NXT - Weekly TV Show Discussion

[Prince Bálor]

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

 

[Prince Bálor]

I guess I'll put this here.

From Asuka's Instagram:

Taking on Bayley for the championship, the winning streak and the shortest time record
It has been almost 6 months since my NXT debut.

As my first NXT Women’s Championship match at NXT TakeOver: Dallas on April 1 approaches, I have 2 things to emphasize about my career with NXT.

First, I have been unbeaten during the period.

Second, no one but me has ever earned a shot at the women’s title in such a short amount of time after their NXT debut.

I am proud of myself for making these possible.

However, these achievements will only to be shattered into pieces if I lose to Bayley in the title match.

In this regard, I can say the upcoming championship match will be a big chance and a big risk to me.

Some of you might remember that I swore I would make the Divas’ Division better and more exciting at the press conference back in September 2015.

One of my ultimate goals at WWE is to create new values and set a new standard for the Divas’ Division.

As a professional athlete, I have been trying to raise the quality of my performance to the level comparable to men’s matches. It may sound nonsense, but I am seriously aiming for it.

If the day when I feel that I can’t reach that level anyhow came, my life would be overwhelmed by a sense of failure.

The match against Bayley at NXT TakeOver: Dallas isn’t just for the championship. It is also a challenge to keep my winning streak alive and break the record as the fastest riser to the title. Furthermore, the match should have a major impact on future matches of the women’s division to take the division to the next stage. You won’t have an opportunity to witness a championship match that consists of such various elements so often.

On April 1, at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, I will step in the ring with determination to make the championship match with Bayley an instant classic to be handed down among WWE universe.

So hyped for this match at TakeOver! :yay:

 

[Prince Bálor]

- Gargano vs Samson was okay for what it was. Gargano's got new music, which is utter garbage. Let him use his EVOLVE theme song, FFS.
Anyways, Gargano won and Samson attacked him post-match... Which led to Crews coming out to make the save, and this will be a match at TO: Dallas.

- Bálor vs Swann was technically a squash, but it was fun enough. A more serious side of Bálor was shown, as he's heading into that big match at TakeOver.
Oh, and Bloody Sunday has been renamed to 1916. Here it is, from the man himself:

- The special look at Nakamura was cool.

- Bliss vs Dobson sucked.

- Dempsey vs Burch never happened, because Joe choked 'em out to send a message to the NXT champ. Thank you, Joe!

- The NO WAY JOSE vignette was oddly hilarious.

- The American Alpha video package was very cool, loved it!

- Asuka vs Emma was a good ME, but not as good as their London bout.

All in all, solid episode this week.

 

[Snowman1]

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL DRIFT AWAY! DRIFT AWAY! DRIFT AWAY! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha this was epic!!!!

Double vision! clapclapclapclapclap Double vision!!! Hey, Austin Aries and Johnny Gargano are on the same show! This could get awkward. They should have those two have a match for us 20-somethings to feel nostalgic to the original Mortal Kombat mirror matches. Random reference #1!

Watching the Drifter get beat was the most fun I had since... oh, I don't know, they revealed Alex Riley's new gimmick is "he sucks and nobody likes him". Holy crap. I like Gargano enough to want to watch his match, and the match was actually really good for the time it lasted! But I had NO IDEA Gargano was gonna win here. CLEAN. LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Then Elias went through the most hilarious yet surprisingly effective postmatch beatdown, and ya know, maybe the Drifter is like... a homeless man's Alberto Del Rio, being a decent worker (usually) but a complete black hole of charisma... Actually lets scroll back a few words. He's that dude downtown with his guitar yelling about 9/11 being an inside job and how aliens abducted half his teeth. Dude came across as the craziest psycho in this beatdown.. Hell, lets go dig up Zeb Colter and put him with the Drifter. Lets go!

Apollo Crews made the save and I'm like "oh." Partially because Balor slightly spoiled me - it's aight - but... Meh.

*ahem*

It was cool to see Balor show some edge though! Came across as a total dick in the Swann match. I'd love to see him go heel, but think there's no way it'll happen. Assume he'll show up on the Raw after 'Mania - possibly main eventing against Triple H? Guess they "could" do a Balor Club run, but I don't want to see that either.

anyway, NXT had the BEST DAMN VIDEO PACKAGE THEY EVER DID on American Alpha. Usually I'm not as hyped about these "backstory" videos as most, seeing how these wrestlers grew up is cool and relatable and all, but.. this struck home in the best possible way. They were going on and on reminiscing about their accomplishments and how they made it to the top of the mountain... only to be knocked back down. lease: Gable got to the olympics... and got beat. Jordan got to his national championship... and got beat. :downer: So this time... they aren't going to fail. Dammit this was the time that slipped away and... This was SO GOOD. I CAN'T WAIT to see this match at Dallas. Can't. This is definitely that signature title win that will elevate the NXT Tag Titles to "feel" as important as the other two belts... Then Jason Jordan, after almost a year, ended the video package by completing the "And Gable!" line and I marked out like a maniac!

Got a lot of hit or miss feelings on NXT nowadays, but the way they've been able to make me mark out over dumb stuff will always be A+ stuff!

But one thing that's REALLY missing from this match - even the story is FUCK YEAH AMERICAN ALPHA - is the Revival. These guys have completely disappeared off the show. Where have they been? They can't cut away from Dana's cleavage talking to Emma about giving her fitness tips she doesn't need to fit these guys on? And... good lord, they can't let the Revival have a squash instead of Alexa?

Why is Bull Dempsey still here lol. Also things that are always A+ is Samoa Joe pissing off backstage interviewers.

Asuka vs Emma <3 was pretty great, but didn't live up to the standards in their London match since they weren't bringing the heat and trying to tear the damn house down on a random edition of NXT.
But damn, I wish this was for the #1 Contendership! That would have added some fire to this!

Damn, I've never been more lukewarm on something than Emma being re-demoted to the main roster. :sad: On one hand... every time Evil Emma and Asuka are killing chicks on the same show, Asuka gets shown up pretty badly IMO. Emma getting out of the way so Asuka can be the premiere badass is awesome!!! But damn, I hate seeing callups at this point. I mean, remember the last segment of Breaking Ground, where they made this big speech about Tyler Breeze's dreams coming true and how he got the call to go down to the main roster? And... look at Sami Zayn. The most sure thing that came out of NXT has been killed in 2 weeks. And... After that disaster that happened last time and unforgiving crowds just looking to entertain themselves... She's done so much to improve and reinvent herself, glad she's getting a Mania spot in the piss break match, but... Yeesh.

Anyway... Honest opinion? The NXT Takeover: Dallas show has pretty shitty build outside of the Divas and Tag Title matches. But the legends say every hundred or so years, there's a card that's put together that's so awesome and so great that it trancends traditional wrestling logic and can kick 100,000 asses all on it's own. This is it. We won't have one again for a long, long time...

So lets eat it up and enjoy being wrestling fans for a few nights before the Raw After Mania Pre-Show begins on Sunday.

 

[Prince Bálor]

The go-home show for TakeOver: Dallas was good.

Most of the matches were squashes, but decent ones while we're at it and every segment on the show was designed to put the TakeOver matches over, as well as the talent.

Hyped for TakeOver: Dallas!

 

[Snowman1]

Halfway through review: Baron Corbin is freaking great!

 

[Snowman1]

Crazy to think how WM is well known as needing the title match to go on last.... But looking at this card, I see "How do you top this?" Potential in 3 other matches, maybe 4. That Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura match will be insane... And I wonder how great the gap will be between seeing American Alpha win the tag belts compared with Bayley in Brooklyn. Holy damn will it be amazing to see them with the straps. It clearly won't be that emotional, but we definitely could use a cooldown lol. Hi, Drifter! Then the women's match could steal the whole weekend again.

Anyway, I realized on this show why the Drifter sucks so much, it's that... This is the one NXT gimmick that just seems unsalvageable. He went back to when he was cool and even that sucked. Every character on this show I've eventually found a way to like. Bo, the Mechanics, Dana, Corbin, CJ Parker for like 2 weeks, Bull, Alexa, so many others... When is that Drifter turn coming? How?

 

[Prince Bálor]

This week's episode was a recap of TakeOver: Dallas. Ehh. I WANT MY WEEKLY DOSE OF NAKAMURA, DAMMIT! :nakamura:


Anyways... Cathy Kelley <3

Also, Crews vs Samson was a decent match, but nothing special. I'm so glad it was a dark match and not on the main TakeOver card.

Although, if I'm being honest, it was probably the best performance by The Drifter so far, but that ain't saying much. Now drift away to, I don't know, TNA.

Looking forward to next week's episode. Shall be good.

 

[Prince Bálor]

THIS WEEK ON NXT TV:

- The show opens with Regal thanking the fans for making TakeOver: Dallas a success and then announces the card for the show.

- Austin Aries vs Angelo Dawkins was a fine show opener. Aries scored the win with that sweet Rolling Elbow.

- Joe cut a promo. He's coming for Apollo Crews next week.

- No Way Jose debuts next week.

- Alexa Bliss vs Tessa Blanchard was meh.

- Finn Bálor cut a promo backstage. He says when Nakamura's ready, he'll be ready, too.

- Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs The Vaudevillains was decent. The Vaudevillains did the job on their way out, while G&C looked good.

- Tye Dillinger had a good backstage interview about Nakamura. The interview ended with Tye rating Alex a 3. 1:

- Baron Corbin vs Tucker Knight was meh, typical Corbin squash.

- American Alpha are shown standing in the empty arena where they won the gold. Enzo & Cass come up to 'em and we have a match next week!

- Bayley vs Liv Morgan was okay.

- Shinsuke Nakamura vs Tye Dillinger was a fun ME. Tye held his own here and Nakamura was... Well, Nakamura! Also, we got "He's 11" chants. LMAO. Fun stuff.

All in all, decent episode. The highlight was definitely :nakamura:

 

[Snowman1]

Just realized how great it would have been to see Corbin yelling "GO BACK TO RING OF HONOR" at Shaq :dawg:

 

[Snowman1]

This show was NXT in a nutshell. Not very entertaining to watch outside of Nakamura, but set up a lot of stuff for down the line. Keep the Gargano/Ciampa push going, please! Them vs American Alpha is going to kick so much ass!

TYE FTW

 

[Snowman1]

 

[Prince Bálor]

Meh, I like the original version better! :nakamura:

 

[Prince Bálor]

This week's show was good. The show just flew by, which is always a good thing!

 

[SupaHeeroh]

Watching NXT now. I loved how Jason Jordan put his straps back up just to pull them down again.