Friday, March 6, 2015

Live NXT Columbus Report

I'm having a busy week with my going to both NXT Columbus and NXT Cleveland this week. No time for a Smackdown Report, so sorry about that. However, you can have a report of the NXT Columbus show from last night.

  • The Mongolian BBQ place we went to was really good.
  • Independent female wrestler LuFisto was sitting front row and hanging out at the bar next to the arena.
  • We were sitting fourth row, unfortunately it was next to the drunkest people in the building. The guy in front of me would stand up for no reason and want to talk to us like we were friends. There was a relatively bigger woman next to him who stood a lot. Her boyfriend was obnoxious and even chopped my brother when Ric Flair appeared for no reason. Lastly, the guy next to him was drunk when the show started. He would try to start his own chants, shout "Owens sucks" or "Neville sucks", which is fine to think but he was so annoying. He reminded us of JBL. His wife got so mad she walked out.
  • My tweet appeared on the tron, but of course, had a spelling error. Instead of excited "for" NXT, I was excited "gor" NXT.
  • Jojo has moved to a top crush of mine in the WWE. She's cute as hell and that booty had me mesmerized all night long. There were multiple "Jojo" chants throughout the night in between matches. It made her happy and she didn't seem to expect them.
  • Corey Graves introduced the show and brought out our first surprise in Triple H. He got a huge pop and put over the product.
  • We opened with Hideo Itami and Finn Balor vs. the Vaudevillains. The Vaudevillains seem bigger in person, especially Aiden English. Balor is super over and even without the facepaint, his entrance is cool. I recorded a bit of it. Fun opening match and got the show off to a hot start.
  • Columbus' own Alexa Bliss took on Sasha Banks. Both girls are very over and this was shorter than expected and could have been better. The crowd didn't like the finish.
  • Our next surprise came in the form of Tyson Kidd! The place erupted for him and we got chants of "Meow! Meow! Meow!" and "Fancy Feast". He wrestled Baron Corbin in the match of the night so far. Corbin was getting booed badly by a small section and seemed to love being the heel. He looked in their direction, signaled to keep booing and did the "Money Manziel" sign. I like him a lot more after that and there's a good heel just waiting inside of him.
  • Enzo Amore and Big Cass got the biggest pop of the night. Yes, bigger than Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, etc. Carmella got booed but still. Cass wrestled Blake. It was decent. The crowd was on fire all night. "This guy's SAWFT" chants were the highlight here.
  • Things took a turn for the worse as our next match was Big Show vs. Ryback. People could be heard groaning and asking "is this Raw?" We got some "Feed Me More" chants but when fans asked for Show to retire, he got on the microphone and said "I got 10 more years on my guaranteed contract" which was funny. The match was surprisingly good with Show even taking a top rope bump. He took the boos in stride. Rbyack didn't. He flipped off the crowd and even got in a fan's face. He wasn't happy with the reaction the match got. As Show left, he got on the mic again and said "10 more years", which started a chant as the fans appreciated his efforts and how funny he was.
  • Intermission time. I stayed in my seat.
  • This is where the show kicked into high gear. I believe this was what was taped. Tyler Breeze took on Kalisto. Breeze was crazy over. A headlock got a "gorgeous headlock" chant. Stole match of the night from Kidd/Corbin as these two went out and had a damn good contest. Really fun.
  • Next surprise as Ric Flair appeared to a massive pop. Thankfully, he kept his promo short and introduced Charlotte. She wrestled Bayley and now THEY stole match of the night. It wasn't that long but they did a ton in that time. Bayley looks like she has so much fun doing what she loves. She got a slap bracelet on Ric and we even saw Charlotte do the Flair flop.
  • Alex Riley came out to boos to face Kevin Owens. "Kill Owens Kill", "Fight Owens Fight", "Owens Gonna Kill You" and more were chanted. Kevin Owens was one of the most popular people on the show. Intense match.
  • Sami Zayn was out next and announced that he wasn't clear to wrestle. The crowd booed at that, but he then cut an intense and passionate promo about NXT being the future and the most relevant wrestling program in the world. This led to a "Better than Raw" chant and Sami responded by telling the fans not to get him in trouble. He promised a great main event.
  • Adrian Neville came out for the great main event but people weren't sure who his opponent was. We suspected it since Kidd was there, but when Cesaro came out he got a massive ovation. "Push Cesaro" and "Both These Guys" were chanted. This was amazing and easily the match of the night on a great show. They went all out, used the arena for creative spots, had tons of near falls and everything clicked. Excellent.

So there you have it. That's all I can really remember right now. Awesome time and I can't wait for tonight.