NXT - Weekly TV Show Discussion

[Rogue]

Wow. Sami Zayn is still the best babyface in wrestling, and it's not even close. When he was selling the arm during the middle of the match, I thought.. Just for a moment... That Dillenger had a chance. Good stuff if you can work an upset like THAT. Love the way the match was structured, with Sami going for his signature spots peppered throughout the match instead of all in a row... It was fun seeing the bouncy arm-drag before the dive takeout to remind us of the fun we had watching this guy, then the outside spots later and... Clap clap clapclapclap.

Outside of that and the other obvious thing though, what I got out of this show is that if they get called down to the main roster, Ty and Bull Dempsey are AWESOME cannon fodder... As for the other thing though, man... Jordan and Gable vs 6 NPC's was so much fun and love how they didn't even pretend like it was more than that. People love Gable so much and rightfully so, but now that Roman is a singles guy, hot damn does Jason Jordan have the BEST hot tag in wrestling. This dude running around at 100 mph throwing those belly to bellies is so much fun to watch. Also the innovative spin on the dogpile spot was a blast.

Also important: That video package where the weirdo from Rocky Horror Picture Show was singing that lame indie-rock song contained a clip of Bull Dempsey doing a perfectly half-assed cartwheel. I love this show.

Jason Jordan has been quickly climbing the ranks of being my favorite NXT wrestler. If Lesnar is the governor of Suplex City then Jason is the fucking mayor.

 

[Prince Bálor]

#SuplexCityBitchachos

 

[Snowman1]

New episode tomorrow, right?

 

[Prince Bálor]

Yeah, thankfully.

 

[Snowman1]

:woo:

 

[Aids Johnson]

New episode tomorrow, right?

DOUG IT AID!!! REMEMBER DOUG!! ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! @Testify

 

[Prince Bálor]

THIS WEEK ON NXT TV:

- Tom Phillips and Corey Graves are on commentary. Yay! The seriousness in Tom's voice when he said "It is so good to be back here!" speaks volumes. He was not happy on the main roster and he's truly happy to be back home! Also, yay, no Byron Saxton as the third (unnecessary) announcer!

- The opening segment was good! Regal came out to a pop, as "Welcome back!" chants broke out. He thanked the crowd and wished 'em a happy new year! He put over how awesome NXT is and announced that tonight's ME will be a Women's Battle Royal to determine the #1 contender for the NXT Women's championship. He then introduced Sami Zayn and the crowd went nuts. Graves put Zayn over hard by saying he's the "heart and soul of NXT". Sami acknowledged the crowd's support and declared that his goal is to become first two-time NXT champion! Now, that statement brought out Samoa Joe. Joe said "The last time you were in this ring and you had your championship shot, I had to come out here and save your life.", he also threatened Sami by saying he should walk away if he wants to keep his shoulder in socket. And, of course, that brought out Sadd Bikerwolf Baron Corbin. He called himself 'The Uncrowned NXT Champion', and he and Joe still have some beef, so what's next? A brawl has to break out! The brawl ended with Sami dumping Corbin out of the ring via Helluva Kick and Joe retreating.

- Bayley's backstage promo was fine. She says she didn't really win, she survived and Nia took a lot out of her. She didn't know she had it in her, but she knew she had to stay champion. Rich asked her about the Battle Royal, she wishes she could be in it and wishes them good luck and she then hugged Rich.

- I'm content with the results of the NXT Year-End Awards.

Spoiler: Winners Of 2015 NXT Awards Revealed

Tag Team of the Year:
Enzo & Cass

Female Competitor of the Year:
Bayley

Male Competitor of the Year:
Finn Bálor

NXT TakeOver of the Year:
NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn

Match of the Year:
Bayley vs. Sasha (NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn)

Overall Competitor of the Year:
Finn Bálor

- Tomasso Ciampa vs Danny Burch was a solid little match. Burch got some offense in, so it wasn't really a typical squash.
I like Ciampa, and he can totally be hyped as a guy who can get into hard-hitting fights. Anyways, Ciampa won with a sweet bridging Armbar.

- Enzo & Cass cut a serious backstage promo. It's unusal of them, but good. Certified G's still have some unfinished business with D&D.

- Regal announced Sami Zayn vs Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin in two weeks, to determine the new #1 contender for the NXT championship.

- Dash & Dawson vs The Ascension was enjoyable given the time constraint. This kinda felt old school. Two teams who're all about fists and not flips, hitting each other hard and that made the match enjoyable for me. The tag champs won via Shatter Machine. That was one of the best Shatter Machines they've ever done. Konnor got rekt, man.

- Nia Jax won't be in the ME because her neck is still recovering from her match against Bayley in London. Oh, and Eva Marie is the worst. Her acting during the segment was so lousy. I think I'll go back and watch it just to see how hilariously bad it was.

- Elias Samson vs Corey Hollis was okay for what it was, I guess. The best part about this math was that Spinning Neckbreaker that Samson used to defeat Hollis. Hollis sold it like a boss. Keep Hollis and the other guy he was teaming with in NXT, please.

- Finn Bálor's backstage interview was a'ight. He said the match in London was both physically and mentally draining. That was one of the toughest matches of his career, but that's his job, he's the NXT champion and the champ never rests. He put over Zayn, Joe and Corbin, but as far as he's concerned, the NXT championship is staying with him.

- Women's #1 Contender Battle Royal was a decent main event. I love Asuka with each week passing by! That Spinning Kick she KILT Eva Marie with was ace. Hell, everything Asuka does is ace! I'm glad Billie Kay and Peyton got to shine, too. I like 'em a lot. Also, loved the fake finish. It was done very well. The only thing that sucked is that Asuka clearly saw Eva before turning her back and getting tossed out. But nevermind, the good part came after when Carmella tossed Eva out and secured the win!
Post-match, Bayley ran in from the back and gave Carmella a huge hug and raised her hand. Asuka closed the show with a big grin from the ramp.

All in all... Fun episode to kick the year off!

 

[Snowman1]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha... Oh boy, I love NXT, I really do.

Lessons learned in pro wrestling in 2015/16: Wrestling offseasons are a great thing! 2 weeks without NXT was pretty refreshing, and with all this time Lucha Underground's had I'm just chomping at the bit to see what Dario and his crew have in store for us!!!

Hey! Regal! He's back! He's healthy! :yay: No more injuries, plea-OH LOOK! It's Sami Zayn!!!! He's healthy and back!!! YAYYYYYYYY SAMI!!!! So yeah, we get the standard Raw opener and... More lessons learned (last time I'ms aying that!): There may be NOTHING more important than crowds. Put this segment in front of a Raw or Impact crowd and you are done. Full Sail makes everything entertaining, and it doesn't hurt that this was really good! Sami got a fantastic promo in before Joe one-upped him and Corbin came out to also be there and it was COOL and EXCITING and... It damn sure made sense, too! Sami got his rematch when he was injured and was a top guy before he left. Corbin's rationale is basically "Fuck you, that's why" which is perfectly sound reasoning but he's also the top guy on NXT and possibly their most successful superstar ever to never get a title shot, and Joe last saw Zayn getting murdered by KO and saw Corbin passed out in the middle of the ring AGAIN thanks to a Coquina Clutch or however you spell it and AHHH THE LOGIC IS AMAZING! It's like when Rusev the was unbeaten champion of everything and saying "aye can I get a title shot now" during one of these Raw openers, which eliminates the sadly-valid joking talking point of "Ya know, why doesn't Heath Slater run out during this segment to get a title shot! He's never had one! Have a little faith, Vince will juts be like "Well Sheamus, here's a 73rd title shot to try to beat Roman, sigh-Wow, someone else! You've never had a shot, see what you can do, kid!""

Not just that, but this is why when key plot points happen on NXT we FUCKING REMEMBER THEM because they happen. Anyone remember when Miz wanted to be the next James Bond? No? That's why.

Then Bayley gave a huge hug to poor Rich Brennan who was all sad and mopey over losing 2 commentary spots in a week and gave him a huge hug and he smiled as big as a kid who found a buried treasure chest full of Baby Ruth bars and I considered turning the show off. NXT, you are awesome and never leave again. Quit while you're ahead, especially with a women's battle royal coming up. That's sure to be a disaster, right? Right? Total disaster. Mmmhmm.

I'd totally give the Hashtag Justice for Blake and Murphy treatment to the NXT Awards, but that's too close to "Anyone but Roman for 2014 Superstar of the Year, dammit!" to do.

Welp, my patience was rewarded. Turns out if WWE ever has 3 minutes to kill - take note of this, Raw - just send Tommaso Ciampa out there with some other dude and let them beat the living piss out of each other! This ruled! All for a NEVER Openweight Championship: WWE Edition, please! (Seriously, it would be nice if we could vary up the match style... really, really nice.)

Then there's the Divas prematch promos and 1: 1: 1: - Holy shiiii- 1: 1: I can-1: 1: *pauses the show... gets a drink of water, comes back in...*
1: "I'm Deonna, and you may remember me as the girl who got knocked out by Asuka, and that's why I'm gonna become #1 Contender!" 1: 1: Oh my goodness... I have NEVER laughed that hard at a wrestling show. "Remember me? I got knocked the fuck out! Yeah!" LOL is she... Ahaahahahahahahhahahaa!

*wipes a tear from my eye, calms down* Alright... seriously... These were great, failure or not I appreciate them doing these and it added to the show a LOT, I was laughing so hard at that I almost missed Cameron's line of "Tonight, I'm gonna be the #1 Contender for the Women's Battle Royal!"... Almost. 1: Also Eva backstage had the best acting performance of her career! :yay: It was still terrible! :yay: Ya know what? I'm starting to like Eva.. Well, love to hate, anyway, we have so many people to feel apathetic towards that when someone shows up and COMPLETELY turns the crowd against them by BLOWING KISSES... Eva may be the hero we don't want but we deserve. Lmao. Dana did it better though!

Random thought: Nia Jax should be the first Heyman Girl.

Then "The Destroyer of Fun and Happiness" Elias Samson comes out, and I was curious. He looked very unimpressive in his debut, and wondered what else he had to offer... And found a way to look LESS impressive this time. This was bad. This was... like, not even so bad it's good. He's not even doing the One Cool Thing Fandango Ever Did as his finish. He just... Ya know, I see a lot of Fandango comparisons for this jabroni, but I can't help but think of Damien Sandow somehow. Maybe just in the ring, but... Trust me, Sharpy, don't kill me for this. It's like in the TNA thread when I say "Matt Hardy reminds me of John Cena." That doesn't mean Matt Hardy can carry a company or is capable of talking butts in the seats or any actual good Cena stuff - he's not - it means he's a pretentious pandering dickbag who whines and bitches to get what he wants and is universally praised by everyone as a role model/family man and it makes me sick. This asshat is a very poor man's version of a guy who can't get on TV. I would start calling him "Damien Hardy" but that sounds too much like Ed Hardy who's infinitely more cooler despite nobody wearing one of his shirts in 5 years. He sucks. Next

DASH AND DAWSON! *clapclapclapclapclap* DASH AND DAWSON!!! This HAD to be a shot at the main roster. Had to be. They had an accidental tag and took COMPLETE advantage of it and it rocked. I mean you see this all the time, Kofi would get thrown into Xavier and it would be a tag and Xavier would be so confused and walk into the ring wondering what would be going on and get Salina Del Soled into oblivion and OH LUCHAS WIN and everyone backstage laughs and laugh for a good 5 minutes and then look at each other and wonder why they can't get anyone over, because you made the New Day look like shit and then the Dragons beat them and so what. Now you have the tag champs crushing dudes and looking smart in the end. Yay!

Then the battle royal happened and 1: 1: 1: Fuck... Full disclosure, 2 seconds into this actual match I had to turn it off to laugh myself to sleep.

...One more laugh later... ASUKA GIVES NO FUCK ABOUT YOUR STRIPPING. K. T. F. O. 1: 1: 1: THIS WAS AWESOME! And then Deonna's 20/10 line actually built to this and :yay: Holy macaroni and extra cheese! Come back, and wow that Daddio chick - Rent-an-Aksana Liv Morgan - can powerbomb someone into oblivion, and Asuka has catlike reflexes and Asuka threw people around and Asuka went on a roll and Asuka Asuka Asuka ahhhhhh... <3

Line of the Night: "Don't forget about Eva Marie on the outside, she was never elminated!" - Corey Graves, making you forget about Carmella.

Then the Eva fakeout was fantastic before the shocking winner emerged with Carmella and... that's so sweet. lease: Now instead of battling the odds, Bayley gets to have a nice sweet friendly bout with her bestest frie..........

oh, shit.

 

[Prince Bálor]

This week's episode was rock solid, but felt... Squeezed.

There were 5 matches (Joe vs Gargano was good!) and about 6-7 promos/pre-taped segments all squeezed in the span of 60 minutes.

Overall, it felt like an appetizer for next week's main course: Sami Zayn vs Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin. It's funny how both Zayn and Joe won their matches with a submission move. Zayn defeated Rose with a Koji Clutch and Joe defeated Gargano with a Coquina Clutch. That'll play nice into next week's triple-threat match.

Oh, and The World's Greatest Tag Team, Jordan and Gable, are now known as The American Alpha.

Also, I LOL'd so hard when Graves mocked Dana for using the double negative.

Looking forward to next week's show!

 

[Prince Bálor]

THIS WEEK ON NXT TV:

- American Alpha vs Blake & Murphy was a quite good show opening match. American Alpha is an okay name, pretty sure it'll grow on me even more as time goes by. But, the design and colors on JJ and Gable's singlets are fucking ugly. Seriously... Change 'em, fellas. Please.
Now, time to praise my boys. Gable has a level of smoothness that a few guys with the same [lack of] experience can achieve. He reminds me of Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan. On to the Mayor of Suplex City, Jordan has really mastered his hot tag role, I love it! Blake and Murphy held their own here, too. But, ultimately, American Alpha won with a Grand Amplitude.

- Dana Brooke and Emma cut a pretty damn awful backstage promo.

- There was a cool Asuka video package.

- Nia Jax squashed Liv Morgan. Nothing to write home about here. By the way, Liv Morgan is such a shitty name. Gionna Daddio was better.

- Promo time with Carmella, Enzo and Cass. Enzo was the star in this segment, as Cass and Carmella's promos were just eh.

- A Baron Corbin vignette is aired.

- The Vaudevillains vignette is aired. This was the same as the one from last week. Yup, they're heels again.

- Alex Riley vs Bull Dempsey was meh. Riley won with a really shitty looking knee. Good to have Riley back, though. Also, that backstage promo he cut was quite solid.

- Elias Samson squashed John Skyler. Meh.

- That promo by The Hype Bros, though! Yeah, Mojo watches Broski sleep. In Mojo's exact words, 'Bro. I watch you sleep, man.' :trips:

- A recap of Bálor vs Crews from 2 months ago is shown. Then, a rematch for next week is announced.

- Sami Zayn vs Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin was a very good ME. Who came out victorious? Not Baron Corbin. Seriously, I liked the finish, as it sets up the future 2-out-of 3 falls match between Zayn and Joe.

All in all, solid episode. The absolute highlights were the opener and the ME.

 

[Snowman1]

In today's episode of "Snow can't sleep and is using his tablet to connect to shitty WiFi to write a review of an okay wrestling show and hope it sends": NXT! Now with way too much effort put into obscure unrelated irrelevant references and big gargantuan words!

So American Alpha's their name? Very meh, I can see it being changed... Just so blah. But then again I said the same about the once-atrocious name of Finn Balor, soooo... Anyway so their story is that of "Let's go out there and run through every former NXT Tag Team Champion to eventually be crowned Ultimate All-Time Super Epic Tag Champs of the Universe? That's a crown befitting to Jordan and Gable. Two Dudes are still a poor man's version of the Crew in the ring, and would be perfect in another era where the product isn't as dissected. Maybe Alexa can go yell at some braniac to make a time machine for them. -1 point for no Freddy Kruger outfit, which still leaves the chick with a porn star name with 99 points. And I've got 99 cookies 'cause a bitch ate one.

Mark this day in history since it's probably the first time Snow didn't like a Dana/Emma segment. :facepalm1:

Even though she lost to Bayley in super believable fashion and that's no burial, I can't take Nia Jax squashes nearly as seriously after it. So much of her mystique is gone. Honestly I spent most of the match wondering if Eva Marie had red contacts in left from the charred remains of Corporate Kane

Enzo is legit one of the 5 best talkers in WWE right now, and that's done wonders for Barrett, so I'm super worried. Still, Serious Enzo with a few quotables in there is the best Enzo. Maybe early Enzo or wheelchair Enzo or idk

Holy shit I laughed SO HARD at Alex Riley coming straight from the Triple H School of Bodybuilding throwing one of the sickest spinebusters I've seen since... well, Sunday, and then winning with the worst finisher I've ever seen. Hahahaha! Alex Riley is the Joe Dirt of wrestling. Dude squashed Bull Dempsey which was lulzworthy in itself, I just wish Owens could run into every A-Ry segment ever and just kick him.

I was watching this show with a friend who's rarely watched NXT, and during the Hulu commercial, as soon as Elias Samson's music hit my buddy yelled that breakfast was ready, so I went into the other room to get a plate together and missed the match. Sure I missed a scintillating performance here. Think I may nickname Samson "Breakfast" just for this, because all of you are much more interested in what I have for breakfast than you are Elias Samson. It was bacon and eggs, by the way.

AHHH BALOR VS CREWS NEXT WEEK YAY

So the main event was a blast. Usually these matches that are 90% dominated by one person are annoying, unless the story calls for it. This time the story is "Samoa Joe says fuck you, that's why" which is the best story there is. Zayn and Corbin got their spots in and made them count - that effortless Blue Thunder Bomb was NUTS - and... It feels like it's been a while since saying this about something so creative, but... I didn't much care for the finish. It felt too close to the "Champ runs in to cause a DQ in a #1 contender's match and is all WOO NO TITLE DEFENSE FOR Y'ALL before someone announces a triple threat," which is right behind "DQ for kicking too much ass" and "DQ for something that happens in any match" in WWE's worst finishes, and it left a bad taste... BUT, the match being 2/3 falls (which was earned) justifies the week of forced controversy!

Today's episode should be called "Have faith in NXT". How dare I not do so?

 

[Prince Bálor]

THIS WEEK ON NXT TV:

- The Vaudevillains vs The Hype Bros was decent, but nothing to write home about. Wow, some people still pop for The Hype Bros.
I mean, I like Ryder, but Mojo annoys me to no end. Now, The Vaudevillains have gone from heel to face to being heel again and I can't wrap my head around what they're going to do next. They've been champs before, but they're certainly not going to become the two-time NXT Tag Team champions. Perhaps they're getting ready to be sent to the main roster.

- We got a sit-down interview with Carmella. She said that the Battle Royal win felt incredible and some other stuff.

- Carmella vs Emma was okay for what it was, I guess. Carmella won with a Backslide and will go on to face Bayley for the title next week. Oh, and... Carmella's mic work in her entrance should be taken away. She just ain't good at it.

- Backstage interview with Dash & Dawson. Dash says that Enzo and Cass talk tough, but when they got their shot, they did what they always do and lose. Dawson would go on to say they are on their way to becoming the greatest NXT Tag Team Champions of all time and if Enzo and Cass want another opportunity, they welcome it. They beg 'em.

- Sami Zayn is interviewed and says both he and Samoa Joe can lay claim to the victory. However, he thinks he's in better position since he had the Sharpshooter on first and for a longer period of time, which led to Corbin tapping out.

- Samoa Joe is interviewed, but he scared off the interviewer. I laughed. Angry Joe is fun Joe!

- We got the American Alpha vignette.

- Enzo & Cass vs Jamoke & Jamocha 2 was your typical squash. Jamocha 2 took a really nasty fall over the top rope to the outside. Hopefully he's okay.

- Backstage, Apollo Crews gets interviewed about the main event and if he's prepared. He admits to being robbed of his chance at the title by Corbin, which's left him with uncertainty and void ever since, but tonight he's looking to make a statement against the NXT champ.

- Regal announces that there will be a rematch between Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe.

- Asuka vs Santana Garrett was a fun little squash. I haven't seen much of Santana, but she looks like a capable wrestler. Asuka, of course, won with Asuka Lock.

- Bálor is interviewed about the triple-threat match from last week. The champ says he's glad things will be handled in the ring between Joe and Zayn, because that's how things are done in NXT. He then talks about facing Apollo, and says what should've happened will happen, and although Apollo is very good, Finn's the best and that's why he's the NXT champion.

- Bálor vs Crews was a quite good ME. This was prolly Apollo's best match since coming to NXT. Finn carried the match and the first half was slowed down. But then, the match got rollin' when Finn hit Coup de Grâce onto a hunched over Crews. As the match heads down the stretch, we got some great back and forth. Finn survived Apollo's Bicycle Kick and his Gorilla Press-Moonsault combo, but ultimately the champ would prevail with another Coup de Grâce, followed by Bloody Sunday (which still remains unnamed in NXT). They shook hands post-match.

All in all, solid episode.

 

[Snowman1]

This week in "Snow has a billion things to do and doesn't have much time to write a review but wants to fit in NXT and amuse the Prince"
Okay episode I guess this week. Really seemed to die down in the middle though.

Whoa, Carmella... Honey. Honestly, I thought her backstage interview was really good. There was a bit of heelishness (great for a "best friends against Bayley" feud) but a WHOLE lot of realism to it, and Carmella came across VERY well in it, I thought... Then she did her ring entrance and literally ALL of that went out the window. I haven't seen this much good will go down the window since Howard Dean ran for President. THEN, she had a bad match with Emma - which I assume was on Carmella's end since she still has yet to have a good match, sorry Emma that you had to be involved with this <3 - where in a glorified squash she came across as extremely unimpressive... THEN Enzo came out for an actually good version of the same feud and blew her out of the water, haha. I can't remember the last time someone lost so much steam in one show coming into a title match... Well, Raw is a thing, I'm sure it's happened there. Still, Wow.

Speaking of Raw, I'm sure Balor's line "Here on NXT, this is how we settle things. In the ring" was a shot at that dumb ass Fast Lane main event. Also, how great it is to actually LET YOUR IN-RING WORK REFLECT YOUR CHARACTER. Thank you, Vaudevillains. That's one of Raw's biggest problems, they actually DO have a lot of characters but they don't impact the wrestling whatsoever. However, after the Vaudeheroes became villains again they came out and KICKED SOME ASS. Awesome!

Enzo and Cass had a great squash, and Santana Garrett - after seeing so much of her, her TNA run, several indy matches - this was probably the best performance I've seen of her since... on the wrong end of a squash, haha. Asuka was the same as usual, not a bad thing.

The main event was pretty darn good! The double dive was spectacular, but if there's a nit to pick here... This was also basically a squash, since Crews got hardly no offense here! Balor had an AWESOME performance, although I really don't see where this leaves Crews. He's out of the title picture after this...

Ahh well. Someone has to simply not be good enough to win the title. That's what makes the champion the best, right? :downer:

 

[Snowman1]

- Samoa Joe is interviewed, but he scared off the interviewer. I laughed. Angry Joe is fun Joe!

^That was glorious! 1:

WHAT

 

[Prince Bálor]

I really don't see where this leaves Crews. He's out of the title picture after this...

Spoiler

He's going to have a match against Samson at TakeOver: Dallas. inb4heloses :Homer: