411’s WWE NXT Report 11.28.12

From Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida

Commentators: Tom Phillips & 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

Daniel Bryan opens the show saying that he has returned to the show that started it all for him, NXT. He touts his accomplishments, including the beard growth and has a few demands: no one say “yes” on his way to the ring, no one call him “goat face,” and Kane stay out of his way. Kane says he’s the tag team champions and to stay out of his way. They get into a “no/yes” fight. Bryan gets a HUGE “no” in to which Kane completely no-sells it with a “yes.”

Trent Barreta vs. Leo Kruger:   Kruger rules; his entrance has gotten much better as well, the entire arena and video wall is dark save of a HUGE close up of Kruger’s psycho face. Barreta has the ribs tapes and attacks with a European uppercut and chops; Kruger counters and charges right into a clothesline. Trent hits a double chop and heads to the top; Leo trips him up and he lands ribs first onto the top turnbuckle. The hunter heads to the injury for the kill; Kruger rips the tape away and hits a backbreaker. Tom Phillips rightly points out how little the tape really helped in the first place. Kruger pounds away and applies an abdominal stretch, which makes sense in context with the psychology. He rocks back and forth in the hold, cackling, which is a nice touch character-wise also makes a normally benign wear down hold much more fun. Kruger keeps up with a boot to the ribs; more abdominal stretching follows (with elbows and forearms to the ribs). He grabs the hair predicating a ref break; he suplexes Barreta onto the top rope and hits a Ho Train in the corner. Kruger tries to come off the second rope but lands right into a dropkick. Both men down. Barreta scoots over to a nearfall. They both get up and Barreta’s comeback is cutoff by a knee to the ribs. Trent gets a knee in the corner and hits a leaping elbow in the corner; Kruger lets the air out of the balloon with a flapjack and immediately hits Kruger’s End for three. 6/10 Good match with excellent psychology; Barreta lost but the injury is his excuse. Entertaining as Kruger’s deranged poacher gimmick is getting over… at least with me.

Here is your winner… Leo Kruger @ about 8:45 via Kruger’s End pinfall.

Xavier Woods vs. Memo Montenegro:   They lock up and Woods gets a side headlock and keeps Memo down; Montenegro hits a shoulderblock but Xavier hits a reverse elbow off the ropes and lassos him back into a chinlock. The chinlock lasts a while and Woods keeps it up wrenching back at it. Memo tries to fight back but Xavier hits a dropkick. Woods finishes rather quickly with a rolling thunder clothesline for the pinfall. Post-match, Woods gets down with his funky self. 2/10 A nothing match that was too short to gauge anything about Xavier in the WWE. Squash that gets Woods a win but showcases nothing other than he likes to dance.

Here is your winner… Xavier Woods @ about 3:10 via rolling thunder clothesline pinfall.

Emma vs. Audrey Marie:   Marie is from Texas so she is portraying a cowgirl character; I have no idea who Emma is except that she is from Australia. She is “in the ring to my left” so that shows you how well she is going to fare here. They lock up and Marie woks a headlock and a dropkick; Emma tries a backslide but it’s blocked and Marie gets a body scissors. This goes on for a while until Audrey realizes this is boring so she goes for the H-Town Roll for a few nearfalls. Emma grabs her hair and tries a jackknife rollup but Marie bridges up and tries a backslide. Marie hits a crossbody for two. Emma tries a backslide to no avail and Marie hits the Final Roundup Slam (looks like a Gunslinger) for three. 1.5/10 Boring match that looked totally disjointed; Audrey is pretty cute and the cowgirl gimmick could work as there aren’t any currently in the WWE.

Here is your winner… Audrey Marie @ about 4:00 via Final Roundup Slam pinfall.

In the back Tony Dawson is supposed to be with Roman Reigns but has a press release; he is off with his agent, or working on endorsements, or invading Survivor Series, or something. He will participate in the interview at another time.

Michael Cole (complete with own entrance) comes out to interview Seth Rollins and Jinder Mahal regarding their NXT title match (in two weeks). Mahal (still in maharaja gimmick) hits the ring first. Rollins (pre-Shield) comes out second. Cole starts off with Rollins about a sneak attack; Mahal interrupts and calls it “a message.” Rollins retorts with “you can’t beat me.” Mahal feels that Rollins’ title reign is a fluke; he calls him a born loser and it’s his birthright to be champion. Jinder says in two weeks he will HUMBLE Rollins in the ring. Interesting choice of words considering his finisher. Rollins says he is just like the people in the crowd and “we are one blood and one spirit.” He detests Mahal because he thinks the world owes him; he tells him that he does not have the heart. They strip to their ring gear and almost come to blows. Cole calms things down and asks Mahal a tough question: can he really beat him since he already lost to Rollins. Mahal goes on a bilingual diatribe on the American media and gets in Cole’s face about it. Rollins comes to his aid and then they get into a scuffle. Mahal sneaks in a cheapshot and HUMBLES Rollins in a Camel Clutch. Mahal celebrates with the NXT Championship, leaving Rollins lying. 5.5/10 The old school face-to-face promo sells the title match (in two weeks); Mahal is pretty good on the mic. For some reason, the WWE feels that Rollins needs more work on his mic skills. I don’t think it’s that bad, actually; everyone could get better at everything they do.

WWE Tag Team Championship Team Hell No vs. Michael McGillicutty & Johnny Curtis:   Curtis has shifted to long paints and gyrates about the ringside area like a Chippendale’s dancer this is his Fandango ring gear here but still using Johnny Curtis as his name. Apparently, this is Curtis’ title match that he got for winning Season four of NXT. The tag champs argue over who is indeed the tag champions. Bryan starts with McGillicutty; they link up and McGillicutty gets an armdrag. Bryan comes back with his own and the DOES NOT tag Kane. McGillicutty and Curtis exchange and the latter charges right into a drop-toehold onto his face. Curtis forces Bryan back into the wrong side of town and Kane tags himself in. He promptly destroys Fandango and fakes Bryan out on a tag; this tit-for-tat allows the challengers to exchange again (while their opponents had the distinct advantage) and McGillicutty returns. He gets a few little moves in before leaping off the second rope right into an uppercut. He clotheslines McGillicutty to the floor and Bryan tags himself back in. They argue for a while and Curtis tries to get the jump on Kane but eats an uppercut; meanwhile, Bryan lunges off the apron with a high knee. Back in the ring, he’s the tag champions but misses a roundhouse kick; McGillicutty sidesteps him to the floor. Curtis tries a move off the apron but misses; Michael scores with a dropkick as he is reentering though. He tumbles back to the floor and McGillicutty gets two. He mauls his goat face with punches and crossfaces. They hit a tandem whip into a Manhattan drop/elbow to the back of the head combo and Curtis gets two. He applies a double armlock. Bryan battles out and looks to twist into a backslide but Curtis is a tango dancer now… and kicks Bryan in the gut to break. McGillicutty tags and hits a nice standing dropkick. Curtis tags back in and hammer-tosses Bryan into the corner for a nearfall; back to the seated reverse chinlock for Curtis. Bryan tries to club free but Curtis maintains the advantage until they both collide in a double crossbody block. Kane gets the hot tag and runs through McGillicutty with corner clotheslines and a sideslam. He mounts the buckle and hits a diving clothesline. He signals for the goozle but Bryan tags himself in. They argue briefly until McGillicutty nails him from behind and Kane collides with Bryan. They trade rollups and McGillicutty and Bryan get caught in a double goozle. Kane’s crisis of conscious over who to chokeslam is funny. Curtis breaks up the party and Kane chokeslams him as Bryan applies the No Lock to McGillicutty for the submission. Post-match, they argue. 5/10 Fun match that was nothing more than a Team Hell No squash. Not bad as they are so funny in and out of the ring. I guess this is the end of Johnny Curtis as he is headed to the WWE as “Fandango” now.

Here are your winners… Team Hell No @ about 10:00 via No Lock submission.

OVERALL 4.5/10 Probably one of the worst NXT shows merely highlighted by a promo segment, a Leo Kruger sighting and a mediocre tag title match to close. I’m sure better days are ahead for NXT.

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