BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by Big Red Machine » May 31st, '18, 01:39

Candice got hurt when Johnny accidentally fell on her because Ciampa pushed him, and thus Regal has decided that this feud is “too dangerous” and thus both Ciampa and Gargano have been barred from the building tonight. OH COME ON.

OPENING SEGMENT- mixed to good
Aleister Black comes out to cut a promo about who his next challenger might be. Lars Sullivan interrupted him to announce that Regal has given him the title shot at TakeOver: Chicago II. Lars then cut a promo saying he would take the title from Black because he’s big and strong. Lars started a fight, which he won when he blocked an attempted Black Mass by catching Aliester’s foot (which looked REALLY cool) then hit him with the Freak Accident. The physical part of this was great and their promos weren’t bad or anything, but they were a little generic… which is something I normally wouldn’t have a problem with, but these are two guys who I think work better the less they talk, so the generic-ness of their promos really rubbed that in.

CIAMPA & GARGANO WILL HAVE A STREET FIGHT IN AT TAKEOVER CHICAGO II- They showed a Tweet by Candice saying that she doesn’t support this and won’t be watching the match. Whatever. So long as she doesn’t turn on Gargano or something monumentally stupid like that, I’ll be fine.

WAR RAIDERS vs. TWO JOBBERS- squash

WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH VIDEO PACKAGE- Even in this video package every time they show Dakota talking about what she’s going to do to Baszler, she seems terrified of having to be in the ring with Shayna. So yeah. This is probably going to end with Shayna ripping both of Dakota’s arms off, then shoving one arm in each end of Dakota’s digestive system and making her shake her own hand inside her intestines.

CATHY KELLEY INTERVIEWS LACEY EVANS- bad.
She and Kairi are having a rubber match. She said she would win again because she has “a right. A Woman’s Right.” And then she showed us all her hand that she does her knockout punch with. This was as terrible as it sounds, and it’s not Lacey’s fault at all. Someone wrote a cringe-worthy promo based solely around the cringe-worthy name of her finisher, and this poor woman has to pretend to sound like a badass while saying the lamest thing possible.

FABIAN AICHNER vs. EC III- 2/10
During this match Johnny Gargano came out of the crowd, grabbed a mic, told the crowd he had a signed contract for a Street Fight against Ciampa at Takeover, slammed the contract down on the announcers’ table, then left. Ethan’s facial expression as Johnny walked by him was excellent. The match itself was your standard Fabian Aichner match, which basically means that he got to do a big high-flying move, then got beaten.

BIANCA BELAIR VIDEO PACKAGE- This wasn’t a bad video package, but it was a bad idea. These video packages work well for someone like Roderick Strong who can come across pretty generic. But Bianca Belair is NOT generic. This felt like they took the larger than life Bianca Belair and deflated her. I now know more about her, but she now also seems a lot less cool than she did before.
I think part of the problem was that they were trying to turn her babyface (understandable, given their heel champion, but with Kairi Sane, Candice LeRae, and Nikki Cross running around, I think Bianca would fare a lot better fighting it out with Lacey Evans for the #2 heel spot), and that requires doing things to tone down the heelish arrogance that made her character work so well.

RICOCHET vs. CHRIS DIJAK- 5/10
This was a complete and total balls-to-the-wall four minute match, and when you haven’t seen one of those in a while, they’re pretty awesome. Dijak felt like he had a lot more of a personality in the ring than he ever did in ROH, and the stuff they gave him in this match combined with the balls-to-the-wall factor ensured that he would not be forgotten or look unimpressive despite losing his debut.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- great
Ricochet started to cut a promo on The Velveteen Dream when TVD interrupted him. I actually liked TVD admitting that it was completely fair of Ricochet to call him a “punk” after his actions last week. It’s different, and TVD’s explanation gave us a peak into how his brain works, and what makes him unique. More barbs were exchanged, resulting in Ricochet challenging TVD to fight him right now but TVD said that only Takeover would be an acceptable “spotlight” for their match. Then something happened that I’m not going to spoil for you other than to say it resulted in one of the most perfect stare-downs I’ve ever seen.

NXT WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Shayna Baszler(c) vs. Dakota Kai- DUD!
This match was no fun to watch. I know I’ve been joking that I had hoped to see something along the lines of Baszler choking Dakota out so hard her head pops off and then pinning Dakota while dribbling her head like a basketball, and that’s because in pro wrestling there is an amount of fun in a complete and total obliteration. It’s why we love Goldberg matches and why the “KILL THE JOBBER!” chant exists. But an obliteration requires something to be quick- or at the very least feel explosive. This was just several minutes of torture porn (which I have no doubt is exactly what Shayna Baszler gets off to), followed by Dakota making the worst kind of comeback, which is, of course, the “I’m not going to sell anything you did to me while I’m getting my spots in” comeback. Then Dakota went for some totally goofy move where she had to balance on Shayna’s back and Shayna just made her fall and then choked her out, making Dakota look like an idiot. Yes, Dakota fought back against mean bully Shayna, but she’s a f*cking professional combat athlete. She’s supposed to do that. What did this match really do for Dakota? Am I supposed to be impressed that she managed to be in Shayna’s presence for several minutes without wetting herself?

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- LOVED IT… and then HATED IT
Apparently unhappy with having lost her ability to make Dakota have an accident with merely a glare, Shayna locked Dakota in the rear naked choke after the match until Nikki Cross came out and made the save. A lot of stuff happened between Baszler and Nikki which I’m not going to recap here,, but suffice it to say that it was an excellent example of Nikki Cross being used in a way that only this Nikki Cross character could possibly be used. It really is worth you watching for yourself. I LOVE the way she communicates so much without words. Her facial expressions and body language are amazing.
There is also a bit of a humorousness about the character that I think works very well in most situations, and a lot of that was also on display here with her body language (especially once she grabbed the belt). Her character is hard to pin down other than “crazy,” but she makes it work because of the way she can shift between her craziness (which, in her case is a kind of rabidity), and this almost simpleton-like persona that she has that we still know to be afraid of because it’s really a ruse and we know that rabid Nikki Cross is ready to strike… and yet despite us seeing through it she plays it so well that she seems certain that she’s fooling everyone, which just makes her scarier because you know she’ll be even more angry when she finds out she isn’t.
Anyway, while I like the humor that can come from the Nikki Cross character, I didn’t like the whole bit where she thought she won the title. First of all, when she handed the belt to Dakota Kai, my immediate reaction was to shout “put that down! You don’t even deserve to touch it!” at Dakota. Having Dakota participate in this actually made Dakota look even worse in my eyes. Does Dakota really think this is an appropriate form of revenge? To be a background player while someone else does something to Shayna? Her participation in this simultaneously made her look like Nikki Cross’ little stooge and like someone who had no respect for the title. I didn’t think it was possible for me to have a lower opinion of Dakota Kai than I did at the end of tonight’s match, but they found a way.
As for Nikki’s part… quite simply, I think this makes her look the wrong kind of crazy. The thing I loved about SAnitY was that all three core members (Killian Dain never really fit in personality-wise, in my opinion) were each a different type of crazy. Wolfe was detached from reality, EY was a deranged psychopath, and Cross, as I said before, was rabid. This, though… this was stupid crazy. This is the sort of thing that TNA Eric Young would do, or Alicia Fox, or Breezango. I like her stealing the belt… but that’s because stealing the belt is something Nikki Cross would do as a non-verbal way to express that she wants to be champion. In the scenario NXT gave us, Nikki doesn’t even see herself as “stealing” it at all because she thinks she’s the rightful champion.

A very mixed bag episode of NXT, but definitely one should watch for yourself. This week more than most, I am quite curious to see whether or not people agree with my takes.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by Bob-O » May 31st, '18, 10:25

Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 Candice got hurt when Johnny accidentally fell on her because Ciampa pushed him, and thus Regal has decided that this feud is “too dangerous” and thus both Ciampa and Gargano have been barred from the building tonight. OH COME ON.
She's a WRESTLER and the bump wasn't that bad. This Miss Elizabeth stuff doesn't work here.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 which is something I normally wouldn’t have a problem with, but these are two guys who I think work better the less they talk, so the generic-ness of their promos really rubbed that in.
I'll agree with Aleister. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but his angle with Velveteen was so character defining and the "man of few words" thing was awesome for him, but I'm wondering if that's not what they had in mind. You're right, he's not a bad promo at all, he surprised me with his work through the Andrade build and while I enjoyed it felt a little off because of how outgoing he was being.

Sullivan, and we've had this debate before, if anything needs to talk more. He's great on the mic! The issue here tonight is that there really wasn't much to talk about. My real concern for Lars is that the direction they're taking him has no ultimate upside. It works on NXT, but he NEEDS to talk and talk a lot, because he's really not THAT big. He's only 6'3" and he's flabby. The freak thing isn't going to get over on the main roster on size alone, but he does have the potential to develop this character into something on the mic.

This was quite the generic exchange, but as I said, there wasn't much to talk about as these two had zero history or conflict. Now they do, and it knowing how well these two work, we should have a pretty nice build to Takeover.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 So long as she doesn’t turn on Gargano or something monumentally stupid like that, I’ll be fine
I hadn't thought of that, but Candice turning is absolutely how Ciampa is going to win that match. Ciampa get's the win he needs, and the women's division gets the heel it needs. It also explains why all of Tomaso's tweets are aimed at Candice these days instead of Johnny, and why they'd be taking heel heat off of Bianca Belair... they are absolutely going to do something monumentally stupid like that.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 WAR RAIDERS vs. TWO JOBBERS- squash
One of the jobbers went by George Hixon and I spent the entire match trying to figure out who he was. He had a great look, but the logos on his trunks distracted me from this entire match (probably didn't help that we've been fed a hearty helping of War Raiders squashes). The logos looked professional and unique, as if he'd made money doing this someplace else, but even google couldn't help me out with this one.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 CATHY KELLEY INTERVIEWS LACEY EVANS- bad.
It worked for me from her. It fit her gimmick, that's how pin up girls talked. I think she's the only woman in the company right now with an actual defined over-the-top working gimmick (Kiri kind of?), so she's not going to be what we're used to. Give her some time to fine tune it, it's developmental after all. Not saying I loved it by any means, but it worked.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 FABIAN AICHNER vs. EC III- 2/10
During this match Johnny Gargano came out of the crowd, grabbed a mic, told the crowd he had a signed contract for a Street Fight against Ciampa at Takeover, slammed the contract down on the announcers’ table, then left. Ethan’s facial expression as Johnny walked by him was excellent.
Agreed, but I'm wondering what the point was. The babyface felt the need to interrupt a match with a live mic and announce the stipulation to a match we all knew was going to happen? When we have an hour of tv every week, and everything is typically happening for a reason, I'm wondering now where EC3 goes with this. Maybe he steals Johnny's girl...?
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 Then something happened that I’m not going to spoil for you other than to say it resulted in one of the most perfect stare-downs I’ve ever seen.
I rewound this several times, called my son into the room, rewound it once more, and he now has a new favorite wrestler.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 NXT WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Shayna Baszler(c) vs. Dakota Kai- DUD!
What did this match really do for Dakota?
Nothing. It's been brilliant. NOTHING Dakota has done the last few weeks has been for Dakota, she's been a sacrifice for the development of Baszler. She was perfect for the part, except we aren't going to get the happy ending where the victim gets one over on the bully, and that's ok. Kudos to the writers for making us believe that might have been going on, but it's not and never was. Dakota's been tagging with some other hot girl on house shows, and they have matching ring gear, so my best guess is that we're not going to see her again for a bit and she'll be reintroduced like this never happened.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 POST-MATCH SEGMENT- LOVED IT… and then HATED IT
Apparently unhappy with having lost her ability to make Dakota have an accident with merely a glare, Shayna locked Dakota in the rear naked choke after the match until Nikki Cross came out and made the save. A lot of stuff happened between Baszler and Nikki which I’m not going to recap here,, but suffice it to say that it was an excellent example of Nikki Cross being used in a way that only this Nikki Cross character could possibly be used. It really is worth you watching for yourself. I LOVE the way she communicates so much without words. Her facial expressions and body language are amazing.
There is also a bit of a humorousness about the character that I think works very well in most situations, and a lot of that was also on display here with her body language (especially once she grabbed the belt). Her character is hard to pin down other than “crazy,” but she makes it work because of the way she can shift between her craziness (which, in her case is a kind of rabidity), and this almost simpleton-like persona that she has that we still know to be afraid of because it’s really a ruse and we know that rabid Nikki Cross is ready to strike… and yet despite us seeing through it she plays it so well that she seems certain that she’s fooling everyone, which just makes her scarier because you know she’ll be even more angry when she finds out she isn’t.
Anyway, while I like the humor that can come from the Nikki Cross character, I didn’t like the whole bit where she thought she won the title. First of all, when she handed the belt to Dakota Kai, my immediate reaction was to shout “put that down! You don’t even deserve to touch it!” at Dakota. Having Dakota participate in this actually made Dakota look even worse in my eyes. Does Dakota really think this is an appropriate form of revenge? To be a background player while someone else does something to Shayna? Her participation in this simultaneously made her look like Nikki Cross’ little stooge and like someone who had no respect for the title. I didn’t think it was possible for me to have a lower opinion of Dakota Kai than I did at the end of tonight’s match, but they found a way.
As for Nikki’s part… quite simply, I think this makes her look the wrong kind of crazy. The thing I loved about SAnitY was that all three core members (Killian Dain never really fit in personality-wise, in my opinion) were each a different type of crazy. Wolfe was detached from reality, EY was a deranged psychopath, and Cross, as I said before, was rabid. This, though… this was stupid crazy. This is the sort of thing that TNA Eric Young would do, or Alicia Fox, or Breezango. I like her stealing the belt… but that’s because stealing the belt is something Nikki Cross would do as a non-verbal way to express that she wants to be champion. In the scenario NXT gave us, Nikki doesn’t even see herself as “stealing” it at all because she thinks she’s the rightful champion.
Agree 100%
This segment should have ended with Nikki laying the belt down and telling Shayna to 'come and get it'. The whole Nikki thinking she's champion thing, you're right, is "stupid" crazy and doesn't fit. If it were live I'd say everything after laying the belt down was improvised: "...just go out there and be crazy, steal the belt, hit your move, have fun - we trust ya..." with some coaching afterwards along the lines of "...that was great, but you went a little too far and now we have to fix it. Nice job, but don't be so 'stupid crazy' moving forward..."

But it wasn't live. It made the edit. Time that could have been given to EC3 to say "WTF!? Gargano?" Time that could have been given to Ricochet and Dijak. Time that could have been given to an Undisputed Era promo or the British Guys or TM61... NXT has a lot going on that DIDN'T make this show, and yet they kept the last 2 or 3 minutes of the awkward Nikki Cross stuff...
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Re: BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by KILLdozer » May 31st, '18, 10:42

They really seemed to be behind Dakota Kai...I legitimately thought she'd end up in a bigger role as I've said before.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by Big Red Machine » May 31st, '18, 11:13

Bob-O wrote: May 31st, '18, 10:25
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 WAR RAIDERS vs. TWO JOBBERS- squash
One of the jobbers went by George Hixon and I spent the entire match trying to figure out who he was. He had a great look, but the logos on his trunks distracted me from this entire match (probably didn't help that we've been fed a hearty helping of War Raiders squashes). The logos looked professional and unique, as if he'd made money doing this someplace else, but even google couldn't help me out with this one.
I actually don't think we have seen too much of them. I remember the run-in, one squash, and the win over Heavy Machinery. During this match I was actually thinking about how little we've seen of them compared to others who debuted around the same time (Ricochet, EC III), but even the perception of too many squash matches is troublesome (see; Ascension, The).
Bob-O wrote: May 31st, '18, 10:25
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 CATHY KELLEY INTERVIEWS LACEY EVANS- bad.
It worked for me from her. It fit her gimmick, that's how pin up girls talked. I think she's the only woman in the company right now with an actual defined over-the-top working gimmick (Kiri kind of?), so she's not going to be what we're used to. Give her some time to fine tune it, it's developmental after all. Not saying I loved it by any means, but it worked.
I like the character a lot, but the name is just soooooo lame. She should keep the pin-up look because that definitely seems to be how she sees herself, but trying to talk like a pin-up just doesn't work for me in 2018. If all she was was a pin-up girl then it would work, but she's also supposed to be a classy, traditionalist southern belle, a US marine, and, like, four other things.
Bob-O wrote: May 31st, '18, 10:25
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 FABIAN AICHNER vs. EC III- 2/10
During this match Johnny Gargano came out of the crowd, grabbed a mic, told the crowd he had a signed contract for a Street Fight against Ciampa at Takeover, slammed the contract down on the announcers’ table, then left. Ethan’s facial expression as Johnny walked by him was excellent.
Agreed, but I'm wondering what the point was. The babyface felt the need to interrupt a match with a live mic and announce the stipulation to a match we all knew was going to happen? When we have an hour of tv every week, and everything is typically happening for a reason, I'm wondering now where EC3 goes with this. Maybe he steals Johnny's girl...?
My thinking is as follows: Doing this the way they did allows the crowd to be informed of the Takover match, and serves to emphasize the idea that Gargano had been banned from the building but showed up anyway. I presume this second part will be used to have Johnny punished by being kept off TV next week while Ciampa is allowed back so Ciampa can cut a promo with no physical confrontation, either saving the confrontation for the go-home show, or with Ciampa doing something threatening to Candice so that he gets suspended for the go-home show and Johnny gets to cut his big go-home promo without confrontation, making you wait for the PPV to see them fight. As for why Johnny felt the need to interrupt a match, it's because he wanted to turn the contract in publicly to make a big deal out of it. And maybe he didn't know that NXT would promote the match without a the signed contacts in hand (which, when you think about it, they really shouldn't be doing).
As for Ethan... I don't think he goes anywhere from this. His role in Chicago will be to be in one of the pre-TakeOver TV taping matches. Ethan being the guy out here when Johnny turned the contract in was more just a "killing two bird with one stone" thing as they probably wanted to get Ethan a win, and figured that he'd probably have a great reaction to Johnny walking by him. I'm sure they'll do something with him after TakeOver, but for this month he is new enough that he is really fine just getting wins in semi-squashes.

Bob-O wrote: May 31st, '18, 10:25
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 01:39 NXT WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Shayna Baszler(c) vs. Dakota Kai- DUD!
What did this match really do for Dakota?
Nothing. It's been brilliant. NOTHING Dakota has done the last few weeks has been for Dakota, she's been a sacrifice for the development of Baszler. She was perfect for the part, except we aren't going to get the happy ending where the victim gets one over on the bully, and that's ok. Kudos to the writers for making us believe that might have been going on, but it's not and never was. Dakota's been tagging with some other hot girl on house shows, and they have matching ring gear, so my best guess is that we're not going to see her again for a bit and she'll be reintroduced like this never happened.
You might well be right about none of this having been done for Dakota's benefit, but either way, this has completely destroyed the character for me. They can bring her back under a mask or something, but "Dakota Kai" is irreparably damaged at this point.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by Bob-O » May 31st, '18, 12:18

Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 11:13 I actually don't think we have seen too much of them. I remember the run-in, one squash, and the win over Heavy Machinery. During this match I was actually thinking about how little we've seen of them compared to others who debuted around the same time (Ricochet, EC III), but even the perception of too many squash matches is troublesome (see; Ascension, The).
They haven't been over-exposed, but squashing is ALL we've seen them do! Even the stuff with Heavy Machinery that should have been competitive wound up short and squashy (It's funny you brought up The Ascension, because that's exactly who I was thinking of when I said Lars wouldn't make it on the main roster). You KNOW somebody is behind the scenes of NXT banging their head against a wall every week AOP aren't used.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 11:13 My thinking is as follows: Doing this the way they did allows the crowd to be informed of the Takover match, and serves to emphasize the idea that Gargano had been banned from the building but showed up anyway. I presume this second part will be used to have Johnny punished by being kept off TV next week while Ciampa is allowed back so Ciampa can cut a promo with no physical confrontation, either saving the confrontation for the go-home show, or with Ciampa doing something threatening to Candice so that he gets suspended for the go-home show and Johnny gets to cut his big go-home promo without confrontation, making you wait for the PPV to see them fight.
I really think they're going to make this a lot more about Candice than you want them to... I think it's for the best. Johnny being the perpetual underdog darling and Ciampa being white hot right now, nobody loses credibility this way. The underdog has a valid excuse, and they don't ruin Ciampa.
KILLdozer wrote: May 31st, '18, 10:42 They really seemed to be behind Dakota Kai...I legitimately thought she'd end up in a bigger role as I've said before.
They did a nice job! But through and through, with the chicken shit thing she had with Baszler, the only way I could see it working was if she grabbed a win with a schoolboy or a small package, and that didn't seem like the right thing to do... it all dawned on me with tonight's aftermath how disposable Dakota really was. Nobody was really ever behind her (which they faked brilliantly), and nobody is going to miss her. Unless she personally offended you with her lack of confidence (...*cough*brm*cough*...) nobody will remember her in a few weeks when Nikki/Baszler is in full swing. They made a fake star! I'm honestly impressed by it!
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Re: BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by Big Red Machine » May 31st, '18, 14:42

Bob-O wrote: May 31st, '18, 12:18
I think it's for the best. Johnny being the perpetual underdog darling and Ciampa being white hot right now, nobody loses credibility this way. The underdog has a valid excuse, and they don't ruin Ciampa.
When you frame it this way you actually make a pretty compelling case for it, but I think Johnny ultimately needs to win in the end. The way to do this and have him not win would have been to have him either lose at Mania or just not do the Mania match and move him up to 205 Live. At this point, though... if Ciampa turns on Johnny, then keeps injuring him, temporarily costs him his career and then steals his wife... Johnny has to win in the end.
Also, I don't know how familiar you are with Candice's work, but her greatest strength is her babyface selling (and she is one of the best in the world at doing so in the American style). She's on my very short list of people that there is no reason to ever turn (and I realize the last person I said this about was Alexa Bliss!, who has turned out to be BY FAR the best female heel WWE has, and one of the best of any gender, but the difference is that while Alexa Bliss! the character came off as the most likeable person ever, we didn't actually know anything about Lexi Kaufman, thus a desire to boo her could be created by turning the character. In Candice's case, Candice LeRae the person comes off like the nicest person ever and thus booing the character is going to be an uphill battle... although if there is anything that could do it, it would be leaving Gargano fro Ciampa right now)
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Re: BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by XIV » Jun 2nd, '18, 00:39

I will never forget TVD’s face after that. Everything about that 10 seconds was perfect.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by KILLdozer » Jun 2nd, '18, 10:22

Bob-O wrote: May 31st, '18, 12:18
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 11:13 I actually don't think we have seen too much of them. I remember the run-in, one squash, and the win over Heavy Machinery. During this match I was actually thinking about how little we've seen of them compared to others who debuted around the same time (Ricochet, EC III), but even the perception of too many squash matches is troublesome (see; Ascension, The).
They haven't been over-exposed, but squashing is ALL we've seen them do! Even the stuff with Heavy Machinery that should have been competitive wound up short and squashy (It's funny you brought up The Ascension, because that's exactly who I was thinking of when I said Lars wouldn't make it on the main roster). You KNOW somebody is behind the scenes of NXT banging their head against a wall every week AOP aren't used.
Big Red Machine wrote: May 31st, '18, 11:13 My thinking is as follows: Doing this the way they did allows the crowd to be informed of the Takover match, and serves to emphasize the idea that Gargano had been banned from the building but showed up anyway. I presume this second part will be used to have Johnny punished by being kept off TV next week while Ciampa is allowed back so Ciampa can cut a promo with no physical confrontation, either saving the confrontation for the go-home show, or with Ciampa doing something threatening to Candice so that he gets suspended for the go-home show and Johnny gets to cut his big go-home promo without confrontation, making you wait for the PPV to see them fight.
I really think they're going to make this a lot more about Candice than you want them to... I think it's for the best. Johnny being the perpetual underdog darling and Ciampa being white hot right now, nobody loses credibility this way. The underdog has a valid excuse, and they don't ruin Ciampa.
KILLdozer wrote: May 31st, '18, 10:42 They really seemed to be behind Dakota Kai...I legitimately thought she'd end up in a bigger role as I've said before.
They did a nice job! But through and through, with the chicken shit thing she had with Baszler, the only way I could see it working was if she grabbed a win with a schoolboy or a small package, and that didn't seem like the right thing to do... it all dawned on me with tonight's aftermath how disposable Dakota really was. Nobody was really ever behind her (which they faked brilliantly), and nobody is going to miss her. Unless she personally offended you with her lack of confidence (...*cough*brm*cough*...) nobody will remember her in a few weeks when Nikki/Baszler is in full swing. They made a fake star! I'm honestly impressed by it!
That one post....ok lmao-Ciampa acts like he's Lashley or Strowman, but could probably be on 205 live lol.
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Bob-O
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Re: BRM Reviews the 5/30/2018 NXT (interesting)

Post by Bob-O » Jun 2nd, '18, 21:31

KILLdozer wrote: Jun 2nd, '18, 10:22 That one post....ok lmao-Ciampa acts like he's Lashley or Strowman, but could probably be on 205 live lol.
Fair enough, but when Candice could probably be on 95 Live I think it works.
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