Hey everyone!! It has been a while since I wrote about what’s going on in my life, that will be in italics. Normal font will be NXT!
It’s been a wild month. My daughter is almost three months old; she keeps home life busy. My wife is doing a fantastic job at home with her. Work on the other hand, it’s been interesting. I am almost done with the partnership deal, so there will be quite an adjustment. We hired back one of our waitresses and she is gelling well with the staff we have now. My dishwasher is a vet and a paranoid schizophrenic. He ran out of his psych pills last week so the past few days have been trying. We have crisis hotline cards all over the dish area, he tried calling last week. He got a voicemail and didn’t get a return call. Rumor is that the VA is understaffed and they outsource some of their other calls to different companies. I guess theses companies, if they don’t get to the call, don’t let the VA know of a voicemail. Needless to say there were some tense moments, we ended up getting him an emergency appointment, he is back on his pills and has to see a doctor once a week. It’s a sad state of affairs when you have a Veteran Crisis Hotline that won’t help Veterans in a crisis. Good luck to anyone out there that dealt with these issues.
Also, I am physically weak af. I started working out so I am able to hold my daughter for longer…
NXT OPENS!
The show starts with the intro song and then we go right to CFE arena for the show.
On the WWE App it showed Dash and Dawson now dubbed The Revival beating up Enzo outside of the performance center
American Alpha vs. Blake and Murphy
Gable seems to start every match off. Murphy and Gable collar and elbow but within seconds Gable has control and tags Jason Jordan in. Either Murphy is yelling extremely loud when he is taking offense or the crowd is dead.
Graves says Gable is so talented that he is known to dribble a bowling ball.. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!?!
It would be nice to have Biff Busick be in a tag team so we can have that moment where he outwrestles Gable.
Gable is so good that both Blake and Murphy back away from the man. The fans try to chant for Gable and Jordan in a sing song manner, Jordan waves at the crowd to keep it going… They don’t.
I have never been to a taping that lasts hours over multiple shows. I don’t know how the energy level is during those shows, if there are peaks and valleys or if it peaks at the beginning and then whimpers down. This crowd has seen many of the wrestlers and I believe are running out of steam. Crowd reaction does a lot to a match.
Jordan is doing well at playing to the crowd. When there is a “let’s go Jordan” he shurgs his shoulders to the claps. That gives off the body language to keep clapping and at the same time makes Jordan seem confident and relaxed.
Gable and Jordan tag, then do a double northern lights suplex. The Gable goes right to the arm. As Gable is working over Blake’s arm Tom Phillips says “American Alpha can be just as physical as Dawson and Dash”.
Blake and Murphy sell Gables offense so hard. The screams of pain they do as Gable applies his submissions and wear down holds, make those holds seem that much more impactful. Simple moves you see in every match seem like they hurt more when Gable applies them.
LOL Murphy gets frustrated that Gable keeps kicking out and it’s after a headlock… Who wins by headlock?
As Gable gets beat up more and more, Jordan subtlety moves on the apron. He starts looking more restless, his face gets more expressive, he starts hopping and reaching his hand toward Gable. Chad is no where near the corner but it builds anticipation for the viewer for the hot tag. They get so close and the tag doesn’t happen.
Then Gable fights out of it and tags Jordan to a pop. Jordan does over head suplexes and throws with no regard. HE does the shoulder tackle in the corner to Blake and then flapjacks Murphy. Jordan tags Gable in and the hit their finish for the win.
And I’m Like… That was a perfectly acceptable match. American Alpha continue to be entertaining and Blake and Murphy are good set pieces for stories. This time we are learning that American Alpha are a fluid team that are near unstoppable. Gable can handle his own bidness, so can Jordan. Blake and Murphy never had characters and they certainly don’t now, they can win or lose and it doesn’t really effect anything. They are there to showcase other teams, I think that could be why they were tag champs. So when your building contenders, Blake and Murphy are the team to choose because they are former champs so beating them adds credibility.
We get highlights of last week when Zayn and Joe pinned each other. Which cuts to a backstage promo by William Regal.
Regal says in two weeks we have a 2 out of 3 falls match with Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe. Regal also says a new competitor will be debuting next week.
The Drifter Sings
Here are the Lyrics
“For everything created/ Destruction’s on call
Trials and Tribulations/ Nature has its fall
A new ring of one/ blossoms the soul
Where it may roam only the chosen shall know
What we have are masqueraders/ what we need are liberators
Substance in man/ what it needs is what I am
What it needs is what I am
-The Drifter
Apollo Crews vs. Christopher Girard
HA! Speak of the devil. Biff’s name now is Christopher Girard. I don’t know how I feel about that, only because fan chanting. Chris-to-pher might work but Girard is a weird one. I like the names that have 3 to 4 syllables. Apollo Crews, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar… See what I mean? Like Curtis Axel came from Michael McGillyCutty, and how the hell you gon’ chant that name? That’s just some nit-picking.
Girard looks intense, he has that sweet generic rock music too. That’s what Daniel Bryan started with.
The match starts with some attempt at a collar and elbow, Apollo fell right away though. Christopher yells at Apollo to “come on” in the darkest villain voice. Just raspy and angry.
Apollo hits the too easy dropkick and Girard feels for his mouth instantly. Cool little sequence where Girard blocks Apollo’s suplex attempt, once by holding his own weight down by taking a knee, the second time by a slap to the stomach of Apollo. TChen Christopher does a grimace and grunt to the camera and hits a European uppercut.
Corey Graves says Girard reminds him of Gilberg….. F You Graves… f you..
Christopher does a thing that I LOVE!! He has a headlock in Apollo and he applies it like he wants it to hurt!! Girard rubs his head ontop of Apollos, he wrenches back and forth, hell he even flips Apollo backwards while still locking the head to bring Crews to the ground. Crews knows that Apollo has high impact moves that take a lot of energy, if Girard can ground Crews he can take many moves away from Apollo.
Graves talks about how “awesome” Christopher is now after these awesome headlocks and chinlocks. Crews fights out of it by standing up and dropping Girard on his back. Then Apollo hits a spear and some punches, as Girard attempts escape Apollo does not give him room to breathe at all.
Crews hits some signatures and taunts the crowd which was long enough for Girard to gain energy and fight back. Crews picks Girard up from the apron and hits his Toss Powerbomb finisher, all while Girard was throwing punches and trying to get out of the hold. Apollo wins and looks like he was in quite a fight.
And I’m Like… That was a showcase for Apollo but Girard got some of his shit in and hopefully left a Gillbergless impression on fans. A Tomasso Ciampa/ Christopher Girard match or team would be a tremendous thing.
We now see video of Bayley beating Carmella a few weeks ago. Then where Eva and Nia attack Carmella so Bayley made the save. Then the bad ladies beat on Bayley until Asuka came in for the save. Asuka, once the ring was clear of the heels, motioned to the championship and smiled at Bayley. That match will be emotional, can Bayley handle that big of an ass kicking? Hopefully we will see at Takeover: Dallas.
Bayley and Carmella are interviewed and Bayley says she was taken to her limit against Carmella and one day Carmella will be a great champion. Carmella told Bayley she is coming for the belt sooner rather than later.
Bayley was glad that Asuka was out to help her but feels the pressure. I would love to see and reverse Rocky IV with Carmella getting beat so bad by Asuka in a number one contender match because Asuka is a machine and Carmella needs to prove her self. Then Bayley will have a reason to be vicious. That would be accented even more if Bayley lost because of not interfering on Carmella’s behalf or if she did interfere, Carmella could be upset that Bayley doesn’t believe she is in the same league. This woman’s division has so many layers to it that so much is possible.
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bull Dempsey
This is a sad one, since we know Bull already left the company. This is probably his last match in NXT.
Corey Graves doesn’t believe in moral victories but he says Tommaso impresses every time he steps in the ring. Bull comes out slapping all the fans hands. He does some work out moves and looks so happy to be out there.
Bill does a comedy spot that I saw Brad Maddox do once. The shirt he wears is too small so he needs the ref to help him take the shirt off. Bull and the ref struggle to remove the shirt as the crowd chants “Buuuuull” and when the shirt is removed the crowd pops and Bull congratulates himself.
Bull goes for a test of strength and makes Ciampa do jumping jacks.. Ciampa laughs but it was just to get Bulls guard down. Tommaso throws some heavy hands at Bull who knocks Ciampa on his ass. Because before Bull was Bullfit he was the “last of a dying breed” and could fight.
Ciampa fights by the “hit me hard and I’ll hit you harder”. He attacks Bull with blow after blow and starts working over Bull’s left arm. Bull does his punches where the crowd chants Bull, Dempsey goes for a left handed punch but Tommaso is able to reverse it and apply his armbar for the victory.
And I’m Like… Yeah, Ciampa and Girard on a team or feud please.. Even though Tommaso won, this is about Bull. His career was rather short in NXT. I am sure the door is always open for a return down the road. I liked the Bullfit gimmick at first, then the Bullfit puns and stuff was funny too. I feel like he should have done some Simon Dean/Dashin Cody Rhodes deals and done vignettes on his work outs. Maybe even, instead of selling a shirt on wweshop, he could sell legit workout tapes. He presented himself as a very lovable character, best to him in the future!
Samoa Joe gets interviewed and its a Aaron Sorkin esque walk and talk. Joe says he is the reason NXT is hot, he thinks he made it hot. He feels bad for Sami for having to suffer twice as much because it’s a two out of three falls match.
There is a commercial for WrestleMania, they use another Flo-Rida song. I feel like this song would be a good one if they are going for that type of style.
Sami Zayn gets interviewed. He says he is ready and that is not the issue. He knows what it takes to win a 2 out of 3 falls match. He has tunnel vision to become champion.
B
aymella vs. Nia Jax and Eva Marie
Nia and Eva are a team but come out separately. Corey Graves makes me want to mute the dang show because of how he vomits excitement over Eva Marie and won’t let Tom Phillips talk…. it’s stupid. I don’t see how that can help at all, he is putting over that she is hot? That doesn’t help the wrestling show… I like the soul claps in her crappy song though!
Carmella and Bayley come out separately also. I guess only Dana and Emma come out as a team. Corey also brings up her looks, he is not Jesse for our generation, he is Jerry Lawler with a douche of Matt Striker.
Bayley comes out and is about to air five the crowd. She hesitates at first to make sure Eva and Nia won’t attack her. It’s the little things!!
Carmella doing Thesz presses and punches, she does it three times in a row. Ballsy move by NXT to have Eva and Carmella start the match. Ring General Bayley gets in there and beats up Eva enough that she has to take Nia in.
Nia dominates quickly and tags Eva back in. Nia stand on Bayleys calf to control her. Eva taunts. The gameplan for Nia and Eva confuses me. Eva gets dominated by Bayley and Carmella. Neither girl can get a move in on Nia though. Why would Nia and Eva decide that the best option for the fight is to have Eva be in there at any time?
Bayley and Carmella do some double teaming and double moonwalking.
Eva is screaming for Nia and she finally is able to get rid of Carmella and tag Jax in. The story continues where no one can do much to Jax. Nia is walking around slowly and wrestling like the giant she is. She is dumb like a giant too and tags Eva in.
Eva goes for ONE move but taunts so Carmella rolls her up for two. Eva tags out after that and Jax is back on the attack to Carmella’s back. She is bearhugging the Staten Island attitude out of Carmella. Carmella remembers London and front facelocks Nia. Jax tags out and that starts a quick tag session between Eva and Nia. Having Bayley on the apron waiting for the hot tag is detrimental to the match. These girls got some work to do on their own if Bayley isn’t there to bail them out.
The crowd chants “Hey we want some Bayley” which is the inferior chant once “Hey Bayley, ooh ahh, I waannt for you to be my girl”
Bayley gets the hot tag and hits her 5 moves of doom. She only is interrupted at the pin attempt by Nia. Jax headbutts the crap out of Bayley. Bayley tags Carmella who tries to submit Eva but Nia breaks it up. Jax then realizes she is the Cass to Eva’s Enzo and has to win the match on her lonesome. She Carmella is dazed, Jax runs at Bayley and does the Vader running chest/clothesline/clap thing. Then she grabs Eva by the leg, drags her to the corner, tags in. Nia is the only one not on the ground and she is moving these ladies around like she is playing action figures.
Nia then hits three consecutive leg drops and Eva tags her self in and grabs the pin. Nia let her do it too, she didn’t even care.
And I’m Like… This needs explanation. Why is Nia with Eva? It can’t have anything to do with wrestling because as Nia just showed she doesn’t need any help. Maybe its for more exposure, maybe she wants to be on Total Divas, maybe she sees how crap Eva is but is still getting opportunities. There are many questions I have for that pairing. Bayley and Carmella were not a good team tonight, that is because they weren’t focused on their opponents. They cared more about entertaining the crowd and having fun, and in the end it cost them because Nia is all bidness.
That was a fun episode, it ended with William Regal telling Finn he is almost the record holder for longest time being NXT Champion. He will face the current record holder Neville next week.
The build is slow but we are almost a month away from the next Takeover. That gives us four or five episodes until the show, we have plenty of time to get emotionally invested.
Do me a favor and share or like or comment. It let’s me know how many people are being reached and if you still have time after reading this, a click and post would be greatly appreciated.
Until next week, have a good one!
-Jake
