And here's my little review. (I'm not expecting any replies here, just doing something to relax. :])
8/1:
8/8:
8/1:
Holy shit, a Dusty Rhodes appearance! Liked how he put over that, despite it being a developmental belt, that it's still important for the confidence of the young talent just to hold championship gold. Well done.
Pretty sure I'm in the minority here, but I absolutely hated the opening match for the Gold Rush tournament, Richie Steamboat vs Leo Kruger, because I'm so tired of the same boring WWE match script. Kruger dominated the entire match, then Steamboat pulls out his finisher that he stole from JTG to pull off the fluke win. Ugghhh. Kruger looked fine in this match, but I don't see anything special in the guy and the gimmick is silly. Steamboat advances, and we'll see if he can show us anything at all against his next opponent.
Ahh, Big-E Langston debuted. Guess we'll see what he does when he wrestles actual matches. His finisher looks good, but it's an uphill climb for him to get over with the smarks. Prove you aren't Ezekiel Jackson 2.0 and then we'll talk.
Oh god... Whoever gave Raquel Diaz this obnoxious Lady Gaga meets Angelina Love "Exfoliating Ugliness Tour" crap needs to go. It's annoying as fuck, and definitely not in a good way. If she was on WWETV the channels would definitely change, and I'm definitely fast-forwarding via Youtube. Oh, and the well-deserved "You Can't Wrestle!" chants don't help matters. Re-gimmick her or something, please. #AtomicXPacHeat
Audrey Marie is fine as hell though.
Hahahaha! Jason Jordan and Mike Dalton pull one over on Hunico and Camacho! Figured this was yet another jobber match in a pretty boring NXT, but the jobbers pick up a win on the Smackdown guys! It establishes that that the jobbers can put up a fight and it's not a foregone conclusion that the featured guys will win, it set up a feud down the line, and it pushes Mike Dalton who is showing a lot as Dolph Ziggler 2.0. Loved this segment.
Drew Mcintyre defeated Seth Rollins the week before, so the babyface was ACTUALLY AN UNDERDOG FOR ONCE. Way to go, Triple H! Really good match here, Drew's pure impact offense is much more effective when there's a smaller opponent who he can throw around and can pick up the pace and keep the match exciting, so these two match up together perfectly. There was good psychology, and the finish where Rollins noticed Drew's boot that set up the Future Shock last time, dodged it, and hit the Blackout for 3? Great stuff! Rollins impresses yet again and he's clearly the star of NXT.
I'd give this one about a 5/10, a good match to end the show, a markout moment, and Dusty Rhodes, baybay, evened out the rest.
Pretty sure I'm in the minority here, but I absolutely hated the opening match for the Gold Rush tournament, Richie Steamboat vs Leo Kruger, because I'm so tired of the same boring WWE match script. Kruger dominated the entire match, then Steamboat pulls out his finisher that he stole from JTG to pull off the fluke win. Ugghhh. Kruger looked fine in this match, but I don't see anything special in the guy and the gimmick is silly. Steamboat advances, and we'll see if he can show us anything at all against his next opponent.
Ahh, Big-E Langston debuted. Guess we'll see what he does when he wrestles actual matches. His finisher looks good, but it's an uphill climb for him to get over with the smarks. Prove you aren't Ezekiel Jackson 2.0 and then we'll talk.
Oh god... Whoever gave Raquel Diaz this obnoxious Lady Gaga meets Angelina Love "Exfoliating Ugliness Tour" crap needs to go. It's annoying as fuck, and definitely not in a good way. If she was on WWETV the channels would definitely change, and I'm definitely fast-forwarding via Youtube. Oh, and the well-deserved "You Can't Wrestle!" chants don't help matters. Re-gimmick her or something, please. #AtomicXPacHeat
Audrey Marie is fine as hell though.
Hahahaha! Jason Jordan and Mike Dalton pull one over on Hunico and Camacho! Figured this was yet another jobber match in a pretty boring NXT, but the jobbers pick up a win on the Smackdown guys! It establishes that that the jobbers can put up a fight and it's not a foregone conclusion that the featured guys will win, it set up a feud down the line, and it pushes Mike Dalton who is showing a lot as Dolph Ziggler 2.0. Loved this segment.
Drew Mcintyre defeated Seth Rollins the week before, so the babyface was ACTUALLY AN UNDERDOG FOR ONCE. Way to go, Triple H! Really good match here, Drew's pure impact offense is much more effective when there's a smaller opponent who he can throw around and can pick up the pace and keep the match exciting, so these two match up together perfectly. There was good psychology, and the finish where Rollins noticed Drew's boot that set up the Future Shock last time, dodged it, and hit the Blackout for 3? Great stuff! Rollins impresses yet again and he's clearly the star of NXT.
I'd give this one about a 5/10, a good match to end the show, a markout moment, and Dusty Rhodes, baybay, evened out the rest.
8/8:
We open up with two guys I'm high on, Michael McGillicutty and Justin Gabriel... and this match was a disappointment and a half. Gabriel's really been exposed as of late, yeah I'm a mark for the athletic spots and the innovative counters, but that guy has got to learn some things to do in the middle of the ring besides that armbar. Until he can get some kind of in-ring moveset he can use before his typical WWE "Five Moves of Doom", stay on NXT. McGillicutty is simply green as grass. Both of these guys have a lot of potential, but judging from this slow, plodding match you couldn't tell it.
Kassius Ohno is back... okay. He looks like Mike Knox with a gimmick similar to Umaga spiked with some Big Show, with the single worst name I've seen in WWE. He's definitely doing what he can with the gimmick, but it just isn't clicking with me for some reason. That being said, he's clearly as talented as you guys say, and will his character work on Raw? Possibly. We'll see what happens.
A video package hyping an Ascension match? Awesome.
Paige is gorgeous, and damn is she over. She may be the most over diva in WWE despite her complete lack of charisma or personality (or so it seems). She's the anti-Brodus Clay, where her entrance is boring but she can really get over in the ring. Caylee Turner is Alicia Fox's sister and may not even have the talent of that botch machine, and you know who Tamina and Kaitlyn are. Paige picks up the win (yay) to set up her feud with Raquel Diaz...
Haven't seen anything out of Bo Dallas, and Jinder Mahal's a complete scrub. I didn't watch the ME, so if someone can PM me and let me know if it's worth watching, I'd appreciate it. I highly doubt it though.
Kassius Ohno is back... okay. He looks like Mike Knox with a gimmick similar to Umaga spiked with some Big Show, with the single worst name I've seen in WWE. He's definitely doing what he can with the gimmick, but it just isn't clicking with me for some reason. That being said, he's clearly as talented as you guys say, and will his character work on Raw? Possibly. We'll see what happens.
A video package hyping an Ascension match? Awesome.
Paige is gorgeous, and damn is she over. She may be the most over diva in WWE despite her complete lack of charisma or personality (or so it seems). She's the anti-Brodus Clay, where her entrance is boring but she can really get over in the ring. Caylee Turner is Alicia Fox's sister and may not even have the talent of that botch machine, and you know who Tamina and Kaitlyn are. Paige picks up the win (yay) to set up her feud with Raquel Diaz...
Haven't seen anything out of Bo Dallas, and Jinder Mahal's a complete scrub. I didn't watch the ME, so if someone can PM me and let me know if it's worth watching, I'd appreciate it. I highly doubt it though.