NXT – November 7, 2012: HE’S BACK!

NXT
Date: November 8, 2012
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: William Regal, Tony Luftman, Byron Saxton

Tonight the focus of the show is on the fourway between Mahal, Dallas, Gabriel and McIntyre with the winner getting a shot at the NXT Title I believe next week. However that’s not the most interesting thing we might see tonight. More importantly: will Big E. Langston get to talk about the number five anymore? That’s what I want to hear more than anything else. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the announcement of the fourway last week.

Theme song.

Kassius Ohno vs. Trent Barreta

This is a rematch from two weeks ago where Richie Steamboat cost Ohno the match. Trent chops away to start and Kassius hides on the apron. Barreta tries a sunset powerbomb to the floor but Ohno kicks him in the head to escape. Back in and it’s a dragon sleeper by Ohno which is treated like any other hold here. Regal says Trent enjoys pain because it makes him feel alive. Well I guess it would.

Trent’s enziguri is blocked and Ohno gets two off a rollup. Barreta gets the same off a tornado DDT and Ohno is staggered. They trade elbows before Kassius kicks Trent in the face for two. Kassius puts Trent on top, only to be shoved off and caught by a missile dropkick. Trent loads up the running knee but Kassius ducks to the floor. Back in and the spinning elbow to the head gets the pin for Kassius at 6:08.

Rating: C-. I’m not sure what it was but this didn’t work too well. The chemistry didn’t work here as it was like they were just trading moves while building to nothing. It wasn’t terrible or even bad but it felt more like a collection of spots instead of a flowing match if that makes any sense.

Post match Trent ducks another elbow and dropkicks Ohno.

Cory Graves talks about how his tattoos tell his story and says come and read them.

Big E. Langston vs. Memo Montenegro

Langston starts a FIVE chant before shoving Memo down to the mat. A big clothesline kills Memo and the slam drop gets the pin for Langston at 1:00.

Langston does the drop again and counts five himself to a big pop. It’s remarkable how such a simple idea can get so over. The fans DEMAND he does it again but they get Vickie on the screen instead. She’s issues a five thousand dollar bounty on him and promises to laugh last. Langston is annoyed and goes to drop Memo again, but some guy named Chad Baxter jumps Langston. You can figure out what comes next yourselves.

Jason Jordan is in the ring for a match but HE’S BACK!!! AND HE’S GOT A MIC! Bray Wyatt I mean, as in the former Husky Harris who is now doing a freaky gimmick that seems to be inspired by the villain from Cape Fear. He says that he’s back with his wings healed, then he says something in some other language. Wyatt talks about taking us to the top of a mountain so we can watch everything turn to ash and then fly away. Jordan wants to fight right now but Wyatt says he’s a monster that is never alone. An even scarier looking guy comes to the ring to fight Jordan for him.

??? vs. Jason Jordan

The guy who isn’t named yet is played by former indy guy Brodie Lee, a pretty tall guy who I think had a truck driver gimmick. Regal thinks Lee (who isn’t named here mind you but it’s the only think I know to call him) just came out of a swamp. He kills Jordan with HARD punches and a big clothesline gets two. Lee misses a big boot in the corner so Jordan goes for the knee. That goes well for about eight seconds before Lee DESTROYS him with a Boss Man Slam for the pin at 2:18.

Wyatt says that this is the first son of the Wyatt Family and his name is Luke Harper. This was awesome.

Roman Reigns comes out for an interview but says he doesn’t need Saxton for this. Reigns says he’s sure people are doing better now that Saxton is gone and he’s here. He says that when you’re the man like he is, all you have to do is get up. Whether you’re with him or against him, it’s irrelevant because everyone wants to be Roman Reigns. What he said was fine, but he sounded scared to be talking. He’s got to work on that for a gimmick like this.

Justin Gabriel vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Bo Dallas

The winner gets a title shot at some point in the future and this is under elimination rules with no tagging. Drew and Gabriel fight in one corner while Dallas and Mahal do so in another. The heels both get knocked to the floor and Dallas hits a baseball slide to take McIntyre out. Gabriel dives onto all three guys as we take a break. Back with Mahal suplexing Dallas for two. Jinder and Drew tease a fight but instead they both stomp on Dallas.

McIntyre kicks Mahal down as the South African cross bodies the Scotsman who kicked the Indian in the head after beating up the American. JR’s words, not mine. Gabriel hits an STO on Dallas and knocks him to the floor. A spinning sitout powerbomb puts Mahal down and there’s the 450, but Gabriel hurt himself in the process. Drew dumps Justin to the floor but Dallas spears McIntyre down for the elimination. He also spears a diving Gabriel out of the air and we’re down to one on one with Dallas vs. Mahal.

We take another break and come back with Dallas knocking Mahal down and screaming a lot. We head to the floor and Dallas gets sent into the steps to give Mahal control. The title match is indeed next week. Mahal drops a bunch of knees for two which frustrates him. A jumping knee to the head gets the same result, as does a full nelson slam. Dallas breaks up what appeared to be a Rock Bottom and hits a powerslam to put Mahal down. The spear misses though and the camel clutch gives Mahal the win at 8:26 shown of 15:26.

Rating: B-. This was pretty entertaining and while I’m not crazy about Mahal getting another shot, it’s only his second so it hasn’t been driven into the ground yet. Having four guys in there was a fine idea and they didn’t feel like they were just filling in spots, which is a good thing. Fine main event here and it sets up something later, which is even more important.

Post match Dallas is put in the Clutch again but Rollins makes the save. Seth gets beaten down too and a staredown between he and Mahal ends the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was an awesome show overall with the highlight being the return of Wyatt, who might have the best gimmick in wrestling today. The cool part about that is you can’t really put your finger on what it is, which is what makes monsters creepy. They’re unknown, which can be quite frightening. I’m digging NXT a lot right now as it comes off like a full on promotion where the gimmicks don’t overlap and you really don’t know if one person could beat another. That’s never the case in WWE where it’s easy to tell who is going to win most matches and feuds. Great show this week.

Results

Kassius Ohno b. Trent Barreta – OBE

Big E. Langston b. Memo Montenegro – Slam Drop

Luke Harper b. Jason Jordan – Spinning Boss Man Slam

Jinder Mahal b. Justin Gabriel, Bo Dallas and Drew McIntyre – Camel clutch to Dallas

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

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