B. Patrick
WWE NXT – 09/18/2013
The opening video seems to have updated again, now removing people less likely to appear, such as Big E Langston and Bray Wyatt.
Sami Zayn makes his way out first to open the actual show.
Curt Hawkins comes out next as Tom Phillips and Alex Riley point out that Hawkins was the victim in Sami Zayn’s debut match.
Sami Zayn vs. Curt Hawkins
The two lock up to start the match, as we hear how Hawkins went to Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger for advice on taking down “The Rookie” Zayn.
Hawkins locks up Zayn but Sami reverses it as the crowd begins their first “Ole” chant.
Hawkins kicks Zayn in the corner, whips him and Zayn jumps over him before going onto a series of hip tosses and twirling arm drags.
The announcers heavily put over how amazing Zayn is, gushing over him in ways I haven’t really heard for others. Hopefully this means more big things are to come, whether it is getting the championship in the brewing feud with Dallas or getting brought up to the main roster.
Zayn applies a chinlock on Hawkins but Hawkins breaks free. He tries to go for a slam but Zayn counters and both men counters the moves of each other until Hawkins finally nails a body slam for a near fall.
Hawkins gets another quick pin attempt before trying to choke Sami in the ropes. He delivers a crushing kick to Sami for another failed pin attempt before going for another chinlock.
The crowd starts rallying Zayn but Hawkins runs the ropes and knocks him down. As the former WWE Tag Team Champion taunts the crowd, Sami nails him in the jaw.
Hawkins backs off into the ropes but lures Sami in. He yells and smashes Zayn headfirst in the ringpost from the apron. Sami is laying on the mat outside while Hawkins tries to compose himself in the ring going into a commercial break.
The match resumes with Hawkins in control in the ring. Hawkins drops an elbow on the fallen Zayn and applies another chinlock.
As Sami gets free, both men nail a double clothesline and the ref begins a ten count. Both men to their feet and twice in a row they slug each other at the same time. Zayn finally nails a big clothesline to speed up the tempo again.
Sami misses a big boot in the corner but he is able to get up top and nail a picture perfect crossbody onto Hawkins for a two count.
Sami tries to plot his next move as Hawkins, who has gear somewhat mirroring AJ Styles these days, nails a Pele Kick on Zayn. Sami sells it uniquely and we get a replay as Curt nails a Impaler style DDT on Zayn, who the announcers are now dubbing as “The Natural”.
Zayn gets to the corner, Hawkins charges but Sami delivers a big boot. Hawkins is able to go for another big move but Zayn kicks out. Curt looks frustrated and he begins throwing his wristpads and gloves at a downed Sami’s head.
Zayn gets to his feet and pummels Hawkins until Curt throws a knee. Sami comes back with a big boot and is able to smoothly transition into his tornado DDT for the victory.
Winner: Sami Zayn
The announcers were really pushing new nicknames and phrases tonight. We will see what lies in his future.
Match graphic for tonight’s main event 8 man tag – Tag Team Champions Adrian Neville and Corey Graves team with Xavier Woods and CJ Parker to take on the team of The Ascension, Leo Kruger and Tyler Breeze.
Byron Saxton introduces Aiden English.
English comes out and channels Big Dave Batista and asks for Spotlight, Please.
Aiden talks about being the only true artist to crossover into this business and BEGINS TO SING! He sings along to a piano riffing off Modern Major General with his own lyrics about bringing the E back into WWE and wow, Aiden English singing, if it becomes regular, could become a favorite of mine.
Aiden English vs. Michael Cuellari
I don’t know if I got his opponent’s name right. They never gave him a formal introduction. A-Ry is singing Aiden’s song, which is awesome.
He had been a victim of a few squashes before but English is on fire tonight. He blows kisses to the crowd and drops a glorious leg drop on his opponent.
He grabs his opening, yells about taking a bow and hits a nice finisher.
Winner: Aiden English
No music. Aiden gets the mic, asks for the spotlight. He says he decided to give an encore and the crowd loses it.
It was so good and regular Hulu has it for you to watch immediately!
Bo Dallas cheeses it up with Bo phrases on a phone call when Renee Young approaches him. Renee talks about Sami’s win over Curt Hawkins and asks if Dallas is ready to defend his title. Bo says it was a nifty win but when did Curt Hawkins win a match last? He tells us that Sami needs to win a significant match not for Bo’s sake but for his own. He tells Renee he has to go to a ribbon cutting ceremony and sings “Don’t Stop Bo-Lieving” and takes off.
Another graphic for the 8-man tag main event, which is up next.
Tyler Breeze comes out first and I dream of him, Aiden English and Fandango becoming the greatest stable of all-time.
Leo Kruger is crouching on stage for his entrance.
Rick Victor and Conor O’Brian enter next to round out their team, as we hear about The Ascension being the most cohesive team in the business and the Number One Contenders.
Xavier Woods comes out dancing first for his team. He does some twirls and struts before signaling that he will stand on the ramp until his teammates arrive.
CJ Parker comes out dancing next to officially be the most out of place individual in this match. Alex Riley starts talking about doing his Top 5, a la Booker T. Riley mentions Parker would be a lock with Aiden English.
Corey Graves makes his way out next, the first of the tag team champions. Followed by Adrian Neville, who seemingly has either dubbed or new music that is more generic and less interesting.
Tyler Breeze, Leo Kruger & The Ascension vs. Xavier Woods, CJ Parker & NXT Tag Team Champions Corey Graves and Adrian Neville
All men stare down each other in the ring and we get a post-ring entrance, pre-match commercial break.
The bell rings upon return from break and Neville opens the match against Victor. Riley talks about how these matches are expected to go long while Phillips puts over a weight difference in the matchup.
The face team gets Victor in their corner and Neville tags to Graves, who tags to Parker, who tags to Woods with a succession of tandem offense. They work over Victor’s arm but as the transition back to Neville happens, Victor sends him to the corner of his team and brings in Leo Kruger.
Kruger gets some slight offense before he finds himself in the corner again, meeting everyone on the other team. Neville to Parker to Woods to Graves. Graves takes a little more time as Riley compares him to the Joker in a card deck but we get more quick tags in this eight-man showcase than I can keep up with.
Graves and Kruger start having an actual match and the crowd gets a little more excited as Graves grounds Kruger.
Graves is sent into the other corner and the biggest man in the match, Conor O’Brian, comes in. The whole team hits Graves and Conor tries delivering some offense over some heavy “WE WANT BREEZE” chants.
O’Brian tags Kruger back in, who brings Victor in, as the crowd is going nuts for Breeze to get in.
Victor brings back Kruger. Seeing the wide variety of characters in this match, I get the feel of an early 1990s Survivor Series match up, which makes me happy.
Speaking of the early 90s, Xavier Woods finds himself in the ring and shouts “It’s Morphin Time”, as he goes at Kruger who scoots out of the ring.
The baddies group on the outside as the faces jump, dive and slide to knock them all out, as we go to another commercial break.
We get a split screen showing O’Brian cheating to tie up Xavier Woods, only to get Woods caught on the wrong end of a Leo Kruger spinebuster, which explains why Woods is suffering at the hands of his opponents.
Remember how A-Ry called The Ascension the best team in the business during intros? Phillips questions if their self-proclaiming #1 Contender status is something they deserve.
Breeze finally gets tagged in and the crowd loses it! To make things better, Woods hits him once and he tags right back out. As he winces on the apron and Kruger applies a chinlock to Woods, the crowd chants “THAT WAS AWESOME”.
Woods struggles to get to his corner but collapses back before he makes it. As Kruger locks down Woods, the crowd tries starting a “WE WANT BREEZE” chant again.
Woods breaks free but receives some kicks from Woods.
Breeze tagged back in and the crowd goes nuts again with an overwhelming Breeze chant.
Breeze hits a few moves but as Woods gets a tiny hit in, Breeze scrambles like a maniac to get out of the ring and bring O’Brian back in the match.
O’Brian wraps up Woods in a submission and starts nailing him with fists before Breeze comes back in to another ovation.
He goes for a suplex. Blocked. Suplex attempt. Blocked again. Woods nails a suplex on Breeze and as he rolls around in pain, the crowd chants “No!”. Both men tag out, bringing in CJ Parker and Conor O’Brian.
Parker starts dominating O’Brian and he hits some knees to the chest for a pin that gets broken by Rick Victor.
Graves takes out Victor and brawl on the outside while Conor hits a power move on Parker. Neville breaks the count but gets tossed out of the ring by Kruger.
O’Brian hits some big moves on Parker and Breeze tags himself into the match for an unsuccessful pin attempt.
Parker smacks Breeze in the face and Breeze starts stumbling. His teammates all abandon him. Terrible.
CJ Parker hits a big move on Breeze, who was shouting for his teammates. The crowd chants “NOT THE FACE” while Woods nails a Lost in the Woods.
Woods brings in Graves who delivers a huge blow to the knee before tagging in Neville who hits the Red Arrow for the victory.
Winners: Xavier Woods, CJ Parker, Corey Graves & Adrian Neville
The winning team all celebrate in the ring while Breeze lays in the ring lifeless. A few highlights from the match air, the tag team champions receive their titles and all four victorious men pose for a photo above the helpless model, Tyler Breeze, to close the show.
NXT Win/Loss Totals (as of 5/15/2013)
Paige 5-0
Charlotte 3-0
AJ Lee 1-0
Roman Reigns 1-0
Seth Rollins 1-0
Sheamus 1-0
Jack Swagger 1-0
Dolph Ziggler 1-0
Bo Dallas 5-1
Erick Rowan 5-1
Emma 4-1
Big E Langston 4-1
Xavier Woods 4-1
Bray Wyatt 4-1
Tyler Breeze 3-1
Luke Harper 5-2
Mason Ryan 5-2
Conor O’Brian 4-2
Garrett Dylan 2-1
CJ Parker 2-1
Adrian Neville 5-3
Antonio Cesaro 4-3
Leo Kruger 4-3
Corey Graves 5-5
Colin Cassidy 2-2
Rick Victor 2-2
Dean Ambrose 1-1
Enzo Amore 2-3
Summer Rae 2-3
Sami Zayn 4-6
Scott Dawson 3-6
Alicia Fox 1-2
Kassius Ohno 1-2
Alexander Rusev 1-2
Bayley 1-3
Aiden English 1-3
Curtis Axel 0-1
Audrey Marie 0-1
Andy Baker 0-1
Derrick Bateman 0-1
Michael Cuellari 0-1
Dante Dash 0-1
Sawyer Fulton 0-1
Ron Hicks 0-1
Natalya 0-1
Briley Pierce 0-1
William Regal 0-1
Sakamoto 0-1
Damien Sandow 0-1
Tamina Snuka 0-1
Yoshi Tatsu 0-1
Brandon Travern 0-1
Michael Zaki 0-1
Aksana 0-2
Danny Burch 0-2
Jake Carter 0-2
Baron Corbin 0-2
Angelo Dawkins 0-2
Curt Hawkins 0-2
Travis Tyler 0-2
Sasha Banks 0-3
Mickey Keegan 0-3
