So... NXT's pretty good

[MattRhys20]

Let me start off by saying that as a Brit, I'm ahead of the game on this (I know there was some sort of issue where people in America couldn't watch NXT for some reason, but I'm not sure what).

So, last night on RAW, NXT announced that it has got the future of this industry covered. For those of you who don't watch NXT or haven't gotten the full flavour of it since it's only been available for two months on The Network, let me give you a bit of a rundown.

Alexander Rusev - squash match against Ryder, let's not read too much into that, Tensai did the same thing

Paige - What can't you say about Paige. She is not a DIVA, she is a WOMEN'S WRESTLER. The Divas division is gonna be shaken to it's core with the arrival of Paige now (who is only 21, so has got a good 20 years ahead of her in this business)

Bo Dallas - The guy you love to hate, has got his character down to a T. The cocky, arrogant guy that think's he's better than everyone and everything. Brother to Bray Wyatt as well, so expect to see them two go at it at some stage.

Adam Rose - was better as Leo Kruger (a big African game hunter, that looked as if he could kill you with one punch) if you ask me, but anyway. He will be a great mid-card guy, so long as they don't have him dancing/raving with Santino or 3MB anytime soon

 

[MCMG]

They are clearly trying to build for the future. NXT is a wonderful thing and it is HHH's project. One can only imagine that with him in control of Raw, Smackdown, NXT and the performance centre we will see a lot of younger talent coming through and a higher standard as well.

I'm a big fan of Rusev. He can be an awesome heel right at the top. Paige is a fantastic wrestler and it will be interesting to see who she feuds with. The quality of women's wrestling is undoubtedly improving. Bo is fantastic. While he may never be a "top" guy he can definitely entertain us - I.R.S was doing something right. Rose is ok. There are already a lot of mid-carders they are not using so I'm not overly excited.

I wouldn't be shocked to see The Ascension debut in a few weeks. Neville can stay in NXT until he is ready to drop the belt. There are a lot of interesting characters in NXT so they can keep bringing up names without a generic feel to each.

Ultimately, they need to replace Cena. There are also a lot of older guys: Kane, Henry, Show, Batista, Rey, Christian that will be gone in a few years and a few of them are rather injury prone. Del Rio is reportedly leaving and Punk is gone. They have to bring up talent to ensure each Raw and Smackdown is interesting as well as the fact the top guys are replaced.

 

[GoatfaceKiller]

Rusev could be halfway decent if he'd just use a new finisher. The Camel Clutch is SO 30 years ago, and I can just hear all the "borrrrrrrrrrrrrring" chants now if he doesn't make a change in the near future. Paige just rules, that is all. Bo started to grow on me when he became more comfortable with being hated, and the Bo-lieve thing is pretty original.

I really don't know what to think about Rose yet. He's going to be mid-card anyway, but like Rusev, finishing matches with a vanilla move like the lariat (this isn't Japan, unfortunately, and that move isn't "over" in the States nearly as much) will only cause crowds to be underwhelmed, which is a bad thing.

Neville, as I've told people, needs more mic work...and there's another dilemma. Does he drop the belt to Corey Graves? Sami Zayn is the fan favorite, and him and Graves are feuding. Zayn could easily be called up at any time, and would be amazing to see him run against Cesaro again IF being paired with Heyman ever lends to a heel turn. So IMO, it would be logical to see Corey Graves as the next NXT Champion and let Neville soar like an eagle on the main roster.

There's also a problem with Ascension coming up soon. NXT will be without a tag team division. As it is now, it's Ascension vs. Whateverjobberstheypulloffthestreet...so they're kinda stuck in a corner on that one.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Generally speaking, NXT was probably the most consistently well booked wrestling program of 2013. They only have an hour each week but, most of the time, they make best of the limited time they've got.

The crowd seemed to be giving Rusev a bit of a hard time until he showed off a little. You know, chanting this or that in the middle of matches featuring guys they're not interested in. Rusev displayed a lot of both raw power and speed. After all, the big superkick looked great and the disinterested chanting suddenly stopped when they saw he wasn't just this big, lumbering bruiser.

By the way, is it just me or do Rusev and Lana remind anyone of Ivan Drago and his wife from Rocky IV? Rusev is referred to as a "super athlete" by Lana, which was a term I think was used in the dialogue of Rocky IV to describe Drago. Lana is this smokin' hot, charismatic blonde who does all the talking for him, just like Drago's wife in Rocky IV. Rusev is genuinely from Bulgaria and Lana is a Florida gal, though her accent's great, but that comparison is what popped into my head.

Paige has been main roster ready for quite some time and I'm hoping this is the start of a fresh beginning for the Divas.

Bo Dallas has improved a whole helluva lot since his brief appearance on the main roster last year. I doubt he'll ever be a top guy, but he can be used well.

I'm not so sure about Adam Rose. In some ways, he kind of puts me in mind of cross between Fandango and that character Russell Brand played in Get Him to the Greek. I'm not really expecting a whole lot from Rose to be honest. He isn't well known in America as he spent most of his career in his home country of South Africa, he's been in WWE developmental now for over 4 years and he turns 35 years old in about 3.5 months.

 

[Punk_Aries_Daniels_Bryan]

NXT is brilliance.

So far WWE has done moderately well with the talent the brought from NXT to the main roster. They've done good and bad with the talent, which I guess is understandable considering how many wrestlers they have. While some characters are being trashed in WWE, NXT is almost like .... a higher stage of ROH. Why?

Reason is the wrestling quality is GOOD. There is talented young men AND women that can become big in the WWE. We have second generation superstars such as Charlotte (daughter of Ric Flair), we've got (my personal favorite, and its not just because he is Canadian, eh?) Sami Zayn, who I see as somebody who will be as good as the likes of Eddie Guerrero. We've got Adrian Neville, who is simply stunning to watch. We've got Emma and Paige, who aren't DIVAS but WRESTLERS. They prove this in the ring. Corey Graves has a good future too.

The bad thing is, WWE sucks with handling talent on a main caliber scale. Wade Barrett became a bit irrelevant after the NEXUS angle. Most of the rest became serious nobodys who won't really achieve much in my opinion.

Heath Slater - 3MB
David Otunga - Legal Adviser or some crap
Michael Tarver - M.I.A
Darren Young - no offense but his sexual preferences got him buried
Justin Gabriel - the saddest case, he was on of the most talented guys ever

They couldn't handle Kaval (aka Lowkey) right, I guess he didn't get over with the crowd right, but he wasn't put in good matches anyways.

Ryback has had some success. Curtis Axel (WHO DESERVES SO MUCH MORE) became IC champ, lost it, and then paired up with Ryback and have been a part of the cult of misused talent.

The most successful guy out of NXT is Daniel Bryan. He isn't himself though, its like a complete different person. He isn't the American Dragon anymore. He isn't the famed Bryan Danielson that I LOVED TO WATCH anymore. He is just an odd looking gnome.

The Shield are doing great as well. WWE didn't drop the ball on these guys.

Bray Wyatt (formally known as Husky Harris) is getting a good push now.

They're screwing over Emma already. Pairing him up with Santino and making her act like an idiot. I guess you just have to focus less on ACTUAL TALENT and find ways to sell more merchandise and attract more audience nowadays. It is sad but the sad truth.

I'm scared for Alexander Rusev. I don't know if WWE can handle his character right. We saw the same thing from Vladamir Kozlov, and soon enough, Kozlov was having tea parties with Marella.

NXT is a great show to watch. I love it. As soon as they make the big league however, its all about merchandise sales and how many of your t-shirts people buy. If NXT becomes a 2 hour show, then maybe more talent can get time to shine, and/or some guys from WWE can go back down there and improve by working with these talented rookies.

 

[DMac84]

I haven't watched wrestling In a few years and just got back into it at WM30. I don't even know where to catch up... Last time I was watching, Daniel Bryan was the Miz's NXT rookie and NXT as a program was a total joke. I just bought the WWE network so I can go back and watch 2011-current content, and so far I have been watching the few NXT episodes they have on there. So far so good with the new NXT it's like, actual wrestling.... Which I haven't seen from a wwe product in a real long time!