Read on for my thoughts on last night's NXT and CWC.
- NXT:
- Joe/Nakamura segment:
Joe teasing a face turn is interesting. That would set up Joe vs. Roode and Joe vs. Aries, which could be REALLY good bouts based on their TNA days.
Another reference to McGregor burying wrestling. Conor's the man.
It'll be interesting to see what headlines Takeover in Toronto if they do Joe/Nakamura at Full Sail before then. Nakamura vs. Roode or Nakamura vs. Aries would make sense.
Well that face turn didn't last long! They could have teased it a few more weeks to really sucked Shinsuke in. Instead, they went to the endgame pretty quickly.
That was really good selling of Joe's beatdown.
- Joe hightails it:
At least the ninjas let him ride up front this time.
- Liv vs. Fazio:
I guess Rachel Ellering got married since we last saw her.
Why would you stop a pinfall attempt just to roll your opponent around for another one? Get the win!
Mehhhhh. Liv's got a good amount of improvement ahead of her.
- Liv promo:
Not a good promo at all. She's green on the mic, too.
- Sanity video:
BAH GAWD WHO IS THE DAMN CODE!!?? Seriously, though, I'm ready for something more from this. Time to move to Step Two.
- Itami vs. Gulak:
Glad we're seeing Gulak again. He's someone to utilize going forward.
GOOD GOD WHAT A SLAP.
Gulak is absolutely someone to pick up regularly. He's ready for a higher level than EVOLVE.
That was pretty solid. Itami continues to find his comfort zone in NXT.
- Authors vs. Sessa/Pain:
I miss the heavy foreign goons archetype.
More destruction from Akam and Rezar. Things keep moving on.
- Tye promo:
That was pretty good. He's a natural speaker.
- Roode vs. Jose:
Jose putting up a good showing against the veteran. He's more than a dancing gimmick.
Roode's a top-level guy. He could absolutely be a player on the main roster, especially with the brand split.
Jose has made impressive progress since his first squash matches.
Nice counter to the windup punch.
DAMN. Another decisive loss for Jose. Where does he go from here?
- CWC:
- Metalik vs. ZSJ:
FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKKK. Starting right off with flips. I like him trying to win early, but come on now.
I like the style Sabre employs. Hopefully he ends up as part of the division someday.
I love me some submission wrestling.
I'm not as crazy about flippy shit.
Strikes and counters are good.
I loved Metalik getting fancy leading to him getting wrecked by a Penalty Kick.
They've definitely got two really impressive athletes here. The springboard into the submissions into the pinning combination was INCREDIBLE.
One hell of a contest.
- Metalik promo:
OK, I guess. I'd definitely rather have someone with his talent on the main roster than not, but not speaking English will probably limit him from being a bigger deal.
- Gargano/Ciampa promo:
Mostly good. I like when they're more fired up, especially Ciampa.
- TJP vs. Ibushi:
I like Perkins trying to counter the kicks.
TJP is definitely flashy.
Ibushi with the educated feet.
I always appreciate a strategy of trying to win with a submission by wearing the opponent down.
Ibushi is absolutely incredible, and TJP is really solid in his own right.
Kota's kicks are just at another level.
THAT PELE COUNTER THO!!!!!
Perkins kicking out of Kota's finisher was a little much.
OK, time to go home with this one. Kickout spam starts to be too much of a good thing at some point.
One hell of a submission ending. I love it.
Really good post-match.
- TJP promo:
I want to hear more Zen wisdom from Perkins. That was good.
- Alexander/Dar promo:
Mostly good Cedric promo. Dar was OK. He was probably too fast with his delivery given his accent.
- Cedric/Dar vs. #DIY:
NICE back-and-forth and chain wrestling to start off. WWE has some fresh, hungry talents ready to make their mark in the division on Raw.
I love Ciampa being aggressive.
They need to slow this down (and, of course, sell more). There's no time for big hits to sink in before it's right into another spot.
They're running into the problem of talented athletes doing too much too quickly. Too indie/ROH for me.
Good, but too many highspots.
- Regal promo:
This is definitely a really big undertaking. Who would have thought WWE would have a 32-man cruiserweight tournament using international talents, some of whom don't even speak English?
- HHH promo:
He's not going to Pedigree both of them?
The stakes just got higher! Good to see an authority figure just do his thing and bow out to let the athletes face off.
- TJP vs. Metalik:
Good start to things.
MUH FLIPS AND DIVES. I really wish we would have gotten ZSJ vs. Ibushi, but I get why they wanted to use the people who have signed contracts. It's best for business and all that.
These guys are pretty similar. Both really talented, but the effect is them more or less canceling each other out with all the high-flying.
I would have been OK with the kneebar after the standing press ending it. It's been a long show of high-impact stuff.
I like TJP putting all he has into trying to win with the kneebar.
GENIUS counter of the avalanche driver into the kneebar! That was a really great ending.
- TJP promo:
I was not ready for those feels.
That was a really good babyface promo. He's gone on quite the journey.
More wrestling tomorrow.
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