NXTweet 18.11.15

Another week, another episode of NXT that blends squashes and lengthier competitive matches. Both the Jordan and Gable versus The Ascension tag match and the women's title main event are top stuff. Plus we got the reveal that Bayley is basically being afforded the 80s Hulk Hogan booking pattern. It's hard not to enjoy that.

Intro

Tweet 1: N. X. Tweet.

Tweet 2: I like the shot of Sheamus in his jaunty cap in the signature. Never mentioned that before.

Carmella v Nia Jax

Tweet 3: Big fan of Carmella's moonwalk basically being her walking backwards.

Tweet 4: "Hottest chick in the ring!" - Carmella, who was the only chick in the ring
Tweet 5: Carmella versus Awesome Jax.

Jax unwittingly teasing a Styles Clash there.

Tweet 6: Kind of surprised Triple H hasn't re-signed Kong for NXT. This feels like where she'd thrive in WWE.
Tweet 7: Devastating hip attack from Nia Jax there.
Tweet 8: This is not a good match.
Tweet 9: Jax should be given Michael Elgin's move set.

Alexa Bliss promo, featuring 'Fashionplate' Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy

Tweet 10: Alexa Bliss wearing that Goa'uld mind control device again. What? No, YOU'RE a pervert.

Tweet 11: I liked Blake's subtle transformation into Chris Hero in that scene.
Tweet 12: Let him go singles and give him a hip hop loving elbow thrower gimmick.

The Ascension v Jason Jordan and Chad Gable

Tweet 13: Absolutely insane pop for The Ascension here. Disappointed Stardust can't cross over to the NXT timestream.

Tweet 14: Fancy new gear on the NCAA lads here. Got their initials on them and everything.
Tweet 15: I'm hyped for this match. Always nice to see Konnor and Viktor treated like a big deal.
Tweet 16: That northern lights suplex. That toe point.
Tweet 17: I wouldn't be against The Ascension winning after a spotlight with a big star on it distracts Jordan and Gable.

Solid tag finisher this.

Tweet 18: Konnor and Viktor should get Road Warriors style interlocking haircuts.
Tweet 19: That was a strong match. Jordan and Gable deserve to be built up for a title win at WrestleMania weekend.

Tom Philips interviews Bayley

Tweet 20: Bayley not even looking at Tom Philips as she speaks here. Good. That's the level of respect he warrants.

Tweet 21: Good call having Bayley say the other three Horsewomen left and she stayed because she's the champ.
Tweet 22: Makes it clear it's her choice. Rather than that she's been left behind or that she's not good enough.

Emma v Mary Kate

Tweet 23: This old lad perving on Evil Emma from the front row though.

Tweet 24: PREMIER ATHLETE BRAND SIGHTING.
Tweet 25: "Mary Kate's" being a little tryhard here.
Tweet 26: Mary Kate though. Srsly?

Emma's feud with the Premier Athlete Brand starts here.

Tweet 27: I like Emma's uncoordinated heel shtick.

Baron Corbin promo

Tweet 28: Loving this reminder that Barry Corbin is the most hated man in NXT and it's largely because he's booked as himself.

Tweet 29: Corbin promo. Comically bad.
Tweet 30: "... courtesy of 'The Lone Wolf'" - Barry Corbin, who needs more mic time so that he can drop that hot sign-off more often

Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder v Corey Hollis and John Skyler

Tweet 31: These job lads though...

Tweet 32: Really wish Dash 'n' Dawson had a better team name.
Tweet 33:  Little reference to the new champs changing the landscape of the tag division there. I like that.
Tweet 34: Good way of keeping the division fresh. I like booking that changes everything up when a title change happens.
Tweet 35: Gives everyone on the show something new to play off. Which is obviously good.

Another very good tag finisher here.

Tweet 36: Gimmick idea: have Dawson refer to his non-existent sculpted abs in promos.
Tweet 37: That was decent. Big fan of Dash 'B' Dawson just being brawl-lovin' lads.

Tom Philips interviews Asuka, Dana Brooke shows up

Tweet 38: Asuka in this mask. Tears.

Tweet 39: "NXT TV."
Tweet 40: "It's time for you to go" - Dana Brooke
Tweet 41: #feelings
Tweet 42: Oh look. Dana and Emma have a plan. Who would have guessed.

Samoa Joe cuts 90s Taz style promo from the car park

Tweet 43: Samoa Joe there with his top button done up. What happened to you, Joe?

Tweet 44: Hyping a contract signing FFS.

NXT women's championship: Bayley (c) v Alexa Bliss

Tweet 45: Speaking of #feelings... Alexa Bliss.

Tweet 46: I like women who turn heel in NXT getting remixed entrance themes.
Tweet 47: Imagine a Dark Bayley theme. It'd be the sound of gunfire and children screaming.
Tweet 48: Third week in a row we're getting the dropped lights for ring intros. Strong stuff.
Tweet 49: These people really like Bayley, eh?
Tweet 50: This match is slick so far.
Tweet 51: Bayley doing the corner knee. She should start doing the crotch chop and deliberate stride before she hits it.

Getting a big Jericho vibe form this picture. That's never a good sign.

Tweet 52: Alexa is definitely not ratchet. These people need to pipe down.
Tweet 53: Bayley solidifying her spot as the female John Cena by loudly and obviously calling spots there.
Tweet 54: Alexa's botch moonsault having become a move though...
Tweet 55: Imagine if Bayley just randomly adopted the look and mannerisms of Davey Boy Smith, SummerSlam '92 roid monster edition.
Tweet 56: That match was shorter than I expected. There are five minutes left. Still really strong though. Bayley and Bliss are both great.
Tweet 57: Eva Marie here, once again shamelessly straying from her all red theme.
Tweet 58: Let's take a moment to appreciate that Bayley is being booked like Hogan. Beat someone, be faced with a bigger challenge, beat them.

You can actually see the pity in Bayley's eyes.

Tweet 59: "Okay, now be quiet, you little dorks" - Heat magnet Eva Marie
Tweet 60: If Eva told me to be quiet I would be. #justsaying
Tweet 61: Eva is a better promo than Barry Corbin. She just had to contend with a nuclear crowd.
Tweet 62: Strong NXT episode that. Nice work.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 40

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 40 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

A subject I’ve wanted to write about for quite a while now is whether or not a large scale (or larger than the current scale) British wrestling promotion could succeed. There are enough talented wrestlers based in Britain to put together a worthwhile roster but that’s only part of what would be required. Regular shows available for viewing on TV or online, ongoing storylines, and an identity beyond being just another company using the same guys to put on good matches would all be necessary too.

This is not an image I'm happy with. For various reasons

It’s a subject that would take thousands of words to do justice, and that sort of thing takes time to write. It doesn’t take long to say them though. So the topic seemed liked a good one for That Wrestling Podcast to cover.

As part of the topic Michael and I talk about guys we’d like to see in a leading British promotion, what sort of style we think would work, the scale on which the company could operate and platforms that could be used to get it seen. It’s not as comprehensive as the subject warrants but it’s close enough. Maybe we’ll come back to it at some point. It is, as I say, something I’ll write about at some point in the future.

Also discussed (for the bulk of the episode in fact) are names synonymous with Extreme Championship Wrestling. Michael and I each pick four guys to go on to a (completely fictional) Mount Rushmore celebrating the talents of ECW. Among the names discussed are Taz, Raven, Sabu, the Dudleys, Rob Van Dam, Paul Heyman, Rhino, Joey Styles and, of course, Jerry Lynn. It proves a far more interesting discussion than a WCW Mount Rushmore because there are so many more men and women linked to ECW than there are to WCW. The reason? Most of WCW's big names worked for the WWF before and WWE after their stints in World Championship Wrestling. Plus, y'know, WCW was really defined by Goldberg's winning streak and the invasion of a outsider faction. Beyond that there was little identity to WCW, and that makes it hard to link guy's to the promotion.

Anyway, how about you press play?

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 4

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 4 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

So Jim Ross is no longer affiliated with WWE. I’ve already discussed that here but there was no input from That Wrestling Podcast co-host Michael King. He wasn’t convinced we’d be able to fill an entire episode with JR talk. Find out if we did by giving this a listen!

… Okay a mild spoiler. We didn’t just discuss Jim Ross. We also discussed our thoughts on the role of commentators and the state of wrestling commentary in WWE.

Don't Blink

Don’t blink when you’re watching IMPACT Wrestling. So much happens so quickly that it’s easy to miss plot developments.

A perfect example is the recent booking of Mr Anderson. After not doing anything notable since failing to capture the vacant (and worthless) TNA television championship in September he returned to the company on the final broadcast of the year. For no discernible reason Aces and Eights offered him membership. Anderson accepted, seemingly swayed in his decision by two women who appeared from nowhere to cling onto his arms.

Just like that Anderson had returned to TV, become a heel, and joined a faction. Any viewer who had missed this episode of IMPACT, or even that one backstage segment, would have missed several weeks’ worth of progression.

No logical reason has been offered for Anderson joining A&E beyond the aforementioned women. It’s not that him joining the gang is a bad idea. If TNA’s booking team had nothing else lined up for him then it’s as good a use for him as anything else, and a far better use than paying him to sit at home. But it was a rushed job. For all the praise that’s been heaped on TNA regarding the pacing of their stories over the last year this demonstrates that they still haven’t mastered that area.

If Anderson’s move to the Aces clique was rushed then the A&E story in general is painfully slow. The bikers (that’s what they are remember) first showed up in TNA in June of last year. Seven months later we’re only just beginning to see members of the troupe revealed. We didn’t discover the identity of the first member for four months. While I agree that keeping people waiting for reveals is the best way of approaching things that was far too long.

As things stand right now we know the identity of seven members of the group. Of those seven names only six are active wrestlers. The non-wrestling member is Taz, a man who nobody was crying out to see elevated to anything even resembling a position of prominence. The reveals are proving a painfully slow process. It has sapped the initial interest in the group by simply being allowed to wallow in its own self-importance and hype for too long.

We know there’s still more to come from the Eights too. We still don’t know what their aim is or who’s in charge. At the current rate neither revelation is going to be made until at least late spring. Summer seems more likely.

Something else that falls firmly into the “blink and you’ll miss it” file: the whirlwind romance between Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan. On the surface this story appears worryingly similar to the Stephanie McMahon and Triple H marriage in the WWF back in 2000. A wrestler marries the boss’s daughter (Hogan’s not the boss but he is an on-screen authority figure, so same difference really) against the boss’s wishes.

"Finger Point of Doom, brother!"

It’s too early to know whether this will end with ‘Calfzilla’ turning heel but it wouldn’t be surprising. By marrying Brooke Bully has gotten a (kayfabe) power spot. With his “brother” Devon a member of Aces and Eights it’s all too easy to imagine a swerve turn that reveals that it was “a setup all along” and that the former Dudleys planned this entire ruse to grab power in the Land of Impact.

Or perhaps this is an altogether more subtle plot, one designed to be a parody of the real life marriage between Steph and Tripper. I doubt it though. Even TNA would find it hard to justify that particular brand of nonsense.

The marriage of Ray and Brooke has come about very quickly. Their relationship was only revealed in November. For them to be married two months later feels pretty quick (although in fairness it’s not the first time a wrestling wedding has happened fast). Just as bizarre is the speed with which Hulk Hogan has been won over by the idea of his daughter dating a wrestler, and one close to twenty years older than her to boot.

TNA may have long term plans that they’re sticking to. That’s great. It’s something the company has needed to get sorted for years. But just because you have long term plans doesn’t mean things need to play out over the long term. Knowing what’s going to happen several months in the future is good, but it doesn’t equate to having one storyline stretch out over years.

Long term booking can just as easily be a plan to shift through three or four major angles and storylines across a calendar year. TNA’s getting this right in having one story bleed into the next but their pacing is poor. Title reigns and pushes should be lasting for six months, not stories. It’s an approach that isolates casual viewers and bores regulars. Things are looking promising in TNA but there’s still work to be done.