NXT Thread SPOILERS

beakerjoe · 12-04-2020 11:30pm

The ladies ladder match was brilliant. Maybe Im becoming more accustomed to empty arena matches but this was excellent. Loved the 3 way North American match last week and this was better IMO. All 6 ladies busted their asses. Best empty arena match yet.

Firstly I loved Gargano and Ciampa. Both are excellent and their feud their last feud was amazing.

My thoughts initially was Ive no time for more Gargano v Ciampa when Johnny smashed Blackheart in the mush last Takeover. That said they pulled me in with the feud up until this match, with their face to face 2 weeks back did a good job selling this blowoff match.

That said, I hated this match. It was too long, no atmosphere and at the end of the day it just bored. Me. I was liking the ending at first with Tomasso and Johnny just seemingly happy to apologise, but I didnt like the LaRae heel turn. It wasnt need and will most likely just drag this feud on.

CastorTroy · 16-04-2020 1:43pm

Not familiar with Tim Thatcher, but I just thought he reminded me of Oney Lorcan with hair.

Wonder why they changed the barriers and all from Raw.

Hope Vince didn't see the cameraman wearing a mask

J. Marston · 16-04-2020 1:48pm

Killer Kross is now Karrion Kross.

CastorTroy · 16-04-2020 2:14pm

Sounds like a version of The Passion starting Kenneth Williams and Sid James.

DM_7 · 16-04-2020 10:15pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

Not familiar with Tim Thatcher, but I just thought he reminded me of Oney Lorcan with hair.

Wonder why they changed the barriers and all from Raw.

How Vince didn't see the guy wearing a mask

I saw Thatcher as strong Ambrose and Lumis as strong Cody.

Lithium93_ · 16-04-2020 10:54pm

J. Marston wrote: »

Killer Kross is now Karrion Kross.

I can't see his name without thinking of the Kansas song, Carry On Wayward Son...

CastorTroy · 16-04-2020 11:28pm

Should've gone with Kriss Kross.

He just sneaks up behind people and gives them a fright

SMC92Ian · 23-04-2020 1:14am

Who is Kriss Kross?

Agent Coulson · 23-04-2020 1:33am

CastorTroy wrote: »

Should've gone with Kriss Kross.

He just sneaks up behind people and gives them a fright

Kris Kross is not having anything today

The Mac Dad will make you jump jump
Daddy Mac will make you jump jump
Kris Kross will make you jump jump

J. Marston · 23-04-2020 1:37am

So Drake's sacking was a work? Ugh.

undertaker fan 88 · 23-04-2020 1:39am

J. Marston wrote: »

So Drake's sacking was a work? Ugh.

No he was already announced for the tournament so finishing up after it

CastorTroy · 23-04-2020 11:02am

SMC92Ian wrote: »

Who is Kriss Kross?

https://youtu.be/010KyIQjkTk

Hard to tell what they're doing with Drake. If it's a work then it's in bad taste considering the others. And if not, why fire him before these matches?

Dexter doesn't exactly come across as a face.
Had to check to see why Kyle O'Reilly has been missing. Seems he's diabetic so high risk.

Kross and Scarlett officially named by commentary.

Charlotte using the "good hand" as an insult.

Commentators are a bit off everywhere it seems. With Josh getting names wrong on Impact and now Tom saying Adam Cole pinned Adam Cole. Maybe it's like how Bret screwed Bret

Omackeral · 23-04-2020 1:02pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

Commentators are a bit off everywhere it seems. With Josh getting names wrong on Impact and now Tom saying Adam Cole pinned Adam Cole. Maybe it's like how Bret screwed Bret

More so how Owen kicked Bret's leg out from under his leg. Go to 1:00 and laugh over and over again :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZybZf-nPIQg

CastorTroy · 23-04-2020 1:13pm

Ah, the highly sought after WW title.

Was thinking during his match, when was the last time we actually got to see Drake in a proper match? Think he had one in 205 Live but otherwise he's been 205 GM and 24/7 comic relief

The White Wolf · 23-04-2020 1:22pm

Christ they better dial it back a bit with Atlas.They overegged that post match segment with him and Maverick.

TimesArrow · 23-04-2020 3:26pm

Is the Drake Maverick thing a work so? He posits an emotional video and now it’s been used for some crap storyline whereby if he wins this tournament he keeps this job? Making a storyline out of this at the same time people have actually lost their jobs is so wwe. Tasteless in the extreme

sky88 · 23-04-2020 5:21pm

That whole drake thing is bizarre

J. Marston · 23-04-2020 5:43pm

I think Drake deserves criticism for it also if it is a work.

Agent Coulson · 23-04-2020 5:50pm

If it is a work then for him to agree to it knowing that some of his colleagues were getting fired isn't a good look on him at all however you do what you need to do to keep your job in these times.

If the crying release video was a shoot and it got him his job back no one will believe it now.

One way or another if he has a job at the end of this he will come off really bad from it in the eyes of a lot of people however will he care as he has a job and did as Vince asked which will keep him in a job till Vince gets bored of him again.

CastorTroy · 23-04-2020 7:03pm

Yeah even if he was offered his job back for whatever reason, it'll look like he was never fired. But at the end of the day, he had to look after himself over anyone else

Itssoeasy · 23-04-2020 8:35pm

Well maybe his video was a shoot and someone in WWE realised "maybe we shouldn't have gotten rid of him" because if it was a work and he was in on it then that would be very poor form. Although from the responses I read from WWE wrestlers and staff who he was close to their reactions seemed real enough.

CastorTroy · 23-04-2020 9:13pm

On another note, will the Robert Stone brand take on anyone else? I know he originally had Riddick Moss and Dan Matha

Omackeral · 24-04-2020 1:06pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

On another note, will the Robert Stone brand take on anyone else? I know he originally had Riddick Moss and Dan Matha

Was Deonna Purazzo meant to be in the fold too? She's been released though.

CastorTroy · 02-05-2020 12:33pm

At this rate it seems a stupid idea to have Drake lose the tournament and his job. He seems to be the only one in the tournament with a storyline. The only other story, which is more a side story is the abduction story.

Dexter Lumis' Lou Thesz press reminds me of Austin's.

And unless something happens offscreen, it looks like Dream is set to face Cole for the title, which was supposedly recorded on Wednesday.

Other matches for next week include Charlotte going against Io for the title, Gargano fighting Dijakovic and Killer Karrion Kross's debut. More importantly, Scarlett's debut.

J. Marston · 07-05-2020 8:39am

Karrion Kross' entrance was interesting.

CastorTroy · 07-05-2020 12:30pm

Can't see them doing that the whole time. Scarlett miming to the song was strange, but it's Scarlett so all good.

Chelsea's finisher messed up though they tried to edit it. Didn't work though. I wouldn't recognise Aliyah now. Though she could be joining the Robert Stone Brand.

No idea who attacked Finn yet, though guess could get a match against Grimes.
Speaking of Grimes, I know she's still learning but the ref for his match has to learn to get out of the way. I think it was in a match last week as well where she got in the way.

Dexter being randomly under the ring was funny.

The White Wolf · 07-05-2020 1:57pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

Can't see them doing that the whole time. Scarlett miming to the song was strange, but it's Scarlett so all good.

Chelsea's finisher messed up though they tried to edit it. Didn't work though. I wouldn't recognise Aliyah now. Though she could be joining the Robert Stone Brand.

No idea who attacked Finn yet, though guess could get a match against Grimes.
Speaking of Grimes, I know she's still learning but the ref for his match has to learn to get out of the way. I think it was in a match last week as well where she got in the way.

Dexter being randomly under the ring was funny.

Miming but it actually sounded like she recorded the theme?

That NXT was quite good a big step up from recent weeks, the Queen and her usual shenanigans notwithstanding.

RollieFingers · 07-05-2020 1:58pm

That miming was so cringey.

DM_7 · 07-05-2020 3:15pm

Dexter is a good persona, he does it well and type of think that can easily not work. He has the kind of Aura I think Cody wishes his Dr Doom effort turned out like back in the day.

I don't get Grimes as all. Dressed like a cowboy but not a cowboy. When we see Dexter or Kross arrive with a persona in place it seems odd to put no effort into giving Grimes some sort of gimmick or personality. Maybe I am missing something?

Lord TSC · 07-05-2020 3:25pm

Didn't like the miming.

Loved everything else about it though. Don't really know kross at all, but thought that was a great entrance.

LineOfBeauty · 07-05-2020 10:53pm

It's just all a bit dry. NXT is odd because if you break it down match for match you'd end up with a pretty decent show but the problem is the presentation is so dry (even with fans it was dry and formulaic of what WWE has always presented minus the big arena) but without fans it's carpet, and the characters are either not over or stale. You can get into nitty gritty criticisms but those are the overarching problems with their product.

They presented a big lineup this week but their 2 big matches had awful finishes, the Kross debut didn't land at all and God somebody get Mauro out of that announce booth. Their inability to create stars has hit NXT hard in the last year and a bit. It was easy when they had a 9 month turnover but now that's stopped it's exposed the big flaw that plagues the rest of WWE programming, which is a struggle with long term booking and star creation.

Lithium93_ · 07-05-2020 10:56pm

Leave Mauro Ranallo alone, he's hands down the best commentator on their books.

LineOfBeauty · 07-05-2020 10:58pm

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Leave Mauro Ranallo alone, he's hands down the best commentator on their books.

Give me one of the WWEbots over current day Mauro. Honestly if I wanted to be shouted at for 2 hours over some Zoom video I'd just insult my manager.

Loughc · 07-05-2020 11:00pm

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

Give me one of the WWEbots over current day Mauro. Honestly if I wanted to be shouted at for 2 hours over some Zoom video I'd just insult my manager.

They need to take the book away from Triple H too.

LineOfBeauty · 07-05-2020 11:02pm

Loughc wrote: »

They need to take the book away from Triple H too.

Big time, with Heyman taking shots at him on national TV the writing is on the wall. Apparently producing weekly TV with a steady roster isn't the same as running a high budget PWG show, who'd have thought it?

sky88 · 07-05-2020 11:37pm

Mauro is horrendously bad honestly the worst commentator in wrestling try’s too hard with references nothing seems natural and it’s all over top

CastorTroy · 08-05-2020 12:07am

Not just in NXT but across all brands they need to learn how to work without a crowd. I know it's how they're trained but they still act like they're looking for a reaction. They play to the hard camera more but still they need to reign it in a bit. Some have adapted by targeting cameramen/ring crew or commentators.
An example this week is the women's tile match. Announcing the competitors as if they're expecting a reaction after each one. Or maybe it's just me imagining the reactions.

Remember the first episode without the fans they were having fun with HHH on commentary and all? But then went back to business as usual

PTH2009 · 08-05-2020 12:49am

Like Garganos new theme

Kross could be the next major nxt star if they book him right. Scarlett is quality and not very PG

Rhea Ripley got her Visa sorted anyway

I wonder will Thatcher turn on Riddle. I'd say Riddles an annoying git to be around

Walter would make sense to be Balors attacker but it could be anyone

Dexter under the ring was an odd spot. Decent main event. Hopefully Dreams day will come soon

The White Wolf · 08-05-2020 5:20pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

. Hopefully Dreams day will come soon

I'm guessing that was going to be his moment until recent accusations.

On Scarlett.... I just checked the views on the official channel and that clip is way ahead of the rest. All due to Kross I'm sure. :pac:

On the theme as well, Scarlett confirmed that is indeed her who recorded. She didn't do a bad job at all tbh, everything taken into account it's a way above average theme.

Furious-Red · 08-05-2020 7:55pm

Are they leading to Finn turning face already with him being attack? tbh i only watch the top 10 moments on youtube so apologies if im out of the loop, are they gonna have it being Walter?

PTH2009 · 08-05-2020 8:03pm

Furious-Red wrote: »

Are they leading to Finn turning face already with him being attack? tbh i only watch the top 10 moments on youtube so apologies if im out of the loop, are they gonna have it being Walter?

Maybe he could be a neutral guy not face not heel

SureYWouldntYa · 08-05-2020 8:30pm

You'd hope so, it doesn't need to be black and white, there's far too many flips to face or heel these days anyway so when someone does change it doesn't matter as much

PTH2009 · 12-05-2020 9:44pm

Nxt writers seem better at distancing the past and going forward with the characters

Ciampa was once a bastard of a heel and is now a face

Gargano & Del Rey were mega babyfaces now cocky heels

Roderick Strong was that proud family man and is now alongside his wife are sneaky heels

Dream was a heel and is now a face

LineOfBeauty · 13-05-2020 11:24am

PTH2009 wrote: »

Nxt writers seem better at distancing the past and going forward with the characters

Ciampa was once a bastard of a heel and is now a face

Gargano & Del Rey were mega babyfaces now cocky heels

Roderick Strong was that proud family man and is now alongside his wife are sneaky heels

Dream was a heel and is now a face

That's not a good thing. The Ciampa one in particular had no motivating factors for a face turn besides "he got hurt, now cheer him."

Omackeral · 13-05-2020 11:27am

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

That's not a good thing. The Ciampa one in particular had no motivating factors for a face turn besides "he got hurt, now cheer him."

Same as HHH in 2002

LineOfBeauty · 13-05-2020 11:45am

Omackeral wrote: »

Same as HHH in 2002

That wasn't good either. When your model is running storylines based purely on ppv cycles you're disrespecting audience intelligence and basic memory recall and making it far more difficult to relate to any characters in your universe.

Ciampa essentially tried to kill Gargano numerous times, he gets hurt and now you have to forget about the attempted murders and cheer him even though his character is essentially the same as his heel persona. By any storytelling metric it's dumb.

Omackeral · 13-05-2020 12:27pm

LineOfBeauty wrote: »

That wasn't good either.

I don’t know. One of the most sustained and loudest reactions ever on WWE.

Sometimes it can be a happy accident. As far as storytelling goes, the vignettes showing people overcoming odds and saying they miss the crowd etc can be semblances of a face turn I guess.

I get your overall point but hitting reset can be welcome too the odd time.

LineOfBeauty · 13-05-2020 12:31pm

Omackeral wrote: »

I don’t know. One of the most sustained and loudest reactions ever on WWE.

Sometimes it can be a happy accident. As far as storytelling goes, the vignettes showing people overcoming odds and saying they miss the crowd etc can be semblances of a face turn I guess.

I get your overall point but hitting reset can be welcome too the odd time.

Big pop and diminishing returns and a fairly quick switch back to heel.

It's more than they either gloss over the past (and the past can be as recent as a month ago) or they try to re-write it (recent example the Wyatt/Braun stuff).

CastorTroy · 13-05-2020 12:44pm

If were to never cheer for guys for attempting to murder people, Taker has buried people alive and crucified them while Kane has burned people and electrocuted their testicles. So they would never be cheered.
The reaction is natural for a returning wrestler that people enjoyed watching. People were fans of Ciampa and so they were happy to see him back so they ran with it.
Wasn't it fairly recently that I think Rollins returned and they made him heel even though people were cheering for him.
Like I'm sure if there was a crowd there when Jinder Mahal returned, that he wouldn't exactly have gotten a loud reaction.

It's up to the wrestler to try and turn the crowd then. Looks at the Jericho return where he just trolled the fans by coming out, running around the ring and just went to the back again. And he did something similar for multiple weeks until he got the reaction he wanted.

The worst thing is when wrestlers come out and say "You all live in your mom's basement and your town sucks" then a couple months later they're in the same town saying how great it is and how great all the fans are.

LineOfBeauty · 13-05-2020 12:51pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

If were to never cheer for guys for attempting to murder people, Taker has buried people alive and crucified them while Kane has burned people and electrocuted their testicles. So they would never be cheered.
The reaction is natural for a returning wrestler that people enjoyed watching. People were fans of Ciampa and so they were happy to see him back so they ran with it.
Wasn't it fairly recently that I think Rollins returned and they made him heel even though people were cheering for him.
Like I'm sure if there was a crowd there when Jinder Mahal returned, that he wouldn't exactly have gotten a loud reaction.

It's up to the wrestler to try and turn the crowd then. Looks at the Jericho return where he just trolled the fans by coming out, running around the ring and just went to the back again. And he did something similar for multiple weeks until he got the reaction he wanted.

The worst thing is when wrestlers come out and say "You all live in your mom's basement and your town sucks" then a couple months later they're in the same town saying how great it is and how great all the fans are.

I mean crowd reaction didn't dictate a turn as he was positioned as a facs upon return anyway against the heel Adam Cole. The premise of the Ciampa / Gargano feud was it was deeply personal and overstepped the line of a pro wrestling feud with Ciampa positioned as a maniacal heel intent on destroying Gargano's life. In any storytelling medium, him being gone for a few months and with no obvious change in personality shouldn't lead to him being positioned as sympathetic. Basically there is a way to get from point A to point C but it requires a point B to bridge that gap, it's that point that WWE just skip.

NXT Thread *SPOILERS*

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NXT Thread SPOILERS