Ascension (to the Top?)

Stop and think about The Ascension for a moment. If you're not familiar with them take this opportunity to look them up. Pay particular attention to the results of an image search.

Looking at or thinking about The Ascension for more than a couple of seconds should make one thing clear. They are ridiculous.

The inspiration for the gimmick seems to be Game of Thrones, with some Undertaker, Kevin Thorn and ancient Egyptian symbols thrown in for good measure. These sorts of characters crop up in WWE every few years but with the exception of 'The Phenom' they never have much staying power without hefty modifications being made to the gimmick. The ideas never gel with the rest of WWE.

 

This sums up the nonsense that is The Ascension nicely

 

These days The Ascension feel out of place simply because practically every performer in the company sticks to the forename-surname format and is presented, broadly speaking, as a normal guy. Conor O’Brian and Rick Victor sound the part but they don’t look it. The outlandish Ascension characters wouldn't have slotted neatly alongside the characters of the nineties either. Gimmicks were more prominent then certainly, but they were generally walks of life turned into wrestling characters. The Ascension would have been just as incongruent then as they are now, just for different reasons.

But this is part of their charm. That Conor O'Brian clearly isn't in the shape he should be in, that Rick Victor clearly has no personality, that they’re not as polished as they should be for the level of prominence they’ve gained in developmental all adds to the utter ridiculousness of it all. We can't take them seriously to begin with. The best thing they could do is ham it up as much as possible. Which they have been doing and continue to do.

Sooner or later I expect we’ll see O’Brian and Victor on the main roster. Tag teams seem to be in the in-thing right now. You can level many criticisms at The Ascension but not looking like a unit is not among them. If tag team wrestling is going to be a regular part of the WWE experience they’re going to need pairs of guys who stand little chance of cracking the big time on their own merits. The Ascension fit that description perfectly.

Developing Chemistry

It's a good sign for the future but I don't understand how the NXT roster has a better tag team division than the WWE roster. The latter's meant to be the main stage, the big time, and it has access not only to the established guys we’re all familiar with but also to anyone and everyone on the developmental roster. NXT has to make do with those guys not deemed ready for the main stage.

It’s not a situation that should have come about. But it has. NXT’s doubles scene is the superior.

The main roster has just three tag teams of real note. The Shield tandem of Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan and Kane's Team Hell No, and the Prime Time Players. Of those three double acts it can only be said that two are genuinely cared about by the majority of the audience (the odd ones out being, of course, the PTPs). Of those two teams only one appears to have a future beyond the next month or so. WWE have begun teasing the split of Bryan and Kane in favour of utilising ‘The World’s Toughest Vegan’ as a singles act.

So that's one team, The Shield, in WWE with a secure long term future that are over to a significant degree. They're backed up by Jimmy and Jey Uso, 3MB, Tons of Funk  and (possibly) the Rhodes Scholars. It's not what you'd call a thriving division.

Meanwhile the developmental system has multiple teams of note. It's fitting that the Wyatt Family, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, are the current NXT tag champs because they're the best unit in the league. They look different to everyone else, they wrestle well, have a fascinating gimmick, and a captivating manager in Bray Wyatt.

 

Can the Wyatt Family help to breathe life back into the WWE tag team division?

 

If the main roster's tag scene was taken seriously I’d predict immediate success for them upon their debut. I don’t think it’s a sure thing though. There’s obviously a plan in place for their debut, because that’s been a priority for all call-ups over the last year, but any debuting tandem needs a division with some teams that can be sacrificed. That’s not the WWE roster.

Debuting as heels (which is almost guaranteed to happen) could harm the Wyatt Family’s chances of creating a stir in the division, because The Shield have carved out a niche for themselves as the heel team of note. It won’t be impossible for the Wyatts to get over, but it will limit WWE’s options with them.

The Wyatts are backed up by the recent alliance of Kassius Ohno and Corey Graves, Scott Dawson and Garrett Dylan, Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey (well, when Grey’s healthy again), and what looks like a reformed Ascension team of Conor O’Brian and Rick Victor. That's an impressive talent list by anybody's reckoning.

Ohno and Graves may not have been together long but they gel well as a unit. I don't just mean they're chemistry in the ring, it's their look as much as anything else. They seem right as a unit. That's a very important first step. Like most people I’d prefer to see the Kings of Wrestling reformed but it’s not going to happen. Ohno and Graves could be a decent substitute.

Dawson and Dylan both look very nondescript but showed a lot of promise as characters in their recent debut. They’re doing a gimmick comparable to Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch or America’s Most Wanted. They’re country boys who like to wear baseball caps and drink beer. In this case they also like to carry BBQ sauce to the ring with them. As a signature foreign object choice it’s pretty interesting.

Also in Dawson and Dylan’s favour is the fact that they’ve been given a manager: the easy-to-dislike Sylvester Lefort. His charisma will help to mask their apparent lack in the area. If the unit can come up with a name they could do well for themselves in WWE.

 

Keep these guys with Sylvester Lefort and they could go far

 

It’s too early in the story of the apparent new Ascension to decide whether or not the two will work as a team. Based on looks alone Victor’s a good choice for Conor’s new playmate. His previous matches have been uninspiring but technically fine. Maybe they’ll be able to recapture the success the original Ascension managed to have.

Grey’s almost guaranteed a call-up alongside Neville when he’s healthy again, assuming Neville isn’t promoted first of course. An exciting babyface combo is exactly what the WWE roster needs to combat the likes of The Shield and The Wyatt Family. If WWE wanted to put Neville into a team before Grey’s return they could always stick him with Sami Zayn. I think they’d be great together.

I've written at length before now about WWE's lack of interest in their tag team division and why it would benefit them to reverse the stance. It's finally coming back to bite them here. Not only is their developmental league showing up their international roster of Superstars but The Shield's standing is at risk.

By putting the tag team championships on 'The Hounds of Justice' WWE have drawn attention to them as a unit. They're now in a position where fans will expect them to wrestle in tag team matches regularly. It will become apparent very quickly if they keep getting cycled through the same opponents because they've been such a heavily pushed act. Constant rematches will only make people bored of them.

The title defence against the new combo of Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan will be a nice change and the rumoured match against the Undertaker and Kane at SummerSlam could be very exciting but they’re one off matches. The Shield need regular units to oppose.

The answer to these troubles, as I've written before, is for WWE to take tag teams seriously. Call up the Wyatt Family and Neville and Zayn and create some regular teams from the guys on the roster who're currently treading water. Oh, and promote whoever's been scripting NXT for the last year. They're great at their job.

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 13.03.13

Last week’s NXT felt sparse. This week’s show more than made up for it with matches featuring Kassius (or Kass-yus, as Tony Dawson likes to call him) and Bray Wyatt. Even Big E Langston had a match. That’s become something of a novelty since he got called up to the main roster to work as Dolph Ziggler’s enforcer.

The NXT champ worked a competitive main event against the United States champion Antonio Cesaro. That came about when ‘The Swiss Superman’ interrupted an address by World Heavyweight champion Alberto Del Rio. It was a strange segment. The World champ essentially showed up to be interrupted and provide the impetus for a match featuring two men he usually has nothing to do with. It would have been more interesting to see him wrestle someone like Corey Graves or Conor O’Brian.

The Big E v Cesaro match was good. WWE has a peculiar habit of booking guys that start out winning via squash in longer and longer matches. Look at what happened with Ryback and Brodus Clay last year. I suppose it makes sense to do this on NXT: it’s supposed to be somewhere guys improve and they’ll improve far quicker if they’re given longer matches.

Ohno wrestled against Derrick Bateman. Oddly it was Daniel Bryan’s former on-screen protégé that dominated the majority of the match. Ohno, by far the man with the higher standing, got what amounted to a fluke victory after booting Bateman in the chops. The booking wasn’t bad, but it was surprising.

Following his win Ohno slapped his STF kravat hold onto Bateman. William Regal made the save. I’ve written before that a televised collision between them would be A Good Thing. If announced a week or two in advance and built up as a meaningful match it would make a very worthwhile main event.

 

Ohno channelling Thor in preparation for his upcoming showdown with William Regal

 

Bray Wyatt lost to Bo Dallas. It was a relatively uninspiring showing. Bray’s good in the ring, but he’s far more interesting as a character than as a wrestler. His opposition didn’t help. I’m not a fan of Dallas: everything from his long, stringy hair to his generic wrestling style put me off him.

Wyatt puts me in mind of Raven during his ECW heyday heading up the Flock. The Wyatt Family isn’t as impressive as that iconic and eclectic stable but Bray has many similarities with Raven. They both work a brawling style, wear street clothes for their matches, and are excellent promos. There’s a hint of the old Raven trait of being a cult leader in Bray too. I like the similarity. Raven was underappreciated everywhere outside of ECW. I’d like it if Bray could succeed in WWE with a similar gimmick.

Opening video

Tweet 1: NXTweet.

Tweet 2: Alberto Del Rio's going to appear. That'll be... well, it'll be something.

Derrick Bateman v Kassius Ohno

Tweet 3: It’s Kassius… OHNO!

Tweet 4: This has been on my mind for a while now: what's going on with Bateman's hair. Looks like he's asked for the "Elaine from Seinfeld" look.
Tweet 5: Dawson is still saying "Kass-yus". Weird fella.
Tweet 6: Bateman was on offence for most of that. Ohno pulled out a win with a boot to the face. Booking Bateman like a job: good stuff!
Tweet 7: Regal saved Bateman from a devastating kravat. The fans gave him a token, brief, chant.

Emma v Summer Rae

Tweet 8: It's Emma. She still seems drunk. I don't understand this act at all.

Tweet 9: "If you thought she was talented with the microphone..." - Tony Dawson on Summer Rae (he tailed off and didn't finish the sentence)
Tweet 10: Regal says Summer's wrestled like a veteran in the women's division.
Tweet 11: She's been wrestling for about a month. With the division the way it is that qualifies her as a veteran.

Is that Summer Rae or Kelly Kelly? It's difficult to tell...

Tweet 12: According to Regal Summer just performed a "headmare".
Tweet 13: Spinning heel kick there. It would be more accurate to say spinning thigh kick but never mind.
Tweet 14: Paige's return was greeted with apathy. Probably because the fans forget she was supposed to be "injured".

Renee Young interviews Adrian Neville

Tweet 15: Adrian Neville promo. #Geordievision

Tweet 16: Neville looks like an imp.

Matt Striker interviews Big E Langston

Tweet 17: You know Big E Langston's a star because Matt Striker's been called in to interview him.

Tweet 18: Big E's defense against Conor O'Brian will be delicious. I hope that match features Langston licking O'Brian several times.

Bo Dallas v Bray Wyatt

Tweet 19: When Bray Wyatt is given the chance to cut promos on people that matter he'll become a star.

Tweet 20: Bo Dallas does not matter.
Tweet 21: Was Wyatt just singing a song from The Lion King?
Tweet 22: The Wyatt Family should recruit more members. Stick Justin Gabriel in and have him dress in a giraffe outfit. It'd be a refreshing change.
Tweet 23: Bo Dallas beating Bray is apparently a shock, even though he's the one who won a slot in the Rumble and beat Wade Barrett.
Tweet 24: Bray's finisher should be called the Husky DDT.

Not dissimilar to Raven

Renee Young interviews Justin Gabriel

Tweet 25: Justin Gabriel's going to tell us all about his problems with Leo Kruger. Oh good.

Tweet 26: Gabriel told us NOTHING about his problems with Kruger there. He just explained that Kruger was in the South African militia.

Alberto Del Rio promo, featuring Ricardo Rodriguez, Antonio Cesaro and Dusty Rhodes

Tweet 27: Albertooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Dellllllllllllllllllllll Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiooooooooooooooooo!!

Tweet 28: "'Viva Del Rio' they shout everywhere he goes!" - Tony Dawson, lying
Tweet 29: Nice of Del Rio to dress for the occasion.
Tweet 30: To say he's the new WHC is stretching it a bit. He won it over two months ago.
Tweet 31: Antonio Cesaro... Heeeey!!
Tweet 32: If Cesaro thinks he can beat Del Rio why not challenge him to a title match?
Tweet 33: It's 'The Dream'... baybee!

Big E Langston v Antonio Cesaro

Tweet 34: Big E Langston, walking to the ring through an explosion of powder. What a man! What a MACHINE!

Tweet 35: I'd like Dawson to say that Langston is "285 pounds of pure Big E goodness."
Tweet 36: Cesaro doesn't wear kneepads. He doesn't wear elbow pads. You're lucky he's wearing trunks!
Tweet 37: That uppercut was very European.
Tweet 38: Cesaro deadlifting Langston is the highlight of this show. His expression was priceless.
Tweet 39: E Train? Good name for a move. Ridiculous, but good.
Tweet 40: Conor O'Brian and Corey Graves do run-ins. This qualifies as chaos according to Dawson.
Tweet 41: Langston is clearly not popular with the locker room. Nobody made the save. Not even ADR.

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 27.02.13

That was perhaps the most average episode of NXT ever. It was certainly the most average episode of 2013. Barely anything of interest happened until the final three minutes.
 
And yet it wasn't a bad show. If an episode of RAW or IMPACT or ROH on SBG was as uneventful it would be rightly lambasted (by me, anyway). Somehow NXT can pull off the occasional dud. I think it has something to do with the show's low key charm and style. The lack of perfection is one of its selling points: most of the people involved in creating it are learning their crafts.
 
There were three matches on the programme. The opening bout was a lengthy match between South Africans Leo Kruger and Justin Gabriel. To give you an idea of how exciting it was the highlight of the first half of the match was watching Gabriel's absurd and constant posing. That it was structured around a headlock for most of its run time should give you an idea of the thrill levels that were reached.
 
It did end with a nice 450 splash though. That's always nice to see.
 
Match two was Aksana v Emma. Antonio's ex did her usual sultry routine before the match. She stopped being sultry as soon as she was required to wrestle. Emma's gimmick seems to be that she's a drunk chick from a nightclub. I'm interested to see what layers are forced on such a clearly one dimensional character before someone realises it’s a stupid idea and changes what she’s doing.
 
The main event was supposed to be Conor O'Brian v Bo Dallas v Corey Graves in a three-way number one contenders match. That didn't happen and instead we were given a singles match between two bad guys in Graves and O'Brian. Dallas didn't even get to do the last minute babyface return shtick.
 
The action was proficient but the crowd's lack of enthusiasm and the fact that neither man took the initiative and subtly played face made it difficult to get into. 'The Ascension' looked okay. Graves looked better. He has more of an idea of how to show that he's got a character than the Conan tribute act does.

He's a one man tag team

 
There was no winner. Instead The Shield appeared to give both men a kicking. The commentary team, who had been firmly stuck on Generic Mode until this point, helpfully explained that the riot gear lovers were interfering because Rollins doesn't want anyone but him to be the NXT champ. The gang then cut a promo telling everyone to believe in them and then left.
 
Had that run-in not closed things it's possible I'd have a far more negative opinion of the show. As it is the ending ensured that something memorable happened, which could lead to some meaty storylines developments in the near future. NXT saved itself by the skin of its teeth this week. But I want Ohno and Big E next week.

Bo Dallas and Dusty Rhodes chat backstage, Corey Graves showing up to return the title belt

Tweet 1: NXTweet.

Tweet 2: Bo and Dusty. Strongest opening shot possible.
Tweet 3: Did someone whittle Dusty out of an old potato?
Tweet 4: Bo seems happy about having been chewed up and spat out by the main roster. Shouldn't he be moping about, depressed at his demotion?

Justin Gabriel v Leo Kruger

Tweet 5: It's the much anticipated War of South Africa. Leo 'Potent Secret' Kruger v Justin 'Big Hair is Better' Gabriel.

Tweet 6: Justin Gabriel has quite a camp wrestling style. I've never noticed that before.
Tweet 7: Headlocks are prominent.
Tweet 8: So far this match has been all posing and headlocks. Kruger's not even getting in on the posing...
Tweet 9: Armbar takedown, Jarrett style! Kruger needs to start spelling out his name like Jarrett used to.
Tweet 10: Kruger should, in fact, be repackaged as a Jeff Jarrett tribute act.
Tweet 11: If this match had been my first introduction to wrestling I doubt I'd have stuck at being a fan.
Tweet 12: I'd probably have ended up blogging about F1 or something instead...
Tweet 13: "This is main event type intensity" - Tony Dawson on the most average match you'll ever see
Tweet 14: Gabriel wins. I miss the Nexus.
Tweet 15: "This was a character-driven triumph" - Tony Dawson on a wrestling match
Tweet 16: Outdoor shot of the NXT Arena. Surprisingly busy considering the show's already in progress.

Aksana v Emma

Tweet 17: And here's Aksana. I'm prepared for a five star classic.

Tweet 18: Is Emma drunk? Not even Scott Hall has had a ring entrance THIS bad.
Tweet 19: I didn't think this show could get lower than the last match.
Tweet 20: Do you want to know what would save this match? Mae Young.
Tweet 21: Emma's locked in the kravat! Ring the bell! It's over!!
Tweet 22: Someone's been training with Arn.

Backstage in a hallway…

Tweet 23: Oh no, Bo Dallas has been murdered! Someone call Jessica Fletcher!

Corey Graves v Conor O’Brian

Tweet 24: What's Corey got written on his knuckles? I couldn't make it out. I'll just assume it's "stay hard" until I hear otherwise.

Tweet 25: Stay down. I was close. And mine's funnier.

Mysterious knuckles

Tweet 26: Remember when ROH had a trophy for their number one contenders? Great days.
Tweet 27: I like the way Graves stole the championship and then gave it back a week later. He's a polite lad deep down.
Tweet 28: I wonder where Corey gets his jeans from. What's the US equivalent of Topman?
Tweet 29: Lights out! It's the Undertaker's return!!
Tweet 30: Oh. No. It's just The Shield.
Tweet 31: The crowd are chanting "Shield." I'd prefer "We believe, we believe!" But that's me.
Tweet 32: And here's Dean Ambrose, doing an impression of Sting doing an impression of the Joker.
Tweet 33: Mishmash of a show.
Tweet 34: The show goes off the air with Graves and O'Brian lollygagging at ringside.

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.

NXTweet 07.02.13

Since the last time I did an NXT recap there have been a few changes on the show. Seth Rollins has dropped the NXT championship and joined the main roster as part of The Shield. The man he lost his prize to, Big E Langston, has also joined the main roster, working as a bodyguard for World Heavyweight champ in waiting Dolph Ziggler.

Where Rollins has switched from face to heel in his promotion Langston has done the reverse. Except that in the bubble universe that is NXT he remains as popular as ever. He’s still the developmental league’s number one good guy, obsessed with the number five.

Former indy standout PAC has signed a WWE developmental deal and debuted under the decidedly pedestrian name of Adrian Neville. Perhaps the name is supposed to provoke an image of a nondescript footballer. It certainly doesn’t conjure up an image of a WWE sports entertainer. Nor, for that matter, does it conjure an image of a man capable of the impressive flying manoeuvres the man from Newcastle is known for. Hopefully he’ll get a gimmick overhaul before hitting RAW.

Oh, and on the subject of RAW let’s hope Neville has started getting rid of his accent before he turns up there. The British have a hard enough time understanding Geordies. I dread to think how the Americans will cope.

Another newcomer since my last recap is Oliver Grey. He’s another product of the British wrestling scene, although he’s not had anywhere near the international exposure and success of Neville. The two have formed a tag team based, apparently, solely on the fact that they’re both British. It’s as good a reason as any, I suppose.

Speaking of tag teams probably the biggest change since my last NXTweet is the introduction of NXT tag team championships. My personal tastes for any wrestling promotion (and to all intents and purposes NXT is a promotion that stands alone form WWE) are to see a singles championship and a tag team championship. I can take or leave a mid-card belt, usually only thinking they’re worthwhile if there’s a particularly deep roster in place (ROH, for example, definitely doesn’t need a TV title right now).

The thing with NXT is that there aren’t really that many teams available, which means some had to be tossed together to make the tournament work. Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger are a perfect example. Had they reunited the Kings of Wrestling I would (naturally and predictably) have been all for it. Cesaro and Ohno have a history together. Even if it hadn’t been acknowledged a fair number of viewers would have been aware of it. Kruger and Ohno are two singles guys who hadn’t had any interaction with one another before the tournament started. Yet they’re deemed worthy of wrestling to become the first ever tag team champions.

Basically there was no need for the tag belts. With The Ascension gone (there’s another change: Conor O’Bria has gone solo after Kenneth Cameron (another Brit) was released from his contract last year) and the likes of Epico and Primo, former WWE tag champs but basically jobbers, roped in to make up the numbers alongside random units like Ohno and Kruger, there just isn’t a desperate need for doubles gold in NXT.

That said I don’t think it’s a bad idea. It could indicate that WWE have a long term plan to reintroduce tag team wrestling as a serious part of their programming again. Considering the likes of Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Edge, and Jeff Hardy all got their starts in tag teams. That should be indication enough that keeping the doubles ranks nicely stocked is a good move.

Recap video

Tweet 1: NXTweet.

Tweet 2: Tag team title tournament semi-finals on tonight's show! For the record I think it's a GREAT idea to get tag belts for developmental...
Tweet 3: ... Especially when the main roster has, like, three teams. It's brilliance! #sarcasm

NXT Tag team championship tournament semi-final – Leo Kruger and Kassius Ohno v Oliver Grey and Adrian Neville

Tweet 4: It's Kassius... OHNO!!

Tweet 5: Did he just do a moonwalk? Whatevs. Even if he did this team is no KOW.
Tweet 6: And their opponents: two British blokes.
Tweet 7: Yeah, good luck with making the Americans undertand your promos there, Adrian.
Tweet 8: Another note for the record: I like Ohno's blue trunks.
Tweet 9: Something I don't like is this bland commentator pronouncing Kassius as "Cash-ee-us."
Tweet 10: Kruger dresses like a member of The Shield. He's secretly a member. Leo 'The Secret' Kruger.
Tweet 11: 'South Africa's Best Kept Secret' Leo Kruger. 'Mr Secrecy' Leo Kruger.
Tweet 12: WWE management go out of their way to portray themselves as the only wrestling company in the world most of the time.
Tweet 13: Which means it feels odd when they have their commentators talk about wrestlers having travelled the world.
Tweet 14: Why does it matter? They're finally in WWE, competing on the prestigious NXT! Surely this is the highlight of their career?
Tweet 15: They're signing British guys now so where the HELL is James Tighe? Does he still work? I've not seen anything on him for years.
Tweet 16: Triple H and Shawn Michaels weren't a great team. They did some funny promos and were good singles guys. As a team? Average.
Tweet 17: "He just looks proper mental... He is" - William Regal on Leo Kruger
Tweet 18: I've not tweeted much about the content of this match. It's slow but very good, the kind of match you the main roster would avoid.
Tweet 19: "Regal, do you see this?!" - Kassius Ohno as he grabbed Adrian Neville's mouth guard
Tweet 20: I want to see Regal v Ohno.
Tweet 21: Good match. It didn't get particularly quick but it was satisfying.

Adrian Neville is practising his singing

Summer Rae is interviewed backstage

Tweet 22: Summer Rae thinks she's the prettiest Diva so she attacked Paige. Yeah, that's right. This feud is about prettiness.

Tweet 23: "Summer school's always in session" - Summer Rae with a comment that played on her name but did little else

Conor O’Brian v Mike Dalton

Tweet 24: Here's Conor O'Brian. Didn't he used to have a tag team partner?

Tweet 25: The crowd seem unenthused by O'Brian's "ruthlessly efficient" squash.
Tweet 26: Heel on the main roster, babyface in NXT, it's Big... E... LANGSTON!!
Tweet 27: Big E has a weird haircut.
Tweet 28: Langston hits his torso cutter and leaves. Conor O'Brian glowers in the ring. Langston shouts five. I feel upset.

They stared

Paige, Sasha Banks and Dusty Rhodes backstage… baybeh!

Tweet 29: Paige is telling Dusty Rhodes that she wants to rip Summer Rae's lips off. Dusty is clearly aroused... eef yoo weel!!

Tweet 30: Dusty looks like a partially melted waxwork of a failed American author.
Tweet 31: Anyway, 'The Dream' just flirted with Sasha Banks and now he's shouting for Rob. #dementia

NXT Royal Rumble tournament video package

Tweet 32: The NXT tournament at Fan Fest looks pretty good. The crowd's larger than I'd expected.

Tweet 33: Does Xavier Woods sleep rough?
Tweet 34: Was Conor O'Brian just described as a jolly beast?
Tweet 35: Kruger using the London Dungeon there. That's one of my favourite submission holds, fact fans.

Someone's happy

Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas backstage

Tweet 36: Bray and Bo backstage. BrayBo.

Tweet 37: Hmmm... these two looks similar. #theyrebrothers
Tweet 38: I strongly dislike Bo and strongly like Bray. Interesting? Nope. True though.

NXT Tag team championship tournament semi-final – The Wyatt Family v Bo Dallas and Michael McGillicutty

Tweet 39: The Wyatt Family clearly have membership cards at Beards R Us.

Tweet 40: For those who missed the memo Michael McGillicutty is now a face.
Tweet 41: The Wyatt Family remind me a little bit of the DOA. They were on Metal practically every week in the late 90s. They bored me.
Tweet 42: The Wyatt Family don't bore me though. I'm generally a fan of cult gimmicks in wrestling.
Tweet 43: Remember Raven's Serotonin group in TNA? I thought that had loads of potential.

Tweet 44: Post-match beating from Bray Wyatt to Bo Dallas there. Husky stuff.

Tweet 45: The show ends with Bray Wyatt sitting in a rocking chair and his boys staring listlessly into the camera. Darn enjoyable show.