NXT – July 4, 2012: The Most Efficient Wrestling Show Today
NXT
Date: July 4, 2012
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Jim Ross, Byron Saxton
Happy (day after) Independence Day for those of you in America. Happy Wednesday to those of you not in America. It’s episode three of the new NXT and I’m actually looking forward to it. We’ve had two very good shows so far and we still have people that haven’t debuted yet. Tonight we have the debut of Kassius Ohno (what names these people have). Let’s get to it.
Sofia Cortez vs. Paige
Cortez is from Puerto Rico and Paige is from England. Both are good looking but they’re not that great in the ring. Cortez (blonde) hooks a headscissors to take Paige (black hair) down and stomps away in the corner. Paige gets a boot up so Cortez enziguris her down. Cortez hooks an arm trap chinlock which Paige breaks free of pretty quickly. Sofia kicks her in the head and hits a sitout DDT (thing the move that Mysterio does where he jumps at his opponent and hooks his legs under their arms and lays out into a bulldog but with a DDT instead) for the pin at 2:27. Usual Divas stuff but Cortez’s kicks weren’t bad.
Seth Rollins vs. Camacho
Dang they don’t waste time on this show. I love that. Ross says that WWE officials are high on Rollins. I’ve never heard that said on WWE TV before. Rollins starts out fast and hammers away before getting two off a rollup out of the corner. He pounds away again in the other corner but charges into a boot.
Camacho drops a leg (hermano) and chokes in the corner. A belly to back suplex gets two for Camacho but Rollins pulls himself up off the ropes and hits a standing enziguri. Seth hits a running dropkick but has to stop to take out Hunico. He rams them together and hits the Blackout for the pin (on Camacho just in case that’s too complicated) for the pin at 4:33.
Rating: D+. This wasn’t a great showcase for Rollins. It’s a good idea to have him beat a main show guy but the match didn’t quite work that well. Rollins has a good finisher that looks like it would knock someone out cold but the rest of him looks like he’s trying to figure out a style. The idea of him being full of energy isn’t much of a gimmick either. Not a bad match but it was underwhelming.
Hunico and Camacho jump Rollins post match and beat him down until Bo Dallas makes the save.
Corey Graves/Jake Carter vs. CJ Parker/Nick Rogers
Carter is Vader’s son. Graves and Carter used to be FCW tag champions and may have been when this was taped. JR acknowledges Carter’s heritage which surprises me a bit. Graves and Parker start us off but it’s quickly off to Carter off a blind tag. Carter hits a quick splash in the corner and brings in Graves again. Graves hooks a neck crank but Parker hits a backdrop and it’s off to Rogers vs. Carter. Carter picks Rogers up in a powerslam position and Graves slides in with a neckbreaker in a move called Bottoms Up for the pin at 2:25. Just a squash.
Video on Kassius Ohno.
Kassius Ohno vs. Mike Dalton
They trade wristlocks to start and Dalton takes him to the mat for two. Kassius (Chris Hero for those of you unfamiliar) hits a running clothesline in the corner and Dalton is in trouble. Off to a cobra clutch but Dalton escapes and hits a spinwheel kick for two. Ohno sends him into the ropes and hits the spinning forearm for the pin at 2:32. That’s a good finisher but hopefully he gets some promo time to expand things beyond “I knock people out.”
Ohno says he knocks people out and when they hear Kassius coming, they say OH NO.
Bray Wyatt video with him talking about going through a lot and getting stronger as a result. Now he feels no fear or pain and he wonders what is going to happen when people realize they can’t hurt him.
Derrick Bateman vs. Jinder Mahal
Mahal pounds away to start but Bateman throws him to the floor. He dives on Jinder to take over and they head back in. Mahal hits a neckbreaker on the top rope for two but a regular neckbreaker is countered into a backslide for two for Bateman. A small package gets the same as does a rollup. Bateman grabs a DDT and then a running flip neckbreaker for a close two. Jinder avoids the falling bulldog and hits a knee to the back and the camel clutch gets the submission at 4:02.
Rating: C-. Not a horrible match or anything but these two do absolutely nothing for me. Bateman is treated like an everyman and Mahal is Indian and rich. That’s nothing interesting as we’ve seen both kind of guys before. Nothing to see here but I’m sure we’ll be seeing these guys again for a long time.
Seth Rollins/Bo Dallas/Tyson Kidd vs. Michael McGillicutty/Hunico/Camacho
That’s a pretty fast turn around for a feud. McGillicutty and Dallas get us going but Kidd is tagged in before there’s any contact. McGillicutty tags in Hunico rather than fight and now we get going. Regal and Chris Russo are on commentary now and get in a debate about Hunico’s dew rag with JR. Hunico busts out a Gory Special but Kidd counters into a sunset flip for two. Off to Rollins who gets beaten down by the Mexican contingent and we take a break.
After hearing about DX invading WCW (the only WWE promo of the show so far) it’s back with Camacho holding Rollins in a chinlock. Rollins quickly breaks it and makes the tag to Bo Dallas. He cleans a few rooms of the house but gets sent shoulder first into the post to stop his momentum dead. McGillicutty comes in who hooks a chinlock of his own. Off to Hunico who hits a butterfly backbreaker for two.
He keeps Dallas on the mat and brings McGillicutty back in. Another backbreaker gets another two but McGillicutty charges into a boot. There’s the real hot tag to Kidd who comes in with a springboard dropkick for two. They head to the floor and Dallas dives on all three of his opponents. Kidd sets for a dive of his own but walks into the McGillicutter for the pin at 9:49 shown of 13:19.
Rating: C+. Not much here but it was way better than last week’s short main event. I like that they didn’t just do the tag match immediately but more importantly they didn’t repeat the main event from two weeks ago which would have given them one of the biggest problems they had on the older seasons of the show. Kidd continues to be awesome as usual.
Overall Rating: B-. Another good show here although a step behind the previous two weeks. As usual though, there is no messing around on this show as we got in six matches in under 45 minutes with only one WWE promo. On top of that there’s a major perk to this show: since it was taped about a month ago, there is zero talk about what is going on in WWE at this point. It is so refreshing to watch a good show and not have to hear about the same storylines which have nothing to do with the match we’re watching time after time. Another good show this week.
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