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NXT - Post NXT Takeover discussion in progress


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Amazing to see Bayley and Banks back in front of a crowd that gave a shit.  You'd think they were actually popular stars or something!

Good episode again, good plot development.  Keith Lee v Cro Cop was a belter, I do like a big man v big man match, and a smart finish too.

 

I can't believe I missed last week's and missed a title change though  :crazy:

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53 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

They love copying that Ibushi/Ospreay camera spot, think that’s the 3rd time they’ve done it in the past month.

Nearly fell off my chair when I saw that. Fucking hilarious. 

I'm starting to get into Keith Lee, slowly. If only his voice was an octave lower and he'd be the stud he see's in his head. 

Is it me or does NXT do a poor job of introducing the former indie stars to the roster? I have no clue who Lee and Dijak really are, just seem like two dudes boiled down to a catchphrase. Their match was awesome.

I can't work out Mia Yim. Looks promising one week, a complete write off the next. Does she need quality opponents to deliver? Shayna Baszler can get good work out of a broomstick at this point so this match was brilliant. The air got sucked out of the middle slightly thanks to some comedic selling from Yim but I loved this match too. 

Gulp . . . Bayley and Sasha's homecoming was lovely.  A deserved feel good pop and a promo that helped undo the painful memories of their Raw segments. It's such a shame, Bayley could be a huge star given a bit more composure. As a tag worker she's really found her groove the last couple of months, especially when Banks was hurt and she had to dig down deep to fight for the team in the run up to the Chamber. 

Great week of WWF telly.

 

Edited by Mr Butternut Squash
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1 minute ago, Mr Butternut Squash said:

Is it me or does NXT do a poor job of introducing the former indie stars to the roster? I have no clue who Lee and Dijak really are, just seem like two dudes boiled down to a catchphrase. Their match was awesome.

 

This has been my criticism of NXT for ages. I think the rot set in a little while after Samoa Joe, though they at least tried then - there was this run of people who were all described as "the hottest free agent"; Ciampa and Gargano, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, Bobby Roode...and it's diminishing returns, isn't it?

There were too many people being brought in as "hot free agent", usually with the "spotted in the crowd at Takeover" cold debut, and the announcers giving a spiel about, "they've wrestled all over the world, won titles everywhere they've been". Well, great, them and the six guys before them, who are they?

It was the biggest problem I had with Adam Cole for months. He debuted, Nigel McGuinness shouted his catchphrase, and then we were told he was a big deal. But who the fuck is he

They definitely over-rely on the assumption that, if someone was a reasonably big deal on the indies, they can get away with "hey, you know this guy, right?" in lieu of character development. I still don't know who Dijakovic is in terms of his character. EC3 was worst for it, in that he would have benefited from some groundwork being laid to explain his character, but they just assumed everyone already knew it all and, worst yet, let the crowd turn him babyface because of that "we recognise him!" reaction.

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Who is watching NXT other than the people who do already know who those people are though? On the main roster, it's a valid point, but there, it's a pretty safe assumption. Especially when hardly anyone has a character anyway, they're nearly all just themselves. 

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4 hours ago, tiger_rick said:

Who is watching NXT other than the people who do already know who those people are though? On the main roster, it's a valid point, but there, it's a pretty safe assumption. Especially when hardly anyone has a character anyway, they're nearly all just themselves. 

Me. Sometimes I’ve heard of them, but I’d never seen Riddle, Dijakovic, Lee, Cole, O’Reilly, Fish, Black, Gargano, Shirai, Sane, or Ciampa wrestle before I saw them in NXT.

@The King Of Swing - I wouldn’t blame him! I’ve never ‘got’ the pirate thing with Kairi. It doesn’t mean anything, she doesn’t do anything with it when the bell rings, it has no explanation and no significance other than a fun costume to dress up in for her entrance. Why is she a pirate? What makes her a pirate? I’d totally get someone seeing her for the first time and thinking it’s a bit silly. I still do.

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1 minute ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Me. Sometimes I’ve heard of them, but I’d never seen Riddle, Dijakovic, Lee, Cole, O’Reilly, Fish, Black, Gargano, Shirai, Sane, or Ciampa wrestle before I saw them in NXT.

Same here but I think we're a tiny minority given the audience for that show.

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Keith Lee vs Dijakovic was perfect to me. It’s what I hoped Lee vs Ohno would be but sadly  failed to deliver. Exactly the showcase both of them needed, hugely beneficial to both of them, the perfect length and an excellent choice with the finish to leave people wanting more. Great pro wrasslin all round.

I wanted to like Keith Lee since he arrived as he seems pretty charismatic but that’s the first match where he’s delivered what I’ve wanted to see from him.

Dijakovic hadn’t impressed me at all before this week. He’s sort of gangly and oddly proportioned, his poses and catchphrases are crap and he’s seemed oddly mismatched with every opponent. This match did wonders for him in my eyes and has me looking forward to seeing him again. Success!  

Bayley and Sasha's homecoming was a genuinely beautiful moment. Got very choked up watching it. As much as the main roster has put them both through the wringer, their story is still one of the realest things in wrestling. Truly heartwarming stuff.

Shayna Baszler is the greatest. Was thinking when watching this that I still remember wondering how anyone would fill the void left behind by Asuka. Shayna is something different but you couldn't really have asked for a better successor. Mia Yim can be good but she was waaay over the top with her ad-libbing and selling in this match at times. Still a lot of potential there though. Cool look, capable wrestler, the people are behind her, just need to work on the character and promo stuff a bit and she's in the right place for that.

On the flipside, Aliyah and Vanessa Borne are still pretty bad. Vanessa Borne should not throw any more "punches" ever. My word. Also Aliyah has been in developmentmal forever now and remains the same. I dunno man. I think this is as good as it gets for her. Then again, I used to think Liv Morgan was never going to get it either but as part of the Riott Squad she's ended up way better than I thought she'd be.

I'm impressed with Xia Li every time I see her. They protect her very well, and limiting her role to just a hot tag in this match was a spot on decision. She's obviously still green but everything she does do looks great and her whole schtick is unique to her in the division. Taynara Conti I'd still like to see as more of a serious killer type person. I liked it when she used to hold up her legit judo black belt and look super serious before the matches whereas now she's a bouncy grinning dork type. I think that's her real personality though, so maybe she needs to keep doing what she's doing and people will warm to it. Just comes across as a bit silly to me at the moment. Her throws always look great though.

Bianca Belair vs Io Shirai should be super fun.

Dusty Classic looks great as long as the Forgotten Turds don't get too far. Do you think Buddy Murphy, lying in bed with Alexa Bliss after his latest 4.5 star cruiserweight title defense, sometimes messages Blake and goes "good to see you're doing well too m8". It's another testament to NXT's greatness and the importance it places on tag team wrestling that I was genuinely looking forward to the reveal of the other four teams in this week's episode. Fackin' love me some Dusty Classic.

The Gargano/Ciampa stuff is all over the place. Gargano making a deal with the devil because he's been caught at a low point but the fans love it because everyone loves DIY. It's all very odd but I'm entertained and I'm sure the sudden main roster call ups have forced them to freestyle a bit.

Favourite P-Watz moment this week:

Mauro: "Signature throw by the black belt in Judo"

Percy: "And you guys failed to mention she's a BLACK BELT in JUDO!"

Mauro: I uh, I just did sir!

Mauro's such a nice man. Graves would have roasted him for that.

Edited by JLM
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1 hour ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I wouldn’t blame him! I’ve never ‘got’ the pirate thing with Kairi. It doesn’t mean anything, she doesn’t do anything with it when the bell rings, it has no explanation and no significance other than a fun costume to dress up in for her entrance. Why is she a pirate? What makes her a pirate? I’d totally get someone seeing her for the first time and thinking it’s a bit silly. I still do.

She used to do Yachting when she was younger. So you know, boats = pirates. 

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7 hours ago, TheBurningRed said:

She used to do Yachting when she was younger. So you know, boats = pirates. 

Have they ever even mentioned that on TV? Must have missed it if so. Still doesn’t make any sense for informing her wrestling but at least it’s an explanation!

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19 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Have they ever even mentioned that on TV? Must have missed it if so. Still doesn’t make any sense for informing her wrestling but at least it’s an explanation!

If you watched the first Mae Young Classic, it felt like JR mentioned it 500 times.

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Yeah they've mentioned it quite a bit, she competed in national/international competitions so was apparently quite good at it. She also does a bit of a walk the plank shtick and calls her spear the Interceptor to throw in a couple more references. I think it's fun to have a bit of a theme and her costume is cool and marketable and she gets to say "Ahoy!" The insane elbow should surely have some kind of anchor dropping reference though.

Edited by JLM
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