NXT Revolution... live as it happens

[Grimmas]

So is Triple H in charge of NXT? Is he helping out booking, production, etc...

 

If he is, he needs to take over the WWE today and Vince needs to retire. If he's not, whoever is running NXT needs to take over. This show was just so good. Not in a "look at all these awesome matches way", but in a "good stories paid off well with good wrestling way".

[Matt D]

Just caught the end of the show. I hadn't been spoiled at all (on the match or post match) except for in that "something happens" so I was expecting it in the initial hug in the ring and then with Neville, and then I stopped expecting it and I thought it was weird they were giving it another minute or two but I had finally let my guard down. Good on them.

 

I thought the match itself needed a bit more substance before they started in on the big moves, even if there was a clear sense of escalation and you sort of needed the room to breathe for the story at the end. But all that paled to the emotion, really.

[BillThompson]

So is Triple H in charge of NXT? Is he helping out booking, production, etc...

 

If he is, he needs to take over the WWE today and Vince needs to retire. If he's not, whoever is running NXT needs to take over. This show was just so good. Not in a "look at all these awesome matches way", but in a "good stories paid off well with good wrestling way".

 

Supposedly NXT is mainly Tripe H's baby. He handpicks the trainers, the talent, and is the main force behind the storylines, the writing, everything really. Trips has a lot of faults, and I think his racism is a major problem that has only been touched on, but I do believe NXT shows that Vince is out of touch and at least product wise Trips should be the one leading the main roster now.

[cheapshot]

A great fun show. Glad I made the decision to get up at 7am to watch this before work.

[bradhindsight]

Reaction show with Will, Kris, Phil, Pete and Johnny P posted in the publications and podcasts sub-forum! Loaded group for this one.

[Marty]

Regarding NXT's quality and HHH vs. RAW, he made a good point about the differences of the shows during an interview with Sam Roberts. Sam pointed out that a lot of fans prefer NXT over RAW and HHH made mention of how RAW is a slave to a trillion masters. NXT? Not so much.

 

Not saying NXT May or may not be as good with HHH not in charge. But that statement was his way of saying that someone new in charge of RAW can only do so much in that environment, plus I came away thinking that NXT is a bit of a relief for HHH and gives him that "wrestling fix", as being a corporate executive/businessman is something I don't think he's all that crazy about.

[Grimmas]

Regarding NXT's quality and HHH vs. RAW, he made a good point about the differences of the shows during an interview with Sam Roberts. Sam pointed out that a lot of fans prefer NXT over RAW and HHH made mention of how RAW is a slave to a trillion masters. NXT? Not so much.

 

Not saying NXT May or may not be as good with HHH not in charge. But that statement was his way of saying that someone new in charge of RAW can only do so much in that environment, plus I came away thinking that NXT is a bit of a relief for HHH and gives him that "wrestling fix", as being a corporate executive/businessman is something I don't think he's all that crazy about.

 

I was thinking about this the other day and this is completely what they should do.

 

They should have a three man booking team. Essentially three guys like Triple H does in NXT that run things.

 

Let's say Person A, Person B & Person C.

 

From September till April (post-SummerSlam till WrestleMania):

 

Person A is in charge of Raw/Main Event and the PPVs.

Person B is in charge of SD/Superstars and having 1 or 2 matches on the PPVs.

Person C is in charge of NXT.

 

Then from April till September (post WrestleMania till SummerSlam)

Person B is in charge of Raw/Main Event and the PPVs.

Person A or C is in charge of SD/Superstars and having 1 or 2 matches on the PPVs.

Person A or C is in charge of NXT.

 

None, I am not saying do a brand split, but give the Smackdown/Superstars booker like 12 exclusive wrestlers and an exclusive title that they can work with would be nice. Keeping some folks off Raw for 6 months would help. SD/Superstars would be the 12 exclusives plus anyone not used on Raw/Main Event that week.

 

What this would do is give bookers a mini break or at least a fresh perspective. You could even use the NXT booker spot as a trial thing like Regal could get six months to see. Even better, give someone like Orton six months off to freshen up and let him try to book for 6 months in NXT or something along those lines.

 

You don't need 20 guys writing one show, you just need one person in charge. Vince clearly isn't the guy anymore, but a system like this would at least keep things fresh.

[Russellmania]

maybe this is a conversation for another thread, but I don't understand why the guy in charge of the creative direction of the company has to also be in charge of the business operations of the company. Seems like they should be separate duties altogether, but Vince seems to insist on controlling both and seems to be grooming HHH to do the same. When the time comes for Vince to step down, why can't HHH just take over creative and let Steph take over the business side of things? Seems like that would play to both their strengths.

[WingedEagle]

maybe this is a conversation for another thread, but I don't understand why the guy in charge of the creative direction of the company has to also be in charge of the business operations of the company. Seems like they should be separate duties altogether, but Vince seems to insist on controlling both and seems to be grooming HHH to do the same. When the time comes for Vince to step down, why can't HHH just take over creative and let Steph take over the business side of things? Seems like that would play to both their strengths.

 

Its hard for people with control to give it up. I'm sure we can all relate to this in may settings outside of wrestling.

[sek69]

Seems like Hunter, when parsing his corporate-speak, more or less echoed what Austin said in his interview with Vince that there's way too many people on the writing/creative team these days.

[Russellmania]

on r/SquaredCircle some fans had the idea to send HHH a fruit basket thanking him for the NXT show last night. Someone actually took up the challenge and sent him one and HHH just tweeted this:

https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/543537698439704576

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

[MJH]

I thought it was a pretty good show. Owens' debut was good and his offence has an emphatic-ness that a lot of guys don't. I thought Balor's entrance was trying much too hard but if it got over and most people watching enjoyed it, as seems to be the case, then that's fine. The women's match was fine - better than you'd get on the main roster but people are grading on a curve and if men executed the majority of that match in exactly the same manner we'd be calling then green. The main was good but I felt Neville got short-changed on the finish and I didn't buy the high kick as a finish coming after the other offence they'd both used. I also feel we needed more than my-turn-your-turn down the stretch to really build off the "Sami Zayn won't take advantage" thing. I feel sorry for Neville, really, as his mechanics are better than anyone else on the roster including Bryan, Cesaro, etc - the snap on his headlock takeovers, how he positioned himself at the last opportunity to catch the dive, his body control is absolutely unreal - but he doesn't have much else going for him, nor the extra few inches of height where he could get away with it. The post-match angle was superbly done though.

[W2BTD]

I thought it was a pretty good show. Owens' debut was good and his offence has an emphatic-ness that a lot of guys don't. I thought Balor's entrance was trying much too hard but if it got over and most people watching enjoyed it, as seems to be the case, then that's fine. The women's match was fine - better than you'd get on the main roster but people are grading on a curve and if men executed the majority of that match in exactly the same manner we'd be calling then green. The main was good but I felt Neville got short-changed on the finish and I didn't buy the high kick as a finish coming after the other offence they'd both used. I also feel we needed more than my-turn-your-turn down the stretch to really build off the "Sami Zayn won't take advantage" thing. I feel sorry for Neville, really, as his mechanics are better than anyone else on the roster including Bryan, Cesaro, etc - the snap on his headlock takeovers, how he positioned himself at the last opportunity to catch the dive, his body control is absolutely unreal - but he doesn't have much else going for him, nor the extra few inches of height where he could get away with it. The post-match angle was superbly done though.

 

Women always get graded on a curve (even though few have the guts to admit it), but I think this match was a bad example to use for that narrative. I thought Charlotte & Banks worked with a ton of intensity, with a lack of the sloppiness or slight awkwardness that comes with even the best women's matches. I thought they knocked it out of the park.

[Shining Wiz]

Women matches get graded on a curve because if everyone starts as a 5/10, and they keep working against 5/10s, they stay 5/10s. NXT has mixed in some 6s and 7s, trained by a 7 or an 8, and the match quality is improving accordingly.

[Grimmas]

Sure, some people grade women's matches on a curve, but to say everyone does is insane.

 

I put the match at *** 3/4 maybe *** 1/2. How is that not fair? That is up there with the Natalya-Charlotte and Paige-Emma as best women's match this year and it would make my top 50 WWE matches this year.

 

Still, most WWE PPVs would have 1 or 2 matches at that level, so adding the NXT women to the main roster would surely help out the shows.

[MJH]

I didn't think Charlotte/Sasha was *bad*, not at all, and considering Charlotte's experience level (which truth be told I'd forgotten about) they deserve some leeway, but if that was the fourth match at an AJW show twenty years ago I'd have forgotten about it by the end of the show. I can't help but think, for example, that had Neville hit that moonsault->senton spot it would be called contrived (which it is) and he'd be called out for stealing Ibushi's spot.

[W2BTD]

Sure, some people grade women's matches on a curve, but to say everyone does is insane.

 

I put the match at *** 3/4 maybe *** 1/2. How is that not fair? That is up there with the Natalya-Charlotte and Paige-Emma as best women's match this year and it would make my top 50 WWE matches this year.

 

Still, most WWE PPVs would have 1 or 2 matches at that level, so adding the NXT women to the main roster would surely help out the shows.

 

I didn't mean that *everyone* does it. Obviously that isn't the case. Sometimes I forget that this place is a bit more literal than other places (that's not intended to be a veiled slight).

 

I had it at ***3/4, too.

 

Not so sure about the idea of moving these girls up improving the quality of the main cards. There would still be the issue of time. Paige looked like a world beater in NXT, too. Bad chemistry with AJ and the lack of opportunity to have long matches overall has stopped her from showing it.

[Mini Bennett]

Could someone who is into star ratings please explain and justify to me in full and precise detail the extra 3/4 of a star in your match ratings?

[W2BTD]

Could someone who is into star ratings please explain and justify to me in full and precise detail the extra 3/4 of a star in your match ratings?

 

Didn't quite feel like **** to me, but super close. So, ***3/4.

[Mini Bennett]

Thanks man you really swayed me there.

[W2BTD]

Thanks man you really swayed me there.

 

It really doesn't run any deeper than that. There is no super in depth, technical explanation I can give you. I watch the match, I have an idea in my head what a **, ***, **** match "feels" like, and I rate it. If it feels like a ** but maybe a little better, I'll go **1/4 or **1/2, **3/4 if I think it was close to *** but missing something to get it there.

 

Here is my basic guide:

 

* - Not good.

** - Just a match. Nothing wrong with it, nothing special about it.

*** - Good.

**** - Very good.

****+ - MOTY contender/fringe MOTY contender in a good year

***** - One of the best matches I've ever seen.

 

Below * - Terrible.

DUD - Truly an awful piece of shit, overly gimmicky, etc.

NR - Too short to rate, silly comedy, etc.

 

So to circle back, I felt like Charlotte/Sasha was almost ****, but not quite. As close as you can be without being there. So, ***3/4. Wouldn't argue with anybody who had it as low as *** or as high as ****1/2.

 

Match ratings are just a guide, and they become more useful if you are familiar with the person who is doing the rating and what they typically like/dislike. There is no science to it, it's just a way to express how much you like or disliked something. Some people don't use them at all.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Oy Vey ....yuck....

 

anyhoo.......

 

 

 

 

I watched this show last night. Holy fuck, so much fucking fun. I loved every God damned minute of this. It was a perfectly done Professional Fucking Wrestling Show. I was smiling for an hour after watching this card.

[kayfabe1984]

This was a damn fine show and the Zayn/Neville match along the show ending had me on the edge of my seat.

 

More thoughts here:

http://neverhandover.blogspot.com/2014/12/nxt-takeover-r-evolution-12112014.html

[WingedEagle]

I rewatched the second half of the show which confirmed my initial thought which was that I enjoyed Charlotte/Banks more than Zayn/Neville. Huge Zayn fan and think he can do well at he next level, but Neville doesn't connect at all. He seems utterly emotionless at all times, which only works at those times like the spot during the 4 way at least big show where that was what the situation called for. It seems like he jumps from spot to spot and moreso than others who fall prey to that it really takes me out of things. Not to say I didn't enjoy the match, because I did, but not at the level it seems many did. Now the finish, post-match coronation and angle? All money. Loved it all. I almost fear that pulling the trigger on Zayn/Owens now rules it out on the big stage but won't fret about that too much right now and will simply enjoy it.