NXT
Date:
October 9, 2013
Location:
Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators:
Alex Riley, Tom Phillips
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
This
is kind of the show before the big show with next week having the
showdown between Sami Zayn and Bo Dallas. As for tonight there isn't
anything big announced. We do however have a major guest star in the
form of Rob Van Dam. I love how they bring in big names like that to
give the fans a treat almost every week. Let's get to it.
We
open with a Rob Van Dam music video, meaning he's likely the main
event tonight.
Welcome
Home.
Leo
Kruger vs. Antonio Cesaro
This
should be good. It's a result from the Bo Dallas Invitational where
both guys fought over a chance at fighting Dallas. Cesaro charges at
the bell and hits a running dropkick to fire up the crowd. Kruger
loses his shirt but comes back with some loud chops. A clothesline
puts Cesaro on the floor and Kruger rakes his back.
We
head back inside with Cesaro driving in knees to the ribs to take
over, drawing a “Push Cesaro” chant. Kruger gets choked on the
bottom rope but comes back with a quick suplex and some choking of
his own. A Russian legsweep gets two for Leo but Antonio hits a
quick running European uppercut in the corner for two of his own.
Cesaro
puts him down with something like a Rock Bottom for two but gets
crotched on the top rope. A superplex puts Cesaro down and we take a
break. Back with Cesaro being knocked to the floor for a suicide
dive from Kruger. They head inside again with Cesaro running away
from the Slice clothesline and heading outside again. Cesaro sends
him into the steps and drops him back first onto the apron in a bid
for a countout. Kruger gets back up so Cesaro gives him a gutwrench
suplex on the ramp.
Kruger
still makes it back in at nine so Cesaro goes into boxing mode to
punch him down again. A fast series of European uppercuts and a
second cousin of the Angle Slam gets two but Kruger backdrops out of
the Neutralizer. Kruger gets a boot up in the corner but charges
into Swiss Death for another near fall. There's the standing sleeper
but Cesaro pulls him down into a bodyscissors. Kruger fights up
again but gets his head taken off by a clothesline. Cesaro goes into
beast mode and this the Neutralizer for the pin at 11:57 shown of
14:47.
Rating:
B. If you give Kruger a near
fall here it's a great match. As it is, it's only a great way to
make Kruger into a face that won't quit. The thing to see here
though was the energy. Both guys were clearly working hard to tell a
story out there and it worked like a charm. This is the kind of
stuff WWE desperately needs at the moment to break up the stale
feeling.
Post
match Cesaro drops a top rope knee on Kruger because that's the kind
of guy he is. Kruger seems to have an injured throat.
Breast
cancer sucks.
Charlotte
vs. Santana Garrett
Bayley
is with Charlotte here and Renee Young is on commentary again.
Santana fights out of a wristlock to start but Charlotte uses her
gymnastic stuff to take over again. A bad looking kick to the face
gets two for Santana as Renee talks about an article on WWE.com with
Charlotte complaining about being compared to her dad.
Here
are Sasha Banks and Summer Rae for some Laycool style applause.
Charlotte fights out of a headscissors into a cradle for two before
bridging Santana down for two. Sasha's distraction gives Santana a
rollup of her own for the same result but she walks into a reverse
F5, setting up a HORRIBLE looking flip Diamond Cutter for the pin at
3:10.
Rating:
D. This was mainly about Sasha
and Summer, but Charlotte's finisher looked terrible. Hopefully it's
because Santana took it from her knees, but she barely went down at
all and Charlotte didn't connect for the most part. Still though,
Charlotte has a good ring presence which will serve her well later
on. Bad night I'm hoping.
Post
match Summer and Sasha declare themselves the B.F.F.'s: the Beautiful
Fierce Females. They've gotten rid of Paige so there's no one left
to do anything about them. Cue Paige but she gets beaten down as
well, leading to a save by Emma.
Mojo
Rawley wants to motivate you.
Post
break Summer and Emma challenge Paige and Emma to a tag match next
week.
Danny
Burch vs. Mojo Rawley
Rawley's
entrance music starts with “I don't get hyped. I STAY HYPED!”
He sprints around the ring with so much energy that Ultimate Warrior
would tell him to tone it down. Burch pounds away on the well built
Rawley before putting on a quick chinlock. Mojo fights up and hits a
few quick shoulder blocks before finishing Burch with an Earthquake
splash for the pin at 2:27. Not a great debut but the entrance told
you everything you need to know about Rawley.
Paige
and Emma don't like each other but they agree to team up next week.
Scott
Dawson/Alexander Rusev vs. Colin Cassady/Enzo Amore
Dawson
and Rusev might be named the Legionaries. Enzo thinks we're in
Cheers right now because everyone knows their names, causing Cassady
to sing part of the cheers song. Rusev and Dawson are definitely
S-A-W-F-T and the fans let them know it. Cassady and Amore are just
so much fun. Rusev starts with Big Cass and pops him in the jaw with
an elbow to slow him down.
Off
to Amore who has about as much success as you would expect. A series
of knees to the ribs put Amore down and it's off to Dawson for some
elbow drops for two. There's a hard clothesline for the same and
everything breaks down. Rusev crushes Enzo in the corner and
finishes him at 2:52 with a camel clutch, which is called the
Accolade for some reason.
Dawson
and Rusev beat up Cassady post match.
Sami
Zayn is ready for his title shot next week against Bo Dallas. Bo
comes in and says that Sami hurt his feeling last week and that's
it's certainly not personal. Sami has no problem with Bo other than
he's the NXT Champion. Bo offers a tag team instead of fighting over
the NXT Title, which Sami agrees to, after the title match that is.
“Un-Bo-lievable.”
Rob
Van Dam vs. Aiden English
English,
now an Artiste, sings about kicking someone's teeth in because he's a
sports entertainer. Ricardo does RVD's entrance but not in song.
Aiden takes Rob down with a top wristlock to start but we hit a quick
standoff. A quick rollup gets two on English and sends him back into
the corner for some finger pointing. The monkey flip out of the
corner has English in trouble and a clothesline puts him on the
floor.
Rob
moonsaults him off the apron and we head back inside for Rolling
Thunder but Aiden bails before Rob can start. English kicks the rope
to crotch Rob and shouts that it's his show. A suplex gets two on
Rob and we hit the chinlock. Back up and Rob kicks him down a few
times before a superkick sets up Rolling Thunder. The Five Star ends
English at 5:32.
Rating:
C-. This was just a workout for
Van Dam but it didn't need to be anything more than that. English
getting this spot is a good sign for him as he debuted the new
gimmick just a few weeks ago and is facing a former world champion
already. This was just a thrill for the crowd and there's nothing
wrong with that.
Overall
Rating: B. Even their filler
shows are good. The best thing about NXT though is it's not just a
few guys they have that make an awesome show. Cesaro and Kruger are
the only guys here from last week and they were only in action for
about 45 seconds last week. NXT changed the entire roster for this
week's show and it was still very entertaining. That tells me it's
the promotion and not the stars, which is a REALLY good sign going
forward.
Results
Antonio
Cesaro b. Leo Kruger – Neutralizer
Charlotte
b. Santana Garrett – Running flip Diamond Cutter
Mojo
Rawley b. Danny Burch – Earthquake Splash
Scott
Dawson/Alexander Rusev b. Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady – Accolade to
Amore
Rob
Van Dam b. Aiden English – Five Star Frog Splash
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Disappointing taping tonight, with Zayn and Dallas both out of the country on the Indian tour and no new debuts even though Kalisto and Solomon Crowe are more than ready.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing the Zayn/Dallas bout again next week as it was Dallas' best match ever by far, and Zayn was awesome as usual. Kinda worried that my marking out all match may of been caught on camera though. The energy in the arena was beyond amazing for the match.
Solomon Crowe is an AWESOME name for a Jim Mitchell type of evil manager. Hopefully they won't waste it on some generic dude.
ReplyDeleteIt's for Sammi Callahan, Scott. He's pretty good from what i've seen.
ReplyDelete