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Official NXT Takeover: R Evolution Discussion Thread

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#1 ·
WWE NXT Takeover: R Evolution


NXT Championship
Adrian Neville(c) vs. Sami Zayn




NXT Women's Championship
Charlotte(c) vs. Sasha Banks




NXT Tag Team Championships
The Lucha Dragons(c) vs. The Vaudevillains




Hideo Itami & Finn Balor vs. The Ascension



And the NXT debut of Kevin Owens

:mark: :banderas :mark: :banderas :mark: :banderas :mark: :banderas :mark: :banderas

Discuss.​
 
#1,199 · (Edited)
That feeling I had after the show, where it felt like I just finished having sex. That high.

That's what a good wrestling show is supposed to do. It's the same feeling I got as a kid that made me a fan and I felt it last night. As a fan, I jizzed in my pants. That was an amazing event and my girlfriend watched this and she kept asking me ".... What are we looking at? How is THIS the same WWE?"

It is perplexing how shit RAW and SD can be but the lower budget, less experienced roster on NXT consistently take T-Rex shits on them. This felt on par with a late 90s, early 00s WWE show.

And let me say, the NXT crowd is so respectful and classy even for being a room full of smarks. Is this the new age smark that show their wrestling knowledge through chants yet act like casuals in terms of just letting themselves get lost in the show? Shutting down the Kenta chants and loudly chanting "HIDEO" was the best thing ever. The claps of respect during the women's match... jesus. I love Full Sail. This is how a WWE audience should be, and it makes me furious WWE doesn't market to college age kids because that's who makes up the NXT crowd.
 
#1,208 ·
That feeling I had after the show, where it felt like I just finished having sex. That high.

That's what a good wrestling show is supposed to do. It's the same feeling I got a kid that made me a fan and I felt it last night. As a fan, I jizzed in my pants. That was an amazing event and my girlfriend watched this and she kept asking me ".... What are we looking at? How is THIS the same WWE?"

It is perplexing how shit RAW and SD can be but the lower budget, less experienced roster on NXT consistently take T-Rex shits on them. This felt on par with a late 90s, early 00s WWE show.

And let me say, the NXT crowd is so respectful and classy even for being a room full of smarks. Is this the new age smark that show their wrestling knowledge through chants yet act like casuals in terms of just letting themselves get lost in the show? Shutting down the Kenta chants and loudly chanting "HIDEO" was the best thing ever. The claps of respect during the women's match... jesus. I love Full Sail. This is how a WWE audience should be, and it makes me furious WWE doesn't market to college age kids because that's who makes up the NXT crowd.
100% agree! I was about to kind of just stop watching wrestling again before this because WWE was really boring the hell out of me and I was just fast forwarding like 90% of the shows. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. This definitely made me remember that childhood euphoria I had after watching things like Undertaker and Mankind in a cage. Not similar matches at all, but they both gave me that same wrestling buzz I've been missing.
 
#1,231 ·
Ok the crowd first. It's totally an Indy crowd and they still act like an Indy crowd a lot. Sometimes on the TV tapings it really sucks but other times it really works. It's worked really well with the Indy guys that have come in because WWE's presented them as stars and because the crowd already know them they get reacted to like stars. The main event was great in part because the crowd were such an Indy crowd but the good king in being so behind Zayn. Some of the chants are annoying and they still cheer for heels who are doing nothing likeable. Sasha is like the least likeable person on the entire roster and they cheer for her because she was great at being unlikeable. The other issue is they're really not the optimum crowd for a developmental show because that's not really the audience they'll work in front of on the main roster. Ok I guess it is for some places but these guys will be over in the Chicago's of the tour anyway, what they need developing is working mainstream crowds who they aren't over in front of yet and NXT doesn't provide that. It's a catch 22 because do you sacrifice the good reactions that make a moment like last night for a better developmental experience?

That also leads into the issue that NXT is a shitty developmental platform for the main roster. What is is just Hunter trying to get his own brand over to the most vocal audience and I wouldn't be shocked if it's to stop stuff like the Bryan situation last year. Yes NXT is a great show but it's not meant to be a great show at the expense of it's core purpose which is to be a developmental system. Take the Womens matches for example. It's awesome that we get these matches because they deliver but what is the use really when none of them work this type of match on the main roster? They let guys develop these characters and then just lump them on Raw and forget about how they've developed them characters from scratch in front a different audience. It would be like signing The Young Bucks, debuting them straight on Raw and expecting everyone to know all their shtick. It's proven to be that way with the Women but as of yet Hunter hasn't really got one of his big signings onto the main roster from NXT so 2015 should be interesting in seeing how well the likes of Zayn and Neville are transitioned to the main roster. It's easier for them character wise than an Emma or a Bo because they don't need that explanation behind why the crowds reacted the way they did to them in NXT but it'll be interesting how big of a star they're presented as on the main roster and for how long compared to how they were in NXT. I guess even if the idea is Hunter is just giving Indy marks their own show to please them while he and Vince have their thing elsewhere then I should just enjoy it for what it was because it's a good wrestling show that keeps on delivering.

Steen's debut was great. He looked like a star even without the crowd reaction and I wasn't expecting him to carry himself like that much of a star. I think it's hilarious that WWE signed Drake Younger to be a referee and he had to put gloves on because there was a bit of blood. Probably should have been more of a squash but it was made redundant at the end.

Tag Titles match wasn't that good. Kallisto is good and maybe someday he'll be paired with guys he can have good matches with.

I don't know how good Corbin really is but shockingly when they protect two guys and book them strong I get excited for them facing each other.

Itami/Balor tag sucked quite honestly until the last few minutes. Ascension are just awful. I did like everything but pay attention to their heat segment. Balor's entrance was pretty. I hope they learn from other NXT guys than an entrance isn't enough but Balor is already over so they won't find out how well he can get over until he's on the main roster and then it's boom or bust. Same with Itami. Honestly they've haven't helped get Itami over at all since his debut and he played second fiddle to Balor way too much here. Let him be the lead for the next set of tapings because all he did was get beat up before the spotlight was put on Balor and he actually needs it more than Balor. GTS pop took me way by surprise and they actually fell pretty flat for the real finish after that didn't happen.

Charlotte/Sasha I thought was really good and on par with Charlotte/Natalya for the best NXT Divas match this year. Both of their character work is awesome and whoever is in charge of the Divas in NXT (I'm guessing mostly Sara Del Ray but might be someone else doing the character stuff) is awesome because all the pushed Divas in NXT are great in the ring and have great characters. Charlotte has IT in the ring. I wish I was good enough with words to articulately describe what IT is but she has it. She reminds me a lot of an 80's touring world champion in how she handles and presents herself. She's awesome at projecting that aura of a champion and making herself look great. Great timing at choosing when to sell for the heel and that's only when she's really down. Sasha slows down to strut and instead of doing what every geek would do and staying down Charlotte just gets up and says enough of this crap. That's the sort of stuff I'm talking about. Sasha's an amazing heel just like Summer was in NXT. See how pointless developmental is for these by how Summer has been used on the main roster despite turning into an awesome heel worker in NXT. Sasha's dislikeable and has great heel shtick which meant this match had the best heat segment of the night. Transitioned really well into the finish and they had a great back and forth finishing stretch. Both looked awesome.

Zayn/Neville as a stand alone match was very good but not great. As a story start to finish it was brilliant. I really wish WWE would just find a way to incorporate the Ole chants into Zayn's character because they just irk me. Not in a bad way but in a way that just makes me wonder what people who only watch WWE must think when they do that. "Jim, why the fuck do these guys keep chanting Ole at Zayn. I've gone back on the WWE Network and watched every single Sami Zayn segment and I just don't get it." It's probably a bit late now on NXT (and also irrelevant on NXT really) but please just do something as simple as rename his finisher after the Ole chant. Big picture wise pointless things like that shouldn't annoy me but they do (irk more than annoy actually but still). Match is obviously all about the drama in the last half. Neville's heat segment was pretty dry and they could obviously have a better shift-8's match if they wanted to. Ref was awful and probably hurts like heel right now which serves him right. On that note Charles Robinson reffed Charlotte's match which made me smile a lot. This ref gets his head legit knocked on the first bump (and Neville's). Ok that was a tough bump so fine. Second bump he doesn't time right and just lets Zayn kick Neville rather than getting in front of Neville. Oh and I fucking hate the dramatic referee recovery after a ref bump. He did this every single time. Oh and then Zayn legit smashes his boot into his face after the second bump which was hilarious. Thought the title belt stuff wasn't a total hit and lasted too long. Finish caught me a bit off guard because the helluva kick isn't the most dramatic finisher ever and I guess in the moment I was so used to it being the set up to his finish and not his actual finish. Just give him the regular brainbuster to follow the kick. Post match was wonderful and made this eclipse Mania 30 imo. EMOTIONS when Steen was the first out. So great. I don't if it was something that happened or me just seeing my own stories but Zayn seemed to be sceptical when Steen came in the ring and sorta backed up before he hugged him. Sami Callihan is alive which is cool guys. Pat Patterson was a nice touch but it wouldn't hurt to just bring a bunch of main roster babyfaces to the show to applaud Sami. Although in hindsight I think I would have had an EMOTIONAL CRISIS had Bryan come out and hugged him. Sami effing and jiving all over the place was odd and the muting was distracting. This was perfect...

... up until the Steen turn. I get why. Zayn only has so long left in NXT and they have no heels for him to face right now. Oh and of course NXT is just catering to the Indy audience while WWE caters to the other audience on the main roster so duh give them the hottest Indy feud of the past decade. I don't like it though. Execution wise great. I thought for sure it wasn't happening after anticipating it and it caught me so off guard. I just think it's lazy booking though and could take a bit of the shine off if/when they do it on the main roster. It's such a great story that now when they inevitably just redo it on Raw with the same angle it won't feel the same. Also you should really give us something between them two before you take it away. Ok I get that most of the people watching NXT know all about Steen/Generico but again, what about those who don't? I get that they can't do an one year build to this in NXT but there's a reason for that and it's because NXT is a developmental platform and not a show where you run big angles you should be saving for the main roster. I shouldn't moan too much about it because they'll have great stuff while it lasts in NXT but I really think they blew a money angle for the main roster all because they have this ass backwards need to make NXT a show that can compete with Raw.

Oh and I don't know if I just never paid attention to it before or what but Sami Zayn has the best babyface music ever (of course he does right).
 
#459 ·
Fucking LOL! "Marking Out" chant

:ti
 
#940 ·
I'm keeping my eye on Owens until this damn thing goes off............
 
#1,020 ·
 
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#1,027 ·


Here we go again.......:mark:
 
#1,182 ·
I secretly never said this, but was wondering about this. The future of announcing and how we got these non character guys in wrestling.

Corey Graves is good on the mic and so is A-Ry, one of these 2 I wouldn't be surprised if 1 of these 2 become Jesse The Body Ventura. And that would be fucking awesome.

I'd bet Graves can be that guy. Unfortunate ending to 1 of his dreams but doesn't mean he can't succeed his next calling in wrestling.
 
#1,216 ·
Just finished watching and emotional roller coaster would be an understatement. That whole show was incredible, just INCREDIBLE.

I honestly can't remember the last time an ending to a wrestling match gave me that feeling of just complete and total bliss, I mean Pat Patterson was freaking there and Solomon Crowe and Owens and everything.

:JLCsad

I knew most of us thought an Owens attack was coming, but hell did they make it seem convincing it wasn't actually going to happen. Shocked, happy, angry, sad. Emotionally drained is what I am. Awesome, awesome stuff.

Does anyone know if Sami is actually still alive after that :cry
 
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