Blog Archives
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 3/30/16: Ready For A Takeover
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 3/30/16)
Ready For A Takeover
– The American Alpha-Corey Hollis/John Skyler was a logical squash for AA to hit their signature moves en route to their biggest match to date at TakeOver: Dallas when they’d fight for the NXT Tag Team Championship against Champions The Revival, who watched attentively backstage. Good energy from the Title challengers here.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 3/23/16: The Empress Strikes Back
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 3/23/16)
The Empress Strikes Back
– Nothing will kill a crowd like “The Drifter” Elias Samson, especially to open the show, albeit against Johnny Gargano. We were severely hoping that Gargano wouldn’t be the latest Samson squash victim. The action didn’t last long and we were actually shocked to see that Gargano would pull out a surprise roll-up pin to win, meaning that Samson’s unspectacular undefeated streak also ended. The post-match angle gave Samson some decent heat before Apollo Crews came to save the day. Who knew the one thing that we needed Samson to do was actually lose? Crews-Samson doesn’t exactly have us jumping out of our seats, but maybe Crews can pull out a good match from him.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 2/24/16: New Personas
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 2/24/16)
New Personas
– American Alpha continue their “onward and upwards” push, this time outlasting the former NXT Tag Team Champions in Blake/Murphy after 10 minutes. AA were their usual dose of suplex and amateur-esque finesse, while Blake/Murphy provided decent foils. The main story (like with most AA matches) was Chad Gable selling hard for the hot tag, having it pulled away from him numerous times before finally getting it, and then Jason Jordan takes over the final minutes, culminating in Grand Amplitude.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 1/27/16: Remnants Of An Unclear Future
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 1/27/16)
Remnants Of An Unclear Future
– American Alpha (Jason Jordan/Chad Gable) continue to kill it right now and can easily be regarded as the NXT Tag Team Division’s hottest commodity. Their “onwards and upwards” push continued this week when they took on the former Tag Champs, Blake/Murphy in an opening contest that revolved around the quick-paced, excitable offense of AA, meshed with occasional dastardly doings by the heels to get ahead. The storyline reason for the match was AA eager to continue to prove themselves by showing that even though they weren’t in the category for “Best Tag Team Of 2015,” they could still beat one of those teams were nominated. Between Gable’s amateur background and innovative, flexible offense and Jordan’s suplex prowess, the sky’s the limit. We particularly liked how the hot tag quickly transitioned into their Grand Amplitude finisher.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 12/23/15: Seven Months In The Making
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 12/23/15)
Seven Months In The Making
– The opening video highlighted NXT TakeOver: London – no belts changing hands on this night, but still an extraordinary effort with shiny spots and an awesome crowd all night long. This edition of NXT would give us more of that eccentric crowd thankfully.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 9/23/15: Asuka Arrives
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 9/23/15)
Asuka Arrives
– The Eva Marie-Carmella match was another squash for the red-headed up-and-comer who has been mostly all glam and no slam. The crowd continued to berate her justifiably, considering she forgot to kick out the last time she was out there. They made an effort to take that botch and use it as a way to get promo heat, as she thanked the referee for not “falling victim to the biased crowd.” It’d just be smarter to not acknowledge it, but too late for that. As for the idea of Carmella being her opponent – sigh, again? Carmella is improving herself, but she’s not on the level to carry Eva of all people. Their in-ring chemistry has bettered and Eva wasn’t terrible, but played it way too safe here and the pace suffered. The crowd was obviously amusing themselves with chants like “That’s a kickout!” and “All botch everything!” and it was building to something decent… until the lame countout finish. That did no favors for Eva and then it made Carmella look weak since she couldn’t answer a 10 count when all she did was fall out of the ring.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 9/16/15: Birth Of The Iron Woman
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 9/16/15)
Birth Of The Iron Woman
– The Tyler Breeze-Adam Rose-Bull Dempsey segment was originally set up as a Breeze-Rose match, having the backstory of Breeze beating down Dempsey after a miscommunication led to their loss to Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa in the first round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament. Rose came out debuting a new “party pooper” gimmick, looking like a disgruntled English hipster with glasses and a vest. It was okay for what it was, perhaps a step above where he was before gimmick-wise. Hey, they’re trying. The Dempsey-Breeze promo exchange was entertaining in furthering their rivalry, with Dempsey looking to get revenge, while Breeze didn’t see him in his league. It kind of tells itself as a story. At the same time, Rose didn’t exactly get lost in the shuffle, wanting to exact his own revenge on both guys for the past and slapped Dempsey pretty hard. Even though he ended up being taken down, he still gained something here. Breeze narrowly escaping trouble was the prefect way to book it, keeping the physicality to a minimum and likely leading to a match next week, from what we saw there. Good segment that actually made everybody looking okay out of it, perhaps even more relevant.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 9/9/15: The Dusty Wars Continue
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 9/9/15)
The Dusty Wars Continue
– Certainly didn’t expect Carmella to open the show, and the crowd also seemed to be caught off-guard. Her theme music is still a clear ripoff of Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.” She served as an opponent for the debuting Peyton Royce, who had an elegant look yet flashed off some flashy skills, as commentary put over the fact that she was an Australian newcomer at the Performance Center. This was actually a decent match, believe it or not, Carmella had one of her better performances, aside from the cutesy moonwalking. Royce more than held her own down. Can’t help but feel this got more time than necessary, but that submission finisher made up for it. Carmella actually looked like a threat here.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 8/26/15: Brooklyn Made
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 8/26/15)
Brooklyn Made
– The opening video chronicled arguably the most successful night of SummerSlam weekend – NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. In that awesome, slow-mo style, we saw all the newsworthy happenings, ranging from Apollo Crews’ in-ring debut, Triple H’s introduction, the amazing Sasha Banks-Bayley match, Samoa Joe-Baron Corbin and so on and so forth. Still a little ironic that this show takes place after TakeOver while it was taped before the show in actuality.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 8/19/15: No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn
By Nicholas Jason Lopez
“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.
(Aired 8/19/15)
No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn
– The opening video focused on last week when NXT Champion Finn Balor soundly defeated Marcus Louis, only to be ambushed from behind by Kevin Owens, who got the last laugh with a Pop-Up Powerbomb despite some fight from Balor. Bayley defeating Becky Lynch for the right to face NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks at TakeOver: Brooklyn was also featured.
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