BRM Reviews the 5/1/2014 NXT

[Big Red Machine]

TRIPLE H PROMO- He says that “it is like NXT is taking over the world,” which sounded horribly stupid. This stupid phrase was used to justify the equally stupid name of the next live two hour NXT special, Takeover, which will take place on May 29th,

BO DALLAS vs. TYSON KIDD- 6.5/10
Bo has new music and a new TitanTron, which work perfectly with his character.
The fans chanted “TOTAL DIVAS!” for Tyson Kidd. They also sang the Bray Wyatt song and “Ole!” There also appear to be pro-Bo chants. That disturbs me most of all. They were all over his case by the end, though, and Bo was very angry with them.
Tyson’s push continues while, for some reason, WWE seems to think that the best way to prepare Bo for a main roster debut is to job him out.

CAMACHO & ADAM ROSE SEGMENT- bad
Camacho claims to throw the best parties in the WWE. If he throws the best parties in the WWE, why were he and Hunico upset for months when Ted Dibiase Jr. (remember him?) didn’t invite them to one of his Dibiase Posse cookouts (remember those?)
Adam Rose & co. show up and not only were they annoying, (I have found Rose to be pretty annoying in most of his backstage interactions with others), but they didn’t even have the decency to put the hot chicks in front of the camera. When someone dressed as a luchador bumped into Camacho, I was really hoping Camacho would just lay him out with a nice big haymaker.

BAYLEY PROMO- A perfect example of why I hate Bayley.
NXT babyface AJ (who was the same basic character) would have cut a promo about how much being the women’s champion would mean to her because her heroes like Trish and Lita were women’s champions and she has been dreaming of being a champion since she was a little girl. She was, in the very best sense of the word, a mark for the business.
Bayley, on the other hand, says that winning the title would mean more to her than “ten hugs from John Cena and five high-fives from Big E.” Bayley comes across as being “special” and not in the good sense of the word.

SASHA BANKS PROMO- okay.

NXT WOMEN’S TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks (w/Charlotte)- 5/10
Bayley’s entrance now contains Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubemen for her to hug. Regal scolds Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton for making Family Guy references. I think the Al Harrington comment would have been okay, but to actually say “Family Guy” was probably what got Regal annoyed.
Sasha has a gaudy new ring jacket, but it works well with the rest of her gaudy attire. Noticeably absent from the BFFs entrance was Summer Rae on a Stick. Also, any pretense of cohesion.
This was the best singles match I’ve ever seen out of either woman, and I have been very impressed by Sasha’s improvement. Her finisher is really cool. Regal notes that the two BFFs could meet in the finals.

DANNY BURCH vs. ADAM ROSE- squash
After the match, while the Exotic Express celebrates, wht

BRODUS CLAY PROMO- AWESOME! Where the hell did this come from?!

WWE 50 BOOK AD- I thought it was cool that they highlighted Jim Johnston, who is such a massively overlooked part of WWE.

NXT WOMEN’S TITLE TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Natalya vs. Layla- 2.25/10
These women have been on the main roster for over five years. They are both former main roster champions! Why are they in this tournament?
Also, we know that TJ is in the building. Why are he and Nattie not at ringside for each other’s matches? WWE is so desperate to find a way to connect Total Divas to things, and this seems like the simplest ones.

ADRIAN NEVILLE PROMO- good, but I am confused by the build to this feud. If you wanted to build up to a title match, why not have Brodus, the CHALLENGER beat Neville, the CHAMPION by count-out.

OLIVER GREY vs. MOJO RAWLEY- squash.
What was the purpose of this match being on this show? All it did was eat up time that should have gone to Neville vs. Brodus.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Aiden English jumps Mojo, but gets beaten up. Once again: why are you doing this now? Neville vs. Brodus needed these five minutes a hell of a lot more than this feud between two guys aren’t going anywhere needed to a midcard feud that will result in nothing but three minute matches.

NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH FOR THE NXT TITLE: Adrian Neville(c) vs. Brodus Clay-5.75/10
Neville jumped Brodus before the bell, while Brodus was admiring the title. That wasn’t cool. Then we were told (by the announcers, not the ring announcer) that, out of nowhere, this was a No DQs match. Why? They only used it for one spot anyway, and that spot would have worked just as well without it.
Anyway, Brodus loses decently quickly. Since his big heel turn here on NXT. Brodus has yet to last ten minutes in a match… and has also yet to win.

Tom Phillips (about Brodus)- “the only thing he wants to eat is the NXT Championship.”
I know there was as stretched metaphor involved, but it was a very poor one. Any stretched metaphor is a poor one when it involves someone wanting to EAT a title belt.