NXT Wrestling 2014: It Starts Now!

NXTGeneration: NXT WRESTLING WEEK 1: Zayn/Kidd Main Event! Ballyhoo!
Posted on September 5th, 2014
Written by: Justin Tyme

Greetings wrestling fans and welcome to the NXTgeneration blog, I am your favorite Blogger JustinTyme and I’m here with the results of the Thursday, September 4th, 2014 NXT Television tapings. With all that ballyhoo out of the way, let’s get to the meat and potatoes!

The show kicks off with an interview that was pre-taped hours before the show as Sami Zayn was arriving to the building. Byron Saxton rushed up to meet Zayn. When asked about his opportunity tonight to become one of the two competitors vying for the NXT Championship at Takeover, Zayn stated that this is not an opportunity he planned on squandering. He tells Saxton that Tyson better bring his A game because tonight Sami plans on showing the world that he is an A+ player. A really solid promo from Zayn that got the point across and made me feel like a lot was on the line for him tonight.

NXT Women's Championship
Paige Vs Emma
The opening contest of the night was the NXT Women’s Championship match between Paige and Emma. Kind of a strange choice to start the show off with as the first match is usually the match that’s supposed to suck the fans in however when most fans hear the words “Women’s wrestling” especially nowadays. However let me put it to bed now that Emma and Paige are the exception to the rule. The match was a really solid back and forth match with both women pulling out moves not seen from your typical women wrestlers such as crisp suplexes and tight submission holds. Paige looked to end things with the Paige Turner however it was blocked by Emma. Emma then takes off to the ropes and comes back with a HUUUUGE Running Big Boot. Paige is knocked clean out, Emma locks in the Emma-Lock and Paige eventually taps out. Emma stays in the ring and does the whole championship celebration deal, she looks genuinely happy to have climbed the mountain to this point. ***

Backstage now are two of my favorites in NXT, the realest guys in the room, Enzo Amore and Big Cass. They were here tonight to scout some of the potential tag teams that could be forming in NXT. Not that it matters to them because they’re just like cottonelle tissue and the rest of the competition are like soft shell tacos. Or something along the lines. The point was that the rest of the NXT tag teams are all S-A-W-F-T…. You get the picture. Good promo work as always from Jersey’s Finest.

Prince Devitt Vs Kalisto
Next up we have the Real Rock N’ Rolla, Prince Devitt making his NXT Television debut taking on Kalisto. Now let me just say that the match between the two of them was really, really solid. The only problem was that the crowd was kind of out of it for whatever reason. They started to get invested in Devitt a little bit more as the match went on but they just didn’t care about Kalisto so a lot of Devitt’s more heelish tactics didn’t quite illicit the response he probably expected them too. Kalisto goes for a springboard crossbody that Devitt rolls through, hooks Kalisto up and nails Bloody Sunday for the win. After the match Kalisto gets up, still holding his neck and extends his other hand to Devitt in a show of respect. Devitt ignores the outstretched hand, turns around and heads to the back. That got some heat from the crowd. A solid **1/2 star match.

Backstage again this time with Cesaro and Corey Graves cutting into the mixed bag tag team of KENTA and Adrian Neville. Graves did a good chunk of the talking here advising KENTA that since he’s new here maybe he needs advise. Graves advises KENTA to just Stay Down. Cesaro focuses his attention on Adrian Neville and popped me with his line about Neville being “The Man That Gravity Forgot”. Cesaro said that this just means that when he gets Neville into the giant swing, he’s prepared to launch Neville into orbit and Neville will have no choice but to come crashing back to Earth. Awesome!

KENTA and Adrian Neville Vs Cesaro and Corey Graves
Speaking of the tag team match, that’s up next here! In case you’re not following along the match features Corey Graves and Cesaro Vs Adrian Neville and the Japanese Sensation, KENTA. This match was fantastic. I’m not usually huge on tag team matches and especially not ones where the teams are so brazenly just tossed together but these 4 just worked so well together that I couldn’t help but get sucked into it. I was disappointed with the lack of Cesaro’s big swing, he set up for it but KENTA was the legal man and he came in full blast and absolutely obliterated Cesaro with his running knee. He signaled to the crowd that the Go To Sleep was coming next, borrowing the hand gesture that CM Punk used to use which of course elicited a CM Punk chant. However before Cesaro could stand up to allow for KENTA to hit him with the GTS, from out of the back came Prince Devitt who blasted KENTA from behind with a steel chair. The referee didn’t see it either as he was busy checking on Cesaro. Cesaro got his wits about him, saw KENTA laid out and hit him with the Neutralizer for the 1-2-3. A really solid match and my lord am I ever excited for the match that’s bound to happen now between Devitt and KENTA. ***1/2

One more time we head backstage where Tyson Kidd is preparing for his main event match that’s coming up next. He’s asked what this win would mean to him. Tyson explains that he was never handed anything in his life, and neither was Sami. Tyson said that he had to scrape and claw his way through the independents as did Sami. Tyson brought up the fact that even after he came to the WWE he still felt like he wasn’t viewed as anyone who was of any value to the WWE. Tonight he starts to prove to the world that he is the most valuable commodity in the world of professional wrestling. This was a weird promo because Tyson’s meant to be a heel in this but I found myself almost wanting to cheer for him here.

Winner enters the NXT Championship Match
Tyson Kidd Vs Sami Zayn
And finally it is time for the MAAAAAAIN Event of the evening and oooh boy what a barn burner it was. This was such a back and forth contest with counter after counter, both men having scouted each other so well. Needless to say Sami got what he wanted from Tyson as Tyson was on his A game tonight. The match must’ve went for a solid 15 minutes before Tyson made a crucial error going for a springboard clothesline from the apron into the ring but was caught in the chest with a huge dropkick from Zayn. Zayn picks up Kidd, hits the Blue Thunder Bomb and picks up the 1-2-3 and we now know the first member of the NXT Championship match at Takeover. After the match, Zayn picks Kidd up and offers a handshake. Tyson looks around the ring for a few moments before accepting it. After the handshake, Zayn turns to the far turn buckle and climbs it to play for the crowd. When he hops off the turnbuckle though, Kidd meets him with a superkick to the mush, laying out Zayn. Kidd stands over the lifeless body of Zayn, reaches down and grabs Zayn’s hand to shake it again this time a tad more sarcastically. Solid heel work from Kidd and a great way to end the show.

JT's Notes on Notes
Overall I’m really looking forward to the NXT Takeover show that’s bearing down on us not this weekend but next. We still have another show to get through which I’m sure will give us the other half of the NXT Championship match as well as some development into the KENTA/Devitt feud. Until NXT week however, I’ve been Justin Tyme.

NXTGeneration: NXT WRESTLING WEEK 2: We’re Taking Over!
Posted on September 12th, 2014
Written by: Justin Tyme

Hello ladies and germs and welcome once again to the nXtGeneration blog, I am everyone’s favorite loudmouth writer Justin Tyme and I’m here with another weekly recap of NXT TV emanating from Full Sail University in Winter Park Florida and this was the last show before NXT Takeover on Saturday. So with that being said we have ourselves what promises to be a slobberknocker of a show as Good Ol’ JR used to say. Let’s get to the ballyhoo!

The show opened with KENTA arriving to the building. When he opened the door to the locker room he was met with a boot to the mush by Prince Devitt, laying him out cold. Devitt steps over the lifeless body of KENTA laying in the doorway and heads down the hallway.

Tyler Breeze Vs Mojo Rawley
The opening contest of the evening was a mismatch and a half as Prince Pretty, Tyler Breeze took on NXT’s resident hype man Mojo Rawley. Mojo came out of the gates like a house of fire, smothering Breeze with sheer power causing Breeze to roll out of the ring and briefly reconsider his career choice. Breeze grabs his phone and uses the camera as reference to fix his hair. When Breeze finally got back into the ring Mojo swarms him again, backing him into a corner. With Breeze covering up the referee backs Mojo off from his onslaught briefly. As Mojo came back for more, Breeze catches him with a kick to the knee, felling the big man. Breeze took this opening as a chance to deliver the Beauty Shot right to the mush of Rawley picking up the 1-2-3. The crowd seemed quite into the match and it struck me as a better match to open the show than the one we got last week. I’ll give it an even *** Winner: Tyler Breeze

Backstage we go now and Jersey’s Finest are standing in their locker room in full on hype mode. Enzo is easily one of the best talkers NXT has right now and he once again shines here as he promises to start his roll tonight as he takes on Aiden English. Big Cass said that there was an order handed down that both he and Simon Gotch are banned from ringside for tonight. Enzo says that’s SAWWWFT but he’ll pick up the W and they’ll go out to celebrate after. How you doin’?

Enzo Amore Vs Aiden English
Enzo and English is up next actually and the match itself was a short one but was good for what it was. Enzo had English in some dire straits, looking to finish English off when the lights went out. When they came back on, The Ascension was in the ring and they anhi-ya-lated both English and Amore and posed over their unconscious body. Big Cass and Simon Gotch came running out to form a sort of uneasy alliance but they too met a similar fate as Amore and English. The Ascension leave the ring with their heads held high. If this is a sign of the Tag Team scene here in NXT, sign me up! **1/2 Winner: No Contest

Sami Zayn is all up in my screen now and he’s being interviewed by Byron Saxton. Saxton asks Zayn if he plans on playing it safe tonight against Prince Devitt to conserve his energy for the NXT Title match at Takeover. Zayn says he wouldn’t be much of a superstar if he did that. Zayn says he does this because he loves what he does and he loves the fans. He’s never done anything half assed before and he certainly isn’t going to start tonight.

Prince Devitt Vs Sami Zayn
With that being said we have Devitt Vs Zayn in what can only be described as an internet fans wet dream. I know when I heard it announced I could hardly contain my excitement. This match was everything I ever wanted it to be. It was back and forth, tightly contested old school badass wrestling. Zayn nailed Devitt with the Blue Thunder bomb but Devitt kicked out. Zayn then set up Devitt for the Helluva Kick but as Zayn was rushing in, Devitt dropped to his knees and caught Zayn with a low blow. Devitt then picked up Zayn only to drop him again with the Bloody Sunday. After the match Devitt added some insult to injury by picking up the limp hand of Zayn and shaking it. From out of the back though rushed KENTA who chased Devitt from the ring. KENTA legitimately looked ready to kill Devitt but he may have to wait to get his hands on the Real Rock N’ Rolla. ***1/2 Winner: Prince Devitt

However KENTA wouldn’t have to wait quite so long for tonight’s opponent as Corey Graves came out onto the stage with a microphone in hand. Graves stops Devitt at the top of the ramp and asks him to stay out here and watch the match. Graves says that he was born to be the NXT Champion and Graves wants Devitt to have a good look at the fruits of his labor from the attack earlier tonight. However unlike Devitt who was only able to put KENTA down, Graves promises that when he’s done with him, KENTA is going to stay down.

Winner Enters the NXT Championship match at Takeover
Corey Graves Vs KENTA
And with the talking out of the way we’ve got ourselves a main event. Corey Graves takes on KENTA with the winner of the match getting the chance to face off with Sami Zayn to determine the new NXT Champion at Takeover. Both men pull out all of the stops with KENTA looking to take out all of his frustration that should be directed towards Devitt on Corey Graves. With every kick KENTA threw he looked back at Devitt as if to say “this one’s for you, and so is this one… and this one” however at one point KENTA took his eyes off Graves for a second too long as Graves responded with a kick of his own. Graves locked in Lucky 13 but KENTA refused to tap out and eventually got his way to the ropes. As the match was winding down, KENTA had Graves in his sights to hit the running knee however Devitt found himself getting too close to the ring as instead of going for the running knee, KENTA instead opted to take Devitt out with one hell of a suicide dive. KENTA rolled back into the ring only to be taken down by a rejuvenated Corey Graves who proceeded to lock in Lucky 13 again this time for the submission victory. I can safely say that this was one of the best wrestling matches I’ve seen from North American televised wrestling thus far this year. Amazing. I can’t wait to see these two go at it again sometime in the near future. ****1/2 Winner: Corey Graves

And that’s the show ladies and gentlemen. I cannot wait until Takeover this Saturday night just with the few matches we know we’re going to get. Sami Zayn Vs Corey Graves is going to be fantastic no doubt about it and I’ll be happy with whoever wins the title. And if Devitt Vs KENTA happens at the event then that will be incredible as well. Add that to the potential triple threat tag team match and possibly a women’s match and this writer thinks you’ll be in for one helluva show.

But what do I know? I’m Justin Tyme. I do know I’ll be tuning in. I’ll see you guys back here on Saturday. Until then, BALLYHOO!

Alright, not a terrible format here but I think I might change it up a bit more. Maybe add some color or change the font, just something a little bit different rather than being kind of just there. I'm not completely in love with the format, but I get that it is somebody doing kind of a write up review of the show. Anyway, moving on to the actual show. Having Prince Devitt vs KENTA be a thing is awesome, honestly. Not sure if I'd dive right into it, but it'd still be awesome. Seeing Tyler Breeze win is for the best, although I'm afraid of what will happen to him if he gets to the main roster. Good to see a tag team division being built, as well as Devitt getting the win. I'm not a big fan of KENTA submitting in the main event, albeit a great match. I just don't think it works well going into a big match with Devitt (if it happens). A solid show overall, I just really didn't care for the decision in the main event.