Previously on the Best and Worst of WWE NXT: We got to see the dark matches from NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, featuring Tye Dillinger pinning Wesley Blake and the Authors of Pain killing TM61. Also, lots of really swell video packages. This week, it’s back to Full Sail.
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And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for Aug. 31, 2016.
Best: Return To The Center Of Developmental
Before I get too deep into what I did and didn’t like about this episode, I want to say how weirdly refreshing it felt that this episode of NXT felt like “developmental.” I’m not like, formally asking for the show to be worse or feature less talented performers, but when I truly fell in love with NXT it was nothing but guys like this. It was back in the day when Tyler Black didn’t just show up as Tyler Black, he’d get molded and shaped and changed into something new. Even Bryan Danielson got changed, but like, Johnny Gargano can show up in a Pro Wrestling Tees shirt and just be Johnny Gargano? That’s not a criticism in either direction, just a note about how much things have changed.
This week’s episode made me happy like a really good exhale. The women’s match features two women having a pretty good match based on their skill level, but is still greener than Dr. Teeth and trying to figure out what it wants itself or the people doing it to be. We get a straight-up one-on-one match between two guys who are Baron Corbin fodder right now at best, we get Angelo Dawkins making his fifth or sixth attempt at being worth watching, and we get William Regal doing something other than announcing a TakeOver match. NXT Classic.
And hey, the opening match is the perfect kind of thing for this flavor of NXT: Tye Dillinger, a guy who has been consistently overshadowed and put-upon to make everyone look like a million bucks during this influx of established independent talent, getting a strong singles victory over another guy with a ton of promise, Buddy Murphy. It’s not anything epic, but it gets solid TV time for two guys on roughly the same level who really, really need something better to do than get cheered while losing to Sonjay Dutt or whomever because people who watch non-WWE wrestling have heard of him.
Plus, it’s great great to see Dillinger seemingly finally putting it together and being at least a Kinda Important Guy. He still feels like he might be being built up just to lose more effectively (and his finisher still looks a little too much like a guy pulling down his underwear), but for now, go Tye.
Best: We Are The Ciampa-ns
This bit with The Revival jumping Tommaso Ciampa is one of my favorite segments of the year. Absolutely masterful. Let’s run down everything I liked it about it, starting with:
1. We get a recap of Johnny Gargano being eliminated in the Cruiserweight Classic because of the knee injury he sustained at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II. I’m so, so happy that what happens on one show happens on the other. It feels crucial that we remember all these shows happen in the same universe, but there’s such a disconnect between NXT and WWE that you never know what you’re gonna get. Gargano trying to multitask ended up costing him, and making him look tough and scrappy as hell in the process. Plus, how great is it that they timed this with the CWC taping schedule?
2. Ciampa is backstage giving an interview to one of the mogwai that popped off Cathy Kelley when Commissioner Regal didn’t listen to Mr. Wing’s rules and spilled water on her. He puts over Gargano and gets interrupted by The Revival, who smell blood in the water and know they’d have an uninterrupted 2-on-1 advantage over one of the guys who came way too close to beating them.
3. Instead of exchanging catty words, Ciampa realizes the situation he’s in and starts throwing elbows. More on this segment turning Ciampa into the world’s best babyface badass in a moment.
4. I love that the fight starts backstage, heads out through the curtain toward the announce table and ends up in the ring. It takes advantage of the Full Sail location and actually connects the geography of all the locales we see when we watch the show. If they’d fought out onto the stage from the back, it wouldn’t have had the same impact.
5. The Revival takes him to the woodshed and start cutting a promo about how great they are, which is eventually interrupted by Ciampa CRAWLING AT THEM, trying to pull himself up to continue the fight. Scott Dawson swatting away Ciampa’s hands while the crowd chants “PSYCHO KILLER” is just wonderful. When Ciampa finally pulls himself up he’s SMILING, and that pisses off Dawson and Wilder enough for them to bust out a Shatter Machine on him.
How great is all of this? You put over Gargano for being tough, tie it in to the Cruiserweight Classic, put over Ciampa for being a good dude about his injured partner, put over the Revival as bullies, execute a great brawl that firmly establishes the competitors in relation to their audience, make Ciampa look like a crazy awesome warrior AND put over the Shatter Machine as the kind of move that can stop even the craziest and most awesome warriors. A+ all around. Five stars. All the things.
Best/Worst: Player One vs. Player Two
Up next is a match between a nondescript former Marine in red trunks and a nondescript former Marine in red trunks. One of them is Steve Cutler — he’s the white guy who looks like a marionette of Brian Cage — and the other is Kenneth Crawford, who we saw teaming with Angelo Dawkins in a losing effort in every sense of the word back in March. Cutler even gets a pre-match picture-in-picture promo to let you know which guy is winning. He says he doesn’t care if you like him, he doesn’t care if you hate him, but you will respect him! This promo was caused by pressing circle when Renee Young stopped talking.
Like I said, it’s good that the show had a more developmental feel, and I’m happy that we’re focusing on some homegrown talent instead of just flying in Petey Williams for a day so one guy could clap for him and the other 399 could chant “you deserve it.” With that, though, comes matches that aren’t always top shelf, and both Cutler vs. Crawford and Liv Morgan vs. Aliyah had that vibe where the match isn’t bad, you’re just pretty sure that’s everything they can do right now.
I was a little more impressed with Crawford than Cutler, but that might’ve been me pretending the lanky black guy throwing standing shooting star presses was Kill Shot from Lucha Underground. Kill Shot vs. Cage!
Note: I really need that show to come back.
Liv vs. Aliyah had its moments, too. Aliyah’s character work is getting much better, even if it’s just skipping to the ring instead of walking and gearing up like a discount Ivelisse. Can we give Liv Morgan a Taya gimmick while we’re waiting for next Wednesday?
The problem is that everything was fine, but nothing seemed to matter. The best move of the entire match is that Kimura headscissors thing Aliyah dropped on Liv where she kicked her in the head a bunch when she tried to escape. Why isn’t that Aliyah’s finish? Why was it just treated like a chinlock? Liv ends up finishing the match with the Maryse Oullet Memorial Whiffed Hook Kick, which joins Trouble In Paradise on the list of WWE finishes that either hurt you for real or completely miss.
But again, just to say it, I like that people who need TV time are getting a little bit of it, and that we can watch NXT and actually deconstruct what we think is going well or not going well during the matches. It’s a hell of a lot more interesting from an analyst’s point of view than, “Bobby Roode continued to be great.”
Best: Bobby Roode Continued To Be Great
LOL
Before I Forget
Don’t sleep on the terribleness of this WWE.com exclusive Liv Morgan promo, which isn’t Titus O’Neil or Kalisto bad, but it’s in that company.
She’s gonna tip-toe through the women’s division so she doesn’t wake you! Julius Smokes BRRRAP! I really hope she challenges Asuka soon, so Asuka can turn her into Struggling To Liv Morgan.
Worst: Angelo Dawkins
Not Any Way Jose gets a match against Jordan Peele character Angelo Dawkins, whose only character development continues to be “wears two headbands for some reason.” He also does the James Harden “stir the pot” taunt, which is fitting because he sucks at defense too.
Dawkins’ singlet really bothers me. The slogan on the front says “THE CURSE OF GREATness” with a weird italicizing of “ness.” The Curse of Great Ness? He really into being annoying at Smash Bros.? Either that, or he’s announcing that all the weird slogans and logos on his gear are a National Treasure-style puzzle that solves the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster.
That paragraph is exactly how interested I was in this Angelo Dawkins match.
Best: This Sh*t Is Bananas
Later in the show, KING OF POTASSIUM STYLE Austin Aries interrupts Andrade “Edward James” Almas and half-challenges him, poking him until he makes the challenge himself and then claiming a ruptured eardrum to keep from having to accept it. I love that both Itami and Aries got to mention Itami’s sockless loafers in promos.
Anyway, I fantasy booked this a lot heading into TakeOver, but Aries and Roode switching rivals has GOT to lead to a tag team match between these four. Whether it’s in the Dusty Classic or not, there’s no way the former TNA guys, who dress in suits and claim it gives them star quality, would feud with two different charismatic but underwhelming Latino stars, switch opponents in the middle and NOT build to a showdown between all of them. Unless I’m just Pepe Silvia‘ing the whole storyline.
Best, I Guess: Nakamura
This week’s main event is just Nakamura showing up, saying he’s the NXT Champion and then leaving, and that’s fine. I kept waiting for somebody to jump him, but I appreciate that they explained away why Samoa Joe wouldn’t charge out there and throw hands with him in an earlier segment. The Era of Strong Style has begun, and I assume we’ll find out more about where that’s going in the next few weeks.
Nak cuts a pretty good promo in English and he’s so charismatic he could just stand there making funny faces and we’d chant THIS IS AWESOME, but if anything, they should probably have him talk less. Just don’t overexpose it, you know? I guess this is the time you want him working on it to get him as ready for the main roster as possible (where the audience won’t be even 1 percent as understanding or forgiving, and foreign accents get you booed), so it’s not a major complaint, just an interesting talking point. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t even NEED to talk much, even if he’s great at it.
Just make sure he’s always wearing socks with his shoes.
