SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
The following report originally published 10 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…
KELLER’S NXT TV REPORT
JANUARY 28, 2015
TAPED AT FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY
AIRED ON WWE NETWORK
-After the NXT opening, they went right to ring entrances. Announcers this week are Tom Philips, Jason Albert, and Alex Riley.
(WK Reax: I’m not a fan of hearing announcers voices without having them identified by name and briefly shown on camera. I want faces to go with voices at the start of any sporting event.)
1 – LUCHA DRAGONS (Sin Cara & Kalisto) vs. BUDDY MURPHY & WESLEY BLAKE – NXT Tag Team Title match
Jason said there are a lot of good teams in NXT’s training center on their way to challenge for these belts. Graves said he was talking to NXT trainer Norman Smiley who told him Blake is the purest athlete he’s ever seen come through NXT. Kalisto hit a flashy highspot at 2:00. Blake and Cara battled at ringside. Murphy blind-tagged in and stole a pin on Kalisto for the win. They rightfully played it up was a big upset. The crowd’s jaws were dropped, the announcers freaked out, and Blake & Murphy celebrated like a 1-2-3 Kid.
WINNERS: Blake & Murphy to capture the NXT Tag Team Titles at 4:02.
(WK Reax: Blake & Murphy are pretty nondescript. They could be typical wrestlers on the indy scene in the 1980s or 1990s. There’s nothing distinguished about their look or styles from what I’ve seen. They might be great athletes, but there’s nothing memorable as a hook for them at this stage other than a real genuine enthusiasm they effectively express, and that counts for something. In the ring, they didn’t get to show much here, but what they did was fine.)
-They went to the announcers at ringside reacting to the tag team title change. Then a clip aired of the Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks match last week leading to G.M. William Regal making a four-way match for the tag titles.
-Backstage Charlotte walked up to Bailey as she was tying her boots. Charlotte said she’ll destroy her if she tries to pull another stunt like that again. Bailey said they have to work together as a team tonight. Charlotte said she’s in danger of not making it to the Fatal Fair-way.
(WK Reax: I’m not a fan of the skits where someone is being filmed doing something that no one would actually care to watch, only to be surprised by someone walking up to them from off camera. It’s such a cheesy choreographed looking way to create a confrontation or argument for TV. There are other ways to accomplish the same thing that involved a wrestler interrupting another wrestler during a backstage interview that feels a lot more realistic and less cheesy and staged. Between that and the acting and the angle they stood facing the camera, the whole thing felt like it came from a show on Disney Channel aimed at pre-teen girls. The best part is, unlike on Raw and Smackdown, they didn’t hover on Bailey for two or three extra awkward seconds after Charlotte stormed off.) [c]
-A pretaped selfie vignette aired with Tyler Breeze saying he’s not embarrassed by his loss last week. He said the only thing he is is gorgeous. He said he’s going to sit back and watch the rest of the tournament closely.
2 – ADRIAN NEVILLE vs. TYSON KIDD – No. 1 Contender Tournament
Neville did a gymnastics-style double backward handspring, then avoided a charging Kidd in the corner. Neville took Kidd down with a head scissors and then backflipped on a rebound from the ropes in a bit of showmanship to intimidate Kidd and celebrate his surge of offense. Riley and Albert argued over whether that was worth the effort or just showing off. Kidd stalled at ringside, refusing to get back in unless Neville backed off. Neville chased him around the ring. Kidd got the advantage out there, and send Neville head-first into the steel stairs with a headsissors. Kidd then slipped into the ring and wanted the ref to count. The ref got to nine. Kidd went for an immediate cover. Neville grabbed the bottom rope. They cut to a mid-match commercial. [c]
Kidd continued on offense after the break. Neville clotheslined Kidd over the top rope and then flip dove over the top onto Kidd near the ramp at ringside. Kidd came back a minute later with a neckbreaker for a two count. Fans chanted, “This is wrestling!” Kidd continued with a steady attack and another near fall. Neville came back with a kick to the side of Kidd’s head, and then leaped off the top with his corkscrew Red Arrow splash for the win.
WINNER: Neville at 12:50.
(WK Reax: Very good match. Good athleticism, good story, dramatic near falls. Kidd is really shining for the all-around good worker he is in NXT. Neville has the flash to elevate the match, too.)
-In the ring afterward, the new interviewer without a name interviewed Neville who said he has been knocked down, but he’ll get up again and win the tournament and prove the world he is the most dominant NXT Champion or all time.
-Philips plugged the Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens contract signing later.
-Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks were asked by an interviewer off camera about facing Charlotte & Bailey tonight in a tag match. Banks said Lynch knows the right thing to do is help her win at the NXT Takeover special and help her become champion. Banks left. Lynch said she’s going to do the right thing and become the NXT Women’s Champion.
-A commercial aired for Steve Austin’s interview with Triple H on WWE Network next week. [c]
-An elated Blake & Murphy discussed winning the tag team titles. They said they’re willing to defend the belts anywhere, anytime against the former champs.
Check out the latest episode of “PWT Talks NXT” with Kelly Wells and Nate Lindberg, part of the PWTorch Dailycast line-up: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “pwtorch” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
(3) CHARLOTTE & BAILEY vs. SASHA BANKS & BECKY LYNCH
Charlotte did the cartwheel at ringside and the splits in the ring during her ring entrance. The announcers hyped the Fatal Fairway at NXT Takeover. The heels isolated and worked over Bailey. The crowd chanted for her and she eventually hot-tagged in Charlotte. Charlotte rallied against Sasha with clotheslines and a suplex into a neckbreaker followed by a figure-four leglock. Then she twisted into a back bridge while still applying the figure-four. Lynch broke it up. Nice sequence. Bailey broke up a pin attempt by Sasha on Charlotte, but ended up landing hard on Charlotte, too. Charlotte shoved Bailey. Bailey struck her with a forearm. Charlotte tackled her. The two heels joined in and a four-way brawl broke out leading to the a DQ. After the bell, Bailey and Charlotte cleared the ring. Bailey then went after Charlotte. Charlotte fought back. Three referees separated them. Albert said Bailey finally snapped.
WINNERS: No contest in 6:00.
(WK Reax: Good set-up for the Fatal Four-way.)
-Devin Taylor interviewed Finn Balor backstage about the buzz building over his facing Hideo Itami next week. He said he knew he would eventually face him, but he didn’t think it’d be this soon. Itami walked in and said he was the one who brought him into NXT and if he has to he will take him out. [c]
-Taylor interviewed Emma about returning to NXT next week. She said things didn’t work out as she had planned in WWE, so now it’s time for a fresh start in NXT against Carmella. She seemed emotional talking about coming back to NXT.
(4) BARON CORBIN vs. BULL DEMPSEY – No. Contender’s Tournament.
Not much to this as Corbin again scored a quick and decisive win over Dempsey. Corbin splashed Dempsey in the corner, punched him from the floor, and back in the ring gave him the End of Days for the pin.
WINNER: Corbin at 1:40.
(WK Reax: After the build up, it’s hard to fully grasp why they gave Corbin such one-sided wins over Bull other than to establish how much more of a priority building Corbin is compared to Dempsey, which is fine. Corbin faces Neville next week in a potential big test of where Corbin is as a worker.)
-Philips plugged the contract signing up next. [c]
-Backstage as Taylor interviewed Corbin about facing Neville next week, Dempsey walked in and told him he got lucky twice. He said it won’t happen again. Corbin shoved him away with a pie-face to the jaw. Dempsey looked upset, but just made a face and didn’t react otherwise
-William Regal stood mid-ring in front of a table where a contract rested. Sami Zayn came out first. Then out came Owens. They stood on opposite ends of the table. Regal said if either man touches the other, he will cancel their match at NXT Takeover. Regal asked Zayn to sign the contract. After signing it, he looked over at Owens as Regal pushed the contact his way. Owens just stared at Zayn tapping his fingers on the table. Zayn told him there’s a mic in front of him, so he can just stare at him or tell him and the people why he did what he did. “Sure, act like the last 12 years didn’t exist,” Zayn said. He said they started in Montreal and took it all over the world fighting with each other and against each other. He said maybe he should have seen this coming, but truth is he didn’t. He said they know that everything they did out there was “all about ending up here.” An “NXT!” chant broke out. He said he never thought on a night like R-Evolution when they both arrived that he would do that. He said at Takeover he’s going to beat the hell out of him.
Owens pointed at the contract and said that it says non-title match. He said regardless of what Zayn may think, what he did wasn’t personal, it was business. He said he’ll fight for anyone and everyone, but he fights for a prize. He said if he wins the title, it means a better life for him, his wife, and his two children. He said until it says NXT Championship match, he’s not signing it. Regal said he explained quite clearly to him that it was a non-title match. Zayn interrupted and told Regal he has to make it a championship match. Zayn said he knows Owens and he won’t do it unless it is a title match. He said it’s also what he wants and what the fans want. He asked the crowd. They cheered. The crowd yelled “Yes! Yes!” as the pressure mounted on Regal. Regal wrote an addendum on the contract making it a title match. Then Zayn re-signed the contract. Then Owens did. Regal looked unhappy he was pressured into the compromise. Owens signed it and flung his pen at Zayn. Regal was still mad.
(WK Reax: I cannot tell you in words how nice it was not to hear the phrase “best for business” in this segment. The match wasn’t booked because it would make money for the corporation, it was booked because these guys want to fight and the heel used his leverage to make it match for the title because having a wrestler’s quest for a title, rather than corporate profit, be what drives NXT wrestlers is much more relatable to viewers. Owens says more with three or four sentences and economical body language and facial expressions than other wrestlers do with three minutes of yelling at the top of their lungs or reciting a memorized speech from a full time writer.)
FINAL THOUGHTS: A very good episode of NXT start to finish. It’s so nice to watch a show that isn’t pathetically scared the entire hour that people might tune out if they aren’t yelling, promising to kill someone, threatening to fire someone, talking about what’s best for business, being dominated by a heel faction or heel authority figures, and instead centers around authentic wrestlers battling for titles and pride inside a narrative structure that makes sense led by a G.M. whose primary goal is to provide an even playing field so wrestlers to find out who is the best amongst themselves.
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s NXT Hit List: Oba Femi vs. Eddy Thorpe for the NXT Championship, Tony D’Angelo vs. Ridge Holland for the NXT North American Championship, Wes Lee vs. Dion Lennox
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.