NXT Takeover Arrival

[Coffey]

In addition to the DQ stip not being used, and Corbin having to be face-in-peril, let's not act like Bull didn't blow the spot for the double over-the-top clothesline and then jump over by himself like 2-3 seconds later, when Corbin was already on the floor, completely exposing everything as fake and taking me right out of the match. To the point where the live crowd even audibly started mocking him.

 

I see nothing in Bull. He comes off as a poor man's Steen/Owens to me, when Owens is in NXT now...

[efrim]

Yeah, I think WWE can safely wipe their hands of The Human Tazz Tribute Machine

[The Chief]

I'm not gonna be as hard on blown spots as some. A lot of these guy are green and quite frankly, that's why they're there. It's gonna happen. I'm more concerned with how they react to it. We all talk about how NXT is better than WWE, but keep in mind that it is still a farm league and it's kind of unfair to hold their talent to prime time standards.

[Russellmania]

i don't know what they teach in wrestling school, but it just seems like common sense to me that if you blow the "both guys tumble over the top" spot, then you should just drop to the mat and roll out to the floor instead of forcing yourself over. Like I have no idea how anyone fails to adjust in that situation when it seems like such a simple recovery.

[shoe]

I was on the Reaction show last night. These are my star ratings that I didn't mention.

1. Breeze vs Itami 2 3/4*
2. Tag title match 3/4*
3 Corbin vs. Dempsey 1 1/2*
4. Balor vs Neville 3 1/4*
5. Women's 4 way 3 1/2*
6. Zayn vs Owens 4 1/4*

Overall a thumbs up show.

[ragemaster]

Think they missed a trick with the finish to the Zayn vs Owens match. Should have been a ref stoppage when Owens was hitting him in the ropes and Zayn wasn't defending due to the concussion. Much more realistic than the power bombs stoppage which felt stupid, that the ref let him hit so many before he stepped in and then stopped it.

[sek69]

It's weird to me that Corbin is getting the push he is, since he doesn't seem to have anything going for him other than being tall. Even that might just be an optical illusion from being around smaller guys in NXT. His physique is weird (someone pointed out it looks like his stomach has a mouth and now I can't unsee it), and it looks like his hair is thinning on top. Those seem like things that wouldn't pass the Kevin Dunn test on the main roster, which makes it odd he's being pushed so hard.

[Shining Wiz]

His stomach is the result of used to weighing about 350 or so pounds when he was in the NFL.

 

The guy is athletic, and showed he could sell a bit last night. The monster thing he had going was only going to last so long, and I think they've done a good job starting the transition away from that. By no means is the guy great, but it is a developmental league, and he's bringning a little something different to the show which is needed.

[sek69]

Yeah I know he lost a lot of weight, but that's one of the silly things that WWE is hung up on that doesn't matter to literally anyone else but is vitally important to them.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I was on the Reaction show last night. These are my star ratings that I didn't mention.

 

1. Breeze vs Itami 2 3/4*

2. Tag title match 3/4*

3 Corbin vs. Dempsey 1 1/2*

4. Balor vs Neville 3 1/4*

5. Women's 4 way 3 3/4*

6. Zayn vs Owens 4 1/4*

 

Overall a thumbs up show.

About where I'd be, except I'd go a touch lower on Itami/Breeze and the women's match.

[funkdoc]

Yeah I know he lost a lot of weight, but that's one of the silly things that WWE is hung up on that doesn't matter to literally anyone else but is vitally important to them.

 

eh, a lot of these guys do it (or try to do it) on their own accord once they leave football. many never wanted to be that big in the first place and just see it as one of the annoying parts of the job, since it tends to require force-feeding oneself to an unnatural size. a lot like bull nakano's case, really.

[(BP)]

Finally got to this last night. Enjoyed the Women's title match a lot. NXT does four-ways much better than WWE proper. I loved the main beyond words. I've only seen a couple of Generico/Steen tags, but I'm going to dig into their indy feuds when I have time. I wasn't that taken with Balor/Neville, but I'm going to watch it again. Neville has certainly grown by leaps and bounds in the last year, and Balor is going to be huge if Vince takes his gimmick seriously. It took nearly 15 years, but they've finally cracked the code to servicing the fans looking for a WWE alternative by creating their own counterprogramming. Like everyone else has said, NXT alone is easily worth the cost of the network.

[Matt D]

Watched Neville vs Balor finally and i really liked everything up to the pele kick and disliked everything after. The first half of the match was maybe the best I've seen Neville. Who knew that the best role for him was Crusierweight Bully.

[Shining Wiz]

Re: The Neville/Balor "spot fest"

 

The match starts with the announcers talking about how Balor uses his entrance to intimidate and, most importantly, that before the match starts he's already in control of the pace. He runs at Neville full speed and.....gets grounded. Neville takes control of the pace. Neville stymies Balor each time he tries to take over by knowing what's coming and countering/avoiding. But always trying to keep the pace slower.

 

In order to finally take control, Balor has to damn near break a hip doing his flip dive.

 

Instead of the rest of the match being a pointless your turn/my turn fest, they each have to keep upping the ante against a tough foe who either knows to avoid what's coming, or is too good to be finished without being nearly dead.

 

The match has a good flow and a nice little logical story built in, especially for a good guy/good guy match. Do they pick a limb and spend all their time on it? No, but who says that's the only way 'psychology' works? If anything, that's an outdated concept to a large degree.

 

Balor and Neville had a great, WWE big match style match. If that's a spot fest, then I guess I like spot feats.

[Matt D]

I don't think the achieved that ante-upping in a successful way. You do. The match lost me when I was into it earlier on. It didn't lose you. I'm glad you liked it. I ultimately didn't, though i thought Neville was very good in his role in the first half. I'm glad you're passionate enough to get spirited about it. I'm not.

[Shining Wiz]

Matt, more of a general comment than aimed at you specifically.

 

Perfectly cool with people not liking it, but I found the dismissals of it as 'indy' and a 'spot fest' funny. Right after the match, I read a Twitter comment saying PWO doesn't like Balor, and would dismiss the match. I popped into this thread, and lo and behold, so many posters did.

[Matt D]

I don't see anything inherently wrong with people disliking a match though. I came in figuring I probably wouldn't like it and I liked the front half a lot more than I was expecting, to the point where I thought I might actually like the whole thing. That I didn't like the back half was actively frustrating to me because I thought I'd be happily surprised. I won't talk for anyone else but I do have stylistic preferences and usually explain myself. I'm generally pretty consistent on what I like and why. Causality is a thing and one of my favorite things about this place is that people often back up what they say. People generally feel things and say things for a reason and it's very rarely just to get someone to make comments about them on twitter. I'm not even on Twitter. If you want to criticize someone's opinion, go for it, but not because someone else somewhere says someone's going to say something.

 

I pretty much knew how Roger Ebert was going to respond to certain movies before i read his review because after reading a lot of his reviews, I knew what he liked and what he didn't. But that didn't mean I didn't still read his reviews. I found what he was going to say interesting and when it came to some things, like 3D movies that I knew he was against in general, I was especially interested, because if he actually liked how the 3D was used in a movie, then it was probably a sign that it was done very well and overcame a lot of his problems with it. Etc.

 

If you want to post here, do it because you like interacting with the people here on wrestling, not because you want to battle people's stylistic preferences as part of some holy mission. That'll just lead you to bang your head against the wall and life is too short for that.

[Shining Wiz]

I don't see anything inherently wrong with people disliking a match though. I came in figuring I probably wouldn't like it and I liked the front half a lot more than I was expecting, to the point where I thought I might actually like the whole thing. That I didn't like the back half was actively frustrating to me because I thought I'd be happily surprised. I won't talk for anyone else but I do have stylistic preferences and usually explain myself. I'm generally pretty consistent on what I like and why. Causality is a thing and one of my favorite things about this place is that people often back up what they say. People generally feel things and say things for a reason and it's very rarely just to get someone to make comments about them on twitter. I'm not even on Twitter. If you want to criticize someone's opinion, go for it, but not because someone else somewhere says someone's going to say something.

 

I pretty much knew how Roger Ebert was going to respond to certain movies before i read his review because after reading a lot of his reviews, I knew what he liked and what he didn't. But that didn't mean I didn't still read his reviews. I found what he was going to say interesting and when it came to some things, like 3D movies that I knew he was against in general, I was especially interested, because if he actually liked how the 3D was used in a movie, then it was probably a sign that it was done very well and overcame a lot of his problems with it. Etc.

 

If you want to post here, do it because you like interacting with the people here on wrestling, not because you want to battle people's stylistic preferences as part of some holy mission. That'll just lead you to bang your head against the wall and life is too short for that.

I'll just say you seem to be reading a lot into my comment that's not there, and be on about my day.

[C.S.]

I didn't love the Neville/Balor match, but I will say that Neville has grown on me over the past few months. I didn't like him before at all.

[goodhelmet]

Matt, more of a general comment than aimed at you specifically.

 

Perfectly cool with people not liking it, but I found the dismissals of it as 'indy' and a 'spot fest' funny. Right after the match, I read a Twitter comment saying PWO doesn't like Balor, and would dismiss the match. I popped into this thread, and lo and behold, so many posters did.

 

Maybe you didn't hear the reaction show but Kris and I defended the match and gave it a thumbs up.

[Matt D]

 

Matt, more of a general comment than aimed at you specifically.

 

Perfectly cool with people not liking it, but I found the dismissals of it as 'indy' and a 'spot fest' funny. Right after the match, I read a Twitter comment saying PWO doesn't like Balor, and would dismiss the match. I popped into this thread, and lo and behold, so many posters did.

 

Maybe you didn't hear the reaction show but Kris and I defended the match and gave it a thumbs up.

 

 

This is obviously the PWO Elite trying to implicate a SegundaCaida groupthink.

[shoe]

 

 

Matt, more of a general comment than aimed at you specifically.

 

Perfectly cool with people not liking it, but I found the dismissals of it as 'indy' and a 'spot fest' funny. Right after the match, I read a Twitter comment saying PWO doesn't like Balor, and would dismiss the match. I popped into this thread, and lo and behold, so many posters did.

Maybe you didn't hear the reaction show but Kris and I defended the match and gave it a thumbs up.

I didn't like the match as much as you and KrisZ did. I still gave it 3 1/4*. I thought the reaction show we were all high on Balor's charisma except Phil. So to say PWO doesn't like Balor is really weird to me. It was one of the 4 matches I thought was good on the show. I just didn't find it at an elite level .

[Shining Wiz]

 

 

Matt, more of a general comment than aimed at you specifically.

 

Perfectly cool with people not liking it, but I found the dismissals of it as 'indy' and a 'spot fest' funny. Right after the match, I read a Twitter comment saying PWO doesn't like Balor, and would dismiss the match. I popped into this thread, and lo and behold, so many posters did.

Maybe you didn't hear the reaction show but Kris and I defended the match and gave it a thumbs up.

I didn't like the match as much as you and KrisZ did. I still gave it 3 1/4*. I thought the reaction show we were all high on Balor's charisma except Phil. So to say PWO doesn't like Balor is really weird to me. It was one of the 4 matches I thought was good on the show. I just didn't find it at an elite level .

 

 

This wasn't me saying PWO doesn't like Balor, rather the curious timing of reading such a comment, followed by reading 4 or 5 straight comments pointing out how the match 'indy' or being otherwise dismissive/snarky of it and/or Balor about it:

 

That was very indie

 

I can see people loving that match. It had it's moments. Balor has big time charisma to him. I just felt it lacked transitions.

 

It was a fun match, for sure, nothing incredible. I'd guess Dave pegs it at 4 1/2, though.

 

The rear chinlocks at the start were killing me. I can totally dig a slow start, but good god do something interesting with it. After they got that out of their system, well, you can hardly call it boring, but it was a total my turn/your turn stretch and the nearfalls got silly. Like I said, very indie. Great finish though.

 

 

Watched the show, but in an awkward fashion that made it hard to absorb it all. That said I really enjoyed the last two matches a ton, and liked the opener a lot to despite obvious flaws. Tag title match was a disaster, but an entertaining one. Bull v. Baron was better than I would have guessed and Balor v. Neville was solid for that type of match though it's not a type of match I'm every going to be terribly high on. Over all another really strong NXT special.

 

Balor/Neville was just a very indie match with a Randy Orton tribute act inserted at the beginning, and neither of those are something I'm into. Good spots and a hot finish but a total lack of drama unless you're really moved by endless nearfalls.

 

Women's match had a good layout and good spots, but many of the women lack in-ring poise and it's really distracting to me. The way they all hit the ropes so light (Lynch excepted), their offense that often doesn't look particularly hurty... I dunno, I want to like them more than I do.

 

Thought Owens/Zayn was a MOTYC. There were weaknesses, most significantly I felt the build to Zayn's comebacks was a little lacking, but Owens was vicious as hell and Zayn is possibly the best bumper and seller in the world right now. I can't really see the argument that the crowd hurt it when there were shots of people literally CRYING.

 

 

Balor is going to do really well when he gets called up. Everything we all want for Danielson, he'll get.

 

Do you really think Balor is anywhere near as good as Bryan? Or has ever been at any point in his career? Do you think he's ever going to sniff winning the title in the main event of a Wrestlemania?

 

I like the guy well enough, but he's just not that outstanding of a performer to me

 

I am interested to see once he gets called up eventually how he looks against the bigger guys on the roster and how he adapts to work against them on a regular basis. Not in Bryan's league.....so that will be interesting. Same with Pac.

 

Zayn will be fine most likely

 

 

 

 

- Finn Balor's entrance seemed too long and overwrought to me this time. It was cool as hell the first time, but it felt like it took forever tonight. The match itself was fun enough, but I don't really love that spotty, indy, high flying for the sake of it style.

 

 

That generally struck me as funny. Obviously there's too many people here to say everyone is going to think one way, but that it got called that it would be poo poo'd was amusing to me.

 

By no means am I that worked up about it or upset that others don't share my opinion, I just thought it was a good match and thought I'd engage in a little discussion about it regarding why I not only liked it, but saying that it was 'indy' or a spot fest was an inaccurate comment. Didn't expect that to result in anyone getting all bent of shape, but such is life and the interwebs.

 

I will have to go check out the reaction show now though.

 

Edited February 14, 2015 by Shining Wiz

[C.S.]

That generally struck me as funny. Obviously there's too many people here to say everyone is going to think one way, but that it got called that it would be poo poo'd was amusing to me.

 

By no means am I that worked up about it or upset that others don't share my opinion, I just thought it was a good match and thought I'd engage in a little discussion about it regarding why I not only liked it, but saying that it was 'indy' or a spot fest was an inaccurate comment. Didn't expect that to result in anyone getting all bent of shape, but such is life and the interwebs.

 

I can only speak for myself... I wrote my comments before I read most of the thread.

 

I actually do like Balor, and Neville has grown on me (I didn't like him at first). Their match was okay to me, but it's not the type of style I tend to enjoy. The main event also underwhelmed me somewhat, and I love both of those guys. My favorite was the women's match.

[Shining Wiz]

 

That generally struck me as funny. Obviously there's too many people here to say everyone is going to think one way, but that it got called that it would be poo poo'd was amusing to me.

 

By no means am I that worked up about it or upset that others don't share my opinion, I just thought it was a good match and thought I'd engage in a little discussion about it regarding why I not only liked it, but saying that it was 'indy' or a spot fest was an inaccurate comment. Didn't expect that to result in anyone getting all bent of shape, but such is life and the interwebs.

 

I can only speak for myself... I wrote my comments before I read most of the thread.

 

I actually do like Balor, and Neville has grown on me (I didn't like him at first). Their match was okay to me, but it's not the type of style I tend to enjoy. The main event also underwhelmed me somewhat, and I love both of those guys. My favorite was the women's match.

 

 

And that's totally cool. And again, I'm not saying it's a group think thing....I just found it funny that someone said "X", and when I looked, there was "X".

 

As for Neville, my enjoyment of him seems to be based on his opponents. He's a guy who can be a part of a great match, but not a guy who makes a match great.