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LIVE THOUGHTS FROM LAST NIGHT'S WWE NXT TAPING

By AT Swiss on 2014-07-18 10:10:12
I really enjoy the postgame shows Mike Johnson and Richard Trionfo do for NXT. In fact, NXT may be the most fun wrestling show I watch right now.

I attended tonight's NXT tapings, which was the second taping I've attended this year. I figured I would send along a live perspective. I don't have full results since I didn't bother to write them all down. I hope my perspective is useful.

First off, I do enjoy these shows live. The arena is nice and there really isn't a bad seat in the house. And for 10 bucks, its an incredible value.

I've seen The Ascension live a couple of times. They absolutely have main roster potential, but it's hard to judge with all the squashes. If WWE is smart, they would send them on the road and work with Cody and Goldust for a bit. If they do that and maybe spice up their entrance a bit, they could have a cool tag team for the main roster.

There's X-Pac heat. There's Batista heat. And now I can add to the list. I give you Eva Marie heat. The crowd absolutely detested her presence live. She might stand a chance if her in ring work could ever match her looks. She is very pretty, but she should not be wrestling in wront of a live crowd. They would need to invent a new shade of green to compare her ring skills to. She's just bad and it's plain as day to see in a live environment.

Speaking of X-Pac heat, CJ Parker has it. He had a match with Xavier Woods that went on far too long for his skills to hold up to and the crowd really didnt want him there. I don't know if there's main roster potential there for him.

They started a tag team tournament to find the Ascension number 1 contenders. There were surprisingly few makeshift teams, although the Adam Rose/Sami Zayn team is quite makeshift. If they actually put some work into the division, they might have some good competitiveness. At least it can get some new guys tv time.

Seeing Sin Cara with Kalisto makes it clear which one has the better upside. Kalisto is dynamic and he makes Sin Cara look painfully slow in comparison.

The women's action was actually quite good. Thankfully, they've dropped Becky Lynch's river dancing and gave her a better looking entrance. She and Charlotte had a solid match. So did Bayley and Sasha Banks. They're on to something special with Bayley. She might be the third most over face behind only Zayn and Neville.

Bull Dempsey finally got a good reaction. All he had to do was beat up Mojo Rawley. I admit, I dont see much in either of them. I think Dempsey is bland and not quite big enough in either muscle or girth to pull off the monster thing. And Rawley, if he ever makes the main roster, is destined to be the next Ricky Ortiz. Hes just so limited and I don't know that he can translate to the big show.

The main event was the title match between Tyler Breeze and Adrian Neville. Solid match, ending with a Tyson Kidd run in. Sami Zayn made the save, which led to a really strange couple of minutes. Zayn kept calling for the mic and the production guy kept saying no and pointing to his headset. This argument went on for a minute or two. Zayn also tried handing the NXT belt back to the referee who wouldn't take it. Finally, Zayn got jn the center of the ring, looked at the belt, gave it back to Neville and was finally given a mic. He made a tag match that he and Neville won. I would imagine the tag match will make air, but I'm not 100 percent certain that it wasnt a dark match main event.

Afterwards, Bray Wyatt came out to a HUGE reaction, laid out Kidd and Breeze and then gave an impassioned speech thanking the NXT crowd for helping make him and how grateful he was to be back there in front of that crowd. It was awesome to see and that man may be the best mic worker in WWE today. His future in WWE should be as a face, as long as it isnt the baby kissing kind. Let him fight the bad guys and keep doing what he's doing and WWE has something special going on.

Overall, a great night. Big pops for Zayn, Adam Rose, Wyatt, and Bayley. Tyler Breeze gets good heel heat but a lot fans popped for him too. He's over, just the crowd hasnt picked a side on him right now. Good heat for Charlotte and the crowd really gets into digging at Tyson Kidd. He's really nailing it as a heel.

My only disappointment is with the merchandise. It's time to get some new stuff in. The only current NXT talent with shirts are Zayn, Neville, Breeze, Rawley, Ascension and Enzo/Cassady. They are still selling Paige and Adam Rose shirts. It couldnt hurt to get in shirts for Kidd, Bayley, Charlotte, maybe the Vaudevillains (who are very over), Kalisto, and a better Tyler Breeze shirt.

I was surprised not to see William Regal on commentary tonight. Also, no Alexa Bliss. Also surprised that Adrien Neville really isn't hugely over. He's got talent, but the crowd just isn't that hot for him. I'm not sure why really.

Thanks for reading. Hope it's useful stuff. I love the site and its the best money I spend in a year. Keep up the good work.

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