The NXT Declutter

Yesterday WWE announced the release of seven talents from developmental contracts. These mass releases come as something of a surprise considering recent news that WWE are keen on signing more wrestlers to developmental deals once their new Florida training facility opens over the summer. I’d assumed there would be no releases with an NXT roster expansion planned. Clearly I was wrong.

Those released were, in no particular order, Briley Pierce, Derrick Bateman, Sakamoto, Percy Watson, and Brandon Traven, along with Divas Audrey Marie and Anya. Here are my thoughts on them…

Briley Pierce is the name that immediately jumps off of that list, being the younger brother of World Heavyweight champion Dolph Ziggler. I’ve seen him wrestle only one match and he didn’t blow me away but his work as a backstage interviewer has always been solid. He could have made it to the main roster in that position. Perhaps that offer was made and he turned it down in favour of sticking with the wrestling. If so good for him for sticking to his goal.

 

Going...

 

Like his brother Pierce has a good look. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him crop up in Japan and on the US indy scene over the next year or two before making a WWE return. Whether that’s as an interviewer or a wrestler is impossible to tell, but I’m sure he’ll be back with the company at some point. He’s too good for them not to utilise.

Sakamoto is another notable name released. He worked on the main roster last year as a manservant to Tensai (now… sigh… Sweet T). He didn’t really get to do very much in the role beyond take the occasional beating from his master. When he got bumped down to developmental it seemed like his release was on its way. Turns out it was but the guy hung on longer than I thought he would.

His path back to WWE doesn’t look especially rosy. The promotion seems less and less interested in Japanese stars. See their lack of an offer to the supremely talented Takeshi Morishima, their disinterest in keeping Yoshihiro Tajiri around, and a complete lack of a working relationship with any Japanese federation for proof of that. If Sakamoto’s going to make a name for himself in wrestling New Japan, All Japan or NOAH seem like his best options.

Audrey Marie seems like a particularly strange release to action considering the dire state of the women’s league. I think it’s fair to say that she hadn’t really done anything to stand out thanks to being scripted almost identically to Summer Rae. She did well with what she was given though. I’d have liked to see her given her own character and a chance to work with the main roster Divas.

I’d seen nothing of Anya but from the look of her she could have improved things too. At this point it’s hard to think of a way the Divas division could become worse.

It sounds callous but Brandon Traven seems like exactly the sort of guy who’d be part of a mass release. Looking like he does I can’t imagine him making it to the main roster. He doesn’t look like a WWE Superstar™. Outside of joining the Wyatt Family I don’t think there was any way for him to graduate from NXT.

 

... going...

Percy Watson was (and is) another guy who didn’t strike me as having the main roster look. He wrestled very mechanically and didn’t appear to have much of a personality. If he’s to return to WWE he’ll need to work on a lot.

 

The news of Derrick Bateman’s release is probably the biggest surprise after Briley Pierce. Bateman was one of the cast of NXT’s fourth season in 2010. He was impressive on the show, displaying good timing and facial expressions as well as a firm understanding of ring basics. He always seemed on the cusp of getting a regular gig on the main roster but it never quite panned out for him. He’s one of several guys in NXT that I felt deserved a call-up in the near future.

If those in charge of TNA and ROH are smart both organisations will offer Bateman contracts. I think he’d be a great benefit to both companies. Not only that but a stint in either could provide him with the seasoning he needs to hone his skills and get a second shot with WWE.

 

... gone.

 

The likelihood is that this is WWE getting rid of talent who they've deemed aren't quite ready yet as opposed to just  firing people to make savings. It's not the damning move many people seem to take it as. Bryan 'Daniel Bryan' Danielson was released from his developmental deal in 2001 and worked regularly as enhancement talent for years before he got a regular deal. It was travelling to different regions and working new styles that helped him improve to the point where WWE wanted him back.

Even CM Punk, arguably the most successful indy standout to sign with WWE over the last decade or more, was close to getting released in 2006. He was saved by Paul Heyman fighting to be allowed to use him in the revived ECW.

 
If any of those released pursue a wrestling career away from WWE they'll be doing the right thing. The key is to continue showing passion for the business and search for new places to improve. That could be Japan, Mexico, Europe, TNA, Ring of Honor, SHIMMER, EVOLVE or the dozens of smaller federations that propagate the USA. If they can go to any of these places and grow as performers there's a chance they'll make it back at some point. Let’s be honest, everyone released wants to get back to WWE.

The Debutants' Ball

At the moment most WWE viewers are scrutinising the headline matches, and distinct lack of mid-card matches, of WrestleMania XXIX. That's understandable. It will be the biggest and most financially successful wrestling event of 2013. That doesn’t mean it will be a creative success, but you can’t have everything.

The attention being paid to the April 7^th card is the main reason nobody's really thinking about what WWE will be doing on April 8^th. It's likely that all the part timers who have matches at WrestleMania (that's The Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, and Brock Lesnar) will be on the April 8^th RAW. That show will be about long term story plans involving those guys, timed to catch the viewers who generally only tune in around 'Mania time.

While The Rock will apparently be appearing at Extreme Rules it seems unlikely that Lesnar will join him and even more unlikely that 'The Game' and 'The Dead Man' will. From the April 15^th RAW onwards it's likely to be business as usual for WWE. Which may pose a problem, because they have a distinct lack of full time stars that can be given something fresh to do.

It's likely WWE are going to promote a few NXT guys to the main roster, giving themselves a year to create some big new stars for next year's WrestleMania XXX (the most adult of all the WrestleManias). Last year I posted a list of five guys (read it here) that I thought stood a chance of graduating from NXT and being the next batch of WWE Superstars™. Two of those five, Seth Rollins and Big E Langston, have made the leap.

The remaining three, Kassius Ohno, Richie Steamboat and Bray Wyatt, remain stationed in developmental. Ohno and Wyatt still both seem likely to follow in the footsteps of NXT’s first two champions. Sadly Steamboat has dropped off the radar and hasn’t had a televised appearance on NXT in quite a while. I still think he’d be a good addition to the roster but his lack of exposure indicates that that’s not likely anytime soon.

Going on current form both Ohno and Wyatt would perform similar functions: mid-card antagonists who would tangle with the likes of Kofi Kingston and R-Truth. WWE isn’t in desperate need of guys to do that though, they have enough interchangeable heels as it is. What could be done is to change the roles they play.

 

This man deserves a chance to make it in WWE. I'm talking about Bray Wyatt, not Yoshi Tatsu

 

I’ve never seen Bray Wyatt work as a babyface so I don’t know how good he is in the role. I do know how good he is at playing the disturbed southern preacher though. It’s a persona that deserves the chance to succeed on the big stage of WWE. Whether he gets called up alongside Erick Rowan and Luke Harper or not (and for the record I think they should all go up together) Wyatt would be best served playing his current character, perhaps recruiting one or two current members of the roster to swell the ranks of the Family.

Ohno could work as a babyface. WWE seems short on bankable good guys right now. Alberto Del Rio’s worked out nicely but The Miz is considered a flop and Sheamus has been a disaster as a top line performer. Ohno’s been around long enough to be able to start out as a good guy.

The trouble there is that it’s tricky to introduce good guys as anything other than underdogs. That works when the wrestler in question is the size of Kofi Kingston or Bo Dallas but it’s a trickier proposition with someone of Ohno’s build. He looks like he can take care of himself as is roughly the same size as most of the other guys under contract. If he’s going to start out as a good guy the underdog approach wouldn’t be available.

They’re not the only guys who could find themselves on the main roster come late April. Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey, the current NXT tag champs, would make an excellent addition to the tag team division. That would depend on WWE wanting to make their doubles scene watchable once WrestleMania’s out of the way, of course.

Conor O’Brian’s puzzling Ascension gimmick is not the sort of thing that would be a natural fit for WWE right now. It could work (for a while anyway) if he continued to play the character as he has in NXT while the commentary team, backstage interviewers and other wrestlers acknowledged how strange the character is. A joke that everyone except the performer is in on, if you like.

Gimmick aside O’Brian’s as ready as he’s going to get. He could find a role with a more straight-laced character but doing is current act for laughs would help him stand out.

 

The potential for comedy is staggering

 

Corey Graves is another guy who would be a nice fit for RAW and SmackDown. He looks and wrestles the part, though he has the same problem as Ohno in that he’d be another heel on the books. He may be headed towards a babyface turn in NXT thanks to his recent dispute with The Shield, so that could work to his advantage.

What may go against Graves more than anything else are his visual similarities to CM Punk. Anything that could be perceived as harmful to Punk (and sadly that includes Graves also having a torso full of tattoos) is going to be treated carefully by WWE’s writing and marketing teams. What may help to nullify this is Punk taking time off after WrestleMania. That seems likely because of various injuries he’s been working through and his busy schedule for the last couple of years. If Punk’s off TV by the end of April then Graves could be called up and established as his own man long before ‘The Second City Saint’ returns.

I mentioned Leo Kruger in my NXT recap on Saturday (available here). He’s ready to play a larger role in my view, but I think he’d need a character tweak. The South African walkabout nut doesn’t seem like something WWE would get behind.

There’s a strong chance some of the NXT Divas will get a call-up too. The Divas division is paper thin and requires some fresh blood. Bringing back old names is all well and good but new names are just as important. Paige, Sasha Banks, and Audrey Marie would be my top picks. Summer Rae’s still a little too wooden and generic when cutting promos.

WWE could surprise us with some promotions for guys who’ve yet to play an important role on NXT’s TV show. That’s what they did with Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. Xavier Woods has a fun 90s-centric character that many of WWE’s younger viewers could relate to. Sammy Sane (the former El Generico) would be an interesting choice too.

It’s going to be interesting to see who gets the nod to move up. We’ll know who the chosen ones are, if there are any, by early May. Hopefully there are more than one or two. The greater the number of people given an opportunity the greater chance there is of a new star being made.

NXTweet 20.03.13

A recurring theme in my NXT recaps is comparing NXT to Ring of Honor and Extreme Championship Wrestling. Part of this, at least in the case of ROH, is that a number of the same names crop up on both shows. Meanwhile some of the guys who have never worked for either league feel like they’d have worked there (such as Bray Wyatt, who I’ve compared to Raven).

The general feel of a one hour weekly show is another factor on the comparisons. The shorter running time makes a certain format necessary. RAW can afford to have filler matches and pointless skits because it lasts for three hours. At one hour long ROH and NXT’s TV shows (and ECW’s over a decade ago) have to make sure that everything broadcast has a point. Whether that’s to get over or introduce a new star or advance a storyline doesn’t matter, there’ no time for filler.

NXT is also more inclined towards gimmicks than the rest of WWE’s programmes. This of course puts it into the same league as ECW. Leo Kruger’s African walkabout gimmick could have cropped up in late 90s ECW. It seems likely that a character change will take place before Kruger makes it to the main roster.

As it stands now I can’t see the guy on RAW each week. Then again Fandango, one of the most gimmicky creations of the last ten years, is gracing our screens each week so I could be wrong.

I don’t know for certain but I imagine this sort of approach to a wrestling TV show, one that makes cutting anything not important a necessity, is ideal for talent hoping to get a call up. It forces them to make the most of everything they’re given to do and raises the overall quality of the show.

Unrelated to these thoughts: I enjoyed the confrontation between Ohno and Regal this week. I was surprised that Ohno didn’t display more aggression. Presumably the change will come about over the coming weeks, likely as he takes the decision to goad Regal into a singles match. As I wrote last week that could be great.

Intro video

Tweet 1: NXTweet.

Tweet 2: A recap of Oliver Grey being duffed up because he's too injured to compete. Great cover story.
Tweet 3: Also, words from Adrian Neville that nobody understands. It's like listening to Michael from I'm Alan Partridge.

Justin Gabriel v Leo Kruger

Tweet 4: Why does Gabriel's vest have a zip on the back?

Tweet 5: I wonder if Byron Saxton feels depressed because he's not allowed to wrestle on TV anymore. He probably does.
Tweet 6: 'The Elaborate Secret' Leo Kruger.
Tweet 7: Hair pulling from Kruger there. What a heel!
Tweet 8: Look at Gabriel's hair. Can you imagine him working in Costa with that hair? Because I can.
Tweet 9: That'd make an interesting gimmick actually. Gabriel could do a mist blowing spot as his finish and claim it's coffee.
Tweet 10: He could drink coffee immediately prior to a match to hype himself up. Like Popeye with spinach.
Tweet 11: Also, sponsorship of wrestlers is something that's yet to take off. Gabriel could be a trailblazer. Costa written on his trunks? #win
Tweet 12: He could turn heel by debuting trunks with a Starbucks colour scheme. People would go nuts at the betrayal of 'The Barista Hero'.
Tweet 13: That's barista. Not Batista.

Kruger is showing that barista who's boss!

Tweet 14: Gabriel's kicking a kneeling Kruger. Bryan does it better.
Tweet 15: "Look at that move!" - Tony Dawson, play-by-play commentator
Tweet 16: Kruger's got a nice set of moves for working on the arm. Good stuff.
Tweet 17: 'Captain Secret' Leo Kruger wins with the London Dungeon. That really needs to be given a more relevant name for when he uses it.

Rene Young interviews Audrey Marie

Tweet 18: Oh good. An Audrey Marie interview. these are always GREAT. And her feud with Sasha Banks? Scintillating.

William Regal and Kassius Ohno confrontation

Tweet 19: Ohno's new music is a bit disappointing.

Tweet 20: Regal apologises. The crowd seems to dislike this for some reason.
Tweet 21: Ohno seems disappointed too. That's more understandable though.

Feud brewing

Tweet 22: Nice of Ohno to put over the European tournaments and indy scene.
Tweet 23: "Don't boo me!" - Kassius Ohno to the fans (who should be booing themselves)
Tweet 24: That was a really cool segment. I'm looking forward to their match.

Paige v Bayley

Tweet 25: Bayley, another female wrestler with an absence of surname.

Tweet 26: Bayley's gold and jade colour scheme is interesting. It'd work well on a mask. Which makes me wonder if there are female luchadors.
Tweet 27: Probably are. I'm just unaware of them.
Tweet 28: Why doesn't Mike Chioda work on NXT? Too much of a big shot I s'pose.
Tweet 29: Summer Rae was never going to pull off that run-in successfully. The rule is that wrestling gear must be worn for a run-in.

Adrian Neville v Luke Harper

Tweet 30: According to Regal Neville is the pride of Britain. No. Just no.

Tweet 31: Rochester, New York is a distinctly un-Southern hometown for a member of the Wyatt Family.
Tweet 32: When Bray Wyatt was on the main roster as Husky Harris he seemed like just another guy. The preacher gimmick has been a great move.
Tweet 33: I liked him as Husky. It was a good name and he looked like someone who could succeed in ROH. I prefer the Wyatt character though.

Note the rag in the back pocket

Tweet 34: He's not in this match though. Adrian Neville is, and I like him too. Particularly the Union flag on his trunks. Nice touch.
Tweet 35: Harper wins off a top rope fall and a clothesline. To say that's anti-climactic is an understatement.
Tweet 36: If Oliver Grey was there why didn't he go to ringside at the start of the match? Stupid babyface.
Tweet 37: Bo Dallas is getting involved too. His feud with Bray Wyatt, a heel with his own (small) entourage, makes him the Tommy Dreamer of NXT.

NXTweet 06.03.13

The fact that NXT airs weeks after being recorded can sometimes lead to strange situations. Like on this week's show, where Corey Graves, Conor O'Brian and Bo Dallas were to clash for the second week in a row and it wasn't mentioned by the commentary team. The two shows had been recorded weeks apart rather than on the same night, which presumably led to the forgotten emphasis.
 
Things like this don't happen often on NXT, and they're not major problems when they do. It remains jarring though.
 
The triple threat match was to decide on the next challenger to Big E Langston's NXT championship. Annoyingly Conor O'Brian won. He faced Big E a few weeks ago in a decent match that went to a no contest. I'd have preferred one of the other two men to win to give us something fresh. Graves in particular would have been a far more interesting choice than 'The Ascension'.

All three-way matches should have a spot like this

 
In a way this illustrates one of the good things about NXT. There is a distinct lack of an upper tier, which places everyone on the same level and creates an atmosphere where anyone could realistically win the title if given the chance. This makes it an unpredictable watch, and unpredictability in wrestling is rarely a bad thing.
 
Will O'Brian defeat Ziggler's bodyguard? It's possible but I wouldn't say it's likely. Big E is doing very well on NXT and a loss could harm him.
 
Elsewhere on the show six Divas fumbled their way through a six (wo)man tag team match. The heel team of Alicia Fox, Aksana and Audrey Marie were on target for most of the bout. On the opposite side of the ring Sasha Banks looked good, Cameron looked decent, and Naomi looked horrendous.
 
Leo Kruger beat Yoshi Tatsu with the London Dungeon in a brief outing. And lastly (in the opener, ironically) Adrian Neville won a handicap match against two nondescript villains, both of whom were larger than him, after Oliver Grey was assaulted backstage by the Wyatt Family. The fiends!
 
Speaking of the Wyatts the saga of Bray attempting to recruit Bo Dallas continued during this show. First Dallas was approached during a backstage interview (in which he was bragging about winning a Rumble slot, which happened well over a month ago and made me wonder if I was accidentally watching an old episode) and then Bray sauntered to ringside during the main event. It was the Family leader pulling Corey Graves out of the ring that distracted Dallas and allowed 'The Ascension' to get his win.
 
Will Bo end up joining the villainous Family? Stay tuned, grapple fans!

Dusty Rhodes promo

Tweet 1: Be warned: I am watching NXT.

Tweet 2: NXTweet.
Tweet 3: Here comes the living turnip Dusty Rhodes. #eefyooweel
Tweet 4: He just said it! #eefyooweel
Tweet 5: Want to know what this beefed up security consists of? Arn Anderson patrolling corridors wielding a sack of doorknobs.

Adrian Neville v Judas Devlin and Scott Dawson

Tweet 6: Who are these jabronis in the generic gear?

Tweet 7: PAC's lost Oliver Grey. He's going to wrestle a handicap match. This is known as Ryback Syndrome.
Tweet 8: I don't think I want to know what the Wyatt Family got up to with an unconscious Grey.
Tweet 9: Pretty shoddy medics over there at the NXT Arena.

Where were the medics?

Leo Kruger v Yoshi Tatsu

Tweet 10: What happened to that face paint or half mask or whatever it was that Yoshi was wearing?

Tweet 11: I've not actually seen much of him since last year so he probably dropped it a while ago.
Tweet 12: Is South Africa on Twitter?
Tweet 13: London Dungeon there. Lovely to see.

Cameron, Naomi and Sasha Banks v Audrey Marie, Aksana and Alicia Fox

Tweet 14: Six Diva tag match. Expect botches.

Tweet 15: The Funkadactyls' aren’t troubling 'Taker for Best Ring Entrance Ever.
Tweet 16: Alicia Fox is a heel again? Why? Why not?
Tweet 17: Naomi is breathtakingly sloppy here. It's no wonder they don't let her wrestle on important shows.
Tweet 18: It's over. I can say that that was certainly a wrestling match.
Tweet 19: The winning Divas hug one another to celebrate. Why are Kane and Bryan the only male team that does that?

Bo Dallas talks about his Rumble win backstage

Tweet 20: Didn't Bo Dallas get attacked last week? Why isn't that being mentioned?

Tweet 21: Bray Wyatt saved that segment via boundless charisma.

Summer Rae witters

Tweet 22: Here's Summer Rae. Generic interview ahoy!

Tweet 23: Summer Rae is the argument in favour of scripted promos. Imagine how bad she'd be if she could do what she wanted.
Tweet 24: #Shieldvision
Tweet 25: Basically, The Shield are going to carry on doing run-ins and nobody's going to stop them. Not even the mighty Dusty Rhodes.

Number One Contendership match – Conor O’Brian v Corey Graves v Bo Dallas

Tweet 26: The commentators don't seem too bothered with reminding us that this match was due to happen last week. It's peculiar.

Tweet 27: I don't know this referee's name but for what it's worth I don't care for him.
Tweet 28: "I truly believe that size does matter" - William Regal
Tweet 29: I can't imagine Bo Dallas or Conor O'Brian anywhere except WWE. They don't look like guys that would succeed in ROH or TNA.
Tweet 30: O'Brian's gimmick would work in CHIKARA though. Probably.
Tweet 31: Why isn't Corey Graves billed as being from "The Dumpsters of New York City"?
Tweet 32: For the record I want Graves to win this. Best wrestler in the match. I think him versus Big E would be good.
Tweet 33: Bray update: he is stood at ringside dressed, as usual, like someone who handles alligators for a living.
Tweet 34: 'The Ascension' wins. It's the worst possible scenario: an uninspiring challenger that we've seen wrestle the champ before.
Tweet 35: In twenty years O'Brian will be held in the same regard as the Undertaker.

NXTweet 20.02.13

The problems that have been brewing for the last few weeks between Conor O’Brian and Big E Langston finally led to a match on this week’s NXT. It wasn’t the greatest match you’ll ever see but it wasn’t supposed to be. It was supposed to be a hard-hitting collision between two powerful brawlers.

Considering the wrestling styles of the two men that was the best approach. They had a surprisingly entertaining tussle that mostly involved swapping holds and exchanging power shots. Predictably there was no clear winner. The first meeting between them had to end in disqualification or something similar in order to set up a rematch. It’s just the way things work in wrestling. It means that when the good guy eventually scores the win over his foe he will have overcome a greater obstacle than he would otherwise.

I like the Langston v O’Brian rivalry. It’s being built without the anarchic sense of rush that would be present on WWE’s regular programming. The far more sedate pace that NXT permits is of great benefit when constructing feuds that are designed to be easy to follow.

Big E, an enforcer for bad-guy-on-the-rise Dolph Ziggler on the main roster remember, is incredibly popular with the NXT regulars. It’s a promising sign for his future prospects. He’s not going to be a henchman forever. At some point he’ll go it alone. His popularity in NXT indicates that he could work as a babyface in WWE if used correctly.

Langston gets to show far more charisma on the developmental show. If you’ve only seen him on RAW and SmackDown you could be forgiven for thinking that he’s just a pile of muscles with a questionable taste in ring gear. He’s got a personality and a sense of humour (hence his ring gear), he just doesn’t get to show them much outside of NXT.

Conor O’Brian is not as effective as Langston. That’s to be expected though. If he were he’d have been called up by now too. Without Kenneth Cameron to team with The Ascension gimmick is, frankly, a little bit silly. There’s something about tag team wrestling that makes dressing like Conan the Barbarian and wearing bright contact lenses acceptable. If he’s to graduate from NXT O’Brian had better start devising a new character for himself.

How about a heel tree surgeon?

One final thing to note about NXT’s main event is the surprise appearance of Corey Graves. After Langston v O’Brian had been called off the champ posed with his belt in the ring, only for Graves to run in through the crowd, attack him, and leave with the belt. Graves is one of the best things on NXT at the moment. His promotion to a title feud with ‘Mr Five’ should mean we get some good matches and promos.

 

Future NXT champion?

 

Aside from that match the most striking thing about this week’s NXT was the fact that both the featured heel Divas are being booked almost identically. Both preen on the way to the ring, both cut daft promos about how they’re the most attractive creatures on the show, and both witter about being overlooked.

If Summer Rae and Audrey Marie, who are targeting Paige and Sasha Banks respectively, are to become useful assets to WWE then they’re going to have to be given their own characters at some point. Both women should sit down and figure out ways to make themselves stand out despite the vague and generic lines given to them.

Opening video

Tweet 1: NXTweet.

Tweet 2: Little summary of the tag title tournament final. Immortality was also on the line. Well, it was according to Dawson.
Tweet 3: Subdued recap.

Yoshi Tatsu v Bray Wyatt

Tweet 4: Here's Yoshi Tatsu. First time I'll have watched one of his matches in months. I don't watch Superstars.

Tweet 5: Bray Wyatt's wrestling? #win
Tweet 6: "I feel danger and I feel evil" - William Regal on Bray Wyatt
Tweet 7: Bray Wyatt wins! What a shock! WHAT AN UPSET!
Tweet 8: Are Luke and Erick supposed to be brothers?
Tweet 9: Bray likes to watch brothers with different surnames fight.
Tweet 10: I don't care that the segment made no sense, Bray Wyatt is GREAT.

He also has a nice line in shirts

Sasha Banks’ mystery admirer is revealed

Tweet 11: Rene Dupree? No, Renee Young.

Tweet 12: Sasha Banks gets to meet her secret admirer tonight! She's excited! We all are.
Tweet 13: That reveal was dull. I don't know who the secret admirer woman was. The commentators should've been on that.

Xavier Woods v El Local

Tweet 14: El Local looks familiar. I wonder if he'll do his own ring entrance...

Tweet 15: I like Xavier's dancing.

He's quite the mover and shaker

Tweet 16: If ECW were still going I can imagine Xavier being a member of the FBI.
Tweet 17: El Local has a distinctly La Parka physique.
Tweet 18: Did Regal ever wrestle in Mexico? That'd be a dastardly style clash to watch. He could pull it off though.
Tweet 19: "I'm an original raver, me. 1988" - William Regal #ImnotaraverImstraight
Tweet 20: This commentator is worse than Dawson.
Tweet 21: … Unless it is Dawson. It's difficult to tell and they've not introduced themselves.
Tweet 22: Xavier Woods wins with a tornado DDT. When was the last time that move got a win?

Various backstage shenanigans

Tweet 23: Here's Mike Sampson. He's saying words about Paige's fake shoulder injury. Compelling viewing.

Tweet 24: Ahhhh... it was Audrey Marie that attacked Sasha. The fiend!

Audrey Marie v Sasha Banks

Tweet 25: If Audrey Marie is supposed to be a heel someone should tell her not to high five kids in the audience.

Tweet 26: Regal with a subtle dig at the lack of imagination given to Divas feuds there.
Tweet 27: It was a short match but it was pretty decent. Heel Divas get booked strong in NXT.

Renee Young interviews Summer Rae

Tweet 28: Speaking of which... Summer Rae.

Tweet 29: Summer wants to be referred to as 'The First Lady of NXT'. I wonder where she got that nickname idea from...

Tyson Kidd in-ring promo, featuring Leo Kruger and Justin Gabriel

Tweet 30: Whoever's interviewing Tyson Kidd looks like a budget version of Lance Storm.

Tweet 31: James Andrews performed surgery on Tyson. What's wrong with Mike Sampson, eh?
Tweet 32: Tyson Kidd looks like a newsagent in his mid-forties.
Tweet 33: Punk makes a passing comment about Kidd being a workhorse and it becomes a gimmick. I can't wait till he comes back as 'The Workhorse'.
Tweet 34: Here's Leo Kruger with his 1970s racist BBC sitcom voice.
Tweet 35: Justin ‘The Hair’ Gabriel.

Big E Langston v Conor O’Brian

Tweet 36: How much of Big E will we see in this match?

Tweet 37: Conor O'Brian should form a tag team with Sin Cara. They'd save on lighting effects.
Tweet 38: People are loving Big E.

The champ is here

Tweet 39: Lots of lockups going on here...
Tweet 40: It's a perfectly sound match but there's nothing noteworthy about it. Power exchanges are the order of the day.
Tweet 41: The referee jumped between O'Brian and Big E and then disqualified them for hitting him. What a weak finish.
Tweet 42: The show goes off the air with Big E chasing Corey Graves backstage. Graves has stolen the belt. Next NXT champ? Maybe.