On the Marc Reviews: WWE NXT 9/19/12

Commentators: Byron Saxon & William Regal

Championship’s roll call: WWE Champion: CM Punk… World Champion: Sheamus… Intercontinental Champion: The Miz… United States Champion: Antonio Cesaro… Tag Team Champions: Kane & Daniel Bryan… NXT Champion: Seth Rollins… Diva’s Champion: Eve Torres

Trent Barreta vs. Johnny Curtis:   Barreta had a torn triceps muscle and no one noticed (William Regal). Fans give him a nice “welcome back” chant. Barreta, who looks like he designed his tights in WWE ’12, takes Curtis down with a drop-toehold. Curtis takes him down with a knee but Barreta chops back; he fires Curtis off the ropes but eats a shoulderblock. He runs the ropes but Trent leapfrogs him; Curtis cartwheels over a Barreta dropdown and hotdogs for the crowd. Barreta dropkicks him. Trent chops in the corner and heads to the top; Curtis pushes him off the top and Trent takes a wicked bump off the ropes, which was probably why he was out for six months, taking bumps like that. Curtis takes over on the left arm, the one that kept him on the shelf for six months. Curtis applies a top wristlock and whips him into a short fireman’s takedown. Curtis sets him up on the ropes and Barreta counters into a sunset flip bomb for two. Barreta chops back and hits an enziguri; he hits a lunging elbow in the corner and follows up with a Whisper in the Wind. Barreta sells the armwork and therefore cannot capitalize and only gets two. He looks for the Dudebuster DDT but Curtis blocks and hits a release Northern Lights. Barreta bounces off the ropes backwards and lands on the back of his head. Curtis gets a pair of nearfalls. Johnny to the top but misses the Off-ramp. He hits the Gobstopper knee and… gets three! 5.5/10 Holy shit Trent Barreta won a match! Not bad, welcome back Trent. He should shine here on NXT as he is a smaller guy with oodles of talent (from what I’ve seen of him).

Here is your winner… Trent Barreta @ about 8:15 via Gobstopper pinfall.

Alicia Fox vs. Paige:   Alicia is already in the ring. They lock up and takes Paige down with a double-arm takedown. Paige takes her down as well. They battle over a waistlocks and Paige gets a pair of two counts off a reverse rollup and a backslide. She gets a few more off an inside cradle and Majestral cradle. Alicia retreats to the ropes and SLAPS Paige; they take turns tossing the other off the ropes and Fox winds up with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (nearfall). Alicia tosses her into the buckles and snapmares her into a nearfall. Paige tries to slam Alicia but her back is hurt from the breaker and Alicia takes over with a Northern Light suplex. Fox applies a chinlock. She keeps on top and acts like a heel (I guess she’s a heel this week); she slaps on a double armlock. Paige flips free and nips up; she is full of Paige Rage and hits some clotheslines. Alicia takes her down and tries a choke lift but Paige cradles her and rolls through into the RamPaige (cradle DDT) for three. 4/10 Pretty good for a divas match; Paige is rather talented and that finisher is pretty deadly looking.

Here is your winner… Paige @ about 6:40 via RamPaige pinfall.

Jimmy Uso (w/Jey Uso) vs. Conor O’Brian (w/Kenneth Cameron):   The battle of the crazy entrances continues. I like the way this tag rivalry has built up thus far. They lock up and Jimmy gets some chops; he floors O’Brian and hits a running head-butt. Jimmy clotheslines Conor to the floor. Jimmy tries a baseball slide but O’Brian blocks it, spins him around, and drops him off the apron, face first. O’Brian rams him off the apron several times and tosses him back into the ring with a chinlock. He drops an elbow and gets a nearfall; he gets rolling headlock takeovers. He goes to a unique reverse headlock. Uso begins to fire up and hits clotheslines, savate kick, and Samoan drop; he hits the Samoan Avalanche. Jimmy to the top but Cameron hops up on the apron so Jey Uso takes him out. The referee deals with Jey and Cameron recovers and crotches Jimmy. O’Brian levels him with a running dropkick and gets the pinfall. Post-match, Ascension decimate Jey who was tending to his brother. They hit Total Elimination on him. 5/10 The Ascension get their win back in a pretty good match. They also send a message to the Usos with the post-match beating.

Here is your winner… Connor O’Brian @ about 6:05 via running dropkick pinfall.

Bo Dallas is about to be interviewed but Michael McGillicutty shows up and mugs in on the promo time, completely disregarding Dallas. A huge pull apart brawl occurs.

Oliver Grey vs. Kassius Ohno sparring session:   Ohno takes him down and stomps the crap out of him. Byron Saxon wonders what the difference between a sparring session and a wrestling match is since they are exactly the same. Grey fires back with some European uppercuts. Ohno puts him back down with a big boot and applies a cravat and Grey taps out. Post-match, Ohno asks for a mic. He says that Grey was not ready so he’ll give him another shot… the bell rings and Ohno knocks him out with the roaring elbow and reapplies the cravat and poor Grey submits again. Richie Steamboat makes the save. 2.5/10 Not quite sure what that was for except to put Ohno’s submission skills over… I guess that is what it was for, it also continues the Steamboat/Kassius rivalry.

Here is your winner… Kassius Ohno @ about 3:15 via cravat submission.

We get a weird promo from Leo Kruger in darkness where we get just close-ups of just his face and he talks about his “friends” in his weird South African accent. Ta ta! I like Kruger’s deranged big game hunter persona.

Seth Rollins vs. Rick Victor:   We get Hall of Famer, Jim Ross, commentating for the main event. Victor wanted a match with Rollins so he SLAPPED him. This is Rollins’ first match since becoming champion. Rollins goes after Victor at the bell but he hides in the ropes. Victor tries a go-behind and roughs Rollins up and then retreats to the ropes again, frustrating him. Rick taunts him in the ropes to anger the champ more. Victor takes him over with a side headlock and then holds it on; Rollins tries to fire him off but he tenaciously holds on. Rollins tries a back suplex to free himself but Victor maintains his post. Rollins eventually rolls through and tosses Victor into the ropes and tries a roundhouse kick but Victor slips through the ropes to the floor. He POINTS TO HIS HEAD as Rollins readies for a topé; Victor sees it coming and Euro uppercuts him midway through the ropes. He tosses overhead with a chief suplex for two. Victor bites his wrist guards as we head to break. We return with Rollins trapped in a double chinlock. Listening to William Regal explain the mundane aspects of a chinlock is fantastic. Seth tries a comeback but Victor hits a leaping knee for a nearfall. He gets another bite but then gets a charge countered with knees; Victor continues to pound away until Rollins fires up and no-sells the punches. Victor slaps Rollins again and Seth beats the crap out of him. He hits a splash in the corner and one-footed dropkick. Rollins hits the Blackout for three. 6/10 Entertaining main event; Victor looked good in the loss and Rollins gets the win. Victor looked like he belonged in the ring with Rollins as well. He sold the Blackout better than everyone else on the NXT roster thus far as well.

Here is your winner… Seth Rollins @ about 11:10 (broadcast) via Blackout pinfall.

OVERALL 6/10 This is not as good as the usual from NXT but still good stuff. I enjoy this show week after week and am continually entertained by it. It’s fun to see people you usually do not see on television or that are in the main event of Raw every week. Not that I don’t enjoy main eventers but I also like to see the young and up-and-comers as well, and there is (apparently) no room for them on Raw (or SmackDown).

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