This feels like a pretty modern review for this blog, to be honest
Kevin Owens vs CJ Parker
I loved Owens looking dominant right from the start, as the people seeing him for the first time need to see why he's been getting so much hype. The big flip dive looked great, certainly better than the shitty spin kick that gives Parker an opening. Owens gets to look great by kicking out of Parker's (nose-breaking) palm strike, and the finishing sequence of a vicious pump-handle neckbreaker and a pop-up powerbomb give Owens a mighty debut win.
Lucha Dragons vs the Vaudevillains
The big problem with the replacement Sin Cara is that, if he felt a bit sluggish compared to the original Cara, he looks positively leaden next to a livewire like Kalisto. Cara did take a nice bump when he was pulled to the floor by Aiden English. I like the Vaudevillains as wrestlers, but they don't really wrestle in the gimmick. In-ring, they don't really feel like old school wrestlers. Compare them to blog-favourite Tyler Bate, who wrestles a similar gimmick but throws in airplane spins and fun power spots to augment his character. This was still fun, and Kalisto is perfect off the hot tag, just non-stop movement. English heroically saving Gotch from a two-man dive was odd, especially as Kalisto pinned Gotch seconds later.
Baron Corbin vs Tye Dillinger
Fun squash, as Dillinger bumped nicely for Corbin. Corbin has a face off with Bull Dempsey post-match. Still got no idea what anyone seem in Bull Dempsey, and the idea that someone decided to release Martin Stone and keep Dempsey seems absolutely insane.
The Ascension vs Hideo Itami & Finn Balor
Balor's entrance felt so bigtime, and you can tell he's not long for NXT. I loved the big flapjack Konnor gave Itami to give the Ascension the advantage, and Itami trying to battle out of the corner from the mat made him look great. Viktor is certainly the less exciting half of the Ascension, and things dragged a bit when he was in control, but the hot tag to Balor heated things up to a fever that didn't subside. Balor hitting an enzuigiri to send Viktor from the top rope to the floor was terrific, and the pop on Itami's GTS tease will only be beaten by the day he actually hits it. Even though Balor and Itami HAD to win, I totally bought into the Fall of Man tease, before the double footstomp wins it for the faces. Really fun match.
Charlotte vs Sasha Banks
Love the fact that Charles Robinson is the referee for this match. I really liked the sense of hatred at the start, with some trash-talking and some nice strikes. Banks hitting some vicious knees to a prone Charlotte in the corner looked great. Bank grounding Charlotte with submissions makes sense due to the size difference between the two, and the strength difference does get played up throughout the match. Charlotte is able to escape a figure-four headscissors by using her strength to hit an electric chair on Banks. Banks nails a nice dive to the floor, but is turned inside out by a huge spear from Charlotte. Just to rub in her genetic superiority, Charlotte lands on her feet on a missed moonsault and instead hits a flipping senton in a terrific spot. The end sees the size and strength factor come to the fore again, as Bank is unable to superplex Charlotte, who instead hits the Natural Selection from the top rope to win.
Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn
All the build-up to this match really feels big time. Neville looks really great in the opening sections, dominating Zayn on the mat by working the arm and looking really crisp throughout. He even seems to be showing off slightly, until getting caught in a Zayn backbreaker sends him outside to regroup. Though small, Neville is a little ball of muscle and his offence has enough snap to it that it enables him to work as heel and Zayn to work from beneath. Zayn's main strength is his heart, so he needs to hang in there before being able to take over on offence. A lovely sequence ends with a Zayn flip dive to the floor, but Neville still feels like he's one step ahead. Every time Zayn gets some momentum, Neville is able to shut him off quickly. Eventually, Zayn starts getting more into the match, but his all-round decency nearly backfires as he checks on the ref following a bump, and gets nailed by a Neville reverse rana for a nearfall. We get another ref bump as the Helluva kick hits the official in the head, and we get a slightly melodramatic morality play as Zayn debates hitting Neville with the title belt. He doesn't, and nearly pays for it again as Neville rolls him up for two, but the Helluva kick in the corner is enough for the three count and the title for Zayn. Really great match up, good logical story-telling, and Neville looked fantastic throughout.
No comments:
Post a Comment