Previously on the Best and Worst of NXT: Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe wrestled each other to put an end to the controversy from the #1 contender triple threat, ended up pinning each other and resolved nothing. That ends well, though. Also, American Alpha now have Trapper Keeper Steiner Brothers singlets, which are the greatest.
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And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for Feb. 24, 2016.
Worst: TV Taping Logistics
This week’s opener is Blake & Murphy vs. American Alpha. The crowd sits on their hands for most of it, even though they love Jordan and Gable, but you can’t blame them … this is pretty late into this set of TV tapings, and there are a lot of logistical problems that go with that.
Wrestling promotions don’t seem to matter so I might just be typing this into the wind, but there are ways to keep your crowd up. You shouldn’t send out the same wrestlers in multiple matches in one set of tapings. This is the second time the crowd’s seen American Alpha, and no matter how good the match is or how good they are, it’s gonna be hard to recreate that natural, organic “YEAH THESE ARE MY FAVORITE GUYS, I WANTED TO SEE THEM” thing. I remember getting a Sami Zayn vs. Neville match four hours into an NXT taping and not giving a sh*t about it, even though it was amazing and featured two guys I love. I’ve been at Lucha Underground tapings and just kinda sat patiently at a Pentagon Jr. appearance, because I’d seen him twice already that day. Hell, I’ve been to independent wrestling shows where they do pre-show matches featuring people who are also on the show. That’s weird. It’s not a disrespect thing, it’s just hard to go up and down like that and get back to the height of that first up. We aren’t all Mojo Rawley.
If you want this match taped and have already used the team but don’t want to burn out the crowd, just tape it on a different day. Or tape it somewhere else. You’ve got a lot of live events, even if they aren’t in big arenas like this. That’s just me talking as a fan, though, and not as someone who is actually in charge of running a TV production.
That said,
Best: American Alpha Is Still The Greatest
Jason Jordan’s suplexes look gnarlier every time we see them, and now Chad Gable is working convoluted lucha armdrags and Ricky Morton headscissors takedowns into his repertoire. I love those guys a lot.
Best: Biff!
Apollo Crews faces the debuting Christopher Girard, aka independent star Biff Busick. Ronda Rousey chopped him once. Biff is dope.
He’s such a strange image on WWE TV, though. Not to say he doesn’t fit or doesn’t belong or whatever, it’s just weird. That turn to the hard cam and scream thing he does before he hits a running uppercut makes him look like a Chrono Trigger enemy, and he more or less looks like what would happen if you told Aiden English to take how much he looks like Cesaro and run with it. Girard’s the sweet spot between the two. That could be pretty great now that I’ve typed it out.
There was a lot of stumbly, unsure stuff in the match, but that was probably due to nerves, and/or Biff trying to wrestle a slightly more realistic style and WWE crowds being trained to pounce on anything that doesn’t fit the rhythm. Like, look at the moment just before the finish where Crews lifts him up and over the rope, and Girard lands on the apron and almost slips off. The crowd reacts like it’s a botch, but to me it looked like an obvious decision to give Crews a second to prep for the enzuigiri. It’s kinda sad that wrestling that doesn’t look like it’s straight out of a video game gets questioned, right?
Happy to see where Girard goes from here. I’m glad he got a competitive match.
Worst: Look At That Sweet Science
From one bald indie guy who is all about the screaming and strikes to another, here’s Tommaso Ciampa facing Bull Dempsey. Bull left the company 19 days before this match aired, so feel free to queue up ‘My Sacrifice’ while you watch.
The finish is Ciampa going for his bridging armbar and he’s too close the ropes, so he has to kinda bridge short and tip toe around Bull’s shoulder to fit. Bull’s arm can’t really bend up, either, so Ciampa basically makes a dude tap out by laying across his back and doing nothing. Bull Dempsey, everybody. Low-fives on the way out.
Best: Sad Alex Riley Is Sad
Hey Alex, I hear a “Bull-Fit” gimmick just opened up if you’re looking to get back on TV.
Best/Worst: Baymella vs. Jax Pacific
That’s what I’m calling them. Because she’s from California? I don’t know.
Anyway, this week’s main-event is Bayley and Carmella vs. Eva Marie and Nia Jax, and I want to take a second to say how mad I am at how Nia Jax throws legdrops. Jump, Nia, I’m begging you. Give me those big awesome Yokozuna leg drops. That dude outweighed you by at LEAST 400 pounds.
Eva’s still pretty terrible in the ring but she’s showing some emotion now. That’s something. Anything to make her matches look less like someone wrestling YOSHIHIKO. I love that her finishing move is a lateral press. “My tough friend did a bunch of moves to you and now I’m going to tag in and pin you.” They’re wonderfully meta in their understanding of Eva, and it makes me so happy. They’re making lemonade, and even though the lemonade still kinda tastes like somebody peed in it, I’m gonna drink it and appreciate how hard they worked on it.
Best: William Regal
Is that everything that happened this week? Dash and Dawson attacked Enzo in a parking lot, that was pretty cool. It feels like it was the first hour of a two-hour show.
But yeah, William Regal makes two announcements for upcoming shows, and they’re both logical and rad as hell:
1. To settle that whole “these guys can’t pin each other” thing, Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn are having a 2-out-of-3 falls match to name a #1 contender. If “Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn 2-out-of-3 falls” doesn’t make your wrestling heart grow three sizes, consult your doctor, you may be dead.
2. Finn Bálor is closing on the record for longest-reigning NXT Champion of all-time, so Regal (still without a #1 contender) is giving him a match with the guy who currently holds the record, Neville. I really hope he gets the “Adrian” back for one show.
So that’s this week’s show: not much happened, but the stuff that’s about to happen is going to rule.
