411’s WWE NXT Report 11.21.12

From Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida

Commentators: Tony Luftman & Jim Ross

Championship’s roll call: WWE Champion: CM Punk… World Champion: Big Show… Intercontinental Champion: Kofi Kingston… United States Champion: Antonio Cesaro… Tag Team Champions: Team Hell No… NXT Champion: Seth Rollins… Diva’s Champion: Eve Torres

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May the Gobbledy Gooker dance in the ring with you all night.

In the back hipster Kassius Ohno discusses the main event rubber match between him and Trent Barreta. Ohno is going to give Barreta the old Richie Steamboat treatment and end his career. He has a premonition that Trent will feel pain and never be the same again. This Ohno character will get over, he’s more Hero than Kassius, in the back he’s a hipster in the ring he’s a killer.

Alicia Fox vs. Paige:   Again not sure who the WWE wants as the babyface and heel here. Fox bounces around like a babyface and Paige is all stoic. Fans chant for Paige. Fox wrests her down and then they battle against the ropes. Paige punches back and hits a Japanese armdrag and dropkick. A monkey flip out of the corner follows but Fox lands on her feet and Paige smiles at her. Alicia works a waistlock and then slams her; she drops the leg, brother, and tosses her into the corner a few times. The Northern Lights Suplex nets two. She stretches the “anti-diva” with the Hangover, a unique submission move, where Alicia is on her back and stretches Paige in a bridge-like position with her feet pressed firmly in the small of Paige’s back. Alicia breaks the hold and roughs her up with face slams in the mat. Paige sneaks in an inside cradle as Fox morphs heel, and tosses her by the hair. Paige comes back with a tilt-a-whirl slam and snap-suplex. Alicia counters a corner charge with a rolling sunset, for two. She blocks a kick and hits the Paige Turner (short Olympic Slam) and gets the three. 4.5/10 Paige continues to impress and get over on NXT, not sure what will happen if/when she is promoted up to the WWE and gets lost in the shuffle of Barbie dolls, though.

Here is your winner… Paige @ about 5:40 via Paige Turner pinfall.

Big E Langston vs. Camacho:   This was predicated by last week’s attack from Camacho looking to collect Vickie Guerrero’s $5,000 bounty. Camacho tries to attack but gets both arms trapped so he tries to utilize the Snowman Head-butts but Langston shrugs them off. He then tries to hiplock the big guy but is power blocked. Camacho punches a little and tries a front facelock but Langston powers him into the corner. Langston with rapid fire shoulderblocks in the corner as Jim Ross notes the purpose of the bounty is to put someone out of wrestling, not to win a match. Camacho catches the overaggressive Langston with boots in the corner and then pounds away in the center of the ring. He makes the mistake of SLAPPING Big E which just serves to piss him off. He nails a Vader Splash and plants him with the Big Ending to complete the squash. Post-match, Big E is not happy the referee did not count to five for him. He nails another Big Ending and counts his own five. He goes to leave but the fans inspire him to nail yet another Big Ending for five more. 3/10 Big time squash for Langston; I’m surprised that Camacho did not offer much of a fight at all since he is an (somewhat) established WWE wrestler. The Ryback of NXT continues to roll and get more over but the questions is: is “five” is more fun to chant than “feed me more”?

Here is your winner… Big E Langston @ about 5:15 via Big Ending pinfall.

In the back there is commotion as Trent Barreta was laid out by someone. The referees tend to him as the camera pans out to reveal Leo Kruger smiling behind a wall after his big game hunt has reached its conclusion. After commercial, Trent is not cleared to wrestle in the main event, yet.

Nick Rogers vs. Bronson:   Bronson backs the jobber into the corner and pounds away with clotheslines. The WWE is going the MMA route with Bronson as he works the leg over and continues to sledge Rogers down. He applies a chinlock with crossfaces. Leg stomping continues as Bronson continues to work the knee. He whirls Rogers over with an STO and then into a heel hook for the tapout. 2/10 Squash for the destructive Bronson Vachon, well he’s not really a Vachon, he just looks like one.

Here is your winner… Bronson @ about 0:55 via heel hook submission.

Here comes Bray Wyatt for his awesome Cape Fear rants. Tonight he gives us all purpose. He calls the opponent for Luke Harper, a little lamb. He plants himself in a ROCKING CHAIR on the stage to watch the destruction.

Mike Dalton vs. Luke Harper (w/Bray Wyatt):   He beats the Dalton down in the corner and chokes him out. Wyatt looks on rocking away as Harper rakes Dalton’s face a few times; he works a neck crank and then chokes in the ropes. A face raking chinlock by Harper as he smiles at his mentor; a corner reverse elbow lands twice. He hits a clothesline as he goes back to stare at Wyatt. Dalton tries to get some O in with a tornado DDT but Harper just tosses him off. The Truck Stop follows to complete the squash. Post-match, Wyatt continues his surmount as he declares to be the eater of war, he will decide when to start hurting people, and when he does no one will be left standing. 4/10 The match was just a squash but the characters that they play will fuel these two forward. It’s hard to decipher what Wyatt is saying sometimes but the message gets across.

Here is your winner… Luke Harper @ about 2:25 via Truck Stop pinfall.

Earlier today, Tom Phillips talks to Seth Rollins when he gets blindsided by Jinder Mahal and attacked. After that the Raw Rebound is shown and ironically, Seth Rollins is there helping Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns destroy Ryback for CM Punk. For my full review of Raw click here.

Kassius Ohno comes out to talk about Trent Barreta, his opponent. Where’s Trent? He was attacked by Leo Kruger attacked him. Ohno tells the referee to ring the bell and count Barreta out. The NXT Commissioner Dusty Rhodes comes out to interrupt. He feels that Ohno orchestrated the attack and rebooks the match against Richie Steamboat.

Richie Steamboat vs. Kassius Ohno:   This was supposed to be Trent Barreta and Ohno in the rubber match, but he was attacked by Leo Kruger earlier. Steamer is looking for revenge. He treats the match as a blood feud going with the takedown with knuckles instead of armdragging the man who tries to terminate your career. He punches and chops in the corner as Ohno is all off-kilter at the bell. Kassius retreats to the ropes but the overaggressive Steamboat pulls him free. Ohno manages a whip but gets hit with a crossbody. Jim Ross, as always, mentions the HUGE shadow that Richie needs to distance himself from to establish himself in the WWE. He works a double trapezius chop for a nearfall. Steamboat tries to pound away in the corner but Ohno escapes; Steamboat comes back with chops. Richie clotheslines him to the floor but Ohno rips a page out of Riche’s daddy’s book, skinning-the-cat back inside. Steamboat is nonplused and clotheslines him back out, Royal Rumble style. He heads upstairs and launches himself into a crossbody onto the floor. After the commercial break, Steamer has Kassius in a reverse chinlock. He adjusts it to an armtrap chinlock to work the roaring elbow arm. Ohno makes the ropes and rolls onto the apron but Richie is still full of fire and goes out after him looking for a catapult maneuver. Kassius kicks him backwards into the ringpost to extinguish the flames a little. Back in the ring, Ohno hits a low dropkick. He works some strikes into the offense along with some wrestling moves, like the cravat. These are moves he needs to highlight more for his eventual ascension to the WWE to differentiated himself from Wade Barrett who already had the KO gimmick (as does Big Show actually, but it’s a bit different with him). Ohno kicks Steamboat’s back into the buckles again to keep the work on the back going. Steamboat tries a mini comeback but the turnbuckle becomes his nemesis again. Kassius gets a nearfall and a back suplex follows. Kassius continue to control with chops and chinlocks. He tries a backdrop but gets sunset for two. Steamboat then counters a slam with a weight shifting crossbody. Ohno comes right back with a vicious looking cravat suplex for two. Nice move looked painful, and devastating. He tries a charge in the corner but Steamboat is “lying in the weeds” (quoth JR) with a forearm; he fires back with punches and a backdrop. He hits some Islander double chops and gets backdropped onto the apron. Steamboat tries a top-rope double axe but Ohno uses the Brodus Clay head-butt counter. Kassius hits a running elbow in the corner (the move he was trying earlier) but Steamboat sneaks in a schoolboy counter for a one count. Ohno looks for the roaring elbow but Steamboat sidesteps it and nails the Slingblade all in one smooth motion for the pinfall. 7.5/10 Excellent main event as Steamboat got his revenge and Ohno can use the “I wasn’t ready for Richie” excuse for the loss. Their feud continues and now involves Barreta and (possibly) Leo Kruger. Good match that was more Hero and less Ohno. I’ve mentioned this before, the longer the match, the better for Ohno as he gets to showcase his skills and not look like the aforementioned “poor man’s Wade Barrett.” When he works squashes he’s boring, when he is able to work a longer match where he is able to showcase his full moveset (not just a KO specialist) and his aptitude for ring psychology and pacing, he’s MUCH more entertaining. Some people are better at thirty second squashes; Sid comes to mind, others are better in longer matches, like Bret Hart. Ohno fits in with the latter.

Here is your winner… Richie Steamboat @ about 9:45 (broadcast) via Slingblade pinfall.

OVERALL 6.5/10 Overall, another good show. I like the idea of all of the wrestlers feuding with each other and intermingling storylines. The Barreta/Ohno/Kruger/Steamboat feuds all can intertwine in tag matches and various singles matches and keep the fans entertained. The rest of the show is the continuing build of new wrestlers moving up into the show. Good hour of wrestling.

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