NXT – November 27, 2013: I’m So Thankful For NXT

NXT
Date: November 27, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, William Regal, Renee Young

The main story coming into tonight is the #1 contenders match between Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville with the winner getting a shot at Bo Dallas next week. Other than that we have our usual drama with the Divas which should be very nice for a change after watching two Total Divas matches from the pay per view and Raw. Let’s get to it.

The opening video recaps last week’s Beat the Clock challenge with Sami and Adrian finishing with the same time, setting up tonight’s match.

Welcome Home.

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Antonio Cesaro

Cesaro gets in ring announcer Byron Saxton’s face over accidentally stepping on the flag, causing Regal to get up from commentary and get Saxton to safety. The distraction allows Tatsu to get a quick rollup for two but Cesaro catches his spinwheel kick in midair and slams Tatsu down. A spinebuster puts Yoshi down and there’s the Cesaro Swing for about 35 seconds. He must be having an off day. The fans tell Cesaro that he’s awesome and it’s off to the standing chinlock. Cesaro holds Tatsu in place and glares at Regal before the Neutralizer (complete with a wave to the announcers’ table) is good for the pin at 3:33.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here but it sets up a match between Regal and Cesaro. If they’re given enough time the showdown could be very entertaining and fortunately NXT is the place where that could happen. Whatever happened to Tatsu? The guy was hanging out with Cena on Raw and now is lucky to job on the minor league show.

Bo Dallas is in the back and says we’re all winners because we get to see two youngsters fight their hearts out for a chance to live their dream. “It’s just like The Voice!’ Of course neither of them have a chance to beat Dallas but it’s nice to see them try. CJ Parker comes up and just stands there, so Dallas calls him Captain Fantastic and asks why he’s here. Parker: “I didn’t realize I was harshing your mellow.” Dallas: “I didn’t realize you were still employed.” A match is made and the Beatles are quoted in a bizarrely entertaining segment.

CJ Parker vs. Bo Dallas

Now that’s quick. Non-title of course. Bo avoids a charge to start and fires off some elbows to the head. A clothesline gets two for the champion and we hit the cravate. Parker rolls out and makes a comeback with some running knees in the corner followed by a falling front DDT (think Christian’s falling reverse DDT but facing the other way) for two. Parker goes up but gets crotched, setting up Dallas’ bulldog out out of the corner for the pin at 3:03.

Rating: C-. I can’t believe I’m saying this but Dallas is on fire right now. He’s absolutely nailing the character right now and the switch to the bulldog from the spear is a huge improvement. I always found it a stretch for someone even Edge’s size to use that move but for Dallas it never worked at all. Parker continues to be worthless as always.

Emma talks about being attacked by the BFF’s in the locker room, resulting in some head injuries. Paige comes in and wants no excuses from Emma when Paige beats her for the title. The champion recaps the incidents between the two of them and a fight is teased but they both back off. God bless reality TV because it’s keeping these two off Raw in exchange for JoJo and Eva Marie.

Speaking of the Total Divas, Natalya comes into Paige’s locker room complaining about something unspecified. Paige talks about Natalya going Hollywood and not caring about the titles at all. A match is set up for the title even though I have no idea what Natalya’s problem was in the first place. She complains about everything on Total Divas anyway so maybe that’s her gimmick now.

Tyler Breeze vs. Kassius Ohno

Alexander Rusev jumps Ohno during his entrance to leave him laying. Ohno says he can fight but gets pinned by the Beauty Shot (spinning heel kick) at 10 seconds. That’s Ohno’s last televised match in WWE.

The BFF’s are in the back but Charlotte leaves just before Bayley comes in. Bayley wants to see Charlotte but a tag match is made for later. The BFF’s point out that Bayley has no friends but Bayley says she has a surprise. Bayley is so adorable it’s unreal.

Neville and Zayn are in the back to talk about the main event tonight. Adrian says they’re friends with a good history but this is about getting to Raw and Smackdown. You can look at Seth Rollins and Big E. Langston and see what the title means. Sami agrees that they’re friends but he’ll do whatever it takes to win. There’s some tension here but it isn’t bad.

Hunico/Camacho vs. Ascension

Non-title. Viktor starts with Camacho and rams his head into the corner to get things going. Camacho comes back with some stomps in the corner and a belly to back suplex for no cover. Off to Hunico with a slingshot hilo for two and a springboard cross body for the same. Viktor pulls him to the corner though and it’s off to Conor for the beating. A spinebuster sets up more stomping from Viktor and the double powerbomb by Ascension. Camacho comes in with a distraction though, allowing Hunico to roll up Viktor for the upset at 3:37.

Rating: C-. Hunico is another guy with very usable talent who hopefully can get another shot on the main shows. This was just a match to set up a title match likely next week and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not sure I’d have had the champions get pinned, but at least it was on a fluke instead of a dominant win by Hunico and Camacho.

We get the same Beat the Clock video that opened the show. I really hope they don’t start this nonsense in NXT as well.

Adrian Neville vs. Sami Zayn

Winner gets Dallas for the title next week. Bo has replaced Regal on commentary which should be hilarious. They shake hands to start and we’re ready to go. Sami grabs a wristlock but Neville flips out and sweeps Sami’s legs out for two. Some shoulders put Zayn down again but he comes back with some very deep armdrags to put Adrian in the corner. They circle each other a bit until Sami grabs the leg for a hold that goes nowhere.

Back up and Neville sends Sami to the floor, only to have Zayn get back in and send Adrian to the floor, followed by a HUGE flip dive to take both guys down. We take a break and come back with Sami chopping the skin off Adrian’s chest before putting on a chinlock. Back up and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two on Neville as the fans are staying into this. Sami misses his running big boot in the corner and falls out to the floor as Dallas calls Renee very smart for a Canadian.

A kick to Sami’s face sets up a great looking top rope Asai Moonsault, followed by a missile dropkick for two for Neville. Back up and Neville’s cartwheel elbow is caught in a blue thunder bomb for a close two. A Michinoku Driver gets the same for Sami and there’s the running boot in the corner but he can’t follow up. Neville cartwheels into a hurricanrana for two as the fans chant YES. Adrian gets in a shot to the head to set up the Red Arrow but Sami breaks it up. Sami’s superplex is broken up though and the Red Arrow gives Neville the title shot at 11:42 shown of 15:12.

Rating: B. Very solid match here with both guys looking great. That’s another key difference between WWE and NXT. WWE has people lose without getting anything out of it. Here in NXT, Sami has lost every one of his major matches but has been allowed to look competitive which keeps him over. Why is that so complicated so often?

Post match Neville and Zayn almost come to blows but hug it out to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. As usual, NXT knows how to put on the most entertaining hour of wrestling each week. This set up a lot of stuff but didn’t get boring throughout the time. We have at least five matches set for the future (though Ohno vs. Rusev won’t happen) with most of the payoffs coming next week. That should make for an excellent show and since this is a well run promotion, we should actually get an excellent show as a result.

Results

Antonio Cesaro b. Yoshi Tatsu – Neutralizer

Bo Dallas b. CJ Parker – Bulldog out of the corner

Tyler Breeze b. Kassius Ohno – Beauty Shot

Hunico/Camacho b. Ascension – Small package to Viktor

Adrian Neville b. Sami Zayn – Red Arrow

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