EricR

Made some good adds to the NXT UK Matches Worth Watching, especially liked Jinny/Storm. Jordan Devlin vs. Ligero NXT UK 8/25 (Aired 11/21/18) (Ep. #9) ER: This was a good modern indy main event, that perhaps went a bit too long. It was well timed, well executed, and hammier than I wished it would be, but it built nicely, had a bunch of stiff strikes from Devlin, and a couple strong nearfalls. Ligero is someone with good comebacks who can take a beating, so a lot of this would be Devlin cutting him off with surprisingly hard strikes (I am not always into Devlin's offense, but the Devlin in this match was easily the most agreeable to my wrestling taste sensibilities). Ligero throws a really tight headscissors and always throws a nice honest Code Red, making it look like he's actually bumping his opponent rather than his opponent bumping for him. Devlin is great at taking these and then firing back with hard elbows and a great back elbow smash, or cutting Ligero off with a uranage, or a nice backdrop driver. Ligero would make inroads and then hit a brick wall, and it was always compelling. There's a great moment where Ligero gets ambitious and goes for a big splash off the top, only to land directly on Devlin's knees, with Devlin perfectly rolling him into a pin in one motion. I thought that was the finish. This managed to be practically 75/25 for Devlin (maybe more) but it never felt like it because Ligero was active, he was just cut off a lot. Going on a run and suddenly eating a quick Spanish Fly, fighting on the floor and suddenly finding himself eating ring steps. It always felt competitive even if one guy was always farther ahead on points, and they made it work very well. Tyson T-Bone vs. Dave Mastiff NXT UK 8/26 (Aired 11/21/18) (Ep. #10) ER: These are the kind of hot short sprints that NXT UK has been better at than any other WWE weekly program. There's no reason the 4-7 minute matches on Main Event, NXT, or 205 Live can't be as good as this match. There are talented people used on all brands, but none of their short matches entertain me as much as the ones on NXT UK. This is a nearly 5 minute match that feels like it's 2 minutes, as T-Bone starts rocking Mastiff with punches to start and we don't let up until T-Bone is dumped with a German and squished by a cannonball. I like British boxer turned street fighter as a gimmick, and T-Bone pulls it off great, mixing up hard right hands to Mastiff's cheekbone with big thundering shots to the stomach. Mastiff would get backed into a corner and outclassed on strikes, then respond the only way he could, by just barreling into T-Bone. T-Bone worked a really awesome cravat, yanking on Mastiff's hair and beard while also forcing the chin, and I dug how Mastiff powered up and stayed in close, getting distance with a couple of different violent headbutts. The quick sequence where Mastiff hoisted T-Bone up in a fireman's carry, only to see T-Bone squirm out into a nice sunset flip attempt, ending with Mastiff slamming the garage door down with a butt splash, was really well done and the kind of thing I like to see in a big man battle. Guys are very good at filling time on this brand, which seems like such a far cry from the bloated epics of NXT US. Just give me something like this every week or two and I'll be a satisfied customer. Jinny vs. Toni Storm NXT UK 8/26 (Aired 11/21/18) ER: UK wrestling fans are no stranger to this pairing, as this is a match that's been run several times over the past few years. This one came just a couple weeks after their Mae Young Classic match (though it aired a couple months later), and that match was one of my favorite first rounders of the 2nd MYC. This is very similar to that match, but I think it's the tighter version. They work a lot of nice tough grappling and collar elbows, both looking like they're actually struggling through lock-ups. The struggle peaks with Storm locking in a great Indian deathlock and choking Jinny after hooking her in a side headlock around the chin. Storm really looked like she was cranking it in and Jinny is great at selling while in holds. Jinny's fight to get her fingers on the bottom rope was a good one, and I love how Jinny punishes Storm for it with hard stomps. Jinny has great force on her stomps, and her stomps are just one of the parts of her game that benefit from her long limbs. She's 5'6" but has long legs and arms that make her look like she's 5'10, so when she's throwing stomps it really looks like she's rearing back with force. The limbs also really contribute to her bumping, as she really ragdolls on a pair of suplexes, limbs flying around and folding over her body in cool ways. There was an elbow exchange that started on the knees and built up to them standing, and it actually looked earned and not just something that has to be in every main event epic. Jinny especially looked like she was fighting off balance to her feet while throwing stiff elbows, and she was really great at selling her jaw to fill downtime after delivering offense. Jinny has a lot of offense I like that utilizes her limbs, like that nice Japanese uppercut to catch a charging Storm and sending Storm sprawling to the mat after tripping her on an Irish whip. Storm makes her big stuff look really good, like a hard contact running hip attack, or getting dumped on her head off an X-factor. These two know each other, and they only have one singles match after this one so it has that feel of something that's been getting better. I do wish they had worked the match out to build off the MYC match - this felt like it was their touring match worked the next town over - but they have a strong formula and genuine chemistry, so it was still really good.

I'm on the west coast so a few hours (or more) behind everyone else, but I thought I would do a live blog for Halloween Havoc. They suckered me in with the gimmick. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/10/nxt-halloween-havoc-live-blog-102820.html

I really didn't like this PPV a lot, even though Sasha delivering in her match and her win made this a perfectly fine watch for me.

Rare Phil appearance doing a HIAC blog with me tonight. Bummed at how Gulak is being used after the great matches he was putting on earlier this year. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/10/wwe-hell-in-cell-approximately-live.html

I know extremely little about any of the NXT roster off camera, hadn't heard a single thing about Drake being nearly run off from wrestling and would be interested in hearing more. If there is background like this on any of the roster moving forward, safe to assume I haven't heard it. Oddly I haven't loved a ton of GYV that I've seen, but I like both of them quite a bit as singles wrestlers?

James Drake vs. Tyler Bate NXT UK 8/25 (Aired 11/14/18) (Ep. #7) ER: I liked the looks of this on paper and it gave me what I was hoping for. Bate is a guy with nice moves and hammy execution, and Drake is a guy who leans into hard strikes and gets into position for moves real well. Bate does moves with familiar set ups match to match, but he's good at switching things up so he's not doing every move from the exact same start point every single time. I liked the World of Sport wristlock exchanges to start, and I liked how Drake took him to the floor and brought him back in with knees. Drake is good at working Bate over, and he looks like a wrestling Billy Mitchell, and the stuff around Drake's headlock was my favorite part of the match. Drake has a great headlock and looks like he's really messing with Bate's breathing, hooking Bate's chin in his elbow crook and then holding his forearm across Bate's esophagus. My favorite part was Bate trying to break the sleeper by backing Drake hard into the turnbuckles, but he did it right when a forearm was across his throat and his face said he hurt himself more. Drake hits a corner dropkick that looks like he is going for a KO, looks like a finish and works as a strong nearfall. Bate's eventual comeback clotheslines and uppercuts look good, and his deadlift suplexes are impressive (dig that slow lift backdrop driver). I would have actually liked another twist or nearfall at the end, but I also appreciate the tidy finish. It's nice to see a guy pinned after a clothesline and tiger driver. Wild Boar vs. Mark Andrews NXT UK 8/25 (Aired 11/21/18) (Ep. #9) ER: This is a nice complementary pairing. Andrews benefitted from a stout base, and Boar has a ton of fun ways to flatten and throw Andrews. Boar is Tinier Taz on offense, and catches ranas nicely and bumps generously while on defense. Andrews with throw a genuinely hard right elbow smash, and he's a fun guy to see get smooshed by a nasty Boar apron senton and another one while on all fours. Boar grunts and jumps into him with headbutts, squatting on the mat and doing his own fun take on JYD headbutts. Andrews tries big stuff like a quebrada off the apron and a shooting star to finish, but the shooting star falls short (his always seems to...), but his strength is his bumping. His flying is risky but not always executed, while his bumps are big. He gets creamed on a clothesline and gets flipped far on a half nelson suplex or flattened by a fast cannonball in the corner. The finish is a little abrupt and could have used a couple twists, but Boar excels in these 5 minute action sprints and a game opponent will benefit.

I suppose it's fair, if not pointless? I didn't watch any of the build for a match, not sure what you're talking about when you refer to storytelling (is this a different way to say "the build", or the storytelling in the match you didn't really watch?), and the characters don't interest me much as I've never been a big fan of either. I didn't know going into the show who was getting a title match, or honestly who the NXT champ even was. I typically skim through weekly shows watching for people whose wrestling I enjoy, skip past most promos and build, and then catch up on all that stuff through the promo packages within PPVs. Frankly, if I decided to not give a chance to any 2020 matches unless their characters, storylines, and builds were strong, I wouldn't be watching any 2020 wrestling except for Eddie Kingston (which might not be a bad idea). But if I did that, I would have missed out on dozens of matches this year that I thought were really good. And Balor/O'Reilly was one of them. I judged them on what they did in the ring, and what they did in the ring was strong. Writing a lot of words about how you can't be bothered to give a shit about a match seems like a waste of time to me. But, I've always been far more interested in actual in-ring work, regardless of story or build. There are plenty of matches that I've loved that have benefitted from story, build, and character, but I watch most matches in a vacuum and judge them on that.

O'Reilly vs. Balor was a really great main event. It had some of the dramatic reactions that I dislike about modern NXT main events, but it was overall really great. CS is saying they didn't care about the match and thus didn't watch it, but somehow thinks that's the fault of the match? That makes no sense to me. "Yeah this movie wasn't very good, I didn't even bother to watch it." I'm not a huge fan of Balor or O'Reilly, but I also probably wouldn't have cared about the match if I didn't pay attention to any of it. How does that even count as criticism?

Ridge Holland is nothing but a great addition to the NXT roster. They need a guy that can be a convincing wrecking ball like him. A much more interesting replacement for the guy he presumably replaced, Lee.

I thought the main event delivered far more than these NXT Epics usually do. O'Reilly's kneebar was some Volk Han shit, and I think it would have played well as a finish. I thought it stayed engaging over the (probably too long) runtime.

I do not like the looks of this card. But I also don't want to watch the 49ers live at 5 PM, so I might as well check out this card. I haven't loved the main NXT roster for a bit now, and the guys I like (Thatcher, Lorcan) aren't on it. I don't even think there's a tag title match, right? Just a bunch of singles matches? I don't like that. Nevertheless: https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/10/nxt-takeover-31-live-blog.html

I'm having a bleh day and just want to do nothing, so figured I would throw this show on in the background and see if anything jumps out at me. I don't totally know what the card is now that I heard the women's stuff has been changed or removed, but Reigns/Jey could be good. I'll still write some stuff. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/09/wwe-clash-of-champions-disinterested.html

Wild Boar delivers every time. I'm excited to do Top 50 lists for this because it exposes someone like him a bit, because he's someone I never seen talked about. I've never heard anyone recommending Wild Boar matches. But I am going to do that. Noam Dar vs. Zack Gibson NXT UK 7/28 (Aired 10/31/18) (Ep. #3) ER: I really liked this, while also wishing it wasn't 21 minutes. I don't think any guys actually need 20+ minutes to tell their story, but that said this match didn't actually feel 21 minutes and that's in its favor. We had a story of Dar going after Gibson's left leg while Gibson just focused on attacking Dar anyway he could. Dar's leg work was really good, at first working a tight grapevine and Indian deathlock, and I think Dar's submission work is among the strongest in NXT UK. He doesn't skip steps and knows how to shift his body slightly to add different leverage, and I loved how he was adding twisting to keep Gibson's selling honest. Dar immediately kicking Gibson right in the shin as he escaped the hold was sweet icing. The leg was never a major sticking point during the match, but it was always Dar's key back inside, and I liked that. He had a couple of really high profile attacks to that leg, including a wild running dropkick off the entrance ramp, and a double stomp off the top while Gibson's leg was hung over the ropes. I don't know if I would trust somebody to do either of those things, where the margin of error for *actually* destroying my knee was that slim. But the spots come off really well and are great ways to slow down Gibson for long stretches. My favorite moment was Gibson going for a dropkick off the middle rope, but Dar lightly sidestepping and hooking that left leg on the way down, then locking in a tight kneebar. Usually in a moment like that both guys will make it a bit too obvious that they are planning for a reversal to happen, but this felt very unexpected. It looked like Gibson was honestly throwing the dropkick, and Dar had to put in the honest work of grabbing the leg, it wasn't being hung out for him. Gibson has stronger strikes than Dar, while Dar attacks more in quantity, so Gibson was the one rocking him with elbows and hitting a big powerbomb on the entrance ramp. And Dar's selling can be a bit melodramatic, but he focuses on more interesting kind of selling drama than most modern workers. Most overdramatic wrestling selling is done exclusively with the face, and since most wrestlers are terrible actors, you just end up with stupid wide eyed open mouth facials to sell everything. Dar focuses his selling on selling his body, and while it can come off as a bit much, I appreciate someone stiffening their body in pain, selling muscle pain and a man getting the wind taken from him. I thought Gibson's knee selling was good, as it wasn't the overall focus of the match but he paid enough lip service to it to create openings. The finish was tidy and didn't send us through a long series of nearfalls with shocked faces, which was a contributing factor in this long match not feeling as long. Ligero vs. James Drake NXT UK 7/29 (Aired 11/7/18) (Ep. #5) ER: Ligero is really great at these 5-6 minute showcase sprints, really knows how to keep the selling respectable while keeping the action near constant. He really leans into beatings and that always makes a flier type more interesting to me, because snapping off a tight Code Red is cooler after that guy got his face kicked in. Drake is good at throwing sharp elbows to the jaw, and his corner dropkick really looked decapitating. Ligero sold a sore jaw throughout, and it wouldn't shock me if he was just a man reacting to getting kicked in the face. Drake works quick and hits hard when he gets there, and I kept being surprised at how Ligero would lean into it all. The nearfalls were good and I genuinely had no idea who was going to win, a competitive match without ever feel like they were taking turns. I love Ligero's tornado DDT finish, and the roster is filled with guys who can make sure the DDT looks like a finish.

Noam Dar vs. Pete Dunne NXT UK 7/28 (Aired 10/17/18) (Ep. #1) Strong title match to main event their first TV episode. Dar is someone I feel made a lot of improvements in the time between his 205 Live stint and the start of NXT UK. I disliked him on 205 but enjoy him more often than not in his post 205 work. He played underdog against Dunne here, leaning into all of Dunne's stiff elbow strikes and standing lariats (and one real monster of a running clothesline early in the match) while trying to catch Dunne whenever Dunne went too far. Dunne gets it in him to do too much offense sometimes (and go too over the top with finger breaks), so I loved when Dar took his knees out and tripped him during a rope run, and I loved even more when he kicked Dunne right in the shins when Dunne hopped to the middle turnbuckle. Dar's selling was smart, appropriately selling finger damage as it was happening, kicking Dunne in the head on the apron after the shock wore off then hitting a fisherman's buster; or, the excellent triangle spot where Dunne worked over Dar's fingers while in the triangle, and Dar had the presence of mind to put a stop to that by quickly holding down Dunne's shoulders for a pin, then rolling through to an ankle lock when Dunne was forced to kick out. Dar catching the kneebar was a good moment too, building to a suitably dramatic rope break. I wish Dunne was a bit more interesting about going back on offense (he tends to just stand up and go back to it), but his strikes play big and Dar was a great foil for his high end offense. Wild Boar Mike Hitchman vs. Ligero NXT UK 7/29 (Aired 10/24/18) (Ep. #2) What a fun 5 minute sprint. I think this project is going to wind up with me putting more words about Wild Boar out on the internet than we currently have. He's a guy I liked enough to start this NXT UK project in the first place, and it's cool to say he was fully formed from his arrival on the Network. They work a fast flyer vs. wrecking ball match, which is fun to see from a 170 lb. tiny flier and a 5'6" wrecking ball. Boar is like an even MORE compact Taz, and he is a little wrecking ball. He's like Dick Togo working as Otis. Ligero is a guy who I think is better the more grounded he stays, as he has too good a clothesline to think he needs to do a bad standing moonsault. I recently watched a Taka Michinoku/Dick Togo Raw match of similar length, and this is a better version of that match. Ligero doesn't have the grace of Michinoku, not close, but Wild Boar hits him harder with strikes and flying offense than Togo hit Taka. Ligero hits a rana as smooth as any I've seen Taka throw, and Boar is a great base (he should be, he has an incredibly low center of gravity). Boar hits a super impactful spear in the corner, a great and unexpected pop up powerbomb, and looks like he just murders Ligero with a cannonball. It looked like his full closest-man-to-actual-size-and-impact-of-real-cannonball, and Ligero looked like he absorbed it all with his face. Ligero came off tougher to me for the rest of the match because he can clearly take a beating. If I wasn't viewing Boar as Togo enough, it should also be noted that Wild Boar has a very good standing senton, and he uses it here. The match has satisfying nearfalls, and Ligero makes the finish violent enough to work, kicking out Boar's leg with a hard mule kick to the knee, then running him up the ropes with one of the best tornado DDTs I've seen.

So, the timing of this isn't great as the brand is filled with sex pests, but over the past year I've come to really enjoy NXT UK. I didn't watch a single episode until Hero started showing up, but as I cherry picked through Hero appearances I found a lot of people on the roster I really liked. The show isn't watched by WWE fans, and doesn't seem to be enjoyed by UK wrestling fans, so its existence in and of itself is odd. But since they've had less than 100 episodes (throwing out all the best of episodes over the past several months) I figured I'd start at the beginning and highlight all the best matches. I'll get a list of recommended matches, and every 25 episodes do a DVDVR style Top 50 (while keeping an overall Top 100) going. Here's where the project links will reside: Complete Guide to NXT UK And I'll post all recommended match reviews down below, as I review them.

Yeah MVC is a cooler idea on paper than in execution. There were nights where they clearly just wanted to go in and hold legbars. Ultimo is a guy who I think was the reason a lot of us sought out WAR shows, but now the Ultimo matches are typically the least interesting thing to me on those same WAR shows. 2000s Kanemoto > 1990s Kanemoto.

I'm writing up this show, too, even though without Pat McAfee I'm not as confident any of the matches will be good. I am interested in a couple things (Asuka/Bayley) but again, no McAfee means this likely won't be as good as NXT XXX. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/08/wwe-summerslam-82320-live-blog.html

Yeah I think it's more an indictment on the PC style bleeding into performers who have established themselves elsewhere. Thatcher obviously works the same way he's worked the past several years, but guys like Lee have played against some of their strengths and it feels like the PC style taking over. The PC feels like it took a major turn for the worst in 2018. They need to reboot and take a seriously look at who who is doing the training.

I had no idea, that's awesome. I'm a big Rip Rogers fan. Maybe more NXT guys should train under Rogers, because several of the NXT house style guys looked like trash last night.

I thought McAfee/Cole was really great, and I love non wrestler matches. McAfee kept looking more and more like a natural, and all of the stuff around him using his punting was fantastic.

I just got home and thought I'd run through and write about the TakeOver. I could see this show being decent, and putting Lorcan in the pre-show at least means the show starts with a Lorcan match. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/08/nxt-takeover-xxx-better-late-than-never.html

This one left me a little flat. I thought McIntyre/Ziggler was a real strong title match. I'm glad that they went out and had that match and totally delivered while the cinematic main event was a bust. I thought Asuka/Sasha was great until the super insulting and dumb finish. And I loved Rey's performance despite not really knowing how I feel about the match itself. Feels like I should be more into two really good title matches and a great performance from one of my favorite wrestlers, but I am flat.

I'm excited for the two women's title matches, and not much else! But those are the shows that tend to surprise me so I'm doing a live blog: https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-horror-show-at-wwe-extreme-rules.html

I really liked the Great American Bash presentation. I didn't watch it on Wednesday but watched it on the 4th while eating a burger. Came off like a cool In Your House show. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/07/nxt-great-american-bash-7120.html

I got a late start after driving back from visiting my sister, still thought I would watch the show and read along with you guys. https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2020/06/wwe-backlash-running-quite-late-blog.html