NXT has been the best pat of WWE for over a year now, or however long it has been since the network got here. week in week out it's full of great wrestling. It attracts so many indie darlings to WWE like Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami and many, many more and could spell a very exciting future for the whole of WWE. It also has a great advantage of always being filmed in the same place. I say this because as the main roster is always on the road and you have to wait for them to go to the traditional big wrestling cities to get the good crowds, but NXT gets it every time and crowd participation is something that is out of the companies control, but makes the product so much better.
There's also a very interesting preview of the show with Triple H where you can see just how proud he is of the show and reading between the lines there's more to see, with comments on how NXT 'divas' are real wrestlers and not just in it for the fame plus essentially saying it's the best wrestling show in the world https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=447&v=I2-AsE_1w3w .
So, to the show. It was obvious to put finn balor vs tyler breeze on first as the two of those plus hideo itami (who was out injured) have been going as a group through a series of great matches and this one yet again didn't disappoint. I do worry that Finn's Undertaker challenging entrance is too long though, but the crowd seem to love it, I just hope they don't fart out the title match that Finn earned like they did after the last no. 1 contender match although I think they might given what ended the show.
Divas tag match was solid. We all know how good a worker Charlotte is by now after her series of outstanding title matches last year and is more than ready for the main roster. Bayley too is very good and well over with the NXT crowd. I'm interested to see what Dana brook can bring but I don't like her entrance as he does the same thing over and over again and I'm indifferent to Emma as she was just leaving NXT as the network got here, so despite her match with Paige at the first live special she's been mostly ignored since she went to the main roster so I'm not sure what I think. The match was fun, hardly the most technical of the live special womens matches but fun for what it was.
Okay, so I'm in to Rhyno being in NXT. It's fun to have some random veteran in there, especially when the crowd can just chant 'gore' throughout the whole match, added to by the way Rhyno himself gets in to the chant. Corbin I'm not keen on, maybe as he's just had short matches until this point but I find myself not caring. I expected a brawl and we got a good one, Just a shame about the result (although I guess a vet coming in and ending a young talents undefeated streak would be against what NXT stands for).
Enzo and Cass, what a team. Not convinced they're the greatest wrestlers but wow they're good on the mic and super over with the crowd. You have to love them, it's impossible not to, they've even got the classic big guy/ little guy partnership like Dion Dublin and Julian Joachim before them (and, I guess, whatever other big guy/ little guy combos have happened). Murphy and Blake are strange as tag champs, it seemed like it was done to a) show that when these stupid title matches against no hopers happen, actually the no hopers could win and b) get the titles off the Lucha Dragons to send them to the main roster. I'd say put them on the Vaudevillains instead and have them feud with 'the Jersey boys' but Blake and Murphy are okay I guess, it can't stop feeling weird to me though that 2 jobbers suddenly won the tag titles. Needless to say I was fully behind Enzo and Cass and bitterly disappointed at the result as this was one of two matches where I truly favoured a winner and it didn't come to fruition. Needless to say there's only one word that can describe the ending of that match...
Okay, on to the ones that really matter and first the NXT WOMENS championship. It must be said that recently Sasha Banks has took the spot of my dream girl from Aubrey Plaza. Ah, if only I were fitter, lived in north America, were a Pro wrestler and worked for WWE. Maybe I'd have a chance (just a few hurdles to climb then). Needless to say I'm in the 'no she's not (ratchet) category. The women's title match has pretty much stole the show on every NXT live special so far, be it Paige showing her strength and earning her place s next WWE divas champion (although arguably the nxt women's title actually is better) to the classic from Charlotte/ natalya to Bayey's coming out party (as a class wrestler) to an edge of your seat fatal 4 way to another clinic in Charlotte Sasha, to this, which probably compares best of those to Charlotte Natalya with Charlotte the underdog against Natalya the established star. The same was true here with Becky Lynch finally getting a title shot. Granted she wasn't really pushed enough to deserved it and it felt like a rush job to get a different match than yet another Sasha/ Charlotte match (though they've all been excellent) and at the start of the match it seemed like the crowd also saw things like this and gave Becky a hard time, but just like Bayley before her ,Becky Lynch may not have won the title, but earned her stripes in this match and left, as the loser, to a standing ovation.
PS. Triple H in the interview I posted higher up said Sasha Banks was one of the best performers, male or female, he's ever seen. I've got high hopes. Here's to hoping they cut all of the main roster 'divas' except Paige, Naomi and Natalya, put the nxt gals up and give them some serious length for their matches. Then we'll see what good womens wrestling is in WWE.
#legitboss.
PPS. Corey Graves made a killer reference in relation to Becky's newly bright ginger hair.
So after Kevin Owens made a truly incredible Raw debut on Monday, putting John Cena in his place, I was excited (added to by his entrance attire). Not that I wasn't before. The match at the last special was great, the build has been great and the things you hear about their ROH matches all makes it more special. The only thing I feared for was another Sami Zayn injuy. Not a real injury mind you. He's a great wrestler, but in basically every high Profile match Sami Zayn has it has to get stopped for a period of time due to him being injured. If pro wrestling were real, he shouldn't be doing it, it makes him look so weak. And yes, it happened, again... he came out all guns blazing and fighting Owens off, but the very well put over brutal ring apron powerbomb put Zayn down. Owens wins by the match being ended again and he looks great, but Zayn, who knows. Added to the fact the freakin' Samoa Joe, still named Samoa Joe came out to save Zayn at the end. Don't get me wrong, I was excited. I loved TNA in the late to mid naughties, but stopped watching in the Hogan/ Bishoff era (y'know, when they ruined it) and I gather Joe was bumped down the card at that point too, but Samoa Joe is a truly great wrestler. Next to maybe AJ Styles the only person who could come in to WWE right now and keep his name. It was great to see him (despite his awful music) but where does his leave Zayn now? He looks like an aftherthough. The next live special will clearly be Joe vs Owens so where does Balor fit in, I assume with another blowoff regular show match. Don't get me wring the match will be great, like the last one, but we all know Owens will retain.
The show was, just like every other like NXT special, outstanding. Watch it if you have the slightest interest, but I just wonder, where does this leave the title picture with 4 men basically involved now, not to mention the champ's big match against John Cena (sucks) in 2 weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment