Welcome to The Wrestling Mania report on the first regular edition of WWE NXT to be shown on the WWE Network. If you’ve stuck around as a result of last week’s show then I assure you that NXT rarely disappoints. My reports on the other hand….
Adrian Neville vs. Bo Dallas – Winner: Adrian Neville
I thought Camacho looked pretty good here. It will be interesting to see where he goes from here, with Hunico masking up to replace the former Mistico under the Sin Cara mask. I think Camacho lacks that certain ‘it’ factor but he does have a lot of potential.
Neville’s win was always required but this felt a little formulaic. Camacho controlled things until Neville hit a couple of moves and then the Red Arrow.
I enjoyed Neville’s promo but I do sometimes wonder whether not Americans understand his Geordie accent? Just as I type this, he mentions it too. Fair play to him!
I love how Bo belittled Neville’s victory and questioned the fact that he didn’t actually pin him. His character has justified in his own mind how he wasn’t actually defeated. This is just the level of narcissism that I have learned to love from Bo.
Emma Interview
Charlotte is huge!
Anyone else a little creeped out by Flair staring at Emma whilst his daughter was talking to her? Space Mountain indeed.
Paige Interview
This was almost identical to the interview we just saw with Emma. Was there any reason we had to have both, especially back-to-back?
Emma vs. Charlotte w/ Sasha Banks – Winner: Charlotte
So is Charlotte with her Dad or the BFFs?
After Charlotte meaning nothing in months, I didn’t like this match.
They seem to be playing up her Flair heritage all of a sudden and it felt a bit forced for my liking.
Corey Graves vs. Yoshi Tatsu – Winner: Corey Graves
What’s not to love about Yoshi’s entrance music?
Corey felt like a big deal here for the first time since his return. I wish they’d have held off on it until this moment.
I was pleased Corey called out Sami Zayn, I look forward to seeing that.
Horrendous ending when we see people thrown into those steps all the time without being unable to meet the count. Lucky 13 would have been fine.
If Tatsu had any reputation to begin with, it would be in tatters now.
Nice to see Sami Zayn coming to the rescue of Tatsu. It had a touch of old-school to it, one babyface saving another.
Adam Rose vs. Wesley Blake – Winner: Adam Rose
What have they done to Leo Kruger?!
In all seriousness, I’ve heard a lot of positive remarks on the gimmick change.
I don’t dislike it because I simply haven’t seen enough of it yet. That being said, at this point, I’m not convinced.
It does demonstrate Kruger/Rose’s diversity immensely but there was something I liked about the crazy South African stalker. It seems especially strange to keep his trademark spine-buster and finishing manoeuvre.
It was also something completely different from what we have seen before, which is always a great thing.
I wasn’t sold on Fandango at first but I got caught up in all the hype alongside everyone else so I hope the same happens again.
The match itself was just a formality with nothing much to write home about. This was all about the fun and catchy entrance whilst introducing a new character.
That music is catchy as hell!
Sami Zayn vs. Corey Graves – Winner: Sami Zayn
Another Graves match that they have rushed into. I wish they’d build to something decent for the guy. A match between these two has a lot of potential, I feel it deserves more than a rush job.
Graves felt significant early on in the show but a loss here does him no favours.
After a high profile loss to Cesaro, I felt Zayn needed the win but I question it coming at Graves’ expense.
I thought the match was good overall. It didn’t start great but built nicely toward the end. I just wish it meant a little more.
Overall Show
I felt like they hit the reset button after a mammoth NXT Arrival show.
New storylines were initiated and characters the long-time viewers have known for a while are being introduced slowly to new viewers. That is a smart move in the long-term but I hope there’s not an undoing of the hard work that these young folks have been doing prior to the Network.
My main issue here was that the show was not good enough to convince viewers that they should stick around.
Corey graves especially deserves more than he’s been getting since his return and I hope we have witnessed the start of a quality feud between him and Sami Zayn.
The negative stuff set aside, it was by no means a bad show and as always with NXT, there is plenty to look forward to.
Thanks for once again checking out my opinions on NXT, be sure to share yours in the comments section.
Next week will hopefully be a better show and I look forward to that and giving my viewpoints exclusively here at The Wrestling Mania.
– By Richard Thompson | @AnacondaVise88