Blog Archives
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 3/16/16: The Arrival Of Strong Style
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 3/16/16)
The Arrival Of Strong Style
– The opening video (as it should’ve) showed us highlights of the NXT Championship #1 Contender’s Best-Two-Out-Of-Three Falls between Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe, which opened that show and ended up taking the whole hour by the third fall, an even-handed bout where Joe emerged victorious two falls to one.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 2/10/16: A Friendly Battle
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 2/10/16)
A Friendly Battle
– NXT continues to make moves in 2016, this episode taking place in the CFE Arena in Orlando, Florida, a packed house ready to make themselves heard. The opening video did a good recap of hyping the NXT Women’s Championship match between Champion Bayley and #1 Contender Carmella. This was your “bestie relationship” being tested with a grand prize thrown in the middle.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 11/25/15: Vintage Cole
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 11/25/15)
Vintage Cole
– The contract signing segment with NXT Champion Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and Michael Cole (of all people) provided a fiery beginning to the hour, giving us enough to whet our appetites for NXT TakeOver: London on Dec. 16 for its biggest program, appropriately so. For nostalgic purposes, the image of Cole standing in the Full Sail-bred NXT ring was a meme waiting to happen. His “Can I Have Your Attention Please?” opening line can only be met with one word: vintage. In short, he was put in charge of the night by General Manager William Regal, who had successful surgery. This was his only appearance on the show, so it wasn’t a theme by any means. He also gave the news that Regal initially turned down Eva Marie’s request for a NXT Women’s Championship match against Champion Bayley last week, but WWE Corporate insisted the match was official. Full Sail didn’t hold back and showered boos upon any Eva Marie mention. As for the actual contract signing portion, it was Joe who got the focus, which made sense since he needs to go into this match with momentum galore. Baylor also had the chance to speak his two cents, stirring up banter about “friendships and trust,” waiting to get his hands on Joe when the bell rings at TakeOver: London. Joe reached WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens-esque heat by simply coming down to the ring, signing the contract, not making eye contact with Balor and heading back up the ramp. That would’ve been good by itself, but the ramp attack made it even better, as it proved Joe was setting Balor up for a trap, ending with him laying Balor out cold via a Kojita Clutch. There was no denying that Joe was a badass here and the best part of it all – he needed no words, just action. This is how you book Joe to his fullest potential. Not so sure about the 18 instant replays of Joe signing the contract and leaving, but the desired effect was scored anyway. The announcement of Joe fighting Tommaso Ciampa next week was also a welcome one, since it allows Joe to stay hot.
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.
Notes In Observance – WWE NXT 7/29/15: Dominance Is Bliss
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 7/29/15)
Dominance Is Bliss
– NXT seemed to do a decent job in straying from the norm, at least in terms of how the tag team division is presented. Sure – they’ll always have the over teams like Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady to fall back on, but we’re beginning to see an emergence of other teams. This show saw matches and segments dedicated to Dash Wilder/Scott Dawson, Jason Jordan/Chad Gable and then the main event was a Tag team Championship match between The Vaudevillains and the Champions Wesley Blake/Buddy Murphy. It’s a slow start, but if they stick by them enough, they can pull out something decent. For Blake and Murphy’s sake, they need some form of competition and they’ve been running strong as Champions for six months now. Has it really been that long now? As far as the Amore/Cassady-Dawson/Wilder match, it had the look and feel of a Team SAWFT victory from how we got the full SAWFT routine treatment and they worked in their usual spots to the hot tag. Even if they hadn’t won the match, Dash/Dawson worked in a lot of offense and hard strikes to be past what we’d consider a lopsided victory. The fact that they got out of Cassady’s hot tag offense and overpowered Amore to get the win came off like a major upset and a full confirmation that the format was indeed being changed. Got a negative reaction but one nonetheless. You get the feeling there will be a rematch and with Enzo/Cass recently working main roster shows and Main Event tapings, will this be their last big “rivalry”? It’s still baffling that they never had a run with the Tag Titles, but that’s just us.
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