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NXT - Post NXT Takeover discussion in progress


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50 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Noticed they plugged Gulak-Rush next week as for the ‘NXT Cruiserweight Title’. Putting aside the fact that’s a bit weird considering NXT’s other male champions are both also cruiserweights - is that 205 Live done? There was no new episode on the Network as of last night.

They cancelled the 205 live taping this week quite late on the Friday and decided to air a rerun.

They should be back to taping next Friday.

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Kushida Vs Walter was very good, I enjoyed it a lot more than Riddle Vs Cole from last week. 

The worst thing about the NXT shows is still, for me, the commentary. I have to turn it down fairly low after a short while to stop Mauro from screaming at me incessantly. Overall though it was a good show that picked a few feuds and people, highlighted them and gave them some focus and progress for the next few weeks. Nothing wrong with that. 

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Nice to see they advertised Finn Balor to be there to explain his reasons for returning to NXT constantly on their Social Media all week for him to not be there, is false advertisement their way of beating AEW in the ratings?

Are Breezango strippers dressed as labourers now? 

Absolute state of Cameron Grimes, I thought he looked bad in TNA, he somehow looks worse here.

Damien Priest, who I thought was supposed to be some goth archer is now someone who lives a celebrity lifestyle?

I skipped Strong/Scott as I’m not a fan of either, Ciampa‘s a star though, such presence walking to the ring, can’t wait til he’s a heel again

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I enjoyed Strong/Scott for what it was. Nice showcase for Swerve that should get him a few more fans. It could be quite easy for him to get lost in the shuffle because they brought in so many new guys at the same time. I get what you're saying about Grimes but at least he's something a little different.

I didn't mind the Priest stuff. What the fuck is a goth archer anyway? At least they've tried to give him something I suppose.

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For the longest time, I used to defend NXT’s commentary and not understand what everyone’s problem was. I didn’t get the hate and I loved Mauro’s enthusiasm. 

Well, fuck that. All it took was for me to watch NXT after watching AEW to realise how wrong I was. Sure, NXT’s commentary is still better than Raw or Smackdown, but ignoring it in relation to the main roster and just judging it on its own merits? When a non-WWE competing program is showing how good it can be? It’s actually really terrible, isn’t it? Look at this nonsense.

“This is the action you get on NXT! We are not your kind? It begs the question, what kind are we? We are the special mix! The fuel of talent! The spark of desire! And the oxygen-rich environment of opportunity!”

Actual words that actually came out of Nigel McGuinness’ mouth during KUSHIDA’s comeback against WALTER. I wrote it down and still can’t believe it. Jesus fucking Christ. Imagine bumping your bollocks off in the ring and the commentary team are saying shit like that over it? I’d be absolutely furious! 

It happened throughout the show. These super jarring, uncomfortable moments where one of the three would feel like they’d suddenly been possessed by an alien or something and were just vomiting words out of their mouth to pretend to be human, disregarding how little they sounded like real people saying real things they were really thinking in their real brains.

The most heartbreaking moment was during the ring entrance of WALTER. Seemingly only just realising that KUSHIDA has a Back to the Future gimmick, Beth Phoenix out of nowhere bellowed, “Doc Brown once said your future is whatever you make of it, so make it a good one!” But then she didn’t try and tie it into the story of the match or try and relate it to anything, she just stopped speaking and left this insanely awkward pause that felt like it lasted a lifetime.

I’ve concluded it’s the same shit we get on Raw and Smackdown, the only difference I can detect is that instead of Vince shouting this rubbish down their ears there and then they’re seemingly workshopping it and writing it all down ahead of time. Just listen to how Mauro covered Lio Rush’s Title win. There was no emotion or enthusiasm, you could just hear him reading off an entire paragraph he’d clearly prepared beforehand.

They’re fucked. Even if you ignore the shitty, dark building and the clearly-not-ready-for-TV talent. At the most basic of levels, the weird dialogue and inauthentic commentary is going to kill them dead and make it impossible to compete. You can’t connect or get excited about anything because of this weird filter everyone and everything goes through. Just look at Rhea Ripley. Awesome little squash with a super cool finisher makes her look like a megastar and then she grabs a microphone and sounds like every other dickhead. Talking about how Shayna has, “tapped, snapped or napped,” every other opponent. Nobody fucking talks like this in real life, you freaks!

Essentially, this Wednesday Night War is an example of what happens when you both raid PWG and other assorted Independents, then let one group talk normally with someone as slick, relaxed and natural as Tony Schiavone calling their action, compared to making people talk like Replicants, with Mauro and company shouting their over-written, sterile bullshit over everything.

Edited by Supremo
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On the flip side though, Jim Ross was bloody awful on AEW this week.  And Rea Ripley may indeed sound like a robot but she's a fucking star and her match  was way better then what you see in the women's division in AEW.

I still think it's unfair to compare these 2 brands (and unfair of WWE to put it up against AEW).  Dynamite is competition for Raw - NXT is designed to be more underground than those shows.

 

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28 minutes ago, Loki said:

On the flip side though, Jim Ross was bloody awful on AEW this week.  And Rea Ripley may indeed sound like a robot but she's a fucking star and her match  was way better then what you see in the women's division in AEW.

I still think it's unfair to compare these 2 brands (and unfair of WWE to put it up against AEW).  Dynamite is competition for Raw - NXT is designed to be more underground than those shows.

 

Agreed. They're not aiming to transform NXT into a big brand with arenas etc. So putting it against AEW, which is in essence Nitro 2019, isn't exactly a fair comparison - although completely understandable. And to be honest it doesn't seem to be doing a terrible job against the 'bigger' competition.

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I think the moment that perfectly captures modern WWE commentary is, mere seconds after Shane did an elbow drop off the top of the Hell In A Cell, Michael Cole being caught on camera reading off a piece of paper "For the love of Mankind!". Nothing close to a real emotional reaction, previously scripted, something trying to smart and clever but not actually really making any sense at all.

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On 10/12/2019 at 2:08 AM, JNLister said:

If you choose to put your show on a major national cable station at the exact same time as your opposition has a show on a major national cable station, I think it's pretty fair to compare the two shows.

That’s the kicker. They’ve completely brought this on themselves. They picked the fight and they sent the passive-aggressive press release out when week one blew up in their face. Lord knows what they’ll be like on week nine or ten. I mean, based on what we’ve seen so far, does anyone foresee them winning a single week?

It’s such a Vince move to take the cool, fun, alternative WWE brand and position it in such a way that it’s now just the worst of the two shows on Wednesday Nights. 

Edited by Supremo
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Using NXT as counter-programming to AEW has fucked NXT. For the last five years, idiots have convinced themselves that watching NXT is what Vince doesn’t want them to do, and that subscribing to the WWE Network to watch it (and preferring it to the proper shows) is an act of rebellion against him.

Now, NXT is very much Vince’s first line in the battle with a new company who are actually all about rebelling against Vince. NXT is now Vince’s Choice, so its Internet points are dropping like flies and people are no longer blinding themselves to its flaws.

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2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I think the moment that perfectly captures modern WWE commentary is, mere seconds after Shane did an elbow drop off the top of the Hell In A Cell, Michael Cole being caught on camera reading off a piece of paper "For the love of Mankind!". Nothing close to a real emotional reaction, previously scripted, something trying to smart and clever but not actually really making any sense at all.

NXT commentary feels like that every second for me. Seems like they come out with a book full of quips/references, and absolutely must shoehorn them in regardless of if they’re contextual or not. The character related ones are poor, but Mauro’s pop culture references are the dirt worst.

Sometimes they repeat them virtually word for word week after week too, e.g. the Back to the Future references for Kushida.

If you did a drinking game around how many times they say “Philadelphia Stretcher” any time Gulak has a match on NXT, you’d be wasted long before the 3rd false finish.

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It is strange to see so many people turn critical of NXT when it hasn't really changed that much. Perhaps they have brought it on themselves with the scheduling etc but it has hardly turned into a shitshow by going to 2 hours. I've enjoyed it as well as enjoying AEW. Same as NWA really. Just liking having a lot of good wrestling to watch at the moment.

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