411’s WWE NXT Report 01.09.13

From Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida

Commentators: Tom Phillips & William Regal

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

The end of the show last week where The Shield beat up half the NXT locker room before Big E Langston scared them from the ring and got his first title match, is shown.

Yoshi Tatsu & Percy Watson vs. The Wyatt Family (w/Bray Wyatt):   Pre-match, Bray Wyatt says he once bit the head off a snake just to taste the poison. Eric Rowan drags the rocking chair for Bray to sit on. These two look like the demented Highlanders. Harper and Tatsu opens and he immediately gets powered into the Wyatt corner and mauled there. Rowan tags in and drops the knee. Tatsu tags out and Watson hits the ropes and plows into Rowan with a clothesline. He hits a European uppercut and a high-angle dropkick but it merely stumbles the big guy. He stupidly goes after Harper on the apron and promptly gets back-jumped by Rowan. He drives the knee into Percy’s throat and mauls him. “Mauls” is the only word to describe how these two works over an opponent. Harper tags and applies a chinlock while Wyatt rocks in his chair. Rowan tags in and Harper tosses him into a bodyslam; Rowan applies a neck crank. Harper tags in with more clubbing followed by a front facelock. Watson makes a mini comeback with a jawjacker and another dropkick. Tatsu tags and even the NXT crowd knows that it’s futile to even try to rally behind him; Yoshi hits some chops and a basement dropkick to the knee to stumble Harper. He nails a Shining Wizard to Rowan runs in to break up the pinfall. Percy runs in and manages to best Rowan sending him to the floor but turns right into a BIG boot from Harper. Yoshi recovers and kicks Harper’s head off with a roundhouse kick. He heads up top for that super pinwheel kick that always misses and… it misses. Harper splashes him in the corner and kills him with a spinaround clothesline for the pinfall. Post-match, the family approaches their father who gets up and walks off. 3/10 Total squash for the Wyatts; it was not pretty to watch but that’s the characters these two are. It’s almost like watching two Walkers wrestle two humans from The Walking Dead… except for the eating part. I like the Family and they should be interesting to watch; NXT needs a few tag teams especially considering one of the better ones has just recently been disbanded.

Here are your winners… The Wyatt Family via spinaround clothesline pinfall.

Paige vs. Emma:   Emma does this silly dance on her way to the ring that reminds me of the little dance that Bastion Booger used to do. Paige grabs Emma by the hair at the bell and launches her across the ring. She keeps throwing her around and kicks her. Emma comes back with a running dropkick for two. Paige sells the knee so Emma, the first diva from Australia, works it over with stomps and a leg DDT. She does that little dance again; we’re talking Elaine Dance level here, and then entraps the leg in the ropes and pull on it. She gets a leglace takedown and applies a single-leg Boston Crab; William Regal namedrops Lance Storm since that was one of his finishers, he’s Regal’s former tag partner, and he trained Emma. Paige fires back with a kick to the gut and the Paige Turner to abruptly end the match. 4/10 Paige is REALLY over with this crowd; she has an “it factor” that people latch onto. Perhaps it is because she does not look like a blonde Barbie doll and is a different option for fans in the divas division. She’s not a bad wrestler either but unfortunately, in today’s WWE that means jack and shit.

Here is your winner… Paige via Paige Turner pinfall.

Bo Dallas & Michael McGillicutty vs. Primo & Epico:   LOTS of wrestling family history here; McGillicutty is better served as a babyface, at least at this stage of his career. Primo and McGillicutty start the match and he applies a side headlock; he reverses into a drop-toehold and paintbrushes the back of his head. The trade headlock until McGillicutty rides Primo down into a front facelock. He switches back to a standing side headlock and Primo tries to fire him off but gets WRENCHED back down. He tries again and is much more successful on the second attempt. McGillicutty counters and hits a chop so he tags in Epico; McGillicutty snags him in a side headlock as well. He frees himself but eats another chop so he tags Primo right back in who then charges right into a headlock takeover. One of my biggest gripes with McGillicutty, who I want to rally behind since Mr. Perfect is in my Top 5 favorites of all time (along with Bret Hart, CM Punk, Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage); one of my biggest gripes with him is his overreliance on chinlocks, but as a babyface, I don’t seem to mind them for some inexplicable reason. He holds the lock for a while until Primo fires him off but gets caught with a whiplash crossbody and back to the chinlock. Primo heels his way back but gets caught in a hiplock and McGillicutty goes right back to the chinlock. He finally backs McGillicutty back into the Colón corner where Epico is waiting and tags in; he tosses Michael off the ropes but he avoids a clothesline, runs over him (in the avoidance sense), and clobbers him with a running dropkick. He reapplies the headlock as we head to break. We return with Bo Dallas finally in the ring and is getting a nearfall. Dallas applies, guess what… another chinlock! I just went over how it is not angering me as much with McGillicutty as a face but it’s been predominantly their ENTIRE offense here. Epico, who is probably bored watching this as well, counters but gets his dropkick swatted away. Here’s my issue with Dallas: he is about 220 pounds but uses moved that bigmen use for example, swatting a dropkick is a move a bigger man uses to a smaller jobber. His finisher, the spear, is another move a larger wrestler uses, and with Dallas it’s not believable looking. Anyway, Dallas hits an atomic drop and pounds away in the corner; Primo provides the distraction from the apron allowing Epico to trip him up. He pounds on his back and knocks him down and hits the Guerrero double boots to the eyes. Primo chokes him in the corner and hits a splash in the ropes and then reenters via Hilo. Epico tags in and they hit a tandem whip into a dropkick, for two. Epico with a nice snap-suplex, for two, and hits the chinlock. A lot of chinlocks in this match; Bo counters with a jawjacker but makes the mistake of trying to lunge OVER Epico for the tag but gets caught. Primo tags back in and they hit a unique Russian leg sweep/sweep kick combo followed by a Primo legdrop, brother. He attempts to humble Bo in a Camel Clutch but quickly releases and brings Epico back in. A few tags later, the Colóns miscommunicate on a whip into a dropkick where it’s reversed and Primo accidentally dropkicks Epico allowing a hot tag to McGillicutty. If he runs in there and chinlocks someone, I’m going to go crazy. Thankfully he doesn’t and hits punches, a lariat and a Saito suplex. A running seated forearm brings Epico into the ring to break up a potential loss. Epico takes out Dallas before he can even get involved so McGillicutty clotheslines him to the floor and the match ends the way that all Colón victories go: Primo sneaks up with a Backstabber for the pinfall. 4/10 Wow, Primo and Epico won a match! Epico sells it as such with a “holy shit, we won?” look on his face. I want to rate this higher but I, in all good conscious, can’t do it with the significant chinlockery dominating 90% of the match.

Here are your winners… Primo & Epico via Backstabber pinfall.

NXT Heavyweight Championship Seth Rollins vs. Big E Langston no DQ:   Rollins still does not have any entrance music because I do not think, at the time of this taping; The Shield had not debuted in an official match yet. That also explains why Big E is still a babyface. Jim Ross joins for commentary; Seth tries a single-leg so Langston just tosses him across the ring. Langston tries a slam but Rollins slips free and submarines his leg; now he is able to come at him and pound away. He applies a front facelock but Big E powers him into the corner and beats him up. He tries a running shoulderblock but Rollins uses his quickness and Langston posts his own shoulder. Seth takes over and… gets press-slammed, over the top all of the way to the floor. He goes out after him but here’s Ambrose and Reigns to intercept (no DQ) and overwhelm him with numbers. They LAUNCH Langston into the steel steps to head us off to break; when we return, Rollins applies a figure-four head scissors. Langston powers himself vertical and deadlifts Rollins up into an Electric Chair. Big E begins to comeback with bear splashes and rapid-fire kneelifts. He hits the ropes and runs over Rollins with a standing splash. Ambrose and Reigns hop up on the apron so Langston wipes them both with a double clothesline. DOWN COME THE STRAPS and Big E preps for the Big Ending but the Shield have the wherewithal to regroup and overpower Langston with their two man handicap. Finally the locker room empties out and there’s about twenty guys pounding on Ambrose and Reigns. They drag them to the back leaving Rollins alone with Big E; Seth is not happy about losing his advantage but quickly recovers to hit the Skywalker but it merely nets two. Seth is unconvinced and thinks it’s three. He goes for the Skywalker again but Langston blocks mid-move, setting him up perfectly for the Big Ending and NAILS it… to become the new NXT Champion! Post-match, the entire NXT locker room hit the ring to celebrate with him. They all leave as the referee puts the belt on Big E and he has his moment. He heads up the stage to celebrate with some pyro as we head out. 6.5/10 We have the worst kept secret in the WWE, Big E winning this title as this match was taped back before Christmas. We do get history as there is now a former NXT champ. Not a bad match as Langston is a lot better in the ring than I gave him credit for, he’s not Bret Hart or anything like that but he’s much better than some of the other muscle headed slugs in the past. This title switch had to happen because the Shield is headed into the WWE to stay and Rollins won’t have time to build feuds, not to mention, you need the champ for house shows. Problem is they will have to do the same thing with Langston as he has already debuted in the WWE and is going to stay as well.

Here is your winner and NEW NXT Champion… Big E Langston via Big Ending pinfall.

OVERALL 4.5/10 This was the definition of a main event show; everything else was meh, pedestrian or subpar. The main event did not make up for the show but it did boost the rating out of the 2’s and 3’s. History is made here on NXT as we crown the second NXT champ and the first former champ. I’m curious to see how they get that title off of him anytime soon considering his monster push.

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