The AaroNXT Review: This Ain't Your Father's NXT Anymore...
By Aaron Wood Jun 23, 2012 - 3:30 PM
Tweet
The
show opens with an excellent video talking about how in every
generation there are those who inspire, and how this is about the
young talent who will be those people for future generations before
sending it to the new opening credits.
No
more "Wild & Young". Long gone are the rookies &
pros dynamic. There is no vying for points. There are no more
winners. Hell, you can probably not bother with giving it a season
number at this point. Indeed, for what may be the first time in the
40+ year existence of the WWE, this show may well be the first "main"
WWE show to be filmed in a studio environment like the old WCW shows
and to an extent TNA Impact. It certainly gives an instantly
different feeling to things. That said, it looks really good, and a
MAJOR upgrade over the old FCW shows. Far more people in this crowd
than the massively paltry number it looked like were at the FCW
shows, and they have a proper entrance with a TitanTron square in the
middle of the stage, with people coming in from the side.
That
said, the one downside of the show for me is the first thing you
hear. Not because it's William Regal, who welcomes us to the show,
but because it is rather horribly post-produced. It sounds he was
talking from another plain of existence. Personally, I'd have had
Regal welcoming us live on stage, and introducing his broadcast
colleague, Jim Ross, which would have made the show feel more
effectual.
OK,
this is my other problem. if there was now one show that didn't need
a GM at this point, it's NXT. The one aspect I disliked of FCW was
the chopping and changing of who was in charge. And even then, why
is Dusty the "interim" GM? It's one thing to have interims
on RAW & Smackdown, such as they are having right now, because
there is a power vacuum, but why on NXT? Where's the power struggle
there? I just hope that Dusty ends up being a Jack Tunney-like
figure. Teddy Long at worst, where they are only there to announce
things and make decisions. That's when the GM's of the last 1 years
have been most effective.
That
person would be Bo Dallas, and pretty much the same hype video we got
last week, which led to:
BO DALLAS vs. RIC VICTOR
A
short and relatively basic match, to establish Dallas as a main
babyface on the show, finishing Victor off with a nice looking spear.
Will be interesting to see if that one changes because Christian
often uses it and it's still seen as Edge's move. Let's see what the
Twitterverse made of him.
I
like Bo Dallas! Nice move set & awesome superstar :D #NXT
As
Bo makes his way back up tot he top of the ramp, brand new
interviewer Briley Pierce asks Dallas how he feels about winning the
first match on NXT, and Bo naturally says that this is just the
beginning. If Briley Pierce looks and sounds familar, that would be
because he's Dolph Ziggler's brother.
After
this, they send it to a hype package/promo from Seth Rollins, who
will debut next week. He talks about everyone being lost and needing
a second wind and that he's the change we've been waiting for. He
debuts next week. Also next week is a match with Antonio Cesaro, as
there is a hype video for him ahead of our next scheduled
contest.
DAMIEN SANDOW vs. JASON
JORDAN
Same
usual schtick from Sandow, which is not a surprise given that he's
refused to fight bigger fish than Jordan on bigger shows. Do wonder
why they bothered. That said, seems like others loved it...
Hehe, Damien sandow,
can't help but laugh at this guy. Dat entrance music, yo. #lovehim#NXT
After
this, JR sends it to a promo from The Ascension, which sets up (after
the RAW Rebound)...
THE ASCENSION vs. MIKE DALTON &
CJ PARKER
If
you've seen The Ascension's entrance in FCW, you may be able to jive
with what I'm about to say, but I think it lost a little something
here. The DX-like cut ins were cool enough, but for me, what makes
it is Kenneth Cameron's spot with the orb of light coming from his
hand, as that is focussed on in the FCW shows, but it was shown much
less here, with the camera seemingly favouring watching Conor
O'Brien. Still pretty epic though. And in case you're wondering,
Mike Dalton is the one who never tagged in. Dalton is actually a
trainee of Lance Storm's.
I
think The Ascension are awesome. I think The Ascension, much like
Dean Ambrose, should been skipped NXT and moved right to the main
roster. Let's see what others think... #WEWILLRISE
I'm officially a mark for
The Ascension. Wow. Just wow. #NXT
If
you go back to my preview last week, you'll know why I deliberately
included Ricardo's tweet here...
From
there, the awesome got awesomer...
I
thought the character introduction promos when Bray Wyatt started on
the FCW shows were good, but this took it to another level. I sense
definite shades of True Blood in terms of feeling and setting,
although obviously it's more Waylon Mercy in actually character than
Russell Edgington. And far less "sister" shagging.
I
really like Bray Wyatt. What a beast. AND DAT THEME #NXT
From
there, we go backstage to find some regular faces...
Yeah,
Johnny Curtis is a bit weird these days. Not getting your tag title
match for winning a season will do wacky things to you...
But
hey, time for this week's main event. And as they say, the more
things change, the more stay the same...
TYSON KIDD vs. MICHAEL
McGILLICUTTY
A
great TV main event, getting a good length to it too. Sure, these
guys have been at it for ages, but you know something. The idea
kinda is the more you face someone the better matches you have.
That's why you'll face the same guy on a house show loop! And
whether you like it or not, these two are having some really good to
great matches, including this one.
Kidd and McGillicutty
having an absolute classic in this Main. #NXT#OldSchool
So
there you have it, the first episode of the brand new NXT, which
comes live from Full Sail University. And I thought it was a pretty
great show and sets out a lofty stall to continue on in the same
vein. It would just be nice some more people actually gave it a
shot. Once the last "season" of the show finally dropped
the pretence of competition, it too turned in often some very good
shows. I know it's entirely de rigueur to bash RAW and Smackdown
right now, but then they choose to ignore that there is good stuff to
be found.
But
anyway, next week's show, as noted will have the debuts of Seth
Rollins, Richie Steamboat and a match with Antonio Cesaro as well as
a main event of Johnny Curtis vs. Derrick Bateman.
Don't
forget you can guarantee getting a mention in these review if you
either shoot me a tweet or hashtag it #AaroNXT. If you do so, you
will appear in this review next Saturday.
