B. Patrick
WWE NXT – 07/31/2013
The intro that sparked some controversy this week is up. For those unaware, Kassius Ohno was pulled from the intro video and replaced with Tyler Breeze. Big E, who I would doubt comes back, is still in the video.
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy come out on the microphone. I guess they are making Cassidy is doing the Jersey accent now too. William Regal still wants to know if Enzo is DDP’s love child. I love you William Regal.
While these two ramble about things I could care less about, SOMEBODY CALL MY MAMA hits and Tons of Funk (minus the Total Diva Funkadactyls come out).
Tensai and Brodus are wearing WWE Performance Center shirts and dancing.
The Jersey guys start acting like they are too good for this and YES YES YES MASON RYAN!
Mason’s music hits and he scares them into the ring.
Tons of Funk just destroys the two and splash them.
THE WELSH WIZARD enters the ring and destroys Amore. Mason starts to leave AND TONS OF FUNK WANTS MASON TO DANCE! YES YES YES YES YES YES!
As Ryan starts to turn it down, Regal says he may have a past in raves like @RealKingRegal does.
MASON DANCES! END THE SHOW IT WON’T BE TOPPED! WELSH WIZARD DINO DANCING!
GM Dusty Rhodes is in his seldom seen office congratulating Emma and new Women’s Champion Paige on their match last week. As Paige holds her belt, Summer Rae interrupts saying these two are a joke, she is the First Lady of NXT and she should be handed the belt. This segment highlights that Summer and Paige should be on the top of the main roster’s Divas.
Emma, who still has room to grow, mocks Summer’s dancing and Summer challenges her to a dance off later. Dusty is unsure of the situation but Emma accepts if it is a dance battle. She starts shouting, Dusty starts shouting, Summer is yelling, and Paige tells them all to shut up because regardless of dancing, whomever faces her in the ring will lose. Hells yeah.
Match graphic for tonight’s International Warfare bout – NXT Champion Bo Dallas teaming with “Not El Generico” Sami Zayn versus The Swiss Superman Antonio Cesaro and #1 Contender Leo Kruger.
Tony Dawson and William Regal hype the dance off briefly before the Daughter of the Nature Boy, Charlotte, comes to the ring. For those who haven’t seen NXT but watched the Total Divas premiere, Charlotte was actually the girl working with Nattie in the ring as Jim Neidhart watched on at the start of the show.
They show a recap of her debut victory and the Diva with the most porn sounding name, Sasha Banks, comes to the ring.
Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks
Sasha grabs Charlotte in a headlock early on. While Dawson rambles about the WWE Performance Center, Regal changes the topic to focus on the actual match. Did I say already I love Regal?
Some guy in the crowd tries to start a We Want Emma chant as Sasha continues to roll around the mat with Charlotte in holds to a mostly quiet crowd.
Charlotte really works her gymnastics in, as soon as she is free, it is flips and twists. She did her little Charlotte’s Web signature roll-up spot.
Banks regains control and goes back to the crowd-killing submission work. I don’t like pointing out crowd reactions or sounding like I am ripping on performances as even the worst is doing things I could never do… but this is the most quiet I have ever heard this Full Sail Crowd, which is odd because these girls are doing fairly solid work.
Charlotte does some leaping offense from the corner and her flipping facebuster type finish.
Winner: Charlotte
Renee Young finds Tyler Breeze backstage. AS she talks to him, he is still posing for his own cellphone. He describes his debut as amazing, magnificent, breath-taking. Then settles on it was just like him, gorgeous.
As he starts talking about what is going on and so focused on himself, the interview starts getting photo-bombed by CJ Parker. Parker jumps around and waves in the background. He walks away, pops back up with his dreadlock as a mustache.
Tyler ends up ripping on Renee and ending the interview. I figured the photo-bombing wrestler, who I assumed was Parker, would’ve stuck up for Renee or triggered a match… nope. Just random. I guess to show how focused on himself Tyler was, despite being clear that he wouldn’t look at Renee Young.
A creepy Wyatt promo airs.
The all-star team of Mickey Keegan and Aiden English are back in the ring. We know how well it went for these two last.
The lights go out.
This time it is Bray lighting the lantern to crazy applause from the Full Sail Crowd. They are doing a Wyatt chant.
The Wyatts debut their main roster entrance on this show and I expect this to be even shorter for the Keegan/English tandem then their last appearance getting destroyed by the Ascension.
Mickey Keegan & Aiden English vs. The Wyatt Family
Harper and Rowan appear in the ring seeking Bray’s approval, who nods his head from the rocking chair.
The two monsters destroy English and Keegan as the crowd goes ABSOLUTELY NUTS.
The get their finish sequence on English almost immediately and the crowd is being louder and crazy for the Wyatt trio than ever before. MAYBE THEY WILL DANCE TONIGHT TOO!
Bray hits the Sister Abigail while William Regal puts over the evilness of the group and the effects he is still suffering. The crowd is still going nuts and chanting ONE MORE TIME. Bray has to tell them to calm down and he starts doing his preaching routine about how men like Bray Wyatt change everything – today is the day hell froze and pigs fly. Bray says today is the day he decided to bring down the machine and the crowd erupts in a crazy BRING IT DOWN chant. Wyatt says that today is the day they say goodbye to NXT for now but he won’t be hard to find, look up in the sky and FOLLOW THE BUZZARDS. He sings a bit of Time is On My Side and the crowd starts a THANK YOU BRAY chant.
Corey Graves is lacing his boots as his championship partner Adrian Neville comes and sits down with him. He states that he knows Graves has a solo match against Scott Dawson tonight but he will be there for him tonight. Graves says it is simply payback for Dawson getting involved in the Wyatt beatdown on the a few weeks back. They loop this into being due to the Wyatt Family, who just said they were leaving… Neville talks about strength in numbers and Graves ensures they won’t back down.
The ring announcer is interrupted by Sylvester Lefort, who brings out Scott Dawson. Dawson is put over again and there is still no mention of Garrett Dylan.
Corey Graves makes his way out with Neville, both with their tag championships.
Scott Dawson vs. Corey Graves
Regal puts over Dawson as Arn Anderson-like again. Graves gets put over by Regal as well as Dawson takes an early advantage with Dawson as the aggressor. They point out that Graves is usually the aggressor, which takes away some of his strategy.
Now, announcer Tony Dawson starts talking about Scott Dawson but puts him over like a babyface, talking about having to support his family since he was young when his dad left home. A sense of urgency. All these noble things for the heel who is being dastardly… I don’t remember what Tony Dawson’s pre-WWE background was but he has made some weird calls on NXT and on Superstars.
Graves gets advantage back and locks in the Lucky 13 for the win.
Winner: Corey Graves
As Graves and Neville celebrate, The Shield’s music hits!
The crowd erupts and Rollins leads the way celebrating. He cuts a promo about The Shield being back. He points out the last time they were at NXT, they left Graves laying.
Dean Ambrose gets on the mic and tells Neville that he isn’t a champion – he is a thief who slid into Kassius Ohno’s spot. He didn’t earn that. An injustice punishable by The Shield.
Ambrose levies a challenge to Neville, which the crowd definitely enjoys.
Neville grabs a mic and tells Ambrose all he does is talk and he is fine with facing him. He wants it a little more interesting. He wants the US Title on the line and he wants the match RIGHT NOW.
The crowd is going crazy. The Shield chats for a second. Ambrose asks Neville if he knows who he is talking to. He points out that he is not “some NXT chump”, he is the US Champion and the best singles champion in this industry. He says they will do it… but next week.
Neville talks about how he will be the one to destroy The Shield piece by piece, brick by brick, starting with Dean and his US title next week.
Dean Ambrose does a Kevin Nash-like fake scared motion and Neville’s music hits as he and Graves stare down The Shield at the ramp.
We are told the tag main event is coming up next.
A video package airs for next week – face off week:
Ambrose vs. Neville US Championship
Summer Rae vs. Emma Dance Off
Dallas vs. Kruger NXT Championship
Leo Kruger’s music hits and as he enters, they recap him stealing the #1 Contender spot in the match against Zayn and Cesaro.
Cesaro’s music hits next and the crowd goes nuts and once again joins in on his WE THE PEOPLE. Regal points out that Cesaro is a throwback to everything that was good about this industry.
Sami Zayn out next to the enjoyment of the crowd.
Bo Dallas out next and the crowd dumps on him. The two guys in the title picture are the two the crowd cares least about. Never change.
Leo Kruger & Antonio Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn & NXT Champion Bo Dallas
The crowd gets a big NO MORE BO chant going, so Sami and Kruger start off.
The crowd does an Ole and Kruger and Zayn lock up. As Kruger tries to get control, Sami does a flipping escape.
Leo goes over to his corner but Cesaro barks instructions as he goes back to work over Zayn. Zayn gets some armdrag offense, nailing three in a row before tying up Kruger.
Bo gets a cheesy grin and tags himself in to the dismay of the crowd. Antonio Cesaro comes in and gets a babyface reaction. The crowd roars a strong WE THE PEOPLE chant.
Bo Dallas starts nailing the former US Champion with armdrags. Tony Dawson starts pointing out how the NXT Champions before Dallas were Seth Rollins and Big E Langston and how Dallas strives to be a WWE mainstay like them.
Cesaro takes advantage and doesn’t settle with punishing Bo. He nails a boot on Sami. Focusing on Zayn, Dallas nails Cesaro and both men tag out.
Kruger quickly begins stomping away on Zayn and brings Sami to the corner to get punished by Cesaro. Cesaro does a one-foot pin while doing his hand over his heart. Classic.
Zayn kicks out but continues to fall victim to the Swiss Superman. Cesaro rams Sami in the corner as we are given a commercial break.
We return for Kruger delivering a crisp snap suplex on Zayn, before Cesaro comes back in the ring.
Zayn starts trying to hit Cesaro but Antonio thrusts some knees and a huge European uppercut. Regal claims most European wrestlers use uppercuts because punches are illegal in European fighting and puts over more of Cesaro offense, as Kruger comes back in.
Zayn tries to fight his way away and Regal puts over how most singles wrestlers don’t know how to utilize a tag partner when placed in these matches, but Sami’s seasoning has kept him aware.
Kruger gets Sami back to Cesaro, who comes in and starts stomping on Sami’s head. Hard Irish Whip to the corner and Cesaro continues to pummel him.
Kruger and Cesaro continue dominating Antonio and utilizing a smart tag strategy. Sami starts to escape with a boot but Kruger catches him. Sami does like a roll up and dives to his corner to tag in the NXT Champion.
Bo starts mowing down Kruger and hits a Sliced Bread. Cesaro breaks the count.
Sami back in and takes out Antonio. Zayn and Antonio and brawling up the ramp and Kruger and Dallas are down in the ring. By default of fighting Bo, who has ironically been identified as a huge John Cena fan, the crowd chants for Kruger.
Kruger gets control and slams the champion to the mat with his Kruger Slice lariat to win the match for his team.
Winners : Leo Kruger & Antonio Cesaro
Kruger stands tall as the show comes to a close for this week
NXT Win/Loss Totals (as of 5/15/2013)
Leo Kruger 4-0
Conor O’Brian 3-0
Paige 3-0
Charlotte 2-0
Xavier Woods 2-0
Tyler Breeze 1-0
Sheamus 1-0
Rick Victor 1-0
Erick Rowan 5-1
Bo Dallas 4-1
Mason Ryan 4-1
Bray Wyatt 4-1
Emma 3-1
Big E Langston 3-1
Luke Harper 5-2
Garrett Dylan 2-1
Summer Rae 2-1
Antonio Cesaro 3-3
Adrian Neville 2-2
Alicia Fox 1-1
Corey Graves 3-4
Sami Zayn 3-4
Scott Dawson 2-4
Enzo Amore 1-2
Colin Cassidy 1-2
Kassius Ohno 1-2
Aksana 0-1
Audrey Marie 0-1
Andy Baker 0-1
Derrick Bateman 0-1
Danny Burch 0-1
Baron Corbin 0-1
Dante Dash 0-1
Sawyer Fulton 0-1
Curt Hawkins 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
Sasha Banks 0-2
Bayley 0-2
Jake Carter 0-2
Angelo Dawkins 0-2
Travis Tyler 0-2
Aiden English 0-3
Mickey Keegan 0-3
