The SmarK Rant for WWE NXT – 03.27.14
Taped from Orlando, FL
Your hosts are Tom Phillips, Alex Riley & Jason Alberts
This is subtitled “Vengeance” so I guess they’re going with a “big show every month” format now. Fine with me. The graphic on the front page of the Network shows Neville holding up the belt, so hopefully they didn’t spoil their own main event.
Mojo Rawley v. CJ Parker
The CJ Parker enviro-terrorist deal isn’t a bad gimmick, but Parker just has nothing to back it up in the ring or on the microphone. He just comes across as a guy who would be doing jobs on WWF house show openers in the 80s. It’s fine to have guys like that on the roster, but why waste a spot on him? Just cut him loose and let him go learn on the indies. Parker slugs away to start and Mojo misses a blind charge, but a second one connects and the butt splash finishes at 3:18. This was nothing. Mojo’s terrible but the crowd loves him and he’s got something. ½*
Meanwhile, the NXT interviewer interrupts the doctor while he’s examining Sami Zayn. That seems a tad unprofessional.
Tyler Breeze v. Xavier Woods
Breeze works a headlock, but gets cradled for two. Woods with a headscissors for two and he catapults Breeze into the corner, but Breeze runs him into the turnbuckles with a bulldog for two. Woods puts him down with a legsweep and running knee for two, but Breeze runs away from the Honor Roll. Beauty Shot out of the corner finishes for Breeze at 3:50, however. Seriously, if they’re gonna have Breeze take a beating and come back for the surprise win all the time, they really need to turn him babyface. *1/2
Meanwhile, Bo Dallas continues to insist that he never lost.
Corey Graves v. Yoshi Tatsu
Graves attacks to start, but Tatsu fires back with strikes in the corner until Graves hits the knee. He goes to work on the leg and finishes with Lucky 13 at 3:14. *
Natalya v. Charlotte
Nattie has Bret Hart with her, so I’m PRETTY sure she’s going over here. Just a hunch. They trade headlocks to start as Charlotte shows some impressive flexibility on the mat. Natalya with a rollup for two and she dropkicks her down for two. Charlotte does a modified Flair Flip and walks into a clothesline that gets two. Charlotte gets a cheapshot and works Nat’s knee over in the corner, which gives us a figure-four. Nat turns that into a small package and gets two. Charlotte lays her out again for two and goes back to the knee as Bret is OFFENDED by the chicanery going on. Charlotte tries another figure-four and gets blocked, as Natalya reverses into the Sharpshooter and Sasha promptly runs in for the DQ at 5:06. They were having a HELL of a match by Divas standards before the crap finish. **1/2
NXT title: Adrian Neville v. Bo Dallas
Slugfest to start and Neville flips away from him, hitting a missile dropkick to send Bo running. Neville follows with a moonsault to the floor, but Bo catches him coming back in to take over. Back to the floor and Bo clotheslines him out there, which gets two. We take a break and return with Bo getting a lariat for two and working the count, which I always like. Bo blocks a sunset flip and gets two, but Neville reverses for two. Neville makes the comeback and boots him down, and a springboard clothesline gets two. Neville keeps coming with a back elbow in the corner, but Bo rolls him up for two. Neville puts him down and tries the Red Arrow, but Bo gets the knees up and cradles for two. Man, the crowd nearly shit their collective pants on that one. Bo tries for the DDT, but Neville runs him into the corner. Bo returns the favor, but runs into a kick, and a reverse 450 finishes at 16:47. Neville 1, Physics 0. And that should be the end of Bo Dallas for a while. ***
The Pulse
It was dodgy for a bit this week, but turned into a hell of a show in the second half. Well worth seeking this one out.
Agreed. To be clear my criticisms were towards the guest writer.
ReplyDeleteHe lost at TLC 2012 to Ziggler too.
ReplyDeleteI liked this discussion, felt like a round table thing that I use to read in PWI.
ReplyDeleteMy prediction: Bryan beats HHH in some kind of screwy finish, Batista pins Orton in the main event.
ReplyDeleteDo you want it to happen or think it will happen?
ReplyDeleteThink it will happen, I want Bryan to win both matches clean, but I just don't see that happening.
ReplyDeleteI don't care enough about the rest of the card to make predictions, and it's not like I can watch it anyway. This show is going to bomb.
I've been very optimistic about this storyline from the get go. If they don't pull the trigger, I don't even know.....
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the ROH shows? I haven't even checked them out. Except I do know Elign vs. Steen is happening. That's a must-see.
I'm like a month behind on ROH, I've been too busy working and dicking down my ex. Though I suppose she's not really an ex anymore... Anyway, Elgin and Steen had a match back at GbH 2012 that I had a ****1/2.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget K-Fed and Lord Tensai.
ReplyDeleteDallas needs to be the exact same character if/when he gets brought up. Just be a creepy, sniveling, always smiling "good guy" including the Bo puns and he'd be the most hated ember of the roster in no time.
ReplyDeleteOr Bo time if you will.
I'd have no issue with Bray not winning clean.
ReplyDeleteWhere I live, 'Bo' stands for Bojangles, for its famous Bo-fries and Bo-rounds.
ReplyDeleteHe could call himself Mr. Bojangles and get over for sure.
If Bo wins the IC title, there's a Honky Tonk Man redux that could work.
ReplyDeleteI think Sheamus will win the battle royal if only because they feel he's the biggest star not in a marquee match and they're projecting him to be the 4th most over guy or something months from now.
ReplyDeleteMore hated than Cena? That's pretty bad...
ReplyDeleteAnything less than Dallas and Big Dave in a tag team named "Bo-Tista" is unacceptable,
ReplyDeleteaccording to this posting http://www.wrestlingforum.com/raw/1090409-john-cenas-win-loss-record.html
ReplyDeletethis is his ppv win/loss record:
2002 - 1-0-2
2003 - 2-0-3
2004 - 7-0-1
2005 - 7-0-1
2006 - 7-0-4
2007 - 10-0-1
2008 - 6-0-5
21009 - 8-0-6
2010 - 7-0-4
2011 - 7-1-6
2012 - 5-1-5
2013 - 4-1-2
Sheamus is starting to reach Cena levels of fan hate.
ReplyDeleteI think Cena would lose for 3 reasons
ReplyDelete- A top babyface is already winning big that night (Bryan)
- He's more likely to job when he's not in the main event
- Bray pretty much needs to beat him
I'm worried about Taker/Brock, mainly because Taker officially looks like an old man this year. It's all in the saggy neck.
He was huge in Canada and overseas.
ReplyDeletePeople seem to forget that the WWF did tons of world tours in Europe, Africa, and Asia during the mid-1990's. Bret's worldwide drawing power is largely what helped keep them afloat during their lean business years in the US.
ReplyDeleteThe WWF always had split house shows. Sometimes in the 1980's and 90's they even had 3 tours (with A, B, and C star-levels).
ReplyDeleteActually, the WWF was more of a worldwide company during the 1990's than they are even today, with constant tours overseas.
ReplyDeleteBut you're also getting every other ppv for that span and a shit ton of other content as well. It's not free but it's not like you're paying $59.94 for WM alone.
ReplyDeleteIn kayfabe terms it's a little hard to explain how much he resembles his brother Bray Wyatt wien they're such different characters. Requires too much suspension of disbolief.
ReplyDeleteThe reverse 450 was really something to see.
ReplyDeleteHalf brothers, bray was raised by sister Abigail, bo was raised by his daddy and feels entitled.
ReplyDeleteIf the second column is loses he has had 3 loses in 12 years... that is hardly balanced
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Scott - the believability of the bumps, moves and workrate in the Charlotte/Natalya match merits ****1/2 on the Divas scale and at least *** on any other. I mean, those ladies looked like...you know...actual PROFESSIONAL WRESTLERS out there. The moves were crisp and athletic, and quite frankly I never knew Natalya had it in her, given the half-wits she's wrestling on the main roster.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, if we didn't have this Total Divas bullshit going on, we could have an actual women's division on the main roster that's worth watching.
So this Aaron Glazer is supposed to be very annoying correct?
ReplyDeleteYup, except without Cena level of fan love to balance it out.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling Bo is going to be a Post-WM call-up. He's maxed out in NXT - time to see how his character works up top.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I was actually taken aback by how good Charlotte looked as well. Nattie is Nattie, but I thought Charlotte more than held her own. Her heel mannerisms are spot-on.
ReplyDeleteI don't 'holy s**t' out loud at many things in wrestling matches these days, but that got one out of me. He should use that as a finish if he makes it up to the main roster.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, for as much as we bitch about them WWE certainly likes making big, quasi-mainstream stars, and having football teams referencing you after major wins, including the Superbowl, is about as mainstream as you can get in sports. I think they've audibled into making WM30 Bryan's big night and they're going to give him a shot on top to see how it goes. It's not like they can't get the belt off of him if he bombs as champ, and anyone buying Wrestlemania at the margins is buying it to see Bryan win.
ReplyDeleteI don't really see where Wyatt goes if Cena conquers him, short of some really epic post match beat down that puts Cena on the shelf for a while but I really don't see that happening. I think this needs to follow the "monster heel beats the babyface, babyface comes back to avenge the loss in the rematch" formula with a big slobberknocker at Extreme Rules.
ReplyDeleteWow that reverse 450 was fucking crazy. If he's allowed to do that on raw he'll get over huge.
ReplyDeleteHe could bring Bo-berry biscuits out and toss them to the fans!
ReplyDelete"Look in my eyes, what do you see?
ReplyDeleteThe cult of personality
I know your anger, I know your dreams
I've been everything you want to be"
"I'm a cult of personality"
ReplyDelete"The CJ Parker enviro-terrorist deal isn’t a bad gimmick, but Parker just has nothing to back it up in the ring or on the microphone."
ReplyDeleteSo far, I agree. This video was put out by WWE on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EI2PSAdnMk
I like that CJ Parker has turned heel, and I like the idea of him doing a dick heel style video like this. But, I don't think he was heelish enough. I'm a wrestling fan, but I'm also a guy who does yoga, meditates daily, goes on week-long primitive camping trips, and lives a relatively low-impact lifestyle (...for an American).
I've got no problem with making a heel character based on someone who does all those things, but they should turn the volume way up with it. How about having someone on a jet ski tear across the lake and have Parker flip out about how he's disturbing the mystical sanctity of the Moonchild Commune? Or show the audience his urine recycling unit and explain how anybody who doesn't use one is an enemy of the earth and it's his duty as the chosen Moonchild to destroy them.
To me, simply having a guy say he does a variety of hippie/earthy things isn't really enough to for the over-the-top world of pro-wrestling. If he's gonna be a heel about it, make him a goddamn heel about it.
That 1 in 07 must have been the last PPV before the injury where he got disqualified.
ReplyDeleteIt would be very cool if this was worked into kayfabe once Bo was up on the main roster too. Especially if Wyatt is a tweener or anti-hero type face at that point, because Bo has almost no chance of getting over a face.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm still a huge mark for all the 'Machine' references being hints toward a Wyatt vs Authority feud sometime. You ever seen the Wyatts' last segment on NXT before being called up? Their schtick could be flipped into a babyface run without barely changing a thing. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBIKed_9gfg
Good stuff here. Regarding the title match, I think Bryan gets a fluke win on HHH early in the night but HHH cripples him with the sledgehammer. Bryan limps out to overcome the odds as Super Underdog, the arena does YES until their arms get tired and everyone goes home happy.
ReplyDeleteBatista will then crush Bryan for the title at the next PPV, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Gonna be interesting when he runs into Bray.
ReplyDeleteYea I was there, haven't missed an NXT taping in over a year.
ReplyDeleteI do think it is too soon for them to flip to face, they've got some more faces to take down before they go that route.
As long as they aren't turned into a comedy team, they should be fine.
ReplyDeleteShow was a bit too boring last night and believe it or not impact had a real good dhow last night. Storm v gunner was ( . Y . )
ReplyDeleteI'd keep it as his once a blue moon backup finisher for when the Red Arrow doesn't win the match. The move is so good, and it only being used sparingly will keep it that way. The Red Arrow is still an awesome and beautiful move.
ReplyDeleteThere just aren't enough strong heels around, especially with The Shield now faces, Bray is being slotted as a main event heel, and they need someone as good as him in that role. The face side is much muckier with Cena, Bryan, Sheamus, and such mingling around.
ReplyDeleteWould work perfect for The Miz, too. I think they should combine the Royal Rumble '95 IC title finish. Road Dogg clipped Razor's knee, which stopped the match. Jarrett taunted Razor to restart the match and won. Replay that against someone like Big E, except Big E goes on the shelf for two months while Miz holds a weekly open challenge, winning Honky style. Big E makes a surprise return and wins in 18 seconds. Boom.
ReplyDeleteIf Reigns ever breaks off from The Shield and they go heel again, they should have open tryouts for a 3rd member, and have one of their tasks be to cut a promo with them. Just so we could finally hear the long-awaited, "BO-LIEVE IN THE SHIELD!" catchphrase.
ReplyDeleteI think the Cena-Wyatt feud continues either way and the story works either way. Cena can win at Mania, then Bray gets darker and more violent to provoke a re-match that he can win at Extreme Rules. OR Bray gets a career-making win at Mania and Cena has to channel his "darkside" to overcome at Extreme Rules. In either scenario, they can do a blow-off rubber match at Payback too
ReplyDeleteI can see Big Show getting a "Wrestlemania Moment" by winning the throw-away battle royale. I can also see Sheamus being the guy, if only because he's Sheamus.
ReplyDeleteAnd they ran like one or two shows a year in those markets, so I have to dispute the whole "legitimate mainstream sports star worldwide" thing. I'm sure the whole "national hero" thing is legit in Canada, but everywhere else, he is a guy who is only known by wrestling fans. Unlike the Austin, Rock, Hogan types.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'll bite. What was the "biggest Mania ever" you speak of? 26?
ReplyDeleteA+ idea.
ReplyDeleteI Googled the phrase after I typed this out, and this photoshop explains it perfectly. http://imavex.vo.llnwd.net/o18/clients/johnlayfield/images/_2013-06/970034_565860510119674_386470590_n.jpg
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of that... but I think people like Vince/HHH think everyone thinks like White Thunder and sees all these people as weak pathetic assholes, hence why they think that is enough to make him a heel.
ReplyDeleteWhat about him teaming up with Luke Harper? Bo & Luke!! Yeehah!!
ReplyDeleteI get that and I bet the majority of wrestling fans do think that way. But it's still lazy characterization. A heel shouldn't just be annoying to the audience, he should be doing everything in his power to make the audiences hate his fucking guts. And I want to hate CJ Parker too, but my reaction is more like a cringe and a headshake.
ReplyDeleteYes. That would be fantastic.
ReplyDeleteLol that would make him a face in wwe minds.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
ReplyDeleteLOVED that Dallas-Neville match. Best Bo Dallas match I've ever seen. Love the kid's gimmick, too.
ReplyDeleteNattie-Charlotte was terrific too. And speaking of great gimmicks, Tyler Breeze has "it" for more than the awful Mojo Rawley does (unless "it" is merely company approval). Breeze is clearly the modern "Model," but I think they could do a lot more with that gimmick than they did back then.
An excellent fan theory was just posted to Reddit. Explains a lot.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/21lgin/fan_theory_everyone_in_the_nxt_universe_is_on/
WM 23, although looking it up apparently it's only second biggest behind Rock/Cena 1.
ReplyDeleteAny situation where Miz gets to play up being obnoxious is a better role for him.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be great if Bo pretended to be Cena's "best buddy", wearing his shirts, offering to be his tag partner, etc. Like the Zach Ryder thing only we're supposed to hate him.
ReplyDeleteyes, it is.
ReplyDeletethe second column obviously is "draws/no contests" ("obviously" because otherwise this would be nowhere near "balanced". going by this info, Cena has lost 23 times on ppv in the last five years (2009 to 2013).
ReplyDeleteDQ finish at 5 minutes in....hardly a bad call by Scott. I don't know if Bryan/punk could get to 3 stars in 5 minutes let alone Charlotte and Natalya.
ReplyDeleteYeah count me in for giving Bray a chance, even if it's through chicanery. I can see Cena getting his win back at Extreme Rules though
ReplyDeleteI can see cena winning, Bray laughing it off on raw and beating him down on that to get an extreme rules rematch. At the mo, Bray has come out on top too much to win at w30 imo. I say they do the passing out in the stf ending to keep Bray strong.
ReplyDeleteThat could work, especially if they recreated the Raven-Benoit ending where Raven passed out with a smile on his face.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're right. And someone did the "Yes!" thing at the Superbowl? Must have missed that one, though I do remember some crowd (Michigan State?) doing it at a college basketball game and ESPN was all over it. Though as someone pointed out at the time, 95% of the people in that crowd have no idea who he his. He's certainly the most over guy in wrestling, but only the "Yes!" thing is over among the mainstream crowd. And didn't Bryan come right and say that he's biting it off (it's not stealing if you freely admit that you got it elsewhere instead of coming up with it) someone else?
ReplyDeleteHave him say how climate-change deniers should be strung up by their nads......as he's walking out of a Lear jet.
ReplyDeleteThis has to be fucking sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteBlase first half but those last to matches are strong.
ReplyDelete