Paige was apparently really good on NXT. At some point I need to go back and watch the first NXT “special event”, Arrival–Paige and Emma put on a great match, I’m told. Since being moved up to the main roster, she’s been booked weak–every match is basically her getting the shit kicked out of her, then she hits the modified scorpion crosslock (I am NOT calling it the PTO) and wins. Yawn.
Honestly, at this point, I’m beginning to think I’d rather see my NXT favorites stay there rather than move up to the main roster–it’s a roll of the dice on whether they’re going to be handled properly on the move.
So pumped for this–I’m currently watching NXT a few days late, so that I can watch it with a friend. Been a huge mark for Gotch/Drago since I first heard of the gimmick, and I cannot wait to actually see him in action.
You can definitely tell there’s a different booking mentality in NXT as opposed to in WWE proper, and so far it’s been pretty hit-or-miss which NXT talents are going to be booked well when they get called up. The Shield and the Wyatt family have absolutely dominated since they came up, Big E Langston has done pretty well for himself, and I love what they’ve been doing with Bo Dallas and Adam Rose. On the other hand, Xavier Woods is a jobber who doesn’t even have his own theme song, Alexander Rusev has gotten stuck with a generic evil Russian gimmick (which is pretty bizarre considering that in real life he’s a Bulgarian who’s lived in America since the '90s and practices Islam), and Emma has become a female version of Santino Marella.
I think we can all agree that the most anticipated NXT call-up will be that of the bookers and producers.
I think they’ve done fine with Paige thus far, and other than not letting her wrestle, Emma is pretty much her same character. They just need to let Emma and Paige have a feud so we can get good, technical women’s wrestling.
Bo Dallas is my hero and is hilarious, Adam Rose is blah, and the rest of NXT seems pretty good. I think because NXT is more HHHs baby rather than Vince’s we might need to wait until Vince retires, or dies, or whatever til we see some good healthy NXT-turned-superstars
I think Adam Rose could work better if they didn’t have him win so quickly over the midcard. It’s like they think they have to devote more time to his entrance and exit. Zeb Colter makes a perfect foil for him, and Rose and Jack Swagger could have had a great feud. Instead, they’re making Rose look invincible, and that just does not suit him at all.
I picked up WWE network, and have been binge watching NXT. You guys are right. It has an “indie” feel to it, and most of the roster are Daniel Bryan types. Sami Zayn vs Tyler Breeze was awesome, and Adrienne Neville vs Tyson Kidd was awesome. It’s like a more polished version of RoH.
After some wiki browsing, I see that Sami Zayn used to be El Generico. That’s pretty cute. It’s like all the other gimmicks have been used, so just call him “The generic one.” Why do fans sing the Olay song for him?
As you noted, he was previously El Generico and he had a masked luchador gimmick at the time, so the song has kind of stuck with him even though he’s no longer playing that character. (In real life, he’s a Canadian of Syrian ancestry, which they’ve been playing up a little lately since it gets him over in the Arab world.)
NXT fans in general tend to come up with some interesting chants - there was a period a few months ago where, any time anyone delivered a powerbomb, they’d start chanting “BETTER THAN BATISTA!”, and when CJ Parker (an evil tree-hugging hippie who likes to lecture the crowd about how they’re polluting too much) wrestles, they’ve been known to chant “GLOBAL WARMING!” to get at him. I’m not even sure what it is they chant when the Ascension is wrestling, but I’m usually distracted by how awesome the Ascension is to pay attention. If these guys don’t get a Demolition-esque year-and-a-half-long tag title reign when they get called up, I’ll be very disappointed.
Yes, I think smaller arena audiences are brilliant, like the old ECW days. I laughed when the audience kept yelling “Bo-Leave!” at Bo Dallas’s goodbye match.
Whenever there’s an indie event near my area, I usually try to make it so I can be part of the whacko crowd.
I have a feeling that whoever wins the title is going to lose it before the PPV ends to the MITB winner. Here’s a possibility; Orton wins, only to be beaten down by Ambrose and Reigns after the match…and then (assuming he’s in it in the first place) MITB winner Seth Rollins shows up to cash in the briefcase; it turns out that his heel turn was a Shield trick the whole time.
I got to thinking, what if Adam Rose’s Party Express was actually a cult, and terms like “Rosebud” and “Lemon” were actually equivalent terms for “Brother/Sister” and “Infidel”?
The cult would be like one of those post apocalyptic refugee camps where no adults were around to properly supervise the lives of child survivors of some major disaster. Adam Rose was the oldest child and became their leader, like that old Star Trek episode Miri. The kids had to learn to defend themselves from radioactive wolves and such, so Rose taught them “drunken master” style martial arts. They have to jump around and look like they’re having fun and sing their Oh Oh-o-Oh Oh war chant, or Rose will take them to some dark place and they’re never heard from again. The cult attracts freaks and midgets and girls who had plastic surgery to look like anime characters.
If you don’t say you’re a Rosebud, the cult surrounds you, chants LEMON! LEMON!, and drives you insane until your mind breaks and you finally swallow their rose-flavored koolaid. New converts still look like lemons who don’t have fun, so they have to wear the bunny suit until they transform their faces to look permanently happy. JBL hates the bunny because he senses there’s some sinister dark secret under the floppy ears, and he’s right!
So it’d be like Undertaker’s monks? Or whomever tagged around with The Brood back in the day?
So what’d everyone think of last nights ep? I worked so I couldn’t see it, but I did get to come in at the Steph/Vicki…uh…mud? match? Or something? The main event was pretty bad for it being a go-home show, but they probably also didn’t want to ruin anyone.
I think the champion should be a transitional champ until they get things back on track. Maybe have Kane carry the strap until Bryan comes back to finish their feud and reclaim it. It would give Kane a final run with the belt.
A further twist: Rollins cashes in the suitcase, curb stomps Reigns, then Ambrose runs in and goes berzerk on Rollins, causing a DQ. This pisses off Reigns, who doesn’t think he needs help, and he slaps Ambrose around. All three brawl. Next RAW, HHH announces they’ll have a triple-threat match for the title next PPV. HHH accomplishes his dream of having all 3 members of the Shield at each others’ throats, because it’s “best for business.”
I’m caught up on NXT. I think it’s a better show than RAW and Smackdown. I don’t think any of their people should go to the main roster. They’d be stepping down if they did.
I’ve been really impressed with WWE’s visual production and camera work lately. For instance, when Tyler Breeze makes his entrance, they do a close-up of his face in time with a hook in his theme music and he does that pouty look thing with his lips. It’s hilarious.
They also do some cool horror movie-style shots with the Wyatt Family. The camera’s frame of reference will have Wyatt or Rowan off-screen before they stampede an opponent, making it look like they popped out of the woodwork like boogiemen.
I’m not much of a WWE historian (much less recent history) but has a Money in the Bank winner ever cashed his briefcase in the SAME PPV?
I could see Rollins winning the MOB match, then later on have Reigns win the title, then Rollins cashes it in right then and there and wrestles Reigns for a RR double match.
Good in two fronts because you can either make Reigns look strong (winning the match, winning two in a row, winning against Rollins) and keep the belt for a bit, or have a “people’s champ” heel kind of situation and have Rollins run around with it a while with a pissed off roster ready to chase him.
Sir T-Cups, I think it might have happened a couple years ago when Daniel Bryan lost the title to Randy Orton. That was the beginning of the “Best For Business” angle.
I read where Wade Barrett injured his shoulder and might be out of MITB this weekend. Will they get somebody from the lower card to take his place and give a rookie a shot at the title? It can happen… you just… you just gotta… BO-LIEVE!
NXT is done by Full Sail University. I think it’s an awesome partnership, as the students get actual ‘working on a professional product’ experience and get to work with the most polished organization at doing that sort of thing. For WWE, it provides a pool of new graduates with experience working on their product whenever they have open positions.
Hell, was making me think that if WWE “Creative”* has nothing for Ziggler, send him down to NXT for a couple of months where he can be an absolute rock star and probably teach some of the new folks a thing or two.
