NXT 26th June 2013: Everyone Taps Out including Me

Last week’s NXT announced a lot for this week we get the return of NXT champ Bo Dallas and Big E Langston, we also have Le Rednecks vs. Ohno & Graves to name no.1 contenders to the tag team titles.

Shows starts of looking at the crowd and I see a couple in a similar t-shirt that John Cena is currently wearing but with the Tag titles on it instead of the WWE title, kind of cute I guess.

Big E Langston vs. Aiden English: Aiden’s already in the ring. There’s just something about how Big E looks that I can’t buy him as a tough guy killer. He grabs Aiden and just pushes him, Aiden does some rolls and gets backbody dropped. Big E hits the Vader attack and the Big Ending for the win in less than a minute. This was done right in my view it shouldn’t have gone long. After the match Big E hits the Big Ending again and counts 5. I know he’s meant to be a babyface but that’s a dick move in my book and he does it in every match. Oh we get a 3^rd with another 5 count, what a nice man. Regardless of what I think this crowd is into this and even chanted for him to do it again. Winner: Big E Langston

We then see a promo for RVD’s return which makes him look awesome and according to reports he’s gotten in good shape and is taking this seriously, if that’s the case I’m fine I don’t want RVD circa TNA. Backstage Renee Young is with Emma who is playing with a bubble gun, Renee asks about her match with Aksana and she says she’s going to win and take the Emmalution around the world, she then said Renee can’t have her bubbles but gives her the gun to look after, she goes to shoot it but Emma stops it. I liked this silliness.

Aksana vs. Emma in 1^st Round match in NXT Women’s title tournament: Aksana comes out to soft porn music or so I’d imagine of course I never watch porn, very fitting for her. Emma comes out doing her little dance and playing with bubbles, fans are super into this and it just looks so fun they then pop when she gets in the ring by skinning the cat. She is super over with this crowd. Aksana pulls Emma down by the hair while she does her dance. Weird choke in the rope and a sideslam which would make Kevin Nash proud followed by a low kick for 3 2 counts. Emma slips through the ropes and gets a sunset flip but is cut off with a back elbow. Aksana does a weird leg drop thingy and this leads to the back and forth cat fight spot which allows takes me out of a women’s match. Aksana back with the advantage puts on a seated headscissors and Aksana does the Alex Shelley head driver, best why I know it. Bad chops from Aksana and Emma escapes a bodyslam which leads to her locking in the DilEmma lock for the tap out win, fans where chanting for the tap. Right decision as Aksana showed nothing in this match except her ass to the camera several times. This will lead to Summer Rae vs. Emma in the next round, which I’m looking forward to as Rae is a fantastic heel and Emma is a great babyface. Winner: Emma

After the match some kids come in to dance with Emma like JYD back in the day. We then see a vignette for someone who says his name but I can’t make it out because of his accent, it’s just him talking about what he’s done and he’s acting crazy nothing new in today’s wrestling but he’s coming up next. Then a advert for War Games DVD play, I’m so not bothered about this it may be historic but it was one of those matches you knew wasn’t going to end at any moment until everyone was in.

Dante Dash vs. Leo Kruger: Ok its Leo Kruger I know he’s been in developmental for a while but never seen him before. Tie up to start and Leo hits a knee once they break up, chops in the corner by Leo. Leo rolls through with Dash into a hammerlock in which he adds an armbar. Transition from hold to hold by Leo all attacks to the arm, series of arm jackers and throws Dash into the post shoulder first 2 times. Back hammer lock suplex leads to Leo woofing, hitting a lariat and locking in the GC3 aka the London Dungeon for the tap out. For someone whose vignettes portrayed him as out of control crazy man he was very controlled and mat based he’s not the first to wrestle with no connection to his character. Winner: Leo Kruger

Speaking of that a promo from Conor O’Brian is played talking about the Ascenion rising again. Nothing special but he got a blue light.

Mickey Keegan vs. Bo Dallas: Leo is in the corner of the rails, he hasn’t left since his match. Fans are really indifferent to Bo this week, he’d probably prefer boos as that’s a reaction at least. Tie up with Keegan getting the advantage but Bo gets a firemans carry over leading to both types of atomic drops between which Bo yells “Woo” and it’s that type of over the top babyface reaction I don’t like. An awful dropkick by Bo which hits Keegan’s gut, fans are chanting for Keegan and cheering for him. He hits a back suplex for a 2 and fans chant “That was 3”. Bo hits 3 forearms and a running mafia kick, all of which are getting boos, a rope climb bulldog and he yells “Come on” to no reaction. Bo hits a belly-to-belly suplex for the win. No reaction to the win or his celebration. After the match Leo attacks Keegan with a suplex and lariat, fans are chanting for Leo as he touches the NXT title which Bo pulls back quickly. To me this Bo experiment has failed, not only is he not over as a babyface but instead of riding out the heel run he’s now getting no reaction, not what you want in your NXT champ. I just don’t get why WWE are trying with him so hard he shows us nothing every week. Winner: Bo Dallas

An ad for Total Divas plays I already hate reality TV and this crap won’t change that.

Kassius Ohno & Corey Graves vs. Scott Dawson & Garrett Dylan w/Sylvester LeFort: LeFort does the intro to his team and is getting “What” chants, I should mention that he looks like a greasier version of Buff Bagwell and makes less sense. Le Rednecks have a flashlight this week, I hate that they use Hansen’s yell. Ohno & Scott to start trading arm wringers, quick tags to Graves who is attacking the arm as well. Dylan comes in and Ohno makes the switch and continues the attack on the arm. Another tag to Graves, everything’s on the arm which it should be as that’s what they started with.  Graves flips through a hiptoss into an armdrag which looked beautiful, another armdrag and then the heels get the advantage with a knee from Dawson which leads to the tag. Dylan comes in hits a club to the back and tags out meanwhile Scott is not selling the arm one bit and is 100% after 2 seconds on the apron. A forearm and another tag to Dylan and oh my God a neckbreaker from Dylan, a wrestling move! Back from the break and Scott is booting Graves and dropping a leg on him followed by an elbow for a 2. Tag back out and another club to the back leading to a chinlock. Dawson tagged and a European Uppercut leading to another chinlock but Graves fights out with a jawbreaker leading to him tagging seconds after, didn’t like that much. Ohno in and  hits some strikes, a bodyslam and a big senton followed by his low kick and his release suplex move for a 2. Scott escapes the kravate and makes the tag leading to their spinebuster/axe handle double team finisher of doom (for Dylan’s tailbone) but Graves makes the save. The move is called Southern Pride which would probably be a better name for their team if I’m honest unless they want Le Redneck in which case they can take it. Tag to Scott who hits a short arm clothesline for a 2 and another tag. Head crank by Dylan and fans chant “You can’t wrestle” to Le Rednecks, don’t want to say I agree but I agree slightly. Ohno tries kicking off Dylan and then hits a punch to little effect, this leads to the hesitation sunset flip spot and Ohno almost getting the tag, he gets grabbed and hits a bad looking elbow to get the tag to no real reaction. Graves comes in with a fury of punches and fans wake up a bit, a jumping knee which just looked like he was sticking his crotch in Dylan’s face. Graves grabs Dylan’s boot in the corner and ties him up in the ropes in a weird stretch. Up into the fireman’s carry leading to a back breaker but Scott makes the save leading to Ohno hitting a nice high knee. Graves hits a chop block and locks in the Lucky 13 for the submission win and Dylan tapped before it was even locked in, that submission was on the legs which hadn’t been attacked since the chop block just want to note. The Wyatt family attack literally straight after, big brawl going on with the family getting the advantage and Adrian Neville runs in to clean house. He goes for the Red Arrow but Scott Dawson interferes leading to William Regal leaving commentary and cleaning house but he’s taken down as well. Everyone jumps on Regal as the ring is clear, Bray hits a running splash in the corner and stares at Regal who goes down. Bray puts some more boots in to Regal and yells “I’m king around here”. Show ends with the Family leaving up the ramp. As for the match itself I didn’t like it,   2 teams just didn’t gel and Le Rednecks are just awful if they can’t get a reaction working with Graves/Ohno then they just won’t. And what’s the point of putting them with LeFort as he did nothing in this match he could have at least tried to distract the ref at some point. Winners: Kassius Ohon & Corey Graves

Overall what a lacklustre show in my view. Granted they set up some things for the future but the Leo/Bo feud doesn’t grab me one bit mainly because it’s Bo. The main event did set up the tag title match, which we knew was going to happen, but it wasn’t a great match and the only highlight is it seems  Bray vs. Regal is in the cards. If you added another babyface you could do a 10 man before the singles feud but I don’t want Le Rednecks anywhere near the main event picture. First time I’ve been disappointed in NXT if I’m honest.

http://www.webvideoshare.com/videos/dailymotion.php?id=k7wt0NMoRn8UZb4eWgC

NXT 19th July 2013: An Opener turns into a Main Event

Last week’s NXT saw a new NXT champion crowned in the form of Bo Dallas and after that a lot of people’s online reaction has been “What the hell? NO!” not big fans of one Bo Dallas. Let’s see how they follow that this week.

My show opens with a “Don’t Try this at Home” warning which after this past week’s news I’m not surprised to see, what is surprising is it’s in Spanish! That’s what I get for watching online thankfully the show is in English. Show officially starts with a video highlighting the title change last week and the awful contract signing the week before. I still find it funny that Big E said he’s the biggest guy in NXT when he’s not even 6 foot. After that we get the opening and I have to say I love NXT’s theme. Sadly Brad Maddox is back on commentary this week no connection to the last point but it brought me down a little.

Adrian Neville vs. Bray Wyatt w/The Family: Neville aka PAC is a great flyer and he’s taking on a man who quickly became one of my favourites in Bray Wyatt. Neville eliminated Wyatt in the battle royal to crown a no. 1 contender a few weeks back. What a beard on Wyatt and the entire family. Neville ducks a clothesline and hits some kicks but Wyatt gets the clothesline after Neville runs off the ropes. A nice bodyslam by Wyatt, Neville fights back with kicks but is cut off with a sharp punch. Wyatt taking his time and this leads to Neville being able to fight back but is constantly cut off. Wyatt hits 2 elbow drops and goes for the pin but as if he’s tea bagging him, rather unique I guess. Wyatt attempts to throw Neville out but he stays on the apron and hits a kick, he jumps up to the top rope to hit his flippy splash (the Red Arrow) but Luke Harper pushes him off and the family attack leading to the DQ. Corey Graves and Kassius Ohno then come out for the save, they send Harper into the steps and then Eric Rowen into the post leading to them going after Bray but he escapes. Out comes the American Dream Dusty Rhodes (baby) the general manager of NXT and he makes a 6 man tag for the main event. Winner: Adrian Neville

Angelo Dawkins vs. Sami Zayn: I love how the jobbers in NXT get music. Sami’s music sounds like the Beastie Boys. Tie up to start and Angelo shoves after they get in the ropes. Chain wrestling to start ending with Sami hitting a number of armdrags including his around the world one. Sami runs into an elbow and gets bodyslammed leading to a chinlock. Angelo looks like Donald Glover that’s how long the chinlock was on. Sami fights back and gets a float over and a leg clothesline leading to his hand hold DDT for the win. I guess that’s his new finisher in NXT but would have made more sense to keep the Brainbuster in my view as it’s easier to hit out of nowhere. Honestly for my liking this match should have been more Sami on offence I know he’s the babyface and all but it’s obvious they don’t have anything planned for Angelo. But Sami is better when fighting from behind. After the match he yells out for Cesaro so they’re obviously going to continue that feud Winner: Sami Zayn

Sasha Banks vs. Summer Rae in a 1^st Round Match in Women’s title tournament: A rarity a divas match where both women have 2 names! Rae is being compared to Stacey Keibler and you can see why they are very alike. Short tie up to start another one with Rae pulling Banks to the mat and putting the boots in. A choke on the rope and then a nice dropkick by Rae. Rae throws Banks into the corner and then uses her long legs to choke Banks and follows with a hairmare. It’s at this time Brad points out George Clooney dates blonde girls with long legs aka Keibler. Rae does the pull up out of the corner move for a 2, she then yells endless insults to Banks face and does a face plant for a 2. I was going to say Rae is great as a heel but after that 2 she did a weird scream of frustration that just made me laugh. More choking with her long legs, she pulls Bank across the mat but falls on her butt, don’t think that was planned. She does a seated surfboard and as Banks tries to reverse she’s caught in a pin. They both get up and Rae gets into a standing guillotine that leads to a DDT which looked nice but she floats over and the 2 do a typical cat fight spot which took me out of it a bit. Banks hits some chops to start fighting back, followed by a climbing arm drag for a 1. Rae comes back quickly though with Evan Bourne’s standing leg drop thing, imagine a reverse DDT combined with a leg drop for the win. This was pretty good even with the odd flaw here and there. Rae is really good as a heel and I can see why they have more hopes for her over Fandango. Winner: Summer Rae

We go backstage to Xavier Woods who looks like he should be in 70’s porn film. He talks about the previous episodes he was on and that he’s going to return tonight. He ends with got to go morphing time. A little weird but I like weird. This is followed by a vignette about CM Punk just showing how far he has to come I guess.

Xavier Woods vs. someone: The guy he’s facing must be bad as he’s not even keyed. Woods is a dancer I guess I have no clue but he starts by doing a dance move towards his opponent, I’ve never danced so I have no idea what this is. Start with a tie up into an arm ringer then arm bar. Jobber pulls some hair and whips Woods off but gets a shoulder block for his trouble followed by a tilt-a-whirl head scissors. Apparently this jobber is called Jake. Jake has Buff Bagwells tights and he gets the Mr. Perfect neck snap for a 1. Jake gets a punch in the gut after trying an axe handle. Woods gets some punches, a flying forearm and a dropkick. He does a front flip into a clothesline and then hits Chuck Taylor’s Sole Food for the 3. Woods has a nice style but I think if he gets called up that gimmick will have to change otherwise he’d get thrown with Brodus Clay & Tensai. He celebrates by dancing. Winner: Xavier Woods

Backstage with Sami Zayn being interviewed by Renee Young. He glosses over the fact he beat Angelo earlier (take that jobber guy) and says that it was a message to Cesaro, he says their one for one and he wants a round 3. Good promo by Sami. We the go to the French guy (whose name I forgot) with his 2 rednecks. He says they should be the no.1 contenders for the tag titles, here comes Dusty who makes fun of the French guy’s name which is Sylvester something, so many accents it’s hard to understand. He makes a No.1 contenders match with those guys against Ohno & Graves for next week, my money’s on Ohno/Grave. We then get a video of Bo Dallas from his car thanking the fans and then photos of him at Disney world, then announces he’ll be back next week. He sings a song with BOlieveing in there. God make this guy shut up he’s awful and that BOlieve should never have been made up. Also announced is Big E Langston so a lot is set for next week.

Neville, Ohno & Graves vs. Wyatt Family: Luke and Graves to start, tie up into the corner but Grave gets some punches and hooks onto the beard, he gets a float over and tags in Ohno. Luke gets a punch and tags in Eric but Ohno gets some punches. A knee by Eric and a club to the back leads to a whip with Ohno doing his nice flip over to the apron, he delivers a big boot between the ropes and comes in to hit his drop down boot for a 1, a lot of 1 counts tonight. Tag to Neville but his kicks are ineffective leading to Bray being tagged. Neville jumps onto him with punches but Bray runs him into the corner and into a spinebuster, he attempts a slingshot into the turnbuckle but Neville grabs the top rope and rebounds into a double stomp in a beautiful transition between the 2. Neville follows with some kicks but doesn’t even get a 1. Bray gets a punch and tag to Luke who comes in while stepping on Neville, I love the minor things he does in a match. Neville ducks 2 clotheslines and gets a running head scissors leading to a tag to Graves, back to where we started. Graves gets his boot up and does a hanging headscissors over the ropes, he goes for Bray but that lets Luke hit his big boot. We go to break and we see our 3^rd “Don’t Try this” advert, they’re taking this seriously since that incident.  We come back with Luke hitting a back elbow on Graves for a 2. Tag to Bray who hits a headbutt and then a seated senton off the ropes leading to a chinlock with the arm trapped. Graves quickly fights back and goes for a sunset flip, Bray attempts the same senton from earlier but misses leading to Eric and Ohno getting tagged. Ohno with his jumping elbow but gets whipped over the corner to the outside, Luke gets tagged and rams him into the apron. Tag to Bray who stomps onto and over Ohno. Eric and Luke fight for the tag in the corner but Luke gets it and hits a European uppercut when he comes in follows with 3 elbow drops. Back into the Wyatt corner and Luke whips Ohno into Eric’s knee. Eric hits another knee into a pumphandle back breaker for a 2. Luke back in, a lot of work from him tonight. Ohno stops himself from going into the corner but the 2 hit heads, Bray gets the tag and knocks Graves off but he fails to do the same with Neville who does get tagged and hits a gorgeous springboard dropkick followed by a leg clothesline and a standing shooting star for a 2, he then dropkicks Luke and goes for a dive but he stops when Eric gets in the ring. Ohno then dropkicks Eric out and hits a baseball slide. Neville hits the Fosberry Flop (I believe) which is him jumping over the top rope to the outside into a moonsault to take out the 3 people. He goes back in to Bray where he hits a jumping kick and attempts the Red arrow but Luke pulls Bray out leading to Bray getting the pin on Neville. Show ends with the family posing on the ramp. A really solid main event and while I wasn’t the biggest fan of the finish it helped to show that high risk is exactly that. Also prepare for this to become clear when RVD comes back and oversells that Frog Splash every time out. Winners: The Wyatt Family

I did find it odd that Neville/Bray opened the show and that they did so little but seeing it was to set up the main event which they made up for their earlier match I’m fine with it. This also really showed me how good Summer Rae can be, a really good heel and not bad in the ring she had to be the stand out on this show to me. Like the past couple of weeks a good show I think NXT is the show to watch at the moment. While I didn’t like the Bo segment at least they had something to say “Our Champ isn’t here but here’s why” he was still a part of the show and I think that’s a key to a champion. This show also set up a lot for next week the no.1 contenders tag match with Ohno/Graves against the rednecks with a French guy, Bo will be back as will Big E but I imagine all that will equal most of the 45 minute show.

http://www.webvideoshare.com/videos/dailymotion.php?id=k6gy6fohCvpZOu4djDB

NXT July 12th 2013: A show of suprises

Last week’s NXT saw the contract signed for this week’s main event which is Bo Dallas challenging Big E Langston for the NXT championship. We also saw Sami Zane and Antonio Cesaro set up a rematch from a few of weeks ago, it goes without saying which one I’m more hyped for.

Show opens with a video highlighting how Bo won his title shot for tonight winning a 18 man battle royal and hyping up the main event, it did its job ok. Tony Dawson and William Regal on commentary meaning this won’t be painful to listen to.

Sami Zane vs. Antonio Cesaro: Sami has much better music this week. Video showcasing Sami’s debut night where he beat Cesaro and Curt Hawkins on the same night plays. Cesaro is wearing plain blue tights tonight which make him look a bit like Bruno Sammartino. Antonio attacks as soon as he gets in the ring and drops Sami on the rail on the outside, follows that up with a pumphandle into the post which looked nasty. Sami struggles to get up and the bell rings leading to Cesaro hitting a sick running European in the corner for a 2. A strong start between the 2. Zane gets some chops but Cesaro cuts him off quickly. Sami gets a back body drop and mounts for some punches but Cesaro comes back with a spinebuster, it’s at this time that fans are chanting “Ole” which I don’t see stopping for the foreseeable future. Cesaro grabs a chinlock and it’s at this time I’d like to note in honour of Cesaro I have a coffee while I watch this. Chinlock doesn’t last long as Sami fights back within seconds. Sami ducks a clothesline and hits a leg lariat but Cesaro over powers him into the corner. Zane keeps getting little bits of offence but is always cut off. Cesaro goes for a Euorpean but is caught in a backslide this leads to Sami attempting a leap frog but it’s turned into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker is a great spot for a 2. We come back from the break seeing Sami get a sunset flip but Cesaro hits a mean looking double stop for 2 two counts. Back to the chinlock but this time Cesaro pulls Sami back down to put it back on. Fans are into this match, I can’t blame them. Cesaro won’t let go of the chinlock leading to Sami hitting a Blue Thunder bomb for a 2, more Ole chants, and Cesaro hits a mean European and then a deadlift Gutwrench for a 2 he’s such a beast before everyone on the indies was. Sami fights out the corner by locking on a body scissors and moves to a head scissors throwing Cesaro over the top he follows with a beautiful heelio dive to the outside. Back in Sami goes to the top but jumps into a European uppercut for a 2. Cesaro goes back to the chinlock but Sami fights out and does an amazing float over into a sunset bomb pin for a 2. Sami runs into a mean sounding boot in the corner and Cesaro tries a deadlift suplex but Sami gets a school boy for a 2 that’s how he won last time, back to the chinlock but is arm dragged out and again the chinlock is locked back in and he transitions into the neutralizer for the win. This was fantastic from the go and shows how much WWE are missing out on Cesaro. Also by just lasting with all this punishment Sami looked great it was the battle of Sami’s speed against Cesaro’s strength. Winner: Antonio Cesaro

Baron Corbin & Travis Tyler vs. Scott Dawson & Garrett Dylan: We come back from the break to see Baron Corbin (sounds a lot like Darin Corbin who is a wrestler on the indies) and Travis Tyler in the ring. A French guy comes out he says his name but that accent is terrible so I don’t know what he said apparently according to the key it was Sylvester Lefort, he introduces Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan who are just rednecks who drink BBQ sauce they even stole Stan Hansen’s yell. Dawson and Tyler start with a tie up with Tyler getting a headlock. Dawson fights out and hits a back elbow and the tag with Dylan just booting some times and tagging out, Dawson comes in and hits some strikes and tags out for another repeat which ends with Dylan hitting a bodyslam. A tag and a double team hair slam which looked dreadful since both men were smaller than Tyler. Another tag after nothing happens but strikes. Granted their staying in their corner and tagging a lot but not much is happening. Dawson hits a leg drop and knee drop, another tag and Regal compares Dylan to Arn Anderson I would disagree. A double team with a boot to the gut and then a boot to the head. Tyler gets a clothesline and the tag to no reaction, Corbin hits several shoulder block but he gets reversed into a spinebuster by Dawson and Dylan jumps off the 2^nd rope with a double axe handle to Corbin who is laying on the ground. Not a great deal to talk about here, I’m not a fan of Dylan/Dawson and that double team finisher needs some serious work and it looks dreadful right now. Also Corbin comes off as extremely weak as he didn’t even last a minute before being pinned, if I was Tyler I’d be pissed. Winners: Dylan & Dawson

A promo about Punk’s return at Payback plays, I’m hyped for this match but look who’s in it how can you not be?

1^st Round match in the Women’s title tournament-Bayley vs. Alicia Fox: Oh this will be a classic he says as his eyes roll. To be fair I’ve not seen Bayley work but Fox is Fox. Regal’s niece loves Bayley apparently. Match starts with Bayley shaking hands and grabbing a hug, Fox runs out with an elbow and then throws Bayley into the corner twice. Hits a nice looking Northern lights for a 2 and grabs a chinlock, that didn’t take long. Fans get into it and Bayley tries fight out but Fox drives her back down. Fans chanting for Bayley, look at that women getting reactions on WWE TV who’d have thought it. Bayley fights out with some forearms and then a monkey flip to start coming back, hits a couple of running forearms and an iffy knee drop for a 2. Bayley hits an Exploder for a 2, even Regal sounded surprised to see that. Fox hits a kick to the head off the ground and a scissors kick for the win. This wasn’t bad at all to be honest, really shows what the women are capable off. This means Fox will face Paige in the next round. Winner: Alicia Fox

Big E Langston vs. Bo Dallas for the NXT title: The same video that opened the show plays again, it was a good video but not THAT good. Bo is getting even more boos than last week and yes he’s still the happy smiley babyface character he’s not officially turned heel, if he did it was the Alberto Del Rio turn and no one realised. If you mixed Monty Brown with Faarooq and gave him King Kong Bundy’s gimmick you’d get Langston but fans are into Langston and his “FIVE”. We get the main event announcements aka when they’re in the ring. Langston is undefeated going in. Bo tries to grapple but Big E overpowers him early. Bo can’t knock Big E down, Big E gets a high leap frog and knocks Bo down with a shoulder block. Bo starts fighting back with strikes and boos, what a heel and he’s not even one, oh my God he’s NXT’s John Cena! Bo jumps on Langston as he tries to get back in the ring but he just chucks Bo into the corner which looked nasty. We come back from the break with Big E ramming Bo into the apron on the outside, Big E hits some gut punches well 5 as that’s his gimmick after all. For a babyface he sure is a dick but WWE seem to promote all their babyface’s as dicks look at Sheamus right now. Big E hits a harsh clothesline for a 2 and then he does a running splash, one thing Big E can do is jump man that guy can get some height. Bo starts fighting back to boos but Big E cuts him off to cheers. Big E attempts the splash again but Bo moves and Bo starts hitting clotheslines and boots but he can’t take Big E down. A running corner Bulldog from Bo for a 2. Big E hits a nice looking belly to belly after blocking something from Bo, he probably tried his finisher for all I know. Big E starts hitting clothesline then 5 knee lifts and then just runs Bo over with the Vader running splash (best way I can describe it). The straps come down so it’s business time. Bo fights off the Big Ending but while doing so they’re in the corner and he pulls off the top turnbuckle pad, he throws Big E into it twice and hits a Belly to Belly suplex for the 3. We have a new champion and he’s doing the babyface reaction to winning. This was better than I was expecting and it was a nice subtle way of starting a heel turn which we know is coming for Bo or at least we hope is coming. Winner and new champion: Bo Dallas

Show ends with Bo celebrating with the title, Renee Young comes out to ask him some questions. Bo tries to cut a promo to boos and uses the typical “I’m going to Disney world” line probably could have done without him trying to speak. Honestly this was a really good show from start to finish, no promos but the wrestling did the talking. You had a fantastic match to open the show and everything else was either passable (the tag) to above my expectations. I don’t know where they go from here in terms of the title picture you could do brother vs. brother with Bray Wyatt or you could turn Bo full-fledged heel, which would be my move as he’s already getting tons of boos. I imagine Big E won’t be on NXT that much more as they seem to want him in WWE so they might do a rematch but they might not.

http://www.webvideoshare.com/videos/dailymotion.php?id=k1d7s9LoS5f9Q74bLON

NXT July 5th: Beards, Belts and BO!

After the recent debut video for the Wyatt family I wanted to check out some of his work in NXT, this has lead me to watch pretty much the last 3 months of the show just because each show had something I wanted to watch. I decided that I’d do a weekly review of the show as it can be hard to track down and watch, plus it really deserves some love in my view. So let’s review this week’s NXT which aired on the 5^th July.

Shows starts with good old JR heading to the ring and all I can think is “they brought JR here for this?” this is a contract signing for Bo Dallas and Big E Langston for next week’s NXT title match. JR talks about how the title has led to success, only 2 men have held it and both are on WWE so I guess he’s right. Bo comes out and is booed, he looks like a kid whose parents dressed him for an interview. Bo won an 18 man battle royal the week before to get this title shot, Langston was on commentary for that and was worse than Brad Maddox who was also there, tells you how bad that was. Langston comes out looking like Monty Brown and the fans chant 5 which has got over even if it is stupid for a babyface. At this point I’d like to add that the NXT title looks stupid, WWE have some terrible belt designs. Anyway Langston signs and before Bo signs he grabs the mic and “talks”, he’s so awkward and comes off as a little kid who can’t stop smiling while trying to be serious. He talks about how Langston is working with Dolph Ziggler and he was on Wrestlemania, he wants that. He forgets to mention that he was in the Royal Rumble and would have worked with Wade Barrett at Mania if he wasn’t dreadful, hell Miz replaced him so that proves how bad he is. Langston picks up the mic and begins to talk as well, he comes off a bit better than Bo but still not great. He says Bo so many times it’s like repeating a word to make it sound weird but it was already weird, he tries some John Cena level jokes and talks about Bo smiling for everything. Bo signs and leaves and that’s that. Not a good segment as both are not good talkers at all.

We head backstage with Renee Young who is with Corey Graves aka Sterling James Keenan. He’s teaming with Kassius Ohno to challenge the Wyatt family for the NXT tag titles in the main event. He talks about how he wants to take out the family all by himself, he doesn’t care about teaming with Ohno but he wants the titles more than not wanting to team with him. He ends the promo by showing his “stay down” tattoo on his fingers which is his pose, a good promo especially after those 2 that opened it.

Tamina Snuka vs. Paige-NXT Women’s title tournament 1^st round: Tamina comes out in a blue one piece that covers her body but has cuts in it, sounds weird and looks disgusting Tamina really needs to work on her look. A great contrast is Paige who looks great and so does her gear. Tie up to begin and Tamina shoves her off Paige then goes for a headbutt but Tamina no sells it as Samoan’s can’t feel pain in their heads we know this to be fact since the 70’s in WWE. Tamina gets the advantage pretty much from the start. Paige attempts a school girl which goes to hell after Tamina falls on her ass. She quickly grabs a chin lock and cuts off Paige after she fights out of it. Drops a knee for a 1 and grabs a chinlock again. Brad Maddox, who’s on commentary, picks the winner of this to be the favourite and we are than all reminded that Alicia Fox was Divas champion, there have been some horrible Divas champions. A body slam by Tamina for a 2 who somehow thought that could be a 3. Tamina struggles for an overhead wrist lock. Paige is constantly getting cut off after fighting back, Tamina hits a big superkick on her which looked good and goes for her iffy looking superfly splash, Paige gets the knees up and a roll up for the 3. Paige really comes off as barely surviving here to keep Tamina strong but man does Tamina need some work, her look and that splash. I feel they gave her that splash and she just doesn’t want to do it. Winner: Paige

Renee is now with Ohno who is in a Mitsuharu Misawa shirt which is pure awesome. He talks about attacking the family head on and taking the titles. Very slow and serious talking here which I like. He says tonight is not a match it’s a war. Good promo from Ohno aka Chris Hero. I’m going to be doing a lot of aka’s I think.

Colin Cassady vs. Mason Ryan: Colin is already in the ring telling you how this will go, he also has a song that sounds like they mixed Jeff Jarrett’s old WWE theme with the Smoking Guns one. Ryan, who was in WWE for a bit, has long hair now and is as jacked as ever! He poses and screams a lot. Tie up to start and Ryan hits knees in the corner. Cassady gets a back elbow and hits some great punches but Ryan no sells a club to the back and then hits a big boot. Lots of strikes from Ryan, feel like he can’t do much else here. Fans don’t care one bit and I don’t blame them. Ryan puts on the torture rack and spins into a neckbreaker. I know WWE loves guys like him but he’s got nothing and no one cares. Winner: Mason Ryan

Renee is now with Sami Zane aka El Generico without a mask. They talk about his debut night where he beat Curt Hawkins and then Antonio Cesaro aka Claudio Castagnoli. He gets interrupted by Cesaro who says it was a fluke, after speaking French. The 2 do a back and forth which ends with Sami making fun of Cesaro’s bag leading to a slap and the 2 attacking each other. It’s weird for me to listen to Sami talk mainly because I thought he only spoke Spanish (of course that’s a joke) but even so I think he’s got to get used to this as he’s never really done much in terms of promos.

Alex Riley vs. Conor O’Brian: Oh hey it’s Alex Riley. The commentator (Tom Phillips) talks about how Alex has high prospects in WWE, yeah maybe back in 2011. Conor freezes in a set off to run position and stays like that until Alex runs at him where he gets a headlock, they mess up a shoulder block spot not a great start. Conor does a headlock take down but brings him up and over 3 times while staying hooked which is different. Alex floats over a slam attempt hits a back elbow and a top rope clothesline for a 1. Alex goes for something but is sent off, attempts a float over but is hung up on the top rope. Conor hits a flapjack and locks a version of the Octopus Stretch for the submission. Outside the first botch this was fine my main problem is that Conor really shouldn’t be so scientific in his style, he’s being pushed as a monster yet is wrestling like a pure wrestler. Winner: Conor O’Brian

Kassius Ohno & Corey Graves vs. the Wyatt Family (Luke Harper & Eric Rowen) w/ Bray Wyatt for the NXT Tag titles: We see the Wyatt’s attack on Ohno after he apologised to William Regal and this was followed up by Ohno coming to make the save after a match where Bray beat Corey leading to this tag match. Bray comes out with a mic, he says he isn’t afraid of anything but he’s scared of himself. He re-introduces himself to Corey & Ohno as an leader of worlds and sends down his boys. Wyatt sits in a rocking chair during the champs matches. I’ll add here I love this gimmick so much. Before this match my video cuts to an advert for hair loss which is funny as Harper aka Brodie Lee is seriously losing his hair which is sad as his look is awesome right now. Ohno and Rowen to start. Harper does this thing where he says “YEAH” during everything he does, a little thing like that can go a long way. Ohno gets a headlock and then a kravate once that is broken. Rowen knocks him down with a shoulder block but Ohno moves quickly and tags in Graves, this leads to Harper getting the tag. Harper grabs Graves after a crossbody attempt, Graves floats over a body slam and does an impressive looking rollup following by him flipping through a hip toss attempt and straight into an armdrag which looked beautiful. He tags to Ohno, so much for I’ll do this alone, Harper gets a shot to the gut and tags out this leads to them getting the heat. We get a vignette for Paige about how she’ll destroy everyone which would be fine if she didn’t just barely survive her match earlier that night, also on this past week’s Wyatt family vignette many noticed a girl in the video and have assumed it’s Paige who will be added to the family which I think could work as she’s the anti-diva after all. We come back with Rowen striking Ohno and tagging out, Harper hits some nice European uppercuts and tags out. Ohno escapes a bodyslam and hits a weird reverse jawbreaker to get the tag. Graves comes in with some nice punches and goes for Rowen’s legs, Graves gets sent to the apron where Harper hits a nice looking big boot to get the advantage back. Harper back in with a knee drop looking crazed after a 2 count. Harper whips Graves into Rowen’s kitchen sink knee, Rowen does it again and then a pumphandle back breaker for a 2. A Canadian back breaker to Graves, a rarely seen move. Graves slides out but gets clubbed and is than headlocked into the corner. Graves reserves a suplex into a small package, what I really liked after this was Harper (who got tagged in) moves from behind Graves to in front of Ohno making Graves go for a crucifix instead of getting the tag. it’s a little thing like that I find adds to a match and Harper knows this as everything he does has a little thing to it that adds a lot. Harper attempts a powerbomb but is back body dropped and this leads to a tag. Ohno hits a great looking flying clothesline and a jumping elbow into the corner leading to a drop down boot and a senton, a great series of moves. Bray jumps onto the apron, Ohno hits a rolling headbutt which looked weird to be honest, I know they probably changed it because Barrett is using an elbow finisher now but Ohno’s was so much better. Rowen breaks up the pin leading to Graves coming in to clothesline him out, the ref is distracted leading to Bray punching Ohno in the back of the head and Graves does a twisting plancha to take Bray out but back in the ring Harper hits a discuss clothesline for the win. The show closes with the family leaving with the belts. I really liked this match I think everything flowed well and it built up great especially the ending. I don’t know where you go from here maybe add someone for a 6 man or continue doing the reluctant tag team going for the family either way you have a winning program in my view with these guys. An added note is all those rotations reminded me of John Zandig who would do 2 or 3 spins before hitting a clothesline, he looked ridiculous and childlike when doing it.

Thought this was a good show overall, outside the opening being pretty awful and Mason Ryan getting time for some reason I think everything had a purpose and moved things along storyline wise. Next week see’s Bo Dallas vs. Big E Langston for the NXT title and will be the first time I’ve seen Langston wrestle a longer match as a babyface, my hopes aren’t high especially since he’s working who to be fair is a better wrestler than talker.

 

WWE NXT 6/5/13 - Full Show (HQ) - Film Dailymotion