There's nothing that indicates country of origins, so welcome home and let's have a look at season 6 episode 2 of NXT.
Oh wow, the crowd has calmed down a lot from last week. Which makes sense, because they've been there for over an hour. JR talks about the show a bit before Seth Rollins' music hits. Please god let it be mercifully short. As he does in FCW he swings his arms and legs around like a dancer having a seizure. And ring up another jobber entrance because Jiro is already in the ring (JE count: 4)
Seth Rollins vs Jiro
Jiro is from Japan. This means he throws chops. Because he's an indietard, Rollins gets angry rather than selling. Other than that it's a total squash. Seth wins via standing curbstomp (called Blackout) No rating.
After the match Briley Peirce asks Seth a question. NO! YOU FOOLS WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? His answer is perfect justification for why he should never be given a microphone again. Apparently he rips roofs from the floor. Ok then. Jinder Mahal's music cuts him off before he can make me want to kill him any more. We go to a break
We're back and Jinder's cutting a cheap heat promo using the fact that he speaks punjabi. I'm not paying much attention to him. Jason Jordan interrupts him.
Jinder Mahal vs Jason Jordan
Mahal takes control early, backing Jordan up to the ropes and kneeing him in the belly. Jordan's forced to the corner and kicked a few times, taking him down to his ass. More knees and a neckbreaker gets 2 for Jinder. Choke on the ropes by Jinder. Multiple springboard knees to Jordan now as this is one way traffic. Another two count on Jordan as Jinder goes to a crossface chickenwing to wear down Jordan more. Butterfly suplex gets another 2 count, and a missed kneedrop allows Jordan to his his first move (a punch). Another punch but Jordan misses a dropkick and gets put into a cravatte and kneed in the face a few times. A walking pace flying knee takes down Jordan. Camel clutch ends it. This match was just dull as hell. Jordan hit all of two moves and Jinder is painfully dull in the ring. This should have been half as long really. D.
Another post match cheap heat promo for Jinder then.
We also get a video package for Leo Kruger who debuts next. I liked it quite a bit, but I'm openly biased about Kruger.
The Raw 1000 moment is the first one.
We see the jobber in the ring (JE count: 5) as horns hit for Kruger's entrance theme. The Jobber for this one is Aiden English.
Leo Kruger vs Aiden English
Both men are fairly quick off the blocks, neither man getting control in the first few seconds until Kruger blocks a dropkick which he follows up by hitting some mounted punches. Aiden's thrown into the corner and taken down with a body splash and punished by a double foot stomp variation. Snap suplex by Kruger allows him to pose a little to get the crowd to react. Sleeper hold ends this squash.
Richie cuts an actually good promo in his video package. He's not trying to be his father, he's his own man. I remember his "daddy's boots" promo. Kid's come a looooooooong way despite saying more or less the same thing.
Usos do their Siva Tau entrance, as the commentators change because this match was actually taped later on in the taping. No clue why they've rearranged it though. Awwwww hell yeah, The lights go out for the Ascension, making this the battle of the awesomely gimmicked entrances.
Tag Team match: The Usos vs Ascension
Kenneth and one of the brothers start. Kenneth headbuts him, it doesn't work. He tries again and he does a dance. Tag by the Usos who hit a double team move and maintain control hitting several headbuts (makes sense to me) until Conor lowers the middle rope allowing the Uso to be sent out. Tag to Conor and he just pounds on the Uso. In an old Ascension spot they isolate the legal Uso in their corner and kick the shit out of him, tagging themselves in so they can maintain a revolving door of boots to the face. The ref tells them to stop being so mean though. They got a nearfall out of it though. Back to his feat the Uso manages to hit a spinning dodging headbutt to allowa double tag. Apparently Jimmy is now the legal man and he is a house of fire. He hits much of his cool offence on Kenneth, and gets a nearfall broken up by Conor. Comes in, but gets sent out of the ring by the big man and then beaten on the outside. Blind tag by Conor allows the Downcast to end it. I liked this. It wasn't amazingly good or anything, but I liked the continuity of using multiple headbutts on offence after making a point of the Samoan skulls early in the match. C-
We see another jobber in the ring (JE count: 6), as Richie Steamboat's makes his way to the ring.
Richie Steamboat vs Rick Victor
Ricky Steamboat is at ringside, and he's cut to as Richie does some armdrags. Steamboat gets an armbar locked in, and no matter what Victor does (armdrag, scoop slam) he can't shake him off. Steamboat takes pity on him and lets him go after, but not before he does a legdrop on it. He follows up with an overhead armlock so Victor doesn't get room to breathe. This squash has been all one way so far. Cool clothesline to a seated Victor. Finally the Canadian gets some offence in hitting European Uppercuts. Richie takes control again though and picks up the pace with some strikes and ends it with his wraparound clothesline (called the Slingblade, apparently). I'm not sure it was long enough, but in case it was I'll give it a C+. Nice short and sweet match.
Post match Richie gives his old man a hug awwww
I'll skip the Raw Rebound if you don't mind.
Cesaro's using his war like FCW music rather than Engerland this time around. I like this. Aksana looks hot. He's up against Jason Jordan, in the ring (JE count: 7)
Antonio Cesaro vs Jason Jordan
Delayed Belly to belly suplex by Antonio shows off his strength, not as much as his delayed gutwrench suplex though. Total dominance by Cesaro here, hitting strikes and a spinebuster with nothing to see out of Dante. Gotch-style Neutralizer ends it.
Main event is Bateman vs Curtis, but not before a fucking awesome Bray Wyatt vignette, featuring some of the unused FCW cast as extras. The guy is so, so, so good at this.
Derrick Bateman's theme has been played many times for many people in FCW. Gasoline Upcharge has always been a favorite for bland as fuck babyfaces.
Main Event: Johnny Curtis vs Derrick Bateman
Curtis starts things off by slapping Bateman and then running away. This makes Bateman get angry, so once they start actually wrestling he's angry and in charge. Curtis gets sent into the turnbuckles headfirst twise and then slapped himself and whipped across the ring. Two count for Bateman after all that. Curtis sent to the corner again but double knees for Bateman miss alllowing Curtis to take control. Odd legwhip takes down Bateman and Curtis sets to work on the knee. Indian Deathlock by Curtis, but Bateman breaks free with chops. Curtis goes for a spinning toehold, but gets kicked off after the first, hitting the turnbuckles. Bateman now in control hitting strikes and a modified STO. Mantastic DDT ends it. D this was just an OK match. Nothing stood out at all, just like both men in it.
Overall rating C
This show was odd in terms of timings especially in terms of number of matches relative to match length. There were seven matches, including one from a different show and pretty much all of them were squashes. They were all different types of matches. It's not a bad thing, it's just interesting.
Quick results:
Oh wow, the crowd has calmed down a lot from last week. Which makes sense, because they've been there for over an hour. JR talks about the show a bit before Seth Rollins' music hits. Please god let it be mercifully short. As he does in FCW he swings his arms and legs around like a dancer having a seizure. And ring up another jobber entrance because Jiro is already in the ring (JE count: 4)
Seth Rollins vs Jiro
Jiro is from Japan. This means he throws chops. Because he's an indietard, Rollins gets angry rather than selling. Other than that it's a total squash. Seth wins via standing curbstomp (called Blackout) No rating.
After the match Briley Peirce asks Seth a question. NO! YOU FOOLS WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? His answer is perfect justification for why he should never be given a microphone again. Apparently he rips roofs from the floor. Ok then. Jinder Mahal's music cuts him off before he can make me want to kill him any more. We go to a break
We're back and Jinder's cutting a cheap heat promo using the fact that he speaks punjabi. I'm not paying much attention to him. Jason Jordan interrupts him.
Jinder Mahal vs Jason Jordan
Mahal takes control early, backing Jordan up to the ropes and kneeing him in the belly. Jordan's forced to the corner and kicked a few times, taking him down to his ass. More knees and a neckbreaker gets 2 for Jinder. Choke on the ropes by Jinder. Multiple springboard knees to Jordan now as this is one way traffic. Another two count on Jordan as Jinder goes to a crossface chickenwing to wear down Jordan more. Butterfly suplex gets another 2 count, and a missed kneedrop allows Jordan to his his first move (a punch). Another punch but Jordan misses a dropkick and gets put into a cravatte and kneed in the face a few times. A walking pace flying knee takes down Jordan. Camel clutch ends it. This match was just dull as hell. Jordan hit all of two moves and Jinder is painfully dull in the ring. This should have been half as long really. D.
Another post match cheap heat promo for Jinder then.
We also get a video package for Leo Kruger who debuts next. I liked it quite a bit, but I'm openly biased about Kruger.
The Raw 1000 moment is the first one.
We see the jobber in the ring (JE count: 5) as horns hit for Kruger's entrance theme. The Jobber for this one is Aiden English.
Leo Kruger vs Aiden English
Both men are fairly quick off the blocks, neither man getting control in the first few seconds until Kruger blocks a dropkick which he follows up by hitting some mounted punches. Aiden's thrown into the corner and taken down with a body splash and punished by a double foot stomp variation. Snap suplex by Kruger allows him to pose a little to get the crowd to react. Sleeper hold ends this squash.
Richie cuts an actually good promo in his video package. He's not trying to be his father, he's his own man. I remember his "daddy's boots" promo. Kid's come a looooooooong way despite saying more or less the same thing.
Usos do their Siva Tau entrance, as the commentators change because this match was actually taped later on in the taping. No clue why they've rearranged it though. Awwwww hell yeah, The lights go out for the Ascension, making this the battle of the awesomely gimmicked entrances.
Tag Team match: The Usos vs Ascension
Kenneth and one of the brothers start. Kenneth headbuts him, it doesn't work. He tries again and he does a dance. Tag by the Usos who hit a double team move and maintain control hitting several headbuts (makes sense to me) until Conor lowers the middle rope allowing the Uso to be sent out. Tag to Conor and he just pounds on the Uso. In an old Ascension spot they isolate the legal Uso in their corner and kick the shit out of him, tagging themselves in so they can maintain a revolving door of boots to the face. The ref tells them to stop being so mean though. They got a nearfall out of it though. Back to his feat the Uso manages to hit a spinning dodging headbutt to allowa double tag. Apparently Jimmy is now the legal man and he is a house of fire. He hits much of his cool offence on Kenneth, and gets a nearfall broken up by Conor. Comes in, but gets sent out of the ring by the big man and then beaten on the outside. Blind tag by Conor allows the Downcast to end it. I liked this. It wasn't amazingly good or anything, but I liked the continuity of using multiple headbutts on offence after making a point of the Samoan skulls early in the match. C-
We see another jobber in the ring (JE count: 6), as Richie Steamboat's makes his way to the ring.
Richie Steamboat vs Rick Victor
Ricky Steamboat is at ringside, and he's cut to as Richie does some armdrags. Steamboat gets an armbar locked in, and no matter what Victor does (armdrag, scoop slam) he can't shake him off. Steamboat takes pity on him and lets him go after, but not before he does a legdrop on it. He follows up with an overhead armlock so Victor doesn't get room to breathe. This squash has been all one way so far. Cool clothesline to a seated Victor. Finally the Canadian gets some offence in hitting European Uppercuts. Richie takes control again though and picks up the pace with some strikes and ends it with his wraparound clothesline (called the Slingblade, apparently). I'm not sure it was long enough, but in case it was I'll give it a C+. Nice short and sweet match.
Post match Richie gives his old man a hug awwww
I'll skip the Raw Rebound if you don't mind.
Cesaro's using his war like FCW music rather than Engerland this time around. I like this. Aksana looks hot. He's up against Jason Jordan, in the ring (JE count: 7)
Antonio Cesaro vs Jason Jordan
Delayed Belly to belly suplex by Antonio shows off his strength, not as much as his delayed gutwrench suplex though. Total dominance by Cesaro here, hitting strikes and a spinebuster with nothing to see out of Dante. Gotch-style Neutralizer ends it.
Main event is Bateman vs Curtis, but not before a fucking awesome Bray Wyatt vignette, featuring some of the unused FCW cast as extras. The guy is so, so, so good at this.
Derrick Bateman's theme has been played many times for many people in FCW. Gasoline Upcharge has always been a favorite for bland as fuck babyfaces.
Main Event: Johnny Curtis vs Derrick Bateman
Curtis starts things off by slapping Bateman and then running away. This makes Bateman get angry, so once they start actually wrestling he's angry and in charge. Curtis gets sent into the turnbuckles headfirst twise and then slapped himself and whipped across the ring. Two count for Bateman after all that. Curtis sent to the corner again but double knees for Bateman miss alllowing Curtis to take control. Odd legwhip takes down Bateman and Curtis sets to work on the knee. Indian Deathlock by Curtis, but Bateman breaks free with chops. Curtis goes for a spinning toehold, but gets kicked off after the first, hitting the turnbuckles. Bateman now in control hitting strikes and a modified STO. Mantastic DDT ends it. D this was just an OK match. Nothing stood out at all, just like both men in it.
Overall rating C
This show was odd in terms of timings especially in terms of number of matches relative to match length. There were seven matches, including one from a different show and pretty much all of them were squashes. They were all different types of matches. It's not a bad thing, it's just interesting.
Quick results:
- Seth Rollins def Jiro via Blackout
- Jinder Mahal def Jason Jordan via Camel Clutch
- Leo Kruger def Aiden English via Sleeper hold w/ body scissors
- Ascension def The Usos via Downcast
- Richie Steamboat def Rick Victor via Slingblade
- Antonio Cesaro def Dante Dash via Gotch-style Neutralizer
- Derrick Bateman def Johnny Curtis via Mantastic DDT