Posts Tagged ‘NXT’

10 results.

HEAT and the 2016 Match of the Year: How My List Stacked Up

by Jeff on January 28, 2017 at 5:41 am
Posted In: Blog

The annual Voices of Wrestling Match of the Year poll has been conducted, and I thought that instead of just posting my list in full, I’d compare my list to how the overall voting shook out. Instead of going through a 1-10 list, I’m going to reorganize my list based on where the matches ended up after all hundred-and-whatever voters cast their ballots, and add some comments as to where the match finished.

First, a quick explanation of my voting mentality. I sit down and start thinking about what I liked from the year, and typically the matches that have managed to stick in my memory are the ones that make the list. If I run out of matches that really jump out at me, I dig through match listings to see if I remember anything. Sometimes I’ll see something from a promotion I don’t follow that has buzz, and I’ll watch that, but I only rewatch matches if I need to refresh myself on what happened so I can write a blurb about it. Otherwise, if I don’t remember the match, I can’t have thought it was THAT good.

Sadness Village/Honourable Mentions

The first category is for matches that didn’t make the top 100, which is most of them. Personally, I had two matches end up in Sadness Village.

1 Point Matches – 10. Michael Richard Blais vs. Marky – PWA Fright Night (10/22/2016)

I’ll be shocked if any of the voters even saw this, let alone voted for it, but it currently holds the position of the best match I’ve ever seen live, let alone in 2016. Here’s what I wrote about it for Voices of Wrestling: (http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2016/11/08/pwa-fright-night-2016-october-22-results-review/)

I’m not going to describe this match a whole lot, because it would mostly be “OH SHIT AND THEN THEY DID (spot).” Suffice to say, it’s the best match I’ve ever seen live, and will probably end up in my top 10 matches at the end of the year. These two have wrestled many, many times over the past decade or so, which informed the story of the bout. Blais knows that Marky uses the fans’ support to gut his way through extraordinary amounts of damage. Therefore, clearly Blais needs to kill Marky as quickly as possible. So that’s what he tried to do. A hot opening sequence built to MRB hitting a Death Valley Driver on the apron… from the TOP ROPE. I believe my exact quote in reaction to that spot was “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!?!?” After a count out tease designed to give time to reanimate Marky’s corpse, Blais took over but couldn’t find a move strong enough to overcome the PWA Original. Some Daniel Bryan chest kicks just pissed off Marky, and sparked his comeback. A bunch of attempted murders happened, and eventually Marky landed his top rope leg drop finisher after several failed attempts. It looks killer. I don’t know if describing a leg drop as looking mean makes any sense, but it looked mean.

Comments: This match ended up exactly where I thought it would. I knew I was going to be the only vote for it, as like 400 people saw it, tops. I just wanted to give a shout out to the best match I’ve seen live thus far.

5 Point Matches – 6. Strong BJ vs. Big Guns – AJPW New Explosion (11/27/2016)

Go to your local grocery store and slam steaks into each other and the floor for half an hour. That’s a pretty accurate recreation of this match. The “beefy guys clobber each other” subcategory of hoss fight is my favourite, but this match added some extra touches that put it past the others and into my top 10. Big Guns finally overcoming Strong BJ, finally hitting the Doomsday Device (and almost killing Sekimoto, which was gnarly), and finally, the smallest touch – Strong BJ was doing a great job running interference to prevent their pins and submissions from being broken up by the illegal Big Gun early in the match, but as the match wore on, Zeus and the Bodyguard starting figuring them out. This led to a fiery finishing stretch full of near falls where it was a legitimate question whether the illegal partner would be able to break it up.

But really, all the details are just there to underscore the roaring and beef-smashing.

Comments: I thought this one might make the top 100, but there were so many great Strong BJs that votes got split up. Phrasing? Naturally, the two longest blurbs I wrote didn’t get used. Also, this blurb is why my word processor started suggesting “beef-smashing” when I type “be.” That’s not a joke, that actually happened.

Shockingly, none of my matches ended up in the #100-76 category, so we’re on to…

#75-51

#54 – 7. Michael Elgin vs. Tetsuya Naito (G1 Climax 26 Night 4) (7/24/2016)

This is my favourite under-the-radar match from 2016. Elgin’s selling of his knee was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in terms of limbwork effecting a wrestler’s offence, in part because Elgin is so strong that he could purposely screw up power moves without endangering himself and Naito. He sure kept trying to get them right, though, and it ended up biting him. Or, more accurately, smashing his head into the mat. Pete Dunne wasn’t around, so there was no actual biting.

Comments: This was my first blurb to be used in the VOW list. Out of every match on my ballot, the placement of this one shocked me the most. I almost bumped it because I didn’t think anyone would vote for it, but my voting strategy is to go with the most memorable matches, and this is one I still think about. I was certain that it was going to end up in Sadness Village, or maaaaybe get another vote and crack the top 100. I was shocked to learn that not only had it nearly made the top 50, I wasn’t even CLOSE to being the highest vote for it! It’s heart-warming to know some strangers on the internet have good taste.

#50-26

#38 – 5. Kazuchika Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji (G1 Climax 26 Night 1) (7/18/2016)

The first G1 main event saw Naomichi Marufuji do to Kazuchika Okada what every teacher has wanted to do to some smug, punk-ass kid who keeps pissing them off in class. Every time Okada mounted an offence and started to get cocky, Marufuji reminded him “I beat Misawa, you little shit” and kicked him right in his smirking mouth. I love the grumpy veteran trope in Japan, and Marufuji was the GRUMPIEST.

Comments: By this section of the list, I’m realizing that my taste is more in line with the mainstream of VOW voters than I had expected it to be, as 7 of the 10 matches on my ballot have made the top 50. I expected more people would vote for the King of Pro Wrestling rematch, which they did (it ranked #30), but I was pleased to see that somebody voted this match #1 overall. Thus far in the list, I haven’t been the high man on any of my matches in the top 100 (I was the highest and only vote for both of my Sadness Village picks). Once again, this is my only match in this section of the list, which means 6 out of my 10 matches made the top 25.

#25-11

#15 – 3. Cedric Alexander vs. Kota Ibushi – Cruiserweight Classic Episode 5 (8/10/2016)

Instead of analysis, I’m going to give you a transcript of me watching this match. “Hey, I bet this will be decent. Oh man, this is pretty good. Oh, shit. OH. Shit. OH SHIT. OH SHIT OH SHIT OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT.”

Comments: This blurb was used in the VOW list, and I kind of wish everyone had written their blurbs to be funny instead of just praising matches I probably didn’t watch (I probably saw less than half of the matches that were mentioned). This is also the first match in the top 100 that I was the highest vote for. No regrets, I fucking love this match. It helped turn my friend Dougie into a wrestling nerd.

#14 – 4. The Revival vs. #DIY – NXT Takeover Brooklyn II (8/20/2016)

The Revival spent 2016 reminding us all that tag team wrestling in WWE can be good, if you don’t stick rigidly to their stale formula. The Brooklyn match between the Revival and #DIY was my favourite of their two Takeover bouts because I think a one fall match emphasizes what the Revival are good at: chaotic scrambles where every near fall seems like the end, and every kickout seems like hope is alive in the world.

Comments: For the first time since Sadness Village, I have two matches in the same section of the list! Not only that, but they finished in the order I placed them, right next to each other. Just, y’know, 10 and 11 places farther down. While I feel that this was the better Revival/#DIY match, I’m not surprised that the more recent one where the babyfaces won got more votes. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but most of the internet treats their favourite wrestlers like sports fans treat their favourite team, while often also being derisive of real sports.

#11 – 8. John Cena vs. AJ Styles – WWE Summerslam (7/21/2016)

Since his wonderful US Open Challenge run, John Cena has turned into a video game wrestler, and I fucking love it. He’s the closest a human being can get to being the Incredible Hulk and yet he busts out Yoshi Tonics. He’s taken the WWE big match formula and turned it into a video game match where everyone stores up finishers until they’ve got about 17, and then exchange them for 10 minutes. This was the best time that happened this year, because AJ Styles was part of it, and that man can do no wrong in WWE.

Comments: I was very close to having half of my top 10 list make the overall top 10 list, which is bonkers to me. I’m surprised this one didn’t crack the top 10, as I remember hearing some “five stars” buzz when it happened. Seeing that it was only one point out of the top 10, I kind of wish I had swapped its placement with the Big Guns/Strong BJ AJPW match. It would have also gotten a WWE main roster match into the top 10.

THE TOP TEN!

#7 – 9. Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet – BOSJ Block match (5/27/2016)

There are like 35 blurbs for this match, aren’t there? You’re definitely skimming by now, aren’t you?

This was peak FLIPZ with a great story. Everyone saw it. Everyone loved it. Or has bad taste.

Comments: I thought this one was going to rank in the top 5, but apparently a lot of people were like me and put it in the back half of their list. It was the most important match in terms of buzz, and I think I gave it a very good rating when I watched it, but 2016 was a craaaaazy good year, and it ended up making my list on importance more than straight quality.

#4 – 2. Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – NXT Takeover Dallas (4/1/2016)

Sometimes a match doesn’t need a story, or a reason to happen. Sometimes it just needs to be CRAZY GOOD. This match made me flail my arms in excitement like Kermit the goddamn Frog while I was watching it, because this match was a perfect explosion of charisma and face-kicking.

Comments: I’m guessing when the stats breakdown comes out, this is going to be the highest ranking match from people who only watch WWE. It’s also the last time Shinsuke Nakamura did anything worth watching in 2016. I did enjoy watching the hype train as fans who don’t watch NJPW climbed all over his dick, then realized he wasn’t the five star match machine they thought he was – he’s a guy with a superstar aura, a really high ceiling and a really low floor. In important matches, like his debut against Sami Zayn, he comes off like the best wrestler in the world. In less important matches, or with lesser opponents, like a past-his-prime Samoa Joe? He’s fine.

#2 – 1. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – Wrestle Kingdom 10 (1/4/2016)

Kazuchika Okada went from shitting the bed with Yoshi-Hashi to being the best big match wrestler in the world in the span of 4 years. As a pair, Okada and Tanahashi have been incredibly helpful to me, personally, over the years, as they’ve been my number one match in the VOW poll every year that I’ve participated. It makes it so much easier to fill out the ballot when the most important slot doesn’t require any thought. Okada and Tanahashi are both all-time great pro wrestlers, but together they become super wizards of the mat, casting spells of… I’m tired of this analogy, but you get the point. They’re great. They have great matches. Match of the Year.

Comments: This match not being first overall is criminal. Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito from the G1 Climax tournament finished first, and while that was an excellent match, I feel like the Kenny Omega hype train after his Wrestle Kingdom match with Okada gave his top end 2016 matches a push. I will fully admit, though, that Omega is very much like Nakamura for me, in that I am consistently lower on him than the general populace of the wrestling internet that I interact with. Anyway, Okada vs. Tanahashi is the best feud of the 2000s, and the only reason I didn’t have BOTH of their big matches from 2016 on my list was because I didn’t want to double up on anything (otherwise I would have had 4 spots taken up by Okada/Tanahashi and #DIY/Revival).

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The 2015 HEAT Match of the Year List

by Jeff on January 29, 2016 at 11:38 pm
Posted In: Blog

The Voices of Wrestling Match of the Year balloting has been posted over the course of this week, and I once again received a ballot. Since the results don’t specify who voted for which matches, I decided to post my full ballot, along with the write-ups I did for each match (none of which were used) for YOU, the HEAT reader.

10. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassaday vs. Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson (NXT 12/16/2015)

This was my favourite tag team match of 2015. A team with the level of mega-charisma of Enzo and Cass against a grimy southern heel team like Dash & Dawson in front of a molten crowd? Aw yeah.

9. John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins (WWE 01/25/2015)

Three adult humans wrestled a match like they were in a video game. It was exactly as ridiculous as that sentence makes it sound, and as a result it was unbelievably fun. They must have been saving up Specials for weeks.

8. Yuji Okabayashi vs. Daisuke Sekimoto (BJW 7/20/2015)

Take two sides of raw beef and slam them into each other over and over. That’s this match, and it’s great. I mean, come on, Okabayashi busts his nose during the OPENING LOCK-UP. Madness.

7. John Cena vs. Kevin Owens (WWE 5/31/2015)

John Cena’s US Open Challenge storyline was my favourite thing WWE did in 2015. I feel like John Cena is underrated, which is just… is it possible for the top guy in wrestling to be underrated? I certainly wouldn’t have believed that he could wrestle like he was in a PWG main event, but then he did. Repeatedly. Oh, and that Kevin Owens guy is preeeeeeetty good. Pretty, pretty good. Their first two matches were both excellent, but the surprise of Owens beating John Cena in his first match was a much more satisfying ending than Cena getting his win back a month later.

6. Dragon Lee vs. Kamaitachi (CMLL 12/4/2015)

Kamaitachi wrestles like he’s conducting a scientific experiment about how much abuse the human body can take and continue to function. The best part of this match is that Dragon Lee buys into that philosophy, and they have a contest of “let’s see which one of us dies first” spots. What puts this match ahead of the others in their series, for me, is Kamaitachi’s (and to a lesser extent, his mom’s) reaction to the third fall. He goes from pure elation at finally vanquishing his rival to unbridled rage at having the match restarted. Watching Kamaitachi beat the shit out of Maximo while his mother screams encouragement from the front row was almost as good as the match itself.

5. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NJPW 08/16/2015)

These two guys have so much chemistry that the ring mat should have a periodic table printed on. I love the idea that they went through a gruelling G1 Climax tournament, scraping and clawing to the top of the leaderboard, only to the spend the finals seeing who can be the bigger dickhead. The closing stretch, while hot as per usual in a New Japan main event, has a unique quality; both guys come to the conclusion “oh, right, this guy is pretty good. I’d better try to beat him instead of fucking around.”

4. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma (NJPW 8/12/2015)

HONMA WINS! HONMA WINS! HONMA WINS!

Honma finally scoring a G-1 win, and on his arch-nemesis/fellow karate movie henchman Ishii, was such a powerful emotional moment. Watching Honma and the 2,000 people in Korakuen Hall share the joy of the lovable loser finally validating the fans’ faith in him is something I’m going to remember for a long time.

3. Sasha Banks vs. Bayley (NXT 08/22/2015)

Everything I love about wrestling exists in this match. Above the great offence and brilliant incorporation of Bayley’s injured hand, the character work on display here was on another level. Sasha Banks’ face told the story of the match, as her confidence was slowly drained away by Bayley’s refusal to die, even when Sasha tried to grind her hand into powder. Each time Bayley’s shoulders came off the mat, Sasha saw her championship slip just a little further away. At the same time, each kickout steeled Bayley’s resolve, and by the end of the match she seemed a completely different wrestler than the one who entered amidst flailing tube men.

2. Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (Dragon Gate 11/01/2015)

I love everything about how this match builds. Mochizuki’s blitz at the beginning, knowing he needs that advantage if he’s going to stop the juggernaut, sets the pace for the bout, which never really slows down. Both guys try to take away their opponent’s most powerful weapons, but once they realize it’s not going to work, the match turns into an arms race; instead of trying to take away their opponent’s weapons, they unload their own often and as brutally as possible. Mochizuki’s emotional final stretch, where he wills himself off of the mat in a final act of defiance before succumbing to Last Falconry, ends the story beautifully. He gave everything he had, but after Shingo kicked out of the combo that finished him in 2005, all that Mochi had left was to make Shingo kill him.

1. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW 1/4/2015)

The feeling I had watching this match was the feeling I got watching the pillars of ’90s All Japan. The storytelling was immaculate. Smug young prick Okada weathered Tanahashi’s offence looking for the chance to kill him dead with a Rainmaker… and then completely broke down when the move that had beaten everyone else didn’t beat Tanahashi. Okada continuing panicked Rainmaker attempts while Tanahashi picked him apart was brilliant, and the final High Fly Flow might be the most painful-looking splash I’ve ever seen. 2015’s best match, and an all-time classic.

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NXT Takeover II: Fatal Four Way Review

by Jeff on September 18, 2014 at 6:59 am
Posted In: Blog

I haven’t written a show review in… I don’t even know. A long time. I COULD just go look at the archive, I suppose, but it doesn’t really matter, because it’s NXT time!

If you read any wrestling news sites, I’m sure you’re aware by now that a lot of people are pretty hyped about NXT. It’s providing a lot of hope for what WWE could be like in the future, which is helping a lot of fans deal with what WWE is like in the present. I haven’t watched the episodes of NXT leading up to Takeover II, because the Network in Canada is a weird combination of actual cable channel and limited on-demand content (which my provider doesn’t even carry). Nevertheless, podcasts and written reviews have kept me up to date with what’s going on, and these NXT specials have thus far been worth going out of my way to watch, so let’s get started!

The opening video is a great manipulation of the usual WWE “Then. Now. Forever” opener, but focusing on “now” and with NXT footage spliced in like it’s, well, taking over. I don’t know if that’s the normal format for the NXT opening, but I liked it a lot. Very nice touch.

NXT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: THE ASCENSION (c) vs. LUCHA DRAGONS

This is easily the best Ascension match I’ve ever seen, and I think there’s a strong argument to be made that it’s their best match ever. I generally enjoy Viktor, as he used to be an indie guy in my area, and he does a good job in this match as a base for Sin Cara and Kalisto’s aerial offence. Sin Cara and Viktor start, with Sin Cara proceeding to be more interesting in one offensive exchange than he has been since Mistico went back to Mexico.

It’s shortly after that exchange that I noticed that the ring apron facing the hard camera has a video screen on it. The ring apron. Has a video screen. In this case, it’s reminding viewers that this match is for the Tag Team Championship. I don’t know if it’s going to be a special piece of set dressing for these NXT specials or if it’s going to be a regular feature of the staging, but I like it.

Back to the match, Sin Cara was isolated for the bulk of the bout, which I think is going to be the structure of most Lucha Dragons matches. Kalisto’s offence is so exciting that he’s a perfect hot tag, and Sin Cara works well as the guy who takes most of the punishment but can still contribute interesting offence. Notably, he hit a really great suicide dive that took out both members of the Ascension AND looked like an actual offensive move, not just an awkward flying shove.

Sin Cara and Kalisto captured the NXT Tag Team Titles when Kalisto pinned Viktor after Salida del Sol.

Following the tag title match and a follow-up promo that was inconsequential, a video package hyping NXT Champion Adrian Neville aired. Neville comes off vaguely heelish, which is interesting, and something he’s been doing fairly regularly, so I’m thinking they might be going somewhere with it in a slow-burn fashion. I also really like these sit-down interviews that NXT does. They feel fresh and also allow for more subtle and nuanced character than promos that require a guy to stand in the ring and talk over fans who may or may not be willing to play ball.

CJ PARKER vs. BARON CORBIN

I didn’t watch the pre-show, but apparently this was set up on there. I’ve never seen Baron Corbin before, but he’s huge and has a chest tattoo that looks like it was originally scaled for an 18th century ship sail. CJ Parker’s entrance music is really great. CJ Parker is not. He gets shitkicked by Baron Corbin in like 10 seconds.

Afterward, we get another promo package for the main event, this time highlighting Tyson Kidd, who I don’t think anyone would have expected to be as good on the mic as he has been during his heel run. I love how NXT handles characters, and Tyson Kidd is a great example. He’s a heel who is a heel because his wife gets more attention than him, and he wants to prove that he’s worth paying attention to. So simple, and well-executed.

We also get a hype package for the hair vs. hair match coming up. It’s fine, and gives us important information about what a bucket of white foam can do. FORESHADOWING.

HAIR vs. HAIR: ENZO AMORE w/ Big Cass vs. SYLVESTER LEFORT w/ Marcus Lois

Enzo Amore and Big Cass must have charisma instead of blood. There’s more personality in these guys than in 90% of the WWE babyfaces combined. Sylvester Lefort and Marcus Lois are also there.

I was excited about this because hair matches are so rare, but this was bad. Neither guy has any offence, and everything was clunky and awkward. Enzo won with an O’Connor roll with the tights pulled, so he’s already embracing the WWE babyface moral code of “I’m the good guy so I can do whatever I want without consequence.”

Cass and Enzo try to take Lefort to the bucket of goo from the video package (which is hair remover, in the story), but Marcus Lois rescues Lefort with an attack from behind. He knocks Cass down with a forearm smash, then he himself falls down and starts selling for literally no reason. Lefort escapes, but Lois is too slow and gets the bucket dumped on his head.

Tyler Breeze hype package for the main event. Surprise, it’s good. His boots look like those stupid dreadlock things that raver chicks wear.

KENTA’s Debut

It’s not a match, but I didn’t want it to get lost in the series of promo segments that surrounded it. William Regal is introduced, and he brings out KENTA after a video package of WWE superstars telling you that KENTA is a big deal interspersed with photos from Weekly Pro Wrestling. KENTA comes out, and I get goosebumps from his entrance. Maybe Cass and Amore got their charisma blood from this guy. KENTA speaks in English a little bit, then in Japanese for a while, then again in English, the upshot of which is that he’s changing his name to Hideo Itami as a tribute to one of his heroes, who goes unnamed. I’m not sure why they’ve spent so much time calling him KENTA just to change his name, but as far as ways to address the name change goes, this was fine.

The real meat of his segment was then the Ascension arrived and chucked KENTA, er, Itami, to the floor. They bitched to Regal (the new NXT Commissioner) about losing the tag titles, then a straight up “OH SHIT” moment occurred.

Itami stepped back into the ring, tore off his jacket, and proceeded to beat the shit out of the Ascension. By himself. Not only has nobody ever stood up to the Ascension, nobody’s even come CLOSE to making themselves look like a physical equal to Team Hoss. Notably, Itami used a Yakuza kick and a rolling elbow to dispatch the Ascension, signature moves of Toshiaki Kawada and Mitsuharu Misawa, respectively. Itami then grabbed a chair, seemingly to defend against an Ascension counterattack, but instead he set it up in the middle of the ring, sat down, and motioned for the former tag champs to “bring it on.” The Ascension bailed. NXT made a new guy with limited English a HUGE FUCKING DEAL in about 5 minutes of airtime.

You need to go out of your way to watch this segment. The hair on my arms was standing up throughout the entire Ascension/Itami brawl, and I can’t wait to see more of Itami.

BULL DEMPSEY vs. MOJO RAWLEY

Well this was a thing that happened. Bull Dempsey shitkicked Mojo and beat him with a diving headbutt. At some point he split Mojo’s cheek open. This was maybe two minutes.

Afterward, we join Enzo Amore and Big Cass, as Enzo laments not getting to see anybody bald even though he won the hair match. As luck would have it, they stumble upon Lefort and Lois, the latter of which has his head covered with a towel. Cass hauls him out to the ring where Enzo takes the towel away in a ridiculously uncoordinated facsimile of a normal dancing jab series. Lois has a few chunks of hair left and his eyebrows are missing. He freaks out and bails. Enzo riffs on his SAWFT catchphrase, calling Lois BAWLD. Enzo is a great talker. He is the opposite of great at wrestling.

A video package of sit-down interviews intercut with footage from recent weeks of NXT TV detail the history between Bayley and Charlotte, going all the way back to Takeover when Charlotte won the belt and the fans at the aftershow chanted for Bayley to be her next opponent. Again, this was really good. The moral of the story is that, like WWE, NXT is really good at video packages. The use of the UFC-style talking heads is unique to NXT, though, outside of its use in promoting the Lesnar/Cena Summerslam feud.

NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: CHARLOTTE (c) vs. BAYLEY

Charlotte’s theme music is just wonderful. It’s the perfect blend of an homage to Ric Flair and Charlotte’s personal “flair.” Puns, you see. I like it a lot. Bayley’s music sounds like a late ’90 pop radio track, but with car dealership flailing tube men.

I’m going to make a controversial statement: I think Charlotte is better than Paige.

Whereas Paige is a good worker in the ring, Charlotte is an overall better wrestler. Her facial expressions are emotional, her mannerisms communicate her character without her needing to speak, and her moveset is so versatile. Look no further than the figure four headscissors that a portion of the mid-match was built around. Charlotte took a nod to her father and turned it into several minutes of Bayley getting hope spots and Charlotte squashing them in different ways each time while still using the figure four.

I could go move by move, but I don’t want to read that stuff so I’m not going to write it. Suffice to say, this match is very good. It’s not as good as Charlotte vs. Natalya from the May Takeover show, but this one is still worth going out of your way to watch.

After the match, Sasha Banks comes out and starts to bully Bayley, continuing the feud that they’ve been involved in leading into Bayley’s title shot. I quite liked the camera work showing Charlotte watching the altercation on the screen and looking back, conflicted about what to do. Her eventual reaction was wonderfully nuanced. She saved Bayley, who had earned her respect, but did so without siding with her. She didn’t turn babyface and become allies with Bayley, but she wouldn’t stand to see a worthy opponent abused by a wrestler who hadn’t proved herself worthy of even being in the match. At the same time, she didn’t attack Banks. It was almost like watching a bouncer remove a drunk from the bar. There’s no malice, but the behaviour is not okay and must be corrected. I’m interested to see where this story goes. Bayley has a clear story culminating with a title victory, but Sasha Banks is going to play some sort of role in keeping her away from the title, whether that be by feuding with Bayley or by entering into a program with Charlotte that keeps Bayley away from the title picture.

I really like that women’s wrestling exists that I can enjoy and be excited about from not only a match quality standpoint, but as stories.

The final hype video for the four way followed, focusing on Sami Zayn. Like it’s three predecessors, it was also very good. Sami Zayn is much better in these sit-down interviews than he is in the usual WWE-style backstage fare. The difference isn’t as significant as it is for Adrian Neville, but both of them are much better suited to these UFC style talking head promos.

NXT CHAMPIONSHIP FATAL FOUR WAY MATCH: ADRIAN NEVILLE (c) vs. SAMI ZAYN vs. TYLER BREEZE vs. TYSON KIDD

WWE style fatal four way matches are strange beasts. They’re triple threat matches with everything magnified. I’m not sure why they don’t just pair off into two separate mini-matches that interact. At any rate, this match highlighted both the best and worst elements of a WWE fatal four way. When more than two of the participants got together, there were some really exciting sequences, but there were also extended periods where two guys would pretend they were dead on the floor while Tyson Kidd put somebody in a headlock.

For future reference: tornado style matches like this should never have rest holds. Ever.

Adrian Neville was in the strange position of either stealing the show or being noticeably absent. Tyler Breeze was mostly just the latter, to the point that I’m not entirely sure why he was even in the match. Neville had a fantastic spot where Sami Zayn was hitting the ropes in preparation for a dive onto Kidd and Breeze, but at the last moment Neville hit a springboard moonsault onto the heels, cutting Zayn off and teasing what would happen later in the finish.

There was the obligatory Tower of Doom, which the commentary sold like it was the most devastating and unique spot ever to occur… in every indy multi-man match. No, but seriously, you’d think they were calling Brock Lesnar and Big Show destroying the ring. Tyler Breeze had exactly one sequence in which he was relevant, as he hit each other opponent with a big kick and tried to pin each of them in succession, hoping one had been knocked out. The rest of his existence in the match was to take cool-looking moves and to catch dives. Now that I reflect on it, I kind of wish he had been left out of the match entirely and given a strong undercard match. If they weren’t going to build on his number one contender’s win from Takeover The First, they might as well have given him something productive to do. Although I guess allowing Sami Zayn to hit his sweet tornado DDT through the turnbuckle as productive. Still, Breeze holding his title shot over the heads of the other wrestlers while taking easy matches and watching them destroy each other would have been more intriguing than tossing him into a four way where he was the fourth most important guy.

The finishing sequence saw Sami Zayn go berserk and dispose of Neville (and almost himself) with a suicide dive, Breeze with the aforementioned diving-through-the-turnbuckle DDT, and Tyson Kidd with the Helluva Kick. Unable to get back into the ring in time and seeing his title slipping away, Adrian Neville yanked the spotlight away from Zayn for the second time in the match. This time, he yanked the referee out of the ring, breaking up the count which would have seen Zayn capture the gold. Zayn took exception, ate a superkick, and Zayn hit the Red Arrow on Kidd, who was still out from the Helluva Kick. Neville retained, and looks like he’s going to start shifting into a heel role against Sami Zayn. Neville was in an interesting grey area between face and heel, as a character, prior to Takeover II: The Re-Takeoverening. His offence makes him a pretty natural babyface, since people like to watch hobbits do flips, but his character behaves like a heel frequently. Not in the “WWE babyfaces are asshole bullies” way that enrages me on a regular basis, but in a much more subtle way. Neville is kind of a dick in verbal exchanges with his potential challengers, but in a more muted fashion than a Sheamus or a John Cena. The thing is, the fact that he did stuff like that makes what he did to Sami Zayn on Takeover feel like a natural evolution of his personality than a wrestling turn. Am I building a more nuanced narrative out of what was likely “well he’s kind of shit at talking as a babyface, so let’s just make him a heel?” Probably.

I’m very interested to see how a short, jacked, flippy heel whose accent is thicker than his legs will work out. I don’t subscribe to the theory that heels can’t do cool moves, so I’m open to the idea of a sawed-off dickhead with a bulletproof finisher that is mind-boggling in its flipositude.

Meanwhile, Tyson Kidd continues to be the most interesting character in the NXT main event picture, and will probably evolve further now that he’s been pinned on two consecutive Takeovers following Neville’s Red Arrow. Sami Zayn has a clear program with Neville, which I suspect will lead to Zayn taking the belt from Neville at the next special so that Neville can move up to WWE and be British Evan Bourne. Zayn is very good in the role of “runner up trying to finally win the big one,” so I think that will work out nicely for everyone involved. Tyler Breeze… the fuck is Tyler Breeze going to do now? He was presented as the fourth most important guy in the match, and there was no clear set-up of a future program for  him. I could see a transitional Kidd/Breeze feud where they blame each other for neither of them winning the match, but otherwise it seems like the main event scene will need a reshuffling of the players to make sure that everyone has something to do.

Or KENTA/Hideo Itami will show up on the next episode of NXT television and murder everyone, build a throne from their skulls, and sit atop it with the NXT Title. Or maybe they’ll use this opportunity to restructure the roster so that Lucha Dragons have people to wrestle, because people like flips and a throne of skulls in Florida would probably smell bad enough to clear out Full Sail.

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NXT November 7th, 2012

by Jeff on November 10, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Posted In: Blog

Last week I posted a long article about how the new NXT is the best WWE show. After watching this week’s episode, I decided to just find it online so you guys could see for yourselves how good this stuff is. The video is at the end of this post, but here are some highlights.

Kassius Ohno vs. Trent Barretta. It’s a midcard match that has a storyline behind it. And it’s interwoven with ANOTHER storyline. Also, it’s just a really good match.

Big E Langston kills people, is awesome. Wait, what, another midcarder with a storyline? It’s almost like the team over at NXT know how to write a wrestling show…

Husky Harris is Bray Wyatt now, and somehow that made him ten billion times better on the mic. Seriously, his promo is on a whole other level than anyone else in WWE. Also, Brodie Lee is called Luke Harper now and serves as Wyatt’s redneck killing machine of a henchman.

The four way elimination match for a shot at Seth Rollins’ NXT belt is really good. It could have used more time, but the show’s only an hour so it’s hard to give 30 minutes to a single match.

Watch it. Love it. Track it down and keep watching it.

EDIT: So, the full episode of NXT was embedded here, but WWE had it pulled down from YouTube. Because obviously the pay version of Hulu is totally an option that everyone is falling all over themselves to embrace.

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NXT: It’s Better Than RAW

by Jeff on November 2, 2012 at 11:57 pm
Posted In: Blog

WWE’s best show isn’t even on TV. Which, considering how much TV WWE airs every week, is completely absurd. I’m talking about NXT, the show that had one season where it was relevant and then spiraled into the depths of sub-Superstars obscurity. The guys on NXT were the ones who only got call-ups to the main roster when they needed somebody to job to the jobbers. Then something magical happened.

WWE higher-ups stopped paying attention to it.

This homeless man is actually the best-booked champion in WWE.

NXT 5, the seemingly never-ending season, ditched the competition format and just became a wrestling show. A really good wrestling show. Then NXT merged with FCW and Triple H took it over, relocating it to Full Sail University in Florida and using the film school there to produce the show, which only airs on the internet in the US but is on TV in several international markets, including on The Score in Canada. And oh man am I glad it does, because in an era of tedious three hours RAWs which routinely feature less than an hour of actual wrestling, NXT is proof that a one hour wrestling show can not only work, but be better than what the main roster’s gobs of money can do.

Full Sail University

Instead of taping NXT before RAW or Smackdown in front of a live crowd of thousands who could not give less of a shit about what was happening with those wrestlers they’d never seen before inside those yellow ropes, the new NXT is in the “NXT Arena” at Full Sail University. And holy crap does that audience give a shit about what’s happening inside those now-black ropes. TNA really suffers from taping its TV in the Impact Zone week after week, but just a stone’s throw away there’s a ravenous wrestling crowd losing their minds. On the episode that aired on The Score today, the fans chanted “FIVE” during Big E Langston’s promo segment with Vickie Guerrero… and not a goddamn thing Big E Langston said even made the slightest bit of sense. He was talking about how he had five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, and somehow oozed charisma while jabbering like a mental patient. And the crowd LOVED it.

Need more evidence? Jinder Mahal and Michael McGuillicutty both get reactions. And are GOOD. Yeah.

The Roster and Storytelling

The roster is mostly FCW guys with a few WWE low-carders who aren’t being used on the main shows sprinkled in. I don’t have much to say about the FCW guys that hasn’t been said before, but the way the guys who have been in WWE are used is really interesting. NXT seems to be considered its own pocket universe where RAW and Smackdown don’t really exist, because most of the WWE guys are portraying entirely different characters than they did on the big shows. Jinder Mahal isn’t a member of a ridiculous multi-ethnic rock ensemble, he’s a rich Indian guy who wants to fuck shit up because he came SO close to NXT gold and let it slip through his fingers. His half-English-half-not promos actually work because he actually has somewhere to go with them. Drew McIntyre, Mahal’s nonsensical bandmate, isn’t associated with Mahal at all on NXT, and neither of them acknowledge that their RAW gimmick even exists. McIntyre is a big, tough Scotsman who wants to fuck shit up because he beat Seth Rollins, but Rollins didn’t have the belt yet so McIntyre didn’t get anything out of it. Are you sensing a pattern here? Characterizations on NXT are based on wanting something. Namely, the NXT belt. Also, violencing people.

Kassius Ohno and Richie Steamboat are a great example of characters being developed away from the title scene. They had a match, and Ohno cheated, got himself disqualified, then beat the ever-loving fuckshit out of Steamboat afterward, establishing himself as a right bastard who was a little unhinged. He then proceeded to cut these weird promos where he portrayed himself as an awkward nerd while Steamboat spent most of his time being livid and wanting to commit a homicide. Standard wrestling stuff, but here’s what they did right: they didn’t then have 76 matches on consecutive shows, which is the current WWE booking strategy for midcard feuds. No, they wrestled other people and tried to work their way up the ranks for future title considerations (okay, so I guess they aren’t THAT far away from the title scene. But that’s a good thing), and proceeded to screw each other over at every opportunity. Thus far, they have only had one match since the initial incident of the feud, and it was a perfectly executed feud-builder. Steamboat won clean on a roll-up, but didn’t definitively dispatch Ohno. Ohno then proceeded to thrash Steamboat like he was a wheat field out of frustration. While Seth Rollins defends his belt, Ohno and Steamboat are engaging in a bitter rivalry which is the best on the show.

The way the NXT belt is being used is basically perfect, as far as I’m concerned. The tournament, throughout which the belt sat on a pedestal at the top of the stage, was built as the most important competition in the lives of each of the participants, and once Seth Rollins won the belt, he treated it like he had just found the cure for his lack of mic skills. And by that I mean he treated it like it was important. Hell, look at how many characters’ entire motivations are based on variations of wanting the belt more than anything else. Rollins, for his part, is establishing the title’s importance and the how good the wrestler who wins the belt from him is going to have to be by having consistently high-quality 10-20 minute matches with a variety of guys that looked like turds on the WWE main roster (Mahal, McGuillicutty, McIntyre, Heath Slater… actually, it looks like slamdancing Seth Rollins really hates multicultural southern rock bands).

Oh, and on today’s episode, Antonio Cesaro defended the US Title against Tyson Kidd. It was excellent, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anybody, but it was also interesting that the WWE US Title was shown as being of lower importance than the NXT belt, given that there had earlier been a segment where Mahal, Justin Gabriel, Bo Dallas, and McIntyre argued over who would challenge Seth Rollins next and not one peep was made about being jealous of Kidd getting a US Championship match. It’s subtle, but it’s there: the NXT Title is the most important thing on the show, no matter who else shows up. Even CM Punk’s appearance recently was used to establish that, as he was there to call Seth Rollins’ title defence against Michael McGuillicutty. Rollins holding up the belt and staring down CM Punk was much less subtle than the US Title situation, but it served a similar purpose: on NXT, the guy with the weird-looking belt is the MAN, whether or not the WWE Champ is in the house.

The Commentary

This was a more interesting topic of conversation before JBL and Jim Ross returned to the booth on Smackdown and RAW, respectively. William Regal does the colour with Byron Saxton (or, recently, some other guy) on play-by-play, with Jim Ross joining them to call the main events. Regal stumbles over his words a lot, but the substance of what he says is fantastic. It’s always fun to hear somebody talk about wrestling who actually knows what things are called and can go old-school by explaining WHY moves are being done. Saxton keeps things moving and knows when to let Regal talk and when to step in and make calls, and JR is JR. It’s an excellent team, and was the best WWE had until Jerry Lawler’s unfortunate heart problem led to the restructuring of the announce team.

The Down Side

You probably can’t watch it easily. As far as I know it’s not on WWE.com anymore, and is instead on Hulu Plus, which is a pay service. In Canada and Europe it’s televised, but it’s time slots are pretty terrible. I watch it at 4 PM on Friday afternoon, which is shortly after I get home from school. Because apparently I’m ten. If you can find this show, though, you should absolutely go out of your way to watch it. It’s what WWE TV could be in the future when Vince finally pumps too much bull-shark testosterone into his balls and his brain explodes.

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WWE NXT August 17th, 2010

by Jeff on August 19, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Posted In: Blog

Promos/First Elimination
-Percy Watson is only vaguely intelligible, and is eliminated. McGillicutty and Riley’s promos are solid but unspectacular. Kaval’s rap is entirely different from the lacklustre promos he’s been giving so far, so in that sense I approve of it. He clearly forgot a bit of it in the middle, which dragged it down (as did Michael Cole’s jackassery on commentary), but it’s probably one of the better bits of mic work he’s done on NXT. Speaking of which, Husky Harris’ promo was fantastic, and easily the best one he’s cut all season. The reference to Barry Windham’s championship boots was a nice nod to the past, which I always enjoy, and the line about “they say the devil wears cowboy boots. Ain’t that a coincidence?” was a sublime finish.

Michael McGillicutty vs. Zack Ryder
– The WWE isn’t really doing much with him, but I like Zack Ryder. He’s a decent worker with an interesting character that seems to be falling victim to being on star-crowded Monday Night RAW. I’d actually like to see him work with McGillicutty in a situation where they have more time, since this was a pretty entertaining match that kept me engaged throughout its length.

LayCool segment
– I enjoy LayCool’s antics (somewhat inexplicably, really), and this added a bit more story to the next match, beyond the one that’s developed over the course of Kaval and Harris’ previous encounters, so in my estimation this segment accomplished what it needed to.

Husky Harris vs. Kaval
– Once again Harris and Kaval work together very well, although the ending of this one got awkward and sloppy-looking. Kaval’s rolling heel kick looked like it caught Harris square in the temple with a substantial amount of force, which could have been a contributing factor. The double-stomp to finish things off looked absolutely brutal. Some wrestling finishers don’t really look like finsihers… that one looked like it would kill the average person stone dead.

Kofi Kingston vs. Alex Riley
– Well that sure didn’t take long. Another match I’d like to see again but with more time. But it’s WWE C-show, so that’s probably not going to happen. I didn’t like it as much as the previous two matches, but it wasn’t bad.

Matt Striker/Michael Cole/Josh Matthews promo
– Michael Cole is a giant douchebag. I can’t even think of words slanderous enough to describe my opinions of Michael Cole and his petty attention-whoring, disrespect towards independent wrestling (you know, the wrestling that keeps new blood pumping into the industry so that you continue to have a job?), and the verbal excrement that he calls commentary. This entire segment is completely unnecessary and did nothing but make me angry.

Second Elimination
– Husky Harris is out, which isn’t cool. Cody Rhodes kind of took over the segment, which worked despite the fact that I would have preferred to see if Husky could match his promo from earlier. I liked that it took msot of the pros in a combined effort to take down Husky, and it seems like they could be setting up some kind of angle where Rhodes brings Harris up to the WWE as his muscle (and to protest his elimination, since they’ve developed the most interesting pro/rookie relationship this season).

Final Thoughts
– Husky Harris’ elimination leads me to believe that Kaval is going to win the show. McGillicutty is a little bland and I don’t think he could hang with the main eventers convincingly like Wade Barrett is doing on RAW right now. Alex Riley is the best of the three on the mic, though, which gives him a strong chance. Actually, that alone might be enough to give him the win. I can see Alex Riley being injected into the Smackdown main event scene and holding his own (RAW’s upper card is far too crowded). Michael McGillicutty and Kaval are both good examples of why managers need to make a comeback. With a Bobby Heenan or a Jim Cornette that could carry the bulk of the promo load, either of those guys could easily find a place in the upper-mid-card.

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WWE NXT August 10th, 2010

by Jeff on August 12, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Posted In: Blog

The Opening Segment
– Matt Stryker shows off the episode’s challenge with Michael Cole and Josh Matthews. Cole is a walking catalogue for the WWE merchandise line and goes about seems to have embraced the fact that the fans (well, at least internet jerks like me) think he’s a complete douchebag. He storms off like one after Josh Matthews beats him easily. Which really shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody, since the dude is built like a little bus.

Punching Bag Challenge
– They punch the bag. Alex Riley wins, making the dramatic moment at the end of the elimination poll less suspenseful. It’s not the worst challenge they’ve had and, even better, it’s short.

Six-Man Tag Team Match
– I enjoyed this match, and my only real complaint is that there was a commercial break in the middle of it. I don’t like having commericials in the middle of matches when they could just as easily cut down some of the other segments (like the challenge or the opening “here’s how the challenge works” bit). Lucky Cannon lives up to his name, since it looked like he could have very easily broken his arm on that dive over the top onto Alex Riley. I like that this match was noticeably different  from the match on RAW, although the fact that this match was longer, better, and on the right show begs the question as to why the six-man was on RAW in the first place instead of Miz/Morrison, which had direct SummerSlam implications.

Morrison vs. Miz
– Good match, wrong show. This should have been on RAW, where it’s ramifications would have had more of an impact on a larger audience. It almost feels like the WWE is aware that Monday’s RAW was a weak lead-in to SummerSlam and were trying to make up for it a bit.

The Elimination
– Lucky Cannon being ousted wasn’t much of a surprise, since he has all the personality of the average coat rack. Even his farewell address seemed like he had no idea where he was going with it. He started off like he was going to take a heel turn, then went into a weird half-snark/half-trying-too-hard-to-be-a-babyface speech. I’m also pleased to see Husky Harris climb the rankings a little bit.

Michael Cole’s Miz-Boner
– Yep, it’s still raging. I don’t understand how the Miz can possibly be considered the best coach in NXT history by any conceivable metric, though. Daniel Bryan had a terrible record, then lost to Wade Barrett. Alex Riley has a middling record and was second last in the pro poll. If Cole is trying to help get the Miz over for his sojourn into main event territory, I’d suggest the best way to do that is to not have him be associated with Michael Cole.

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WWE NXT, Aug. 3rd 2010

by Jeff on August 5, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Posted In: Blog

I haven’t seen the full episode for this one (it hasn’t aired yet and I won’t be home when it’s on later tonight), so today’s commentary is based on the clips on WWE.com.

– The Challenge
… was terrible. The WWE.com clip cut out Matt Stryker’s bit at the beginning where he explains what the point of it is (assuming he did one), which I really would have liked to have seen, because I have no idea why anybody could have possibly thought this challenge was a good idea. So the rookies have to kiss a homely woman to prove… something? Lucky Cannon wins immunity, probably because he’s less interesting than the ring post and at risk of getting the boot in the next elimination (although considering the fan vote is only half of the elimination criteria, the WWE can easily preserve whoever they want to remain in the competition with the pro poll).

– Michael Cole & Josh Matthews
I think I’ve made it quite clear that I think Michael Cole is an untalented douchebag. I’ve heard plenty of bad commentary, but this is just ridiculous coming from the biggest promotion in the world. Cole and Matthews have all the chemistry of a third grade science class, and spend more time being complete assholes to each other than actually talking about what’s happening in the ring. The key to good heel/face commentary is a certain degree of subtlety. Whereas Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler bickered and had very different views about appropriate behaviour for wrestlers, but you could still believe that they respected each other and had a certain degree of friendship between them. Cole and Matthews interact like they’re in junior high.

– Matches: Miz vs. McGillicutty, Riley vs. Watson, Harris vs. Kaval, McGillicutty vs. Cannon
The WWE.com clips appear to be out of order, so I’m commenting on the matches in the order I watched them. They also don’t show the entire match, which is a little annoying (yes, I’m aware they have full episodes on Hulu, but I just get a pop-up saying they don’t work in my region).

Miz beats McGillicutty to the surprise of nobody. Cole’s Miz-boner significantly detracts from the match. McGillicutty’s earlier bout against Lucky Cannon is… well it sure did happen. Is the McGillicutter a spinning neckbreaker, or is it supposed to end in a Diamond Cutter? If it’s the latter, that seems like it would look pretty cool if Lucky Cannon didn’t bone the bump.

Husky Harris and Kaval had a very entertaining match (well, the three minutes of it that were online were good, so I’m extrapolating that the rest of it was also good) that featured some cool spots, the best of which was Harris countering a plancha into a powerslam against the guard rail. Kaval countering the catapult into the Warrior’s Way was also very cool, as was the Uranagi/senton combo that Harris used to get the fall.

Overall, I think the challenges need a serious reconsideration if they’re going to continue to be part of the show, because right now they’re just a half-assed nod to the immunity challenges on reality TV shows. Four matches is also a bit much to try to cram into a 45 minute show. I’m also not sure how sustainable the show is in the long term, since the WWE already has problems showcasing their entire roster on TV without adding more guys to it every few months. And if season one is any indication, the bulk of the NXT roster will probably find themselves sticking around. A few of the guys from this season probably won’t be back, but I wouldn’t be surprised if four or five guys ended up in the WWE.

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WWE NXT, July 22nd, 2010

by Jeff on July 22, 2010 at 6:27 pm
Posted In: Blog

A quick note about the date: NXT airs on Tuesdays in the US, I think (as far as I know it’s in the same time slot on the sci fi channel that ECW was in), but I’m Canadian and we get NXT on The Score, where it airs on Thursdays. So while it aired in the US a few days ago, I’m just getting it for the first time now.

– Opening Talky Segment
I didn’t see last week’s episode, so I have no idea what MVP and Percy Watson are talking about. Normally the WWE replays things ad nauseum, but in this case it would have been helpful. I don’t quite get why they set up MVP’s talk show set when there’s going to be a match right away, but the segment itself was decent. MVP and Cody Rhodes carried it, since Husky Harris isn’t very good on the mic and Percy Watson is just kind of boring. Husky Harris’ promo was almost good until he botched the end of it.

– Josh Matthews and Michael Cole
So is Michael Cole the heel announcer? But he’s the face announcer on RAW… ostensibly, anyway, since it seems like he and Jerry Lawler can’t decide which of them is the face and which one is the heel. I still don’t understand what the deal with Michael Cole’s Miz-boner is. God, if the Miz cashes in money in the bank and wins the WWE belt I wouldn’t be surprised if Cole just splooged all over ringside. Having the heel announcer do play-by-play is a bit of a twist, except that it means the face announcer is always in a weaker position, since the play-by-play guy naturally dominates the commentary. It doesn’t help that Cole’s idea of being the heel announcer is to just snark without any sort of wit.

– Husky Harris & Cody Rhodes vs. Percy Watson & MVP
Rhodes and Harris are my favourite pro/rookie combination so far, so I’m happy to see them in action. Husky Harris seems to be the best in-ring wrestler out of the rookies (at least that I’ve seen, keep in mind that I’ve missed about half of the episodes so far), and this match actually got some time to develop. I like the dynamic between Rhodes and Harris, with prettyboy Cody Rhodes supporting his looks-challenged henchman because he’s a beast in the ring.

– Miz/Alex Riley/Lucky Cannon promo
Generic babyface promo, generic heel promo, Miz ends up with all the heat.

– Alex Riley vs. Lucky Cannon
Well that… happened. Alex Riley puts away Lucky Cannon with a TKO in a match of Divas-esque length. Once again, The Miz ends up with all the heat after smashing Lucky onto the money in the bank briefcase.

– Morrison/Cottonwood/LayCool/Kaval promo
Boring. Eli Cottonwood has improved slightly by using the fact that he’s a freaking giant to his advantage, but other than that, meh. Also, could SOMEBODY give Kaval a personality? His promo is met with silence from the fans after he attempts to get cheap pops with name-dropping because somebody decided he should be the “I love you fans, we can do anything together!” babyface.

– Kingston/McGillicutty promo
McGillibuddies? I want to say I like this just to spite Michael Cole… but damn, that’s terrible.

– Obstacle Course Challenge
The challenges thusfar have been the weakest aspect of the show, but I don’t hate this one. It’s entertaining, visually, and there’s some decent character stuff happening. Alex Riley is a sore loser, Eli Cottonwood ain’t too bright, and Husky Harris rewards my favouritism with a great bit of development for his character. Smashing through the thing he was supposed to jump over and then swaggering his way through the rest of the course was both entertaining and really established his personality.

Final Thoughts:
I can’t quite gauge who’s going to come out as the NXT champion, but I’ve gotta say that Husky Harris seems like a frontrunner. He’s weak on the mic, but his character and personality are engaging and he’s very good in the ring. With more practice on the stick or a manager I think he could do very well in the WWE. I want to root for Kaval because I’m a big Low-Ki fan, but goddamn is his gimmick bad. The rest of the cast seems like they could be serviceable WWEers, but I can’t see any of them getting the kind of push that winning NXT involves. Maybe add them to the Nexus if the WWE decides they want to replace some of Wade Barrett’s mooks.

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WWE NXT

by Jeff on July 8, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Posted In: Blog

I didn’t get to see WWE NXT season 1 when it was airing because none of my local stations were carrying it, but now that The Score  is carrying season 2 (albeit in a crappy time slot) I’ve been able to watch it. Well, the first episode and the most recent episode, anyway, because of the aforementioned crappy time slot. I was going to post stream-of-consciousness reactions to the show on Twitter (kind of like what I do with RAW and Smackdown once in a while), but decided to just blog it instead, because more site content beats out Twitter posts read by tens of people.

– “Talk the Talk Challenge” Meh. A couple of good promos (Alex Riley and Michael McGillicutty), a couple of stinkers (Eli Cottonwood and Kaval), and the rest were mediocre. The concept of having challenges is kind of interesting, but I’m not a fan of how it’s implemented. Having everyone line up and cut a promo on a “random” subject seems kind of pointless when they could just  as easily have them cut promos before their matches or something. The “winner gets a talk show segment” prize… eh. I don’t really like those segments when they’re hosted by wrestlers I like, let alone ones I’m ambivalent toward.

– Josh Matthews and Michael Cole
Josh Matthews’ reaction to Michael Cole’s talk show name suggestions was brilliant. Actually, his reaction to Michael Cole in general is pretty entertaining, like he’s annoyed that he can hear the words coming out of Cole’s face. I think Matthews works pretty well as the snarky heel announcer (well, snarky, anyway, since the heel/face announcer thing seems to have dropped out of style like thought balloons in comics). I don’t quite understand Cole’s Miz-boner though. Is it something that makes sense story-wise or just Cole being a douche?

– Percy Watson vs. Michael McGillicutty, Kaval vs. The Miz, Rhodes & Harris vs. Henry & Cannon
I like the way they shoot the matches. The camera never seems to stay still, almost like a hand-held effect, but a little bit smoother. It’s got a nice energetic feeling to it, and it’s good to see the WWE trying some new things with the camera work, which has been pretty much the same for the last twenty or so years. The main event was pretty short, but fairly good. I liked Husky’s reaction when his team won, like he hadn’t proved his point yet. The other two matches were unspectacular, but good enough, and I haven’t seen somebody get pinned with a sunset flip since, like, 1990.

– The Rookies
Michael McGillicutty: I like this guy, but some of the choices the WWE made for his gimmick confuse me. In his intro promo he talked about his lineage, being part of the famous Hennig wrestling family, which is cool, I like it when they make nods to that kind of stuff. But… why isn’t his last name Hennig? “I’m the son of Curt Hennig and grandson of Larry ‘the Axe’ Hennig! But my last name is inexplicably McGillicutty.” Er… what? That weirdness aside, he’s pretty solid all-around, and I could see him winning, or at least ending up on the main WWE roster in the future.

Husky Harris: In this case I can see why they changed his name, since Husky Rotundo would be pretty hard to take seriously. They might as well call him Fatty McFatfat. His mic work hasn’t been fantastic, but he’s pretty athletic and he just has something about him that makes me think he’s going to do well.

Kaval: I like the dynamic they’ve set up with Kaval and Team Laycool, but I’m not sure if being a crowd-pandering babyface is the right move, character-wise. When I first saw him in TNA he had a kind of mysterious, sinister foreigner thing going, which I think would work in the WWE. His voice sounds awesome, but the less he talks, the better. Maybe if they gave him something other than “Hey WWE Universe, you guys are pretty awesome.”

Eli Cottonwood is a walking billboard for why the WWE needs to bring back managers. The guy’s got a cool backwoods psychopath look, complete with facial tics, but then he talks and the effects of all that size and crazy evaporates.

Percy Watson is trying too hard. Faces shouldn’t have to practically beg the audience to love them.

Alex Riley: This guy has a bit of an early Kurt Angle vibe to him. I haven’t seen him wrestle yet, but his microphone talent is certainly in the upper echelons of the NXT cast.

Lucky Cannon: Not fond of his catch phrase, or his name. Also, I had to look up the NXT cast on the WWE website to remember who he was.

– Other Observations
I haven’t heard anyone on WWE programming use the term “professional wrestler” in a loooong time, but Husky Harris busted it out during his “doorknob” promo. Certainly beats “sports entertainer.”

– The NXT theme song is kind of awful. RAW’s is by Nickelback, and therefore I’m legally obligated to hate it despite it’s near-infuriating level of catchiness, and Smackdown’s is rad.

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