Hey guys! Time to check in to our favourite wrestling show of the week, WWE NXT. Let’s get straight to the point and jump straight into the action brought to us from Full Sail University in Orlando, Florida.
Sin Cara vs. Alexander Rusev – Winner: Alexander Rusev
The Sin Cara mood lighting comes to NXT! I’m not sure if he wants to fight Rusev or invite him to a nice seafood dinner and never call him again.
I swear this gimmick is cursed. Hunico would have had no problem hitting that moonsault normally. Give him the botch costume and he is nowhere near. Or is that we are now so preconditioned to notice things that Sin Cara does wrong and we blow up each instance much more so than any other performer? Either way, it does not bode well for the characters longevity.
In the period of what will I’m sure become known as ‘Vintage Rusev dominance’, the crowd were non-existent. Make of that what you will.
Once again, I’m not really sure the logic in having Rusev beat main-roster guys on NXT. He should be doing it on RAW and SmackDown yes but it seems a waste for guys to come down and simply be dominated by Rusev to a nothing reaction of a crowd that is seemingly indifferent toward him.
Emma vs. Alicia Fox – Winner: Emma
Renee Young is back to be our Divas announcer for, you know, some reason.
A couple of non-NXT watchers (the heathens) have told me that they find Emma to be really awkward since she debuted on Raw. Bless them.
Alicia Fox has the charisma of a sponge.
The match was so-so. Nothing wrong but I didn’t feel that they clicked together.
The BFFs post-match attack was well done and had an old-school feel to it. No music, camera focusing on the ring. I liked it.
I found Charlotte arriving so late somewhat ironic, considering it took her so long to appear after joining the BFFs.
Natalya and Bayley making the save was a nice touch. It continued that particular storyline without a need for another pointless singles w/ between them.
Average match. Excellent post-match.
Sylvester Lefort vs. Mason Ryan – Winner: Mason Ryan
At least it was quick and painless.
“The Artiste” Aiden English vs. Tyson Kidd – Winner: Tyson Kidd
The match had a nice pace and the right amount of back-and forth to it.
Tyson is better than to have a move called ‘The No Kidding’. That sounds like something a 6-year old came up with.
For such a short match, I really enjoyed that.
Big Cass needed vengeance after last week and this was a simple and effective way of doing so. English saves face by the finish coming off a distraction.
All in all, good stuff right here.
Adrian Neville vs. Corey Graves – Winner: Adrian Neville
This match is way too soon in Graves’ comeback. Neville cannot lose before his match with Bo Dallas for the title and Graves shouldn’t lose because he has been built back up yet. I expected a renewing of the feud but thought it would be for the title, after Neville was done with Dallas.
Considering that this is meant to be a grudge match with Graves looking for revenge, it lacks any sort of intensity. I guess that comes with trying to put on this match with virtually no build up.
Graves not being able to take out his frustrations from the outset comes, I guess, from not allowing Neville to be too dominated before his match with Dallas.
Graves did look strong and dominated a long period of the match. Even still, losing clean did nothing to help him.
The match on its own was fine but the timing and everything else was all wrong, in my opinion. It would have been better to not have Graves go after Neville at all than this.
Post-match, Bo Dallas once again put his narcissism aside and treated Neville as a challenger. Once again, I’m a fan.
I had expected Dallas to interfere and get Neville disqualified but Graves lost clean.
So their title match is going to be a ladder match, which points even further to a Neville victory. I want Neville to do well but I feel Bo is just mastering his character so it’s a shame he has to lose the belt. That being said, I’m sure there will be a rematch or two.
The fact that the attention shifted straight from the match that just took place to the upcoming title match proved just how irrelevant it was, that shouldn’t have been the case.
Overall Show
The show was fine. I think the main event suffered, as you could argue the whole of NXT is suffering from, the spectre of the upcoming live show. All focus is being placed upon it and it seems like everything else is treading water until then without much rhyme or reason.
The only real highlights were the post-Diva’s match scuffle and the short and sweet match that English and Kidd had.
I can’t really see much improving until after the live show has been and gone. It is just a shame that they have seemingly wasted Graves’ first match with Neville since returning from injury when it had so much potential. I don’t see how this match helped anybody.
Well Bat fans, that is all we have for NXT and our report here at The Wrestling Mania. Be sure to join us next week for my rambling opinions. Speaking of rambling opinions, be sure to share yours in the comment section below!
– By Richard Thompson