‘WWE NXT’ Results & Review (24.10.13)
Welcome to this week’s results and review write-up of NXT, the show in which developmental talent show their skills.
The show begins with the familiar sounds of Emma’s theme music, and she dances to the ring to a nice crowd-pop. She does the “clumsy skin-the-cat” to get in the ring, which is always fun to watch. Sasha Banks, along with Summer Rae, makes her way to the ring to face Emma and she is sporting some new “Boss” attire, and that new bad attitude that works well and she plays excellently. Sasha trash talks, Emma dances, and the match begins. The match has a nice pace, and Emma is on point with her roll-ups. Both of these ladies are certainly ready for main roster exposure and this match is solid and entertaining. The fans chant “plastic” after Renee Young referred to Summer and Sasha as “mean girls” recently. The match is a decent length and features near-falls and plenty of good moments, including Emma’s version of Tajiri’s “tarantula” submission hold. Emma gets distracted by Summer Rae and finds herself being rolled up by Sasha for the three-count. Sasha Banks wins, and Paige gets in the ring, goes to clothesline Sasha but accidentally nails Emma. Something tells me we are seeing an Emma/Paige match soon. Yay.
We see a short backstage interview with NXT Champion, Bo Dallas, and he talks about how he has a huge announcement, that he is taking a “well deserved vacation”. He says he is going to deliver “10,000 squirt guns to starving children”. I’m enjoying this dorky heel character at the moment.
Corey Graves comes out and stands on the stage in a suit, which is weird considering his punk-rock image works so well. Before he gets to make his point, Adrian Neville runs out, and as he would say, “decks” Graves from behind. The two them brawl around and in the ring, before referees break them up. This should lead to a good match between the two, which we are getting later tonight. Fans chant “NXT”.
We come back from commercial break to see two “jobbers” in the ring, named Casey Maron and Tommy Taylor. Their opponents are the NXT Tag Team Champions, The Ascension. O’Brian and Victor get little-to-no reaction again as they make their 90’s-era entrance to the ring. We get a “let’s go these guys” chant, aimed at the jobbers. Funny fans. The match is a typical WWE squash match, with The Ascension making fast tags and beating the hell out of the “job squadders”. The match, which is listless, ends when the champions nail their double-team finisher for the three-count.
There is a short backstage segment with WWE.com talking to Sami Zayn. Sami talks about how he had the match won last week and how Bo Dallas had to cheat to win.
Renee Young conducts a quick interview with JBL backstage. JBL talks about how Sami Zayn is paranoid, and that he restarted the main event last week because it was “fair and best for business”.
CJ Parker is out next to a mediocre reaction. He is carrying the stolen cell phone of Tyler Breeze. His opponent is the “Bulgarian Brute” Alexander Rusev. Rusev does the sumo stuff when he gets in the ring. Rusev kicks and shoulder blocks Parker to begin the match, and hits him with a falling head butt. His offence, as usual, looks full-on and physical. A blonde girl appears at ringside, and the announcers act curious as to who she is. Rusev locks Parker in the clutch and makes him tap out. The referee raises Rusev’s hand, and the blonde woman walks away. Squash match number 2. Tyler Breeze comes out and attacks Parker, and cuts some of his dreadlocks off, after the match, as fans chant “more”.
Adrian Neville and Corey Graves make their ways to the ring for the main event of the show. Graves is now wearing his punk stuff now, which he should, because it helps him stand out. Neville gets a good pop from the NXT fans. The two men trade chops, punches and kicks, before Neville dropkicks Graves out of the ring and nails him with a corkscrew plancha from the inside of the ring to the outside. We haven’t even begun to see what Neville can do, as far as what he’s shown in NXT so far. Neville hits a couple of Daniel Bryan-esque low kicks on Graves which only makes me long for the day that we get to see Neville and Bryan go one-on-one. Graves works on Neville’s knee for a while with stretches and drops. The match slows down as Graves attempts to keep Neville out of the air. The fans chant “Corey sucks” as he continues to work on Neville’s leg with submission holds. Neville sells the knee well throughout the match, and Graves locks in the “Lucky 13” leg lock for the victory. Graves wins, cleanly, but continues to attack Neville after the match. It was a slow match, but decent.
That brings us to the end of another NXT show. Until next week.
Show MVP: Sasha Banks
Show Dud: The Ascension
Best Match: Sasha Banks/Emma
Honourable Mentions: Neville, Graves.
