NXT Rankings & Evaluation
By George Chiverton, PWTorch NXT specialist

Network Era Rankings #7

(1) Sami Zayn
(2) Corey Graves
(3) Adrian Neville
(4) Paige
(5) Bo Dallas
(6) Emma
(7) Tyler Breeze
(8) Charlotte
(9) The Ascension
(10) Mojo Rawley
(11) Sasha Banks
(12) Colin Cassidy
(13) Aiden English
(14) C.J. Parker

4/17 NXT Evaluation

- NXT opened with Colin Cassidy a/k/a Big Cass oiled up and ready for action. Wrestling that is. He would be facing off against Aiden English who made his entrance, singing and all. It took all of one minute and 28 seconds to get from the curtain to in the ring. Sure, the entrance gets boos, but anyone taking that long to get to the ring would get boos. In short, I’m still not a fan.

Cassidy utilised strikes and trash talk early in the match to both beat and belittle his opponent: he’s not being a star. This concluded big boot for a two count. Eventually, the smaller English took him out at the knee to take control. The announcers made a big deal of Cassidy having an injured knee, although no one in the ring seemed to be aware of this with Aiden going mainly for the head while Cass sold nothing in particular.

I get the feeling Cassidy’s mum was in the audience as there was a ‘Cumaawn Big Caaass’ shout before some reversals eventually led to a roll up in favour of Aiden English. He grabbed the trunks and it was good for a three count. There was absolutely no reaction to this at all. Aiden walked up the ramp to silence. Full Sail is a pretty polite audience, so if ever there was an indication that Aiden isn’t getting over with his gimmick, this was it.

- Backstage Devin Taylor introduced Tyler Breeze. His phone slipped into frame and Devin read off a series of nicknames including ‘the most super good-looking piece of gorgeousness you will ever see.' She offered Tyler a chance to speak to the NXT Universe, but he refused, saying he only appeared as the episode, ‘needed someone who was gorgeous.’ Pretty hilarious.

- Camacho was out next to face off against the returning Oliver Grey. Grey’s theme music was horrendous and the entrance video on the Tron may as well have been paint drying. It would appear he’s been totally forgotten by WWE. Camacho is about to feud with Adam Rose so it seems this is a match neither man can afford lose.

Camacho’s power impressed early, powerslamming the big Englishman with absolute ease. Camacho no-sold some strikes from Grey before scooping him up and delivering a powerful Samoan drop for the win. That was an impressive and quick win and clearly the WWE machine has started to get behind the talented Samoan. Spice up his image to something between Umaga and the Usos (a name beginning with ‘U’ would be a good start) and I think you’re looking at a really solid mid-card talent. Either this or they need Rose to beat a credible heel before debuting and hot-shotting a good talent like Camacho was the easiest option. I hope it’s the former. As for Grey, it’s been a rough couple of weeks. His old, clean-cut look is gone (replaced with generic 2000s long hair), his entrance is dreadful, and his promo last week was really poor. Perhaps he’s heading for a heel turn, but he may as well have been a jobber here.

- Backstage was Devin Taylor once again, this time being joined by Bo Dallas. She asked Bo about his failed attempt to occupy NXT. Bo said the Bo-lievers were just law-abiding citizens. He then talked up his support before smiling into middle distance. Pretty funny stuff once again from a man who really knows his character; a common theme amongst the Rotundo family with Bray being another great character actor.

- Hard rock music in the arena indicated it was time for The Ascension. The NXT tag champs have really captured that X-Factor in terms of presentation. From shaky supernatural beginnings they just suddenly became awesome at Arrival and have stuck with it. The announcers talked up their dominance before cutting to Wesley Blake, the cowboy, and Cal Bishop, the one who wasn’t a cowboy, who would be the main course this evening.

Blake was battered by Konnor and sent to the outside, where Viktor chopped the life out of him. The commentators mentioned that the Ascension had been title holders for longer than anyone at NXT, specifically name-dropping the Wyatts. What a way to elevate your stars. Eventually, the Fall of Man to Blake was good for the win. Poor Cal didn’t even get in the ring. Then again, maybe that’s a good thing. These guys are badass.

Admittedly The Ascension could do with a real feud but at the same time keeping these guys running through everyone is pretty good fun. There’s also a chance they could go without losing a match before debuting, keeping the unbeaten tag as an asset to their gimmick.

- Backstage, Charlotte and Sasha Banks were with Devin. Sasha was about to shrug off her recent losses but Charlotte stepped in, said it was embarrassing and began to talk down Banks. These two are about to break up and that will benefit both of them. Charlotte in particular was a million dollars here and is undoubtedly ready for the big time.

- C.J. Parker came out to address Full Sail. He got preachy about being ecological to some sporadic boos before Great Khali’s music interrupted. The guy looked about 50 foot tall in the Full Sail arena mainly due to the lower ceilings. Regal told a dreadful joke about Ranjin Singh having a brother who did karaoke (I’m embarrassed about laughing), and the match was on.

Khali hit some massive chops and a clothesline over the top. C.J. caught Khali’s leg coming over the top rope (stepping that is) to have a brief bit of offense. Full Sail chanted ‘Global Warming’ until C.J. tried coming off the top only to be met by Khali’s massive hand. The Punjabi Plunge was then good for the win. That was bearable and Full Sail were into it. Khali looked marginally sprightlier on his feet.

- Backstage, Sami Zayn talked about being disappointed with his loss to Corey Graves, saying the ref made the wrong call, but he understood the reasoning. He didn’t get too riled up, but was clearly out for revenge. Exactly what the segment needed to be and a good way to keep the best thing at NXT at the forefront of everyone’s minds.

- Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger made their tag team debut with full music and a jock / American football style text (yes, American football. I’m sorry but the rest of the world agrees with me). Blue chippers ahoy with these two. They were against the big tattooed Baron Corbin and the bigger Sawyer Fulton (who is a pretty funny dude on Twitter). Fulton’s outfit is awful. J.J. and Dillinger have the clean-cut handsome look that can work both as face and heel although it’s still a bland presentation. They have lacked charisma from what I’ve seen individually, so hopefully they now have the space and opportunity to organically grow a unique selling point.

Dillinger worked well early, reversing everything 6’7” Baron had to offer. This led to some tandem offense, which included an immense dropkick from Jordan where he rose like a salmon. However, Corbin hit a sudden and massive lariat on Dillinger to take control. He tagged in Sawyer who had a really odd way about the ring. It felt unnatural but seemed intentional so who knows? While I suffered a slight existential crisis in relation to Fulton, Baron was tagged in and hit a long delayed vertical suplex which was good for two. Impressive stuff once again.

Dillinger fought out of a subsequent chinlock, but only to be bodyslammed under the turnbuckle. Corbin went up to the second rope, but Tye was able to both get his leg up and then get out of the way of a failed elbow drop. J.J. was in on the hot tag and started striking his way to victory. This included another picture perfect dropkick. I want to watch him do dropkicks for many hours. After disposing of Corbin on the outside, J.J. muscled up Sawyer into a flapjack position (no mean feat) to allow the freshly tagged Dillinger to hit a high-angle DDT for the win.

Unfortunately for Tye and Jordan, the star of this match, was Corbin who has a better look, better size, and better presence at current. He’ll have made some waves backstage after this and I predict seeing him sooner rather than later. As for the victors, as I say they need something to work with as just being vaguely handsome and athletic isn’t enough, especially when you’re regularly against people with a look as striking as Corbin’s.

- Brodus Clay was out next from ‘the concrete jungle’ (a nice touch) to face NXT champion Adrian Neville in the main event. The crowd was hyped for Neville although seemed pretty burnt out. I get the feeling this was the last hour of the taping.

Adrian wanted a face off to start but was pushed over by Brodus. Furious, Neville sprung up and launched himself at Clay with forearm shots and kicks into the corner. Brodus kept trying to reverse, but Neville’s speed kept him at bay. This included Adrian utilising his mental flippy tumble out the corner thing to get some separation. When Neville eventually came off the top though, Brodus caught him and suplexed the smaller man halfway across the ring. Suddenly, Brodus was possessed by early 1990s Crush and delivered a heart punch (with the wristlock and everything). A ‘shot to the heart’ call by Byron Saxon had everyone singing Bon Jovi in their head. It was thankfully only a two count.

Clay kept the pace deliberately slow (but fully entertaining) with splashes and strikes. Commentary was hilarious on this match with Regal correcting Renee Young on Snoop Dog becoming Snoop Lion, an amendment which bewildered poor Renee. Brodus threatened the powerbomb after a period of control but Neville wriggled out. After an inkling of a comeback, Brodus settled into a nervehold on Neville, causing the NXT Universe to rally.

Adrian fought up to his feet and hit out with kicks and strikes before managing an enziguri on the apron. With the freshly created space, the Geordie hit a huge springboard forearm before trying for a 450 splash. Unfortunately, Brodus moved out of the way, but Neville was able to roll out and not splat on the mat. He ran straight back at Clay, but was met with a crushing headbutt which turned the small man inside out. I will say there is an art to doing this and few can make it look as natural as Neville outside of maybe Daniel Bryan.

Neville had enough ring awareness to roll out of the ring and deny the pin, but Clay followed him and hit a body slam on the floor. Brodus then ascended the ring steps and went for his splash but Neville moved causing the big man to crash out. The ref was at a nine count already by this point, and Adrian just managed to skip into the ring taking the win via count-out much to Brodus’s disgust. The announcers talked about Neville surviving rather than winning and made it very clear that the feud was far from over.

This was an effective bit of booking to keep Clay strong and Neville brave and cunning in a good way. The rarity of count out and non-clean finishes in NXT means that this match was unique in its finish and hence didn’t feel like a cop-out in any way. TNA, take notes.

As for the match, these two showed good chemistry in the ring and have the big man/small man dynamic absolutely down. It takes me back to the giddy days of being a pre-teen watching Rey Mysterio get flattened by Big Show on Smackdown. Here’s to hoping some kid in Florida is feeling the same way and will eventually be able to write English gooder than me.

- NXT was a tall episode today with almost every match featuring a wrestler over 6’5”. With the exception of Khali, none of these guys felt too big to function in the ring which is a good indication that WWE isn’t just looking for size these days. There are good signs here and there in terms of the show’s storylines, but there is equally a sense of so what? Furthermore Aiden English, Oliver Grey and the new tag team of Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger could all do with another trip to creative with all of their acts falling flat this week (to varying degrees). It’s true that Full Sail seemed to be on their last legs, but if The Ascension and Neville can get pops out of the audience, so can the rest of the roster.

Right that’ll do for this edition of analytical drivel with a British Uni student. I hope to have your eyes again next week where (spoiler) I’ll write more stuff. In the mean time feel free to tweet me (@GeorgeChiverton) or leave a comment and we can have a right lovely natter. Toodles.

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