds will shut down shows until she leaves.

 

This is good?

[Jrag]

Yes. Company wide they have people getting reactions that don't match up with what they are trying to accomplish. They are getting the exact reaction they are going for in this case. It's sort of refreshing.

[Ramsey]

I think you're right. The crowd loses it's goddamn mind when she comes out. She's the poison that smarks hate, a pretty face with no talent.

[Greggulator]

She got so much heat in Asbury on Friday.

I will also give whoever laid out the match credit. Eva did one thing. She worked on Bayley's hand and arm (which, as we know, are Bayley's weak point from her injury and Sasha matches.) She did nothing close to a move. Bayley sold the crap out of the arm and it played into Bayley's greatest strength, which is her sympathy. It was an awesome carry job from Bayley.

 

I say this because Eva's really awful, still. She's passable if she just does things like "snap the arm over the rope." But the only taunt she did was just this "pause for no reason and hold her arms out" thing. There weren't any facial expressions to it. There wasn't any reasoning behind why she was doing it. Her taunt was like an in-ring version of making fun of a local sports team for cheap heat. It was just pointless. More power to her for getting a reaction from the crowd. The next step, though, is for her to learn how to use and manipulate that build-in raw hatred for her and she has no idea.

Now The Drifter -- that dude put in work to get heel heat. He did do one local thing, but that was in response to the crowd booing instead of trying to get the crowd riled up. Someone by me said that The Drifter was like Sandow but with no charisma. No charisma? The dude was getting booed out of the building! He came out with Eva Marie-type heat, built it with some song, and responded to the crowd with a lame joke about it being "Ass-bury Park." Then the match started and he was on the losing end of the first exchange. Perfect build/release.

Peyton Royce also did some good heel stalling by needing to smell a flower mid-match. Perfect wrestling idiocy. She got heel heat from it, too. Alexa was really good, too.

But Eva is awful.

[PuroresuFan]

NXT at Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, NY:

 

Asuka beat Eva Marie

Apollo Crews beat Alex Riley

Carmella beat Peyton Royce

Enzo Amore & Cass beat The Vaudvillains

Sami Zayn beat Elias Sampson

Bayley beat Alexa Bliss

Finn Balor & Austin Aries beat Baron Corbin & Samoa Joe

 

After writing this (and reading the one comment), I realized that I've never even come close to paying dues as a fan when it comes to traveling to a show or waiting in long lines or bad weather. Every show I've been to has been arrive, walk in and find my seat. This was just one time the venue's staff screwed up and I was inconvencied so I got off easy compared to what other fans have gone through to see a show.

 

- Alex Riley had a pretty good match with Apollo Crews. The crowd didn't seem to dislike him but booed everytime he heeled or gloated when he did.

- Peyton Royce has a pretty good stalling tactic for a house show match with smelling her flower bit but she needs something better for a TV/PPV match.

- Enzo was really over. The whole place erupted when his music hit. The Vaudvillains were a big hit despite being heels in the match. A lot of near falls and one of the best matches of the night. After the match, Enzo & Cass took selfies and signed autographs with the fans at ringside.

- Elias Sampson came off really well. He had "go away" heat when he came out but he did a pretty good job with the "song" he wrote about Albany to start the match. I'm not sure if it's because he was in there with Zayn but he looked solid in his match. If he had more charisma I think people would have a better opinion (or one at all) about him.

- Alexa Bliss looked really good against Bayley. She was great at being a nasty heel just punching, kicking and beating down on Bayley. Then she hit a sunset flip after rebounding off the second turnbuckle from an Irish whip and the crowd really got into the match.

- Austin Aries got a huge reaction for his entrance and right before the match started. He looks like he's put on some size since he was in TNA.

 

Finn appeared to have aggravated his ankle again early in the match. I'm putting this in spoilers because this led to a spot where Aries was reaching for the tag but Finn was on the floor. Either it was a practice run for a TV match or just a way for him to be in the match without him having to do too much. After the match, Finn did the bit where he dressed up as Bayley but didn't show any sign of his ankle bothering him.

[Ramsey]

I'm willing to wait to see if anything comes of the Drifter. For now, I see nothing there. The gimmick sucks. He's not near cool enough to pull off a 21st century Johnny Cash.

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

Eva Marie gets big heat, but she is not a very good heel. Obviously a heel has to draw heat but you don't have to be a good heel, or even a good wrestler - or even a worker at all - to get a crowd reaction. Look at the flip side: the various sports/movie star/celeb of the month that do angles on RAW get great reactions, but once they step in the ring after the initial angle, would they hold the crowd's interest? The classic example is the football-player-turned-wrestler: their first appearances will (hopefully) draw interest and media, but if they can't produce in the ring, they won't sell tickets.

Annnnddd that is always the key: putting asses in seats. You can excite or pop a crowd, but are the marks gonna pay to see you (Fandango, for example)? I was at the Philly show, and I must say, they must have oiled her gears, wound up her clockworks and rejuvenated her botox'n'silicone because she did not embarrass herself out there (by the lowest indy greenhorn metrics). We are talking a very low standard considering she was in the ring with one of the better workers. The match was laid out in the most simple of ways. The Drifter got equal if not greater heat that night, and gave the crowd more while leaving them wanting more.

Really, aren't the two money matches with Eva Marie her vs. a monster ("I wanna see her get destroyed", Asuka, Nia Jax) and vs. the queen babyface ("she's gonna get payback now", Bailey). After that, unless she improves greatly, she is exposed. She might get the Pavlovian chants from the hipster sheeple but if she can't tell a story in there no one will want to see her. Getting over because of fame, infamy, celebrity or outside accomplishments is a short term draw. Look at how the careers of Mark Henry and The Miz dipped after they crowd satisfied their initial curiosity until their ringwork improved. This all said, I was wrong about Dana Brooke...but somehow I don't foresee that kind of potential with EM.

- RAF

[odessasteps]

NXT at Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, NY:

 

Asuka beat Eva Marie

Apollo Crews beat Alex Riley

Carmella beat Peyton Royce

Enzo Amore & Cass beat The Vaudvillains

Sami Zayn beat Elias Sampson

Bayley beat Alexa Bliss

Finn Balor & Austin Aries beat Baron Corbin & Samoa Joe

 

A really fun show and the crowd was enthusiastic for everyone on the card. The only problem was the completely incompetent staff at the Armory. They opened the doors at 6:30pm (7:30 start) but there was a line that circled around the the entire city block the building is on that stayed like that until almost 8pm. It never occurred to them to send someone outside earlier to see they had a problem on their hands. So probably half the audience missed the Asuka match as well as half the Apollo Crews match.

As an adult it's disappointing but not the end of the world but I felt bad for all the parents that brought kids that had stand outside all that time. It's a good thing this wasn't last weekend during the cold front we had.

Learning to start out in the elements waiting for a show is one of those hallmarks of being a wrestling fan, double if its someplace sketchy like the bingo hall in philly or the teamsters hall in dundalk.