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 WWE NXT TV REPORT
MARCH 18, 2015
COLUMBUS, OHIO AT LC PAVILION
AIRED ON WWE NETWORK
-The show opened with a video intro on NXT invading the Arnold Sports Festival featuring fan tryouts, autograph signings, and an NXT TV event.
-They announced Kevin Owens vs. Alex Riley and Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss.
-The NXT opening aired. Then Rich Brennan introduced the show as the camera panned the larger venue than the usual Full Sail University setting.
(1) TYLER BREEZE vs. KALISTO
Brennan said this is the first time they’ve taken NXT on the road outside of Florida. Albert said this traveling puts a smile on his face because they can bring NXT to the fans so they can see the Superstars up close and personal. When Kalisto did a springboard dive toward Breeze, Breeze caught him with a kick and got a two count. [c]
Breeze caught Kalisto mid-backflip with a Super Model Kick. Albert said Breeze was getting frustrated. The crowd chanted “That was gorgeous!” A minute later Kalisto landed his 450 splash for a near fall. Kalisto landed a kick and set up his SDS, but Breeze countered with a Beauty Shot for the win.
WINNER: Breeze at 7:50.
(WK Reax: Very good TV match. Kalisto showed off his flash. Breeze’s personality was over with the virgin NXT crowd.)
-A long video package aired on the Kevin Owens’s feuds with Finn Balor and Alex Riley.
(WK Reax: It’s got to feel nice for NXT producers to be able to put together a show without worrying about viewers’ short attention spans as much as shows on commercial TV do. There’s a more relaxed pace to the show including the video packages where you don’t feel jerked around from one quick thing to another. A good length video package like that sets up the main event, but might have had pressure to be shorter on a commercial TV show.)
-Backstage Alexa Bliss talked about her match later against Sasha Banks. She said she’s excited tons how Columbus, Ohio fans what she’s all about. She said she is gunning for Banks’s NXT Title.
-Brennan threw to a video package on the Arnold Sports Festival with NXT participation interacting with fans. It also included Triple H receiving his award, with an introduction from Arnold Schwarzenegger. He shared the stage with World Champion Powerlifter Ed Coan, Kickboxing Champion Don “The Dragon” Wilson, 8 Time Ms. Olympia Lenda Murray, Martial Artist Michael Jai White, and World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Evander Holyfield. He encouraged everyone to inspire kids so in 20 years they have a stage of award recipients who will speak of being inspired by them. A clip aired of Ric Flair addressing the fans from the ring before the NXT matches began. Then a clip aired of Hulk Hogan saying Owens’s NXT belt would look around his waist. Triple H said NXT isn’t a developmental brand anymore, it’s just a brand. He said the fans knew who these wrestlers were when they got there.
-They did a video package on NXT in Cleveland, Ohio at Agora Theater. “As a brand, this is a really cool night,” Triple H said. Various NXT wrestlers talked about how exciting it was to take the show outside of Florida. Hunter started reading Jeff Jarrett’s Twitter feed: “The future is what you make it!” and that type of thing. Corey Graves said he thinks the future is bright for NXT as a touring brand and it might expand globally.
(WK Reax: The idea of NXT getting big enough to tour nationally, or even globally, and make a profit or at least break even would be great for WWE and the industry. It would create more jobs for wrestlers, who would hopefully benefit from getting paid good full time incomes as a result and not be treated like interns working for peanuts. The downside is that a developmental territory is supposed to be a place to somewhat quietly develop your skills and your gimmick so when it’s ripe, you can show it to the large national Raw audience. If NXT is big enough to draw around the country, it means NXT ceases to be a developmental territory and simply becomes a second touring brand, sort of like during the Raw/Smackdown brand split era. In this case, though, NXT is a separate vision without Vince McMahon’s meddling and Kevin Dunn imposing his strict vision of how pro wrestling should be presented. That’s better than the Raw/Smackdown brand split. However, WWE would basically need to start a third brand that was an actual developmental system that could help green wrestlers develop under the radar.)
-They went backstage to Riley warming up. Balor walked up to him and said he has Owens next week and he’ll be watching the match like a hawk. Riley said he’s going to humiliate Owens and there won’t be a tomorrow. Balor told him not to overlook him. He said they haven’t seen Adrian Neville since he faced Owens. He said if he overlooks him, there will be no tomorrow.
(2) COLIN CASSADY (w/Enzo Amore, Carmela) vs. WESLEY BLAKE (w/Buddy Murphy)
Before the match Enzo did some mic work. He said Arnold likes to pump iron, whereas they like to pump fists. Cassady said Wesley Blake better pump the breaks because he is about to run into a road block. Cassady vowed they’d be the next NXT Tag Team Champions. The crowd popped.
(WK Reax: The crowd ate up Enzo’s schtick like they’d been watching him every week on TV. They talked word-for-word right along with him. That had to thrill everyone backstage, and especially Enzo and Cassady.)
Cassady led the crowd in chants and they chanted right along with him every step of the way. He got in most of the offense. In the end, Murphy distracted him on the ring apron as he signaled for his finisher. Cassady gave Murphy a big boot, but then Blake shoved Cassady into Carmella on the ring apron, then schoolboyed Cassady for the win.
WINNER: Blake at 2:55.
-Enzo checked on Carmella at ringside. She was clutching her ankle. Cassady joined them. Enzo didn’t seem be blaming Cassady for the mishap.
-Brennan said they’d show a clip of Dana Brooke at the Sports Festival, saying she is ready to make an impact in the NXT Women’s Division.
(WK Reax: Unfortunately, he called her a “rising NXT Diva.” The term “Diva” is so demeaning to women wrestlers. Maybe it seemed acceptable when WWE was drafting women in those ridiculous modeling contests on Raw and Smackdown, but on NXT it just doesn’t work for actual women wrestlers who should be called Superstars just like the men. The term Superstar is not gender specific.)
-They aired clips of Dana posing with fellow female bodybuilders on the stage. Then the screen said, “Coming Soon to NXT.”
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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(3) SASHA BANKS vs. ALEXA BLISS
The crowd battle-chanted “Sasha’s Ratchet! / No She’s Not!” Albert said he doesn’t even know what the term means. Corey Graves said, “I’d have thought you had more information in that massive dome of yours.” (Urban Dictionary says it’s basically a diva from an urban settings who believes she’s every man’s eye candy, but has an inflated sense of herself.)
Bliss took Banks down and rammed her head into the mat a few times, then scored an early two count. Banks knocked Bliss into the corner turnbuckle to take over control. Banks settled into a cobra lock on the mat, then bent her back-first over her knee. Bliss made a comeback and landed the Bliss Flip for a two count at 3:00. A sunset flip out of the corner was good for another two count. She dropkicked Banks out of the ring. Bliss dove onto her at ringside. She threw some hard elbows from a mount position. Banks surprised Bliss with a catapult into the edge of the ring. Banks lifted Bliss and trash-talked her, then Bliss shoved her into the ringpost and returned to the ring. The ref counted out Banks, so Bliss got the countout win.
WINNER: Bliss at 3:55.
-Backstage Kevin Owens said he is going to make Alex Riley wish he never quit his cushy announcing job. He said he understands why he is making a comeback to try to prove he can still do it, but the truth is he can’t, “not against someone like me, not at this level.” He said as far as Balor goes, next week is the week everyone’s been waiting for because he can’t wait to take him out and show that no one is taking the NXT Title away from him and his family. [c]
-Backstage Bliss was elated speaking about beating the NXT Women’s Champ. Banks walked in and said she never pinned her. William Regal walked in and said there’s easily one way to settle it. He set up Banks defending her title next week against Bliss. Banks said, “Are you kidding me?” Bliss said, “Get ready, Sasha.” [c]
(4) KEVIN OWENS vs. ALEX RILEY
Riley was as jacked as I’ve ever seen him, but has that look of someone who has to work harder than ever to stay toned. He banged on the ringside stepson tried to get the crowd going. He was very intense, but the crowd seemed more into Owens’s ring entrance when he came out next. Owens entered the ring and taunted Riley and made faces at him with the ref between them. Great way to build intensity out of the gate. Graves said the NXT Universe sounds pro-Kevin Owens. Owens took control early and took Riley down with a headbutt. Riley came back with a dropkick and a flying elbow in the corner. Owens caught his leg on a kick attempt and threw him hard into the corner. Next came a running cannonball in the corner. The crowd loudly chanted, “Kill, Owens, Kill!”
Owens settled into a chinlock. Albert said Owens says he does this for family, but he really does it because he’s sadistic and he enjoys beating people up. They cut to a wide shot of the nice crowd. Owens said, “I can stay here all night” as he lay on the mat with Riley in a chinlock. Owens got up and kicked and taunted Riley. Riley threw a forearm at him. Owens tumbled through the ropes and to the ring apron. Riley avoided a cannonball in the corner and then gave Owens a spinebuster for a near fall at 4:00. Owens avoided a cross body block by Riley. Owens senton splashed Owens twice and then tossed Riley to the floor. He threw him into the security fence at ringside twice. He gave him a pop-up power bomb for the win. When the ref came over to raise Owens’s arm, Owens yanked the belt out of the ref’s hands and held it up toward the crowd.
WINNER: Owens at 6:11.
(WK Reax: Riley put up a spirited fight, which made Owens’s win at the end mean more.)
-As Owens left the ring, he grabbed Riley at ringside and set up a move on the floor. Finn Balor’s music played and he walked out and shoot his finger at Owens. Albert said Balor is a man who fights for honor. Owens dropped Riley and mouthed toward Riley. When Owens turned back to Riley, Balor leaped off the entrance stage onto Owens. He sent Owens into the ringside steps. An “NXT!” chant broke out. Balor hit Owens with a running dropkick. When he climbed to the top rope, Owens fled the ring. The announcers hyped that next week’s show would headline with Balor vs. Owens.
(WK Reax: Owens continues to project a strong nonchalant arrogance that is unmatched in the industry. His body language and stride and pace to everything he does exudes a nasty confidence. Good set-up for next week’s show.)
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