"Who is this Jose and why is he always being denied?" :lol:

I love Graves so much.

I can't believe it but I am actually a fan of No Way Jose. Very fun gimmick, and finisher sequence. This might actually work exactly as it is on the main roster also till he becomes Santino 2016/2017.

Elias Samson was getting interesting finally and they feed him to Nakamura next week. Dunno.

Building up Nia Jax for the inevitable Jax/Asuka matchup :y:

"The Red Queen" is a top nickname, even for Eva Marie. Not sure why they are feeding her to Asuka though, unless they've completely given up on her in NXT and only keeping her for Total Divas- which I am completely ok with.

Samson and Eva Marie are my least favorite NXT people. I'm stoked to watch them both get crushed by my two favorites.

cuz she sucks and asuka is a killer. hot tho

Enzo/Cass vs Alphas was pretty good.

:lol: at Graves wondering why Jose is always getting denied if his name is No Way.

How did No Way Jose go?

Just got a notification from WWE app, Samoa Joe won the NXT Title at a live event.

I'm in on No Way Jose, dude has some charisma

Much better than I expected, and Corey Graves really sold him to the crowd and TV audience.

No Way Jose was put up against a credible looking German fella, I gave the match a chance and didn't skip any of it

Wrestling is entertainment, and No Way Jose seems entertaining. Liking him so far.

Ceiling with that gimmick is probably Santino Marella 2016 whenever he debuts on the main roster, but that's a valuable position to have.

NWJ feud or team with Fandango?

I think there a lot of main roster guys that could use a reboot on NXT. Fandango is definitely one of them.

Would love to see a 20/20 tag team with Tye Dillinger and Johnny Curtis.

No Way Jose looks and feels like a giant jobber, didn't get into it at all.

No Way Jose will probably fail because it's a goofy WWE gimmick invading NXT. Like Vince finally figured out how good NXT is and now is trying to ruin it.

Oh, I looked up him on Google images. It's that guy. He's got a pretty good look and I can see him turning heel down the line and being treated serious after he's got his foot in the door a bit. I'm not stressed right now.

Are we getting Joe vs Nakamura for the belt!? :drool:

^ probably at the Summer Slam takeover

Can't.Fucking.Wait.

Eva Marie was actually booked stronger than I expected. They are leading to Asuka/Nia Jax though.

lol one of the jobber tag team guys starting a Defense chant and it getting over on the Axxess crowd.

lol that is amazing

WWE basically spoiling all taped debuts these days.

Bayley rumored to have been seriously injured during tonight's tapings. Being speculated it might be ACL type injury although could also just be her being really good at selling an injury.




Update: Read a bit more on the Bayley rumored injury and it seems to be just a false scare since other people at the show were saying the doctor wasn't from NXT's actual medical team and instead one of the NXT wrestlers who hasn't officially debuted yet.

Oh dear.

Edit: Thanks, for the unannounced edit there, Smeat :fu:

absolutely LOVE that spoiler, I cannot wait.... the most excited I've been in awhile.....

Spoilers for the next set of tv shows:

Look like we're building towards the following June 8 Takeover card:



Cool.

I'm excited to see some of the new girls.

Feel like all those years of watching TNA paid off cause all the ones that worth a damn came over and are getting their time in the sun

NXT has a good problem. They have way too much top tier talent. Gotta advance some of them to the main roster soon I think. Gonna make their developmental guys look like shit before too long.

Roode, Aries, Young, Joe. What will they do with all of them along with Nakamura? They are loaded. How long will the likes of the Samsons and Dillingers be able to hang with that class of talent?

Dillinger is fantastic.

Good show this week, when ever Regal gets angry on the mic, you know its a good show.

Aries calling in a friend? Dirty Heels reunion?

NXT is getting closer to what I've always wanted out of a pro wrestling show...I hope they get a second hour.

Nah. The reason nxt is always fresh is because they only have one hour to fill every week.

And that would mean they would be filming twice as long when they do tapings.

Apparently Dillinger and Manny Andrade had a great match at an NXT house show. I expect him to be on television soon. The faster they can get Billie Kay and Peyton Royce out there too, the better. Fuck, just let them wrestle each other.

Saw Peyton lose at Axxcess to that New Jersey girl. Match was fairly terrible probably due to the blonde.

How loud was the 10 10 10 10 10 chant at WrestleMania on TV when Brock hit the 10th Suplex?

Saw Andrade face Chrisopher Girade (Biff Busick). He could win the whole Open.

Cool. Actually, I think Andrade winning the whole Cruiserweight Classic is probably the idea. I'd love to see it come down to him and Ibushi.

Widening it up, I'd like Zack Sabre, Jr. and Johnny Gargano in the finals too.

I really want them to bring in Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas for a match against American Alpha. Have that at the upcoming Takeover and have Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa beat The Revival in a #1 Contender's Match.

Revival are automatically the number one contenders. I'd assume the rematch was at TakeOver unless they already had it in tapings that I didn't read.

I wouldn't run it at Takeover again. Have them lose the rematch, talk about how they may not have won, but they have put tag team wrestling on the map again and they want another shot. Gargano & Ciampa have been racking up wins, the two teams agree to face each other and find out who is next in line.

Mr. Regal has announced that there is an announcement regarding the main event of Takeover coming this week. The brawl between Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and a lot of the roster in Portland had something to do with it.

The brawls where the wrestlers have to actively try to pull-apart guys always seem weird to me. It's visually impressive but I'm always left wondering why most of the wrestlers give a shit about breaking up a fight. Especially the heels.

I'm actually the same way. I think it too often makes guys feel weak. That being said, there are occasions where it has been done well. Brent Albright and Johnny Jeter in OVW, for instance.

For faces it makes more sense, because they are legitimate athletes and are potentially friends with more people -- being nice guys and all. Especially within an older school mentality.

I definitely agree that it makes some of the guys look weak by not being able to contain two men.

I think when Lesnar and Undertaker brawled last year they emphasized that Triple H basically mandated the roster to come out and intervene. But of course all of the guys they were trying to protect like Reigns, Cena, etc. were nowhere to be found.

I like it more when referees get all worked up and start running around in a panic.

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Sweet!

It's outrageous that Tye's I Am A 10 shirt isn't available. OUTRAGEOUS.

OK, not that much, but I want it.

Should be a great match as per usual between those two.

Tye's first shirt has to go on sale initially for 10.00.

Activate Bobby Roode debut sequence

First tapings of NXT were 4 years ago this week. Thought it might be interesting to look at the fates of all those involved.

The legendary Dusty Rhodes remained as the GM of NXT until September 2013, where he went up to the main roster to work a programme alongside his sons against The Shield. Dusty sadly passed away on June 11, 2015.
Woods had a rocky debut to the main roster, starting a programme with Brodus Clay that went nowhere and benefitted nobody. Woods tread water for a long time on the undercard until hooking up with Kofi Kingston, and fellow NXT Alum Big E to form The New Day. This provided another rocky start as the face team struggled to get over, before turning heel, getting over, and turning face again to become one of the hottest acts in WWE.

Ambrose, who never actually appeared on NXT TV, debuted on the main roster as part of The Shield on November 18th, 2012. The group became one of the hottest acts on the card and Ambrose became US Champion at Extreme Rules on May 19th, 2013. He became the longest running US Champion since the title came under the WWE banner with a run of of 351 days, dropping the title to Sheamus in a 20 Man Battle Royal on the May 5th, 2014 episode of Raw. Ambrose has enjoyed a main roster career towards the top of the upper-Midcard despite a run that rarely saw him pick up any big/PPV wins. He has become a 1-time Intercontinental Champion, won 5 Slammy Awards (as part of The Shield) and was booked into a headline WrestleMania feud with Brock Lesnar.

Clearly one of the guys NXT wanted to make into a star, Bo Dallas has had an up-and-down career. He made his main roster debut in the 2013 Royal Rumble eliminating IC Champ Wade Barrett, the two entered into a brief feud before Dallas went back to NXT full time. Dallas went on to become the 3rd ever NXT Champion, defeating Big E Langston on the July 12th show. He lost the title to Adrian Neville at the first NXT Takeover event in February 2014. Dallas was promoted to the main roster again in May 2014, taking his "Inspirational" gimmick with him, and establishing a 17 match winning streak. Since this time Dalllas' stock was decreased in WWE, he is currently part of the Social Outcasts, a robber faction.

Rick Victor did little in NXT until he became part of The Ascension. With his partner Conor O'Brian he became the longest running tag team champion in NXT history with a run of 364 days, losing to The Lucha Dragons at Takeover: Fatal 4-Way on September 11th, 2014. The Ascension were promoted to the main roster in December 2014. The stock plummeted from the get-go as they compared themselves favourably to the Legion of Doom, and Demolition whilst the commentators "buried" them on commentary. A quasi-faction with Stardust in September 2015 as The Cosmic Wasteland gave them a short-lived focus on the main shows before falling back down to jobber status in the months following.

Conor O'Brian was a veteran of the original NXT format who was re-invented as part of The Ascension. He teamed with Kenneth Cameron until November 30th, 2012 when Cameron was released from his contract following his arrest. He then teamed with Viktor, see above.

Cameron left the WWE on November 30th 2012 following an arrest for battery of a law enforcement officer, and disorderly intoxication. On the May 1st 2014 episode of TNA Impact he debuted as Bram. He would go on to win the King of the Mountain Championship in March 2016.

The former 2-time FCW Tag Team Champion, Parker failed to get over with the NXT crowd despite a number of tweaks to his gimmick. He asked for, and received his release from his WWE contract in March 2015. He returned to the independent wrestling scene, and now performs in NJPW as Juice Robinson.

Mike Dalton went on to reinvent himself as Tyler Breeze, a self-obsessed male model who became a cornerstone of NXT as its growth continued. Despite an inconsistent career Breeze was promoted to the main roster on the October 22, 2015 episode of SmackDown. The promotion was the emotional finale to the first season of Breaking Ground, a WWE Network show covering the progression on the guys and girls training at the Performance Centre. Breeze was quickly allowed to slide into insignificance before recently forming a team with another under-utilised talent in Fandango.

Jason Jordan was used as an occasional talent in NXT throughout its first 3 years before finding success as part of American Alpha with Chad Gable. They are one of the most over acts, and the current NXT Tag Team Champions having won the titles from The Revival at Takeover: Dallas prior to WrestleMania.

The Ballad of Damien Sandow is a sad one. He had moderate success on the main roster even winning the MITB briefcase in 2013, eventually unsuccessfully cashing in against John Cena. After an indifferent period during which Sandow mimic, he struck gold when he became the stunt double of The Miz. This brought a Tag Team Championship reign and 2 Slammy Awards, and had the live crowd rabid for Sandow to turn on Miz. However, the opportunity was squandered and Sandow was released in May of this year b
Kidd became a Tag Team Champion alongside Cesaro, and his relationship with wife Natalya was featured on Total Divas. He is currently rehabbing a career-threatening neck injury suffered in a match versus Samoa Joe in June 2015.

The NXT veteran McGillicutty was repackaged shortly after this run in NXT as Curtis Axel, with an IC Title reign following shortly after. A team with Ryback was to follow before Axel would become a "comedy jobber" and join the Social Outcasts.

Seth Rollins would become the first NXT Champion on the August 29th 2012 show, beating Jinder Mahal in a tournament final. He droped the title to Big E Langston on the January 9th show. He debuted on the main roster as 1 third of The Shield in November 2012 (whilst still NXT Champion) with whom he became a Tag Team Champion with a 5 month reign.Turning on his partners to join The Authority on June 2nd 2014, Rollins went on to capture the MITB briefcase and became the first person ever to cash-in at WrestleMania, when he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Mania 31. His reign as champion ended due to an injury suffered in a house show match against Kane on November 4th 2015. He is also a 10-time Slammy Award winner.

Jiro, aka Taishi Takizawa, was released from WWE the same month this match aired. He returned to Japan.

Mahal debuted for the main roster in 2011, but ended up working on the preliminary NXT shows whilst still appearing on Raw and SmackDown. He was the losing finalist in the NXT Title tournament, after which he went back to the main roster full time to create 3MB. He was released on June 12th 2014 having held no championships in FCW, NXT or WWE.

Leo Kruger toiled away in NXT before re-inventing himself as party animal Adam Rose. A promotion to the main roster swiftly followed, though his fortunes quickly tumbled. He quickly became an afterthought before joining the Social Outcasts. More recently he was suspended for a Wellness violation before being indefinitely suspended following an arrest.

Aiden English formed a team with Simon Gotch as The Vaudevillains in June 2014. In July 2015 they defeated Blake & Murphy to become the NXT Tag Team Champions. On November 11th they lost the belts to Dash & Dawson. English, alongside his partner, made his main roster debut of the April 16th 2016 edition of SmackDown. They are scheduled to face WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day this Sunday.

Son of HOF'er Ricky Steamboat, Richie won multiple championships in FCW before it became NXT. His career came to an abrupt end in November 2012 when he suffered a back injury.

Cesaro was already a regular on the main roster during his time in NXT, having already established himself in 37 different gimmicks. He went on to have a phenomenal feud with Sami Zayn that helped put NXT on the map. He is a 1-time U.S. Champion, 1-time Tag Team Champion (with Tyson Kidd), and 1-time Slammy Award winner, as well as winning the Inaugural Andre The Giant Battle Royal. Cesaro is regarded as one of the most underrated talents on the roster.

Aksana was part of NXT Season 3, placing 4th. Her WWE career was ended in June 2014 when she was released from her contract.

Dante Dash. Who? Real name Teon Freeman doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.

Sofia Cortez gained some fame from a stint on Tough Enough's fifth season. Her participation was cut short due to injury but she was later signed to a development deal. In August 2012 she was released from her contract, later linking it to a report she had filed against NXT Head Coach Bill DeMott. She now performs under her real name Ivelisse in Lucha Underground where she has been 1/3 of the Trios Champions.

Paige became the first NXT Women's Champion in June 2013. She held the title through the rest of 2013 before debuting on the main roster on the post-Mania episode of Raw where she challenged and defeated reigning Divas Champion AJ Lee to be the first woman to hold both the NXT and WWE versions of the women's championships. After 308 days carrying the NXT Women's Championship Paige was forced to vacate the title. Paige became a main focus of the Divas Division until the Divas Revolution took form in the Summer of 2015.

Camacho is the son of Haku (so I won't say anything too disparaging). Following an alliance with Hunico, Camacho was released from his contract on June 12th 2014. He has since appeared in TNA as Micah, and now wrestles in New Japan.

The former Chris Hero spent 21 months under WWE contract before his release on November 8th 2013 reportedly due to management's issues with his weight, and apparent lack of commitment to change. Hero returned to the independent scene.

Jimmy and Jey debuted in WWE in May 2010, dropping into NXT for a feud with The Ascension. They are 2-time Tag Team Champions, and 2-time Tag Team of the Year Slammy Award winners.

A veteran of NXT season 2 as Husky Harris, he had spent time on the main roster as part of The New Nexus before returning to FCW/NXT to reinvent himself as Bray Wyatt. Following an injury, Wyatt established his Family with Luke Harper and Erik Rowan. A year later The Wyatt Family debuted in Raw. Wyatt went on to feature in headline feuds with John Cena, and The Undertaker. He is currently injured.

Nice write-up, XL.

I liked Ivelisse.

Damn.. I didn't realize there were some NXT: Redemption storylines that carried over to the current NXT promotion. Aksana/Cesaro especially.

I thought Cesaro/Aksana was SmackDown?

Vaudeys didn't win the tag titles until 2015.

As much as I love NXT, NXT Redemption really was the goods. It was so obvious Vince didn't give a shit about it so the writers just kinda did whatever they wanted and it ended up being the best stuff on TV at the time.

It also helped that NXT Redemption was an hour long show.

I know most of us want Raw to go back to two hours and that's great. But man, an hour really feels like the perfect amount of time to watch wrestling for me.

I prefer one-hour shows, but RAW being two hours would be such an improvement. You can move more meaningful stuff over to SmackDown too. Ultimately both shows get something out of it. The entire product does really.

Welp, apparently we are getting American Alpha vs. The Revival at the next Takeover.

I really want Jim Cornette to be The Revival's manager. :(

Good catch. :y:

That's a great thing

Love Peyton, love Carmella, love Carmella's submission even more.

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And what's wrong with that? :fu:

yeah it makes sense. The Revival were always going to get a re-match and it's pretty common for NXT to run the same title matches for multiple Takeovers. It'll be a good match as per usual so it's A-OK to me.

I think it's fine. Don't watch NXT tag teams unless it's a Takeover, as I think they all suck except American Alpha.

The Aussie's have arrived.

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I want Asuka to obliterate Nia Jax. Totally fucking destroy her. No one likes her or thinks she's good anyways.

Why are they filming the NXT promos on iPhone now?

They're doing a ton of backstage stuff live on Facebook so I suppose it's easier

Spoilers for the next set of tapings (May 25th and June 1st):

I like this though, going to have to check them out. WWE really needs to bring in more legitimate tag teams.

To clarify: I think that American Alpha vs. The Revival II will be a good match. I'd have been fine with it as a televised main event of a TV though. It's quite rare those belts get to main event, isn't it? I'd rather have seen Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa challenge American Alpha at the actual Takeover, given the push they have been getting. The Revival could have spread out the tag team "star power" by facing TM61 in their debut, or something.

Good charisma from Shane Thorne in that video, by the way. He seems relaxed. He might have to tweak getting that laid-back Aussie personality polished for American audiences, but I like the interplay between him and Nick Miller.

Peyton Royce is gorgeous, but that outfit she was wearing against Carmella is atrocious. If they want her to do a Poison Ivy thing, I hope they spend some coin on getting her some better attire.

It might be a triple threat tag team match now so I am all for that also.

That could be fun too. I'd prefer an epic team vs. team classic match, but I won't turn down something that fun.

Think we get just the four matches at Takeover? If they're given time and hype videos, they could really fill a large portion of the time. I'd maybe like to see Tye Dillinger vs. Manny Andrade, or whatever his new name is. Andrade "Cien" something.

That tag team has an 85% of inflicting burn.

#pokemonjokes

Nia Jax has quite a booty on her.

I actually like Nia Jax, she's super green and has a limited move-set, but at least she's different than all the other "Total Divas" garbage we've been force-fed for years....

On the other hand, not a huge fan of The Revival, decent talent in the ring, but if they were to get released, I wouldn't miss them in the slightest....

Dis-banding Blake & Murphy is not the way I would go either, not sure that either has what it takes to be a top singles guy to compete with the likes of Balor, Joe, Nakamura, Aries, etc. in the main event picture.... Seems to me that they would be better off together than apart, especially with fireplug Alexa in their corner....

Agreed, I'm liking more I see of her but she's still got some way to go. I think she could pull off a 'Worlds Strongest Woman' gimmick ala Mark Henry.

Could do with a change of finisher too, again, something like the Worlds Strongest Slam/splash combo could work for her.

Is it true that Wesley Blake is injured? I heard something about a torn ACL. That's a shame, because Buddy Murphy vs. Wesley Blake with Alexa Bliss as the ref would have been a fun addition to Takeover.

I honestly don't really like them as a team. I think they could have pushed them into a title match against American Alpha by having the Nakamura/Aries alliance crash, but when you look at a team like MNM -- even considering Johnny Nitro's relatively short time in the business up until that point -- the same charisma is just not there. Murphy needs to find something. I'd try to stay away from anything "too Australian," but he does have an extreme sports edge. It didn't work for Justin Gabriel, but you could easily do some vignettes about how Australia has got some of the most dangerous and venomous creatures in the world -- and he's the most dangerous. His Australian ring name of Matt Silva is so much better than Buddy Murphy too.

Blake has this weird journeyman vibe to me. I like him in longer tights -- sort of like something Hiroshi Tanahashi would wear. I like him using a Superkick and the Six Star Frog Splash as finishers. I'd probably use him as a wrestling babyface.

I love The Revival, but I worry about their main roster prospects. I can see Scott Dawson turning into Jamie Noble very quick and Dash Wilder being released. I like the idea of them having a manager. There's also just not much nuance in the tag team division. If their whole shtick is to be this tag team revival, then they need to be put on top, don't they? Can you really see them being put above teams like Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows? Maybe in time when things move on from where they currently are, but these guys are NXT bound for a long while I think, and I'm fine with that. I'm actually pretty cool with them getting Alexa Bliss as a manager too.

Nia Jax is getting better all the time, but she still has a long way to go. I don't want to see her on the main roster until she's a lot better, and even then I'd make her a bodyguard that eventually breaks away from her charge.

Yeup, Blake got hurt shortly after the Nakamura/Aires match during last month's set of tapings.

While I still enjoy NXT as a how, one thing that bothers me a bit is that right now I feel there's just too much talent on NXT and as a result the booking is too focused on showcasing the big talents. That's the way it should be, but as a result the smaller names end up falling between the cracks.

Between Joe, Balor, Aries, and Nakamura the top of the card is an absolute logjam of names. Then you have Hideo Itami who should return, and various other bigger guys, there's no chance for lesser guys to really break out from the pack anymore as they did earlier in NXT's run.

I feel it's become too much ROH-ey 'These guys are the best at what they do, see them fight each other', rather than just have anyone be booked as if they could legitimately take the NXT Title.

Also it's become a bit too 'outside talent' heavy. Where in the past you could see the likes of Neville and Zayn as homegrown talent, guys like Joe/Aries/Nakamura are anything but homegrown and were debuted as such. They're established stars and pretty much completely polished, there's no upward growth, no change to give them 'learning moments' where they lose against others. Guys like Joe/Aries/Nakamura almost feel 'too good' compared to the rest of the roster, and it has created a feeling of there being two groups, rather than one big group. Because those kind of guys aren't really ever going to lose. They're there to look great and unstoppable, which is nice when they have a big match with each other, but it means all the other guys on the roster are completely fucked because you know they're gonna get mowed down.

In a way Takeover: Brooklyn was both the best and worst event for NXT as a whole. It had huge great moments and matches, but also it really started that change where some guys were started to get booked as unstoppable winning machines who could only lose against other unstoppable winning machines. And everyone else were destined to lose.

And that's never been the magic of what made NXT great, sure the work-rate and talent is awesome, but the simple but smart storytelling was what made NXT awesome in it's own way, where plucky underdogs like Enzo Amore could get insanely over, and Tyler Breeze was a believable title contender, or Sami Zayn being super-talented but having issues winning when it mattered, etc.

The talent/workrate came second. I helped it all, but it was never the be-all-end-all of the content. It was all about organic storytelling and giving a feeling that all of them were equally talented, and it's all about them trying to refine themselves.

I am reserving judgement until after the next special, which will doubtless be great from an in-ring standpoint. Hopefully it will clear the table again with Balor either regaining his title or getting his 'going to the main roster' tour, and then different names being pushed up to the top.

Oh and another thing - as they continue to add more and more established indy names to NXT (and who knows how many Cruiserweight Classic guys will impress them enough to earn contracts) I kinda worry that NXT will expend to 2 hours every week. I'd rally hate that. I just think an hour is the perfect amount of time to sit down watch wrestling.

Or maybe they'll split NXT into, say, a Wednesday group and a Friday group and air two hour-long shows a week. Still I think it could reach a point of oversaturation.