wordsfromlee Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 2 hours ago, Harry Wiseau said: True, that's not the word I was looking for, possibly not even the word the person who wrote the tweet I was badly remembering used, I can only blame the lack of sleep, booze and too many jacket potatoes for messing that up. I'd love to know the word I was looking for.... ambiguous maybe? Either way, Dream to be final four tonight! Calm down Brian Harvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Project Nim Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Just watched on delay on the network, show finished before ending of main event! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted January 27, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 27, 2019 1 hour ago, wordsfromlee said: Calm down Brian Harvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Enjoyed the show overall. Blimey, the long haired dude in the War Raiders can really move for a big lad can't he!? Impressive entrance and they looked great throwing O Reilly and Strong around. Actually quite enjoyed Riddle v Ohno but Ohno still looks absolutely terrible - he cant ever be getting called up to the main roster and is clearly there to work with the new guys right? No way anyone who has been in that performance centre as long as he has could not get in even a modicum of shape. Johnny v Ricochet was great as has been said. Shayna has to be one of, if not THE, most 'credible' characters WWE has at the moment, no? Obviously, she has legit credentials but everything about her makes me believe 100% that she is actually really like that, and that's what I want from my wrestling. Belair is definitely going to have a great career but just needs more time. She stepped up though and definitely deserved her place on the show IMO. Main event seemed really bland. It just didn't engage me at all. I've never really 'got' Aleister Black anyway and I'm not as high on Ciampa as a lot of others seem to be so maybe that's why but it seems they just couldn't win the crowd over either. I'm chalking it up to just being an 'off' night. Looking forward to the Rumble tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WeeAl Posted January 27, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 27, 2019 (edited) I thought the opener was a lot of fun and the Ricochet Vs Gargano match was clearly match of the night, Gargano needed to win but I think he's been effective at being a heel since turning as I don't want to cheer him the way half the crowd insisted on doing. Considering how invested I was in his match with Almas a year ago, that's been quite a commitment to the heel turn from Gargano. If they try to turn him back face though I don't imagine he'll be able to get the same popularity back that he had one year ago. The main event didn't really capture me. Maybe it's neither man being the real 'colour' of the equation. Both are the super serious type and probably benefit from being paired opposite somebody with a contrasting personality. Edited January 27, 2019 by WeeAl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyUK Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 Yeah it was a solid show overall, the tag opener and Ricochet/Gargano obviously making it. Both were terrific and the last one told a great story with Gargano cementing a heel turn. I do agree that Ciampa and Black wasn't all that for a main event though. It was fine and everything but was just not quite up to the high standards that NXT has set for itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIDDUM_N_STYLE Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 (edited) HBK has just dropped a bomb on the Rumble Kickoff show Black, Dream and Ricochet against Gargano, Ciampa and Cole during the half time period in next Sunday's Superbowl, airing on the Network and Youtube, fitting flashback to Mankind vs The Rock from 20 years ago Edited January 27, 2019 by RIDDUM_N_STYLE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Fatty Facesitter Posted January 28, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 28, 2019 (edited) Ricochet/Gargano was total artistry. Absolutely brilliant match. Hoping the seeming freedom of expression they have on NXT is maintained when they get their call-ups. War Raiders/Undisputed Era was another exceptional tag match. Of all NXT's titles I think the tag straps have had some of the brand's greatest matches. Whoever they put in the tag title matches just seem to deliver nothing but belters every single time. Absolute class. Edited January 28, 2019 by Fatty Facesitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 (edited) I appear to be the only one, but I really didn't like Gargano-Ricochet very much. Large sections of it were so obviously choreographed, with no selling of the impact of the actual moves, just going from one spot to another. Ricochet has a habit of selling a forearm like he's been shot by a rifle, and then shrugging it off 15 seconds later and leaping to the top rope. The last 10 minutes or so were much better storytelling but for the most part it didn't feel like a real fight, more like a ballet. If you consider that some of their shit looks pretty dangerous (one spot involved them both bumping backwards onto the back of their heads on the outside, with audible thumps) that's not great. It's the sort of match I expected from Ricochet given what I'd seen of him on the Indies, and until now he'd pleasantly surprised me. Compare that with Baszler/Belair. It may not have been a smooth and flashy, but it felt like a proper fight, they Belair sold her arm all the way through, they looked like they wanted to genuinely hurt each other and the story being told was fantastic. I much prefer this sort of pro wrestling to the law-of-diminishing-returns that you get with Gargano/Ricochet. Edited January 28, 2019 by Loki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Butternut Squash Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 (edited) No I'm totally with you on that. It's not what I look in my wrestling at all. It was good for what it was and people are obviously into it but I don't know how much good it does long term. NXT is weird. I get that the super indie aspect draws a few fans but I wish it was more of a developmental. Lacey Evans is still learning and is sent to trip over herself at the Royal Rumble? You have the best and most polished heel in the women's division in Baszler and she's still fucking about in full sail? Edited January 29, 2019 by Mr Butternut Squash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted January 29, 2019 Share Posted January 29, 2019 Something that goes unnoticed a lot is how fucking excellent Drake Wuertz is. I think it was on the Gargano/Ciampa Takeover Mania weekend last year where I first noticed it, and this weekend was the same. Just very, very tiny things this time that actually add to the match: him telling Ricochet and Gargano to keep protecting themselves adds legitimacy to the fight and his look to Johnny on the outside when he exposed the concrete as if to say “come on mate, not like this” were excellent. I never get distracted by him like a lot of refs but I always notice him, if that makes sense. He is top drawer. I never saw him wrestle, but clearly he gets wrestling. A smart guy, I don’t know if he actually books/trains, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Duke Posted January 29, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 29, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, Mr Butternut Squash said: No I'm totally with you on that. It's not what I look in my wrestling at all. It was good for what it was and people are obviously into it but I don't know how much good it does long term. NXT is weird. I get that the super indie aspect draws a few fans but I wish it was more of a developmental. Lacey Evans is still learning and is sent to trip over herself at the Royal Rumble? You have the best and most polished heel in the women's division in Baszler and she's still fucking about in full sail? "Vince, look how blonde she is" Edited January 29, 2019 by Duke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted January 29, 2019 Paid Members Share Posted January 29, 2019 2 hours ago, SuperBacon said: Something that goes unnoticed a lot is how fucking excellent Drake Wuertz is. He's the best ref going, by a country mile. I'm fascinated to learn the process by which WWE saw Drake Younger and saw this role in him. He worked Ronda's first match, didn't he? So they clearly trust him with new talent in a big way, so it makes sense that he'd be based in NXT permanently, even though he's better than the majority of the main roster refs. Sam Roberts' rant on the pre-show was cringeworthy. It's one thing when a wrestler, or wrestling personality, plays heel on the pre-show, but when someone is ostensibly an outside "analyst" or "expert" does it, it's not going to work - because it either makes their heel opinion seem correct by virtue of their expertise, or renders all their expertise and insight null and void by being so wrong about one thing. He's not a character presented as someone whose opinion we should find absurd or laughable. It's also asking someone with no experience of working to work heel, which is a trainwreck because all he'll do is play at being a dickhead, rather than gearing it towards still selling the show. How anyone could think that saying "this match doesn't deserve to be on Takeover" on a pre-show designed to convince people to pay money to see Takeover was a good idea is beyond me. It didn't just try and bury Belair, it buried everyone she beat - because when someone's main selling point is that they're undefeated, effectively saying, "well, who'd she ever beat?" shits on everyone she's ever wrestled as well. Pat McAfee was class on the pre-show though, just mad infectious energy. The show was superb. I had soured on the Gargano/Ciampa storyline after Gargano turned heel, but this show pulled me back around. Gargano wrestling more like Ciampa, using lines from promos that are straight out of Ciampa's playbook, and fighting for the North American Title because Ciampa suggested it but - crucially - thinking it was his own idea is pure gold. Either we get a heel DIY reunion winning all the gold, or we get Gargano realising that Ciampa manipulated him into fighting for the North American belt just to keep him away from the World Title, either way is good. The only downside to all that is that if the end result is Gargano realising he's been taken for a fool and turning face, he's still the same guy who was taken for a fool for months, and he'll never be the great pure babyface he once was when we know how easily exploited into doing despicable things he was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 They should just give Io and Kairi those Tag titles now, they’re the only pair worthy of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted January 31, 2019 Awards Moderator Share Posted January 31, 2019 1 hour ago, TildeGuy~! said: They should just give Io and Kairi those Tag titles now, they’re the only pair worthy of them. I'd be happy with that, they worked together superbly on this week's show. Calling them up as a team would prevent either being lost in the shuffle too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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