NXT
Date:
January 15, 2014
Location:
Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators:
Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips, Tensai
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's
the first show of the new taping cycle so we're in for some fresh
stories. If nothing else we'll get to find out who is Bo's next
challenger, possibly at the live NXT special on the WWE Network. The
only match for this week is Kofi challenging Alexander Rusev to a
rematch after losing two weeks ago. Let's get to it.
Here's
HHH to open things up. As most of us know, there's a new concept
called the WWE Network launching on February 24. Also, on February
27, NXT is going to go live for the first time ever. I believe it's
just a one time deal though.
Welcome
Home.
Adrian
Neville vs. Tyler Breeze
Fallout
from the lumberjack match a month ago when Breeze cost Neville the
title. Tyler grabs a headlock to start but Neville runs him over
with a shoulder block to send Tyler to the floor. Neville teases a
dive but backflips into the middle of the ring and waits on Breeze.
Back in and Neville sends him face first into the buckle, drawing a
NOT IN THE FACE chant. Instead Adrian kicks him in the chest,
followed up by some loud chops. Neville heads to the apron but gets
caught by a springboard dropkick as we take a break.
Back
with Tyler holding Neville in a chinlock as Adrian fights up. Tyler
takes him down again but stops for a quick photo op. Neville uses
the breather to snap off a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to get himself a
breather. A spinning kick to the ribs sets up a running dropkick to
the head for two as Breeze is in trouble. Neville loads up a
springboard dropkick but Breeze dropkicks him out of the air for two
of his own. Good stuff so far.
Prince
Pretty is all ticked off now and pounds away on Adrian's face but
misses the Beauty Shot. A high kick looks to set up a middle rope
Phoenix Splash but Breeze rolls away at the last second. The Beauty
Shot is countered into a sitout powerbomb for two as the fans aren't
as into this as they should be. Breeze breaks up the Red Arrow by
grabbing Adrian's foot and crotching him down, but Neville blocks a
hurricanrana attempt, setting up the Red Arrow for the win at 9:20
shown of 12:50.
Rating:
B-. I was digging this match as
Breeze gets to show that he can go in the ring instead of just on the
mic. Neville is a far more complete wrestler than his finisher would
suggest. He'll be on the main roster someday in a Sin Cara level
role and Breeze could be great as a comedy heel. Good signs for the
future here.
CJ
Parker vs. Jason Jordan
Jordan,
usually a jobber, gets a full entrance. A quick German suplex gets
two on Parker and Jordan keeps the grip to hold Parker on the mat.
Parker sends him throat first into the ropes and hits the Third Eye
(palm strike) for the pin at 1:07. It's a very telling sign when you
can get the NXT fans to not care about you at all.
Bo
Dallas vs. Mojo Rawley
Non-title.
The much bigger Rawley tosses Dallas back into the corner and tells
Dallas that he isn't hyped. It works so well that he does it again
but Bo offers a nice smile. A shoulder block sends Bo to the floor
and the smile is gone. Back in and Bo immediately bails to the
floor. Dallas has no idea what to do so he just pounds away on Mojo
in the corner. Rawley runs him over again with a shoulder and
splashes Dallas in the corner over and over. Dallas rolls to the
floor again but Mojo pulls him back inside, only to miss a splash and
let Bo roll him up with a handful of trunks for the pin at 3:49.
Rating:
C-. Rawley looked like a train
here until the very end. I'd have had Bo take the countout as Rawley
could easily be a top challenger for the title in the near future.
They're also used him far better here instead of having him get
destroyed for the entire match before pulling off a fluke win. Also
is you have to lose, at least lose to the champion.
Kofi
Kingston vs. Alexander Rusev
Feeling
out process to start and Kofi can't take him over with a headlock.
Some kicks to the ribs have a better effect but Rusev just blasts him
in the head to take over. Kofi scores with an elbow to the jaw but
gets shoved out of the corner to give Rusev control again. Alexander
sends him into the corner and works on the ribs before putting on a
nerve hold.
Back
up and more shots to the ribs have Kofi in trouble but he sidesteps a
charging Bulgarian and sends him to the floor. Kofi misses a
baseball slide but scores with a clothesline off the steps as we take
a break. We come back with Kofi having a chinlock broken up but
managing to avoid a charge. Kofi pounds away in the corner but Rusev
counters into a powerbomb for two. The fans chant FEED ME MORE at
Rusev before changing over to GOLDBERG.
Rusev
drops some elbows and headbutts before going back to the nerve hold.
Now the fans start doing the wave as Kofi fights back with chops and
a dropkick, only to have his cross body caught in midair. Rusev,
still holding Kofi, drives knees into the ribs before trying a Samoan
drop but Kofi rolls him up for two. Kingston avoids a charge in the
corner and kicks Rusev in the face, but his top rope cross body is
caught again, setting up the Samoan drop for two.
Kofi
dodges another charge, though this time Rusev puts on the brakes
because he actually learns during his matches. The SOS gets two and
some hard kicks to the face have Rusev in more trouble. Rusev comes
back with a clothesline but Kofi hits his jumping clothesline to take
him down again. The Boom Drop connects and after a distraction from
Lana, Trouble in Paradise is enough to pin Rusev at 12:09 shown of
15:39.
Rating:
C+. While it's not as boring as
the fans made it out to be, this was still an uninteresting match for
the most part. Rusev losing is questionable as well as the matches
here don't mean anything to the main roster so putting Alexander over
wouldn't hurt anyone at all. Not bad but nothing inspiring at all.
Overall
Rating: B-. Two good matches, a
major announcement and nothing bad make for a good episode. The
future is incredibly bright for WWE as the class of talent they have
down in NXT is very strong. Rusev, Rawley and Neville will all be on
the main roster at some point this year and they'll all do well,
assuming the creative team doesn't screw them up.
Results
Adrian
Neville b. Tyler Breeze – Red Arrow
CJ
Parker b. Jason Jordan – Third Eye
Bo
Dallas b. Mojo Rawley – Rollup with a handful of trunks
Kofi
Kingston b. Alexander Rusev – Trouble in Paradise
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
"They were clearly circling the drain."
ReplyDeleteAside from you trying to pretend we already didn't disabuse everyone of the notion that Road Wild was a success (for those that don't remember, that "one of the highest buyrates ever" was only the 5th highest buyrate WCW did in 1998), you, um, do realize that everyone here remembers what actually happened to WCW in the next 2.5 years, right? Because yeah, they actually were circling the drain at this point more or less.
Just because it was 'only' the fifth highest buyrates in 1998, doesn't mean that it still wasn't one of the highest buyrates they ever got. You can try and compartmentalize it to fit your premise, but anyone with any insight can see the truth. Oh and the company was gone 2 1/2 years later? Ignoring the fact that it's demise had nothing to do with it's profitability and everything to do with a network deciding it didn't fit it's new direction, do you know what was going on in wcw 2 1/2 years before this? The megapowers were defeating the alliance to end hulkamania in a doomsday cage match.
ReplyDeleteYES! I got troll Dougie to rear his head. I win!
ReplyDeleteGrammar and spelling trolling is the laziest and most uncreative forms of trolling. You're better then this little buddy.
ReplyDelete1. Yeah, I'm not doing this Road Wild thing again. You want to say spending a small fortune to get Jay Leno to appear at a show that gets a lower buyrate than Souled Out, Uncensored, and Starrcade did that year (and didn't sell any tickets on top of it) was a great business move because it outdrew Superbrawl III or Sin or something you go right ahead.
ReplyDelete2. "Ignoring the fact that it's demise had nothing to do with it's
profitability and everything to do with a network deciding it didn't fit
it's new direction"
Jesus, this is a new level of stupid even for you.
3. "do you know what was going on in wcw 2 1/2 years before this? The
megapowers were defeating the alliance to end hulkamania in a doomsday
cage match."
Why, it's almost like Eric Boschoff and Hulk Hogan don't know how to put out a good wrestling product outside of an isolated time period where they hit big time with a single angle or something.
I think I've got him a bit preoccupied trying to defend the Bischoff/Hogan regime's business and creative acumen upthread.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, you have absolutely nothing to back up your silly claims and, while accusing me of trolling, you are clearly the one trolling. Seeing as you haven't bothered trying to dispute what I say, I'm not going to waste my time reiterating my points. Please don't reply until you actually have something to back up your ridiculous original assertion.
ReplyDeleteYes, if by "not disputing" you mean "not wasting an afternoon rehashing an old discussion thread," then sure. (And, of course, by "not going to waste time reiterating my points" you mean "am going to keep saying the same thing over and over no matter how many times someone else points out it's bullshit.") I'll leave this one to the crowd to judge on points.
ReplyDeleteAnd I notice that, strangely, you couldn't bring yourself to actually assert that Bischoff and Hogan were good at running a wrestling promotion. Why, it's almost as though you want to tap dance around with contrarian bullshit without having to be nailed down to making a transparently asinine assertion along the way.
It seemed a bit silly to waste my time 'defending' two guys that ran the second most successful promotion of all time. And seeing as the rest of your post had nothing behind it, I summed it all up as the nothingness that it was.
ReplyDelete"It seemed a bit silly to waste my time 'defending' two guys that ran the second most successful promotion of all time."
ReplyDeleteTNA has been in business longer than WCW was after Bischoff became Vice-President/Hogan was signed to WCW.
And? Does that make it more successful?
ReplyDeleteWell, yes. Yes it does. And I'd bet you TNA hasn't lost as much money in its entire existence as WCW lost from August 1998-September 1999.
ReplyDeleteLol. Now you're just taking the piss.
ReplyDeleteSays the guy who is defending a company that lost tens-hundreds of millions of dollars and went out of business during arguably the biggest boom in the industry's history. Successful!
ReplyDeleteYou should try an argument that isn't based on a book written by the guys from wrestlecrap.
ReplyDeletePretty sure that's not the only source I could cite for WCW going out of business (plus I don't think anyone has ever disputed that WCW was bleeding money in 1999/2000).
ReplyDeleteStart citing.
ReplyDeleteRE: the Jericho/Hennig match...I was listening to Part 2 of Jericho's podcast with Bret Hart, and they got to talking about what a great "dance partner" was and how he just liked to work. Jericho specifically said, despite all the political BS coming from the older guys in WCW around this time, Hennig was a guy who would look to impart knowledge on the younger wrestlers and help make them better. It's not surprising, then, to see, based on these reviews, that is one of Hennig's more inspired performances.
ReplyDeleteWrath had a good look but he was not a championship-leel guy.
ReplyDeleteNorton was fine in his roll.
Has TNA even broke even for one year under Panda?
ReplyDeleteThat's what I thought.
ReplyDeleteYeah, businesses are really bad with the concept of sunk costs, so they probably wouldn't have been down with payng Hogan, Nash, Hall, Luger, Savage, and Piper to do nothing. If you could have just said "play ball or go home," though, it probably could have been done, because even with Flair/Hart/Sting you've got enough star power to work with the mid carders to elevate them, and a huge draw in Goldberg.
ReplyDeleteYou dispute the final Nitro broadcast's contention that WCW was going out of business?
ReplyDeleteYou claimed you could cite sources other than wrestlecrap saying that wcw lost hundreds of millions of dollars. You failed to do so. Don't reply until you can back up your claims.
ReplyDeleteIt's counting and spelling actually. And you mess these things up constantly.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually been awhile since i got a spelling/grammar dougie troll reply. I've missed it!
ReplyDeleteNo, I said I could cite other sources to back up my claim that WCW went out of business. I merely said that I didn't think WCW's staggering losses circa 1999-2000 had ever been seriously disputed.
ReplyDeleteI'll be going until A, Scott fires me or B, I shoot myself. I'm actually looking forward to 1999 though. I remember the shows being confusing but I was 11 years old at the time. It'll be nice to see them in context year in and year out.
ReplyDeleteAnd you continue to be wrong.
ReplyDeleteWell dude, I don't know what to tell ya. On the one hand we have basically every peice of recounted information from the time period saying that WCW was bleeding money, and on the other hand we have you. The evidentiary burden is not on me here.
ReplyDeleteLol. No you don't. You have a group of people that have no idea what the actual financial situation was assuming things. Meanwhile, as has been stated by those in charge, that is deceiving because the money that wcw generated in terms of ad revenue never went to wcw, it went to turner. But please, keep trying to use a book written by guys from wrestlecrap as evidence backing up your ludicrous claims. I can always use a good laugh.
ReplyDeleteThe upshot is that, from what I remember, Nitro doesn't get REALLY shitty for a few months, but Thunder and the PPVS are awful outside of Spring Stampede.
ReplyDeleteThe big guaranteed contracts were paid by Turner too, so I don't see why it's "deceiving." But in any case it's really neither here nor there: If WCW was a vaguely profitable company it wouldn't have gone out of business, and there's nothing that otherwise contradicts the common claims that they were losing money hand over fist by late 1999.
ReplyDeleteIt always bothered me how all of Luger and Savage's face matches in WCW we're pretty much like Luger's match here. They'd get smacked around like a jobber for the first 95% of the match, hit 2 moves then their finisher for the win. Usually didn't even matter who the opponent was.
ReplyDeleteAt one point Wrath had a winning streak and the crowd was starting to get behind him. I think Wrath couldve been a world champ because Goldberg who had no real ring or mic skills got a winning streak going and ended up being champion. Wrath couldve been a great draw as wcw champ but at the very least he deserved a Tv or Us title run just like he deserved the IC title run in the WWF. Norton was good in his role** but also possesed the talent to do so much more in WCW....bleacher report agrees although i disagree with their assessment of The Wall http://bleacherreport.com/articles/998952-wcw-15-guys-who-never-really-got-a-chance-to-run-with-the-ball Your Welcome.
ReplyDeleteAt one point Wrath had a winning streak and the crowd was starting to get behind him. I think Wrath couldve been a world champ because Goldberg who had no real ring or mic skills got a winning streak going and ended up being champion. Wrath couldve been a great draw as wcw champ but at the very least he deserved a Tv or Us title run just like he deserved the IC title run in the WWF. Norton was good in his role** but also possesed the talent to do so much more in WCW....bleacher report agrees although i disagree with their assessment of The Wall http://bleacherreport.com/arti... Your Welcome.....
ReplyDeleteWCW's Norton Push was always insane to me- the guy stank in the ring, had zero charisma, and never really got a Title push, making the fact that he squashed a ton of guys and was ridiculously competitive all the more weird. I get that he was big in Japan since he was one of the few big Gaijin around at the time, but is they weren't going to actually give him a PUSH, then why keep him around and just kill guys?
ReplyDeleteScott Norton shouldve gotten a BIGGER push. Norton is a legend in bussiness and shouldve gotten a run with a title in WCW. his tag team with Ice Train was classic and he was of the few nWo black, white members that contributed, and his tag team with Buff Vicious and Delicious was fantastic. Norton if one of only 4 Americans to hold the the IWGP Championship with the others being Bob Sapp, Vader, and Brock Lesnar
ReplyDeleteBLURGH. Norton was absolutely awful in WCW, and only got a push in Japan because he was big. Every match I see featuring him is just SO awkward, because he doesn't move right. His selling was nonexistant, too.
ReplyDelete