NXT – February 6, 2013: Tournament Fever Has Hit NXT
NXT
Date: February 6, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tony Dawson, William Regal
We’re on I think the semi-finals of the tag title tournament this week as well as Conor vs. Langston if I remember correctly. Other than that there isn’t much going on here, as most of the show is based around the tag titles at this point. The show has been pretty awesome lately though so I can’t say I’m complaining. Let’s get to it.
I was right about the semi-finals being tonight. Both matches go down on this show.
Welcome Home.
NXT Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Kassius Ohno/Leo Kruger vs. Olivery Grey/Adrian Neville
The winner of this gets the winner of the Wyatt Family vs. McGillicutty/Dallas. Grey vs. Kassius get things going and nothing happens there so here’s Kruger instead. Grey takes him down to the mat via a headlock as we’re in a very slow stage still. Kruger fights up and is immediately taken down again via the headlock. The British guys hit a double elbow on Kruger for two and Neville hooks a chinlock.
Off to Kassius and Adrian fires off some kicks to the legs to slow him down immediately. Back to Grey for some arm work and Adrian does the same. Grey hooks an armbar and Ohno is in trouble again. Kruger gets the tag and pounds away on Oliver as we take a break. Back with Ohno holding Grey in a chinlock and a backbreaker from Kruger for two. We go old school with an abdominal stretch from both heels and then a second from both guys.
Ohno stays in and works over the ribs with a backsplash for two. There’s a reverse chinlock by Kassius but Oliver fights out of it and decks both heels with forearms. Kruger breaks up the tag attempt though and pounds Grey down for two. Off to a cravate which continues to be very popular in WWE anymore. Grey comes back with a few rollups for two and there’s the hot tag to Adrian.
Things speed up and Neville starts flipping around a lot. Kassius kicks Adrian’s head off to send him to the outside but stops to yell at Regal. Adrian hits a flip dive to the floor to take Ohno’s head off and it’s the corkscrew shooting star press to send the British guys to the finals at 14:02 shown of 17:32.
Rating: C+. This was good stuff for most part with the tag team formula being played quite well. At this point you can figure out the ending to the other final pretty easily but that’s par for the course for a tournament. Ohno continues to not be anything of note and unfortunately Kruger didn’t get to do anything here either, which is a shame.
Summer Rae complains about being pretty and never getting praised while Paige is ugly and is treated huge. Apparently Summer School is always in session.
Conor O’Brien vs. Mike Dalton
Dalton fires off kicks to start but Conor easily powers him down. A one man flapjack puts Dalton down and a legdrop ends this in 1:06.
O’Brien demands a five count which brings out Langston for a Big Ending on Dalton.
Paige says she’ll take care of Summer herself despite Dusty’s wishes otherwise. Sasha Banks comes in and talks about her secret admirer.
Video on the NXT Tournament for a spot in the Rumble. Here are the brackets (I think):
Corey Graves
Adrian Neville
Leo Kruger
Xavier Woods
Bo Dallas
Luke Harper
Oliver Grey
Conor O’Brien
The semis were Kruger over Neville and Dallas over O’Brien with Dallas beating Kruger to win the tournament and the spot in the Rumble.
Bray Wyatt comes in to see Bo Dallas and says his fifteen minutes of fame are up. Dallas says time might be up on the Wyatt Family. It’s so hard to believe that these two are brothers.
NXT Tag Team Title Tourmanet Semi-Finals: Michael McGillicutty/Bo Dallas vs. Wyatt Family
It’s Rowan/Harper here again. Harper and McGillicutty start things off and Michael fighting off the big man as well as possible. Dallas comes in and gets taken down by pure Wyatt power. We take a break and come back with the monsters continuing to work over Dallas in the corner. Dallas manages to slip away to Michaels for the hot tag and things speed up again. He throws Rowan around with suplexes but Bray Wyatt distracts him. That earns the leader an ejection but the referee misses McGillicutty rolling up Rowan. Harper kicks him in the face for the pin and the spot in the finals at 4:08 shown of 7:38.
Rating: D+. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere. McGillicutty needs to get away from tag teams along with getting away from that stupid name. He has the look, he has the timing and he has the skill, but he’s stuck in a stupid tag team that isn’t even winning the minor league title. Nothing to see here and the winners were obvious after the earlier match.
Bray offers Dallas a spot in the Family but when Bo declines, Bray beats him down. He says this is only the beginning to end the show. The look on Wyatt’s face was great.
Overall Rating: B. This was a theme show in a way but it was a very fun one. You had the tournament set up as well as the other title match set up, which makes this more like a go home show for the NXT equivalent of a PPV. That’s a rather cool thing to see as NXT is a completely independent promotion right now that works on its own schedule. Good stuff here, as usual.
Results
Adrian Neville/Oliver Grey b. Kassius Ohno/Leo Kruger – Corkscrew Shooting Star Press to Ohno
Conor O’Brien b. Mike Dalton – Legdrop
Wyatt Family b. Bo Dallas/Michael McGillicutty – Big boot to McGillicutty
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and check out my ebook of 1998 Raw Reviews on Amazon (search 1998 Monday Night Raw)
I liked the Wyatt Family leader guy. He looked interesting. I can’t fathom why Bo Dallas is getting all the glory and I hate his finisher. I agree that MM’s name is awful. First ime I’ve seen that corkscrew finisher, very impressive.