NXT
Date: February 27, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: William Regal, Tony Dawson

Back for another week here and we now have a new challenger for Langston in the form of Corey Graves. This is a good idea as Graves never got to have his title match due to the Shield interfering the first time. Other than that the main focus has actually been on the Divas division which works far better here than it does in WWE. Let’s get to it.

We open with Bo Dallas in the back with Dusty Rhodes, the NXT GM. Corey Graves comes in, carrying the NXT Title belt that he stole last week. Dusty talks about earning things, like Bo earned his spot in the Royal Rumble by winning a tournament. Tonight it’s Graves vs. Dallas vs. Conor O’Brian for the #1 contender’s spot.

Opening sequence.

Justin Gabriel vs. Leo Kruger

Justin has Tyson Kidd with him and this is fallout from last week where Kruger tried to attack the injured Kidd, only to have Gabriel make the save. We hear a brief history of the two guys as they were both trained in South Africa. Gabriel avoids a shot in the corner and chops away at Kruger’s chest before they circle each other some more. Another chop staggers Leo and we head to the mat with Justin holding a headlock.

This hold stays on for a good while as two minutes later it’s finally broken up. Gabriel comes right back with an arm trap headscissors for a bit before it’s right back to the headlock. Now it’s Kruger with his own headlock but Justin comes back with a headscissors to send Leo to the outside. We take a break and come back with Leo running over Justin with a shoulder block. A spinebuster puts Justin down for two before Kruger sends him shoulder first into the post for two.

Leo cranks on the arm for a bit before Justin fights back via kicks to the chest. A DDT on the arm puts Justin right back down for two and it’s back to the arm. Back to the armbar for a few minutes until Gabriel escapes via a snapmare. A nice series of kicks takes Kruger down as does a discus forearm. Gabriel hits a splash in the corner followed by a springboard cross body for two.

Justin goes up again, only to have Kruger knock him off the top and snap the bad arm down over the top rope. A BIG running clothesline takes Justin’s head off but somehow only gets two. Leo tries a superplex, only to be countered into a sunset bomb off the top. The 450 finally hits (with Gabriel selling the arm even while covering) for the pin on Kruger at 11:03 shown of 13:33.

Rating: B-. This was a very entertaining match that came out of almost nowhere. They were going back and forth the entire time and the arm stuff was a nice touch. It loses some significant points because of how long they spent in that headlock, but other than that I have very few complaints here. This was one of the better matches I’ve seen in a long time on NXT.

Post match Kruger hits Gabriel with Kidd’s crutch.

Aksana vs. Emma

Emma dances (badly) to the ring and tries to skin the cat to get into the ring but can’t quite get over the ropes. Aksana whips her into the corner to start and crawls over to Emma, only to have the Aussie (Emma) head to the apron. She kicks the ropes and seems to trip down to the floor. So is she a klutz?

Back in and a hair drag puts Aksana down so Emma can mock the crawling thing that Aksana does. Aksana comes back with a slam and drops an elbow for two. Emma pulls her down by the hair again and puts on a cravate for good measure. Aksana counters what appears to be a dancing suplex and hits a spinebuster for the pin at 4:39.

Rating: D+. What does it say for your career when you’re jobbing to Aksana? This was a step up for Aksana but she’s still not very good. Emma has only been around a few times on NXT and the dancing bit is only going to carry her so far, especially given how many other dancing characters there are in WWE at this time.

We cut to the back where Bo Dallas is unconscious.

Corey Graves vs. Conor O’Brian

There’s no Dallas in sight at the moment so I guess this is one on one now. The winner gets a shot at Langston. Graves goes for a leg to start and is easily shoved away. Another attempt gets the same result before O’Brian runs him over a few times with some hard shoulders. Off to a headlock on the mat by Conor which shifts into a nerve hold. We take a break and come back with Graves being backdropped over the top and out to the floor.

Back in and O’Brian keeps up the punishment as he stops a comeback attempt cold. Graves is sent to the floor and gets a breather, allowing him to wrap Conor’s leg around the post a few times. Back inside and Corey cranks on the leg with a leg lock before cannonballing down onto it. Off to another leg lock which transitions into a kind of modified Texas Cloverleaf, only with Graves laying on his side and cranking back on the legs instead of sitting on the back.

We take another break and come back with both guys on the floor again. Graves punches away at the limping O’Brian before getting two back inside. Back to another leg lock but O’Brian rips at his face to break the hold. They slug it out with O’Brian taking over and hitting a flapjack….and there go the lights. The lights come back on and the Shield is here for a no contest at approximately 9:30 shown of 14:30.

Rating: C+. While still good, this wasn’t as good as the first match. Graves going for the knee was the right move as his finish is a leg lock. Why is that such a complicated idea for so many people to grasp anymore? The finish probably ties into the Dallas attack which is fine, and it’s nice to see Shield still around here. If nothing else they have unfinished business around the NXT Title.

Graves takes the TripleBomb as the fans chant for Shield. Ambrose says Shield isn’t done with NXT. Rollins promises that things will get better, but first they have to get worse.

Overall Rating: B. This show is the most continuously entertaining hour of wrestling every single week. We had two solid matches here, a not terrible Divas match, and a run-in by the top heel group of the main roster. Oh and Dallas was attacked, which may or may not be because of the Shield. This was a solid show and very entertaining for an hour of wrestling. Good stuff.

Results

Justin Gabriel b. Leo Kruger – 450 Splash

Aksana b. Emma – Spinebuster

Corey Graves vs. Conor O’Brian went to a no contest when Shield interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

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

Tonight we have the finals of the tag title tournament and more build for the NXT Title match between O’Brien and Langston. Other than that we’re probably getting ready for the next challenger for Langston, which could be almost anyone. Something else I like about NXT: no triple threats for the most part. That’s the only way I could see Langston losing though, so there’s a chance they might start showing up. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the tournament thus far.

Opening sequence.

Mike Dalton vs. Axl Keagan

Before the match, Paige jumps ring announcer Summer Rae. Paige says the match isn’t going anywhere until Rae comes back to face her. This brings out Dusty Rhodes to tell her to leave but Paige won’t go. Paige finally leave\s but gets in a fight on the stage with Rae, possibly injuring her shoulder in the process. No match apparently.

Alex Riley vs. Corey Graves

The mat is black here for no apparent reason. On the other hand, the match is happening for a specific reason as Graves attacked Riley after a tag tournament match two weeks ago. Riley starts fast and sends Graves into the corner early on before slamming him down. Graves suckers him in though and fires off a kick to the knee to slow Riley down. Regal: “Sometimes a boot to the face can work wonders.”

Graves grabs a chinlock as we hear about Summer Rae vs. Paige coming up next. A back elbow gets two for Corey and it’s off to another chinlock. Riley fights up and comes back with a quick suplex and a spinebuster for two. Not that any of it matters though as Graves takes him down with the 13^th Step for the fast submission at 5:16. The announcers don’t know the name of the hold even though they’ve said the name before.

Rating: C. I really like Riley so it’s nice to see him doing something here. He isn’t going to make it onto the main roster for a long time due to whatever reason they have at this point, but it’s cool to see him here. Graves is a guy I could see going to the main roster soon as he has the unique look that WWE loves and isn’t bad in the ring either. Nice little match here.

Video on the Elimination Chamber.

Summer Rae vs. Paige

Paige has a bad shoulder coming in so Summer immediately kicks the shoulder for two. Off to a short arm scissors as Rae is at least showing some brains. Paige immediately fights up and throws Summer down, only to get her arm pulled on again. A BIG spin kick takes Paige down for the pin out of nowhere at 1:59. That’s Paige’s first loss I believe.

Sasha Banks gets another love note and will meet her secret admirer next week.

The O’Brian vs. Langston match is next week.

NXT Tag Titles: Wyatt Family vs. Adrian Neville/Oliver Grey

It’s a tournament final so no one is defending. The Family is Erick Rowan and Luke Harper, but we get another Wyatt promo first. This one talks about how the ultimate underdogs are already in the ring and they get to face some monsters tonight. Harper and Grey get things going with Luke being sent to the floor almost immediately. A big dive takes Harper out and we take a break.

Back with Neville coming in to work on Erick’s arm. The size difference is huge here as Rowan might be a full foot taller than Neville. Back to Grey to pound on the arm before it’s back to Adrian. Bray is standing at ringside instead of in his rocker here. The monsters finally get in a shot to Grey’s ribs as Lee comes in again. That advantage lasts all of a few seconds though as it’s back to Neville who backflips over Luke before tagging Grey back in. That seemed rather pointless.

Rowan pounds on Oliver in the corner but the advantage again only lasts a few seconds with Grey cranking on the arm again. Back to Neville who fires off kicks to Rowan’s leg and hooks a quickly broken sleeper. Bray actually gets involved by tripping up Grey, only to get ejected by Dusty. We take another break and come back with Grey in a chinlock at the hands of Harper. A slam puts Oliver down and it’s off to a neck crank from Rowan. The cranking continues as the monsters change again.

Luke mixes things up by switching over to a front facelock before Rowan comes in for a bearhug. Grey finally fights out of the corner and avoids an elbow drop to make the tag to Neville. Things immediately speed up and a jumping DDT gets two on Harper. Neville loads up a springboard kick but jumps into a kick to the face from Harper.

Grey makes a diving save at two and things settle down a bit. Neville escapes a belly to back suplex but gets splashed in the corner. The monsters collide in the corner and Adrian kicks Harper in the face, setting up the corkscrew shooting star for the pin and the titles at 11:54 shown of 18:54.

Rating: B. This took some time to get going and the middle dragged a bit, but the little guy vs. big guy formula here was working like a charm. Grey makes a fine punching bag and Neville has enough stuff to make a convincing comeback to set up the big finish. This was the perfect way to give us a first set of champions and the match worked really well. Good stuff here.

Dusty comes out to present the champions with their titles.

Overall Rating: A-. This was a very solid show all around with a great ending to cap it off. It’s an amazing thing: when you build up a moment as a big deal, treat it like a big deal, and have the match be a big deal, the moment becomes a big deal. The tournament was a success and we’ve got underdog champions that can hold the belts for a few months before dropping them to some bigger threats. This was good stuff all around and another example of how well NXT works.

Results

Corey Graves b. Alex Riley – 13^th Step

Summer Rae b. Paige – Spinwheel Kick

Adrian Neville/Oliver Grey b. Wyatt Family – Corkscrew Shooting Star Press to Harper

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews