Some notes from possibly the biggest NXT mark in the house.
1. Weird way to start the show. Good promo from Ambrose, Seth keeps being okay on the stick as a heel, not good but not horrible either, he's "serviceable". Reigns needs a vocal coach though. I miss moshpit Rollins, that gimmick suited him so well and enhanced his promos.I love how the crowd chants "thank you Rollins" when Dusty tells him that he "chose a different path" and betrayed NXT. And we got a title match tonight. Okay.
2. Bo Dallas? Another okay match then but please don't make him talk. Epico is his opponent? Okay this match has some possibilities now. No Regal, Dallas isn't full of any fire at all. Not a fan of how they are trying to sell Bo Dallas as "the next big thing". He does nothing for me. Even Dallas finisher is half assed. Match was okay but I am no fan of Dallas, he will have to step it up. lol Michael what are you doing? :dawg:
3. Divas time, I like Sasha, she has potential. She's facing Tamina, this will be good. Tamina is much more physical since she returned as a heel and Sasha sells pretty darn well. The shots look like they hurt. Sasha also got some decent offence in later on in the match. She even got a pin attempt but all for not since Tamina retook control and won the match. Good divas match. With girls like Sasha and Paige the future divas division looks good.
4. Ohno is out next. I love this guy and thinks he should definitely head up to the main roster once his feud with Regal is over. That feud will be by the way be amazing judging by the people involved. Kruger is with him making this a handicap match. I like Kruger as well. He has a ring style that fits with his gimmick and I see him being a solid mid card heel in the long run. They are taking on Kidd and Gabriel so I predict a stellar match considering the talent involved. A lot of quick tags between Kidd and Gabriel and all four men seem to have nice chemistry within the ring. A quick note here but I love Kruger's spinebuster. Kruger takes a beating but finally gets the tag to Ohno after a while. Regal, like in his feud with Ambrose on FCW makes a lot of comparisons between himself and Ohno, giving a hint of the feud to come. Kruger takes the win by pinning Gabriel after what was possibly match of the night. All 4 men worked well together and a long term feud between the four could be good. I wonder if Ohno and Kruger was put together to make up for the loss of Ascension after Kenneth Kameron's run in with the law.
5. Main event match up now. Time to see Graves take on Rollins. Graves comes out first. JR is now on commentary instead of Dawson. Seth is out without his old theme and dressed in his new black Shield garb. Seth's facial work as a cocky/smarmy heel works well in my opinion. He shouldn't be overly vicious as a heel in my opinion but smarmy, slimey instead. WWE are obviously trying to speed up Seth dropping the title so that he, Roman and Dean can settle permanently on the main roster. Why not just re shoot the match instead? Seth is working a much more aggressive, heel ring style which he makes work. I am okay with Seth's in ring heel work, just his mic work as a heel that needs more work (as does his face work as well but as I said his mosher gimmick enhanced his mic style earlier). Graves I think needs to work a more brawler inspired style though. His methodical style doesn't suite his gimmick or look. He's good in the ring but it just doesn't suite his character. Ambrose and Reigns makes the save for Rollins. Face workers come running and we've got a brawl. Shield sends almost the entire locker room out of the ring (seemingly dividing them evenly among themselves, no one eliminating more than the other). Dallas eats the triple power bomb which gives me an almost perverse kind of pleasure. Big E comes out to big face pops and Shield sneaks out as Big E gets in the ring. Seth vs Big E for the NXT title is made for next week. Which means we will get the Shield permanently on the main roster pretty soon. Big E keeps making faces that Eugene would be proud of.
Okay episode this week. The main event seemed sped through though which probably stems from WWE wanting to speed up the process of getting Shield on the main roster permanently. Divas match was good, tag match was match of the night and we got some okay build on a couple of feuds. I am content with this decent NXT episode. Not the best, but certainly not the worst.