411’s WWE NXT Report 04.17.13

From Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida

Commentators: Tony Dawson & William Regal

Championship’s roll call: WWE Champion: John Cena… World Champion: Dolph Ziggler… Intercontinental Champion: Wade Barrett… United States Champion: Kofi Kingston… Tag Team Champions: Team Hell No… NXT Champion: Big E Langston… NXT Tag Team Champions: Adrian Neville & Oliver Grey… Diva’s Champion: Kaitlyn

Justin Gabriel vs. Leo Kruger:   Do these two only face each other? I enjoy their matches but I’d like to see them wrestle other people; battle of South Africa. Kruger backs Gabriel into the corner and a chop battle ensues. Kruger clamps on a headlock but Gabriel quickly fires him off and the match speeds up which favors Gabriel who gets a nice armdrag. He forces Kruger down into an armbar and maintains it for a while. Kruger tries to free himself but Gabriel judo tosses him down into a double wristlock. Kruger backs him into the corner predicating a referee break; Gabriel leaps off the second rope over Kruger but runs right into a spinebuster, gets two. William Regal uses the spinebuster as an opportunity to mention Arn Anderson, but I find it insulting to AA because his spinebuster was a thing of beauty. I felt the same way when Jim Ross mentioned AA when Triple H used a spinebuster. Kruger applies a chinlock with clubbers; he rakes at Gabriel’s head until Justin monkey flips him across the ring. Gabriel kicks and punches his way back; he hits a lariat and nice roundhouse kick. He hits a splash in the corner and tries a springboard move but Kruger bounces off the ropes to impede his progression. Kruger fires up and hits a serious running lariat, which Regal notes is from Kruger’s cricket playing days, but it only, gets two. Gabriel goes back on O and forces Kruger down into a Fujiwara armbar… Kruger just makes the ropes; he sneaks in a babyface move, an inside cradle, but also gets only two. They go back-and-forth and Gabriel winds up on the second rope where he kicks Leo square in the mouth; he tries the 450 but Kruger plays D. They fight atop the ropes and Kruger gets a few head-butts. Leo loads up a superplex but Gabriel battles back and tries a sunset bomb; Kruger grabs the ropes and blocks the move and nails a double stomp to the chest. Kruger snags Gabriel in the GC3 (inverted keylock) and Justin taps out.   6/10 Another good match between these two, as they should have, they’ve faced each other enough. Ever since the Tyson Kidd promo a few months back, Kruger and Gabriel have only wrestled each other on NXT. Kruger wins again leading him 2-1 in the series (I think). Good match nonetheless.

Here is your winner… Leo Kruger via GC3 submission

Highlights of NXT superstars from WrestleMania are shown. Watching Big E Langston walking around MetLife and discussing his first match at Mania before it happened and how nervous he looked was interesting to see.

Paige calls Summer Rae on her running away; she wants Summer one-on-one. She continues to say that she runs away from her so Summer backjumps her and knocks her down.

Bayley vs. Emma:   You know, Emma is starting to grow on me, including her silly dancing and klutzy character. The fans are starting to like her too as there are Emma signs all over the Full Sail arena. Interestingly enough, I do a similar dance called the “Marc Dance” but I point upwards instead of side to side like Emma does. She actually manages to skin-the-cat into the ring and gets a huge reaction since she falls on her face every time she tries it. Fans are already chanting “Emma.” They lock up and Bayley gets a waistlock as William Regal makes me laugh about the girl he has “lined up for tonight.” She’s apparently so bowlegged that she has to line her “knickers” over a boomerang. So awesome. Bayley hits a nice dropkick and Emma tries to run away. Bayley catches her but Emma tries a backdrop; Bayley holds on and gets a sunset flip. Emma shockingly maintains her balance and knees down; she does the Emma Dance, getting an eruption from the fans, but Bayley scissors her arms and cradles for two. Regal calls the hold a double-leg nelson, I am not arguing with him. Bayley plants Emma with a face breaker and gets two more. Bayley with a neck crank and really twists on it; Emma quickly tries to free herself but Bayley slams her back down and applies another crank. Bayley tosses her into the corner and tries a splash but Emma moves and she crashes into the buckles. Emma locks in a Tarantula allowing Regal to mention his old tag partner Tajiri. Emma dances and hits a low splash in the buckles. She then catapults Bayley onto her face and rolls into an inverted Indian Deathlock (with bridge) and gets the tapout victory. Post-match, it must be mentioned that Regal was discussing bringing Emma to an illegal rave back in 1988 when he was an “original raver.” I can only imagine.   4.5/10 I enjoy watching divas matches in NXT. Regal’s awesome commentary added so much more to this; it was basically a reverse squash for Emma although she sort of fell into the win, almost like the 1-2-3 Kid used to when he first debuted in the WWE. Emma is building a huge fan base that is rapidly catching onto her klutzy underdog space-cadet character. Not only are the NXT divas better in the ring, the gimmicks are much more fun and a lot less generic. I don’t even know any WWE roster diva who has a gimmick except for AJ Lee.

Here is your winner… Emma via bridging inverted Indian Deathlock submission

Yoshi Tatsu vs. Bray Wyatt (w/The Wyatt Family):   They lock up and Wyatt tosses Yoshi into the corner; Tatsu leaps off the ropes but Wyatt steamrolls him with a crossbody block but releases Tatsu before a one count. He pounds Tatsu in the corner and then hits an avalanche; the square dancing leads to the Sister Abigail and Wyatt gets a quick three. Post-match, Wyatt hits the Sister Abigail again. He sits down and clutches Tatsu on his leg and says NXT is his playground. He adds there is no man on two feet greater than he. He kisses Yoshi again and leaves with Harper and Rowan shuffling behind.   2/10 Complete squash for Wyatt. He dominates and beats Yoshi in about thirty seconds.

Here is your winner… Bray Wyatt via Sister Abigail pinfall

They sho0w a commercial promoting the WWE on the WrestleMania rematch tour; the verbal argument that Team Hell No gets into arguing over who will bear their opponent better is a thing to see, very Abbot and Costello. It would be like trying to describe Who’s on First; you just have had to see it.

Corey Graves vs. Seth Rollins lumberjack match:   Rollins opens with some boots and screams “believe in the Shield.” Graves comes back and pounds in the corner; Rollins thinks escape but the lumberjacks block. Back in the ring, Graves slams him and drops a fist. Rollins thinks escape again but it’s a lumberjack block again. Graves kicks the leg and hits a shinbreaker. He tries again but Rollins reverses into a sunset flip; Seth comes back with a throat thrust and tosses Graves into the corner with a flying forearm. He misses a Stinger Splash in the corner so Graves mounts the buckles; Rollins hits a nasty enziguri knocking him to the floor in a nasty spill. The lumberjacks toss him back in as we head to break. We return with Rollins hitting a leg lariat off the ropes, for two. Rollins applies a reverse body scissors. Graves eventually powers free but Rollins maintains his advantage with stomps. Rollins applies a double chinlock. Graves fights back but Rollins keeps him down; Graves comes back with a boot in the ropes. Rollins collapses into the corner and snags the overaggressive Graves with a low Flatliner into the buckles. Rollins hits the top but misses the big knee. Graves fires back with a clothesline. He builds momentum rolling out of a sunset and leg whipping the knee. Seth heads to the floor but gets tossed back in. Rollins then heads to the second rope but Graves catches him with a dragon screw off the second rope. He heads to the floor again where the lumberjacks toss him back into a gourdbuster from Graves. All of a sudden Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns return to lay waste to the lumberjacks. Graves gets distracted and Ambrose levels him with a clothesline from the apron. Rollins takes out about ten guys by himself and meanwhile in the ring Rollins hits the Skywalker and gets the pinfall.   5.5/10 I knew that the Shield would show up and figured, when I saw the caliber of jobbers that surrounded the ring, they would be no match for them. Shield continues to be the best booked act in the WWE/NXT and kept incredibly strong. This was pretty much a one-sided affair and when Rollins looked to be ripe for the loss, the Shield struck. Decent match with the correct outcome.

Here is your winner… Seth Rollins via Skywalker pinfall

OVERALL 6.5/10   Good and fun hour of wrestling; we got a few matches I’ve already seen before but were still good. We got a rare in ring match with Rollins in a singles match. A Shield beat down of half the NXT roster, the jobber half, and a good divas match. Still the most entertaining hour of wrestling on television/YouTube.

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