WWE SmackDown Live Review // 6th February 2018

For the first time since May 2016, SmackDown returned to Kansas City, Missouri on 6th Feburary 2018, as the building blocks for Fastlane began to be laid down. The show featured best pals Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn battling each other to become #1 Contender to AJ Styles' WWE Championship in the main event, as well as Bobby Roode putting the WWE United States Championship on the line against Rusev. Lets take a look at how it all went down at the Sprint Center Arena. 

Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan clashed over Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

then...

WWE Championship #1 Contendership // Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn // No Contest

The AJ Styles/Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens/Daniel Bryan/Shane McMahon saga rolls on for another week and supposedly onto 11th March's Fastlane PPV at the very least. This week we began with an overly long chatter segment featuring McMahon, Bryan and Styles. This included the line "the stakes have epic implications of what's going to happen" from McMahon when discussing the main event between Owens and Zayn. That line isn't far behind Michael McGillicutty's classic "Genesis of McGillicutty" promo from NXT Season 2. Both Bryan and McMahon struggled saying the word "ripping" for some reason and the crowd mostly just allowed them to have a conversation. That is until McMahon threw a barb Bryan's way about vicariously living through Owens and Zayn, because the former WWE Champion was desperate to get back in the ring. The crowd gave the moment the reaction it deserved, making note of the tension between the two and the apparent sign that an in-ring return for Bryan could be on its way. Seemingly because creative couldn't come up with a way to end the segment effectively, AJ Styles came out to interrupt, cut a decent travelling champion style promo, before telling the Commissioner and General Manager to stop obsessing over Owens and Zayn.

The main event between Zayn and Owens resulted in a no contest, after Zayn got into the face of guest commentator AJ Styles and the WWE Champion teed off on both competitors. Daniel Bryan then confirmed that Styles would have to defend against Owens and Zayn at Fastlane, this time in a triple threat match. Despite the non-finish, the clash between Zayn and Owens was actually pretty damn good, telling a quality story of two friends wanting to remain respectful but soon getting out of hand. It was a relatable narrative, that was driven by the vocalisations of both men, but in particular Kevin Owens. K.O. ducking to the floor after a particularly spicy strike from Zayn and yelling "calm down" at his pal was brilliant stuff, because we all know that it never works, whilst Owens' "I'm the one that wins the titles" after the aggression had heightened told of just how far the match had come as the pairs true characters began to show through. The wrestling action was great also, complimenting the story with the pair able to counter a number of their signature moves, before the highlight of the match came when Zayn slickly escaped a Pop-Up Powerbomb attempt and nailed a half and half suplex and blue thunder bomb for a decent near fall. It's a shame that this story has been going on so long, because I'm not sure how they're going to fill the next four episode of SmackDown Live before Fastlane and as good as the triple threat has potential to be, it really should have happened at Royal Rumble instead.  

WWE United States Championship // Bobby Roode (C) def. Rusev // Pinfall

Bobby Roode picked up his second successful United States title defence with a clean win over Rusev, following the Glorious DDT, in a good TV bout. Following the match, Randy Orton flew through the air to deliver an RKO to Roode and then Aiden English and Rusev got on a piece for good measure. Where this is going I'm not sure, but RKOs are fun, so why not? Rusev gave Roode a much better challenge than that of Mojo Rawley at Royal Rumble, moving from a nice amateur style opening section to a stellar back and forth closing stretch. The Bulgarian controlled long stretches of the match, with Roode making comebacks after both commercial breaks. Before the finish, the highlight for me was a strong near fall for Rusev, that came bang in the middle of a supposed comeback from Roode, with English acting as a distraction, allowing Rusev to recover and nail a Machka Kick for a long two count. It seemed that more than a few members of the crowd bought in the false finish as well, as they looked for the uber popular founder of Rusev Day to pick up the upset. It was pleasing to see the Bulgarian Brute back in a top slot on SmackDown and hopefully he'll be given some more big matches soon.

Charlotte Flair def. Liv Morgan // Submission

The only women's match on the card saw Charlotte Flair remain undefeated since July, after the SmackDown Women's Champion bested Liv Morgan with the Figure Eight. This was a basic match, boosted by a spot where Morgan's Riott Squad partners Ruby Riott and Sarah Logan were removed from ringside for interference and held back the occasional sloppy moment. This was particularly prevalent in the finish, when after Riott and Logan had been chucked out, the finishing sequence was a bit awkward in how it was put together, even if the moves themselves were relatively well performed. Flair spearing the fuck out of the sub-eight stone Morgan was unarguably the highlight for me, whilst Flair's aggression at the start following the Squad's attack on her last week was also rather nice. The commentary team kept discussing the "rumours" that Flair had asked for this match herself, I'm not sure what this was supposed to mean or how I was supposed to feel about it.

Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable def. Konnor & Viktor // Pinfall

After cutting a hand-held promo about wanting to bring prestige back to the tag team division, Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable continued their rebuild following their loss at Royal Rumble with a swift victory over The Ascension, with the Powerbomb/Diving Clothesline combination, in a fun squash. The crowd wasn't all that bothered, mostly because the Ascension haven't won a straight tag team match on TV in two years (12th February 2016 episode of Superstars - vs. Fandango & Damien Sandow), but the bout did it's job and featured some enjoyable action. Viktor's energetic hot tag was the peak of the contest as he got to show off just a little of what he's capable of, before the finish ended up being a bit messy and lacked the finesse we've seen from the promising Benjamin & Gable tandem in a recent months. 

The Usos killed it on the mic

The Usos are bloody brilliant and their promo outlining their "Street Code" was another example of that brilliance. The concept really shouldn't have worked and quite honestly sounded a bit lame, but I never should have doubt Jimmy & Jey because they're are high calibre dons that should be respected at all costs. The two brought passion and charisma to their lines, coming across with their natural chemistry, whilst discussing the changes they've gone through over the last 18 months. Referencing how fan opinion had changed and getting a great reaction when they mentioned that they'd gone from "Yeah, they might be alright" to having match of the night, the two closed with their paranoia catchphrase before leaving unchallenged. A confrontation beforehand would seem to hint that future challengers could be...

Harper & Rowan def. Mat Fitchett & Kenny Alfonso // Pinfall

Now undefeated in nine match, The Bludgeon Brothers ran through AAW's Mat Fitchett and a lad without a cagematch profile called Kenny Alfonso, winning with a double crucifix powerbomb. Big lads squashing small lads is almost always a cool thing to watch and this was no different, as Harper & Rowan lobbed Fitchett & Alfonso all over the place en route to taking the victory.

Also this week...

- The New Day larked around backstage apparently answering questions on Twitter, but mostly making tongue in cheek references to the Corey Graves-Booker T feud.

- Daniel Bryan unveiled the first SmackDown Top 10, which was as follows: #10 - Tye Dillinger, #9 - Randy Orton, #8 - Becky Lynch, #7 - The Usos, #6 - The New Day, #5 - Bobby Roode, #4 - Naomi, #3 - Shinsuke Nakamura, #2 - Charlotte Flair, #1 - AJ Styles.

-  For Black History Month , Roman Reigns and Titus O'Neil discussed the Memphis Sanitation Strike.

ATPW Scale Rating - 4.71/10 

Written by James Marston (@IAmNotAlanDale)

TV Review: WWE Main Event #209 - Rhyno & Heath Slater v The Ascension 2

Despite using Smackdown talent on the show, Main Event still shows Monday Night RAW highlights, just in case you were still undecided on which show is still the flagship programme of WWE. This week among the same clips shown on Superstars, Smackdown Tag Team Champions Rhyno & Heath Slater had a bout against The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) in the headline. But was it any good? 

Heath Slater and Rhyno going over The Ascension was a pretty good tag team contest that was easy to watch and made the most of the four talents better attributes. This was the best I've seen Konnor and Viktor look in a long time, as they showed a real viciousness in their offence and Konnor in particular took the opportunity by the horns in an entertaining strike battle with Rhyno in the early goings. The crowd was really into this, spiking during Slater and Rhyno's initial face shine, but also remaining hot throughout Slater's run as the face in peril. Slater did a great job in this role, as he remained entertaining as he would reach for the wrong corner for the tag, as well as garnering some decent sympathy. The finish was done well and a change from the way most Slater and Rhyno bouts have gone, including a sweet breakdown segment that saw Viktor hit a sweet corkscrew forearm on Slater and Rhyno nailing a Gore for the win. Like Main Event has been for a while, this match was completely throwaway, but still an entertaining watch between two teams who have worked incredibly hard since the brand split.

Best of the Rest 

• Naomi went over Natalya in a match that started strong, but became very sloppy heading into the finish. 

Finally...
ATPW Scale Rating - 2.88/10 

Show in a Sentence - Ten minutes worth watching if you'd already seen RAW, but the tag team match was a good watch. 

Words - James Marston

TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #891 - John Cena and Dean Ambrose Confront AJ Styles

As Smackdown headed out of Backlash, John Cena would return and, alongside former Champ Dean Ambrose, confront new World Champion AJ Styles. Would the blue brand be able to keep the momentum going after a hot supercard two days prior?

With AJ Styles beginning the show with his newly won World Championship belt around his waist, the opening segment would get heated quickly as John Cena made his return, Dean Ambrose interrupted and Commissioner Shane McMahon booked a main event for No Mercy on 9th October. This was a brilliant start to the evening with all four men being on great form on the microphone and a number of different stories being either developed or introduced. Styles berating the crowd, constantly saying "I told you so" about both beating Cena and winning the World title was just the right side of annoying, to the point where you want to see someone kick him hard in the shins. Styles calling himself the "Champ that Runs the Camp" is totally cringey, but works completely with his character. Having the popular McMahon admonish Styles for the way he won the title was a clear attempt at piling on the heat onto the group's #1 heel, but it was also still rather entertaining! 

The thing that caught the Philadelphia crowd's attention the most was the exchange between Cena and Ambrose as the pair pulled no punches, telling each other exactly how they felt. The Cenation Leader's initial interruption of a Lunatic Fringe rant was as fiery as we've seen Cena in a long time, as he ripped into Ambrose for complaining about losing to a low blow, whilst also getting a superb reaction for referencing Ambrose's appearance on the Stone Cold podcast. Ambrose's reply would attempt to match Cena's level, as he'd use phrases like "lazy part-timer" and accuse Cena of not being able to get it done in the ring anymore. It was great to see two babyfaces get their teeth into each other, as clearly the two characters wouldn't be the best of friends. They managed to combine the elements of reality with fiction well and if it continues this way during the build to the Triple Threat match then the next three weeks should be a real treat. 

The main event featured John Cena and Dean Ambrose teaming up against AJ Styles and The Miz in a decent TV scrap. Miz would continue his storyline with Daniel Bryan by attacking Bryan's chosen opponent for Styles, James Ellsworth [Big Time Wrestling's Jimmy Dream], on the entrance ramp to take his place in the match. This was a cool moment that saw Miz continue to up his aggression levels, as he screamed about being a main eventer. The contest would play out quite nicely with both duos making surprisingly strong partnerships, with the heels especially putting together good stuff when in control. There was plenty of referee distractions and underhanded tactics, as well as some nice double teaming. Both Ambrose and Cena would get hot tag sequences, with Cena's coming at the conclusion of the bout, which booked-ended Styles and Miz's slower paced team attacks. The finish was a nice twist on the Cenation Leader's usual comeback sequence, as Miz took the familiar bumps and as Styles interfered, Ambrose made the save, throwing the Phenomenal One to the outside and hitting a suicide dive, leaving Cena the space to nail an Attitude Adjustment and get the pin on the Intercontinental Champion. Whilst The Lunatic Fringe would hit Dirty Deeds on Cena to close the show and got a good deal of heat because of it, I would've liked to have seen more tension between them during the contest, especially considering the exchange they earlier to open the show. 

Alexa Bliss earned a Women's Championship match with Becky Lynch, thanks to defeating Naomi, Nikki Bella, Natalya and Carmella in a Fatal Five Way encounter. The contest didn't quite have the same depth as the Six Pack Challenge from Backlash, but there was still some good work on display. Bella and Carmella's feud continued with the pair scrapping from the beginning and there was two strong near falls. The majority of the contest flowed well, although I did feel that there were some sequences that came across as overly choreographed, especially when Naomi was rather obvious about making sure she was in the correct position. The finish, however, was put together astutely, with Carmella hitting Bella with a thrust kick as the latter seemed destined to get Bliss with a Rack Attack, however moments later it was Bliss who had the win after sending Carmella to the outside and stealing the pin on Nikki. The Women's division on Smackdown has been made to feel ultra competitive over the last few weeks, so I'm interested to see how the brand manages to handle keeping multiple storylines going without having all six girls involved at the same time.

A rather odd talking segment where Dolph Ziggler would challenge The Miz to a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship, concluded with Miz walking out through the crowd after an argument with General Manager Daniel Bryan. Ziggler is usually a slick talker, but on this occasion, after an early slip up, he struggled to find any connection with the crowd, which is something that his current rhetoric relies upon. Miz and his wife Maryse on the other hand have that connection in spades with both getting shit loads of heat, which only got hotter when Maryse interrupted Ziggler to speak for her husband. I'm not quite sure what to make of how things ended as after Bryan had initially agreed that Ziggler deserved a rematch, Miz refused saying he wouldn't renegotiate a contract until his demands were met. before walking out through the crowd. It definitely asked more questions than it answered and left me a little bemused if I'm honest! I guess, we'll just have to keep watching to see what is actually supposed to be going on. 

A unique contract signing took place as Heath Slater finally ceased to be the hottest free agent in WWE and signed with Smackdown following winning the Tag Team Championships with Rhyno at Backlash! Whilst the segment didn't quite have the same feel that the duo defeating The Usos the night before had had, it was still great to see one of the brighest acts in WWE today get more and more television time. Slater went over some old ground with his promo, but who cares at this point, the lad can talk about his kids all day long if he wants to and Rhyno can just look like he wants to beat the shit into anyone in the background. Having The Ascension come out to challenge for the belts was a bit of a lame conclusion to things and Konnor and Viktor didn't really make the most of their opportunity, screwing up their only big spot of the match. This was an abridged version of Rhyno and Slater's other matches across the last few weeks, with The Man Beast eventually getting the win with a Gore to Viktor. 

Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton's feud took on a different direction, when Erick Rowan would ambush The Apex Predator to bring a good segment to a close. Both Orton and Wyatt cut strong promos on each other, as The Apex Predator addressed Wyatt's attack on him at Backlash in the ring. Orton seems to be relishing this feud as it's allowed his character to become a little bit darker again, which produces much more interesting material, like him insinuating that Wyatt was afraid of fighting him and calling for his rival to "face his fear". The Eater of World's various supernatural gimmicks were used to the promo's benefit as Wyatt initially appeared on the screen, with a creepy speech telling Orton not to sleep, before appearing at ringside. This would build to Rowan's interference and his supposed re-alignment with Wyatt. As much as a cool moment as it was with the lights repeatedly going out, heading forward it feels like a bit of a backwards step for both Wyatt and Rowan. However if this means Luke Harper is returning soon for a brief reunion I think I'll get over it. 

Best of the Rest 

• The Usos defeated The Hype Bros in a swift rematch from Backlash.
• After Baron Corbin attacked Apollo Crews before their match, Jack Swagger would confront the Lone Wolf and went on to cut a promo saying he'd jumped to Smackdown and that no one "knew Jack".

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.96/10

This was a fairly decent episode of Smackdown Live, with a lot of strong storyline advancement throughout the show as the brand comes out of Backlash and turns it's attention towards No Mercy. The opening segment with Styles, Cena, Ambrose and McMahon was very good, with everyone involved putting in real effort, whilst Cena and Ambrose both brought some fire that will probably carry the story towards the show. Orton and Wyatt also put on good performances on the microphone as their story took a different twist. In the ring, the main event with Cena and Ambrose against Styles and Miz was a cracking tag bout, the Women's five way was exciting, yet brief. I'd have liked the show to feature more wrestling, as the only two matches on the show were short tag team contests. 

Heath Slater's contract signing didn't quite live up to expectations, struggling to find a punchline and then moving into a match with The Ascension, whilst the Ziggler and Miz confrontation didn't really work either, especially after The Show-Off has lost in two high profile matches! 

Having a lot of focus on the Cena, Ambrose and Styles storyline did this show well as almost everything that the three were doing together, whether that be on the microphone or inside the ring was entertaining to watch and because there was lots of it the show ends up a high score. There was some support from the Women and the Wyatt/Orton story, but overall the main event story pretty much carried this show. 

WWE NXT Takeover: REvolution Review

WWE NXT's fourth live special had a lot to live up to, following on from the red hot Arrival and Takeover, and the decent Takeover: Fatal 4Way, Takeover REvolution couldn't afford to dissapoint. Did Takeover: REvolution live up to the hype? Could it reach the heights of Arrival and the original Takeover? Let's find out shall we?! 

You're So Zayn

 

You probably think this section is about you. Well, it's about Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville who main evented the show with an exhilariting NXT Championship bout that had the crowd on the edge of their seats from the outset. This was a drama filled, rollercoaster of technically sound wrestling action that topped of the show perfectly.

The two men moulded together nicely, it was clear that the two had made the most of their numerous matches before WWE TV Tapings and at WWE and NXT house shows over the past year. The sequences of action flowed very smoothly indeed, without ever feeling over rehearsed, with a series of action ending in an Blue Thunderbomb dropped from an Electric Chair position from Zayn being a highlight amongst highlights.

Whilst there was a number of impressive moves (REVERSE RANA!) it was in the WWE main event style of story telling that this match really came into it's own. Neville working to ground Zayn early on made perfect sense, with the commentary team working hard to get over the reasons for this, with the crowd being so into Zayn that they stayed hot throughout a series of main event chinlocks from Neville. This put down a solid foundation for a Zayn comeback, with the pace quickening and the match going back and forth with a series of well worked near falls for either man, with Zayn coming close with a Koji Clutch and the aforementioned Reverse Rana from Neville being amongst the best efforts.

Other strong story telling elements included Neville rolling out of the ring after a number of big moves from Zayn, most notably a Three Amigos that closed with a beautiful half and half suplex. This got the crowd even more behind Zayn, as the frustration on Zayn's face emanated through the screen, this also allowed Zayn to reach into his impressive catalogue of aerial offence. Zayn's moral dilemma whilst holding the title belt, with referee having been bumped for the second time, was also strong, if not a little too long, but worked nicely into the closing sequence, rounding off Zayn's story well, as he went on to pick up the win with a Exploder Suplex into the turnbuckle, followed up with a Helluva Kick for the pinfall.

In many ways, this felt like the Performance Centre coming full circle, as Zayn and Neville showcased that their Indy stylings could be meshed with WWE's sports entertainment style, with both men looking more than ready to make the step up to the main roster, more so than at any point during their run in Developmental. Zayn's celebration was given more than enough time to settle in, something that is sometimes lacking from WWE title changes, whilst a storyline twist that saw the debuting Kevin Owens attack Zayn post match with a Powerbomb onto the ring apron seemed to set up the main event for the next NXT special.

 

Captain Charlotte

It was terrific to see two females competitors featured so heavily on the show and Charlotte and Sasha Banks did everything they could to make sure that NXT continues to treat it's females this way going forward. A big improvement on Charlotte's bout with Bayley on the previous special, this was an engaging and athletic encounter, with both ladies character work being allowed to shine through.

Sasha Banks' character in particular came across very well, with her constant mocking of Charlotte and her father Ric Flair, making it easy to dislike The Boss of NXT. She seemed to have everything about the character thought out, and this played well against Charlotte's more athletic based approach to the match. I was, however, a little disappointed to see her pulling out a suicide dive, mid-way through the match, as it did seem a little out of character and out of place during this match. A sequence where Banks repeatedly went for covers on Charlotte helped to make up for this however.

At the times the bout was not quite as crisp as it could have been and there were a few communication errors, with the two rushing a few of the earlier sequences. However, these errors were quickly ironed out and the two finished the match looking more than comfortable in the ring together. Charlotte landing on her feet following a missed Moonsault and turning it into a Senton, followed up by a strong closing sequence ending up with a Top Rope Natural Selection was some of the strongest women's action WWE has put on in 2014.

With these two performers fitting together nicely in the ring, it would be a shame for their feud to finish her, although with Charlotte picking up a clean victory it's difficult to see where they can go from here. Becky Lynch could make the step up ahead of her BFF, although it's difficult to see how Sasha would take the backseat in the feud. Perhaps Bayley will be thrown back into the mix to keep things interesting? The division could definitely do with a fresh injection of talent with Carmella and Alexa Bliss the only other two active women on the roster.

The Undercard

 

The highlight of the undercard was a well booked tag team encounter pitting The Ascension against relative NXT newcomers Hideo Itami and Finn Balor. Of course, Balor's new paint job was a big talking point heading out the show, but I was equally impressed with both Konnor and Viktor who did more than enough opposite two internet favourites to make me take notice. Viktor, in particular, was part of some nice wrestling opposite Balor. For me this was the strongest Ascension bout to date and to suggest that Itami and Balor carried the bout would be naïve, as the two put in more than their fair share in order to allow Itami and Balor look the best they possibly could.

The build to the hot tag was done nicely, with Itami working the face in peril role, with a refreshing scrappy style. Itami always looked like he was trying to make the tag, whilst Konnor and Viktor looked incredibly comfortable whilst in control of the match, which made for a great moment as soon as Itami eventually made the tag to Balor. This is where the match really got going with both Itami and Balor able to show off an excited arsenal of offense, with a handful of false finishes thrown into the mix. Towards the finish there was a number of momentum changes between the two teams, including a huge pop for a GTS attempt from Itami, before Balor hit Viktor with a Pele Kick, Itami hit Konnor with a Busaiku Knee Kick and the pair hit Double Double Stomps with Balor picking up the pinfall victory.

In another tag team match, The Lucha Dragons defended the NXT Tag Team Championships against The Vaudevillains, in a rather basic bout. It was a very paint by numbers match, that was livened up by some unique offense by Kalisto and Aiden English who both looked like the stars of their respective teams when given the chance. Sin Cara on the other hand looked like he'd rather be anywhere else, with almost everything the former Hunico did in the ring looking sloppy and lethargic. With the Lucha Dragons picking up the victory, I'm not quite sure what's next for the paper thin NXT Tag Team division.

Before he turned on Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens was in action against CJ Parker. Owens couldn't have hoped for a better debut, as he looked incredible ploughing through Parker who certainly isn't a crowd favourite at NXT. An impressive series of offense including a Tope Conhilo, Pumphandle Neckbreaker and Pop Up Powerbomb allowed Owens to quickly get over his style to anyone who hadn't seen him before. Parker's minimal offense did lead to Owens getting busted open, which added even more to Owens image and the match itself.

Baron Corbin also continued his run of squashing opponents as he ran through Tye Dillinger in a matter of seconds. Finishing off Dillinger with his End of Days move, Corbin is beginning to feel like a one trick pony, and whilst it is fun to see him destroy opponents week after week, he's going to need to show something else if he's going to move forward as a WWE wrestler. The feud teased with Bull Dempsey doesn't fill me with hope for Corbin's future.

Finally... 

 

 For me, this was the strongest NXT special to date, with almost every element of the show delivering in spades. The main event was the Match of the Night no doubt, with Neville and Zayn presenting a great mash-up of Indy and WWE styles, whilst the Women's Championship bout and Itami & Balor vs. The Ascension working nicely in supporting roles. Kevin Owens debut also worked well, presenting a destructive force in ring, whilst thrusting him straight into a main event storyline. The only match that felt like it struggled was the Tag Team Championship bout and even that had Kalisto and English shining through.

This show get's a big thumbs up from me, and WWE's next PPV offering TLC will have to work extremely hard to better this two hours of action.

WWE NXT 25th September 2013 Review

This week's NXT was fairly strong throughout with a lot of interesting action, whilst nothing particularly stood out, it felt like much more of a storyline building week with the seeds planted for future parts of story, with Sami Zayn and Bo Dallas's feud really getting into gear, alongside a new number one contender to Graves & Neville's NXT Tag Team Championships.

NXT Tag Team Championship Number One Contenders Tag Team Turmoil Match:

 Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady 

vs. 

CJ Parker & Tyler Breeze 

vs. 

The Legionnaires

 with Sylvester LeFort 

vs. 

The Ascension

Now NXT doesn't have a lot of real tag teams so the tag team turmoil idea seemed like a bit of a stretch, for me. The Ascension are the only team that'd really consider a conventional tag team, with Amore & Cassady possibly at a stretch. The Legionnaires are moving towards that way, with them both being managed by Sylvester LeFort, but I'd still see them both as singles wrestlers rather than a tag team. So for this Tag Team Turmoil to be viable, they had to create a make shift team of rivals Tyler Breeze and CJ Parker, it's been done before and it'll be done again most probably. The team was made by Raw General Manager Brad Maddox, after both Breeze and Parker came to see Maddox (who was apparently on charge off tonight's show) about being part of the match, it was a fairly contrived situation, but played well by all three involved.

The story that this match attempted to tell, needed longer than it was given to make it really worthwhile. The first match saw Amore & Cassady taking on CJ Parker & Tyler Breeze in a brief encounter that didn't really do anything for me. Parker dominated Amore until Parker refused to tag in Breeze allowing Amore to get the tag to Cassady who hit a Spinning Sitout Sideslam to pick up the victory. I understand that they were trying to push the dislike between Parker and Breeze, but Parker is supposed to be a face, and refusing to tag in Breeze seemed like a heel tactic to me. Up next for Amore & Cassady was Sylvester LeFort's team of Scott Dawson & Alexander Rusev now know as The Legionnaires. The Legionnaires worked over Amore for a couple of minutes looking good in control and working quick tags. After Dawson hit an Arn Anderson style Spinebuster he went to pick up Amore, only for Amore to trap him in a small package to pick up the victory and to advance to the final match of the Tag Team Turmoil. It was a decent finish, but we just had seen enough of The Legionnaires in control of the match to make it mean as much as it should.

Personally, I would have prefered to see Amore & Cassady take much more of a beating in the first two matches, yes, they did take most of the offence from the other two teams but it was only for a couple of minutes. By the time The Ascension were revealed as the final team, Amore and Cassady should have been exhausted, building up two teams at the same time, The Ascension as the evil heels coming in to pick the bones and the valiant Amore & Cassady who pulled off two upset wins after tough fights, however it didn't quite feel like that. The final match was a decent encounter if not a little basic, with Conor O'Brian and Rick Victor working over Cassady for a lot of the match, before Cassady managed to make a short comeback, including a nice near fall, with Cassady making the tag to Amore, only for Amore to come up short after O'Brian outpowered the smaller man. The finish saw The Ascension hit their double team finish with the leg sweep/heel kick combination to pick up the victory and become Number One Contenders for Graves & Neville's NXT Tag Team Championships.

The Ascension make perfect sense as the challengers for the NXT Tag Team Championships, seeing as they have been feuding with both Graves and Neville over the last few weeks. They probably could have just been given a title shot anyway and I'm sure no one would have had any complaints about that, but doing it this way just gives them a little bit more behind their claim to the gold and makes them look a much more credible tag team. Can they beat Graves & Neville for the NXT Tag Team Championships, I'm interested to find out. Personally, I think it's time to put the titles on The Ascension, as Graves & Neville have only ever felt like transitional champions, whilst they have performed well with the belts, it's clear that they are not a proper tag team and really this is just a set up to lead into a singles feud between Corey Graves and Adrian Neville, before both are ready to make the step up to the main roster.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Also in action this week, was fan favourite Sami Zayn who took on El Local (Ricardo Rodriguez under a mask) in singles action. It was a decent short encounter, with the action fought a pretty high pace throughout. Zayn dominated most of the match, which was essentially an enhancement match, Local was there to make Zayn look great and he did a pretty good job (not like it takes much to make Zayn look awesome in the ring). The finish saw Zayn fight back from a momentary spell of control for Local, hitting a series of moves, including a back body drop, before finishing off Local with a Yakuza kick to pick up the pinfall victory. Obviously, this match doesn't stand up to Zayn's classic bouts with Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger on NXT, but it simply wasn't designed to do that. For what is was, this bout was entertaining and a nice set up for what was about to come.

After the match, NXT Champion Bo Dallas came out on to the ramp, with a few words to say to Zayn. I thought this promo was probably the strongest we've seen out of Dallas on NXT, as he didn't seem to be effected by the crowd, in his usual way which is to simply start laughing mid-promo, he simply said what he had to say and got it over with. Dallas continued to claim he was a mentor to Zayn, which of course is hilarious in itself, before announcing that he would be holding the Bo Dallas Invitational starting next week, where any wrestler could challenge him to a match and if they win they will get a title shot. Zayn, of course, was the first to throw his name into the hat, only to be turned down by Dallas for being unsafe in the ring. I thought this was really nice set up for things to come in their rivalry, as we know The Bo Dallas Invitational isn't going to go down without incident, and therefore should be tuning in next week to find out!

WWE COO Triple H was also in attendance at NXT this week, coming down to the ring to continue a storyline that has been a prominent part of Raw recently, that being the McMahon family feud with The Rhodes family. After putting over a number of NXT talents, Triple H went onto remove Dusty Rhodes as the General Manager of NXT, and replace him with John “Bradshaw” Layfield. It was a little confusing, seeing as we had seen Brad Maddox working as an authority figure throughout the episode, and certainly didn't get the heat that it deserved because people were just happy to see JBL. It was an interesting idea to attempt to carry over the storyline to NXT and made sense to do so, but I'm not surely it really payed off in the way they were hoping here. JBL could be an interesting General Manager and I'm wondering if we'll see a shift on the show, now that it is run by a heel.

In women's action, Sasha Banks accompanied by Summer Rae took on Bayley, in strong women's bout. Both women looked competent in the ring, with Banks really growing into her new heel role, looking vicious throughout with some nice ad lib really helping to get that character across to the audience. The finish saw Bayley climbing to the top rope, only to be tripped by Banks, who sent Bayley into the top rope again before picking up a pinfall victory following a Double Handcuff Neckbreaker. After the match, Summer Rae got on the mic, and in a surprinsgly good promo announced that Fandango would be on NXT next week, as well as putting over her partnership with Banks. Just when it looked like the pair were finished, Emma ran down the ramp sending them running. The pop that Emma got was fantastic and shows that women can get over in today's WWE, and with Rae later challenging Emma to a mixed tag team match next week things are beginning to heat up in their feud.

Aiden English was also in action this week, in a squash match against Bull Dempsey. English's singing actor gimmick is a little too similar to Damien Sandow's gimmick for me, but that doesn't mean it's any less entertaining. English picked up a quick victory with Take A Bow, after an entertaining encounter. English looks capable in the ring, at least in this kind of environment, I'd like to see how his character translates to a singles feud in the near future, as well as see him in much longer matches with some of NXT's finest.

After a three month absense, Kassius Ohno returned to WWE television to confront Brad Maddox about why he hadn't been on the show. They played around with the management holding Ohno down angle, with Maddox describing Ohno as a D+ player, a reference to Daniel Bryan being called a B+ player on Raw. With Ohno being granted a return match next week, I am very happy to see him back on the show as he was one of the most entertaining aspects of NXT a few months ago and is more than capable in the ring. Hopefully, his problem's with WWE management have ceased and we'll be seeing a lot of Kassius Ohno in the near future.  

Finally....

My final thoughts on this week's NXT.

1. The Tag Team Turmoil match needed more time and precision booking.

2. Sami Zayn is still the best thing about NXT.

3. I would happily listen to William Regal on commentary for hours on end, he's magnificent. 

WWE NXT 4th September 2013 Review

WWE NXT continues to be in the shadows of Antonio Cesaro and Sami Zayn's epic Two out of Three Falls contest, and it's a bit like the week after Christmas Day when everything is getting back to normal. Luckily, Sami Zayn was back in action this week against Jack Swagger, so things were not all lost. 

Sami Zayn 

vs. 

Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter

This match stemmed from a Jack Swagger attack on Sami Zayn last week, after Zeb Colter had caused the distraction. Essentially this story was in place to allow Zayn's NXT Championship match with Bo Dallas to build up a bit longer, but it was still a nice jaunt non-the-less. It's been a while since Swagger has looked like a genuine threat to any on WWE, after falling out of favour due to his extra curricular activities earlier in the year. Personally, I think it was a real shame, obviously it was all Swagger's fault, but it did feel like at that time he had something to offer WWE and I actually did enjoy Swagger's run opposite Alberto Del Rio, with Colter working as a great mouthpiece during the feud. 

The match was a very enjoyable bout, with both men looking very good throughout. Something that we haven't really seen WWE play up very often with Swagger is his size and power. So it was good to see the come into play here, with Swagger who is close to 290 lbs, really looking dominate against Zayn with some good looking power moves and some well executed submission moves. The story that would run throughout the match was Zayn attempting to get going against the bigger Swagger, Zayn did a great job of this role and it's certainly a role that he seems to relish in the ring, with some believable selling of Swagger's offence.  Zayn would get in some offence, in fits and bursts, including a beautiful dive over the top rope to the outside, but Swagger would quickly gain control.

The finish saw Zayn beginning to get a role together, with a Yakuza Kick followed up with by a number of blows to keep Swagger down and it was clear that the Full Sail Arena absolutely adores Zayn, as he got a huge pop from just pointing to the top rope! With Zayn getting a near fall off of a Sunset Flip Powerbomb out of the corner, NXT Champion Bo Dallas headed down to ring side and caused enough of a distraction to allow Swagger to lock in the Patriot Lock for the second time in the match and pick up the submission victory. The interference only added to the match for me, as the short Swagger and Zayn story, simply flowed into a continuation of the feud between Zayn and Dallas. It's certainly built my anticipation for seeing Zayn finally get his opportunity with Dallas, eve more and a competitive loss to another main roster wrestler will do no harm for Zayn.

So, how long can WWE go before having Zayn get his shot at Dallas? They can only realistically keep it going for a few more weeks, as it has been boiling underneath the Zayn and Cesaro rivalry for a good few months. Zayn is also red hot after coming off the series with Cesaro, so it would be wise for the show to capitalise on his popularity by putting the strap on him pretty soon. At the same time, whilst Dallas has improved a lot over the last few months as champion, especially since switching over to a heel, but he certainly has never really felt strong enough to carry the belt around, after strong reigns from Seth Rollins and Big E Langston, and would still seem to have some time in the developmental territory before he's ready to make the step. 

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on NXT, NXT Tag Team Champion Corey Graves was in action against The Ascension's Rick Victor, with both beign accompanied by Adrian Neville and Conor O'Brian respectively. The story behind this match was that Graves had suffered injured ribs after an attack from The Ascension last week. In the early part of the match, the rib injury was not played up as much of it should have been and it took a fair while for the match to really get going. They had a perfect moment to bring to the ribs into the match, with Graves going to lock in Lucky Thirteen, but instead of using the ribs to get out of the hold quickly, Victor just punched him in the face instead. Luckily, in the later stages of the match, they did begin to work the ribs and actually did a great job of it, with Graves putting in a solid performance selling the ribs and his difficulty breathing, this really brought the match to life for me.

The finish of the bout saw O'Brian looking to get involved to aid his partner, with Neville making the save, entering the ring and hitting a springboard crossbody to the outside, taking out O'Brian. With Graves momentarily distracted Victor attempted to go for a Gutbuster, only for Graves to reverse into a Small Package and pick up the pinfall victory. I liked the finish to this one, it worked well on the idea of Graves battling throughout the match and finally being able to pull out the victory, as well as including their partner's building towards a future title match for The Ascension. Whilst Neville and Graves both have singles victories over member of The Ascension, it would seem likely that The Ascension would be next in line for a title shot, mainly down to the fact they're the only other tag team on NXT! 

WWE also continued to build towards a match on next week's show, between NXT Women's Champion Paige and Sascha Banks. Firstly, with Summer Rae once again talking to Banks about showing a nasty side, with Banks looking reluctant. Rae looked really awkward throughout the entire segment, and her performance put me in mind of a GCSE drama performance. Paige later showed her how it was done, with a solid promo during an interview with Renee Young, where Paige put over Banks well, before reminding the audience of the meaning of Anti-Diva. It was a good performance from Paige on the microphone, it's an area she definitely needs to have more time working on to help build her character on television to match what we see in the ring, but she at least has a sound foundation to build upon. 

There was also an intriguing segment which saw Leo Kruger standing over Xavier Woods in the parking lot, laughing in his signature maniacal fashion. With no follow up on the show, and such as a short segment, I was left wanting to know more about what happened and see more of Kruger. I thought it was really effective way of building Kruger's character back up after his recent NXT Championship loss to Bo Dallas. I wouldn't mind seeing them build to a Woods vs. Kruger feud, with the feud allowing us to see a more serious side of Woods, as well as the potential for some interesting match ups between the two. Either way, as long as Woods isn't about to disappear from television like Kassius Ohno, I'll be happy with this.

Alexander Rusev was back in action this week against Mason Ryan. I had expected them to take a little long to build for this match, with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassasdy being involved, therefore this felt a little bit rushed. I've been quite open about not being a fan of Mason Ryan, and this match didn't change my mind, whilst he looks good when in control, the guy can't sell the save his life, so the decision to have him work as a face just befuddles me. The finish saw interference from both Scott Dawson and Sylvester LeFort, before Rusev hit Ryan with a charging attack in the corner, before locking in the Camel Clutch to pick up the submission victory. What I've seen of Rusev, I like, he's looked impressive in his match with Dolph Ziggler and came across fairly well here, as well, but I have no clue why they've given him a Camel Clutch as finisher. Does anyone from Eatern Europe or Asia automatically have to have that move as a finisher? Is written into the rule book? It would seem so.

The opening contest saw woman's tag team action with Bayley & Charlotte teaming up to take on Alicia Fox and Aksana. By far the best section of the match came between Alicia Fox and Bayley who put on some decent wrestler, with Alica Fox's Northern Lights Suplex into a bridge being the highlight for me. Charlotte didn't spend much time in the ring and the less said about Aksana the better. The finish was poorly worked, with Bayley supposedly meant to move out of the way of a boot in the corner from Fox, so that Fox hit Aksana. But Bayley didn't really move, Aksana still bumped and Bayley rolled up Fox for the pinfall victory. Some positives here, but not many. 

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's WWE NXT.

1. Sami Zayn is the hottest property on NXT at moment.

2. NXT still needs more tag teams!

3. Paige needs more time on the mic to developed, but she's still better than most women in WWE. 

WWE NXT 28th August 2013 Review

This week's NXT was always going to struggle to live up to last week's episode, after Sami Zayn and Antonio Cesaro put together a classic two out of three falls match, and it was no surprise when it didn't. By no means was this bad show, with a lot to like, including the newly heel NXT Champion Bo Dallas and a decent enough main event between Conor O'Brian and Adrian Neville, but it's going to be a while before a match on NXT even comes close to Zayn vs. Cesaro.

NXT Tag Team Champion

 Adrian Neville 

vs. 

Conor O'Brian

with Rick Victor

The main event of the show pitted NXT Tag Team Champion Adrian Neville against The Ascension's Conor O'Brian. The match was put together following the pre-titles sequence of the show that featured Neville's partner and fellow NXT Tag Team Champion Corey Graves speaking to Renee Young only to be interupted by The Ascension's Rick Victor. Victor cut an average and cliched promo about how the time of The Ascension was now, I guess he means in terms of the NXT Tag Team Championship but that was specifically stated. With Graves' showing his trademark attitude he was ambushed by O'Brian with a punch to the back of the head. O'Brian then proceded to hit Graves in the chest with a metal girder that was part of the NXT interview room set. This didn't really work for me, as whilst the attack looked brutal and the girder looked genuinely painful, it didn't really fit with the Ascension's dark gimmick, with O'Brian spurting the words “Stay down, Graves” in a ridiculously over the top voice removing any ounces of darkness from The Ascension in this opening segment.

The bout took on a simple dynamic, with Neville using his speed early on to take control of the match, but once Victor had caused the distraction, O'Brian dominated from that point. O'Brian looks very good when in control, he has a great look and works the gimmick well when in the ring. He feels like a bit of a diamond in the rough for me, I think if WWE protect the character and allow him to develop and improve as a wrestler, which he will if he continues to go up against the likes of Adrian Neville, then he could work very well for the company, however if they follow the trend of how they've been using most bigger built wrestler over the last few years, he'll be a comedy face dancing around the ring in lingerie before you can say Giant Bernard.

The bout was pretty short only about five minutes of the television time, which isn't really enough for a main event match on television, but they did manage to fit in a nice faux comeback for Neville and a near fall for each man before they went to the finish. After Neville had moved out of the way of a charging O'Brian sending the bigger man into the turnbuckle, Neville hit a back suplex for a two count, with the footage looking badly cut together for some reason. Neville then went to the top rope and hit Red Arrow for the pinfall victory. It was a very strange ending and felt very sudden, I'm really not quite sure what happened, but obviously there was a botch somewhere down the line that caused them to cut the match, but at the same time Neville still went straight from a near fall to his finisher which isn't something you see a lot of in WWE. Personally, I would have like to see this bout go another five minutes or so, which I think both men are capable off, and certainly needed a more satisfying finish.

After the bout, Victor came back in the ring and The Ascension began to double team Neville. Graves tried to make the save, now complete with bandaged ribs, before The Ascension destroyed him too, finishing him off with their Spinning Elbow/Sweep Kick combination finisher. With The Ascension finishing the show standing tall in the ring, it looks like they have to be next in line for an NXT Tag Team Championship match, which can surely be only a few weeks away. NXT is pretty low on tag teams at the moment, since The Wyatt Family were moved to the main roster and they split Scott Dawson & Garrett Dylan up, they could really do with creating a couple of new pairing to make the division look competitive. It can also only be a matter of time before they split Neville and Graves up and have them feud, seeing as their team was born more out of neccesity than anything else and they seem to protect each other out of obligation rather than an actual like for each other.

Best of the Rest (In The World)

Elsewhere on NXT, Renee Young conducted an in ring interview with Sami Zayn. After last week's epic Two out of Three Falls encounter with Antonio Cesaro I was interested to see what Zayn had to say and where WWE would be moving with him from here. Zayn did a good job with his promo, getting himself over as a humble and extremely likeable guy, I think it is literally impossible not too like Sami Zayn, his character at times feels like it has been plucked straight from a Rom-Com, with his interaction with Young typifying that feel. Zayn mentioned the possibility of receiving a NXT Championship shot, something which I've talked about a few times in my NXT reviews with Zayn seeming like the logical option for the next NXT Champion after his impressive run of matches with Cesaro, as well as bringing a lot of attention to the show with the feud.

Of course, current NXT Champion Bo Dallas had something to say about this and headed on down to the ring himself. I know it's fashionable amongst wrestling fans to be negative about Bo Dallas for a number of reasons, but his heel promos actually quite good. Yes, he probably get's under a lot of peoples skins, but he is supposed to, he is a heel. When he's coming out saying people don't care about Zayn because he lost and they want to watch a winner like him, you can just feel the internet getting ready to reach for it's collective pen of rage and that's great. WWE is really learning how to play the internet correctly, which is something they've struggled to do for years with Daniel Bryan's feud with The McMahon Family on Raw being the most obvious example of that. With Dallas stealing from The Simpsons (Are you saying Boo, or Boo-urns?), the pair were interrupted by Zeb Colter. After some nice back and forth between Colter and Zayn, Colter's Real American stablemate Jack Swagger attack Zayn from behind, before hitting a Gutwrench Powerbomb. I'd expect a short feud between Swagger and Zayn, just to allow a little extra time for the Dallas and Zayn feud to truly build to a satisfying conclusion.

After Emma had given a decent interview to Renee Young, she went on to face rival Summer Rae. After both women had had great matches with Paige on NXT in the past, I expected at least a decent match here. Unfortunately, that wasn't what we got and the match felt like your average women's match you might see on Raw or Smackdown. Whilst both played their roles well, the bout was pretty sloppy, with a number of notable botches, including a strange moment with Rae trying to set Emma up in the ropes, only for Emma to fall off them. Emma went on to pick up the victory via submission with the Emma-Lock. It wasn't a terrible finish, but it would have been better to see the submission brought into the match earlier on to really build to that finish. After the match, Rae attacked Emma once again from behind, before throwing “bubble solution” in her eyes, signalling that this feud might not be over yet. However, backstage in a conversation with Sascha Banks, Rae signalled that she was done with NXT, whilst also sowing the seeds for a Sascha Banks heel turn in a nice little scene.

After a backstage disagreement, a match was made between Sylvester LeFort's protege Scott Dawson and the charismatic Enzo Amore, who would now appear to be working as a face. Both LeFort and Amore, who was accompanied by Colin Cassady, both cut good promos building up the match nicely. Whilst the match didn't exactly set the world alight, it was a nice foundation, especially considering Amore's limited wrestling experience, with Dawson working him over nicely for most of the match playing a good heel role, until Amore made a comeback with an impressive head scissors takedown. It was here that Alexander Rusev, who we saw last week against Dolph Ziggler, attack Cassady, causing the distraction for Amore, and allowing Dawson to hit what looked like a version of the Angle Slam to pick up the pinfall victory. It would seem that Rusev will be joining LeFort's faction, and I think he will be a nice addition to the group that was screaming out for more members. I can only speculate that they will begin a build toward a feud between Rusev and Mason Ryan.

CJ Parker and Tyler Breeze finally locked it up in the ring, in what was a disapointing contest. Parker's character is in desperate need of some more mic time to help bring some flesh to the characters bones, and Breeze isn't in a much better situation. There's potential in both characters but without the extra dimension it's hard to get behind or against either character. The match was focused almost entirely on Breeze's phone, with the phone playing a big part in the finish. Breeze used the positioning of the referee to hit Parker with the phone and pick up the pinfall victory. The ending took too long to set up, with the referee taking sometime to get into position. I guess we'll be getting more from this feud in the future, but unless we start seeing some dimension in the characters and more wrestling it's going to be difficult to start feeling engaged by either Breeze or Parker.  

Finally...

My final thoughts on this week's NXT.

1. NXT still needs more tag teams.

2. Sami Zayn vs. Bo Dallas should be a red hot feud for NXT.

3. The only thing that would have made Zayn vs. Cesaro better last week? William Regal on commentary.