The NXT Discussion Thread

[wandshogun09]

On 10/9/2024 at 6:45 PM, DavidB6937 said:

Tony Atlas is out of control. 

 

 

On 10/9/2024 at 6:52 PM, Supremo said:

[RedTwoster]

I still think NXT is, on the whole, rubbish - but Ridge Holland’s improved loads, I’ve been genuinely impressed with what I’ve seen from him. His mic work seems solid too.

[DavidB6937]

5 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

I still think NXT is, on the whole, rubbish - but Ridge Holland’s improved loads, I’ve been genuinely impressed with what I’ve seen from him. His mic work seems solid too.

Of all the good stuff going on in NXT right now.. Ridge Holland? An interesting choice for sure. Can't say I'm that bothered by him either way but glad you're enjoying him.

[RedTwoster]

21 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Of all the good stuff going on in NXT right now.. Ridge Holland? An interesting choice for sure. Can't say I'm that bothered by him either way but glad you're enjoying him.

Oh don’t get me wrong, there are loads of talented wrestlers there - but it’s stating the obvious to point out that some of them are good. I was just pleasantly surprised to see that the developmental system is doing what it says on the tin, and helping Holland turn into a better prospect. I’m not saying he’s a future world champion or anything, but he at least seems as if he’s worth keeping around.

[JLM]

NXT 15/10/24

Strong promo from Tony D'Angelo to open the show. I feel like he isn't quite as cartoonish in his delivery as he was in the early days of 2.0 when I first saw him. Correct in what he said and he sounded confident and not overly scripted. Oba Femi's entrance with his giant silhouette appearing above him in the smoke is tremendous. Sorry I'm a bit late to the party, going to be gushing about how awesome this dude is for a few episodes yet. TLC, sorry "Tables, Ladders and SCARES" rematch between these two sounds great. 

Pillman Jr. not going by Pillman Jr. to step out of his father's shadow but, every time he appears, all he or anyone around him ever talks about is his dad. 

Solid debut for Stephanie Vaqeur. Saving some of the high flying for later, but had some nice convoluted llave submission holds and that slightly vicious edge to her offense. Wren Sinclair is very generic. Had real enhancement talent vibes, and not just because that was her role in this match. I *did* like when she put on cattle mutilation and then ran around in little circles while maintaining the bridge, other than that nothing stood out on this first viewing. Textbook post-match stuff, looking forward to the tag match. 

Putting Kelani Jordan in a talking segment with Trick Williams only highlighted how wooden she sounds. I like babyfaces being pals though. Fatal Influence should wear fake moustaches so they can twirl them during backstage appearances.  

Peak NXT name of the week goes to Brinley Reece. This whole bit with Ashanti/Spears/Jensen and the rose was rough. Not sure who I'd be rooting for in Spears vs Adonis off the back of it as they both came across like dickheads. 

Disappointed we didn't get the full Meta-Four entrance for Oro Mensah. Have seen it on Youtube and it always looks cool. Match wasn't great. Some fun stuff playing with the "Gentleman's Duel" rules from King at the start but it wasn't a massive factor in the end. The best bit about the rule set was Vic asking Booker the most unusual match he's been in and Booker's deadpan "I've never been in any unusual matches Vic.".  Mensah had decent fire and a couple of impressive looking spots but there was also sloppiness on both sides and a very anticlimactic finish. 

I didn't realise Cedric Alexander was still employed. Wes Lee/Je'Von confrontation got pretty good by the end, heating up the main event a little. 

Lash Legend and Jakara both sounded good calling out the main roster tag teams. 

Nikkita Lyons and Lola Vice was a bit ropey. Lyons looked a little clumsy and Nia Jax-y, though I understand she has had multiple long injury lay offs so could have been rust. Lola vice looked decent. Best bit was Jaida Parker interfering and damn near decapitating Vice with a hip attack. First time I've seen a pro wrestling hip attack where it actually is the hip going straight into someone's face. Devastating. 

Appreciated Riley Osborne jumping Ridge Holland before the bell. Not a bad big man/little man extended squash, Osborne looked good during his brief moments of hope. Highlight was Ridge yelling "On yer 'ead son!" before hitting the Ram-Paige. Can't believe it's been four years since that horrible injury Holland had on NXT black and gold. Still think of it every time I see him and it makes me root for him. He's definitely come a long way as a talker and is better at working the crowd as a heel. Still looks a bit green in-ring but can see why they're sticking with him. Thea Hale's reaction to Chase's return was cute. 

Fatal Influence and Ava Raine all managed to be worse promos in their backstage bit than Vaqeur and Giulia who still don't really speak English. 

Did not love the Tatum Paxley (look out Brinley Reece!) gimmick on first viewing. Very much enjoyed Jaida Parker hijacking the segment mid-promo without breaking stride. What an excellent dick move that was. She sounded great too. Second week with Jaida Parker she's impressed me way more than last episode.

Adonis/Jensen featuring Petrovich and some flowers is some stuff I could not possibly care about. The segment earlier was bad and the match was just there. 

I liked the cuts to all of the participants in the main event preparing for the match throughout the show. Again, what I'm enjoying about this show so far is that it's doing the most basic pro wrestling TV stuff correctly. Main event was set up last week with sound reasoning and we ended that episode promoting it. It was the first thing mentioned at the beginning of this episode and they made sure to keep building it up throughout the show, so by the end of the show it felt more important. I know it's the most bread and butter stuff but it's not something we always get these days and I do appreciate it.

Really fun triple threat to end the show. Two spectacular high flyers with Ethan Page constantly trying to spoil everyone's fun and steal the match. Je'Von Evans has Montez Ford-esque athleticism, the suicide dive right onto the announce table and the height/hangtime he gets on the springboard cutter were both incredible. Creative three way spots, big near falls, great timing on the saves and the finish went as per the story of the match: Lee and Evans going to war with tonnes of spectacular offense only for Page to play spoiler and steal the thing. Page is having a lovely time being the top dickhead on this show, it's a blast to watch.

Very patchy middle third of this episode. Some of the NXT 2.0 levels acting and silliness creeping in more than it had on the first two. I'm interested in the NXT title picture and the top end of the women's division though. Also as per previous weeks, it all moves at such a pace that even the stuff I don't like is usually only there for a few minutes and I'm still enjoying the variety and diversity of characters and performers. Easy viewing that doesn't outstay its welcome and so far has had one or two more substantial and enjoyable TV matches on the card each week. 

Edited October 21, 2024 by JLM

[JLM]

NXT 22/10/24

Liked the opening with all the biggest names and key players on the episode arriving. Was funny seeing Trick looking full of beans, high fiving the fans and whooping and hollering with joy as Vic Joseph goes "Here comes Trick Williams, he cannot be in that good of a mood after getting DROPPED last week by Ethan Page".  He looks fine Vic, guy's a real trooper. 

I say this every week but Trick looks fantastic every time he appears. He looks and carries himself like The Guy. It's great. 

Damage CTRL/Meta-Four tag was fun. Got the Meta-Four entrance this week! It's so simple but it looks fantastic and goes perfectly with the music. I'm not sure about all the shit they put on screen after it, but the initial visual of them standing in front of their colours is awesome. Nice to see a WWE women's tag match in front of a hot crowd as they're often death on the main roster shows. Io and Kairi looked really fired up to be there and, aside from an unfortunate slip from Sky on a springboard attempt, they looked good. The double team move where Iyo launches Kairi up for the big elbow drop is cool. Legend and Jackson still look pretty green in-ring but they have the look and plenty of charisma. The size difference between Legend and Kairi was crazy. 

Chelsea Green running in and slapping everyone senseless was the best bit. Bloody love me some Chelsea Green. She's been putting out "Chelsea's Confessionals" vignettes on social media and they're excellent. I particularly love that she keys herself at the beginning of every shot with Matt Hardy V1-esque captions:

She's just the best.

I'm sure people much more American than I were thrilled to see a NASCAR man being involved. When it comes to excessively American motor sports it's gotta be monster trucks or I'm out. 

Ashanti Thee Adonis playing the role of Pepé Le Pew is the worst. He did say "Adonisly" instead of "Honestly" and I did kind of love that, but yeah, him and Brinley Reece and Carmen Petrovich in their excruciatingly badly acted backstage segments are some of the worst stuff on this show so far. 

Jaida Parker vs Tatum Paxley was a decent little match. Once again I am impressed with Jaida Parker. Talking trash for the whole match, played the violent bully really effectively and once again I love the running hip to the face finisher. Hipnotic indeed. Tatum Paxley was better to watch as underdog babyface in-ring than she was to listen to last week. Sort of Wednesday Addamx/Alexa Bliss thing she's going for but it was just a bit annoying last episode. Did not expect Paxley to be abducted in the style of The Collector from the movie The Collector. The 2.0 whackiness is definitely still there. Seeing Wendy Choo casually wheeling the box out of the arena in a later segment did make me chuckle. 

Lexis King isn't happy at being perceived as a Loose Cannon. I get it. Interested to see what Regal Jr. can get out of Pillman Jr. as I hear Dempsey is pretty good at the wrestling. 

Teasing a Je'Von Evans heel turn was unexpected. He seems like a very natural underdog babyface with his in-ring style.

Vaqeur/Giulia vignette was excellent, giving a bit more back story on Vaqeur but also giving more reasons for her and Giulia to be teaming up. Always a fan of letting people speak in their own language with subtitles, they're always so much more expressive. 

Quality extended squash from Oba Femi and Crucifino. Classic big man/little man logic with the underdog only able to take Oba down if he was already off balance from over-committing. Oba's post-match destruction of the family with Tony forced to watch was excellent. Nice fiery promo from Tony later in the show to send it home. This feud is great, looking forward to their match at Halloween Havoc. 

Decent promo from Andre Chase and I appreciated the recap of the Ridge/Chase U saga as I didn't know all the details. 

Page/Williams face to face was disappointing. Page tripping over his lines and sounding very forced for most of it. He had some little snippets of good content in there, but also had to keep forcing in references to the devil/devil's playground. Williams' snappy little retorts combined with Page's fumbling made Page come across as a desperate nerd. I think what they were going for is that Trick isn't taking it as seriously as he should be because Page is dangerous, but Page sounded like a bit of a dweeb trying to convince everyone he's dangerous. Bit of a shame, I've seen Page cut many waaaay better promos than this. 

Cora Jade/Perez/Fatal Influence/Jordan backstage encounter was pretty bad. Perez the only passable talker of the bunch.

Karmen Petrovic fighting Sol Ruca to prove she doesn't fancy Ashanti Thee Adonis. Women's matches which do not pass the Bechdel test. Petrovic didn't show much here and the finish made her look exceptionally stupid. I've seen Sol Ruca in various viral social media clips. Does some neat athletic high spots and I like her finisher. 

NXT name of the week goes to Bronco Nima. My initial visceral reaction to Hank and Tank was dislike. However, the match was an entertaining sprint that felt more chaotic than the rest of the show, more fun than I thought it would be. 

Main event was the highlight of the show. So far NXT has delivered a worthy TV main event every episode so far. A showcase match for Giulia and Vaqeur and they both looked fantastic, Vaqeur in particular in this one. I thought the heels held up their end as well. Their promos are very stilted and cartoonish but they're a solid heel tag team in-ring from what I've seen. DELTA/Zaria debut was a nice surprise, especially when they aired another vignette confirming she'd debut at Halloween Havoc earlier in the episode. What a division they have here. 

Another easy watch of an episode, with an enjoyable opener and strong main event. On board for Oba Femi/D'Angelo and the women's tag match at the PPV. The undercard is a real mixed bag but still enjoying getting to know the characters and, as ever, even the worst stuff doesn't stick around for long enough to spoil the show. 

Edited October 25, 2024 by JLM

[DavidB6937]

27 minutes ago, JLM said:

The undercard is a real mixed bag but still enjoying getting to know the characters and, as ever, even the worst stuff doesn't stick around for long enough to spoil the show. 

It's actually the part I enjoy the most weirdly enough. I like seeing them try things, different characters etc. I get that they don't like referring to it as developmental but for me it's the most fascinating part of it all. It's exciting when they hit on something surprising or when someone finally catches on after trying different things.

[JLM]

Yeah I get that. My favourite bit of watching NXT  always used to be following someone’s journey until they find their thing that clicks. I would then be fully invested in their main roster success, or indeed devastated when their call up was a failure. 

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, JLM said:

NXT name of the week goes to Bronco Nima

Absolutely incredible. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Jaida Parker and Sol Ruca are really good in very different ways. Potentially your next big heel and babyface right there.

They need to put Chelsea's Confessionals on telly. I feel like they want to do more with her but they're not sure what, like they know they can't realistically put a world title on her (even though they should) but there are no lower card women's feuds to get her involved in. She's just great with everything she does though.

[The Dart]

Friendly reminder that Halloween Havoc is on at the pleasant time of 11pm for us tonight.

[Snitsky's back acne]

Not a massive fan of Shawn's NXT but there are some shining stars and I reckon, Giulia, Stephanie Vaquer and Zaria are all future superstars.
Zaria v Rhea Ripley, in particular, could be huge money in my opinion.

Oba Femi seems like he could be a big deal too.

[Gooner]

Fantastic show. First NXT one I have seen in years as my kid wanted me to watch it and they were right. I enjoyed it from top to bottom, the womens division seems to be on fire' Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer look like they can be big stars if booked and looked after right, I have no idea who Zaria is but she has an aura and I look forward to seeing more of her. Cora Jade in her comeback looked good and Roxanne Perez impressive as always. 

I'll comment on the rest another time but what a fun, highly enjoyable show. 

[LaGoosh]

If the PC is so great why are they using a bunch of indies?

Either they secretly think the PC isn't working but don't want to admit it or they want to gut the indie scene (like NXT UK did over here) and remove a source of new talent from AEW.

Either way this will be bad for the US indies I'm sure. Always is whenever WWE turn up.

 

[mim731]

I read that as WWE signing up a load of schools/promotions to act as feeders for them in exchange for a few quid, and first dibs on those talents. Presumably they'd still go through the PC after that?

I would imagine three of those they already have an informal arrangement with given Booker, Cody and Seth are on the payroll to give them first look anyway. 

It's probably not a good thing given it's WWE, but I also don't know if it changes much unless they start signing up a load of other indies too.