NXT Thread II

[WRau1]

Eric Young. Hell yes.

[Dunthreevy]

Eric Young. Hell yes.

I concur.

It's pretty funny that EY and Samoa Joe are in a WWE ring in 2016 though.

[WRau1]

Eric Young. Hell yes.

I concur.

It's pretty funny that EY and Samoa Joe are in a WWE ring in 2016 though.

Tessa Blanchard is also backstage, apparently. Women's division could legitimately be the best thing about the WWE very soon.

[Dunthreevy]

Eric Young. Hell yes.

I concur.

It's pretty funny that EY and Samoa Joe are in a WWE ring in 2016 though.

Tessa Blanchard is also backstage, apparently. Women's division could legitimately be the best thing about the WWE very soon.

Pretty sure she just wrestled Alexa on one of the recent episodes of NXT. Think it was like 2 or 3 weeks ago.

[WRau1]

I concur.

It's pretty funny that EY and Samoa Joe are in a WWE ring in 2016 though.

Tessa Blanchard is also backstage, apparently. Women's division could legitimately be the best thing about the WWE very soon.

Pretty sure she just wrestled Alexa on one of the recent episodes of NXT. Think it was like 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Dark match during Takeover weekend, iirc.

[Spens1]

EY well damn

When are we getting Bobby Roode then. (though ideally they bring them both in as beer money and pay for their theme from tna, that is perfect), seriously we could have AJ Styles, Roode, Joe, EY and Storm all wrestling in a wwe ring in 2016, all they need now is Abyss (actually that would be better for TNA than WWE though) and Christopher Daniels and they've created TNA in wwe.

Looks like the women's division is filling up nicely. Tess Blanchard there and now Athena making her TV debut (kind of surprised she tapped to Asuka, would have thought she would be built up as the most credible threat actually, since she is also a killer in the ring)

I do wonder about the next lot of PC graduates though, they're kinda screwed because they aren't going to shine nearly as much as the stars they've brought in (i think the mid-end of 2014 and start of 2015 had a good balance of stars and PC graduates in it).

They're making NXT what i think Smackdown should be. An Alternative to RAW. Them signing these huge international stars and others from outside of the WWE, i think they should be put on Smackdown for the most part and let NXT have some stars that need development for camera angles etc, but have it mostly feature the PC graduates, i enjoy seeing guys like Tyler Breeze, Bo Dallas and Baron Corbin getting a stage to shine where they otherwise would not.

Also WWE take it easy on the pillaging please, or at least if you are pillaging release whoever you aren't using

anyway apart from that the next tapings look solid enough i guess, nothing really happens though (like at all) apart from Joe vs EY for some reason (not sure i like EY being propelled into the title picture immediately, i liked the fact that in NXT you worked your way up for the most part, (unless its K.O, but he killed Zayn to get that title shot). Revival vs American Alpha looks cool and the seeds for BAMF splitting are set, though they're so screwed if they do, Alexa is set i think and honestly she deserves a run with the NXT womens championship down the line (not sure how she would beat Asuka, incredibly dusty finish i would imagine) but the other two are basically going to be jobbing so i'd rather they stay together (they're not that bad for a filler tag team).

[Dunthreevy]

EY well damn

When are we getting Bobby Roode then. (though ideally they bring them both in as beer money and pay for their theme from tna, that is perfect), seriously we could have AJ Styles, Roode, Joe, EY and Storm all wrestling in a wwe ring in 2016, all they need now is Abyss (actually that would be better for TNA than WWE though) and Christopher Daniels and they've created TNA in wwe.

Looks like the women's division is filling up nicely. Tess Blanchard there and now Athena making her TV debut (kind of surprised she tapped to Asuka, would have thought she would be built up as the most credible threat actually, since she is also a killer in the ring)

I do wonder about the next lot of PC graduates though, they're kinda screwed because they aren't going to shine nearly as much as the stars they've brought in (i think the mid-end of 2014 and start of 2015 had a good balance of stars and PC graduates in it).

They're making NXT what i think Smackdown should be. An Alternative to RAW. Them signing these huge international stars and others from outside of the WWE, i think they should be put on Smackdown for the most part and let NXT have some stars that need development for camera angles etc, but have it mostly feature the PC graduates, i enjoy seeing guys like Tyler Breeze, Bo Dallas and Baron Corbin getting a stage to shine where they otherwise would not.

Also WWE take it easy on the pillaging please, or at least if you are pillaging release whoever you aren't using

anyway apart from that the next tapings look solid enough i guess, nothing really happens though (like at all) apart from Joe vs EY for some reason (not sure i like EY being propelled into the title picture immediately, i liked the fact that in NXT you worked your way up for the most part, (unless its K.O, but he killed Zayn to get that title shot). Revival vs American Alpha looks cool and the seeds for BAMF splitting are set, though they're so screwed if they do, Alexa is set i think and honestly she deserves a run with the NXT womens championship down the line (not sure how she would beat Asuka, incredibly dusty finish i would imagine) but the other two are basically going to be jobbing so i'd rather they stay together (they're not that bad for a filler tag team).

Beer Money isn't happening. Storm signed a 2 year deal with TNA in January.

[detroitKG]

With the influx of recent TNA guys coming into NXT its comical to watch some of the smarks start to sour on NXT because it's becoming to dependent on outside/TNA talents...it's like really you twats...

Anyways great to see EY get his shot in WWE even if it is just in NXT and then a ride off into the sunset..always had a soft spot for him as a talent.

[Dunthreevy]

With the influx of recent TNA guys coming into NXT its comical to watch some of the smarks start to sour on NXT because it's becoming to dependent on outside/TNA talents...it's like really you twats...

Anyways great to see EY get his shot in WWE even if it is just in NXT and then a ride off into the sunset..always had a soft spot for him as a talent.

A good chunk of those twats weren't watching TNA anyway. It's the same group that will always find something to complain about. They don't actually enjoy pro wrestling anymore, they just enjoy bitching about it online.

[WRau1]

Agree w/ you both. I'm just happy that guys like Joe, EY, AA and Roode get their chance in the WWE. The WWE is always the goal when you set out to be a pro wrestler and with their age/size, I bet they had doubts if they'd ever get back/here. Happy for them.

[Spens1]

EY well damn

When are we getting Bobby Roode then. (though ideally they bring them both in as beer money and pay for their theme from tna, that is perfect), seriously we could have AJ Styles, Roode, Joe, EY and Storm all wrestling in a wwe ring in 2016, all they need now is Abyss (actually that would be better for TNA than WWE though) and Christopher Daniels and they've created TNA in wwe.

Looks like the women's division is filling up nicely. Tess Blanchard there and now Athena making her TV debut (kind of surprised she tapped to Asuka, would have thought she would be built up as the most credible threat actually, since she is also a killer in the ring)

I do wonder about the next lot of PC graduates though, they're kinda screwed because they aren't going to shine nearly as much as the stars they've brought in (i think the mid-end of 2014 and start of 2015 had a good balance of stars and PC graduates in it).

They're making NXT what i think Smackdown should be. An Alternative to RAW. Them signing these huge international stars and others from outside of the WWE, i think they should be put on Smackdown for the most part and let NXT have some stars that need development for camera angles etc, but have it mostly feature the PC graduates, i enjoy seeing guys like Tyler Breeze, Bo Dallas and Baron Corbin getting a stage to shine where they otherwise would not.

Also WWE take it easy on the pillaging please, or at least if you are pillaging release whoever you aren't using

anyway apart from that the next tapings look solid enough i guess, nothing really happens though (like at all) apart from Joe vs EY for some reason (not sure i like EY being propelled into the title picture immediately, i liked the fact that in NXT you worked your way up for the most part, (unless its K.O, but he killed Zayn to get that title shot). Revival vs American Alpha looks cool and the seeds for BAMF splitting are set, though they're so screwed if they do, Alexa is set i think and honestly she deserves a run with the NXT womens championship down the line (not sure how she would beat Asuka, incredibly dusty finish i would imagine) but the other two are basically going to be jobbing so i'd rather they stay together (they're not that bad for a filler tag team).

Beer Money isn't happening. Storm signed a 2 year deal with TNA in January.

i am sure if he wanted to leave he requested a release. At the end of the day Storm is on way too much money for his status in TNA (250k for Storm is just ridiculous given TNA's current financial predicament)

[Spens1]

With the influx of recent TNA guys coming into NXT its comical to watch some of the smarks start to sour on NXT because it's becoming to dependent on outside/TNA talents...it's like really you twats...

Anyways great to see EY get his shot in WWE even if it is just in NXT and then a ride off into the sunset..always had a soft spot for him as a talent.

i love all of them and have watched TNA for years, but it seems like NXT is going away from what it was, like the weekly NXT show itself has gone down drastically in quality over the last year, the builds for specials are worse, mind you the specials themselves are better now. Part of it maybe Balor's stale as month old bread reign though.

Like if they got the weekly show right and focused on storyline, along with the talent they would easily be the best show on TV again

[skbucks1985]

With the influx of recent TNA guys coming into NXT its comical to watch some of the smarks start to sour on NXT because it's becoming to dependent on outside/TNA talents...it's like really you twats...

Anyways great to see EY get his shot in WWE even if it is just in NXT and then a ride off into the sunset..always had a soft spot for him as a talent.

i love all of them and have watched TNA for years, but it seems like NXT is going away from what it was, like the weekly NXT show itself has gone down drastically in quality over the last year, the builds for specials are worse, mind you the specials themselves are better now. Part of it maybe Balor's stale as month old bread reign though.

Like if they got the weekly show right and focused on storyline, along with the talent they would easily be the best show on TV again

I'm with you, although I think the issue is that the roster isn't as deep as it was a year or two ago. The women is one area where I think this is evident. After those three left you had Asuka appear but you're still down 2 spots and I don't think they've replaced those two spots. Nia Jax has the look, Alexa's got the character part down and Eva gets major heat. But none of those three can deliver in the ring the way Charlotte, Becky and Sasha can. And I like that they held off on Bayley and Asuka, but those two are on a different level than anyone else in the division and so in the interim and presently since they're not immediately going back to this match you're going to have matches and programs that won't deliver like the ones in the past did.

I'm with you about Balor. I'd seen lots of Prince Devitt matches but I wasn't familiar with him on a week-in-week-out basis and after seeing him in NXT I've got to say I've been a little disappointed. In the ring he's tremendous even if his offense seems kinda formulaic. But he might be like HHH in that he's best when he's got guys around him because he's not a particularly compelling character by himself. Looking at the feud with Joe, Joe has out-shined him at pretty much every turn. And when Balor had his mini-feud with Crews, even though I like both guys a lot it did very little for me although that could just be attributed to them both being babyfaces without much edge. Looking at Takeover Dallas they easily could've switched the top 2 matches and done Balor-Zayn and Joe-Nakamura, I'm sure there were people who felt they should've done that especially since those are two fresh matchups. And Joe-Nakamura would've been and will be fantastic when it happens. But Zayn-Balor would've been a really odd dynamic and I think it could've ended up with the crowd turning on Balor.

[Spens1]

With the influx of recent TNA guys coming into NXT its comical to watch some of the smarks start to sour on NXT because it's becoming to dependent on outside/TNA talents...it's like really you twats...

Anyways great to see EY get his shot in WWE even if it is just in NXT and then a ride off into the sunset..always had a soft spot for him as a talent.

i love all of them and have watched TNA for years, but it seems like NXT is going away from what it was, like the weekly NXT show itself has gone down drastically in quality over the last year, the builds for specials are worse, mind you the specials themselves are better now. Part of it maybe Balor's stale as month old bread reign though.

Like if they got the weekly show right and focused on storyline, along with the talent they would easily be the best show on TV again

I'm with you, although I think the issue is that the roster isn't as deep as it was a year or two ago. The women is one area where I think this is evident. After those three left you had Asuka appear but you're still down 2 spots and I don't think they've replaced those two spots. Nia Jax has the look, Alexa's got the character part down and Eva gets major heat. But none of those three can deliver in the ring the way Charlotte, Becky and Sasha can. And I like that they held off on Bayley and Asuka, but those two are on a different level than anyone else in the division and so in the interim and presently since they're not immediately going back to this match you're going to have matches and programs that won't deliver like the ones in the past did.

I'm with you about Balor. I'd seen lots of Prince Devitt matches but I wasn't familiar with him on a week-in-week-out basis and after seeing him in NXT I've got to say I've been a little disappointed. In the ring he's tremendous even if his offense seems kinda formulaic. But he might be like HHH in that he's best when he's got guys around him because he's not a particularly compelling character by himself. Looking at the feud with Joe, Joe has out-shined him at pretty much every turn. And when Balor had his mini-feud with Crews, even though I like both guys a lot it did very little for me although that could just be attributed to them both being babyfaces without much edge. Looking at Takeover Dallas they easily could've switched the top 2 matches and done Balor-Zayn and Joe-Nakamura, I'm sure there were people who felt they should've done that especially since those are two fresh matchups. And Joe-Nakamura would've been and will be fantastic when it happens. But Zayn-Balor would've been a really odd dynamic and I think it could've ended up with the crowd turning on Balor.

with the women i'll give them the benefit of the doubt but i agree they need to start pushing some of the women a bit more so they can be ready for the title picture and so they can push a narrative there.

Balor though, after seeing him as Prince Devitt, this was just sad. In the ring he can deliver but all the charisma he had in Japan (maybe not necessarily the greatest mic worker but the heelish, cocky charisma was there), he just seems to be a guy who should be a lot better as a heel than a face, though i doubt he would be allowed to swear nearly as much in WWE as he did in New Japan hopefully today we get heel balor back

To be fair to balor with Zayn, everyone turns on the other person for Zayn (see Neville, which basically lead him to playing a pseudo heel which probably revived his reign a bit)

Joe-Nakamura and Joe-Aries or even down the road Aries-Nakamura would be fantastic for the title but they need to actually build a story around it, the one thing balor's title reign has suffered from the most is the lack of any story around the title (after Itami got injured they never really had any story around the title)

As for depth, they have a hell of a lot of talent not on TV who they should start bringing in

[jakecronus8]

Glad these Dallas tapings are done. Crowd is just silent for these shows.

Ridiculous that they made Asuka sell any offense from Eva. That should have been your definition of a squash match. Like literally one kick to the face and 1,2,3.

I hope the main event for the next takeover is just a swerve attempt for a debuting Balor. I really really don't need another Joe/Finn match.

Spoiler:

At the tapings it appears that they are teasing an Aries heel turn and program with Nakamura. That's easy money and Aries is a brilliant heel.

[Spens1]

Glad these Dallas tapings are done. Crowd is just silent for these shows.

Ridiculous that they made Asuka sell any offense from Eva. That should have been your definition of a squash match. Like literally one kick to the face and 1,2,3.

I hope the main event for the next takeover is just a swerve attempt for a debuting Balor. I really really don't need another Joe/Finn match.

Spoiler:

At the tapings it appears that they are teasing an Aries heel turn and program with Nakamura. That's easy money and Aries is a brilliant heel.

Spoiler:

Heel Aries vs Nakamura, shutup and take my money

[skbucks1985]

i love all of them and have watched TNA for years, but it seems like NXT is going away from what it was, like the weekly NXT show itself has gone down drastically in quality over the last year, the builds for specials are worse, mind you the specials themselves are better now. Part of it maybe Balor's stale as month old bread reign though.

Like if they got the weekly show right and focused on storyline, along with the talent they would easily be the best show on TV again

I'm with you, although I think the issue is that the roster isn't as deep as it was a year or two ago. The women is one area where I think this is evident. After those three left you had Asuka appear but you're still down 2 spots and I don't think they've replaced those two spots. Nia Jax has the look, Alexa's got the character part down and Eva gets major heat. But none of those three can deliver in the ring the way Charlotte, Becky and Sasha can. And I like that they held off on Bayley and Asuka, but those two are on a different level than anyone else in the division and so in the interim and presently since they're not immediately going back to this match you're going to have matches and programs that won't deliver like the ones in the past did.

I'm with you about Balor. I'd seen lots of Prince Devitt matches but I wasn't familiar with him on a week-in-week-out basis and after seeing him in NXT I've got to say I've been a little disappointed. In the ring he's tremendous even if his offense seems kinda formulaic. But he might be like HHH in that he's best when he's got guys around him because he's not a particularly compelling character by himself. Looking at the feud with Joe, Joe has out-shined him at pretty much every turn. And when Balor had his mini-feud with Crews, even though I like both guys a lot it did very little for me although that could just be attributed to them both being babyfaces without much edge. Looking at Takeover Dallas they easily could've switched the top 2 matches and done Balor-Zayn and Joe-Nakamura, I'm sure there were people who felt they should've done that especially since those are two fresh matchups. And Joe-Nakamura would've been and will be fantastic when it happens. But Zayn-Balor would've been a really odd dynamic and I think it could've ended up with the crowd turning on Balor.

with the women i'll give them the benefit of the doubt but i agree they need to start pushing some of the women a bit more so they can be ready for the title picture and so they can push a narrative there.

Balor though, after seeing him as Prince Devitt, this was just sad. In the ring he can deliver but all the charisma he had in Japan (maybe not necessarily the greatest mic worker but the heelish, cocky charisma was there), he just seems to be a guy who should be a lot better as a heel than a face, though i doubt he would be allowed to swear nearly as much in WWE as he did in New Japan hopefully today we get heel balor back

To be fair to balor with Zayn, everyone turns on the other person for Zayn (see Neville, which basically lead him to playing a pseudo heel which probably revived his reign a bit)

Joe-Nakamura and Joe-Aries or even down the road Aries-Nakamura would be fantastic for the title but they need to actually build a story around it, the one thing balor's title reign has suffered from the most is the lack of any story around the title (after Itami got injured they never really had any story around the title)

As for depth, they have a hell of a lot of talent not on TV who they should start bringing in

Alexa and Nia Jax are two people with massive potential but they're not there yet and that's fine because that's what developmental is for. But because of that they can't deliver what Becky, Sasha and Charlotte could so this qualitative drop was inevitable.

Maybe with Balor it is that they're having him play this super babyface character when he's better suited to be a heel or a babyface with more edge. But I do think its possible that he's one of those guys that should be surrounded by people because he's one of those people whose better when he has people to play off of.

And I don't think guys will necessarily get booed when they're facing Zayn. Even if we ignore Nakamura because it was his debut, Joe got his share of cheers against Zayn and he was playing a pure heel. And I think if they'd slow played Owens' heel turn and his first match with Zayn was a babyface-babyface match, Owens would've gotten more than his share of cheers as well.

Other than La Sombra (who they may be holding off on for language reasons) it doesn't seem like there's a ton of guys down in NXT that are ready for TV. Nicholls and Haste might be but they literally just got there. Look at a guy like Elias Samson. The stage was set for him to get a big push and he hasn't delivered. And I assume that most of these guys if put on TV would fare as bad or worse than Samson.

[Polk377]

I'm with you, although I think the issue is that the roster isn't as deep as it was a year or two ago. The women is one area where I think this is evident. After those three left you had Asuka appear but you're still down 2 spots and I don't think they've replaced those two spots. Nia Jax has the look, Alexa's got the character part down and Eva gets major heat. But none of those three can deliver in the ring the way Charlotte, Becky and Sasha can. And I like that they held off on Bayley and Asuka, but those two are on a different level than anyone else in the division and so in the interim and presently since they're not immediately going back to this match you're going to have matches and programs that won't deliver like the ones in the past did.

I'm with you about Balor. I'd seen lots of Prince Devitt matches but I wasn't familiar with him on a week-in-week-out basis and after seeing him in NXT I've got to say I've been a little disappointed. In the ring he's tremendous even if his offense seems kinda formulaic. But he might be like HHH in that he's best when he's got guys around him because he's not a particularly compelling character by himself. Looking at the feud with Joe, Joe has out-shined him at pretty much every turn. And when Balor had his mini-feud with Crews, even though I like both guys a lot it did very little for me although that could just be attributed to them both being babyfaces without much edge. Looking at Takeover Dallas they easily could've switched the top 2 matches and done Balor-Zayn and Joe-Nakamura, I'm sure there were people who felt they should've done that especially since those are two fresh matchups. And Joe-Nakamura would've been and will be fantastic when it happens. But Zayn-Balor would've been a really odd dynamic and I think it could've ended up with the crowd turning on Balor.

with the women i'll give them the benefit of the doubt but i agree they need to start pushing some of the women a bit more so they can be ready for the title picture and so they can push a narrative there.

Balor though, after seeing him as Prince Devitt, this was just sad. In the ring he can deliver but all the charisma he had in Japan (maybe not necessarily the greatest mic worker but the heelish, cocky charisma was there), he just seems to be a guy who should be a lot better as a heel than a face, though i doubt he would be allowed to swear nearly as much in WWE as he did in New Japan hopefully today we get heel balor back

To be fair to balor with Zayn, everyone turns on the other person for Zayn (see Neville, which basically lead him to playing a pseudo heel which probably revived his reign a bit)

Joe-Nakamura and Joe-Aries or even down the road Aries-Nakamura would be fantastic for the title but they need to actually build a story around it, the one thing balor's title reign has suffered from the most is the lack of any story around the title (after Itami got injured they never really had any story around the title)

As for depth, they have a hell of a lot of talent not on TV who they should start bringing in

Alexa and Nia Jax are two people with massive potential but they're not there yet and that's fine because that's what developmental is for. But because of that they can't deliver what Becky, Sasha and Charlotte could so this qualitative drop was inevitable.

Maybe with Balor it is that they're having him play this super babyface character when he's better suited to be a heel or a babyface with more edge. But I do think its possible that he's one of those guys that should be surrounded by people because he's one of those people whose better when he has people to play off of.

And I don't think guys will necessarily get booed when they're facing Zayn. Even if we ignore Nakamura because it was his debut, Joe got his share of cheers against Zayn and he was playing a pure heel. And I think if they'd slow played Owens' heel turn and his first match with Zayn was a babyface-babyface match, Owens would've gotten more than his share of cheers as well.

Other than La Sombra (who they may be holding off on for language reasons) it doesn't seem like there's a ton of guys down in NXT that are ready for TV. Nicholls and Haste might be but they literally just got there. Look at a guy like Elias Samson. The stage was set for him to get a big push and he hasn't delivered. And I assume that most of these guys if put on TV would fare as bad or worse than Samson.

Guys that just get to NXT are usually held off of TV or any shows for at least a month.

[iMoreland]

The roster is fine for an hour of TV a week

[Spens1]

with the women i'll give them the benefit of the doubt but i agree they need to start pushing some of the women a bit more so they can be ready for the title picture and so they can push a narrative there.

Balor though, after seeing him as Prince Devitt, this was just sad. In the ring he can deliver but all the charisma he had in Japan (maybe not necessarily the greatest mic worker but the heelish, cocky charisma was there), he just seems to be a guy who should be a lot better as a heel than a face, though i doubt he would be allowed to swear nearly as much in WWE as he did in New Japan hopefully today we get heel balor back

To be fair to balor with Zayn, everyone turns on the other person for Zayn (see Neville, which basically lead him to playing a pseudo heel which probably revived his reign a bit)

Joe-Nakamura and Joe-Aries or even down the road Aries-Nakamura would be fantastic for the title but they need to actually build a story around it, the one thing balor's title reign has suffered from the most is the lack of any story around the title (after Itami got injured they never really had any story around the title)

As for depth, they have a hell of a lot of talent not on TV who they should start bringing in

Alexa and Nia Jax are two people with massive potential but they're not there yet and that's fine because that's what developmental is for. But because of that they can't deliver what Becky, Sasha and Charlotte could so this qualitative drop was inevitable.

Maybe with Balor it is that they're having him play this super babyface character when he's better suited to be a heel or a babyface with more edge. But I do think its possible that he's one of those guys that should be surrounded by people because he's one of those people whose better when he has people to play off of.

And I don't think guys will necessarily get booed when they're facing Zayn. Even if we ignore Nakamura because it was his debut, Joe got his share of cheers against Zayn and he was playing a pure heel. And I think if they'd slow played Owens' heel turn and his first match with Zayn was a babyface-babyface match, Owens would've gotten more than his share of cheers as well.

Other than La Sombra (who they may be holding off on for language reasons) it doesn't seem like there's a ton of guys down in NXT that are ready for TV. Nicholls and Haste might be but they literally just got there. Look at a guy like Elias Samson. The stage was set for him to get a big push and he hasn't delivered. And I assume that most of these guys if put on TV would fare as bad or worse than Samson.

Guys that just get to NXT are usually held off of TV or any shows for at least a month.

TMDK have been there for ages though even if they didn't necessarily sign, Sombra has been there since last year or beginning of this year and he was huge for CMLL, like one of their biggest stars, hell he was one of the biggest stars in wrestling last year