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

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon at:

 

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

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