One of the new tag teams in the Dusty Classic has one guy (Otis Dozovic) who looks like a mix between a long lost Wyatt Family member and Bull Dempsey. The other guy (Tucker Knight) could probably pass off as Rusev's bro.

I was digging Tucker Knight

Curious to see Nikki Cross.

Latest episode has her in ring debut.

He doesn't wanna watch that, he just wants to comment on how shitty it is.

Awesome. I'll check it out. :y:

No, I don't want to watch television shows where the big news is that a jobber beat the World Champion. That's a completely different thing.

That would be SmackDown!, not NXT...

Could have gotten over better if Nikki didn't have a match with her own gear when she attempted to reveal her identity....

Yeah, exactly. :wtf:

This is the NXT thread....

So why bring up the SmackDown thread? :wtf:

Because you said you didn't want to watch a jobber challenge for the world title. That happened on SmackDown!. This is the NXT thread. I know it's hard, but try to follow along.

:roll:

Goddamn, Mickie James was looking great in her video message.

According to the Observer, Nakamura is staying on NXT for a long time since WWE wants him to become the new Finn Balor for the brand in terms of mega star appeal.

I get it. However, if true, this is an example of wwe not striking while the iron is hot. I'm not saying he needs to be called up right now, but why not for the road to WM? Are you really going to put NXT, a brand meant for developing talent, ahead of the needs of the main roster?

I'm sure another Goldberg/Lesnar match at WM will be better for the long term of the company than Nakamura vs. Anyone.

Mickie James had something. I'm glad to see her back. :y:

Not so glad about the Nakamura news. The guy is golden and should be used to promote the WWE as much as possible. I can understand branding NXT as your niche wrestling product and using a guy with Nakamura's nerd rep to try and sell that, but the NXT brand sells itself with that vibe right now anyway.

I'd actually put Joe over Nakamura in Toronto (Nakamura's neck can play up) and get ready for a Nakamura call-up to the main roster in time to make a grand entrance at WrestleMania.

Nakamura's fan base is majority of the smart fans. Little kids who cheer Cena/Reigns aren't gonna know who he is, not will they care about someone they cannot understand when he speaks. Keep him in NXT for another year and have him as the face of the brand. Seems more valuable to NXT than if he were on the main roster....

That's why you explain who he is and let his natural charisma get him over after he kicks someone who matters in the head.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic spoilers:

I'd rather keep Nakamura on NXT until Vince retires. Lest he be put with some dumbass gimmick.

Feel like TM61 are proof that not even Full Sail goes totally apeshit over EVERY relatively well known indy wrestler that comes in. They've been given no real gimmick other than "hey these guys are good wrestlers and worked in the indies, here you go!"

Nothing bad about their matches at all, but they just feel boringly competent with nothing else to go off of.

Maybe they'll eventually do an angle where they're fucking Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. In fact, they should probably do that in real life if possible.

They did the same with Andrade "Cien" Almas although didn't help how badly NXT botched his debut. Had the double whammy of dumb looking entrance gear and going against Tye Dillinger who the crowd cared for a lot more.

Sorry, looks like Jericho is going to hold them down.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cv9KzbGVYAQp6If.jpg

aka My entire vision for Asuka (and put them both on SD)

Billie Kay and Peyton Royce are amazing. If there was a set of Women's Tag Titles, they should hold them forever.

I want to see Asuka do double duty WrestleMania weekend. She defends the NXT Women's Championship at Takeover Mania against Ember Moon, where she takes her first loss; but also heading into the show, she is brought in by the heel alliance of Emma, Dana Brooke, Natalya & Nia Jax to be their secret weapon for a tag match against the Four Horsewomen at Mania 33. Dana Brooke stays at ringside as the troubleshooter. So it's Emmalina, Nia Jax, Natalya & Asuka vs. Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Bayley & Becky Lynch.

Mickie James wins the SmackDown Women's Title from Nikki Bella elsewhere on the show -- fueled partially off Nikki rubbing in that she's got the belt and the boyfriend. Mickie then drops the title to Becky Lynch in the first-ever Women's Ladder Match on the WWE's main stage, and Becky then loses it to Asuka, trains for her rematch, wins some sort of Women's Rumble at the Royal Rumble '18 and challenges Asuka for the belt at WrestleMania XXXIV. BECKY BALBOA, BABY!!!

I like all of it except for Asuka I dunno if I'd make her a clear cut heel (Granted NXT and main roster are different) But her character on NXT doesn't seem to really have an alligence she's just competitive and frightning. I kinda like her to keep that. No woman's head goes unkicked

I was thinking the other day about how they'd be a pretty great bolster to the SDL Women's roster. Could build to a tag match against The Bellas...y'know, if Brie wasn't pregnant.

Brie is not just preggo. She's retired.

Not too much of a stretch to think that with her sister, and husband back on the road she could be tempted into a programme.

They should do a program where Rollins curb stomps a pregnant Brie in the gut to lure Bryan out of retirement

Oh, that's sorta what I had in mind. She's brought in, but stands outside the other girls. They sort of hide behind and shit. She's just there because she won't turn down the opportunity to fight at WrestleMania, but she has no part of the heel shenanigans.

After the Horsewomen win the match, the heels can get pissy after the match and launch a bit of a beat-down on the "face" girls (I wouldn't double-down on face Charlotte -- she'd mainly be the lesser evil joining up with them for a bit), but Asuka can break it up because she's got honor and shit.

Aries out until 2017 with a fractured orbital bone.

Damn, I was surprised at how much offense Rich Swann and No Way Jose got in against the Authors of Pain. Especially Swann. Didn't get them off their feet, but his shots were sold.

The tournament has been somewhat of a letdown this year. Too many injuries substitutions and strange tournament bracket arrangement. DIY and Revival should have been the finals.

Also, I think they could have waited a little longer for this. They just did a huge tournament. Comparing the two is unfair but they brought it on themselves doing it so soon after the CWC.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5Vi6ab2uHYU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Ember Moon v. Asuka is gonna be the shit when it finally does happen.

The two tables was a nice twist on the typical WWE style for contract segments.

Made Joe look like a bigger douchebag and Nakamura's hatred of Joe grow even more.

Yeah, I thought Joe did well in that segment. Still not really sure what Nakamura has against security guards, though.

To protect Joe?

He didn't even motion towards Joe. He just started beating up security. Kinda heelish, I thought.

He Kinshash'ed one of them in a brawl when he returned to NXT. He just doesn't like how they are keeping him away from Joe.

Also making Joe look like a pussy.

He's probably just selling how pissed off and dangerous he is. A heel turn for Nakamura would not make any sense at this point in time.

Joe isn't looking like a pussy. He's looking like a heel.

Also, I wasn't suggesting that Nakamura was turning heel. He just came off heelish in those segments. To me.

It makes sense from Joe's perspective, really. Nakamura being an enigma that no one has been able to figure out...and Joe realizing that he's a hot head. He's playing it well to throw him off his game.

I wasn't suggesting that you were, I was just providing an explanation for why Nakamura would do that. He's just pissed, I imagine. And Joe is a wonderful heel getting under Nakamura's skin. They might be selling that by showing Nakamura getting upset.

I'm thinking Nakamura's temper may get him DQ'd at Takeover to continue the feud....Not sure there are any credible contenders for either should they win.... other than maybe Roode for Nakamura....Should Joe win, I think they'd have to do a battle royal/tournament to crown a #1 contender....

Just caught up on like two months of NXT in time for tomorrow...... not that I will be able to watch Takeover anyways, since I will be at work.

I skipped a lot of matches, like the squash matches and whatnot..... but watched a lot...

- I love Sanity..... they seem good.....
- I am still very indifferent to TM61..... still seem very "generic", but at least they are wearing tights with colours now instead of just black. Adds some semblance of trying not to be generic. Just seems like there is "no reason to like them" other than we are told "they are good".
- Not a fan of Roderick Strong, hopefully he can turn me around..... I don't have much experience seeing him. Saw him in TNA ages ago in a team with Austin Aries and thought both were so generic at the time......... Have seen more of Aries since then and he has turned me around, but have not seen Strong since then, but so far he seems generic......
- I like the Authors of Pain, seem like good "monsters" and have a lot of power behind them. I think Ellering needs to talk more and really put them over as much as Heyman does for Lesnar. Tokka and Rahzar could have a bright future as a team.
- Overall, the whole tournament doesn't feel "as big" as last year.... A lot of the teams were "makeshift" (and some even debuting) and a lot of injuries (uncontrollable), and Revival forfeiting is dumb....

- Impressed with Aliyah kinda, want to see more of her..... Liv Morgan improving, but still don't get into her character..... Think these two both need "more character" if they are to be part of the future of the division.....
- Billie Kay and Peyton Royce seem good..... Billie Kay seems a bit awkward, and I loved her first theme (the classical opera or whatever) more than her current one......

- I like Cien Almas as a heel.... seemed to play the role good in that match this past week.... also made him ten times more interesting.....

NOOPH IS POOPH

So, Joe vs. Nakamura rematch in two weeks in Japan..... did they take the belt off Nakamura just so they could put it back on him in Japan?

Jose and Swann tag team still rolling it looks like. Yay!

http://68.media.tumblr.com/17eea1e40...ljrzo1_500.gif

No Way Jose has star potential. It's a good way to help him get his feet wet.

Its an important market for them

I :heart: Nikki Cross for some reason..... I hope she is actually decent in the ring.....

Samoa Fat

Tye Skinny

Why is Eric Young dressing like Tatanka?

Authors of Pain ended up being a bit wreckless during a tag match from yesterday's tapings. Did their double powerbomb spot but instead of having the second guy land in the middle of the first guy, second guy landed right on the head of the first guy causing him to convulse a bit.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/...-talent-takes/

Catching up on some post-Takeover NXT. Nikki Cross is adorably scrappy. Eric Young's gimmick is perfect for him. He's like an anarchist that believes in survival at any cost. If they presented him right, he could lose as many times as they wanted and he could bounce back more dangerous each time.

No Way Jose is a star waiting to happen. Some of the star-like qualities of a Samoa Joe or Nakamura might be lost on the main roster if Vince and Kevin Dunn hack them to shit, but Jose is a star within the WWE paradigm. He doesn't do anything specifically "non-WWE" to get over. He's cheesy and goofy, but he's found a way to make the silliness strong. He'll do really well.

Kona Reeves has a striking look too. Big dude. Not as chiseled as, say, The Rock, but he had a good natural presence.

Daria Berenato has a long way to go, but she has a great look and can throw punches. Her showmanship could use a little polish, but that just comes with experience. Billie Kay is gorgeous, but Peyton Royce impresses me more in the ring these days. Kay looked...off. I dunno what it was. Royce is gorgeous, but in this annoyingly human way. It's the same with both of them really. Glad they're signed.

Aliyah looked good. Ember Moon is what Naomi wishes she was in the ring, but her personality is just...there. Asuka seems to be in a good grove and Nicole Matthews had a great showing for what it was, I thought. She looks a bit "normal" for what they look for in a Diva, but I'm sure they'll put her through the production machine and come out with a gimmick that essentuates her positives.

Just a thought I had. I've always figured that Tye Dillinger will get an NXT Championship run at some point. He seems to have too good a rep and is too good at helping guys out in the ring and get over. Since his act has gained traction, I've just always figured that he'd get the big build-up to a feel good moment, even if he doesn't hold the belt for long and never becomes a true main eventer in the WWE.

I wonder if that reign might be coming sooner than we thought?

Probably not since they started the farewell teases with Dillinger. Considering he's been rumored to be getting called up ever since the Draft, wouldn't be surprised if he was one of the mystery entrants for next year's Rumble or shortly left the brand after the next Takeover event.

He pretty much replaced Tyler Breeze's role on NXT in regards to building other stars and becoming a big crowd favorite on the way.

That's why I think he might be staying down. He's the guy that works well with the newer guys and can help them all get some shine. There's a lot of stories that could be told with him that haven't been.

I expect to see Dillinger in the Royal Rumble. As opposed to being #10, I think they'll have some guy they want to get lots of heat get that number, only for Dillinger to come in #11 and have a bit of a moment before getting tossed out. Joe and Nakamura are much more valuable to the main roster at this point.

GLORIOUS!

Oh yeah, and that guy.

Dillinger is a really odd case. I hadn't realised he was with WWE in 2006 (or that he was Stan, the employee that HBK SCM'd at Cyber Sunday that year), spending time in OVW, FCW, and a short run on WWECW before being released in 2009.

They must have seen something in him to bring him back for the NXT launch in 2013, but three years later (and finally with a marketable gimmick) he's still there.

I think he's got a decent run on the main roster somewhere in the midcard but there's probably a lot to be said about that comparison to Breeze - a guy that failed to make a mark on Raw/SmackDown.

The thing is, if Dillinger ends up never being a huge star on the main roster it really doesn't matter. Every roster needs midcarders to help flesh things out. I can see him being a solid hand to plug in for a while.

Part of WWE's problem is they never release guys anymore so you wind up with the same guys floating in purgatory for ages. Take Jack Swagger who you can't even call a midcarder at this point as he's seldom used. Yet he's still there and a former World Heavyweight Champion. I never want to see somebody lose their job but I feel like it would be best for him to leave, go to Japan for a bit, and then return later on to possibly be an asset later.

There's no issue being a perennial midcard threat...they're just a thing WWE don't do very well. Presuming TD can maintain the overness of his gimmick he could be a "good hand" for many years.

As for Swagger, he should go to NXT.

If the WWE had a Japanese territory, I'd want to see Jack Swagger there decked out in pro-American gear. Dude could be a super-evil American gaijin. And yes, he should be one of those guys that gets used in NXT, and he could be a guy they move the NXT Title onto when they want to move a guy like Nakamura or Joe to the main roster, where they could be fresh and attract some eyeballs. A Swagger vs. Cesaro feud could be really cool in NXT. Well, Cesaro has something to do now, but you get my point.

They could move Corey Graves up to the main roster and had Tyson Kidd been the color commentator for NXT at this point in time and gush over what a great friend Cesaro is letting him get injured. The Cesaro/Swagger with Kidd on commentary era for NXT.

NXT Japan spoiler as I don't know if they'll show it

So Nakamura beat Joe for the title. Cool

I guess they are trying to create a Rock/Triple H dynamic with the NXT Title, but I'd rather have just seen Nakamura retain and continue being the man.

I feel like they were just trying to throw people off the scent of Joe debuting in the Rumble.

Eh, that's a bit silly. Why book around that sort of shit? Plus, now Joe doesn't have the belt, so people are going to speculate anyway. Joe will always be debuting sometime this week in people's brains.

Joe still needs his huge entrance with an entire tuba section

Seems like a huge Japanese star winning the belt in Japan would be better than a huge Japanese star retaining in Japan.... Even if there are no plans for either to debut, or plans for both to debut, it makes sense to me. Have the super-over hometown guy win the belt in a big match....

This is most likely, but speculation always runs wild when someone in NXT loses a title

I honestly think it would have been better to just keep the belt on Nakamura. He could have defended it at Takeover with the Bret Hart/Roddy Pipper spot or something, and then have Joe vow to take it from him in Osaka. Nakamura retains there more decisively.

I hate when someone has to drop the title on the way out. Always too predictable. It would be so much better if Nakamura or Joe shows up at Rumble with belt, raises it during his entrance, then simply drops it and takes off to enter the rumble.

Then Regal can cut a promo to open the next NXT show and create a tournament/battle royal/clusterfuck multi-man match to determine the new champion

I like this little tart ring announcer for NXT

Was DIY suppose to talk on the mics there? lol

Sanity ended up falling victim to Papa Shango's Curse:

Used spoiler tags in case anyone hasn't seen this week's episode yet.

NXT Melbourne spoiler

I wouldn't mind it if they had kept Nakamura undefeated before calling him up. I don't mind Joe dropping the belt to Nakamura, Owens dropping it to Balor, Zayn dropping it to Owens, Neville dropping it to Zayn, etc. It's good business to keep your lineages intact, but Paige forfeiting the Women's Championship and that belt was fine. You just need to be selective about when you do it. I still think that Cesaro was the best choice to beat Nakamura for it. He's done some upper mid-card stuff on the main roster, he's guaranteed to be over with the NXT crowd, it helps Nakamura and it sets up future stuff with Cesaro when they decide to reintroduce him with a new presentation.

I'm really looking forward to the debut of Tommy End. He's got a great look. He's about the same size as Daniel Bryan, from the sounds of it, but he looks vicious.

Hey Noid, do you think Ember Moon will be the next NXT women's Champion or should that go to Billie Kay?

I prefer Peyton Royce, but I do think that Ember Moon will be the one to beat Asuka at WrestleMania weekend.

I'd probably bring Royce and Kay up to the main roster before they get chance to win the belt, and align them with Emmalina or Eva Marie, SDL has the least depth so probably the latter.

I think those girls are SmackDown ready, definitely.

What do you guys think the Takeover Mania card is going to look like? It seems that a lot of the "Mania" programs are being blown off at the San Antonio card. Are they just going to pedal through them and leave some doubt as to who the better people are in order for rematches at the Mania show?

The one I'm fairly confident in is Asuka vs. Ember Moon. That's been the Women's Title match coming down the pipeline for a long time now. Nakamura seems a likely candidate for the NXT Title match too. His opponent if fairly unclear to me though. Is it too simple to predict him vs. Bobby Roode? That seems logical, I suppose. A SAnitY six-man against some babyfaces like No Way Jose, Tye Dillinger and maybe Roderick Strong seems likely. Maybe they use Rich Swann in one of those spots and have Tye Dillinger face Elias Samson or something -- just because the heat for that would be tremendous.

The big program I am hoping for is Samoa Joe vs. Kassius Ohno. When Joe is eventually told he isn't getting any more title shots, I can see him taking it out on William Regal. Kassius Ohno then comes back to avenge Regal. Remember that the last time we saw Ohno, he had just finished a rivalry with William Regal that made him more humble and grounded. It would make sense for Ohno to offer himself up as the man to try and stop the rampage Joe is on. The battle between these two more hefty competitors would certainly be intringuing from an in-ring standpoint. This would be a nice farewell for Joe before he heads up to the main roster, and would set up Ohno as "The Heart and Soul of NXT" and put him in line for a future NXT Title shot.