23rd Sep2013

‘WWE NXT’ Results & Review (19.09.13)

by Chris Cummings

image

NXT begins with Sami Zayn making his way to the ring, followed by his opponent, and the man whom he debuted against a couple of months ago, the former Edge-head, Curt Hawkins. Hawkins is a talented worker and I don’t understand why they don’t throw him back with his friend Zack Ryder and have them team together again. Anyway, that’s off topic, the match is decent, with some nice chain mat wrestling from Hawkins and the usual wonderful offence from Zayn. The fans do the “ole, ole, ole, ole” chant towards Zayn, who much get a kick out of his former career as El Generico not being forgotten by WWE fans. Hawkins keeps it to the mat with submission holds, but Zayn brings it to the air with a cross body from the top rope for a near-fall. Hawkins hits some unconventional moves, including an impaler DDT and a flapjack style reverse suplex. Zayn nails Hawkins with a big boot and a tornado DDT for the three count. Zayn wins a good opening match. Nice way to begin the show.

Aiden English comes out next, making his re-debut, he is singing and wearing a scarf while being lit up in a white spotlight. Not sure if this will catch on, but it’s obviously inspired by the popularity of Les Misrables. It’s a quick squash match against a jobber and merely serves as English’s return to NXT with a new gimmick. The match ends when English nails his opponent with his “Take a Bow” slam. The thespian musician type gimmick might work in the same way that Damien Sandow’s “intellectual saviour” works.

Bo Dallas is backstage and Renee Young approaches him for a quick interview. Bo uses some more of his “Bo-leavin’” lines and such. Renee asks him if he’s ready to grant Zayn a match for his NXT title. Bo says Zayn needs to beat someone credible first. Bo is fun in this character of an un-likeable and oblivious pretty-boy.

Now, the main event of the show is already here. An eight man tag-team match. Tyler Breeze (with his cell phone and Zoolander expression), Leo Kruger (who is fantastic and should be brought up to the main roster ASAP) and The Ascension (Connor O’Brian & Rick Victor) taking on the team of Xavier Woods (another main roster performer waiting to happen), CJ Parker (the hippie Carlito), Corey Graves and Adrian “PAC” Neville. Great teams. This match alone shows how diverse and high-quality the WWE development system is right now. Exciting time for wrestling fans. Regular tags between each team in the early going, allowing us to see the guys show their abilities in short bursts. The babyface team work down Kruger for a while, each nailing the South African veteran with top rope moves. Kruger, the most able and experiences from his team, works with every one of his opponents and makes them look great. The fans chant “We want Breeze” as Tyler stands pouting and refusing to tag into the match. Victor tags in and beats on Graves for a while. Overall, the match is very good and allows everyone to show their characters and their abilities without making anyone look weak (except Breeze, which is the point). There’s a nice spot with the faces hitting springboard dives on the heel squad. Breeze eventually tags in for a very short time, hits Woods and then tags back out as fans chant “that was awesome”. Every time Breeze tags in or hits an offensive move the crowd (or some of them) pops, it’s funny and a bit weird. After a series of irritating moments, Tyler Breeze is left alone in the ring as his opponents leave him and walk backstage. Each opponent nails Breeze with a variety of moves before Neville hits his corkscrew shooting star press for the victory. A fun tag team match and a great way to end the show, a show that felt very short this week.

Show MVP: Tyler Breeze

Show Dud: Rick Victor

Best Match: The Main Event Tag Match

Best Crowd Chant: “We Want Tyler”

Off

Comments are closed.