NXT Rankings & Evaluation
By George Chiverton, PWTorch NXT specialist

Latest Network Era Rankings

(1) Sami Zayn
(2) Charlotte (NXT Women’s champion)
(3) Adrian Neville (NXT champion)
(4) Tyler Breeze
(5) Tyson Kidd
(6) The Ascension
(7) The Vaudevillians
(8) Lucha Dragons (NXT Tag champions)
(9) Bayley
(10) Enzo Amore
(11) Alexa Bliss
(12) Sasha Banks
(13) Colin Cassady
(14) Becky Lynch
(15) Bull Dempsey
(16) The Legionnaires
(17) C.J. Parker
(18) Mojo Rawley

10/9 Episode Analysis

- Tyler Breeze vs. Mojo Rawley kicked off the proceedings at Full Sail. This followed up on Breeze beating down the big man two weeks previously. Mojo worked hard to get a face reaction giving further indication his teased heel turn is no longer going ahead. Breeze played cowardly to start before Mojo finally caught him in the corner. Breeze was playing, possum, though and kicked Rawley away. A few seconds later he locked in an armbar and seemed to be trying to finish. Just like that the ref called the match. Well, that was something? Tyler having a new finisher is a great idea, but an armbar? Really?

- We were then whisked away to the Performance Center courtesy of Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. Enzo baited William Regal out of his office to check out Carmella in the ring. She was beating up a lady in a helmet including finishing her off with a unique submission finisher. Regal looked impressed and gave her a tryout for next week’s NXT. Enzo broke the news to her and she rushed passed Enzo to Colin who responded with, ‘How you doin’? in a ‘Look, bro, I’m not doing anything’ kind of way. Another nice little segment and again this stuff could be great on the main roster.

- It was time for a Hideo Itami recap and it’s got to be said that although the package was good, the way WWE have handled Hideo has frustrated me so far. Why not keep the guy strong for at least a few months before then pushing him into potential losses and beat downs? Instead of protecting the star power, WWE valued The Ascension having a storyline to move on, which although I can understand, has limited the value of Hideo. The video closed on Funaki saying he had Itami’s back. I wonder how long it will be before we see Funaki being dragged out beaten up on stage.

Hey what do you know, it may not be long at all, as it was match time between Hideo and Viktor. The two men charged into the centre and got brawling with forearms. Hideo got the upper hand, but Viktor cut him off and began really roughing up Itami. He’s a brave man. This centered on strikes and heelish tactics like grabbing at Itami’s face and nose. It was also stiff enough to leave Itami with a bloody mouth. Itami then made his comeback off a backdrop reversal throwing kicks and hitting a springboard dropkick. Hideo got to his feet and looked really wobbly. Now he’s either just that good at selling or one of the stiff headshots had got to him here.

Itami fell into the second turnbuckle before turning around and botching his run up to hitting a hesitation dropkick, which meant he barely reached his feet to Viktor. Viktor sold and Hideo, worryingly, started to ascend the ropes. The crowd went a bit quiet, clearly concerned by Hideo’s condition. Hey! What did I say? Here came a ragdoll Funaki being hurled around by Konnor. Itami was distracted, but ducked a clothesline from Viktor and hit a Banzai knee to absolutely no reaction to pick up the win.

Konnor was in the ring in an instant tackling Hideo (which again caused his head to whiplash off the mat) and beating him down. Konnor kept the forearms coming before tying up Itami in the ropes. Funaki crawled into the ring to try to help his friend, only to be beaten up, too. This closed with a Fall of Man, which was sold with a full stretcher job in the break. Itami, being forced to watch, begged for mercy before looking forlornly at his fallen ally.

Right there were a lot of problems here. Firstly head injuries are not fun to watch and are really not fun to have and although it may have cocked up the story, if Itami was injured (and it really looked that way) something should have happened to deal with that. Although some would look to the ref as the person to call, it was ultimately Itami’s decision to stay in the match here. Although he may have resolutely refused to give in and quit the match (due to a dated old-school mentality) he should still have slowed down and executed what he could rather than risking further injury to him and Viktor by keeping up the pace. That’s not to mention that a series of uncomfortable botches combined with an already tired Full Sail audience caused absolute silence which was not made better by The Ascension continually attacking Itami’s head after the match. All in all the booking was fine, the execution was uncomfortable. We'll see if WWE is able to clean up this mess with a neat video package.

- Next, The Vaudevillains were here to pep everyone up. The music they’ve been given is really an issue that will get on my nerves. Speaking of my nerves here came the Jersey team of Enzo and Colin. Just kidding, these guys are on a bit of a roll right now. With Enzo taking the lead, they together cut a playful and high-energy promo which finally brought the crowd to life. They sure like their coffee in Jersey, eh? Great stuff.

Things got underway with The Vaudevillains holding control to start against Enzo, until the little man shifted his weight in a back drop to land on Aiden’s face. This allowed an early hot tag to bring in Cassady, who brawled with English around the ring including hitting a high knee. At 7'0", this was a very, very high knee. Aiden managed to tag in Gotch, who ran straight into a big boot from Cass. English broke up the pin attempt. Cass knocked English off the apron before bringing Gotch over to his corner. He then tagged in Amore before gordbuster-ing (using gordbuster as a verb is probably the lamest thing I’ve ever done) the little man into a splash on Gotch. Amore sold big, while Aiden then came across to knock Cassady off the apron.

For the finish, Gotch barrel-rolled into a senton from The Vaudevillains and that was that. Well, it was a decent start but the end seemed overscripted for the time they had. That’s also overlooking the larger problem that Amore seems incredibly weak at current and having the two partners seem so unequal in their contributions to matches makes proceeding predictable and Cassady dumb for tagging him in. All in all, at this point in the evening for the Full Sail taping, any excitement was good, but there are mistakes that need sorting out here for sure.

- Sami Zayn was backstage talking about his upcoming match with Titus O'Neil. He talked briefly about sticking up for his ‘friend’ Adrian Neville. Somewhere a WWE video editor added it to an ever growing video package for Zayn vs. Neville.

- Becky Lynch was out to some punk music, dressed like a punk but not quite giving off punk vibes. While going for an edgy Lita presentation her personality came off more ‘child dizzy on Sunny D.' It’s not exactly ideal. She would be facing… DRINK! Drake Younger! Anyway, yes, she would be facing Sasha Banks. These two haven’t been about in a while, so this will be a nice fresh match-up.

Sasha was mean to start before Lynch began working over the arm off an armbar. Banks reversed into a pin, which Lynch impressively bridged out of. The two continued to go back and forth before Banks hit a double foot stomp in the corner. She then settled into a bow and arrow hold. The crowd tried to get behind Lynch who responded with a roll up and strikes to follow. This culminated in a calf kick and a two count. Banks though then ducked a clothesline and transitioned into her backstabber/chinlock combo finisher which was good for the submission win. A rebuild for Banks is on the cards, then? I’m all right with that. Lynch is talented but has a lot of goofy qualities in the way she executes moves. With her current Lita style presentation it doesn’t really work unfortunately.

- Main event time with the massive looking Titus O’Neil taking on Sami Zayn. It’s a great main event and Sami’s presence was enough to boost the Full Sail one last time. Sami tried a lock up but was thrown down. Titus tried a clothesline in the corner and Sami ducked. Me thinks those two sentences with rather sum up this match. Sami’s speed saw him bounce off the ropes and over Titus and go for some forearms. Titus eventually caught him though and bodyslammed Zayn big style. This set up some dominance for O’Neil. While he argued with the ref, Sami fell out of the corner into a very loud chop on Titus. The big man then crunched Sami back into the corner. They did the same spot again, but this time Sami hit two chops. Titus then tossed Zayn out the ring where he tumbled onto the ramp. A kid audibly went ‘Aw! Are you okay?’ How’s that for being over?

Back from the break, Titus had Zayn in a bear hug. Sami floated over a body slam and jumped up into a sleeper hold. Again, as with the bear hug, this looked like a potential finish at a number of spots until Titus eventually shook him off and charged Sami in the corner. Sami this time got his boots up and Titus absolutely ate the kick. Sami covered but he couldn’t get Titus’ huge legs up to pull his feet from under the ropes. This is a great match.

Sami got up and regrouped, rallying Full Sail. He got Titus up and clasped his hand ready to run up the ropes only to run into a short arm lariat from Titus. When Zayn got up he went for it again, this time chopping the chest of Titus. He got to the top rope and seemed ready to dive, but Titus swept his feet causing him to be crotched on the top rope. He then transitioned from the ropes into a huge Clash of the Titus powerbomb which, my goodness, was good for the pin.

Well that wasn’t in the script? Zayn was talking a big game before the match and maybe this is WWE’s way of cooling him off before eventually beating Titus and then going on to Neville. I have to say though a great match and interesting developments.

Titus left the ring before returning and addressing the camera saying remember you did this. He then positioned Zayn on the apron and climbed to the top rope. Neville was out quickly though to pull Zayn out of the equation. Titus stayed on the top rope which lead to a great shot of his huge frame being silhouetted against the lights. Maybe we are looking at an NXT player? It wouldn't hurt to have a big man in the mix for sure and Titus is one of those talents who is much underutilized on the main roster and getting some time to shine on NXT won’t do anyone any bad. That is other than Sami Zayn whose quest for the title seems to have taken an unexpected turn. I would be annoyed, but I think this could be fun as things have been a tad predictable as of late. We’ll see next week.

Anyway thank you kindly for stopping by and hopefully I will have you back next week where a fresh Full Sail will have fresh Superstars to cheer. Yipee!

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