NXT Takeover review

Three months into the WWE Network Era and we already have our second live NXT special. Perhaps someone in WWE realised NXT is their most consistent and enjoyable weekly programme and decided to treat us. More likely it was simply felt that the NXT stars warranted another live airing. Whatever the reason it was certainly welcome.

The commentary team for the evening consisted of Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and William Regal. It was a relief not to have Alex Riley clogging things up with his insipid comments. And I wasn’t sad that Jason Albert (formerly gaijin warlord Tensai) was sitting things out either. He’s far easier to take in the role than A-Ry but he’s still not close to being amongst WWE’s verbal elite.

Before I talk about the wrestling I’d like to mention William Regal. He’s always entertaining and knowledgable when providing commentary but he was particularly good here. He continually and tirelessly put over the efforts of all performers on the card, enhancing everyone with his comments and pushing NXT as the important part of the WWE machine it is. Particularly good was his commentary during the main event, during which he discussed British wrestling and the difficulties of making a name for oneself in the US as a foreign star

And he danced to Rusev’s music. The guy can do it all!

The show opened with Adam Rose entering Full Sail through the front door with his Exotic Express in tow. He came through the crowd. That simple little difference and the reaction he got made him look like a star. It’s a pity he’s not been given anything better to do since turning up on RAW because the characters very enjoyable (and is also facing a struggle because it fits better in the smaller NXT Arena than in the cavernous lairs RAWs held in every week.

By contrast Camacho didn't even get to ride out on his tricycle. And he was called a party pooper by the fans. He looked like the bit part player he is.

"Is that a lollipop in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?"

Rose played around for the first minute before Camacho took control. He kept control until the end of their five minutes, at which point Rose hit a spinebuster, an Exotic Express (formerly the heat-magnet-when-performed-by-Sean-Waltman Bronco Buster) and his Ace Crusher DDT for the victory. In this environment Rose is tremendous.

A video package recapped Sami Zayn's feud with Cesaro and how hard he worked to get to WWE. Also mentioned was his personal dislike of Tyler Breeze. Personally I like both guys. It was an effective video package that demonstrated Zayn’s passion for wrestling, as well as the much-vaunted heart and desire that are an integral part of his appeal.

After that ring announcer announced 'Prince Pretty' had entered the building.

And then The Ascension came out. They were loudly cheered, as has become the fashion. It would be nice if WWE made an NXT tag division a priority. Konnor and Viktor are over but they can only go so far without any meaningful opposition. People like them squashing jobbers, but it won’t do them any favours in the long term.

Challengers Kalisto and EL Local (the masked identity of ring announcer extraordinaire Ricardo Rodriguez) jumped the champions before the bell, sending them to the outside of the ring. A pair of suicide dives were met with elbows. That put things in the champions' favour and things stayed that way for a few minutes. Kalisto was kept in the ring for a while. He mostly took clotheslines and punches but there was a fair bit of getting rammed into turnbuckles too.

The Legion of Ascension.

Eventually he tagged in El Ricardo. That sparked off a frenetic sequence involving all four. It didn't take long for The Ascension to isolate Local and drop him with Fall of Man for another successful title defence.

Tyler Breeze was shown in the back looking from a phone to a mirror and back again. Just in case it wasn’t clear from his general gimmick that he’s a narcissist, presumably. A video about him was shown. It was far more gimmicky than Zayn's, because Breeze is more of a wrestling character than an extension of a real life personality. That said they did have Breeze say that being pretty isn't all he can do. For the record Breeze is still doing his Zoolander voice all the time. And it's still fun.

Zayn v Breeze followed that. It was a number one contendership match. The winner would progress to a match against the winner of the NXT championship main event. ‘Prince Pretty’ debuted new music. It featured the line “Part man but all model” and was as great as that should imply.

They wrestled. For fifteen minutes. Non-stop. It was pretty great. After starting out with some counter wrestling they got the story underway: Breeze shoved Zayn off the top rope to the floor, which put Zayn on the back foot and played into his recent (storyline) concussion trouble. After Breeze had controlled the pace for a bit the pair broke into the big spots.

Zayn v Breeze: match of the night.

Highlights there included a sitdown moonsault to the outside by Zayn; Zayn's blue thunder bomb; a high power bomb from the corner by Breeze; an exploder suplex into a turnbuckle from Zayn; a perfect super kick from Breeze, which earned him a scintillating near fall; and a suplex into a blue thunder bomb from Zayn (which was a really convincing false finish). It was ‘The Gorgeous One’ who got the win when he gave Zayn a Beauty Shot after a low blow during a Helluva kick attempt. Regal claimed he was just getting his hands up to protect himself. Phillips didn't seem convinced.

Backstage we saw Bret Hart having a chat with Tyson Kidd and Natalya. I’d like to think he was praising Natty for wearing pink and black and encouraging Kidd to do the same.

Back at ringside Lana strutted out into the entranceway. She introduced Rusev, as she tends to, who came out waving a Russian flag very aggressively. Rusev has, according to Lana, expanded his power across RAW and SmackDown. Putin was shown on the big screen and got booed. That's a great little gimmick. Rusev spoke in Russian then waved his flag like a madman again.

Mojo Rawley, who I still don't see the appeal of, came out and reminded Rusev and 'The Ravishing Russian' they were in America. Babyfaces tend to assume foreigners forget where they are all the time. 'The Hype Man' rushed the ring, got knocked down, and placed in the Steiner Recliner (or, if you prefer, The Accolade). That didn’t satisfy ‘The Ravishing Russian. She had Rusev chuck Mojo out of the ring and placed in the hold on the entrance ramp. Afterwards Rusev did a lot of hilarious fist-shaking. I want that to become a regular part of his act.

The pro-Russian shtick can, in the context of WWE, be ended by only one man. I'll give you a hint: he sells a lot of merch. I still think that could be a significant match at SummerSlam.

Another backstage scene was shown. Charlotte was walking around with her dad. That segued into a video showing the Charlotte v Natalya feud. Natty said she wants to be the best Hart ever and how she's proud to be the first female wrestler of the family. Charlotte said she's improved and keeps improving. The whole thing was given a Harts versus Flairs vibe. That didn't help Charlotte, because she’s nowhere near as charismatic as 'The Nature Boy' and she never will be. It was also inaccurate because the Flairs are not a wrestling dynasty as the Harts are. Only one Flair has achieved anything of note in wrestling, and that’s ‘The Nature Boy’. You can’t get a one man family dynasty, not even if you’re Ric Flair.

Paige strode out to the ring before the women's championship match. She thanked the fans and said the next champion needed to exhibit strength, character and grace. Yes, the NXT women’s champion needs grace. Also, she made the point that holding the NXT belt can lead to bigger things and brought attention to her Divas championship. Talking's not her strong point but she didn’t do too badly. It helps that she’s basically playing a regular woman and so can more easily draw on her personal experience and beliefs.

Charlotte entered to an enjoyable techno ditty featuring samples of the Space Odyssey theme no wrestling fan can hear without thinking of her dad. Flair looked better than he had in years. Natalya got her regular boring music. Bret was wearing jeans. He looked like he’d been sleeping rough. His insistence on hanging on to his raggedy ponytail didn’t help there.

The two were presented as an even match for the most part. Charlotte was the first to enjoy an extended period of control, impressing with her figure four headlock. Natty came back with a snapmare and a dash across Charlotte's neck, which looked dangerous (an indication of how good Natalya is). Charlotte busted out a top rope moonsault. As was usually the case for her dad the move to the top didn't pay off as Natalya rolled out of the way. Still, it was a good move smoothly performed.

The first championship of sixteen?

Natalya locked in a Sharpshooter. Charlotte survived around thirty seconds before rolling through it and applying a figure four (woooooo!). Natty pushed up and reversed the pressure but Charlotte refused to break the hold. Then they slapped each other a bit. Finally Charlotte rolled to the outside and hung off the apron for extra leverage. That prompted referee and noted Flair enthusiast Charles Robinson to break the hold. As an insult to Bret, Charlotte applied the Sharpshooter to Natty, looking right at ‘The Hitman’ as she did so. Natalya promptly countered out of it but wasn't quick enough to avoid a Bow Down to the Queen. That gave ‘The Nature Girl’ the win and the title. It was a very good match. Charlotte in particular was impressive, though that may be because I didn't expect as much from her.

Flair went nuts at ringside (he kept his shoes on luckily) and then the two women hugged in the ring. Ric and Bret shook hands and then congratulated the other's charge. It was a nice moment for all involved and emphasised once again that NXT is the wrestling show, not a storyline show.

The final video of the evening was a look at the build-up to Tyson Kidd versus Adrian Neville for the latter’s NXT championship. Kidd talked about being hungry and wanting to get back to the big time. Neville discussed being undefeated in 2014 and facing a variety of opponents. It was an approach I'd like to see WWE use more: they used wrestling to create a story and made the men relatable through their aspirations within their field.

It was another match that started with counter wrestling. They put a twist on it by casting Tyson as the cocky veteran who was underestimating his foe. This was best shown when he decked Neville with a big elbow shot and ruffled his hair. They exchanged the advantage throughout the match but they never seemed to quite click with one another. It wasn't a bad match, it's just that they set a relatively sedate pace when you consider they're both known for being fast high-fliers.

Neville's still the champion. The belt's still ugly.

Highlights included a big power bomb by Neville; a Russian leg sweep countered from a second rope springboard by Kidd; Neville suplexing Kidd over the top rope and tumbling over with him; and Neville’s match-winning top rope hurricanrana and Red Arrow. One the subject of ‘The Jumping Geordie’s’ repertoire he could do with adding one or two key or setup moves. That would give fans more to react to beyond his (admittedly impressive) corkscrew shooting star.

Kidd hung around in the ring after the match. When Neville had finished celebrating (after about two minutes) he offered a handshake. Kidd barged passed him and walked out. Perhaps he felt irked that it took the champion so long to acknowledge him. If so that’s understandable. If they do a rematch, and I suspect they will, I hope the pair gel better than they did here.

There wasn’t a single duff performance on the show. The forgettable segments (Rose v Camacho and the Rusev beatdown) were inoffensive and there were two very good matches in Charlotte v Natalya and Zayn v Breeze. The main event was a tad siappointing but it was still a decent match. NXT Takeover is not going to go down as WWE’s finest show of the year but it will go down as an enjoyable one. I think that’s good result.

From Ring Announcer to Wrestler

I go back and forth on Alberto Del Rio. I think he’s a talented dude. He wrestles a very believable style and he has some of the most wonderful facial expressions in all of wrestling. And he is, of course, a very natural heel.

Right now I’m in a pro Del Rio phase. At the beginning of the year I was unsure that turning him babyface was the right move. Everything about him, from his natural sneer to his aristocrat gimmick, screams bad guy. How many good guys have had personal ring announcers working for them? None that I can think of.

But the turn worked. ADR obviously deserves a lot of the credit for that success but he doesn’t deserve it all. Part of the reason the Del Rio face turn worked as well as it did was the work of Ricardo Rodriguez.

Ricardo was used as a tool to get audiences sympathising with the arrogant Del Rio. The turn actually began when big bully Big Show started picking on Rodriguez and Del Rio stood up for him. Their on-screen relationship was broadened, growing from employer and employee to friends. Del Rio’s friendship with Ricardo was used to humanise him and allow us to empathise with him. We cheered him because he was a stand up dude who’d look out for his pal.

As well as the face turn worked I wasn’t disappointed when he reverted to the bad guy role at Payback. I was surprised that it had come so quickly because there was so much more that a babyface (or should I say técnico?) Del Rio could do, but he is always going to be better suited to playing a villain. I was surprised that Ricardo made the jump back with his boss. Having proven that he could elicit some excellent reactions in his own right I’d suspected that when the Del Rio heel turn came it would be at the expense of Double R.

Obviously the lure of a double turn alongside Dolph Ziggler was too much for WWE to resist. And they made the right decision. The loss at Payback elevated ‘The Show Off’ nicely. It was absolutely the right thing to do.

 

Can Ricardo Rodriguez succeed without Alberto Del Rio?

 

We’ll never know if there was an original plan to get ADR back to being a baddie at his ring announcer’s expense but we do know that the split happened not long after the two became villains again. The August 8^th RAW saw Del Rio give Rodriguez a vicious pasting. It made it very clear that the Del Rio character no longer views Ricardo as an asset at ringside. Ricardo had been knocked about by his boss before but had always stuck by him (the wrestling equivalent of an apologetic abused spouse). The severity of this beating and Ricardo’s subsequent disappearance from television has made it clear that the two have been separated permanently this time.

And this begs the question of “What next?” Right now Del Rio is embroiled in one of the most underwhelming feuds of the year against Christian. It feels like a placeholder programme. It’s not likely to stretch on for months on end. I’d say it could wind up at SummerSlam. It will definitely be over and done with by September.

From there I suspect we’re going to see an actual feud between Alberto Del Rio, wrestler, and Ricardo Rodriguez, ring announcer. How that will work is anyone’s guess but it looks like that’s what WWE’s planning. Why else would they split Ricardo from his kayfabe benefactor? If he’s not going it alone or working alongside Del Rio there’s nothing for the guy to do.

Ricardo’s a fully qualified wrestler in his own right (he’s appeared on NXT programming a few times as El Local and wrestled on the indies before his current gig came up). He could get into the ring and wrestle ADR but realistically that shouldn’t happen any time soon. For Ricardo to go from a ring announcer to performing hurricanranas and super kicks on a world champion would obliterate suspension of disbelief. The smarter approach would be to have Ricardo interfering in ADR’s matches and feuds for a bit while acknowledging that he’s training to be a wrestler.

A feud between the two could be big. For Del Rio it’s a chance to get over as a truly nasty individual, one who’ll victimise someone whenever he gets the chance. In a way, that’s already been hinted at with Ziggler. For Ricardo it’s a chance to develop into an in-ring performer, an underdog who’ll do his best against long odds. That’s a role I think Ricardo would be well suited to playing and something I think WWE audiences would take to.

Beyond this programme ADR would carry on about his business. But for Ricardo it’s make or break. If he can’t be accepted in a story which sees him battling his tyrannical boss (something WWE has more than a little practice at promoting) then he’s unlikely to get over in a follow up feud with Wrestler A over Reason B.

I think Ricardo will do it. He’s an extremely emotive performer and he’s not afraid to take a big bump. Audiences have warmed to him once. I think they can be convinced to again.

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.