NXTDate:
December 25, 2013
Location:
Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Host:
Renee Young
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's
Christmas time in NXT and since this is a sane promotion, tonight is
a year in review show, plus Cesaro vs. Regal. This should be
entertaining as usual given how good NXT has been over the last year.
It's always fun to see where guys on the main roster got started and
several guys on the main shows today were in NXT earlier this year.
Let's get to it.
Welcome
Home.
The
arena is empty and Renee Young is our host.
First
up: a look at the opening of the WWE Performance Center.
We
get packages on all the people that have gone from NXT to the main
rosters: the Wyatts, Shield, Fandango, Xavier Woods, Damien Sandow,
Antonio Cesaro and Big E. Langston. Ignore that Cesaro, Fandango and
I beliee Sandow were in WWE before they came to NXT.
Langston
talks about the previous year has been a whirlwind and he couldn't
have done it without the maniacal five count fans. This is just the
beginning.
Cesaro
says that William Regal is the only technical wrestler he's ever
respected. Regal's evilness was an inspiration for Cesaro and he
wouldn't have a job here without William. However, Regal knew this
day was coming: the day when one of them had to go. The younger,
stronger and better man gets to stay, and that's Cesaro.
Video
on the first NXT Tag Title match with British Ambition beating the
Wyatts.
Video
on Emma vs. Paige for the first Women's Title.
Paige,
who towers over interviewer Devon Taylor, thinks Emma is just a
dancer. However, she now has Paige's respect because Emma has shown
she can move in the ring. Paige insists she's a wrestler and
promises to come for the Divas, including AJ.
Bo
Dallas knows we want to hear about his rise to the title but we need
to hear how important it is to Bo-Lieve. We get a clip of him
beating Langston to prove the power of the Bo-Lievers.
The
Wyatts talk about how they stand for a cause. Their crusades began
in a place called NXT and whether it's there or up in WWE, their
message is simple: down with the machine.
Here's
a package on the future of NXT: Aiden English, Mojo Rawley, Bayley,
Tyler Breeze, Alexander Rusev, Sasha Banks, Corey Graves and of
course Sami Zayn.
Video
on all of the WWE stars who have made cameos here in NXT.
William
Regal has been considering his legacy. He's a vicious fighter and a
unique entertainer but he never became World Heavyweight Champion.
That's his fault though because he has a tendency to get in trouble.
He's always been a world class technical wrestler, and that's where
Antonio Cesaro comes in. Cesaro is ten times the wrestler that Regal
has ever been and Cesaro wants to prove it. The only chance Regal
has tonight is a miracle and that's not coming to someone like
himself. Regal is going to give this every bit of evil he has and
hopes that's enough. This was an old school wrestling promo and it
was awesome.
Young
is about to introduce the match of the year but Shield hijacks the
signal to talk about how dominant of a year they've had. They've
destroyed everyone from Undertaker to Rock to Undertaker to John
Cena, but that was after they built NXT. All those guys that are
coming up through NXT need to be worried because Shield is waiting on
them in WWE.
Back
to Young who introduces the only match that could have been match of
the year in NXT: Sami Zayn vs. Antonio Cesaro 2/3 falls. Cesaro
going into beast mode to get the wind is still amazing and makes me
even sadder every time I see him jobbing to Los Matadores.
Sami
talks about what an honor it is to be part of the match of the year
but now his focus is on becoming NXT Champion. There's a roadblock
in his way named Leo Kruger and this talk about 2/3 falls has gotten
him thinking. Next week: Kruger vs. Zayn 2/3 falls. Even on a
review show they set up something for next week. Can this show do
anything wrong?
Antonio
Cesaro vs. William Regal
The
Fink is doing entrances, which gives me an answer to the question I
just asked. The disgusted yet also terrified look on Regal's face is
perfect. Cesaro cranks on the arm to start and Regal can't counter.
Antonio takes him to the mat but Regal nips up to draw a gasp from
the crowd. Cesaro stays on the hold and takes Regal down again but
there's another nip up. “You still got it!”
Regal
takes Cesaro down to his knees but still can't get away from the
wrist control as we take a break. Back with Cesaro still on the arm
and jumping onto a standing Regal's shoulders (basically putting
himself in a fireman's carry) to apply even more pressure. Regal
flips him down into an armbar but Cesaro nips up just like Regal did
earlier. William takes him down by the other arm but Cesaro powers
up into a test of strength.
Cesaro
easily powers Regal down but the Englishman counters into a cross arm
choke. He leans backwards to put Cesaro over his knees while still
choking, only to be flipped forward to escape. Back to the test of
strength before Regal counters a front facelock into a dragon
sleeper. Cesaro flips him forward in a kind of reverse suplex for
two but Regal gets him down into the corner and does his “distract
the referee while kicking the opponent in the face” spot.
Antonio
chop blocks Regal down and rams the bad knee into the apron a few
times as we take another break. Back with Cesaro holding a leg lock
but Regal keeps fighting back with kicks to the head. Cesaro keeps
control by cranking on the knee even more and taking off Regal's knee
brace. The knee is bent around Cesaro's neck in an old Brock Lock
but Regal counters into a rollup and backslide for two each. Cesaro
hits a series of ten uppercuts to knock Regal silly, setting up the
Cesaro Swing.
After
some trash talk Antonio loads up the Neutralizer but Regal backdrops
his way out. He drops a knee on Cesaro's arm to take away the
Neutralizer. Regal goes after the arm with everything he's got and
hits an overhead suplex for two. The knee is too damaged for the
knee trembler though and Cesaro comes back with a headbutt. Regal is
fine with that and headbutts Cesaro right back before loading up a
double underhook suplex. Cesaro backdrops Regal but can't break the
grip.
Regal
takes him to the mat again and tries the Regal Stretch but Cesaro
makes the rope. A forearm from the good arm lays Regal out and a
double stomp to the back of the head has the referee checking him.
Cesaro looks down at Regal before picking up his limp body. He sets
up the Neutralizer but thinks twice about it and lets Regal fall back
to the mat. Regal tries to pull himself up so Cesaro puts on the
Neutralizer. He looks down at Regal's unconscious body and looks
disgusted after pinning Regal at 16:00 shown of 24:00.
Rating:
A. I loved this for a lot of
reasons. First of all, the technical stuff at the beginning was
excellent with two old school craftsmen doing their jobs as well as
anyone can. It's wrestling in its purest form and when you have guys
who can work that style it's as entertaining as you can get. Then
there's the excellent storytelling with Regal trying every trick he
knew but not being able to stop Cesaro's raw power. The ending with
Cesaro not wanting to hurt Regal anymore but giving in to his natural
instincts of winning at any cost was great stuff. I loved this match
and continue to wait for Cesaro to be taken seriously in WWE.
Regal
is taken out by referees but Cesaro goes after him and extends a
hand. Regal stares him down and shakes hands as we go off the air.
Overall
Rating: A+. An amazing match
and clips of all kinds of awesome stuff from the undisputed best
wrestling show going today make this the best hour of wrestling I've
seen in a long time. Even when they're talking about a match that
happened months ago they tie in a match next week to give us a reason
to keep watching. This show can do no wrong at this point and
somehow keeps getting better.
Results
Antonio
Cesaro b. William Regal – Neutralizer
Remember to head over to my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
Cesaro - Backlund NOW.
ReplyDeleteCesaro/Fandango/Sandow all did start on NXT(though Fandango was still Johnny Curtis).
ReplyDeleteNot the modern version. The video was only about this year and they were all in WWE before this year started.
ReplyDeleteDitto on the taking Cesaro seriously. The Real Americans should be the team to take down the Rhodes brothers. They've been killing it these past months.
ReplyDelete