BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 11th, '20, 01:16

SINGLES MATCH FOR THE VACANT NXT TITLE: Adam Cole vs. Finn Balor- 8.5/10
The match built very well and was excellent, and the right guy won. They also seem to learned the lesson that AEW hasn’t, because I was certain that they were going to go 35-40 minutes just to do it.

RHEA RIPLEY PROMO- great

FINN BALOR INTERVIEW- good
More importantly, we got to see Adam Cole show him respect.

ROBERT STONE DRAGS MCKENZIE MITCHELL & HER CAMERA CREW TO WHERE SHOTZOIE BLACKHEART’S STUPID LITTLE TYKES TANK IS- terrible
He’s going to hit it with a bad. Shotzi shows up and attacks him, marking the first time in this months-long feud that Shotzi has had any sort of just cause to attack him. Aliyah ran in and attacked Shotzi, spearing her through a curtain… and apparently on the other side of that curtain was Io Shirai doing a photo shoot. Io chases Aliayh to the ring… which apparently is only about twenty feet away (though at least that explains why that second camera was in place).
Aliyah gets chased into the ring and beaten up two on one. Again…this does not make Shotzi likable. Or Io, really. Robert Stone tries to save Aliyah, but the rules again man-on-woman violence mean we all know that is doomed to fail without him hurting either one of them. Despite Stone and Aliyah already being laid out, the supposed babyfaces felt the need to go to the top rope and hit them with moves for no reason.
They celebrate together… but then Shotzi decides to be an asshole and won’t give Io her title belt back. I am struggling to think of a less likable “babyface” in the history of pro wrestling than Shotzi Blackheart.

TEGAN NOX HAS DINNER WITH THE GARGANOS- We cut to black before anything of substance is said, but it’s pretty clear Johnny and Candice are going to do something bad to Tegan. And she’d deserve it for walking into an obvious trap.

THATCH AS THATCH CAN FILM STUDY- good
He’s gunning for Damian Priest.

THE VELVETEEN DREAM vs. ASHANTEE ADONIS- 2/10
This was pretty great for ninety seconds. They let Adonis get in a lot. I hope that this is a sign that they’re doing something with Adonis rather than DVR suddenly not being able to beat a jobber without cheating because he’s a heel.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
KUSHIDA attacks The Velveteen Dream, looking for revenge for TVD assaulting him after their qualifying match. KUSHIDA pretty much ripped TVD’s arm out of its socket.

BREEZANGO VS. IMPERIUM VIDEO PACKAGE- great!
We’re getting a rematch next week. Also, the show is back on Wednesday next week.

JOHNNY GARGANO MAKES A BIG SHOW OF LEAVING THE DINNER TABLE- Candice tries to convince Tegan to be a heel. This whole thing feels like false drama because we all know Tegan isn’t going heel.
Also, did anyone else think the audio was off in this segment?

AUSTIN THEORY vs. BRONSON REED- 4.5/10
Not a squash, but definitely a decisive victory for Reed.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS ADAM COLE- good
Yeah, he’s definitely going babyface.

MERCEDES MARTINEZ PROMO- good
This was good, but there is definitely a slight awkwardness in Mercedes’ promos. Pairing her with Robert Stone was a very good idea.

KILLIAN DAIN vs. RODERICK STRONG (w/Bobby Fish)- 5.75/10
This was another match where it felt like the heel was the higher-level wrestler but couldn’t do much without cheating. At least the heel won this time.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- didn’t like it
Roddy and Fish beat Dain down until Drake Maverick came out with a pipe to make the save… but despite him getting one shot with the pipe off on Fish and two on Roddy, UE still beat him up. This felt like it killed the pipe as a weapon, which made it odd when Dain got the pipe and they ran away from him.
After UE left, Dain threatened Maverick, but then decided to throw the pipe down and leave him be. He went to leave, but Maverick ran over to him and offered a handshake… so Dain punched him in the face. Was this effective at getting Dain over as a loner? Yes. But I’m worried that they’re making Maverick into this total loser. He gets his ass kicked by Legado del Fantasma, runs in and gets destroyed by them and stretchered out, and he doesn’t get any revenge, and now he’s in another feud where he is constantly being outclassed by the heels and beaten up by the other person who should theoretically be on his side, and Maverick still keeps trying to recruit the guy.

MORE DINNER WITH CANDICE & TEGAN- HORRENDOUS
They get into a dumb “playful banter” argument about who will be the next champion because Candice insists that they drink to her being the next champion. This devolved into a food fight, and oh my G-d I hope this doesn’t mean Vince has taken over the book.
Johnny comes down to yell at Tegan, and he gets spaghetti dumped on his head. Candice throws a remote at Tegan but she ducks and it breaks the TV. Tegan runs out the door and Candice chases after her. Johnny is sad that the TV is broken. These segments tonight might well have been one of the worst character-segments NXT has ever done.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS DAMIAN PRIEST- fine, I guess
Thatcher is getting a title shot next week. Priest came across like what I think Vince wanted Roman Reigns to be. If he’s going to be a babyface, he needs to stop inviting McKenzie to his hot tub parties because 1) she’s clearly not into it, and 2) it seems like it’d be unprofessional of her to accept, and he should know that, and therefore, as a babyface, shouldn’t be putting her in that situation.

STEEL CAGE MATCH: Rhea Ripley vs. Mercedes Martinez (w/Robert Stone)- 8/10
Mercedes brought a Kendo stick to the ring, and started filling it with weapons from under the ring during her entrance. While she was doing this, Rhea, like a complete and total coward, ran down to the ring and attacked Mercedes from behind. The two proceeded to have an awesome hoss fight in the cage. Rhea winning cleanly makes sense with the direction they’re going in (Rhea vs. Io), but at the same time, this can’t help but feel like a mistake to me because this division has no strong heels, and win for Mercedes could have made her that heel that they’re missing.



On the whole this was a good show from NXT, but when you’ve got an 8.5/10 and a 8/10, the show only being “good” means that you screwed up a lot in other places. I’m very worried about the lack of strong heels of both genders, with the only heel who really seems to be on his way up at the moment being Santos Escobar in the underutilized Cruiserweight division.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Serujuunin
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Serujuunin » Sep 11th, '20, 18:54

I’m also a little concerned about what’s happening in the tag division. I’m not keen on hot potato-ing between Breezango and Imperium forever.

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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by KILLdozer » Sep 13th, '20, 10:36

Are they STILL doing Rhea Ripley as a top challenger for the title? I mean, not that she shouldn't be....but we've been seeing that since WM...it's time for a change lol.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 13th, '20, 14:01

KILLdozer wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 10:36 Are they STILL doing Rhea Ripley as a top challenger for the title? I mean, not that she shouldn't be....but we've been seeing that since WM...it's time for a change lol.
She was out of the picture for a while during this feud with Mercedes, which she has now won. I have no problem with this. That's a fine way to keep her in the fans' minds while not wearing out the idea of her and the champion fighting each other.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 13th, '20, 14:08

Serujuunin wrote: Sep 11th, '20, 18:54 I’m also a little concerned about what’s happening in the tag division. I’m not keen on hot potato-ing between Breezango and Imperium forever.
I think Breezango will hold them for a while while they rebuild. They're basically the only babyface team (I can't think of, other than a possible Drake Maverick & Jake Atlas team when Atlas returns from his kayfabe injury) so it makes sense to have run through the heels whiel you rebuild the babyface side underneath them.

I think Imperium will got back to NXT UK.
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Serujuunin » Sep 13th, '20, 21:21

Big Red Machine wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 14:08
Serujuunin wrote: Sep 11th, '20, 18:54 I’m also a little concerned about what’s happening in the tag division. I’m not keen on hot potato-ing between Breezango and Imperium forever.
I think Breezango will hold them for a while while they rebuild. They're basically the only babyface team (I can't think of, other than a possible Drake Maverick & Jake Atlas team when Atlas returns from his kayfabe injury) so it makes sense to have run through the heels whiel you rebuild the babyface side underneath them.

I think Imperium will got back to NXT UK.
That’s what I thought too, but the immediate rematch with no real reasoning behind it kinda made me skeptical.

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Big Red Machine
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 13th, '20, 23:38

Serujuunin wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 21:21
Big Red Machine wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 14:08
Serujuunin wrote: Sep 11th, '20, 18:54 I’m also a little concerned about what’s happening in the tag division. I’m not keen on hot potato-ing between Breezango and Imperium forever.
I think Breezango will hold them for a while while they rebuild. They're basically the only babyface team (I can't think of, other than a possible Drake Maverick & Jake Atlas team when Atlas returns from his kayfabe injury) so it makes sense to have run through the heels whiel you rebuild the babyface side underneath them.

I think Imperium will got back to NXT UK.
That’s what I thought too, but the immediate rematch with no real reasoning behind it kinda made me skeptical.
It's their contractually-obligated rematch. I assume they'll lose it and then go back to Europe.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Serujuunin » Sep 14th, '20, 00:44

Big Red Machine wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 23:38
Serujuunin wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 21:21
Big Red Machine wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 14:08

I think Breezango will hold them for a while while they rebuild. They're basically the only babyface team (I can't think of, other than a possible Drake Maverick & Jake Atlas team when Atlas returns from his kayfabe injury) so it makes sense to have run through the heels whiel you rebuild the babyface side underneath them.

I think Imperium will got back to NXT UK.
That’s what I thought too, but the immediate rematch with no real reasoning behind it kinda made me skeptical.
It's their contractually-obligated rematch. I assume they'll lose it and then go back to Europe.
Weren’t we not doing contractually obligates rematches anymore? Or did they retcon that when I wasn’t looking?

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Big Red Machine
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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Big Red Machine » Sep 14th, '20, 08:16

Serujuunin wrote: Sep 14th, '20, 00:44
Big Red Machine wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 23:38
Serujuunin wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 21:21

That’s what I thought too, but the immediate rematch with no real reasoning behind it kinda made me skeptical.
It's their contractually-obligated rematch. I assume they'll lose it and then go back to Europe.
Weren’t we not doing contractually obligates rematches anymore? Or did they retcon that when I wasn’t looking?
I'm pretty sure they retconned it while you weren't looking. I think there were a couple on the main roster this spring.

Also, taking them away was extremely dumb, as they're a great booking tool to
1. Buy time to finish building up the next challenger
2. Help the champion not violate the Thirty Days Rule while keeping the math against the new challenger that you want on the PPV fresh (and to not have to do a f*ck finish in a title match on TV to set up a rematch on the PPV).
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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Re: BRM Reviews the 9/8/2020 NXT (Super Tuesday II)

Post by Serujuunin » Sep 14th, '20, 16:37

Big Red Machine wrote: Sep 14th, '20, 08:16
Serujuunin wrote: Sep 14th, '20, 00:44
Big Red Machine wrote: Sep 13th, '20, 23:38

It's their contractually-obligated rematch. I assume they'll lose it and then go back to Europe.
Weren’t we not doing contractually obligates rematches anymore? Or did they retcon that when I wasn’t looking?
I'm pretty sure they retconned it while you weren't looking. I think there were a couple on the main roster this spring.

Also, taking them away was extremely dumb, as they're a great booking tool to
1. Buy time to finish building up the next challenger
2. Help the champion not violate the Thirty Days Rule while keeping the math against the new challenger that you want on the PPV fresh (and to not have to do a f*ck finish in a title match on TV to set up a rematch on the PPV).
I wouldn’t be surprised- I haven’t been watching the main roster for a bit now and when I did, I skipped so much that I probably skipped the part where that was starting to happen again.

I like the things you describe, but honestly, I don’t feel like it happens often enough or with a good implementation.

I like how they just randomly forgotten about the thirty day clause when it doesn’t suit them. There are tons of times where it definitely felt like more than a month when a champ defended.

Regardless, thanks for letting me know lol. It makes more sense now.

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