NXT
Date: November 28, 2012
Location: Full Sail
University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tony
Dawson, Jim Ross, Tom Phillips
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
Back to the Florida
guys this week as we approach the title match between Rollins and
Mahal. We're also getting towards the point where this show will
catch up to WWE and we'll see Mahal as a leather clad rocker and
potentially Rollins as a guy in a police themed gimmick. Other than
that we've still got Langston vs. Vickie's guys for the bounty.
Let's get to it.
We open with Bryan,
saying that he's coming back to the place where it all started for
him. Since he was here, he became world champion, started a
successful line of t-shirts and now HE IS THE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!
Tonight he demands that no one say YES and that no one call him a
goatface. He also says that Kane, who is standing next to him, must
stay out of his way. Kane says HE is the tag team champions and for
Bryan to stay out of his way. You know where this is going. Bryan
lets out the biggest NO ever but Kane says yes to counter.
Theme song.
Trent Barreta vs.
Leo Kruger
Trent has banged up
ribs due to the presumed attack by Kruger last week. He takes Kruger
down with some running shots to the head to start, but the ribs keep
him from being able to follow up. Leo sends the ribs into the corner
and rips off the tape. A knee drop keeps Trent down and Kruger goes
after the ribs. Off to an abdominal stretch as the tape is rapidly
disappearing from Barreta's ribs.
Kruger goes up to the
middle rope but jumps into a dropkick for two. Trent keeps hitting
moves but he has to stop to breathe after every single one. The
running elbow in the corner staggers Kruger but a release flapjack
stops the momentum cold. The Kruger End (neckbreaker into a cutter)
gets the pin on Trent at 4:39.
Rating: C-.
The match makes sense from a logic and psychology standpoint which I
like, but it wasn't exactly an interesting match due to all of the
slowing down. Trent is a guy who will go out there and give you a
good match most of the time, but he wasn't able to be himself here.
Odds are we'll get another match soon when Trent is healthy.
Xavier Woods vs.
Memo Montenegro
Woods is billed as
being from Angel Grove, California. Isn't that where the Power
Rangers were from in the first few seasons? Woods likes to dance
apparently and also is good in hip hop kido. JR doesn't care for
whatever that is but likes headlocks. The voice Ross uses when
saying that was hilarious. Woods continues to control with the
headlock as JR continues to sound like he cannot stand Woods'
gimmick. Memo misses a clothesline and a dropkick puts him down. In
a stupid/AWESOME ending, Woods shouts that IT'S MORPHING TIME
(awesome) and hits a rolling clothesline for the pin at 2:14.
Wait a second. During
the match, Dawson said that Woods was trained by Zack Taylor in Hip
Hop Kido. A quick Wikipedia search shows that Taylor was the name of
the original Black Power Ranger and his fighting style was in fact
Hop Hop Kido. I take what I said earlier back. Woods is AWESOME!
Audrey Marie vs.
Emma
Emma is from Australia
and Audrey is officially a cowgirl. A dropkick puts Emma down
quickly and Audrey hooks a “unique submission” according to Tom.
JR: “It's called a bodyscissors Tom.” That gets a few rollups
for two on Emma and it's off to a move I've heard called a Tumbleweed
for more twos. JR continues to be funny because he's annoyed and/or
bored, saying that he feels sorry for these girls because neither has
a last name. Tom calls a cross body a giant play to annoy JR even
more. After a backslide gets two for Emma, Audrey finishes her with
a Catatonic (spinning Rock Bottom) at 2:40.
Roman Reigns has issued
a press release, saying that he doesn't want to give an interview
right now. He has meetings with his “team” to determine various
endorsements because he's a blue chipper, but he'll participate in
this interview at a later date. Ok that's pretty awesome.
Here's Michael Cole to
moderate a face to face meeting between Rollins and Mahal. Cole's
music sounds like it's being sung by a bad Frank Sinatra impersonator
and is called Never Thought My Life Could Be This Good. It sounds
like it's describing a scene from Leave It To Beaver, talking about
having a mowed lawn and a picket fence. It's kind of catchy
actually.
Anyway he brings out
Rollins and Mahal for the face to face confrontation. Mahal says
what he did last week wasn't an attack. Rollins says it was the
action of a desperate man, because Mahal knows he can't beat Rollins
one on one. Mahal talks about how it's his birthright (his destiny
if you will) to be a champion. Rollins talks about being a man of
the people and sharing a mind and a spirit. Rollins says he's better
than Mahal because he has the heart of a champion. Mahal goes on a
rant about prejudice and attacks Rollins, putting him in the camel
clutch.
Tag Titles: Michael
McGillicutty/Johnny Curtis vs. HELL NO
Curtis is already
dancing and is apparently a stripper now. Oh joy. Apparently THIS
is Johnny's cash in for winning NXT Season 4. Wow they actually
remembered that. Points for continuity! Bryan and Kane argue before
the match, which starts with McGillicutty vs. Bryan. Michael takes
him down to start and Bryan pretends to tag Kane, just to tease him a
bit. Now be nice to that monster.
Kane tags himself in
and clotheslines McGillicutty to the floor, only to have Bryan tag
himself back in. The challengers take over with some double teaming
and Goatface plays Ricky Morton. Curtis puts on a bow and arrow
submission hold before it's back to McGillicutty for some shots to
the ribs. Johnny hooks a chinlock for a bit before a double
clothesline puts both guys down. Hot tag brings in Kane and house is
cleaned. Bryan tags himself in again and the champions argue.
McGillicutty gets two off a rollup as everything breaks down. A
chokeslam puts Curtis down as the NO Lock submits McGillicutty at
7:05.
Rating: D+.
Nothing to see here as the whole match was just killing time until
McGillicutty and Curtis realized they were McGillicutty and Curtis.
Why in the world Curtis is getting repackaged and put on the main
roster instead of McGillicutty is beyond me, but it might be because
Michael is talented and might get over, and we wouldn't want that.
The champs hug it out
to close the show.
Overall Rating: C-.
This wasn't their best show. The Power Rangers thing is a great geek
out moment, but the rest of this show doesn't work for me. The main
guys other than Rollins weren't here and they were clearly missed. I
can't complain about seeing Audrey Marie on my screen, but JR being
belligerent is sad to hear. He just doesn't care anymore and that's
very clear. Not a terrible show, but their worst in months.
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