NXT
Date:
April 17, 2013
Location:
Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators:
Tony Dawson, William Regal
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We're
kind of at a new starting point in NXT with the end of the Regal vs.
Ohno feud last week. Granted that's just in theory because a clean
win rarely ends anything in WWE anymore. We also need a new
challenger for Langston and the NXT Title. As for tonight though, we
have Corey Graves vs. Seth Rollins in a rare singles match for a
member of the Shield. Let's get to it.
We
open with a recap of the segment last week which gave us Graves vs.
Rollins.
Theme
song.
Justin
Gabriel vs. Leo Kruger
Their
last match was really good so hopefully this one is too. Kruger hits
a hard chop in the corner to start and runs Gabriel over with a few
shoulder blocks. Off to an armbar by Gabriel which transitions into
a top wristlock. Back up and Kruger puts him down with a spinebuster
for two, giving us the required Arn Anderson reference. Kruger
pounds on the chest for two more and cranks on Gabriel's neck a bit.
Justin comes back with a monkey flip and some solid kicks to the arm.
A
BIG spin kick puts Leo down but Kruger breaks up a springboard
attempt. Leo gets two off a clothesline but Gabriel grabs a Fujiwara
Armbar of all things. Kruger gets to the rope and Justin is very
frustrated. The 450 is broken up and Kruger pounds on the crotched
Gabriel. A superplex is broken up but Justin's sunset bomb is
countered, followed by a double stomp from Leo. The seated armbar
(called the GC3 now) makes Gabriel tap out at 7:12.
Rating:
B. Just like last time these
two had solid chemistry here. This was a solid back and forth match
with two guys who know each other very well. I'm still not clear why
they're fighting other than Kruger being nuts, but the South African
connection could easily be expanded upon if need be. Good match
here.
Brodus
Clay says don't try this.
Next
week it's Clash of the Champions with the Divas, US (held by Cesaro
here), NXT and Intercontinental Title being defended.
We
get a video on what the NXT people did at Wrestlemania. The shot of
Shield walking through the stadium to their match is pretty awesome.
Langston being in a title match is a big moment for NXT as well.
Paige
doesn't buy Summer Rae's excuse of having to turn off her curling
iron. She wants a one on one match but doesn't think Summer has the
backbone to do it. Rae jumps Paige and accepts the challenge.
Baylee
vs. Emma
Emma
actually does her skin the cat entrance without falling and the fans
seem impressed. Baylee hits a quick dropkick and pulls Emma back in
from running away. Emma dances into a cover (literally) and gets two
so Baylee puts on a neck crank. Back up and Emma dodges a charge
into the buckle and hooks a Tarantula of all things. Emma hooks an
Indian Deathlock with a bridge and a chinlock (Benoit used to use
that move) for the submission at 3:10.
Rating:
C-. Not a good match but the
more I see of Emma the more I like her. She has a strange
likeability to her and her looks don't hurt anything. The dancing
thing started off as stupid but it's getting over in front of a
college crowd like this one and there's nothing wrong with that.
Again, odds are her looks and the outfits she wears likely don't hurt
her popularity.
Yoshi
Tatsu vs. Bray Wyatt
Yoshi
jumps over Wyatt in the corner but Bray hits a hard running cross
body for one. A splash in the corner sets up the dancing bit before
the Downward Spiral ends Yoshi at 1:18.
Bray
hits his finisher again post match, which is apparently called Sister
Abigail. Wyatt says this was a message because he needs us to
understand that no one is greater than he is. He's the eater of
worlds and he believes it's time for the beast to open our eyes.
Corey
Graves vs. Seth Rollins
This
is a lumberjack match and Ambrose/Reigns apparently have taken the
night off. Rollins immediately pounds him down to start and stomps
him into the corner but Graves comes back with some rights of his
own. Rollins bails to the apron but has to come back in to avoid the
lumberjacks. Back in and Corey goes after Seth's leg with a kick to
the inner thigh and a knee crusher.
Seth
gets in a shot to the throat and follows up with a corner splash.
Another splash hits and Graves falls to the floor. We take a break
and come back with Rollins hitting a jumping kick for two and hooking
a body vice. Off to a reverse chinlock instead but the cheering of
the lumberjacks fires Graves up enough to escape. Rollins misses
something off the top and gets hit by a running knee to the chest.
A
hard clothesline puts Rollins down and Corey wrenches the knee.
Rollins is pulled off the top with a dragon screw legwhip and a
gordbuster keeps him down again, but here are Reigns and Ambrose to
ringside. Ambrose clotheslines Graves down as Reigns destroys the
lumberjacks. The standing sliced bread by Rollins is good for the
pin at 7:12 shown of 10:42.
Rating:
C. Not great here but the
Shield looked awesome at the end. As Regal said, there are twelve
bodies down at ringside and two men caused it. The ending was the
right idea as it keeps both guys looking strong and leaves you
wondering if Graves can put Rollins down or not. In other words, it
makes you want to come back for more.
Overall
Rating: B. Let's see. We had
four matches with two of them being good to quite good, stuff set up
for next week, Shield looking great to end the show, and a cool video
on Wrestlemania. For an hour, that's about as good as you're going
to get. This was also a good example of what I love about NXT:
there's no pressure watching this show. When you watch Raw or
Smackdown, there's this sense that everything is life or death and it
gets tiring after awhile. With NXT, they present their stuff and
that's all there is to it. It's much easier to sit through and it
works very well.
Results
Leo
Kruger b. Justin Gabriel – GC3
Emma
b. Baylee – Bridging Indian Deathlock
Bray
Wyatt b. Yoshi Tatsu – Sister Abigail
Seth
Rollins b. Corey Graves – Standing Sliced Bread
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