NXT went straight into the action this week so let us follow suit at The Wrestling Mania and do the same!
The Ascension vs. Kasey Marion & “Like” Mike LeBosca – Winners: The Ascension
Kasey and “Like” Mike were keen, they were out before the show even started.
I obviously watch NXT every week but I have no idea what that ‘yah’ chanting is about.
You didn’t exactly need a spoiler to ruin this match for you. At least it wasn’t filled with boring tags to exert dominance.
At a point where the main roster is getting itself together with a list of credible tag-teams, developmental has gone in the opposite direction. The Ascension are going nowhere, as a result.
Summer Rae w/ Charlotte & Sasha Banks vs. Emma w/ Bayley – Winner: Emma
Like I had a problem last week, there is no need for Emma to be pitted against the BFFs. There should be ways of making Emma look strong without having her beat the heel faction of the division.
Bayley and the BFF storyline has been stagnant since Charlotte turned on the former. Nothing has really happened since then, which is a shame.
I enjoyed the actual match overall. The Emma Lock looked great.
Antonio Cesaro & Sami Zayn – Backstage with Renee Young
I heard Steve Austin on his podcast suggest Cesaro needs to improve on his promo skills and I would tend to agree with a man that has forgot more about this industry that we love than we will ever know. That being said, I think his performance last week and here again demonstrate that he isn’t as far away as the great man thinks.
The line about Young being a beautiful, yet Canadian, woman was brilliant. To be fair to him, he’s not wrong!
Is this professional or personal for Sami? I got lost.
The segment failed to reach the lofty heights of last week but that would have been a tough ask. It is not that this exchange was bad, in fact I liked it. It was simply down to how great their altercation was last week.
Having such a talk-heavy segment again could be questioned but it did at least prevent pointless matches when we know all focus is on the live show on Thursday.
Adrian Neville vs. Tyler Breeze – Winner: Adrian Neville
Bit of a strange match choice, given that Breeze cost Neville the NXT Championship match in his last attempts to beat Bo Dallas. They seem to be wasting potential feuds for Neville (Graves and Breeze), whether he wins the title on Monday or not.
I know it is a really obvious thing to say but Breeze really reminds me of Dolph Ziggler.
Neville’s powerbomb was great at demonstrating a different side of him.
Breeze’s superkick sounded outstanding.
I was a little surprised again that we didn’t see interference from Bo Dallas. Speak of the devil!
Adrian Neville & Bo Dallas – In-Ring Segment
Seeing Bo here made me realise that we haven’t seen enough of him in the last few weeks’ worth of build-up.
A Daniel Bryan chant? Really?
The condescending slap on the arm by Bo was a stroke of genius. It’s the little things, folks.
If they are playing up Bo being scared, which I think was alluded to in the build, with Bo being a little bit more serious prior to this week. There is a noticeable shift in Dallas’ demeanour this week though and he got back to the narcissism that we all know and love.
If Bo is scared then I would have expected him interfering in Neville’s recent matches, which is something that I have alluded to and mentioned my surprise that it hasn’t happened.
The whole Bo being scared thing seems a little strange to me.
That all being said, I thought the feud got back on track here. Both characters played to their strengths and it had me looking forward to their title match.
Overall Show
Other than the newest addition to a long line of pointless Ascension squash matches, I thoroughly enjoyed this show.
As I alluded to last week, this first live show is the closest we will get to an NXT PPV and the build has been excellent.
If you’re able to get the WWE Network on Monday then I strongly urge you to spend some time watching what will be a fantastic event with these young wrestlers. Knowing them as well as I do, they will not disappoint.
I’m not sure when the episode will reach me here in the UK (the Network is not launching internationally until later in the year) but be assured that I will have a review up and exclusive on TheWrestlingMania.com as soon as I am able. Be sure to stop by and compare thoughts with me, as always, in the comments section below!
Thanks for stopping by, folks.
– By Richard Thompson