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NXT - October 23, 2014

NXT
Date: October 23, 2014
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Jason Albert, Alex Riley, Rich Brennan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

NXT continues to be the show gives me the most hope in wrestling as you can see the big stories building and they're as well put together as anything else in wrestling today. You can see Zayn vs. Neville coming and you can hear the roar of the crowd for the near falls. There's other good stuff coming too so let's get to it.


Opening sequence.

Ascension vs. Jason Jordan/Tye Dillinger

Jordan takes Viktor down by the waist to start but gets chopped hard back into the corner. Off to Konnor for a double shoulder and a big stomping in the corner. Konnor charges into an elbow and Dillinger comes in off the tag, only to walk into the flapjack. Fall of Man is good for the pin at 2:30.

Hideo Itami comes out post match but gets destroyed with ease.

CJ Parker vs. Tyler Breeze

Parker is quickly sent to the apron and then out to the floor as Breeze is more aggressive than usual. Back in and Parker hammers away before a top rope ax handle gets two. An injured Mojo Rawley comes out as Breeze punches CJ out of the air. A rollup gets two for Parker before the Beauty Shot is good for the pin at 2:56.

Vaudevillains vs. Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake

English cranks on Blake's arm to start before it's off to the partners. Gotch takes him down and the fans call him manly. The villains start taking Murphy apart by the arm, including slamming it onto the mat for two. Blake slips over Aiden's back and teases a rollup but crawls over to make the tag instead. Smart move there. Wesley cleans house but Aiden makes a blind tag, setting up a European uppercut from Gotch to the back of the head and a running neckbreaker from English (combined to form the Gentlemen's Congress) for the pin at 4:21.

Rating: C-. Basic tag match here with the Vaudevillains clearly as the next opponents for the Dragons. They have a good gimmick that could set up a new team with a big win and that's all you need most of the time. Good little match here and the Aussies (Blake and Murphy) have a future of their own.

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

Bayley chases her into the ropes a few times before finally taking her down and slamming Sasha's head into the mat. A knee drop gets two on Sasha and she armdrags Sasha out of the corner. Sasha finally kicks her in the ribs to take over and stands on Bayley's hair for good measure. A running slap gets two and Sasha cranks on both arms at the same time. Back up and Bayley sends her into corner and gets two off a middle rope back elbow to the jaw. Not that it matters though as the Backstabber sets up the Bank Statement to make Bayley tap at 5:13.

Rating: C-. Standard Divas match here with Sasha continuing her climb up the card for a showdown with Charlotte at the next Takeover show. Sasha may not have it in the ring as well as many others but at least she has the character down, which is far more important than the in ring abilities.

Sasha goes after her post match but Becky Lynch runs down, only to turn heel and beat Bayley down herself.

NXT Title: Titus O'Neil vs. Adrian Neville

Titus is challenging and we get some big match intros. The champ grabs a headlock to start before dropkicking him into the corner. Adrian tries to flip again and finally gets caught by a charge to take over very slowly. Titus sets Neville on the top rope and kicks him down to the floor for a big crash and two back inside. We take a break and come back with Titus putting on a bearhug. Adrian slaps him in the head to escape and nails a kick in the head. O'Neil charges into a boot in the corner and the Red Arrow retains the title at 10:02.

Rating: D. Get Titus out of NXT NOW. The guy is dragging down good wrestlers because he has almost no energy out there and is doing the most generic power guy act I've ever seen. It doesn't help that he's billed as a WWE star but Neville has accomplished more in his career in NXT than Titus has ever accomplished in WWE.

Post match Sami comes out for a congratulation but says he's on a mission to become NXT Champion. Adrian says anywhere and any time because Sami can't win the big one.

Overall Rating: C. That ending has me drooling for the next Takeover show because Neville is being built up to be an unbeatable champion instead of the same cowardly heel that we almost always get. By the time we get to the next Takeover, both guys are going to look unbeatable, but that's what Sami has looked like going into every big match he's had. The rest of the show wasn't much but it sets up some stuff for the future. Hopefully we get there soon though as this treading water is getting a bit hard to take.

Results
Ascension b. Jason Jordan/Tye Dillinger – Fall of Man to Dillinger
Tyler Breeze b. CJ Parker – Beauty Shot
Vaudevillains b. Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake – Gentlemen's Congress to Blake
Sasha Banks b. Bayley – Bank Statement
Adrian Neville b. Titus O'Neil – Red Arrow


Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Comments

  1. BOOO BECKY LYNCH BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Virgil's Gimmick TableOctober 24, 2014 at 5:31 PM

    BOOOOOBS THE ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT BECKY LYNCH BOOOOOOOOOOBS.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm an NXT fan boy, I freely admit. (Just ordered my official Vaudevillains t-shirt today...)

    ...but I thought this was a bad show (Vaudevillains victory aside.)

    I liked the #1 Contender Tyler Breeze. Conceited heel who can actually win matches--that's Rick Rude territory there. This seems like they're purposefully pouring water on him...having him wait around to feud with Mojo "Hyped but Heatless" Rawley...

    I liked The Ascension better when they simply crushed everyone put in front of them. Watching them destroy Itami (again) for no reason (other than implied racism) doesn't entertain me...nor does it make me hungry for Itami to get his revenge. Worse...it makes The Ascension fairly heatless before their expected addition to the main roster. (Hopefully, they won't do the same thing to Neville if he's also making the move to the main roster...)

    I like Bayley...and she can absorb a loss better than many on the NXT roster...but I hope they're not building up to an eventual "Bayley's got to learn to be a mean bitch in order to survive" turn (which is what they're doing to the "barely had a sip of coffee" Becky Lynch. There should be room for simple, pure, joy, too...(and "Bayley's gonna hug you" is the best chant in the world. Don't lose that!)

    ...if they move Charlotte to Raw (eventually), then expect to see Sasha Banks vs Alexa Bliss sooner than later. At least they're about the same size.

    Titus O'Neal is bad. Whoever was interviewing him, pre-match, was corpsing pretty bad. SEND FOR THE MAN!

    And I thought Neville looked weak against O'Neal. Maybe showing him vulnerable was the idea...maybe it is all the proof that Kevin Dunn needs to know that Neville won't work against the main Raw roster...

    And it was a curious decision to have Sami Zayn face Neville to his right--putting his black eye on display (not quite as bad as Hogan at WM9). It actually looked like he was wearing heavy mascara (could he and Tyler Breeze tag team in the future? No...)

    BUT...I think the commentary was particularly bad this week. Riley was too much the heel commentator...and Albert was too much the gushing face commentator. They did that fatal mistake of trying to make the conflict between the two of them more important than what was happening in the ring. (I, generally, like Riley on Raw post-show and PPV pre-shows...but here, he laid the heel schtick on too thick. And Albert...is...not good.)

    Then again, it was over in an hour...so, I can't be too mad.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Virgil's Gimmick TableOctober 24, 2014 at 5:33 PM

    BOOOOOBS BECKY LYNCH HAS NO BOOOOOBS.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What happens to Ascension on NXT now means nothing in terms of their eventual promotion to the main roster.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bayley is the sting of NxT

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  7. I've noticed that as well. Right now she's "Surfer Sting." If they actually do Sting's arc with her we may eventually see "Dark Crow Bayley."

    I do wish they actually spent more time establishing Becky Lynch's character and her relationship with Bayley before having her turn against Bayley.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good news: The tapings last night had no Titus O'Neil


    Bad news: They won't start airing for a couple of weeks and you still have more Titus to watch before then.


    The tapings were great last night though, set up for the next special well, and the first episode taped was one of the best episodes they've ever done.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Ghost of Faffner HallOctober 24, 2014 at 9:03 PM

    I just pictured Bayley rapelling from the rafters in a black trenchcoat and pointing a baseball bat at Becky... made my day. :)

    I don't think there was any thought put into the Lynch turn--they just needed another female heel, badly, since Sasha is basically the only one, and since Becky wasn't really doing anything they plugged her in the role.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Crikey Mate Down Under AussieOctober 24, 2014 at 10:18 PM

    Found out that 'itami' means 'pain' in Japanese, I must have missed that announcement when he first debuted the name.

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  11. Good to hear. Do you know xhen is Finn Balor making his debut ? I saw a video some times ago of him and Itami stomping the shit out of the ascension.

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  12. Or a wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube man suddenly pops up in the NXT Arena with a baseball bat in one of its arms

    ReplyDelete
  13. I think the Ascension is horrible, I can't believe that is the stock that the tag-team division is invested in. Neither one of them is imposing and both look like amateur or indy guys in juxtapose to the rest of the main roster. All i see them doing on Raw/Smackdown is using their horrid finisher in squash matches against the two bottom feeding tag teams. They better be repackaged or they are doomed to fail

    ReplyDelete

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