NXT – September 19, 2012: NXT Needs Its Spark Back

NXT
Date: September 19, 2012
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Byron Saxton, William Regal

We have our first challenger for Rollins tonight in the form of Rick Victor, but I’m not sure if it’s a title match or not. Also we’re getting a workout from Kassius Ohno, which could mean a lot of things. I’m liking that they’re slowly bringing in storylines instead of the random matches they were having for the first few weeks of the show. Let’s get to it.

Trent Barreta vs. Johnny Curtis

Sweet. I’ve always liked what I’ve seen from Barreta so having him back is a good thing. Feeling out process to start with both guys avoiding the other through some gymnastics. A nice dropkick sends Johnny into the corner but as Trent goes up, Curtis drops him onto the top rope to take over. Johnny takes over with an armbar followed by something similar to a high angle AA for two.

Curtis loads up a superplex but Trent counters with a sunset bomb for two. An enziguri sets up a Whisper in the Wind from Trent for a close two. The crowd is silent when these guys aren’t flipping and diving. Trent tries his tornado DDT but gets suplexed into the corner for two. Curtis misses his guillotine legdrop and Trent hits a running knee to the chest/face for the pin at 5:32.

Rating: C. I like Trent but man alive Curtis is worthless. His gimmick is that he’s supposed to be weird but he hasn’t done anything odd in like three months, so all he has to go on is his in ring ability. The problem with that is he’s so generic in the ring that there’s no reason to care about him at all. Then again that’s probably why he keeps getting ring time: he’s as bland as you can ask for which tends to get high marks in WWE anymore.

Alicia Fox vs. Paige

We get a long lockup to start with Alicia taking her to the mat for a second without breaking the hold. A backslide gets two for Paige as do a small package and a cradle. They slap it out and Alicia hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Paige fires off some forearms but she can’t slam Alicia due to her back. A northern lights suplex gets two for Fox and it’s off to a chinlock with a knee in Paige’s back.

Paige tries to fight out of the hold but gets stomped in the face to break up her comeback attempt. Paige gets all fired up and beats on Alicia before they botch a rollup. Paige picks her up and hits a DDT while holding Alicia up with a leg hooked. It wasn’t a fisherman’s buster but it looked good and it got the pin at 4:48.

Rating: C. This was better than most Divas matches you would get on Raw or Smackdown. At the end of the day, the girls aren’t going to get any better by having 90 second matches so giving them nearly five minutes isn’t a terrible idea. Fox continues to be pretty much a mess in the ring while Paige is coming along pretty nicely. Not bad here.

Raw ReBound eats up some time.

Jimmy Uso vs. Conor O’Brien

It’s amazing how much a good gimmick can change someone. O’Brien used to be Rat Boy in season 4 and now he’s part of a team that I’d love to see on the main shows. Jimmy hits a quick headbutt and a clothesline puts O’Brien on the floor. Conor rams Jimmy into the apron to take over and drops an elbow back in the ring for two. Off to a chinlock by O’Brien Jimmy comes back with a clothesline and a Samoan Drop but Cameron crotches him as he loads up the Superfly Splash. O’Brien hits a running boot to the face for the pin at 3:50.

Rating: C. Not as good as the match last week but it puts the teams at one and one against each other in singles matches and that’s all you need to do with them at the moment. This sets up a bigger tag match down the line which hopefully leads to one if not both of them being on the main roster. The match being so short didn’t do it any favors.

Ascension hits a Total Elimination on Jey post match.

Bo Dallas is about to say something when Michael McGillicutty interrupts him. Michael brags about his win last week and a fight breaks out.

It’s time for Ohno’s sparring session. There’s a referee here and the bell rang so we’ll call this a match I guess.

Kassius Ohno vs. Oliver Gray

Ohno blasts him into the corner and pounds Gray’s head. Saxton wants to know how this is different from a regular match and Regal has no answer for him. Off to a reverse cravate by Ohno and it gets a tap out at 58 seconds.

Ohno gets a mic and says Gray wasn’t ready. Gray gets another shot and Ohno says ring the bell. The spinning forearm and the reverse cravate get the second win at 26 seconds. Richie Steamboat runs out for the save.

Leo Kruger is psycho.

Rick Victor vs. Seth Rollins

Non-title here. Victor stalls to start before taking over with a headlock. It’s a very slow paced start so far. I’m not sure why Victor is the guy they’re giving the first match with Rollins but he’s not a horrible choice. A suplex gets two on Rollins and Victor bites himself. We take a break and come back with Rollins in a chinlock. Regal will not stop praising Rick so maybe there’s something there.

Rollins tries to speed things up but gets caught by a big knee to the face for two. Victor bites himself some more and Rollins Hulks Up. Victor slaps him in the face and the champion snaps, taking over with right hands and a kick to the head. A running boot to the face (popular move tonight) takes Victor down and the Blackout gets the pin at 6:50 shown of 10:20.

Rating: C. Not a bad match here but Victor never felt like a threat to Rollins at all. Then again maybe that’s what they were going for with this. Rollins is being built up quite well as a big deal and they treated his first match as champion as something we needed to see, which is more than you can say about most new champions. This wasn’t a good match or anything but it served its purpose well enough.

Overall Rating: C. This was pretty easily the weakest show they’ve had so far. Nothing on the show stood out at all and nothing really happened here. Rollins beating Victor is no surprise and we knew Steamboat would be coming back for revenge on Ohno, plus the tag team feud is roughly where it was before last week’s show with a few more wrinkles. The show wasn’t bad or boring or anything like that, but there was no spark here. The one good thing about this week though is Dusty wasn’t around, which means him being on the show three times last week might have been an anomaly.

Results

Trent Barreta b. Johnny Curtis – Running Knee Smash

Paige b. Alicia Fox – Leg Trap DDT

Conor O’Brien b. Jimmy Uso – Running Boot To The Face

Kassius Ohno b. Oliver Gray – Reverse Cravate

Seth Rollins b. Rick Victor – Blackout

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