NXT Rankings & Evaluation
By George Chiverton, PWTorch NXT specialist

WWE finally put an end to the rumors and speculation by signing Japanese star KENTA. I’ll offer my thoughts later but for now, though, let’s settle in, get comfy, and take on some NXT.

7/10 Episode Evaluation

- Match numero uno was a number one contender's match to the NXT Women's Title with Bayley taking on the long-lost Summer Rae. Renee Young explained that Summer effectively whined her way into the match. I know she’s been doing a movie, but I thought that Rae was effectively on the main roster now. What do I know?

There’s also a question of what on earth Summer’s character is anymore. She’s been dumped by Fandango in exchange for the heel Layla. So that makes her face? Well, not in this match at least where Bayley was very much over as a face, particularly with the kiddies and ladies. When a ‘Let’s Go Bayley’ chant got going, a few of those pesky vocal males responded with a ‘Cena sucks’ which tickled me. They redeemed themselves later in the match with a ‘Bayley’s gunna hug you’ chant in the style of ‘Joe’s gunna kill you,’ which was brilliant.

Bayley and Summer tangled with nice pacing, big moves mixed effectively with the slower stuff, and a nice story of the experienced Summer eventually getting the best of naïve Bayley. She hit her finisher; the Summer Crush, for the win, which made heel Charlotte in the back look a little miffed. The commentary team set the match up as teacher vs. student, which is perfectly fine, but with two dislikable Divas in the mix, who is the audience meant to root for? The ref?

- Backstage were Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn recovering after last week’s ambush by Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel. They nailed it and have a great bit of chemistry. Bringing these two up as a tag team wouldn’t be an awful idea.

- Sin Cara was out next to fight Wesley Blake. Sin Cara on NXT, eh? Me thinks a match with Kalisto is on the way. Still, nice to have a fresh face, well mask. The match was a squash, but Blake was allowed a moment or two to get some offense in. He sells well for a big bloke.

- Backstage, Summer Rae and Sasha Banks were being selfish while doing make up. Summer Rae is the heel for sure ... I think, which I’m totally fine with, but Charlotte needs some promo time to establish this.

- C.J. Parker came on out with hilarious slogans displaying behind him such as ‘May the forest be with you.' He invited Xavier Woods out and the Dr.-to-be obliged, in a suit with new music. He looked cross.

C.J. effectively apologized for slagging off Woods last week, but Xavier wasn’t having it, firing up the audience. CJ. .kept trying to extend the olive branch, but with a little aggression behind his sentiment. Woods pushed a peace sign into Parker's face, which led to Parker attacking Woods as he tried to walk away. I don’t know why this went down like this. Xavier acted like a jerk (as an American may say) to a guy who was apologizing and got kicked in the head for it. If anything Woods was being the heel here? This feud has been a bit messy so far.

- The Vaudevillians had a little video promo which wasn’t quite on point.

- Big Bull Dempsey was out to face against handsome blue chipper Angelo Dawkins. If asked which one was getting a push based on looks alone you’d probably guess wrong. The two pulled off some lovely chain wrestling to start with Bull rolling and reversing like a much lighter man. Dawkins, who hasn’t been wrestling all that long also held his own. The body of the match with Bull getting in some sustained offense was slow, though. Work still to be done here for me, and there are better big men than Bull in the wrestling world (cough, Kevin Steen, cough).

- Sami Zayn was playing interviewer for Adrian Neville. They explained they’re chums and set up the tag match which was next before tossing the microphone back to Devin Taylor, who was looking bemused. If you want to see what tag team chemistry should look like, look no further. Zayn is the man.

- Zayn’s entrance music needs work. Everyone else’s is fine. Natalya came down to the ring with Kidd to play her part in the main event.

Kidd took punishment from Zayn and Neville to start before Gabriel tagged in and he faced the same. This included a corkscrew moonsault by Neville off Zayn on all fours. How he manages to spin and land a move that complex in that small of a space is unbelievable.

Eventually, Zayn was caught in the wrong corner and the heel work began to set up the hot tag. Kidd is super over as a heel and has definitely filled a void at the top of the card. Neville then came in on fire, flipping and powerbombing like a mad man. He smashed Kidd with a big kick when Kidd came in with a springboard attempt. Gabriel just managed to distract Neville on the top for long enough to allow Kidd to dropkick his feet from under him. Zayn manage to tag in, though, allowing Neville to suicide dive on Gabriel on the outside. Kidd soon joined him on the outside and Zayn then came diving over the top.

Big spot over, and the finish of the match was imminent. Kidd faked a knee injury, which drew Natalya up onto the apron. Zayn accidentally sent Kidd into his wifey, which caused her to spill to the floor. Good guy Zayn went to check on the damsel in distress, only to be rolled up by Kidd who didn’t give a damn. It was good for the win.

That’s the way you get heat on a heel and Kidd absolutely milked it for all it was worth. This is all well and good, but what is this for? The number one contender is Tyler Breeze and that seems to have faded into insignificance. The NXT Title should be front and centre at all times and at the moment Breeze has barely been mentioned, Neville is a bit part player in Kidd vs. Gabriel vs. Natalya and his prestige has totally been forgotten about. It’s an interesting story, I just think a little prioritizing is in order.

Network Rankings #12

(1) Sami Zayn
(2) Charlotte (NXT Women’s champion)
(3) Adrian Neville (NXT champion)
(4) Tyler Breeze
(5) The Vaudevillians
(6) The Ascension (NXT Tag champions)
(7) Enzo Amore
(8) Kalisto
(9) Alexa Bliss
(10) Sasha Banks
(11) Colin Cassidy
(12) Bayley (+1)
(13) The Legionnaires (-1)
(14) Mojo Rawley

Bayley moves up after this week’s performance against Summer Rae. Her character is still flawed, but this was, for me, her best match to-date.

Anyway let’s have a look to the future and the big news this week that Kenta Kobayashi a/k/a KENTA has finally signed for WWE. Coming from Pro Wrestling Noah, he’s a vicious striker who will take a hit if it means making a good match. Trained by legendary Japanese heavyweight Kenta Kobashi, he’s tangled with some of the biggest names in both Japan and America during tours with ROH. One of these names and a man he could be compared to is Daniel Bryan, who he faced a number of times on the indies. One big difference, though, is KENTA’s presence. Whereas D-Bry plays the underdog very well, KENTA is a straight up intimidating badass. Now there’s every chance he’ll be taught how to lighten up while down in NXT, but in my opinion having a guy that small bring such an intimidation factor should be savored as something fresh in WWE.

So, where will his success be decided in WWE? I think he certainly has the talent in the ring, but there are potential issues to be addressed. Firstly there is the language barrier. I think having KENTA stay silent could be a great way to make him appear more badass, but a manager mouthpiece will be necessary as a result and I’m not sure who would work best. Paul Heyman is the obvious choice, but being a ‘Heyman Guy’ isn’t the prized possession it once was with both Curtis Axel and Ryback flopping. We’ll see where this aspect heads.

Off television, the other issue could be KENTA’s attitude, as he has a reputation as a hothead and at times has lost his cool in the ring. YouTube is littered with videos of KENTA getting into skirmishes with wrestlers such as Eddie Edwards, Kanemoto, and Taguchi. Whether this is just a case of KENTA protecting his character and hitting some stiff kicks to get the crowd invested isn’t always easy to tell, but it’s gotten him into trouble on occasions.

That’s about it from me, but if you have a question or a comment feel free to tweet me @GeorgeChiverton. Otherwise you lovely people I’ll see you next week.

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