Previously on the Best and Worst of NXT: Bayley had to fend off a shady referee, a shady senior referee, a manipulative egomaniac challenger who might hurt her trying to wrestle, a monstrous outside threat AND Michael Cole as special guest general manager to defeat Eva Marie and retain the NXT Women’s Championship. Also, the Vaudevillains are getting fed up with being the Vaudeheroes, Samoa Joe is awesome and SAMI ZAYN is coming back. London’s gonna be great. (The report for last week’s show went up yesterday, in case you missed it.)
Click here to watch this episode on WWE Network. Be sure to follow the weekly column on the Best and Worst of NXT tag page. Please scroll through to enjoy the Best and Worst of NXT for December 2, 2015.
Best/Worst: Missed Opportunities
First off, how do you have Baron Corbin face a guy who calls himself the “Perfect 10” and not have that guy get beaten in exactly 10 seconds? I know Corbin’s not really doing the counting gimmick anymore and you don’t want to make Dillinger look like a joke, but come on, it’s right there.
Aside from that, Corbin is continuing to grow into one of the under-the-radar best guys on the roster, and that makes me happy. That spinning belly-to-back he pulled off was gorgeous, and every time he catches someone in the middle of something and just throws them around into position for an End of Days is great. As for Dillinger, the Perfect 10 is great, but they really need to devote some time to playing with it. He hasn’t gotten a lot of TV time since debuting the gimmick, especially not in any kind of winning capacity, so right now all he really is is a hand gesture.
I’ve got a feeling Corbin vs. Crews in London is going to be really great, and I appreciate the fact that I don’t automatically know who’ll win. Well, Crews will win, but you know what I’m saying. NXT’s great at creating a benefit of the doubt.
Worst: I Guess They Couldn’t Get The Rights To The Price Is Right Theme, Or
Best: Nia Jax Destroys A Pair Of Pants
The new Blue Pants entrance theme is the worst thing that’s happened to NXT since … well, Tye Dillinger’s new entrance theme. They must have put the guy in charge of making the shirts in charge of the music.
Anyway, Blue Pants returns and gets permanently pressed by Nia Jax, who is starting to come into her own as a physical threat. Blue Pants looked like a little kid in there with her. Adding the Rocky Maivia tribute shoulder-breaker was cool, and I guess giving her a Samoan drop was an inevitability. It looked a lot better than her version of The Verdict, at least, and it’s easier to throw people up into. The Yokozuna leg drop for emphasis is great, too.
A little later in the show, she ties that whole “being a physical threat” thing into her outside-the-ring character, which is crucial: Bayley accepts her challenge in a backstage interview, and after a brief staredown Nia just grabs her from behind and launches her through a door. It’s a lot of standing and staring and smiling, and then whoops, property destruction.
That’s a very different kind of character for the NXT women’s division, and one that could open them up to all kinds of new storytelling possibilities. As much as I love Bayley, you’ve got to put the belt on Jax and have her dominate everybody until Asuka’s ready for a title shot, right? That’s your money matchup. Asuka’s on a different level, so having everyone sort of helplessly pinball off Jax until Asuka goes “hey, wait a minute” and refuses to pinball will be one of those irreplaceable moments we’ll talk about long after it’s done. Plus, you know, eventually we’ve gotta let Bayley go up and be a millionaire.
Best: The Perfect Enzo Amore Insult
During a backstage sit-down with Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, they instantly make me fans by saying they’re gonna break Colin Cassady’s leg so the long flight back home from London (in coach) will be as uncomfortable as possible, and that they’re gonna stuff his carry-on (Enzo Amore) in the overhead compartment. Has there ever been a better way to describe Enzo’s character? I love him, but he might as well be a wheelie suitcase Cass throws at someone from the top rope.
Best: “I’m Sorry, I Love To Party”
I wasn’t sure whether to give this a Best or a Worst, because honestly? It’s not really either. But it’s James Storm getting another shot in NXT, and he’s upgraded to the Last Call (a superkick) from the 8 Second Ride (a WWE 2K create-a-finisher version of a Russian leg sweep), so that’s good.
His opponent is the saddest-yet version of Adam Rose, who is so bent on ruining everyone’s fun that he actually comes out to his entrance theme before shutting it down. That could be overestimating how much we still want to go “oh oh oh oh,” but it works. The match itself was fairly by-the-numbers, but Storm is better in actual, competitive matches than he is in squashes, so it was improvement over his first. They’re getting into Roman Reigns territory with his nicknames, though, and need to settle on one. He’s The Outlaw, he’s The Cowboy, he’s The BEARDED Outlaw, sometimes he’s The Outlaw comma The Cowboy. Cowboy James Storm. Do that one. “The Bearded Outlaw” sounds like a scientific classification.
Best: Proper Reactions To A Turned-Down Handshake
The downward spiral of the Vaudevillains continues. They face Chad Gable and Jason Jordan, and if they couldn’t beat Dawson and Wilder they don’t have a chance in hell against JJ and a man who can throw stalling, deadlift German suplexes in amateur wrestling matches.
I mentioned in last week’s (yesterday’s) column how the Full Sail crowd still has their moments, and they have another one here: after the match, Gable and Jordan offer the Villains a handshake. They consider it for a moment, then turn it down. The crowd goes OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH, and it’s the PERFECT response. That’s why you guys get so much heat from the rest of us … because sometimes you add SO MUCH to a moment, and help WWE’s only creatively functioning endeavor tell the stories it wants to tell on a higher level. When you don’t, and you stop paying attention to the stories and what the wrestlers are doing to have fun independent of the wrestling, it’s frustrating. It’s the same problem some of us have with WWE itself. We know it knows how to be great and has the resources to do so, but chooses not to. You have a light responsibility to play along and make this work so we can keep the best version of WWE wrestling. Or you can say “hey we want some Bayley” 20,000 more times, either or.
Anyway, this was expectedly dope, and the closest I’ve ever come to my dream of a high stakes singles match between Gable and Simon Gotch. The crowd should probably throw rose petals at Gable as he walks by and feed him grapes from over the barrier.
Worst: “Liv Morgan” (The Name, Not The Wrestler), Or
Best: Emma Breaking People Every Week
“Marley” wasn’t a great name, but now Gionna Daddio is known as “Liv Morgan.” Not only does it not fit her extremely Jersey character, but it sounds way too much like the 2010 NXT names we’d gotten used to them not giving people. It’s not far removed from Bam Neely. The closer you get to “Bam Neely,” the worse everything is.
As a performer, though, she seems like she’s a lot of fun. She’s the New Jersey Alexa Bliss. She’s also got the misfortune of running into Evil Emma, who is on a collision course with Asuka at NXT TakeOver: London and is committed to crunching somebody on here every week. Emma’s the best right now. She’s the best she’s ever been in the ring, she looks fantastic, and she’s got a story that doesn’t revolve around her dancing or being a f*ck-up. They’ve done a fantastic job rehabilitating her, and I’m so, so happy that I don’t have to make jokes about how dead behind the eyes she seems anymore. The partnership with Dana makes it even better.
Speaking of Dana Brooke, she gets a backstage interview alongside Emma where she gets so into describing what she was gonna do to Asuka that she assigns specific tasks to each hand, and explains them. Putting Dana with Emma was such a great idea … Dana’s inherent ridiculousness helps even out Emma’s, and Emma’s in-ring work helps even out Dana’s.
Also, Asuka is going to kick them so hard they both fly into the air at the same time and disappear in a glimmer like Team Rocket.
Best: Samoa F*cking Joe
I’m mad that I’ve spent a few weeks expounding on my “Samoa Joe’s the best he’s been in years” talking point, because this week’s main event against Tommaso Ciampa is Samoa Joe. It’s finally and absolutely a return to form, and it’s the best thing happening in wrestling right now. Bottom line.
This is the Joe we’ve always wanted in WWE. He’s had his fire back, but now he’s got the swagger. Getting a heel edge has allowed him to bring back a lot of the little things we loved about him. Watch him respond to Ciampa trying to attack him in the corner with that “can you believe this motherf*cker just tried to jump at me” pace and stare. Check out that kick at 1:08, which might’ve broken MY neck. LOOK AT THAT POWERSLAM. Tell me you’ve seen a better looking powerslam than that in WWE. It’s like Randy Orton’s on fast forward. I’d be hard pressed to find a better powerslam than that EVER.
In the interest of giving credit where it’s due, Ciampa busted his ass, too, and looked the best he’s ever looked on NXT. The match spotlighted what people like about him on the indies — his attitude and intensity — rather than having him just “do moves.” Just fantastic work all around, and a thrilling way to end an already great week of TV. Show this match to people. I can’t believe I’m unsure Finn Bálor will be able to have a better match with Joe, but here we are.
