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CHIVERTON'S NXT SCOUTING REPORT: New Rankings with NXT talent rising & falling, plus more NXT thoughts

Nov 6, 2014 - 11:38:16 PM
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NXT Rankings & Evaluation
By George Chiverton, NXT specialist


Hello there everyone and welcome to my column. Before we get going I think it’s about time to shake up the rankings following some rises and falls. Note that the likes of Hideo Itami, Baron Corbin, and Team Thick are still in the infancy of their NXT careers and will hence need a bit more time to grow as characters and show their true colours before they are included...

Latest Network Era Rankings

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

Sami Zayn and Charlotte are both so exceptional in their own ways that to pick between them would be unfair. Sami is the ultimate underdog: an incredible wrestler and 100 percent natural in his delivery on the mic. It’s refreshing, endearing, and a great advertisement for the benefits of getting wrestlers off of the indies rather than making them in house at WWE. Charlotte, on the other hand, is like her father Ric Flair in all the right ways. When she enters a room she is the woman to watch and embodies everything an old school NWA champion represented back when titles really mattered.

Just missing out is Adrian Neville, who despite not being at the tippy top, is still a cut above the vast majority of the wrestling world. Having survived the adversity of being both from Newcastle and having one parent who was an aeroplane, he has risen to become another great NXT champion. His recent slow burn heel turn has also displayed his range and acting abilities and proves he is more than just a corkscrew shooting star splash (as if that wasn’t enough). Both he and Seth Rollins were individuals who coming off the indies I didn’t think had a particularly charismatic edge to them. How wrong I was.

The top four has a new member with the Ascension muscling out Tyler Breeze after putting in months of consistently dominant performances. They are always one of the most memorable aspects of NXT and are undoubtedly ready for TV. Before I had held them back mainly due to questions over their ability to sell while remaining in character. However, in their match with the Lucha Dragons they proved they were at last the complete package. Booking issues aside, they are now a top team in WWE.

Bayley climbs a monumental three places having really found herself in NXT. Whereas, her first character was naïve to the point of hypocrisy (a wrestler who was too overcome with everything to wrestle is just dumb), she has grown, gotten over with the fans, and found a fire to make her a believable contender in any match. When Charlotte gets promoted, Bayley will be a solid number one babyface diva to take NXT forward.

Tyson Kidd has fallen fairly drastically as he is now facing a similar dilemma on NXT as the one which brought him to the show in the first place: he’s damaged goods. Although Kidd has picked up wins in tag matches, his role has been as a gatekeeper to the main event. This has meant that when it comes to singles matches, he has lost so much that he doesn’t seem as dangerous as he once was. Yes, he is a great wrestler and yes, he has some personality, but it’s same old same old from Tyson. Whereas Titus O'Neil has come in and made an impact, Tyson has settled into the groove as just another upper mid-card guy in NXT. He needs to sit back, re-analyze, and maybe have some time off to wipe the slate clean for his return.

Enzo and Big Cass have been very entertaining outside of the ring as of late and their gimmick and confidence seem to be combining to create an intangible x-factor. They, in their current form, will make money for the WWE. In the same way that Bray Wyatt excels at getting into character as the creepy swamp preacher type; Big Cass and Enzo rock the jersey douche bag characters so damn well. It’s infectious. However, they are eighth for a reason: in ring it’s not yet the same story. They’ve had a series of average matches which when compared to the names above them (and indeed some below them) aren’t yet up to standard. In particular the marginalisation of Enzo has created an imbalance between the Jersey boys which seems to indicate whenever Enzo gets tagged in towards the end of a match they will lose. That needs to change and their in ring work does need to get a bit better. That will come, though, and for now being solid mid-card comedic entertainment is a perfect slot.

To ensure this article has a lower word count than the Bible, I’ll take a look at the rest of my amendments the list next week. I think that’s called a ‘hook’ and, as Blues Traveller once sang, ‘The hook brings you back.’ I mean, I can’t follow it up with a sweet harmonica solo, but it’s worth a go, right?

10/30 Episode Analysis

- NXT kicked off with a backstage interview with Sami Zayn. He responded to Adrian’s jibe from last week about not winning the big one before Titus O’Neil wandered into frame. He pointed out Sami’s road to redemption had to run through him. He offered an ‘open invitation’ for a match with Sami before leaving. Sami said there’s a block on his road to redemption, but that’s fine: he’ll run right through it.

- A tag team battle royal kicked things off between the Vaudevillians, Team Thick, Colin Cassady & Enzo Amore, Tye Dillinger and Jason Jordan, and, finally, The Ascension. We haven’t had a battle royal in a long time on NXT. This should be fun. The Vaudevillians and The Ascension got full entrances while the rest were already waiting in the ring. You’ve got to ask why not give one to the Jersey boys, too? It’s the best part of their characters why not maximize their value?

The announcers fancied the Ascension in the early as basic battle royal occurred in the ring. The Ascension were the general bullies in the ring while Cassady was forced to save Enzo on a couple of occasions. Nothing really happened for the first couple of minutes outside of people holding other people on the top rope. Eventually Buddy Murphy and Tye Dillinger were fighting on the ropes on one side of the ring whilst Wesley Blake and Jason Jordan grappled on the other. The Ascension split, and took it upon themselves to take out one pair of grappling jobbers each. This left the Ascension staring down the only two in the ring: Amore and Cassady. Me thinks some dastardly plot from the Vaudevillians is in the works.

Big Cass and Konnor exchanged some bombs before Viktor eventually beat up Enzo enough to join in. Enzo slowly got to his feet, pepped up and jumped on Viktor's back. Unfortunately for Enzo he then got forcibly dealt with by Viktor which set up the Ascension for the apparent victory. Cass was sent to the apron before getting knocked off by a flying Amore courtesy of Ascension Airways. Another terribly weak showing from Enzo, what’s the plan here?

- Hideo Itami’s music hit and he came out on stage presumably to distract the Ascension. On cue, Vaudevillains snuck in and dumped them over. The Vaudevillains are your new #1 contenders. I’m cool with that.

Hideo stormed the ring and started to strike and smash but eventually the numbers caught up with him again. He comes off as such an idiot when he repeatedly puts himself in these situations. He took a tag move which saw him get slammed and Konnor took the mic. He told him again ‘Go back home to Japan, where you belong. If you don’t we’ll send you back, in a box.’ Paging one Mr Balor, you’re required at NXT.

- Emma was out next to a pretty decent reaction. It’s sad that her career has stalled so hard. She would be facing Carmella in her second match on NXT. Carmella came out and sassed it up on the mic on the way to the ring. Bell rang and we were on.

Emma chucked in some comedic stuff to start before they settled into some back and forth. Carmella eventually took control and choked Emma on the rope by sitting on her back, checking her nails the whole time. She must be heel, right?

Body scissors from Carmella slowed stuff down and brought the crowd in. Emma managed to turn and get to her feet, before powering up Carmella and sort of slamming her down. It was a really awkward spot in all but hey it’s Emma. A tarantula from Emma, followed by the Emmamite Sandwich in the corner was only good for a two count. When Emma tried for a submission Carmella wiggled out and locked up Emma in her unique submission finisher. Emma tapped and that was that. Sloppy match and not one I’ll try and think about again.

- Justin Gabriel was out to face off against a man we haven’t seen in a while: Bull Dempsey. Once the match started Bull got brawling, sending Gabriel reeling into the corner. Gabriel escaped and hit the ropes, before going for a crucifix pin. Bull used his strength to stay on his feet though, forcing Gabriel to slip down Bull’s back into a sunset flip pin. Nice spot this, although barely got a one. Gabriel kept going for cruiserweight moves only to have Bull resist and then slam him. Gabriel eventually got one off, though, flipping into a reverse DDT. Gabriel tried to capitalise with a springboard moonsault, but still it was only two.

Gabriel, undeterred, kept on with kicks before going for a Tornado DDT from the top. Bull caught him and hit a big back body drop. He then clattered him with a body block before ascending the ropes. Diving headbutt and that is a win for Bull. This was actually a really solid match telling a great big vs small man story with Bull managing to power out of enough of Gabriel’s offense to take the win. Nice creativity from both, and Bull is showing signs of progress.

- Backstage, Bayley was responding to Becky Lynch’s turn on her last week. She said if Sasha Banks and Lynch wanted to fight, she would call on her friend: Charlotte. A women’s tag match seems in the pipe and I believe that’ll be the first for Full Sail. I look forward to it.

- A graphic aired for Marcus Louis vs. Sylvester Lefort. It’s not been the biggest feud at NXT, but promoting this match earlier in the show does give it a little shine. I like it.

Up first, though, was Baron Corbin who would be facing ‘Tony Briggs.' What a guy. He looks like a hamster. Anyway the bell rang and the Full Sail audience started counting to see how long it would take Baron to win. How’s that for being over? They got to 14 before Baron was covering. This is the start of something potentially huge for sure.

- Hideo was backstage saying he was bored of getting beaten up. He needs a tag partner. It took you this long, eh?

- Sylvester Lefort’s irresistibly funky theme hit and he went down to the ring. Marcus Louis quickly followed without a theme and the fight was on. Sylvester managed to get the boots to Louis as he slid into the ring but soon the big french man was dominating in the corner. He screamed ‘You did this to me’ a number of times before an uranage slam was good for the win. Not sure about the finisher, but otherwise another nice showing for Louis.

- It was main event time with Sami Zayn coming to the ring looking ready for business. Someone in the crowd did a very impressive sign that clearly took a load of hours. Well done if that was your sign. Titus came down, also looking all business. These were two men who looked like they wanted to fight.

Match on. Zayn tried to keep his distance but soon he was wrapped up by Titus who just started throwing Sami around. Occasionally an odd slap from Sami would raise spirits but again and again Titus would simply scoop him up and manhandle him. This included the rib breaker into throw combo that Adrian Neville sold so well last week.

Back from a break, Titus had a bear hug locked in, throwing in some headbutts to spice things up. He eventually got bored, took Sami to the corner, and stood on his face a bit. Nice. He then sent Sami into the other corner and slapped him. Sami decided to return the favour and hit a massive slap of his own on Titus. He tried to follow up and push his chance, fighting his way out of the corner only to get slammed again. Titus mocked him with an Ole chant, before taunting Sami on the mat. He then tossed him to the outside before exchanging pleasantries with the audience. I’m lying.

Anyways, Sami got into the ring at a six count, only to be tossed out for a second time. Titus went back to heeling it up in the ring as Sami narrowly avoided the ten count. Titus went to throw him out again but this time Sami held on and stayed on the apron. Titus tried to charge him, but Zayn counter punched, before hanging Titus up and ascending the ropes. Titus turned into a cross-body and the match ignited. Sami popped up off a one count and ran the ropes. He ducked one clothesline but then boom, huge clothesline from Titus that sent Sami inside out. If you’ve ever seen Akeem’s clothesline on Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania V (deemed ‘Greatest Clothesline Ever’ by ‘mrknight411’ on YouTube) it was a similar spot. He followed up with a nasty backbreaker from the dominator position which got a close two count.

Titus went over to a grounded Zayn and again just threw him across the ring. Titus then tried to charge Zayn in the corner only to get grabbed by Zayn. Zayn paused to set himself and then hit his signature exploder suplex into the corner. That was damn impressive on such a big man. Sami, all fired up, headed to the other corner and sprinted into a huge helluva kick for the feel good win of the night. Great match, great story, Titus deserves to be a bigger star, Zayn will be and that’s all that needs to be said on that one.

- Sami looked passionate following the win before Tyler Breeze’s theme interrupted. Tyler said he doesn’t get a number one contenders shot just for ‘beating a couple of uggos like Tyson Kidd and Titus O’Neil.' Hence, having talked to GM William Regal, Tyler could announce that Sami’s road of redemption was ‘taking a detour to Cuteville.' Nice line and stuff from Breeze in general, but Regal really needs to have more of a screen presence for me. At the moment it seems as if the wrestlers are booking the shows, and having had high hopes for Regal, that’s not ideal. Why not cut this segment, move it to next week, and have Regal announce a number one contender match between them following a confrontation? That just seems to make sense for me and could have given Zayn and Titus more time. I would have liked that.

All in all this was a really solid NXT with a lot of storylines being progressed on the road to Takeover: Evolution. That show is shaping up to be pretty damn awesome: Neville-Zayn, Ascension-Itami (and O’Friend), Lucha Dragons-Vaudevillians, Charlotte-Banks, and Baron Corbin doing some smashing. Yeah, I’d watch that.

Before we finish, a couple of notes on the possible future of NXT. Firstly, Corey Graves has been doing a lot of promoting for NXT as of late and it seems it may be sooner rather than later that he makes his return from injury. The dream booking for me is having him return against Baron Corbin at Takeover: Evolution in a tattooed loner vs. tattooed loner match=up. Graves getting the win in a competitive match wouldn’t hurt Baron too much, and it would immediately establish that Graves was back and ready for action. Just a thought.

Secondly WWE released a video from inside one of their recent try-outs which featured not only the affectionately nicknamed ‘skidmark’ (cringe) from the most recent series of Tough Enough, but also independent wrestler Rich Swann. Although his high flying in ring work is arguably as good as Adrian Neville’s, I’m not sure Swann has enough outside of the ring to be to WWE’s tastes. Then again, I though the same with Neville, so what do I know. Finally Bill DeMott winds me up. Nothing more on that, but I thought you should know.

That’ll be all for this week. I’ll be seeing you next week if that’s all right with you? Unless you’re weak. Week.


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