SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report was originally published on PWTorch.com five years ago this week…
WWE NXT TV Report
March 6, 2014
Taped 2/28 at Full Sail University
Report by Justin James, PWTorch contributor
[Q1] Of note, NXT is on the WWE Network, but Hulu still does not have the episode up.
The pre-credits video is back, with a video package revisiting last week’s “NXT Arrival” show, focusing on Zayn-Cesaro, Emma-Paige, and Neville-Dallas. There’s a great speech from John Cena congratulating Adrian Neville on his NXT Title victory that did not air. Cena says that he is looking forward to facing Neville.
The new credit sequence and music is being kept. Such a huge improvement over the previous intro, which was already decent.
Adrian Neville is out to show off his championship. He’s facing the “already in the ring” Camacho.
1 – NXT champion ADRIAN NEVILLE vs. CAMACHO – non-title match
Neville offers a handshake, which Camacho arrogantly declines, then boots Neville. Neville wakes up and stops playing nice. Camacho goes chop crazy in the corner. Dropkick puts Camacho on the mat, then Red Arrow ends it.
WINNER: Adrian Neville in 3:30. Basic squash against a visibly impressive opponent to boost his credentials as a champion.
Post-match, Renee Young enters the ring to interview Neville, and ask about the ladder match against Bo Dallas last week. Basic, solid babyface promo from Neville. He calls the NXT Title “validation” that “anything is possible.” Good focus on the title as the focus of the promotion. Neville invites the crowd to look at him. He admits he is not physically impressive and he looks like an “elf man” and then brings up how hard his accent is to understand. Young is struggling to not laugh too loud. Neville says that his looks and accent can be questioned, but not his abilities, and the title is proof of it. Then he reminds us that there is “no more Bo.”
Bo Dallas’s music hits and Renee bails. Bo congratulates Neville on his victory, then brings up that he wasn’t pinned. Bo brings up his re-match clause (which no previous NXT Champion received) and says he will soon bring the title home to the Bo-lievers.
[ J.J.’s Reax: It’s like someone took the story arc and promos that should have been written for Daniel Bryan, and gave them to Adrian Neville. ]
“Last week,” Renee interviewed Emma after her NXT Women’s Title match loss. Emma says that Paige deserves to be the champion, and she has earned her respect. Ric Flair then comes out and looks like he may want to make her wife number 47. He gets serious and says that Charlotte will be the next NXT Women’s champion. Charlotte comes out and offers a shoulder for Emma to cry on. Emma just grins at her, and Charlotte gets annoyed. Emma leaves and Flair congratulates Charlotte for getting in her head.
Scott Stanford tells us that Emma is booked to face Charlotte next.
[Q2] Renee Young with the backstage interview with Paige. Paige says she was confident, but she now respects and calls Emma a friend. Paige says the door is open to all challengers. Ric Flair comes out to say she is “awesome” and a “great champion” and puts he on notice that Charlotte is coming. Charlotte does not try to play nice, and immediately gets in her face and clearly states that she will take the title.
[ J.J.’s Reax: Paige vs. Charlotte is a match to look forward to. ]
Renee Young heads to the booth to join Regal, Phillips, and Saxton for the women’s match. Charlotte has some Hole-like music for a new entrance. Young calls Charlotte the “dirtiest Diva in the game,” which Saxton says is a compliment.
2 – EMMA vs. CHARLOTTE (w/Summer Rae and Sasha Banks)
The taller Charlotte wins the initial test of strength as Young wonders if Charlotte is riding her father’s coattails. Back-and-forth technical wrestling. Saxton is back to his horrible faux-heel routine. Charlotte comes off the mat with a kneelift, but Emma gets a boot up in the corner. Charlotte lands badly after jumping over Emma in the corner. The ref puts a pause on the match, then shoos Banks off the apron. Charlotte bounces to life and hits a running blockbuster on the distracted for the win.
WINNER: Charlotte in 4:20. Okay match to advance the idea that the apple didn’t fall far from the Flair tree on dirty tricks, and move Charlotte one step closer to a title match with Paige.
“Last week,” Renee interviewed Sami Zayn. Zayn is feeling a range of emotions. She asks what Cesaro said to him after the match, to which he says it was personal. He says he got what he wanted from the match.
Yoshi Tatsu is out for his first match in forever. His pants look like something Enzo Amore would wear. He’s facing Corey Graves, who has new music that sounds like mid-’90s Filter. Women are going nuts for Graves. Byron Saxton actually mentions “Tout.”
Graves with a pre-match promo for those who haven’t seen NXT yet. He is upset he wasn’t on NXT Arrival, and is even more angry he is going against “a guy who still thinks he can be a WWE Superstar.” Sami Zayn is under his skin, too, because of the talk of the awesomeness of his match, then asks when the last time Zayn won. He dumps on Zayn’s “heart.” His voice and delivery sounds very much like Edge right now. Graves said with only one chance, he would beat Cesaro. He says he’s just going to run down Tatsu and get it over with.
[ J.J.’s Reax: that’s how you take a crowd-favorite heel and get real heat on him. ]
[Q3]
3 – YOSHI TATSU vs. COREY GRAVES
The bell rings, but Graves immediately rolls under the ropes, gets the mic, and says that there is no need to bother having this match. The ref starts a ten count. Graves comes back to the ring, then walks away. Tatsu chases him. Graves dumps him into the steps, gets in the ring, and takes a count-out win.
WINNER: Corey Graves in 1:00. Great booking here, though that sure felt like Tatsu’s last appearance in WWE unless they will have a mini-feud with Graves.
Post-match, Graves unloads on Tatsu. Tatsu taps like crazy to Lucky 13, and Sami Zayn makes the save. An impending Zayn vs. Graves feud should have some really good matches to it.
Zayn gets the mic and says they didn’t realize they had a problem. Zayn offers to fight Graves tonight.
Last week, Debin Taylor attended the “Adam Rose” party. Who? Oh, it’s Leo Kruger, re-packaged to remind us of Nigel in Spinal Tap done as a European techno party guy instead of a British guitar player. What a mess.
Replay of Rusev’s interruption of the Woods vs. Breeze match.
“Last week,” Young interviewed Xavier Woods. He calls Rusev a “Drago piece of garbage” and says he’s Creed (ha ha ha) except he doesn’t lose (actually, Creed died, but who is counting?). He wants to face Rusev.
Renee follows with an interview with Rusev and Lana. Lana is smirking as Rusev answers in Bulgarian. Young asks Lana to translate. His many sentences are apparently simply “he accepts.”
More non-sense from the “Adam Rose” party. Oh wait, that’s his entrance. He has a bunch of party-goers accompany him to the ring and dance with him. I’ll say this, it is hard to see the former Leo Kruger underneath the new haircut and shave, and this gimmick certainly looks more enjoyable than Kruger was. He’s Tyler Breeze + Fandango. The crowd is going nuts for this.
4 – LESLIE BLAKE vs. ADAM ROSE
The crowd is doing the Kruger woofs, then chants “Adam Rose” showing that they are in on the joke. Rose rolls all around the ring to avoid Blake. A chop, then Rose ducks into the ropes, and uses his feet to keep Blake away. A tackle puts Blake down. Spinebuster from Rose, then The Slice clothesline for the win.
WINNER: Adam Rose in 2:32. So they take Leo Kruger, make him dance like Emma while still doing his previous moveset, and make him act as much of a jerk as Tyler Breeze. This could work.
Scott Stanford says that JBL has booked Zayn vs. Graves next. That is the first mention of JBL as having authority in a long time.
It’s an ad for the Scooby Doo/WWE crossover. This is so bad, it is awesome.
[Q4] Fewer cheers for Graves the second time he comes out, audible proof of the effectiveness of the booking.
5 – SAMI ZAYN vs. COREY GRAVES
Graves with a quick boot to the stomach and an elbow to the head to get early control. Zayn fights out the corner, but a sidekick lets Graves stay on the attack. Graves with more speed, less deliberation than in recent matches. Graves sneers at the ref, which lets Zayn fight out of a corner, but Graves torques Zayn with a side headlock.
Zayn with a trio of armdrags to send Graves out of the ring. Graves runs away from the apron before he takes a suicide dive, so Zayn does some tricks to keep himself in the ring. Graves tries to get Zayn to leave the ring, then he hot-shots Zayn on the ropes.
[ Commercial Break ]
Graves still has Zayn grounded. Graves locks in a hold like he means it. Zayn finally gets momentum, but he gets caught in a fireman’s carry and takes a backbreaker. Cross-body out of the corner gets two for Zayn. Graves wants Lucky 13, but Zayn escapes, then responds with the Blue Thunderbomb for a nearfall. They charge each other and Graves hits a chop block, but Zayn answers with a surprise roll-up when he tries to capitalize for two. Hot crowd, hot match.
Zayn wants Old School, but Graves catches him mid-air into a fireman’s carry. He wants a backbreaker, but Zayn rolls his momentum forward for a roll-up pin and the win.
WINNER: Sami Zayn in 10:15. Very well done match, showing off both men’s styles well.
Final Reax: The WWE Network performed superbly tonight, with no interruptions or problems… Tonight was a really solid follow up to last week. Last week was NXT’s “WrestleMania” in the sense that they wrapped up three major storylines, and tonight was the beginning of a “new season” with fresh characters (Adam Rose) and new stories (Neville as champ, Charlotte in the title hunt). The main event felt like a real main event, with good match length… The Adam Rose thing feels like a mistake, though. NXT already has a fair share of comedy characters and does not need another, especially with the FSU crowd being very in on the fact that Adam Rose used to be Leo Kruger who was well established with them (unlike Michael Dalton who became Tyler Breeze after probably less than five minutes of total ring time and no speaking parts)… What NXT needs to do is to continue to follow the format of tonight. By building three-to-four big-time faces and three-to-four big-time heels, they can do a good 10-minute match every episode while not burning out the crowd or the wrestlers on any one taping night…
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