BRM Reviews the 3/7/2018 NXT (great)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 3/7/2018 NXT (great)

Post by Big Red Machine » Mar 8th, '18, 08:15

DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC FIRST-ROUND MATCH: TM61 vs. The Authors of Pain (w/Paul Ellering)- 7.5/10
I always love doing little things like having the first match of this year’s tournament be a rematch of last year’s finals (or having the match that opens the first show of the year be the main event of the last show of the year, or stuff like that), so loved this. The match was actioned-packed and hard-hitting. TM61 are great babyfaces and holy sh*t those Authors of Pain are scary dudes.

PRESS GAGGLES INTERVIEWS IN THE PARKING GARAGE- fine. The important stuff was an interaction between Dunne, Roddy, and Undisputed Era. Roddy showed Dunne respect. Undisputed Era showed up to make fun of Roddy for losing, but Dunne stuck up for Roddy by point out (as Bryan and Vinny did last week) that Cole’s W-L record in NXT is actually quite poor.

SAnitY PROMO- wacky and yet still dangerous. Unlike TNA Eric Young (and many other failures over the years), SAnitY do a wonderful job of coming off as not crazy so much as “unhinged,” which allows them to retain their element of danger.

BIANCA BELAIR vs. DREW RENEE- no rating, bad squash.
Belair didn’t have that dominant “I’m squashing you” attitude, and while Renee seemed like a perfectly safe bumper (to my untrained eyes, anyway), she didn’t really sell pain. She just took her bumps and then laid there.

CHRISTY ST. CLOUD INTERVIEWS LACEY EVANS- great!
She buried Dakota Kai as being “classless,” then laid out her evil plan to us; she has been following Dakota around and noticing how often she has to see the trainers about her arm which Baszler injured many weeks ago, and thus Lacey will focus on her arm. I also really liked her delivery. The more she channels Pam from True Blood, the better.

CHRISTY ST. CLOUD INTERVIEWS SHAYNA BASZLER- she buried Ember, the supposed “fighting champion” for not answering her challenges (I assume the angle is supposed to be that Ember is injured).

HEAVY MACHINERY IN THE GYM- they were very loud, but also very hard to understand. They said something about the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.

TOMMASO CIAMPA PROMO- the fans booed him even louder every time he seemed like he was about to speak, until he finally threw the mic down in anger, and then went to leave… but then he grabbed the mic and turned back… then threw it down again and went to leave… but then snatched a fan’s Johnny Gargano sign, beat it with his crutch, and then finally left.
This sort of thing is fine once, but when it hits the point the where it becomes a gimmick like with BJ Whitmer or Zack Gibson, it detracts from the product because, quite frankly, it’s boring as hell for those of us not in the building, and when the guy does actually have to talk (after, like, five minutes of not doing so), it makes it neigh-impossible to hear the storyline-important things he has to say. Unfortunately, with the way wrestling fans are nowadays, I fear they will try their best to make this Ciampa’s new thing.
Mauro accurately described Ciampa as “Public Enemy No. 1 to the NXT Universe.”

ALEISTER BLACK vs. KILLIAN DAIN- 7.5/10
Both men hit hard, but Dain’s massive size advantage forced Black to have to combine his striking ability with his speed.

Another great episode of NXT. I would LOVE to see a rematch between TM61 and the AOP with Takeover-level time.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Bob-O
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/7/2018 NXT (great)

Post by Bob-O » Mar 8th, '18, 14:48

Big Red Machine wrote: Mar 8th, '18, 08:15 HEAVY MACHINERY IN THE GYM
This felt so old school to me, I loved it. As much as I love the over-the-top promos and goofiness, I feel bad for them because I know they're doomed. Like The Vaudevillians before them, it's just too goofy to be taken seriously. It'll never work beyond NXT.
Big Red Machine wrote: Mar 8th, '18, 08:15 TOMMASO CIAMPA PROMO- the fans booed him even louder every time he seemed like he was about to speak, until he finally threw the mic down in anger, and then went to leave… but then he grabbed the mic and turned back… then threw it down again and went to leave… but then snatched a fan’s Johnny Gargano sign, beat it with his crutch, and then finally left.
After Heavy Machinery had me in the right state of mind, the whole "snatched a fan's sign" thing had a great Stunt Granny vibe to it.

Maybe I'm a little slow, but I just realized they've been taping in Atlanta. I wondered why they were using steps instead of a ramp for a few weeks, this episode I noticed how much smaller the venue is (explaining no ramp), but it clicked when I realized how white hot Ciampa was. I mean, it's a great angle don't get me wrong, but I'm used to a more fun-loving crowd on NXT, it seemed odd to me how much this crowd seemed to legitimately hate him - "it's still real to me, dammit!" type of HATE. Like, at Full Sail, the fans would have been booing loudly, but also smiling and enjoying the show - I did not know before today that kayfabe still existed like this. I might go back and re-watch a few episodes with this knowledge...
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KILLdozer
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Re: BRM Reviews the 3/7/2018 NXT (great)

Post by KILLdozer » Mar 9th, '18, 07:44

No you missed it evidently....Lacey Evans is gonna show people about class...while looking like a 60's pinup dancing burlesque around the ring.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

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