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

[milamber]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Jaysin" data-cite="Jaysin" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Smackdown was a good show. Probably the best Smackdown in quite awhile. Too bad it’ll probably go back to a suckfest next week. <p> </p><p> With so much quality wrestling every week it’s hard to keep up with Raw and Smackdown when they’re subpar programming.</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> European tour starts in a few days so it'll probably be SD invading Raw then phoned-in shows until they get back. I hope I'm wrong.</p>

[Astyn]

Not a big fan of the NXT invasion leading into Takover because i thought Shayna was in the middle of a feud with Rhea and Dakota Kai? But now theyre working together i guess which makes me not keen to watch their takeover match

[Jaysin]

<p>Watching Raw, Dio made a One Piece reference during Kabuki Warriors vs Charlotte and Nattie.</p><p> </p><p>

I knew I liked him for a reason</p><p> </p><p>

*edit*</p><p>

Jerry Lawler is freaking awful. Why does he have a job?</p>

[Jaysin]

Watching NXT. I can’t believe Damien Priest has grown on me. I despised him in ROH.

 

Angel Garza could potentially be WWE’s next big star.

[milamber]

<p>- NXT getting the main roster 3rd brand treatment. Styles on NXT is something I never thought would happen.</p><p>

- Dunne vs Priest was great.</p><p>

- Conti vs Santana was solid.</p><p>

- Dakota vs Shayna was good. The leg work made me cringe (in a good way). Poor Dakota. Yim going ham with the kendo stick was fun.</p><p>

- Nese vs Garza was great. The pants powerbomb spot was comedy genius.</p><p>

- Swerve vs Dijakovic was great.</p><p>

- The OC vs Ciampa, Riddle & Lee was great. Sick ref bump. Good pops for Finn and Cole.</p><p> </p><p>

I wasn't expecting much from this show but all of the important matches delivered.</p>

[Jaysin]

<p>Man the Wednesday Night Wars are producing the best wrestling in North America in years.</p><p> </p><p>

The Finn/AJ moment was bad ass.</p>

[Jaysin]

Sin Cara asked for his release. Hopefully they grant it.

[Greylocke]

Man, why is it that most wrestling companies never get sick of doing faction wars? It's already occupying all the major brands with the SvS build, can't they at least keep that stuff out of NXT UK? Really not into this Imperium vs Gallus feud. Ilja Dragunov being the only face in this whole story certainly doesn't help. :/

[milamber]

- Garza vs Rush © was a great.

- Xia Li vs Aaliyah was OK.

- I'm enjoying the War Games build. Riddle is a good replacement for Gargano against Balor. Lee vs Strong vs great.

- Swerve vs Reed was solid.

- Priest/Dain/Dunne brawl was fun.

- Yim vs Io ladder match was great. Do they normally have 3 referees for these matches? Credit to Mia for finishing and taking another huge bump with a busted nose. I was wondering which show Kay Lee Ray would turn up on. I thought Dakota might go rogue and grab the briefcase for herself LOL. Bayley finally getting one over Shayna on NXT was perfect.

 

It's pretty stupid having War Games the day before Survivor Series with some of the NXT talent having to pull double duty.

[MightyDavidson]

- Garza vs Rush © was a great.

- Xia Li vs Aaliyah was OK.

- I'm enjoying the War Games build. Riddle is a good replacement for Gargano against Balor. Lee vs Strong vs great.

- Swerve vs Reed was solid.

- Priest/Dain/Dunne brawl was fun.

- Yim vs Io ladder match was great. Do they normally have 3 referees for these matches? Credit to Mia for finishing and taking another huge bump with a busted nose. I was wondering which show Kay Lee Ray would turn up on. I thought Dakota might go rogue and grab the briefcase for herself LOL. Bayley finally getting one over Shayna on NXT was perfect.

 

It's pretty stupid having War Games the day before Survivor Series with some of the NXT talent having to pull double duty.

 

Logically War Games would be perfect FOR Survivor Series, wouldn't it?

[milamber]

[Blackman]

Man, why is it that most wrestling companies never get sick of doing faction wars? It's already occupying all the major brands with the SvS build, can't they at least keep that stuff out of NXT UK?

 

Too bad the WWE games don't follow suit. I'm not really watching anymore, but based on the youtube tidbits they are doing the same "Invasion" angles every year. That does sound boring, even if NXT is involved now. Sometimes there doesn't even seem to be a pop when people 'invade' from ringside. Maybe they should go for a "Best vs Best" angle next year where there's qualification matches, and fill it up with crossbrand grudge matches. You can have the title defenses headline the weekly shows.

 

But as talent seems to be poppin' up at the other show often, what does it really mean anyway?

[milamber]

The best part of an average SD.

 

[Greylocke]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Blackman" data-cite="Blackman" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Too bad the WWE games don't follow suit. I'm not really watching anymore, but based on the youtube tidbits they are doing the same "Invasion" angles every year. That does sound boring, even if NXT is involved now. Sometimes there doesn't even seem to be a pop when people 'invade' from ringside. Maybe they should go for a "Best vs Best" angle next year where there's qualification matches, and fill it up with crossbrand grudge matches. You can have the title defenses headline the weekly shows.<p> </p><p> But as talent seems to be poppin' up at the other show often, what does it really mean anyway?</p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Well, the one I was complaining about wasn't an invasion story. I heard that NXT UK guys did get involved in the cross-brand wars on the other shows, but thankfully I'm not watching those. They are, however, doing another stable vs stable feud within NXT UK itself, and I'm not looking forward to it. The fact that both stables are heels doesn't help.</p><p> </p><p> ****</p><p> </p><p> Anyway, this week's UK was a great show, although I probably won't like the next one too much since i imagine they'll continue the stable war story then (there was only a recap video for it this past episode). That's what's good about 1-hour shows. Even if the World Champion is involved in a story that you don't enjoy at least you only have to see it on alternate weeks. 3 great matches this past week, all of whom I enjoyed highly. I don't like Conners interfering in the Ligero/Banks match, though. I'm fine with his promo about being bitter over not being featured on Takeovers, but Ligero and Banks haven't actually had the best of luck in that area either. It would have made more sense for Conners to target guys who were actually featured all the Takeovers, but I guess they were either too busy with stable wars or getting involved in NXT North America.</p>

[milamber]

Ohno vs Bate was the best match I saw last week in wrestling.

 

This week's Raw had some good matches but all these constant run-ins to build to Survivor Series are getting repetitive. Between that and the build to War Games in NXT, I don't know who's on what team. They have gone overboard with the chaos and I now just what some clarification. Having said that, I usually don't give a toss about SS so the inclusion of NXT has gained my interest.

[milamber]

<p>- Becky vs Rhea was good except when they did the PIP commercials.</p><p>

- Ricochet vs Riddle and everything after it was good. Ricochet's crossbody to Cesaro over the barrier was awesome.</p><p>

- Revival vs Era was a tag team classic. Someone getting busted open is becoming a regular ocurrence.</p><p>

- The Women's War Games promo was hype!</p><p>

- KLR vs Dakota was good. Massive brawl and Nikki comes out on top!</p><p>

- Viking Raiders vs Forgotten Sons was good.</p><p>

- Dijakovic vs Cole was good. I marked out for Lee powerbombing Drew. Rollins you scummy bastard. Ciampa!</p><p> </p><p>

Where RAW and SD are struggling to build to a single PPV, NXT managed to put on a fantastic show while building to 2 PPVs at the same time.</p>

[milamber]

<p>Hype video for the NXT Women's War Games match. One of the best since the Miz (Hate Me Now) one from Mania 27, IMO.</p><p> </p><p>

<a href="https://twitter.com/poppy/status/1198073281217101824" rel="external nofollow">https://twitter.com/poppy/status/1198073281217101824</a></p>

[Jaysin]

War Games was good. Both War Games matches delivered in a big way. The air raid siren off the top of the cage was brutal.

[milamber]

Swerve vs Garza - Solid match after a shaky start. *** 1/4

Women's War Games - Great match with a combination of satisfying spots and storytelling. Dakota heel turn was awesome. Ripley and Io are stars. Ripley better beat Shayna for the title and feud with Dakota soon. **** 3/4

Priest vs Dain vs Dunne - Great match but went a little longer than needed. ****

Riddle vs Balor - Great match but both are capable of better. ****

Men's War Games - Great match. The finish was legit scary. With no titles on the line it was the perfect match for Era to lose. I predicted Black to be the 4th man but Owens was probably the better choice. **** 3/4

 

This rarely ever happens but I can't pick a favorite match. I loved both WG matches for different reasons.

[Jaysin]

Dumb brand loyalty crap aside, Survivor Series was a solid show.

[milamber]

Entertaining but ultimately meaningless show. Women's SS match was too spotty with not enough team offense and NXT cheating to win was unecessary. Asuka misting Charlotte was the highlight. Men's SS match was better but WALTER being eliminated first was bad. Bryan vs The Fiend was ruined by the terrible red lighting. Becky vs Shayna vs Bayley was solid but nothing special. Poor way to follow up the great Women's War Games match. Brock vs Rey was fun. Dunne vs Cole, Styles vs Roddy vs Namakura and the Tag Team Triple Threat were my favorite matches. The crowd seemed a bit subdued overall but NXT got a lot of pops and chants. I think it was smart to put over NXT strong. Raw and SD are already established brands with the mainstream audience but NXT isn't yet.

[Derek B]

<p>My abbreviated thoughts from an overall very good weekend of wrestling...</p><p> </p><p>

4 matches on NXT and they were all great, with the women's Wargames match in particular being my highlight of the weekend. Great mix of storytelling, well built talent and star making performances for Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley.</p><p> </p><p>

Survivor Series was also a lot of fun but went on too long overall and the crowd clearly agreed as they got quieter of the course of the night. Glad to see NXT being put over strong as a hungry brand full of talent we don't all yet know about, so that was good.</p><p> </p><p>

The men's survivor series elimination match was the worst match of the weekend IMO, just some seriously questionable booking choices that made very little sense... and as with every year for SS.... why does no one ever come in to break up falls when their team mates are being pinned? It's like people forget how to do tag team wrestling and it hurts the flow of all these matches for me.</p><p> </p><p>

But still a fun weekend overall, I had fun watching. <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Questlove]

**** Corey Graves.

[Derek B]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Questlove" data-cite="Questlove" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="25169" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>**** Corey Graves.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> This post goes against forum rules for insults/swearing but this is all I'm going to say about it for now. <img alt=":)" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/smile.png.142cfa0a1cd2925c0463c1d00f499df2.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> I also don't know why you're making it since I've not seen any news of Corey Graves or any posts discussion it. So please clairfy what you are talking about and why, because vague posting is just unnecessary and unhelpful. <img alt=":p" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

[Mammoth]

Graves threw a lot of shade at Mauro Ranallo on Twitter during his performance at NXT TakeOver: WarGames III and people think that's why Ranallo didn't appear at Survivor Series as advertised, and why he deleted his Twitter account.