NXT 6/10/15

[EmperorWu]

What did you guys think of this episode? I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Ryder and Mojo had a fun match. Mojo annoys the shit out of my but he actually impressed. He's gotten better and did some cool moves that fit his character well. They had a fun moment in the crowd after their match which was cool. The fans seemed to really like it.

Finn's vignette looked kind of crappy, but at least it's some kind of character development, and it advertises Japan.

Danna Brooke had a decent vignette. I still find her face annoying.

Emma vs Blue Pants was ok. I like heel Emma.

Enzo had a good promo. I always welcome a Fresh Prince of Bel Air promo. Cass was good too. Carmella sucks.

Breeze and Bull had a fun match. I never thought I would say this but I like Bull now. His new character is amusing and he cut a great promo. He tried so hard not to laugh when Regal called him flower.

Lynch had a ok match with Jesse. It will be interesting to see what Jesse can do. She's really good looking and looks like she might be able to go in the ring.

I like Chad Gable, he has a corny sense of humor and so do I. He has a little of that Kurt Angle goofiness.

Corbin did something. I seriously zoned out. That guy sucks.

Joe had a pretty good squash match. KO was good on the mic. Dawson showed some character which was surprising. The after match promo was pretty good by KO. Overall a decent end to the show.

[Hanley!]

I actually haven't watched NXT yet this week, and I'm not even sure if I'm going to. NXT sucks nowadays. It's been a long time since this was actually a good show. The only thing making it better than Raw is that it's shorter. This is a show where nothing happens, where there are never any stories, where we see a bunch of squash matches every week. And where really only one character is being used to their fullest potential: that being Kevin Owens.

I'm getting really sick of NXT. I liked it a lot when I started watching it last year, but this year it's been pretty bad. I like some of the women's division stuff, but even those feuds leave something to be desired. I just enjoy the division because it's taken seriously and because there's some great talent in it. Most of the men's stuff has been extremely boring, and there's only been one tag team feud and they're spinning their wheels in a big way with that one.

It seems like maybe NXT got popular and then Vince McMahon or some of the other "top writers" from the rest of WWE started getting involved in the show and ended up ruining it. I hope they turn things around soon. I do still enjoy the Takeover specials quite a bit, but it's looking more and more like NXT peaked at R-Evolution.

[EmperorWu]

Damn Hanley speaks the truth.

I didn't want to admit it, but I've been feeling that way for a while. I wanted to think I was just spoiled and wasn't appreciating the show anymore. However the truth is besides some solid matches here and there the quality has gone down quite a bit. It doesn't help that they have the same old tired bits and push them non stop. Corbin's endless squash matches. Enzo's 20 minute, never changing intro. Aside from the top matches you can always guess who's going to win considering they always have NXT talent vs random jobber, as you already mentioned. I guess that's why I enjoyed so much that they did something with Bull, and that Gable guy. They haven't really given us too much storyline or characterwise recently.

It might also explain why the NXT discussion has died down from long posts from a lot of people, to basically nothing for weeks.

[Str8Shooter]

Yeah Hanley speaks the truth sadly. NXT's reputation is what is saving it and keeps people thinking it's good at this point. That and the fact the Live specials have really good matches that make people believe the weekly shows are better than they are. There's just so much that doesn't matter, hell on a per minute basis there might be more boring stuff on NXT than Raw at this point.

I don't understand why they have so many squash matches. Baron Corbin has to have squashed 50 people by now, do something else with this guy. The fans don't like him anymore anyway, turn him full heel.

Zayn and Itami missing in action and Owens likely counting down his NXT days left, means the roster is only going to get thinner too. They need to get some of the new blood in action.

It seems like maybe NXT got popular and then Vince McMahon or some of the other "top writers" from the rest of WWE started getting involved in the show and ended up ruining it. I hope they turn things around soon. I do still enjoy the Takeover specials quite a bit, but it's looking more and more like NXT peaked at R-Evolution.

I don't think Vince has anything to do with it. I think NXT has always had elements of this but with the depth of the roster getting tested and complacency setting in with the same feuds and matches starting to get saturated, this was almost inevitable.

[Tom]

I actually haven't watched NXT yet this week, and I'm not even sure if I'm going to. NXT sucks nowadays. It's been a long time since this was actually a good show. The only thing making it better than Raw is that it's shorter. This is a show where nothing happens, where there are never any stories, where we see a bunch of squash matches every week. And where really only one character is being used to their fullest potential: that being Kevin Owens.

I'm getting really sick of NXT. I liked it a lot when I started watching it last year, but this year it's been pretty bad. I like some of the women's division stuff, but even those feuds leave something to be desired. I just enjoy the division because it's taken seriously and because there's some great talent in it. Most of the men's stuff has been extremely boring, and there's only been one tag team feud and they're spinning their wheels in a big way with that one.

It seems like maybe NXT got popular and then Vince McMahon or some of the other "top writers" from the rest of WWE started getting involved in the show and ended up ruining it. I hope they turn things around soon. I do still enjoy the Takeover specials quite a bit, but it's looking more and more like NXT peaked at R-Evolution.

Pretty much this. I honestly feel as if nothing has happened since Takeover. Fair enough, we will finally get to see Joe vs Owens next week but I don't think much has really been built to make me excited for this match other than the fact that it is two guys that are facing each other with big reputations. And that is pretty much everything that has happened since Takeover. Blake and Murphy/Big Cass & Enzo are still in the same position, as is Bailey/Emma/Charlotte/Dana. It took until this week to finally capitalise on Becky Lynch's awesome performance at Takeover, and it pretty much consisted of a match that meant nothing. There has been no advancement with Baron Corbin, he is still doing the same stuff over and over. Everything either feels the same or characters just seem to be in a worse place than they were before Takeover.

Time constraints is probably part of the reason for this but also being able to book a show so that characters are doing different things and put in different situations would help. Coming up with more interesting ways to develop and continue feuds would also help. The problems aren't just down to time constraints is what I am trying to say.

Also, I really hope they do more to make Kevin Owens vs Finn Balor more meaningful once this angle with Joe is over. I get the feeling they will end up promoting this match on the main roster, and having Owens & Balor appear on the main shows given that the show is a WWE special as opposed to an NXT one.

On a side note as well, I would just like to say how much I hate Samoa Joe's WWE theme. The beginning of it sounds awesome, and somewhat menacing. But then after about five seconds and when the main part of the tune kicks in it sounds bloody awful. It doesn't fit Joe's character at all. Hopefully they change it in the near future!

[Georgerv]

I still look forward to NXT each week, but I have to agree at this point it's not for the show itself but the wrestlers on it.

I would be hard pushed to call the show boring though, for one you only get to see most wrestlers every two weeks which makes it difficult to feel bored of them and gives the show a (false) feeling of freshness each week.

Another problem they seem to have, is the issue that Heyman would describe from his time in I think OCW, that the wrestlers there are waiting to be called up, meaning that at a moments notice they have to change plans because someone's needed on the main roster. That's lead to the fact that most of people's favorite indy stars have either been called up/are being called up, and the others are out injured. The shows losing a lot of the relative start power it used to rely on when they had no time to build stories.

The Women's division is still great, and the tag division has half a storyline going for it at the moment. For me though the big big problem currently is that the NXT champ is in a program on Raw, which while great for Owens, it doesn't matter how often he puts over the NXT title being important, the fact is we're getting pretty weak storylines on the actual NXT show surrounding the "most important championship" because the focus is on his Raw feud with Cena. When the main title/guy on your show's focus is elsewhere, it leaves the show feeling directionless, and the whole distraction from this by bringing in Joe isn't really enough. (Though the match should be awesome)

I still like NXT and certainly look forward to it more than most other shows every week, but it is losing the goodwill it earned over the last year or so


Oh and while I love that there's a lively crowd, I wish they'd shut the fuck up every once in a while. It's like they've forgotten how to cheer/boo and have to put everything they're feeling into an unnecessary chant.