The "cocky pin" rationale is valid, but I still didn't like it. Also it doesn't excuse the fact that the match wasn't really all that spectacular. Maybe my expectations were too high going in and my frame of reference was altered by the two God-level matches that immediately preceded it, but that was far and away my least favorite Zayn match on an NXT special.

Actually, I'm not entirely sure about this. If the whole story was that he manipulated them into giving him a title match and this wasn't personal because the title was the most important thing to him, wouldn't he really just be interested in ending the match and winning the title as quickly as possible.

Considering this is the FIRST MATCH of the feud the main event was perfect. They can't go all out this month and fail to top it the next two times.

The finish was absolutely perfect. Steen with a sloppy cocky pin that Zayn barely rolled out of ending in a ref stoppage title change is perfect writing. It opens the door for the story that Steen didn't get the pin, but its also clean and he didn't need to either. Whoever thought it should be a clean three doesn't get that, again, this is the opening match for a feud that will last for the next two to six months depending when Zayn gets onto the main roster.

Btw the women's match was great, it finished just behind Balor Neville for me, which was awesome. Get Neville onto the main roster on Monday, there is nothing left for him in nxt.

Worth it to watch the Owens/Zayn ending again just to see the reactions in the crowd.

Whomever wrote this is somebody that actually knows how the crowd will react.

Agree that he's "outgrown" NXT, but I could see him getting lost in the shuffle on Raw.

Let's not forget that Sami isn't the WORLD champ here. He was the nxt champ. He doesn't need to look super strong by any steretch

Realized this morning how great having a face manager on the main roster would be in terms of getting these guys introduced -- start campaigning HHH for shots at midcard heels, goad someone into the "I challenge anyone in the back to come out here right now" thing that's almost always fun, that sort of thing.

As awesome as Heyman is in his role, they seem to have forgotten how useful managers can be in terms of advancing storylines (and more importantly, how useful they are in getting people over who now don't need to be great at talking).

Zayn looked really strong for losing a match clean. The concussion symptoms really hit after the rather fluky blow to the head as a result of his own move.

Regardless of belt specifics, Zayn is an underdog type face and shouldn't need to be booked that strong to be over, although some might disagree (e.g. Bryan was told not to sell too much after he won the title last Mania). Too courageous for your own good is generally a trait people react positively to in such a character.

I was really hoping Heyman's effectiveness would lead to an influx of managers but it just hasn't happened that way. The percentage of the population athletic enough to be a wrestler today is pretty small, so not having many managers really closes the door to wrestling for most of the good talkers in the world.

Well, the obvious solution is to get someone who isn't a wrestler to fill that role, and just get someone sufficiently photogenic with marginal acting skills.

You know, like they do with the Divas division.

Grunge but holy ****. Maybe the best promo vid I've ever seen. Just an epic track to be set to

Just read a weird spoiler from next NXT taping

To put Reigns over somehow

Of all the "_______ shows up"s possible, that's pretty damn low on my list of what I would have expected.

Bump a month and a half later bc I just watched this. I have seen 0 mins of NXT prior, so keep that in mind.

Thought the first match was great (Hideo and Tyler). Good pace and all that jazz.

Didnt pay much attention for the 2nd singles match and the tag match but enough to notice Sin Cara didnt seem to botch everything. Is he just a nervous nelly in the E that he cant handle millions watching?

Divas match was really good, I dont understand why they get to do real wrestling in NXT but the WWE main shows is mostly crap. I have minor beef with the ending though. Submission into a roll pin is mostly fine, but it came after the champ kicking out of a finisher off the top rope, so the continuity there kind of sucked to me. Oh well. Also, the "Bailey to belly" is a terrible finisher and name. Good match though!

Title match was fine to me, I enjoy a good domination knowing nothing about the characters. I havent read anything though, was Zayn actually hurt? I enjoy when wrasslin actually has you questioning what is real.

One final nitpick though, the selling, and especially the kickouts of pins was incredibly weak across the board of this show. Its really small stuff like that which makes the match for me. Everyones kicks out were very cena-esque in that they seem to have this preparation with the rest of their body that gives it away entirely and looks staged (still real to me dammit). Also when Zayn kicks out he has a tendency to put a finger up into the air in celebration of his kickout which ruins the whole "hes out of it" vibe.

And the selling itself was weird. People would get thrown hard onto their head/ back and then pop up with an O-face in some weird fashion. Charlotte was the worst offender, but it was urking me the whole show. Just play dead dammit, or grab a body part, its not hard. When neville came down off the top rope onto Balor's knees all he has to do is grab his gut, but he popped up in some weird fashion and then fell over again, while barely acknowledging his ribs should be broken.


Blah blah blah, interesting to see a really good amount of wrassling in WWE knowing its not the main show. Also Im sure this has been talked about a lot, but the crowd is so much better. A smaller arena definitely helps, but it really is impressive how much the crowd being involved can improve things.

Funny you say that about the Lucha Dragons match since they really botched like crazy in that one and are usually a lot better on weekly NXT TV. But I know you mentioned you weren't paying close attention to the match.

Totally agree that "Bayley to belly" is lame as **** both as a move and as a name. To have that be a finisher you need to either be some 400 lb. dude who throws the suplex like Mabel used to, or it needs to be something like what Owen Hart would do where he would catch guys in mid-sprint and turn it into a belly-to-belly. It just doesn't look powerful at all with a small woman doing it.

Yeah whoops, probably shouldnt have even commented then since I missed so much of it. However, Kalisto (sp?) did some cool stuff IRC.

ETA:



They showed the video package of the feud and she hits charlotte with it, and I was like wtf how is that a build? ohhhhh its her "finisher".

Lots of kicking in the entire show too, is this a martial arts inspired thing? I love it personally, but feel like its becoming way more popular in mainstream wrestling than it used to be.

yeah that kallisto hurricanranna-facebuster is awesome