Thanks to Zach Dominello for sending in the following:
The Good, The Bad, And The Wrestles: WWE NXT 1/29/14 TV Report
by Zach Dominello
Twitter: @fancy_less
William Regal, Tom Phillips and Alex Riley on commentary, in order of good to bad to awful.
The Bad: The Ascension vs Two Local Guys: Mike Q??? and Ike Ocarina of Time, Maybe.
Viktor looks like an evil Elf in that blue lighting. Very basic squash match over two local guys. The announcers mentioned their names but I couldn't catch them. I think one of them is a Nintendo 64 game.
The Ascension got the win with their Fall of Man double team finisher.
The Bad: Come on, announcers! Give the American Pitwolves a break.
During the bout, one of the non-Regal announcers took a little dig at The American Pitbulls (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) by noting that The Ascension had issued a worldwide challenge which The American Pitbulls accepted, and were then beaten handily by The Ascension. I wouldn't say it was handily. They were beaten, but it wasn't a squash match like this match was. I guess that's one rematch we'll never get to see.
Next up was backstage segment with Sylvester Lefort holding job interviews (or auditions) for the position of…wrestler, I guess.
The Bad: I'm afraid you're not quite what we're looking for, Cal Bishop.
Cal Bishop, all-American wrestler and 2-time something champion. Did he say 2-time actual champion? Better than 2-time fictitious Champion, I suppose.
Cal Bishop was unsuccessful in his interview with Lefort due to a major case of cauliflower ear. Bad luck. But don't give up, Cal. There's a job out there for you somewhere.
The Bad: Corey Graves vs. The Microphone
Corey Graves is back after receiving a concussion during his 2 out of 3 falls match with Adrian Neville, according to the announcers. Also according to the announcers, Corey Graves is a grungy, filthy James Dean. Fair enough. Basically his message to the WWE Universe was to stay tuned for his message to the WWE Universe.
Corey Graves vs. Camacho
Very quick match with Camacho tapping out to Grave's Lucky Thirteen submission. This was too quick to be good or bad.
Bonus Bad: Corey Grave vs. Skinny Jeans
Winner: Nobody
Backstage Devin Taylor interviewed Antonio Cesaro.
The Good: Antonio doesn't care who you are, Devin.
Cesaro started the interview by saying “Hey Deborah”. Fantastic!
Deborah asked why he refused Sami Zayn's challenge to a 2 out of 3 falls rematch. Cesaro was dumbfounded as to why he had to explain himself. But then he explained himself. It's because he already beat him. Fair enough. After explaining himself he asked himself why he just explained himself to Deborah. Good question.
The Bad: Interview #2 with Sylvester Lefort
This time he interviewed a big blonde guy with an accent. I couldn't understand what he said when he gave his name to Lefort. Anyway, he gave Lefort an awkwardly long handshake. When asked if he was there for the audition, he responded “What audition”? And then left. OK then. I guess he's a maybe.
The Good: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks
Renee Young joined the announce team for this match and instantly dissed Alex Riley. Bonus points for her.
Natalya accompanied Bayley to the ring. Good match between the two. Sasha is definitely improving in the ring. Bailey is great. The way she tightens her hair tie before climbing up the turnbuckles is very endearing. Charlotte tried distracting Bayley on the ring apron, but Nattie pulled her down. Sasha tried rolling Bayley up after the distraction. Bayley kicked out and then hit Sasha with her Belly to Bayley Suplex for the win.
The Bad: Alex Riley vs. Speaking English
Alex Riley is not great at commentating.
The Good: Colin Cassidy vs. Tyler Breeze
Tyler is very over in the Full Sail Arena. Colin Cassady is pretty popular too. S-A-W-F-T SAWFT. I love it. Tyler breeze spent about five hours taking selfies before the match started. Then he got out of the ring and shouted that he was not in fact, SAWFT. Big Cass then got out of the ring, borrowed a fan's camera and took a bunch of selfies. Is this match ever going to start? Funny stuff though. Match finally got underway. Big Cass is pretty good as a trash talking big man. Aiden English appeared on the TitanTron. After getting Colin Cassady's attention, English entered a room where Enzo Amore was talking on the phone with a female beneficiary? Aiden closed the door behind himself after entering. What happened next depends on how dirty your mind is. Breeze used the distraction to hit The Beauty Shot for the win.
The Good: We ain't playing chess, we're talking Balderdash.
After the break, Big Cas was trying to find Enzo Amore to make sure he's OK. Turns out English only threatened Enzo.
Enzo and Colin's back and forth is the best. I could watch them talk about what games they like to play forever. Connect Four. How ya'doin'?
The Bad: CJ Parker vs. The Miz
The Miz reminds William Regal of Kermit, but without the talent. Thank God for Regal. So we have a match between two guys that nobody wants to see.
Tom Phillips, CJ P is not the best nickname. Or is it?
Miz got CJ P to tap to the Figure Four Leglock. Short match, in a good way.
After the match there's an NXT backstage exclusive with Sami Zayn. He wanted Cesaro to come to the ring the following week to say “no” to Zayne, face to face.
The Bad: Interview #3 with Lefort.
This time Mason Ryan came fo rthe interview. Mason Ryan said he would take the job, if Lefort wrestles him the following week. That's not the way you get a job, Mason Ryan.
The Good: Bo Dallas/Adrian Neville NXT Championship Match Contract Signing
Renee Young in the ring to bring out Neville and Bo. Neville came out, but when Bo's music hit he didn't come out. Neville signed the contract anyway. Bo eventually came out and asked Neville to watch him in an unscheduled match against Danny Burch.
Bo was very intense and very focused on Neville during the match. No offense for Burch. “Boring” chants from the crowd. Bo hit a Double Underhook DDT for the win.
After the match, Bo signed the contract and then hit Neville with a cheap shot before leaving the ring. Before he could go too far, Neville hit Bo with a dive between the ropes. The two continued to brawl up the entryway until the show went off the air.
Another good show. NXT continues to be the best weekly wrestling show around.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
