2013 Discussion

Discuss NXT in 2013.

Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel vs. Kassius Ohno, Leo Kruger (NXT, 01/02/13)
Decent although I was expecting more from the tag. International Airstrike is good. Good talents formed to make a good team. WWE would be wise to use these guys in a fashion that rivals The Rockers. High flying babyfaces would be key in the tag team market. Not an occasional high flying move coupled with standard boring WWE tv workmanship. I'm so freaking over that crap. Ohno rules, obviously. Always loved Hero. Kruger is pretty cool. Rocking the whole GAME HUNTER gimmick. Fact he's playing a gimmick makes me like him. I miss gimmicks in the world of wrestling. Why do you guys think I'm so keen on Chikara? It all makes sense now.

Luke Harper, Erick Rowan vs. Yoshi Tatsu, Percy Watson (NXT, 01/09/13)
I can't express the joy I get out of seeing Luke Harper tear shit up in WWE. He's getting to be exactly how he was on the indies. Not a single change was made. It's brilliant. Keep an eye out for him. The man is so talented. If WWE needs a beast to follow in the foot steps of Show or Henry, Luke Harper is your guy. Match was what the rating says. A SQUASH. The Wyatt family is excellent.

Primo, Epico vs. Bo Dallas, Michael McGillicutty (NXT, 01/09/13)
Bland tag team contest from 4 bland workers. Give Hennig some life WWE. I'm BEGGING you to make me care about him. Primo is better as a face. I've made mention of that before I'm sure. Being a plucky kid using his speed to his advantage. That's where he needs to be at. Not some random heel who does nothing of note. Same goes for Epico. Have to imagine he'd be a fine enough lower card/jobber face.

Seth Rollins vs. Big E. Langston (NXT, 01/09/13)
Fuck you Big E. Langston. You're the worst of the worst. Why the WWE jobbed out Seth Rollins to put you over, I'll never comprehend. Learn to wrestle. Learn to cut a promo without stumbling over "20/20". Learn to not be obnoxious. Go away. Match was what it was I guess. Rollins gets the advantage via The Shield. Locker room empties and Big E. does a nice counter to hit his finisher and win the gold. Lets hope the Big E. era is a short one

Adrian Neville vs. Sakamoto (NXT, 01/16/13)
Adrian Neville = PAC for those's who weren't aware. He's a hell of a talent. Has been for years. So naturally I'm excited by the prospects for him. The next Evan Bourne? (I hate to say that like Bourne is done...only looking to tomorrow. The realist way.) Match was incredibly basic for a showcase/debut. Sakamoto eventually does the ground thing. PAC gets momentum, hits a few moves to show what he had and caps off the short match with his BRILLIANT corkscrew shooting star press. It has to be seen.

Trent Barretta vs. Leo Kruger (NXT, 01/16/13)
Crowd wasn't having it, but Kruger & Barreta worked a fine little match here. More I see of Kruger the more I like. Not sure if he'll be some great, wonderful worker, yet the potential is looming. I think I just like the guy's sick demenor while in the ring. Trent is Trent. Good wrestler and a guy who never seemed to quite get accepted by the main roster. He wins via reverse decision DQ here and following he got released. Funny how that works out. Kruger picking around Trent's face with gouges - throwing him down and stalking him with those EYES was fun. Doesn't it sound like fun? Of course.

Luke Harper, Erick Rowan vs. Yoshi Tatsu, Percy Watson (NXT, 01/23/13)
Not quite AS one sided as their previous bout. Still pretty much a squash/showcase match for the Wyatt Family at the end of the day. Harper is the king and currently my favorite member of the NXT roster so seeing him get another rub by the company puts a smile on my face. How does Yoshi still have a job? He's even jobbing in NXT.

Drew McIntyre, Heath Slater vs. Adrian Neville, Oliver Grey (NXT, 01/23/13)
Decent little tag team match here. I wanted that age ol factor of more time, but it was fine for 6 minutes. Neville & Grey have already meshed into a good babyface tandem. I expect big things from them.

Kassius Ohno, Leo Kruger vs. Alex Riley, Derrick Bateman (NXT, 01/30/13)
Good solid length tag team bout to kick off this edition. Ohno & Kruger gel well as a team. Riley & Bateman weren't bad, but they're both kids with charisma that it almost felt like a "natural" fit and it worked for this one night. I'm such a mark for Riley that I think was was happy to see the kid working on my tv/computer again. Plenty of solid action in this and the obvious team went over. Graves comes out post match and owns Riley. If that leads to a future match then I'll be one satisfied lad.

Bo Dallas, Michael McGillicutty vs. Epico, Primo (NXT, 01/30/13)
Blah main event. It was a notch above their original bout, but once again the uber bland nature of all four didn't exactly lean themselves in the right direction of anything noteworthy. It's sort of there until the faces win. More BO DALLAS pushing it seems.

Adrian Neville, Oliver Grey vs. Kassius Ohno, Leo Kruger (NXT, 02/06/13)
Yeah, two watches for this match. First I didn't give it enough due. Second time I saw the value the match brought. 14 minutes and it gave us a nice chunk of simple, quality tag team wrestling. Grey played a good sympathetic babyface to work the FIP sequence against the menacing heels. He has that right look for it. HOT tag to PAC wasn't too long, but it did capture everything it needed to be. I don't know why I was fixated on it getting more time. In the end, it was Ohno who cost himself the match by getting himself focused on Regal and not his opponents. Good match. ***1/2

Luke Harper, Erick Rowan vs Michael McGillicutty, Bo Dallas (NXT, 02/06/13)
4 minutes, worked exactly the way it needed to be - quick advantage for heels, beatdown, eventual hot tag, finish - and it was fine. Right team went over in The Wyatt Family here. It appears NXT will be booking the brothers against one another down the line. Bray vs Bo. I guess that's fine. I dig Bray Wyatt so that's the positive here. Anything to get in in the ring.

British Ambition vs. The Wyatt Family (NXT, 02/13/13)
Long story short, watch the main event. Yet another good, interesting match from British Ambition. Flow of the match was back and forth for the first chunk of the match. About 5 minutes of each team getting the upper hand over one another. BA using their speed and quickness while Harper & Rowan would try to engulf the spritely faces with their immense power. Grey would become the FIP this week much how he was last week. I don't have much faith in Rowan outside of these tags, however he held his own here. It's obvious Harper is the glue that keeps the team together. Rowan working a simple and effective power beatdown is more than enough in his capabilities. Grey gives off so much sympathy when he's being pummeled. It's the perfect dynamic for the team. Greg gets the assault and garners favor from the fans in terms of a comeback. Hot tag to Neville who lights everyone and every thing up with his spirited offense. A minor malfunction at the junction by the Wyatt Family leads into Neville capitalizing and hitting the corkscrew shooting star press to etch his & Grey's name into the history books as the first ever NXT Tag Team Champions. Another good quality tag team match. Not quite as good as the match vs Ohno & Kruger, yet close. Both are must sees imo.

Xavier Woods vs. El Local (NXT, 02/20/13)
About time Xavier Woods (Consequences Creed in TNA) shows up on NXT for 2013. He's another solid guy. I like him. Got a bit of a 90's gimmick. He could be some fun. For those who didn't know, El Local is actually Ricardo Rodriguez in some swanky Lucha gear.