Previously on the Best and Worst of WWE NXT: We’re now two weeks removed from NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II and the Era of Strong Style has begun. Also beginning: a return to the “developmental” feel of NXT, because most of the good wrestlers got called up to Raw or Smackdown and we’re working with what’s left.
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And now, the Best and Worst of WWE NXT for September 7, 2016.
Best: The Mighty Don’t Compete In Cruiserweight Tournaments
So I know Ariya Daivari is Shawn Daivari’s brother, but I really want to call this team, “Nese and Nephew.”
This week’s opener is Australia’s increasingly Australian TM61 against two competitors from the nearby Cruiserweight Classic, Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese.
Ariya Daivari, little brother to Sansa Daivari, is the Chavo Guerrero to Daivari Daivari’s Eddie, for better or worse. He was one of the strong surprises in the tournament, because it desperately needed actual characters and motivated heels that weren’t just ripped little hairless dudes doing moves. Tony Nese is what would happen if Neville had a baby with Damien Sandow, from how he looks to how he wrestles. They should have already given him a guitar and recast him as The Drifter while Elias Samson’s ankle tries to recover from being broken trying to hold up the weight of his failure.
This opener plays like a between-rounds Cruiserweight Classic tag match should and might, with everyone going balls out the entire time without any real reason to. That sounds like more of a criticism than it is. Sometimes you need a match like this, where the focus is put on the performers showing the audience that everyone involved is objectively very good at what they’re trying to do in a void. What works less — for me, at least — is when this is the only kind of match you do, and you do 10 of them on one show. That’s one of the things I love the most about NXT … it takes some of the best tropes from the indies and mashes them up with WWE production, which understands that wrestling shows need variety to appeal to as many people as possible.
It’s also good to keep TM61 looking competitive, as one day you’re gonna want to feed them to the Revival and get their legs broken.
Best/Worst: Asuka Too Many Questions
The good: I love Asuka’s confidence here, and her direct message to her Japanese fans. I also like the Real Talk aspect of her saying all the women who got called up got lucky because they don’t have to face her anymore, and that nobody remaining in NXT is ready to face her. Eventually (in total NXT kayfabe, mind you) Ember Moon and hopefully Necky Storm will be ready, but right now all you’ve got is the least busy people at the bottom of the SHIMMER roster and Liv Morgan with like two armdrags and a death wish.
The bad: Asuka is not Shinsuke Nakamura. You can’t toss her into these long English interviews and expect her to be that dynamic. It doesn’t even work that well for Nakamura. Asuka works better as the type of wrestler who says one sentence, makes crazy eyes, puts the fear of God in you with a smile and then kicks your head off.
At the same time, letting Asuka and Nakamura get more comfortable speaking English in front of a camera in a setting like this is good for their main roster futures or whatever, but like, is it? I feel like Johnny WWE Universe living in bumf*ck Iowa or whatever is gonna boo someone for speaking perfect English with an accent as much as they are someone speaking Japanese. Maybe times have changed and we aren’t living in the world of trifling-ass Jim Duggans anymore, but despite NXT’s wonderful, somewhat magical success at booking international stars as good or evil independent of their birthplace, I haven’t earned that trust from Raw and Smackdown. They can’t even book an English guy without having a soccer guy show up and slap them in the face.
I’d love to see NXT try to get over that Lucha Underground style of having the wrestlers speak the language they’re most comfortable speaking and subtitling it. Maybe we’re far enough along in our progressive development to not pull a La Parka.
Best: Ember By God Moon
Look at that thing. I love how comfortable she is throwing that move, and that she can kinda Swanton before hitting it now. She’s almost completely upside down in the air when she grabs your head. Aces.
Her opponent here is “Leah Von,” who made like the Nazis in World War II and dropped the Dutch. I’m excited for the next few weeks of NXT when Ember takes on top female stars like Christina Von, Sara Del and Candice Le.
Best: He’s Almas Over
Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Austin “Cien” Aries is the best Almas has looked in an NXT ring so far, but the crowd absolutely cannot care about him less. Has anyone this talented and exciting ever been this boring, or connected less? If he wrestled Apollo Crews would we all end up frozen in Carbonite?
Aries continues to look great, as that heel turn gave him what he needed to bring his “best part of watching Impact” act to NXT TV. Babyface Aries is just never as believable as heel Aries, because you never get the feeling that Aries actually likes or appreciates anybody. It’s the same with Chris Jericho. Jericho is clearly talented enough to do what a babyface is supposed to do, but it always seems super phony. When he’s a heel, though, he’s allowed to do that “turn your personality up to 11” thing effectively and turn his natural dickishness into something irreplaceable.
I’m also digging Aries’ powerbomb transitions into the Last Chancery, even though I’ll never, ever type “Last Chancery” without wanting to follow it with three sentences about how it shouldn’t be called the f*cking “last chancery.” Aries is now 2-0 against NXT’s languishing Latino stars, and I’m just sitting around waiting for him and Bob Roo to run into each other for the first time backstage.
And before I forget, you know what’s not going to get Cien Almas over? A taunt where he puffs out his cheeks and rhythmically slaps his thighs. Especially when the move is supposed to be him hitting you with his knees, and not the running thigh earmuffs it actually is.
Worst: Steve Cutler, Main Eventer
Last week, stalwart jobsman Steve Cutler got a win against a guy who was basically Steve Cutler, which earned him … a shot at Shinsuke Nakamura? LOL are you serious bro
That’s this week’s main. NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, the man strong enough to beat Sami Zayn, Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe in a row, versus Steve Cutler, the man who lost 50 matches in a row and then pinned Kenneth Crawford. Steve Cutler makes Elias Samson look like Shinsuke Nakamura.
To make matters worse, they appear to have sent Samoa Joe out there to do commentary with a broken face and no idea what to say. He spends most of the match going “buh buh buh buh you know I’m just trying to get better, Nakamura’s great, buh great striker, yeah” while Nakamura goes through the motions. It’s not that any of it is especially terrible, it just reeks of filler, and for real, if you’ve only got Nakmaura in developmental for x-amount of days, why are you spending one of them on STEVE CUTLER? Why does Nakamura keep wrestling guys like Blake and Murphy? Is the roster really that thin?
I dunno. The bloom’s off the rose for me for Nakamura, so I’m ready for him to get into an actual story that isn’t just, “hey guys, have you seen Shinsuke Nakamura?”
