WWE NXT Review 11/27/13
We kick off this week’s edition of NXT with Yoshi Tatsu taking on Antonio Cesaro. Makes sense for two of your best pure wrestlers in WWE to show up on your developmental show. Yup, brilliant WWE at its finest. Cesaro tries to intimidate Byron Saxton(ring announcer) before the match. He puts his hand around his throat and William Regal comes out for the save. Looks like a potentially great match in the future for Cesaro and Regal.
Cesaro defeats Tatsu after swinging him around forever and the nailing the neutralizer for the three count as he stares at William Regal.
^Excellent match from these two. Like I said before, there’s absolutely no reason for either of these guys to be on NXT. **1/2 only because it was too short.
Bo Dallas is interviewed backstage but it’s interrupted by CJ Parker. Parker mentions that they have a match tonight. Dallas continues to act goofy and it’s just as annoying as ever.
Dallas defeats Parker in a very short match.
^Good match to show why Dallas is the champion. Parker looked average here, but not excellent as William Regal described. I’m okay with the semi-squash as long as it’s the only one on the card. *
Emmas is interviewed backstage and says she sustained some head injuries when she was attacked by the BFFs. Paige interrupts her and talks about them finally facing off for her title. British ladies verbally sparring; I love it!
Tyler Breeze defeats Kassius Ohno with a fast spinning heel kick(called the beauty shot) after Ohno is attacked by Alexander Russev before the match starts.
^Awful. Dud. Doesn’t even deserve recognition. Ohno and Breeze could give us a great match any day of the week and instead we get this.
We have some Divas backstage. Bayley wants to talk to Charlotte but Summer Rae just ridicules her. Bayley says we’ll see who the loser is in the tag match and says she does have friends. Good storyline development for the divas, but it’s starting to feel like there is too much happening in one show.
Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn are interviewed backstage about their match tonight. The men formerly known as Pac and El Generico had the best wrestling match I’ve ever witnessed in Pro Wrestlin Guerrilla and have had matches in a ton of indy promotions. I can’t wait to see what they produce tonight! They exchange words with respect but still try to one up each other a bit. Great segment.
Hunico and Camacho defeat the Ascension in a non-title match.
^Not sure what the point of this was, but it looks like Hunico and Camacho are being made to look like legitimate threats to the titles. Three super short matches in one card with a solid opener ALL taking place before the main event? It’s just too much so far.
Bo Dallas joins commentary for the main event. Listening to him talk with Renee Young during the excellent wrestling makes me want to shoot myself in the foot. Neville wins a competitive match with the red arrow(corkscrew splash). They hug after the match when Zayn kicks away Neville’s hand for the shake and then embraces him instead.
^While this wasn’t the insane high flying sort of match loaded with spots that I’ve seen before, it was still a ***1/2 match no problem. Just an excellent performance from these top developmental stars.
^While the show was a bit overloaded, the opener and the main event made this a 7/10 show for me. NXT continues to produce awesome content!
WWE Main Event Review 11/27/13
Alberto Del Rio goes one on one with Dolph Ziggler. Del Rio wins in just under fourteen minutes with the cross armbreaker after he counters a fameasser attempt with a powerbomb.
^Two former World Champions stealing the show this week? Mmmmmmyup. What a match! Easily a *** performance loaded with action and fast paced storytelling. Ziggler just blows my mind when it comes to his ability to sell a beating and Del Rio’s ability to make himself look like a destructive heel is just unmatched when mixed with overall in ring ability.
Damien Sandow takes on Santino Marella. Sandow squashes Santino in less than three minutes.
^It’s sad that two of my favorite performers and two of WWE’s most charismatic personalities n the roster are so ill-used, but at least they had some air time for us to be reminded that they still exist. It’s too bad Sandow isn’t challenging for a World Title again soon.
Fandango and Kofi Kingston have the final match of the night. Kofi wins a back and forth match with trouble in paradise.
^Two more of my better liked wrestlers on the roster closed out the show with a solid performance. Nice way to end the show.
One great match, one good match and one squash match. Call it a 6.5/10 so I can make it look like I’m not leaning too much in the positive direction(I HATE squash matches despite them being a normal part of wrestling).
Thanks for reading!
WWE Smackdown Review 11/29/13
Vickie Guerrero addresses the wrestlers backstage and says we are going to have a food eating contest. It’s chaos and then we go to the arena.
Mark Henry w/Big E. Langston goes one on one with Curtis Axel w/Ryback. Henry defeats Axel with the world’s strongest slam.
^Short and sweet, just like the tag match we saw on Raw. Too short to be memorable.
Brodus Clay is angry with Xavier Woods for stealing his girls. He shoves Woods. Truth and Sweet T try to stop Brodus from being so angry. Interesting to see good guys having issues.
Renee Young interviews Randy Orton in the middle of the ring. Orton says he wasn’t knocked out at the Survivor Series and that he was playing possum. Renee Young asks Orton if he felt betrayed by the authority when they booked the TLC match with John Cena. He walks away from the interview.
^Are we supposed to be intrigued by this new persona of Orton? Well, I’m not. In fact, it’s downright stupid. We’ve seen every side of Orton possible; he isn’t versatile enough as an actor to pull off anything new. Just let the guy wrestle!
Vickie throws AJ and Tamina out of her party when they try to crash it. Titus and Khali are still competing in the food eating contest when Khali passes out. Titus is declared the winner. Vickie says he won the right to compete against Antonio Cesaro tonight. Titus looks like he’s going to puke. Funny stuff!
The 3MB come to the ring as the Plymouth Rockers(using the Rocker’s old music). It’s a six man tag and they’re taking on El Torito with the Los Matadores. The Matadores double team McIntyre for the win.
^Not much of a match. The Matadores aren’t getting over whatsoever. The gimmick isn’t entertaining to me in any form, but at least these guys can wrestle.
We’re 25% of the way through the show and this is what we’ve seen so far. What would you be thinking if you were me? I’m thinking it can only get better!
Truth and Woods take on Tons of Funk. Brodus pins Woods in under two minutes with a splash from the middle rope.
^The story here is that the veteran showed his angry side and might be turning heel. The reality is that this was a joke for being too short and a waste of my time.
CM Punk is interviewed by Renee Young. He says he hasn’t heard from Daniel Bryan, has severely bruised ribs and has no idea why the Shield attacked him in the first place. He implies that they were acting on orders of the authority. Good short promo from Punk.
A Wyatt Family promo is shown. Bray is super creepy. Too bad they’re becoming implied stooges for the authority rather than being an independent entity.
Antonio Cesaro defeats Titus O’Neil by DQ when Darren Young stops the big swinging spin so O’Neil doesn’t get sick. O’Neil pukes in JBL’s hat after the match and everyone sells how gross it is. O’Neil then dumps the hat on Cole. Cole sells it despite there being no actual puke. O’Neil “pukes” on Zeb Colter next.
^More pointless crap, but maybe it will eventually lead to the Real Americans and the PTP in some good matches. Family entertainment, eh?
We get a long Raw rebound of the FULL main event from Raw. Yup, this actually happened.
Cody Rhodes and Goldust defend the Tag Team Titles against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns of the Shield. Dean Ambrose does commentary during the match(I LOVE listening to Dean talk). Rhodes tries to pin Rollins after cross-rhodes and Dean Ambrose breaks up the pin to cause a DQ.
CM Punk comes out after the match with a steel chair and takes out Roman Reigns as the crowd chants CM Punk. Vickie Guerrero interrupts on the tron and makes this a six man tag team match right now.
^That tag match was LOADED with action and now we get a six man tag? THIS is wrestling!
The Wyatt Family comes out to watch the six man tag as it goes on. The Wyatts get involved and cause a DQ. The Usos comes down for the save as everyone brawls around the ring. Rey Mysterio joins the party. Vickie Guerrero comes out and makes this a twelve man tag now.
^Now this is getting ridiculous. Why not feature a bunch of matches rather than restarting the original match?
Punk hits a GTS on Rowan to win the twelve man tag and close out the show.
^It was a lot of action here, but the chaos of it all seemed like a bit much. Solid main event(or three) overall.
The only match worth watching was the one that was changed twice. The rest of the show flopped. Call it four out of ten with the ONE match worth watching ending the show. Thanks for reading!
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