The Official WWE / NXT Discussion Thread *May Contain Spoilers*

[K-Nection]

In amongst all of this Cena talk, news has broken that he's missing the European tour and most November shows for "personal reasons".

 

Maybe Nikki is pregnant and he is personally going to drag her to the abortion clinic.

[Hashasheen]

She's working the shows while he's not so it's got nothing to do with her.

[Hive]

Maybe Nikki is pregnant and he is personally going to drag her to the abortion clinic.

 

Wow, that's dark.

[Big Roguey]

Wow, that's dark.

 

Pointlessly dark as well.

[crownsy]

Word on the various rumor sites is Carmella was injured in her match with Eva Marie last night.

 

For the sake of discussion, some reports are saying Eva booted the hell out of the back of her head during that "drape the ring apron over my opponent" move she does on the outside when she missed Carmella's shoulder and just kicked her in the back of the neck. Other sites are saying it happened after that, and was more carmella taking a bump wrong.

 

Personally I'm not gonna hold this one against Eva's ring work, they are both pretty Green and accidents happen. Plus, who knows which of the reports are right. The first sounds bad for Eva and paints her as an unsafe worker, the second puts it mostly on Carmella messing up taking a back bump.

 

Who knows, not a good look for Eva though.

[K-Nection]

Pointlessly dark as well.

 

Oh come on they devoted a whole episode of Total Divas on how much much John Cena detested the fact of having kids.

[Dawn]

Oh come on they devoted a whole episode of Total Divas on how much much John Cena detested the fact of having kids.

 

It's Vince. He could devote a whole episode of anything to Cena taking a shit.

[K-Nection]

It's Vince. He could devote a whole episode of anything to Cena taking a shit.

 

 

The ground work has been laid

[milamber]

Word on the various rumor sites is Carmella was injured in her match with Eva Marie last night.

 

For the sake of discussion, some reports are saying Eva booted the hell out of the back of her head during that "drape the ring apron over my opponent" move she does on the outside when she missed Carmella's shoulder and just kicked her in the back of the neck. Other sites are saying it happened after that, and was more carmella taking a bump wrong.

 

Personally I'm not gonna hold this one against Eva's ring work, they are both pretty Green and accidents happen. Plus, who knows which of the reports are right. The first sounds bad for Eva and paints her as an unsafe worker, the second puts it mostly on Carmella messing up taking a back bump.

 

Who knows, not a good look for Eva though.

 

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2015/10/2/9444467/carmella-injured-eva-marie-match-nxt-house-show-report

 

http://www.cagesideseats.com/2015/10/3/9444735/a-first-person-account-of-eva-carmella-at-nxt-nashville

 

There's also an account that Carmella seemed fine and was waving to fans after the show so it must mean it was a work despite Younger signalling with the X. It's not unheard of but if it's true is that really the type of heat they want Eva getting, people hating her with a passion because they think she's an awful wrestler and hurting her opponents? There were already "Please retire!" chants at the start of the match. It's typical of WWE to take this type of approach. Persisting with Eva as a wrestler is like throwing more money at a bad investment. I know she has a brand they want to milk but she's never going to be a good wrestler and she doesn't have the acting skills to be a valet. Total Divas is the only place for her to shine.

[Mootinie]

Well, last night's show sucked. I get that it was a glorified house show, but oh boy was that a poor show. Let's list the things that made no sense (warning: could be here a while)

 

• Sheamus delivering a Brogue Kick to Rusev. Why? Is this even gonna go anywhere?
  
• Everything about the Stardust vs. Neville rivalry - well, I call it a rivalry, it's not is it? It's a series of non-descript matches.
  
• Paige still teaming with Charlotte & Becky.
  
• Alicia Fox still having a job. Alicia Fox being in Team Bella. Just, Alicia Fox.
  
• The fact that somebody got paid to put together that Six Diva's Tag Team match. Just bear that in mind, Dean Malenko or somebody got paid actual money to put that together.
  
• Charlotte & Becky acting like heels for the finish to that match. Why are all WWE faces such bad people?
  
• Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho getting just eight minutes.
  
• Chris Jericho being protected in 2015.
  
• Big Show being perceived as a threat to Brock Lesnar despite coming out on the losing end of a feud with The Ryback and The Miz just a couple of months ago.
  
• The WWE World Heavyweight Champion fighting for the WWE United States Title... and losing... several times...
  
• Rollins not just climbing down the cage. So what if Kane's music has sounded, drop down and win the match you dolt. Who books this and thinks it's logical?
  
• Sheamus not even attempting to cash in after Kane had laid Rollins out.
  
• Basically everything about Rollins' booking.
  
• Everything about this show.
  

[Hive]

I really loved last night's show!

 

I personally feel it was below average, but okay...

[Teh_Showtime]

People are really overthinking a house show

 

It was miles ahead of the crappy raws so I was satisfied

[Mootinie]

I personally feel it was below average, but okay...

 

All that money and they are still capable of putting on a below average show, hahaha. How is that even possible? Just, yikes. 2.33 is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

Edit: Alright that was a crap response. I'm just grumpy because I stayed up until the early hours to watch this show and didn't enjoy it nearly half as much as the Beast In The East special they ran. I still maintain that it wasn't a house show though, this was a televised network special and I was overly optimistic in my assumption that maybe they wouldn't run the same old crap and would freshen things up a little. They didn't. Shame!

[smurphy1014]

[*]Charlotte & Becky acting like heels for the finish to that match. Why are all WWE faces such bad people?

 

I think this was in response to Paige bailing on Becky and Charlotte on Raw during their tag match with the Bellas & Fox.

[K-Nection]

Alicia Fox still having a job. Alicia Fox being in Team Bella. Just, Alicia Fox.

 

Honestly she is the only solid worker on the team....she is just booked the worst. Alicia Fox has had the shit end of booking for about 3 years now. She was sent to NXT for 2 years to train up the Divas. How do they thank her....they crap on her and it shows through her booking.

[milamber]

I enjoyed the house show and I was considering not watching it at all. The matches were entertaining enough. Owens & Jericho got stiffed time-wise which is a shame.

 

Honestly she is the only solid worker on the team....she is just booked the worst. Alicia Fox has had the shit end of booking for about 3 years now. She was sent to NXT for 2 years to train up the Divas. How do they thank her....they crap on her and it shows through her booking.

 

Foxy has all the basics down and she's experienced. But she never gets more than 2-3 minutes in the ring so it's hard to say if she's capable of putting on a good match or not. She's probably better than all the non-NXT divas bar Nikki and Natalya.

[djthefunkchris]

I enjoyed the house show and I was considering not watching it at all. The matches were entertaining enough. Owens & Jericho got stiffed time-wise which is a shame.

 

 

 

Foxy has all the basics down and she's experienced. But she never gets more than 2-3 minutes in the ring so it's hard to say if she's capable of putting on a good match or not. She's probably better than all the non-NXT divas bar Nikki and Natalya.

 

I have to agree with K-Nection. I've seen her do several NXT match's, helping and training the girls. Several have mentioned how helpful she has been. She's been around since OVW was the training facility, I think she has 9 years in now.

 

Another thing I've always thought she was great with is her characters, no matter what they throw at her. Perhaps that impresses me more to be honest. I can't think of anything she was just unable to act as. I think I like the crazy gimmick the best, in some ways better than Victoria did it.

[Teh_Showtime]

They trusted her to lead the women on tough enough through a match the same way they trusted Cesaro to lead the men, which says a lot.

 

Clearly she's not Cesaro but she was also the opponent Alexa Bliss made her debut against

[sebsy]

I'm not sure where I stand on Alicia Fox. I mean she is much improved now than where she was a few years ago, but I still find her a bit sloppy at times, and her Scissors Kick finisher she only gets right about 30% of the time and the rest it looks awful.

 

But then, like others have said, she only ever gets 3-4 minute matches.

 

I really do wish the Divas division could (be allowed to) flourish one day. They have missed some great opportunities and woefully used some class talent so for me it's hard to think they'll ever stop dropping the ball with the Divas.

 

I'd like to think Beth Phoenix would still be wrestling if she wasn't used so poorly, then think of the thriving division we could be witnessing now if they actually put proper time and thought in to it all.

 

Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Kharma, AJ Lee, Paige, Natalya, Charlotte, Sasha Banks. Then The Bella's, Becky Lynch, Bayley and other up and comers.

 

But it seems they can only book one feud at a time then the challenger gets totally dropped off the face of the earth for the next challenger, and that just repeats. They may be trying to do something by having the 3x3x3 feud they've been pushing of late but it really hasn't been done very well at all.

 

Well, this turned in to a fair old rant, but I always just get frustrated when I think of what the Divas division could actually be.

[K-Nection]

Honestly they have a 3 hour show and still find it hard to showcase their up and comers/divas. I think they need to dial back some of the Seth Rollins angles because they are in jeopardy of turning him into Triple H circa 2002-2005 which was not a good thing.

 

Also here is a recent Alicia Fox match that went 10+ minutes and was pretty damn solid

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djkNTY1TZyM

[Anderz]

I've said before that I only watch Network specials and NXT as far as current day WWE goes; so please correct me if Raw is actually watchable again.

 

But Raw being 3 hours still is criminal. I don't care how much extra money it brings in, or how much USA wants the three hour block of ratings - it's painful. You can't book a 3-hour weekly show (plus all the other TV they have) and not have a terribly stale product. Nitro couldn't do it during the hottest period in history so why do they still persist with Raw being three hours? It makes no sense creatively - and that has to have some say eventually no matter how much the financial benefit is.

 

My solution if they really need to have 3-hours on a Monday night is to have a lead in to Raw in the first hour - whether that's NXT or something else from the network. The downside is they would lose a 'draw' from the Network but it's got to be worth it if they can actually start booking good television again. And of course, better TV = more engaged fan base = more Network subscribers.

 

By all reports, Smackdown is just a rehash of Raw these days - so it's basically five hours of the same drivel each week. Time to freshen up I think.

 

Give Raw and Smackdown two hours each and give them both an identity - it doesn't have to be a full on brand split, the roster probably couldn't handle it. But make the focus of the two shows different. Pack Raw with star power and give the young guys a chance to shine on Smackdown - have the IC title as the defacto title on SD! - with maybe the Divas or Tag Teams on the undercard. Then on Raw you can have the WWE, US and anything else that's left. Give me a reason to watch either show, and I might even watch both.

 

Lead into Raw with the Monday Night War documentary or last week's NXT or a magazine show like This Week in WWE to recap the last week of TV; or air the pre-show. Something different at least.

 

What harm can it do? They've shown that no matter how poor the TV is they will still pull decent enough ratings so mix something up and try and actually do something good.

 

In general the PPV's or Specials or whatever have been good; the wrestling is generally the best in-ring it's been ever and barring some nonsensical booking decisions it's actually been enjoyable. The Live at MSG show was nothing special; again - pretty good in-ring work ruined slightly by odd, often ham-fisted, booking decisions that make me glad I don't invest five hours a week into this thing any more.

[milamber]

Smackdown is better than Raw even with the rematches because it has less filler and they've been paying attention to continuity lately. It helps that the former NXT head writer is in charge. There's talk of making Smackdown an A show again next year with the switch to USA so that should help.

 

What about putting the commercials between matches and segments on Raw instead of during matches? It would still be the same length show but they could drop at least half an hour of filler. My knowledge of US network TV is limited so I'm not sure if it's a viable option.

[Crychon]

Raw and Smackdown have had more lazily thrown together tag/six man tag matches in the past month than I ever remember.

 

I seriously feel like that's all there is every show now.

[Kitarzu]

At least before they got some sense...

 

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/i406/maximan99/94348048.jpg

[Blackman]

I kinda like the Kane vs Rollins storyline. It's cheesy and predictable but boy is it entertaining.

 

Along with the New Day antics and the diva revolution it creates a watchable product for me. But the Dudleys were a little overused this week, even though it made sense.