NXT – September 2, 2015: One More For Dusty
NXT
Date: September 2, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves
The focus goes back on the tag teams tonight as we begin the Dusty Classic. This is a tag team tournament for a prize to be announced and with most of the participants to be announced as well. The idea is to have the past, present and future of NXT involved to honor the spirit of Dusty Rhodes. Let’s get to it.
The opening video hypes up the tournament and talks about paying tribute to the Dream.
Opening sequence.
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round: Ascension vs. Rhyno/Baron Corbin
Rhyno runs Viktor over to start but Viktor rolls into a shoulder to put Rhyno down. Konor and Corbin come in but a quick double shoulder drops Baron. The double teaming doesn’t last long though and Viktor is sent shoulder first into the post, allowing Rhyno to get some shots in. Back to Corbin as it seems the Ascension are the faces here. Konor gets the hot tag and cleans house on Baron before avoiding a Gore. Corbin breaks up the Fall of Man though and Rhyno Gores Konor for the pin at 5:39.
Rating: D. This was an awkward match with both teams looking a bit off. It’s also very telling that the Ascension can’t even get a win over a thrown together team where the members don’t even get along down in NXT. They’ve just died since they got called up to the main roster and WWE has no issues with it.
Neville and Solomon Crowe are in the tournament. They’re both excited but Solomon freaks Neville out a bit.
Nia Jax is still coming.
Alexa Bliss vs. Blue Pants
Bliss takes Blue Pants down for a beating to start and throws her to the mat by the hair. Pants gets rammed into the buckle and a kick to the back sets up an armbar. Back up and Pants fires off some kicks and a northern lights suplex gets two. She misses a charge in the corner though and the Sparkle Splash gives Alexa the pin at 3:34.
Rating: C-. Total squash but that was exactly what it was supposed to be. Bliss is the evil mastermind and Blue Pants is nothing more than a cult favorite who can only win matches through interference. There’s no point in having her win here when she just shows up for goofy appearances so everyone is fine.
Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa are in Regal’s office when Tyler Breeze storms in. Tyler demands a spot in the tournament so Regal gives him Bull Dempsey to face Gargano and Ciampa next week.
Emma says the Divas Revolution isn’t happening without her.
Apollo Crews vs. Martin Stone
Apollo starts fast with an armdrag but Stone clotheslines him down to take over. Off to a chinlock for a bit before Crews comes back with a standing enziguri. The gorilla press and standing moonsault put Stone away at 2:57. Crews looked good but he needs to do something besides just being all athletic and awesome.
Chad Gable and Jason Jordan say they’ll get to write this tournament’s history after winning the whole thing. Neville is flying too close to the sun and Crowe is going to be forgotten. Jordan finally says the Ready Willing and Gable line. Gable is money.
Finn Balor is ready to defend his title in Texas, but first of all he’s in the Dusty Classic. His partner, Samoa Joe, comes in and says he wants to win it all. Balor shakes his hand and says he’s ready. So I guess Joe is going to be the next major challenger.
Eva Marie vs. Billie Kay
We get an Eva chant to start, which I don’t buy as legit for a second. Eva fires off some shoulders in the corner and grabs a suplex for two. A seated abdominal stretch is countered by a small package but Eva comes back with a backsplash (that’s WAY too common a move these days) for two more. Kay makes a quick comeback with a clothesline and suplex for two of her own, but the interesting part is the fans booing Eva out of the building for kicking out. That was awesome in a way. Back up and Sliced Red #2 beats Kay at 3:45.
Rating: D. Eva is gorgeous and looks great in her gear, has awesome presence, but above all else, she’s just not that good in the ring. If they try to push her as a star in the division, the heat is going to be out of this world. The NXT fans simply do not want her in their company and it’s not surprising in the slightest.
The Hype Bros and Enzo/Cass argued over what part of New York to celebrate in after winning last week.
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic: Solomon Crowe/Neville vs. Chad Gable/Jason Jordan
Gable takes Crowe to the mat to start and easily rolls him around into a backslide for two. Back up and Crowe counters a leapfrog into a flapjack (nice move) before it’s off to Neville for a very nice welcome home reaction. Jordan takes Neville down to the mat with some nice amateur stuff but Neville flips out of a suplex and sends Jason to the floor as we take a break. Back with Jordan throwing Solomon down just like he did to Neville before a wicked overhead belly to belly drops Crowe again.
Gable comes back in and mocks Solomon, even having Jordan fan him off while Crowe is on the floor. Jordan throws on a chinlock for a bit before Solomon adds a bow and arrow of his own. The hold is finally broken and Crowe dives over for the tag, allowing Neville to come in for his usual fast paced stuff.
Gable pulls Jason to the floor to break up the Red Arrow. That’s fine with Neville as he dives on both of them with Crowe following with a dive of his own. Back in and Jordan catches Neville’s next dive and throws him face first onto the mat. Crowe tags himself in and gets suplexed again, setting up the Grand Amplitude (the announcers don’t know the name) for the pin at 12:48.
Rating: C+. Good match here and Crowe tagging himself in might lead to a heel turn for him, which probably won’t save him but it’s better than whatever it was he’s been doing for the last few weeks. Neville really does come off as a star here and you can see what they’re going for with the superhero idea.
Overall Rating: C+. I liked the show for the most part and they’re making the tournament feel like a huge deal. That’s exactly what something this important should be and I love the fact that they’ve made the whole promotion want to get involved with it. Good stuff here and what is hopefully the sign of good stuff to come.
Results
Baron Corbin/Rhyno b. Ascension – Gore to Konor
Alexa Bliss b. Blue Pants – Sparkle Splash
Apollo Crews b. Martin Stone – Standing moonsault
Eva Marie b. Billie Kay – Sliced Red #2
Chad Gable/Jason Jordan b. Neville/Solomon Crowe – Grand Amplitude to Crowe
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All of that makes sense.
ANd I’ll stand by my statement: it’s Eva Marie, and I don’t want to see her and her stupid Total Divas persona taking a spot from someone who has earned it for their talent instead of being stupid on a fake reality show.
And I stand by mine. Nobody wanted to see Miz, who created that name as a stupid reality TV persona and was taking the spot of someone who “earned it” for their talent and not from being stupid on a reality show.
I can buy that. At the same time though, Miz didn’t come off like having the intelligence of a 4 year old.
So what about her is interesting?
Also I respectably disagree about your opinion on the nxt girls. There seems to be some real talent there.
That’s probably true and it’s one of the reasons I’m ashamed to be a human.
Why? The Miz literally made a career off of people telling him he’s not a wrestler and he’ll never be good. She’s the female version of that. It’s a great role if they run with it. Imagine if in a year or two she’s on the main roster still getting this heat? Imagine if she beats the “wrestling divas” in wrestling matches. This has potential.to be Miz/HTM levels of heat in a really good way.
big difference here: Miz is a good heel (mic skills + an arrogant persona that fans love to hate). Eva is even poor on the mic, the fans don’t like her cause she gets the spot that she gets, regardless her in ring skills…
The difference is what the NXT women have done. They’ve shows how good this division can be and I really don’t think it’s going to work to spend several years training her up to even passable to get there. This screams “we have to make Total Divas the priority” and could lead to something like the Batista treatment from the fans.
It really won’t. To comadre, Miz was known as awful in the ring for years and that persona took a partnership with Morrison to really come out which was over 2 years into his main roster career. She has potential to do that.
Secondly, the work rate of the NXT divas is a bit overrated. Yes, they’ve been good, but it’s more the stories they’ve told and the length of time they’ve gotten that changed the perception. When Charlotte started, she got this exact treatment and she was every bit as bad. People yelled nepotism, she can’t wrestle, only here cuz of dad, etc. she worked hard and she’s passable now. So too can Eva be but she has something that Charlotte does not…..she’s interesting.
I’m with KB, her moves are too generous and there’s no flow to her whole in-ring-presence. She has that Bulldog-move, her finisher, that comes out of nowhere an that’s it. She also brings two restholds at least in 3 minute matches. At the moment she’s on the level of some of the nameless jobbers… at best… AT BEST! Bad bad idea to push her as a wrestler.
The reason the fans booed that pinfall during Eva’s match was because she botched and didn’t kick out and the ref only counted two. She has improved but pushing her in NXT is an awful idea. Really liked the rest of the show though.
Why is it that that showcasing someone, whom you’re trying to develop, in your developmental league, is a bad idea? Isn’t that what it’s there for?
I think she botched that kick out because she got hurt on the suplex. Notice how she was holding her arm against her abdomen right after, and after she won the match. Everything else about her match was okay to good.
Mainly because people don’t want to see her. It’s not easy to cheer for people who are handed jobs for being a model who comes off as the dumbest woman in the world while you have all the other women breaking their backs to get to Raw. It’s a big step backwards to the old days and that’s not what NXT fans want to see.
Which is why she’s going to be the best female heel in wrestling in a very long time. There’s more money in her right now that 99 percent of the females already working for that reason.