NXT
Date: December 14, 2010
Location: Cajundome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Commentators: Josh Matthews, Todd Grisham

It’s week 2 of NXT and things are looking good so far. Last week was a good start so hopefully that continues here. I’d like to see more of their characters come out this time though which isn’t something we got to see much of on the season premiere. It’s weird to be getting ready for NXT and to have a positive outlook on it. Let’s get to it.

We open as always, with Striker bringing out the rookies. We’re opening with a karaoke challenge. I already don’t like this. There are six envelopes with wrestlers’ theme songs that they have to sing. O’Brian gets Sheamus and we FINALLY get the official words to Sheamus’ song. Surprisingly it doesn’t say Lobster Head. His voice is all nasal and this is just awful.

Bateman gets Miz. He’s not bad but the pacing is all off. He throws in a shoutout to the college football team which is smart.

Novak gets a pop as he comes up for some reason. He gets Dolph Ziggler, who happens to be his pro. Novak sounds really quite drunk. He more or less just says the words which might be the best course of action.

Clay, the white Viscera, goes third with Cody Rhodes’ song….and doesn’t do half bad. It’s more talking but there was a little flair to it. Best so far.

Curtis gets Orton and gets down in the slither pose. I know nothing about music and I’m not sure if this worked or not. Imagine a guy trying to sing like James Hetfield without having talent and singing Orton’s song and that’s about it.

Saxton is last and draws Shawn Michaels whose name gets a bigger pop than anything else so far. He messes up one of the most famous lyrics in wrestling history. How is that possible? He does dance a bit which helps somewhat. Saxton wins which I guess is the best choice as he was definitely trying.

Masters/Saxton vs. DiBiase/Clay up next.

Profile on Novak who says he used to play every spots, including football. They had a motto on the team: DTD – Determined to Dominate. He says he’s destined to dominate. That’s a good line. Novak says he’s the most like Jack Swagger on the roster and that you have to look out for #1, and that’s him. Kind of a generic promo/character but he sold it quite well.

Chris Masters/Byron Saxton vs. Ted DiBiase/Brodus Clay

See I told you it was up next. You didn’t think I’d lie to you did you? Josh talks about having dinner with Brodus recently and that he’s a fascinating person. He actually comes off as that which is good. The rookies start us off. Clay shoves him around with ease so here’s Masters instead.

After a little back and forth stuff Ted comes in and we actually take a break on NXT. Back with Ted holding a chinlock on Masters. I like this Brodus guy. Masters fights out of the corner but walks into a dropkick from Ted for two. In a funny bit Masters brings in Saxton and in a Shawn Stasiak like moment he charges and is taken down immediately.

Clay hits a huge spinebuster but tags DiBiase back in. A kneedrop misses and Saxton is able to get out and it’s pro on pro again. Another spinebuster, this time from Masters, hits DiBiase as does an accidentally shot from Clay. Masters calls for the Masterlock but Saxton gets a quick tag and walks into Dream Street to end it at approximately 7:00.

Rating: C-. Not a great match or anything but it did its job with Clay looking good for a big man and Saxton getting a bit of character development as being a headstrong guy that isn’t as good as he thinks he is. This worked ok though and wasn’t a bad match at all.

We go to the back where Bateman is warming up when Bryan comes in. He says that Bateman has a match tonight so Bryan is going to teach him a hold. It’s a heel hook which Bryan demonstrates step by step (Hey kids! Pay attention as the United States Champion shows you a basic way to snap someone’s ankle in three easy steps!) how to do it and tells Bateman to do it now. Bateman goes insane and shouts about how he’s doing submission wrestling while Bryan is telling him what to do. In order to get Bateman to chill, Bryan KICKS HIM IN THE FACE! I told you that was the best solution to a lot of problems! Funny segment.

Obstacle Course time, but this time it’s for TWO immunity points. Novak goes first and does relatively well until he gets to the push-ups where he has to start over. He sets the time to beat at 37.9 seconds.

Saxton goes second and is a jerk to Striker. I guess he’s not all bad. Saxton falls going over the hurdles and slams his head. He can’t do push-ups either and goes over a minute.

O’Brian is third but messes up on the wall/hurdle as well. He can’t do the balance beam that well and winds up getting 42.7.

Bateman is fourth and the referees are REALLY anal about these push-ups. Bateman manages to break the time at 35.7.

Curtis says he’s feeling very gazelle-like and breaks the time but the referees say he messed up on the balance beam so it’s a disqualification.

Brodus Clay is last and literally throws the walls out of his way. Naturally he’s disqualified though.

Curtis gets another chance to a chorus of boos. He destroys the time at 31.4 seconds.

Profile on Curtis who talks about dabbling in a lot of stuff. He and a friend of his trained in a ring in the woods apparently and the friend was killed in a car wreck so he has dog tags on his tights because of it. That’s a cool story.

Raw Rebounds wastes some time.

Jacob Novak hits on Vickie for some reason. Ziggler comes in and asks Vickie to leave. He’s not happy and more or less says hands off. Is there a reason why Vickie is going to be a focal point of a storyline on this show in back to back seasons?

Ad for the 50 Greatest Superstars DVD which might be worth looking at.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Derrick Bateman

This should be short in theory. Alberto asks Ricardo to take out Bateman. Del Rio dominates early on as you would expect him to. The fans aren’t exactly thrilled by this match to put it mildly. Bateman makes a brief comeback and gets a modified neckbreaker. Think the Moonlight Drive that Morrison used back on ECW. Cross Armbreaker ends it in about 3:20. Not much more than a squash.

Rating: C. Really hard to grade this as it’s barely a competitive match. They tend to have one of these a season and I’m not entirely sure I get the point to them. Del Rio has a major match on the PPV so why would we believe that Bateman stands a chance against him? Also, why not have a rookie against Bateman? Either way it wasn’t bad but it was rather short.

Overall Rating: B. Another good episode this week as things continue to look up for this season. We got some character development, two challenges that went by pretty fast and two matches. That’s pretty good for a little under an hour I’d say, especially considering a 3-4 minute Raw Recap plus commercials. I’m liking this 6 man set of rookies as it’s definitely more workable. Nothing bad at all here and some decent stuff make this a solid outing for the second episode of the season. Good show.

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NXT
Date: April 3, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tony Dawson, Kassius Ohno, Brad Maddox

 

It’s the final show before Wrestlemania and hopefully we get an actual NXT show here instead of the same stuff we got last week with the main roster taking over the show and dragging it down. The only story from last week was Ohno attacking Regal at the announce table to further their feud. Let’s get to it.

 

The opening recap talks about O’Brian earning a title shot against Langston in a three way a few weeks back

 

Great, an hour of Brad Maddox and Ohno’s annoying way of talking.

 

Bo Dallas/Adrian Neville vs. Wyatt Family

 

This would be Rowan and Harper. Apparently Gray is going to be out for six months but he and Neville are still champions. Bray talks about putting a mouse in a cage with a snake. While it may survive one night, it isn’t going to survive in the long run. Harper and Dallas get things going with Bo being shoved into the corner. Off to Rowan for more pounding on Dallas’ back.

 

Bo finally escapes and brings in Adrian for some quick strikes and a standing moonsault for two on Luke. Rowan interference lets Harper hit a big boot for two and control. We take a break and come back with Rowan holding Adrian in a nerve hold. Erick drops down onto Neville’s head for two and it’s back to Luke Harper. Off to a chinlock on Adrian followed by a hard back elbow to the face for two. Back to Rowan with a big elbow for two and it’s already back to Harper.

 

Make that Rowan who rams Adrian head first into the corner before immediately tagging back out to Luke. The Family tags in and out very quickly. Neville avoids a big boot in the corner and it’s hot tag to Dallas. A tornado bulldog out of the corner gets two on Luke but Dallas has to take out Wyatt. Adrian hits a big corkscrew dive to take out Erick and Bray, allowing Dallas to belly to belly suplex Harper for the pin at 8:28 shown of 10:28.

 

Rating: C+. Tag formula 101 here and that’s all you need most of the time. You can never go wrong with a basic power vs. speed match and the crowd is going to get behind the small guys every single time. I’m hoping the Family can right the ship soon as they’ve been on a downward spiral of late, but history would say they’re almost done at this point.

 

Langston defends against O’Brian tonight.

 

Conor says the NXT Title belongs to him tonight.

 

We get Rock and Cena’s promos from Raw in their entirety.

 

Back in the arena, Regal jumps Ohno just like Ohno did to him last week. Fans: “THANK YOU REGAL!”

 

Summer Rae/Audrey Marie vs. Paige/Sasha Banks

 

Summer immediately runs from Paige so it’s Audrey starting with Paige instead. Rae distracts Paige to give Marie a quick advantage but it’s quickly off to Sasha for some double teaming. Banks hits a hard chop to the chest and a wrist drag out of the corner for two. Audrey pulls her back to the corner for a tag to Summer who chokes away. Back to Audrey for a chinlock on Sasha which actually gets two.

 

Rae comes back in and works over Audrey even more before bringing Marie back in. The tagging in NXT is quite good overall. It’s already back to Rae who gets rolled up for two, but her kickout sends Sasha into the tag to Paige. Summer immediately bails and runs to the back. The Paige Turner swinging neckbreaker finishes Audrey at 3:52.

 

Rating: C+. This was mainly about telling a story and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Paige continues to be ridiculously over and the Divas are still one of the highspots of this promotion. The showdown between Paige and Rae could be a big time deal for NXT, which is nothing you would ever see on Raw or Smackdown.

 

Paige chases after Rae.

 

Regal vs. Ohno next week.

 

NXT Title: Conor O’Brian vs. Big E. Langston

 

Feeling out process to start with the champion sending O’Brian to the floor as we take a break. Back with O’Brian guillotining Langston on the stop rope to take over again. The full nelson slam gets two on Big E. and O’Brian stomps away some more. A quick shoulder block gets two more and it’s off to a chinlock. The idea is that O’Brian is strong enough to hurt Langston so the offense can be really simple.

 

Back up and Langston starts to scream and Hulk Up. Conor can’t hurt him with right hands and Big E. runs him over with some clotheslines. Langston fires off five knees to the ribs but walks into a BIG clothesline for two. Conor is stunned and shouts FIVE. He loads up the Big Ending but Langston escapes and runs the challenger over. The real Big Ending retains Langston’s title at 6:03 shown of 9:33.

 

Rating: C-. This wasn’t nearly as good as their brawl from a month or so ago. Langston didn’t look to be in danger at all and O’Brian’s offense was easily shrugged off. It’s good to see Langston in some danger, but we need a new challenger now and no one seems to be on the radar. Granted that was the case when O’Brian came up so maybe it can happen again.

 

Langston hits another Big Ending for 5 post match.

 

Overall Rating: C+. Somewhat disappointing main event aside, this wasn’t too bad. This was what NXT was supposed to be about: building up angles and setting up for next week. I’m not sure why we didn’t get the last two weeks reversed as the Road to Wrestlemania show would seem to make more sense on a night like this instead of last week but whatever I guess. Good show here again.

 

Results

Bo Dallas/Adrian Neville b. Wyatt Family – Belly to belly suplex to Harper

Paige/Sasha Banks b. Summer Rae/Audrey Marie – Paige Turner to Marie

Big E. Langston b. Conor O’Brian – Big Ending

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Brooke tells Hulk not to worry about her. She’ll have protection for her meeting with Bully tonight. No more drama.

NXT
Date: March 13, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tony Dawson, William Regal

We have a #1 contender now with O’Brian winning the triple threat last week. On top of that we had a lot of storyline development as Bo Dallas seems to be going to war against the Wyatt Family. Last week was all about setting up the future shows which should make for some entertaining TV today. Let’s get to it.

Kassius Ohno vs. Derrick Bateman

Regal on Bateman: “If brains were elastic he wouldn’t have enough to make a frog’s jockstrap.” Bateman quickly takes him down with an armdrag before hooking an armbar. Apparently Alberto Del Rio and Ricardo are here tonight. Bateman chops away as Regal is very focued on Ohno here. This is Derrick’s return from a knee injury. Ohno is sent into the corner and slammed down for two. Almost all Bateman in the early going.

Kassius is sent to the apron where he hits a cravate Stunner onto the top rope. A running boot to Bateman’s jaw puts him down and Ohno drops a pair of sentons for two. Back to the cravate on Bateman but Derrick makes his comeback with some clotheslines and shots to the face. He loads up the falling bulldog but Ohno shoves him off because it’s too stupid of a move to sell. Kassius kicks him in the face for the pin at 4:20.

Rating: D+. Neither of these guys are anything of note and the fans weren’t impressed either. Bateman is back from an injury but this everyman gimmick does nothing for me. I still don’t get the appeal of Ohno, at least not in this gimmick. As best I can tell he’s supposed to be a ruthless striker but his signature move is a cravate. His character isn’t working for me and doesn’t seem to be for the crowd either.

Post match Ohno puts Bateman in an STF with a cravate headlock until Regal makes the save. These two need to fight already.

Bo Dallas says Bray Wyatt has his attention after Wyatt cost him both the tag team and NXT Titles.

Regal apologizes for what he did.

Emma vs. Summer Rae

Emma is the bad dancing klutz. A quick rollup gets two for Emma and Rae is frustrated. Wait, dance time. Rae is knocked into the corner for a cross body but she comes back with a snapmare to send Emma’s leg into the ropes. We’re told it’s Dallas vs. Wyatt later tonight as Summer stays on the leg. Summer goes VERY old school with an Indian Deathlock (the version with both girls on their backs) before choking Emma with her long legs. Back up and a dropkick puts Emma down before Rae does Paige’s scream. Emma comes back with a clothesline for two, only to be caught by a bad spinwheel kick to give Rae the pin at 3:51.

Rating: D+. Summer looks good in the outfits and has a lot of Maryse in her with the blonde bombshell look, but her stuff in the ring isn’t all that great. She’s a good enough antagonist though and beating up a goofy character like Emma here was a decent enough idea. They’re just waiting on Paige to come back for the revenge though.

Apparently that revenge is right now because here’s Paige to chase off Summer. The place went NUTS for Paige.

We recap Oliver Grey being laid out by the Wyatt Family last week.

Adrian Neville issues an open challenge to any member of the Family for next week.

Big E. Langston says that last week Conor O’Brian defeated two men to earn his title shot. However, this is Langston’s first defense, so he’s going to make sure it’s dominant, destructive and delicious.

Bray Wyatt vs. Bo Dallas

Wyatt talks about how in his world there are no distractions and no communication. The women take care of the young and the men aren’t afraid to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect what is theirs. He wants to know how far Dallas is willing to go to get what he wants. Wyatt takes him into the corner but then hides from a right hand. Bray starts to laugh at Dallas (his real life younger brother if you’re not familiar with your family trees) before hooking a headlock.

Dallas tries a headlock of his own but Wyatt hits a hard cross body for two. We take a break and come back with Dallas in a chinlock. Back up and Bo is whipped hard into the corner and a slam gets two for Bray. In a unique submission hold, Wyatt sits on Dallas’ ribs and pulls back on his head in a kind of reverse camel clutch. Dallas gets up again and tries a sunset flip but Bray drops down, only to hit the mat. The look on his face from missing is great as he looks like he was shot.

Bo starts his comeback with a forearm but gets caught in a big release Rock Bottom for two. A big splash in the corner crushes Bo and it’s time to dance with Dallas’ limp body. He dances a bit too long though and it allows Dallas to come out of it with a belly to belly suplex for the pin at 6:21 shown of 9:51.

Rating: C. This wasn’t much and I’m not sure on having Wyatt lose in I believe his third singles match. Dallas has flashes of good stuff but for the most part he still doesn’t do much for me. I like the belly to belly FAR better for him than the spear though, as a guy that size has no business using the same move that Goldberg or Roman Reigns uses.

Post match here’s the Wyatt Family to destroy Dallas as Wyatt laughs. Dallas makes a comeback and beats them both up, only to be caught in Bray’s Downward Spiral.

Justin Gabriel says he’s heard of Leo Kruger before. Back when Gabriel lived in South Africa he heard of Kruger being in the South African militia and apparently it messed with his head. Gabriel wants a match with Leo next week.

Here are Ricardo and Alberto to a very nice ovation. Del Rio does his old bit of “My name is Alberto Del Rio” which draws a small SI chant. He says he’s the new world champion here so this must be an old show. Del Rio talks about how there’s a lot of talent in the back and someone back there will be WWE or World Heavyweight Champion someday. Instead of a new superstar though, here’s Antonio Cesaro to challenge Del Rio to a champion vs. champion match. This brings out Dusty Rhodes who says that the Swedish guy in the ring doesn’t make matches. Cesaro can have a champion vs. champion match, but against this guy.

Big E. Langston vs. Antonio Cesaro

Non-title here. Langston shoves him down and we’re ready to go. We take a break before there’s any contact (why not just have the bell after the break? Is it really that hard?) and come back with Langston easily breaking a wristlock. A lifting wristlock has Antonio in trouble as Big E. is easily throwing him around. Langston LAUNCHES him across the ring with a beal but Cesaro comes back with the European uppercuts and a knee lift for one.

Off to a kind of cobra clutch on Big E. but the NXT Champion easily fights up. Cesaro goes up top and dries Langston down with a knee before hitting his really impressive gutwrench suplex for two. Cesaro hooks a sleeper but Langston easily fights out of it and clotheslines Cesaro down. Five knees to Cesaro’s ribs have him in trouble and Big E. runs him over, but here’s Corey Graves for the DQ at 5:23 shown of 8:53.

Rating: C. The match was ok and at the end of the day, it’s a good move to not have Cesaro lose clean here. I get that it’s just NXT, but you don’t want to have the US Champion losing in less than ten minutes like that. Granted it never stops them on Raw but that’s besides the point. I hope we don’t get a triple threat with Langston defending against Graves and O’Brian, but it seems to be the only way to get the title off of Langston without hurting him.

Graves is run over post match but here’s O’Brian to pound on Big E. Corey helps O’Brian and Langston is laid out to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This is NXT’s bread and butter: week to week booking that makes you want to come back and see where all this stuff is going. We got some matches that were set up last week as well as some stuff that was set up for next week. That’s very efficient and far better than what we get on the main shows. This show is still a treat to watch and I’m genuinely interested in where the stories are going. That’s good stuff.

Results

Kassius Ohno b. Derrick Bateman – Big Boot

Summer Rae b. Emma – Spinwheel Kick

Bo Dallas b. Bray Wyatt – Belly to belly suplex

Big E. Langston b. Antonio Cesaro via DQ when Corey Graves interfered

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