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 13.02.13

So the WWE developmental league now has better tag team champions than the main roster does. I can’t be the only person this doesn’t make sense to? I mean it’s nice that WWE wants to prepare some double acts to be called up at some point in the future but shouldn’t they also be concerning themselves with the ones they already have?

 

The current WWE tag champs are Kane and Daniel Bryan. They’re an odd couple unit whose limited shelf life expired months ago. They remain the champions because there are no realistic alternatives. The Rhodes Scholars were senselessly split a couple of weeks ago, although if the Elimination Chamber pre-show match is anything to go by that decision may since have been reversed.

The Prime Time Players remain intact but if they were to become champions who would oppose them? It’s difficult to imagine anyone getting excited about a tag title feud involving Jimmy and Jay Uso, isn’t it?

My point here is that if the work being done creating tag teams for NXT is to prove beneficial in the long run then some more makeshift units need to be lashed together for the short term. Get some singles guys doing nothing into the tag ranks and let them hold the fort until Adrian Neville, Oliver Grey and the Wyatt Family are deemed ready for the big time.

Let’s overlook the bleak long term future of the tag teams on NXT. I thought the tournament final was a very good match. The four men were given plenty of time to construct something worthwhile and tell a story. They fell down a little on the narrative side of things but the action was enough to carry them through.

 

The new champs

 

The most disappointing thing about the match was the early ejection of Bray Wyatt. Not only is he the group’s namesake and manager, he’s also its biggest star and the man who will go farthest in WWE. He should have been at ringside to keep the crowd involved. If he had to be thrown out then it could at least have been held off until the closing moments.

Elsewhere on the show the feud, over prettiness, between Paige and Summer Rae continued. They had their first televised match after a brawl at the start of the show. Ironically it was not pretty. Part of the reason for that was that Paige was wrestling as though she had an injured shoulder. She’ll recover from that within a few weeks and then get her inevitable rematch victory.

Opening video

Tweet 1: NXTweet.

Tweet 2: This voiceover guy's HAS to be a rib.
Tweet 3: A-Ry tapped out to a kravat. Yeah his career's FIIIIIINE.
Tweet 4: Who will be NXT's first tag team champions? Who?! WHO?!

Axel Keegan v Mike Dalton, featuring Paige

Tweet 5: "I'm Tony Dawson!" - Tony 'I'm Tony Dawson' Dawson

Tweet 6: Impromptu run-in from Paige. Now she's on the mic, sounding like she's about to ruddy cry.
Tweet 7: I really wanted to see Mike Dalton v Axel Keegan too (are those their names?)...
Tweet 8: ISS THA DREE, BAYBEE!
Tweet 9: Is Dusty going heel? This is the turn of the decade!
Tweet 10: That all felt very ECW.

Paige backstage

Tweet 11: Doctor Sampson is "examining" the shoulder of Paige, is he? Looks inappropriate to my (admittedly untrained) eye.

Alex Riley v Corey Graves

Tweet 12: It's Alex 'Future Endeavors’ Riley!

Tweet 13: You've got to love a guy who wrestles in suspenders.
Tweet 14: If you ever watch this match look out for the inverted atomic drop reversal sequence a minute or so in. Massively sloppy.
Tweet 15: Dawson just announced the "breaking news" that Paige v Summer Rae will happen next. Wasn't that announced last week?
Tweet 16: Everything A-Ry's done in this match shows that WWE were right to take him off the main roster.
Tweet 17: The man who looks like an 80s game show host tapped out. Good. Graves is better.

If only Riley's pain were real

 

Paige backstage again

Tweet 18: Paige is still backstage with that questionable doctor. Getting her shoulder taped so she has an excuse when she loses.

Summer Rae v Paige

Tweet 19: Summer Rae, also known as Kelly Kelly 2.0.

Tweet 20: Paige should enter to the theme tune of Big Break. To play up her British roots.
Tweet 21: Paige just did the old stomping a mudhole routine. Earlier on she did a Thesz Press. Just shave your head bald and call yourself Austin, luv.
Tweet 22: While I was typing that Summer Rae won. That was pretty short. There'll be a rematch. Hopefully it'll get more time.

Tweet 23: Regal was shocked by the win.

Sasha Banks’ poetry corner

Tweet 24: Backstage Sasha Banks reads a poem aloud. That'll get her over. No wrestling fan can resist a bit of poetry.

NXT tag team championship tournament final – Adrian Neville and Oliver Grey v The Wyatt Family

Tweet 25: Byron Saxton's on ring announcing duty. He's basically the NXT version of Borash.

Tweet 26: "The whole of England will be celebrating, it's wonderful for my country" - William Regal on the possibility of Brits winning NXT tag belts
Tweet 27: Contrary to what Regal said I want to see the Wyatts win. I do know the result by the way...
Tweet 28: "The British have been underdogs for thousands of years" - William Regal
Tweet 29: I'm pretty sure both Neville and Grey are younger than me which means it's pretty unlikely they grew up idolizing the British Bulldogs.
Tweet 30: Bray's gone from ringside. This match just got a bit less interesting.
Tweet 31: What's Dusty actually doing at ringside? I mean, I know he's watching the match, but physically what is he doing?
Tweet 32: I want them to keep cutting to Dusty nodding or pursing his lips, maybe cocking his head to one side.
Tweet 33: If you've gone to the trouble of having a living melted waxwork at ringside at least show him to us.
Tweet 34: Rey Mysterio should be sent down to NXT. He doesn't need to learn how to work, he needs to learn how to show up to work.
Tweet 35: Look at Adrian Neville. Running around like a ruddy lunatic.
Tweet 36: If beards play a factor on membership then I think Daniel Bryan could be a future acquisition for the Wyatt Family.

One word: beards

Tweet 37: Neville and Grey have won. To their credit they're celebrating like it means something to them. It was an enjoyable match.
Tweet 38: Dusty's in the ring to shake and raise hands. You know you've made it when 'The Dream' wants to touch you.
Tweet 39: Well... it could just mean you're a woman.
Tweet 40: Fans cannot understand the post-match squealings of the new champs. I can barely make out what they're saying and I'm used to the accents.
Tweet 41: Where's Triple H? Does he only appear for singles champions? Selfish.
Tweet 42: The show goes off the air with the new champs standing on the stage holding their belts, which are better looking than the NXT singles belt.

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.