NXT
Date:
January 14, 2015
Location:
Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators:
Renee Young, Rich Brennan, Alex Riley
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's
the first show on Wednesday nights and we're starting with a bang as
Sami Zayn is giving Adrian Neville his rematch for the NXT Title.
Kevin Owens is still lurking around and there's always a chance he
could get involved. We also have the continuing story of crazy
Marcus Louis stalking Tyler Breeze. Let's get to it.
Opening
sequence.
Tyson
Kidd vs. Finn Balor
Balor
has the full entrance minus the face paint, which is still awesome.
On another note, does Charles Robinson age? He looks identical to
how he looked back in 1999. Balor starts with a running dropkick at
the bell but misses a top rope stomp. That's fine with Finn as he
takes Tyson into the corner for a running basement dropkick, sending
Kidd out to the floor. The Irishman follows but gets speared into
the barricade for a loud crash. The fans seemed to like that one and
I can't say I disagree.
Kidd
has dedicated this match Charlotte. His cat, not the wrestler. Back
in and Kidd shouts at Finn to kill him before we take a break. We
come back with Kidd catapulting him face first into the bottom buckle
for two before we hit a chinlock. A dropkick in the Tree of Woe gets
two for Kidd but Balor nails a Pele Kick to get a breather. I'm glad
someone in WWE finally started using that move. A running sleeper
drop puts Kidd down so he bails to the floor, only to have Balor nail
a great flip dive.
Kidd
pops back up with a running chest kick from the apron and the
springboard elbow drop for two. They're just beating the heck out of
each other here. The Sharpshooter goes on but Finn finally crawls
over to the ropes. A slingshot Fameasser misses Balor so he grabs a
reverse Impaler, followed by the top rope double stomp to end Kidd
11:55.
Rating:
B+. These guys were beating the
tar out of each other and it was awesome. Balor has such a presence
to him and is more than ready to be on the main roster. Based on
that, I'd be surprised if he makes it there in the next year because
WWE won't bring people up to the main show for reasons I don't
understand. Granted the longer he's here and doesn't have to get
“fixed” by the writers, the better he's going to be.
Package
on Zayn winning the title at R-Evolution minus
the post match beatdown. This is all about Neville vs. Zayn.
Bull
Dempsey says he's just as undefeated as Baron Corbin and tonight will
be Corbin's End of Days. The
last thing he's going to hear is BULL BULL BULL.
Baron
Corbin vs. Bull Dempsey
The
fans start the counting as they hammer away on each other with Bull
going down first. Thankfully the fans give up after about twenty
seconds and the fight heads outside. Back in and Bull slams him down
but misses his flying headbutt. End of Days is good for the pin at
1:36. This was exactly what
it needed to be and Baron looked like a monster.
Sasha
Banks/Becky Lynch vs. Natalya/Charlotte
Banks'
theme song is rapidly growing on me. Natalya
headlocks Becky to the mat to start before getting two off a rollup.
Renee tells us about Natalya
and Lynch tagging in Japan about nine years ago as the villains are
sent to the floor, setting up stereo baseball slides from Natalya and
Charlotte. A double delayed
suplex gets two on Becky before Charlotte wheelbarrow slams Natalya
on top of her for two.
Banks
comes in and gets snapmared down, allowing Natalya to step on the
back of her head to drive Sasha's face into the mat, immediately
followed by a low dropkick. Sasha
pops back up with two knees to the ribs as things FINALLY slow down a
bit. The men on the main
show can't keep up a pace like that most of the time. Off
to Charlotte for a neckbreaker for two as everything breaks down.
Banks hits a neckbreaker of her own on Charlotte and grabs the tights
for the pin at 4:20. Banks:
“I WON!!!”
Rating:
B-. I really wanted more of
this as Charlotte and Natalya were looking like a polished team out
there while Lynch and Banks have more than enough attitude to carry
themselves. I still want to see more from Lynch as she has a great
look and persona, but Banks is getting almost all of the spotlight,
which she certainly deserves.
NXT
Title: Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville
Sami
is defending. They shake
hands to start and Sami scores first with an armdrag. The
champ hooks a headlock but charges into an armdrag, sending him out
to the floor for a second. Back
in and Neville sends him into the corner but gets caught in his third
headlock in three minutes. Sami
leapfrogs over Adrian and avoids a dropkick, sending Neville into his
first frustration of the match.
Adrian
slaps him in the face and Neville says he's sorry. Sami says sorry
and forearms him in the face, starting the slugout with
Neville getting the better of it and sending the champ to the floor.
A big dive puts Sami down again as we take a break. Back with
Neville hitting a running
uppercut in the corner for two and hooking a hurricanrana for an even
closer near fall.
Sami
grabs the leg to block the Red Arrow but Neville won't let him hit
the Blue Thunder Bomb. The power of OLE lets Sami force him up on
the second try but Neville kicks out again. Zayn
rolls some Germans but Neville flips out of a chicken wing/half
nelson suplex. Neville cartwheels
onto Sami's shoulders and
snaps off one of the hardest hurricanranas you'll ever see for two.
The referee has to check if
Sami can continue but he shakes his head yes.
Zayn
half pops up into a Koji Clutch attempt but Neville rolls away, only
to have to bail outside to avoid the Helluva Kick. Sami loads up the
diving DDT through the ropes but Neville superkicks him into a state
of shock. Back in and
Adrian has to bail out of the Red Arrow but avoids another Helluva
Kick into a sweet bridging rollup for two. Sami goes into Beast Mode
and grabs the exploder suplex followed by the Helluva Kick for the
pin at 13:56.
Rating:
A. This
was a completely different kind of match than the title change.
While that one was about the drama and storytelling, this was about
two guys beating the living tar out of each other and actually making
me believe the title was in jeopardy. Outstanding match here and
both guys come out looking awesome.
Sami
celebrates but Owens comes in with a pop up powerbomb and puts his
boot on Sami's face. Owens
kicks the title over to Zayns' head to end the show.
Overall
Rating: A+. This was as good of
an hour of wrestling television as I've ever seen. Ignoring a 96
second power brawl (which was entertaining as well), the worst match
would have been the best Divas match on the main roster in probably
six months. Between Balor
and Kidd just beating the heck out of each other and Neville and Zayn
beating the heck out of each other even harder, I haven't had this
good of a time watching a show since.....oh I'd say the last big NXT
show. Go out of your way to see this episode as they debuted on
Wednesday with a major bang.
Results
Finn
Balor b. Tyson Kidd – Top rope double stomp
Baron
Corbin b. Bull Dempsey – End of Days
Sasha
Banks/Becky Lynch b. Natalya/Charlotte – Neckbreaker to Charlotte
Sami
Zayn b. Adrian Neville – Helluva Kick
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
It has nothing to do with values. It has to do with using the angle for shock value and trying to make it as offensive as possible.
ReplyDeleteWell I look back on the gimmick with fondness and am happy knowing that the two of them will be remembered in wrestling history as the West Hollywood Blondes.
ReplyDeleteThrowing out KISS like they were a trendy, awesome act is pretty much classic WCW, and yet not even the stupidest thing they did that year. I mean, this was before that reality show, even. They had zero pop culture cred at this point.
ReplyDeleteIf DJ Ran doesn't get the fuck out of my area I'm going to sue - scott keith
ReplyDeleteThat guy is actually a great example of WCW not understanding its audience. Let's have a loud, annoying DJ there to make sure they care, because the wrestling could never do that.
ReplyDeleteNot really; the gimmick was intelligent insulting to the max and they weren't ever allowed to be anything but a punch line.
ReplyDeleteThe stuff with Harlem Heat was supposed to set up the plot point of Stevie Ray turning heel; he eventually turns on Booker for being a "loser" and spends the next eight months repeatedly fucking him over until the racial discrimination lawsuit WCW was facing and Russo/Bischoff/Sullivan scorch earthing the place, causes them to have no real choice but to put the belt on Booker T in a hail mary type play to salvage shit before WCW went out of business
ReplyDeleteKiss had a comeback of sorts when the original line-up reunited in 95/96 and put the makeup on again, but it quickly fizzled out. Gene Simons overplayed the merchandising whoring he went about with the classic reunion and that plus the fact that KISS was dadcore music by the 90s, effectively made them uncool except for Boomers.
ReplyDeleteIt was a fun gimmick that didn't take itself too seriously. That's something that wrestling needs in all eras, at all times.
ReplyDelete