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| This feud must continue, I guess Photo Credit: WWE.com |
For the members of the main WWE roster who found themselves appearing on this week's episode of NXT it was a Dickensian best/worst of.
In the case of the Great Khali, he was feted to maybe the biggest babyface response of his career on his way to a semi-easy victory. Facing CJ Parker down Full Sail way will do that, as the crowd hates this particular hippie so much (Regal mentioning mid pre-match promo that he'd like to punch CJP in the face) that a GLOBAL WARMING chant fired up when he got in his brief flurry of offense.
As for Brodus Clay, he finally lived up to his own billing as a main event playa...and then proceeded to lose by countout. And that was after dominating most of the match against the NXT Champion and avoiding the Red Arrow. This baffles on a myriad of levels: it doesn't really help Clay, since not only did he lose but he failed to lay out the Jumping Jordie post-match or steal the belt or do anything rather than make a logical NXT follower think "Well, he had a chance and he lost; how's about bringing on that Sami Zayn feller?" It doesn't help Neville, since you can't say he's beaten a member of the main roster--this was more of a narrow survival and that flukiest of wins. It doesn't help his newish title reign, which needs a series of Ws in the ledger over people not named Camacho, even if he did get the win over Neville's former partner Oliver Grey in earlier action on the show. The last time somebody named Clay won at this rate it feels like it was against Liston; let the land monster get the Red Arrow in the chops and move this plot along.
In direct contrast to that, it appears that the tag team division is finally picking up a pulse. Not because of the Ascension, who did another Jamal and Rosey special in laying waste to Wesley Blake (Cal Bishop was also in the vicinity but didn't get to do anything) on their way to 200+ days as the longest reigning Tag Champs NXT's ever seen. It was due to the sub-main, with Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger in a sort of updated Benjamin/Hassian pairing with Avuncular Jocularity music formerly Jordan's alone going in against Sawyer Fulton and Baron Corbin. No wrestling fan should complain when the bad guy team is big, ugly, and looks like they spend their offseason shoving kids at the playground and getting their dentistry done by way of bar fights after a few rounds. With nothing better to do than form teams, and somebody probably having to make their impact and pay off all these Ascension open challenges by surprising them out of nowhere in a non-title match -- seriously, that is what nearly the last seven months have been building towards, yeah? -- both teams showed a positively surprising amount of cohesiveness, especially Team JD who had some double teams and nice dropkicks tucked away in their arsenal. The seven-year statue of limitations may not've expired for them to use the Snapshot to solve their problems in what to do FTW, but the match is a great base of operations for both teams to set up camp out of going forward.
Next week, Emma and a partner will take on the remaining BFFs, and that Sami Zayn feller'll team up with the Usos to take on Corey Graves and the Ascension in some great trios action. It's just a shame a little bit of love like that didn't get bestowed on this show, where Aiden English beating Big Cass with chicanery and smarts yet again somehow constitutes a rivalry.
In the case of the Great Khali, he was feted to maybe the biggest babyface response of his career on his way to a semi-easy victory. Facing CJ Parker down Full Sail way will do that, as the crowd hates this particular hippie so much (Regal mentioning mid pre-match promo that he'd like to punch CJP in the face) that a GLOBAL WARMING chant fired up when he got in his brief flurry of offense.
As for Brodus Clay, he finally lived up to his own billing as a main event playa...and then proceeded to lose by countout. And that was after dominating most of the match against the NXT Champion and avoiding the Red Arrow. This baffles on a myriad of levels: it doesn't really help Clay, since not only did he lose but he failed to lay out the Jumping Jordie post-match or steal the belt or do anything rather than make a logical NXT follower think "Well, he had a chance and he lost; how's about bringing on that Sami Zayn feller?" It doesn't help Neville, since you can't say he's beaten a member of the main roster--this was more of a narrow survival and that flukiest of wins. It doesn't help his newish title reign, which needs a series of Ws in the ledger over people not named Camacho, even if he did get the win over Neville's former partner Oliver Grey in earlier action on the show. The last time somebody named Clay won at this rate it feels like it was against Liston; let the land monster get the Red Arrow in the chops and move this plot along.
In direct contrast to that, it appears that the tag team division is finally picking up a pulse. Not because of the Ascension, who did another Jamal and Rosey special in laying waste to Wesley Blake (Cal Bishop was also in the vicinity but didn't get to do anything) on their way to 200+ days as the longest reigning Tag Champs NXT's ever seen. It was due to the sub-main, with Jason Jordan and Tye Dillinger in a sort of updated Benjamin/Hassian pairing with Avuncular Jocularity music formerly Jordan's alone going in against Sawyer Fulton and Baron Corbin. No wrestling fan should complain when the bad guy team is big, ugly, and looks like they spend their offseason shoving kids at the playground and getting their dentistry done by way of bar fights after a few rounds. With nothing better to do than form teams, and somebody probably having to make their impact and pay off all these Ascension open challenges by surprising them out of nowhere in a non-title match -- seriously, that is what nearly the last seven months have been building towards, yeah? -- both teams showed a positively surprising amount of cohesiveness, especially Team JD who had some double teams and nice dropkicks tucked away in their arsenal. The seven-year statue of limitations may not've expired for them to use the Snapshot to solve their problems in what to do FTW, but the match is a great base of operations for both teams to set up camp out of going forward.
Next week, Emma and a partner will take on the remaining BFFs, and that Sami Zayn feller'll team up with the Usos to take on Corey Graves and the Ascension in some great trios action. It's just a shame a little bit of love like that didn't get bestowed on this show, where Aiden English beating Big Cass with chicanery and smarts yet again somehow constitutes a rivalry.