Thursday, November 8, 2012

11/7/12 NXT

Ratings:
Kassius Ohno vs. Trent Barreta: *3/4

Big E Langston vs. Memo Montenegro: N/A (squash)

Luke Harper vs. Jason Jordan: N/A (squash)

Bo Dallas vs. Jinder Mahal vs. Justin Gabriel vs. Drew McIntyre (Elimination): **1/2
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Reviews/Thoughts:
Ohno and Barreta to start the show. Ohno with a unique use of the ring apron to stomp on Trent and deliver more punishment. Barreta with good fight in him throughout, throwing in a few decent counters. Ohno hits hard, that's for sure. Unfortunately, the crowd's just ridiculously dead. Was this the end of the taping session or something? Barreta with the missile dropkick, but Ohno avoids the knee. Trent runs right into a rolling elbow for three. It really coulda been at least two stars from me, but damn, that crowd needs to wake up.

Ohno wants to deliver another KO shot to the back of the neck but Trent ducks and hits a dropkick to send Ohno retreating.

Short taped promo to hype Graves. Lots of tattoos, reminds me of the stereotypical thug who's done time in prison. Graves has the words "STAY DOWN" on his knuckles. He has been on NXT before as Corey Graves, teaming with Jake Carter. Interesting that Graves (real name Matt Polinsky) is a professional piercer. He's got a good look, great upside.

Big E Langston faces Memo Montenegro (a.k.a. Del Rio's real-life younger brother). Poor Memo gets squashed in no time. Ref only counts three, but Langston (and the fans) want that five-count. So Langston does it himself. Crowd woke up here. Where was this last match?! Was this even the same crowd?!

Vickie Guerrero on the titantron saying she's put a $5,000 bounty on Langston. Vintage witch laugh. Wait, only $5,000? Vince offered a million bucks to Brad Maddox if he can win against Ryback next Monday. Money talks.

Some guy (Chad Baxter) tries to claim the bounty and gets squashed. Crowd chanting "Five!" So Baxter gets laid out.

Husky Harris...er, Bray Wyatt is back! He's been on the shelf for a while. Think a pastor who's high on drugs. Jason Jordan in the ring and he came to fight. Wyatt says he's a monster and he's never alone. Some tall, thick-bearded dude comes down, and somehow he reminds me of Eli Cottonwood. Seems like a makeshift match. Crowd is silent and probably confused as heck. Bossman slam gets three for this mystery man. Regal's right, he does look like he came out of swamp. Wyatt says the tall guy is Luke Harper, the "first son" of the Wyatt family. No rating from me. I'm probably just as confused as the next fan.

Saxton interviews Roman Reigns. Well, more like Reigns takes the mic and shoos Saxton away. Reigns says he's the man. OK, we get that. Some type of air signature gesture at the end. Nice suit. That really accomplished nothing.

#1 contender's fatal four way ends the show. It's an elimination match. Should be the match of the night by default, especially as Jim Ross joins the broadcast team. McIntyre and Jinder team up against Bo, even though they're not doing the 3MB thing for the tapings. Every man for himself! Nice to have Ross mention that four countries are represented here (five if you count that Jinder was born in Canada). Gabriel with great moves on McIntyre. Bo with the spear on Drew to send the Scotsman packing. Seconds later, Bo catches Gabriel with a spear to send the South African to the showers. Seth Rollins appears on the stage to see the finish. Gets physical with Jinder sending Bo hard into the steps. Bo goes for the spear later in the match, but his throat hits the second rope. Jinder with the camel clutch for the win. Good stuff.

Jinder then slaps on the clutch again, message directed at Rollins. Seth comes down, so Jinder goes to work on him. Jinder clutches and stares at that fugly belt, then Rollins gets shots in of his own to close the show. I actually wish Bo coulda won to get a new feud going, but he did look strong taking two guys out in mere seconds.

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