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| A-Bye Photo Credit: |
Here lies Alex Riley's WWE employment, and we are all the richer for its passing. It lays in state next to the idea of Elias Samson, Wrestling Hobo as a viable threat, a horrifying short-term delusion passing as a fad along the lines of the Pet Rock, the Macarena, and GOP front-runner D.J. Trump. But as they take up their residencies in the underworld doomed to toss Margaret Thatcher's salad for infinities to come, let us remember what they left behind in the wake of this hour of NXT television.
In the case of the douchebro MRAhole mouthbreather former Miz lackey, it gave us so many things. It gave the matriarch fornicating King of Strong Style a chance to react to the probably Affliction-endorsed RAGE RILEY RAGE by spazzing out, a perfectly hilarious and oddly on point response to the DC resident's new attitude and barely disguised persona. It gave Corey Graves the chance to land two quality burns on the (ahem) White Lion more words.before the King entered Full Sail for the first time to the absolute rapture of his loyal subjects. Riley once claimed the difference between he and everyone else was that he wanted it more; as of this writing, the only difference between A-Ry and the BCB is one of us still has a paying job.
While that evil has been cleansed from NXT's house, another is finding himself as powerless as a forgotten Nelly Furtado single, and he only has himself to blame. It's weird to realize you can sum up the beginning and end pieces of a program by saying beltless Irishman returns to Full Sail to undo wrestling hobo, but it's what happened here: a clearly chagrined and then increasingly irate Finn Bálor came out to address not making Day 293 of his reign, only to be cut off by a song. The only mal note really hit was that he didn't destroy the guitar or El Kabong its owner once he'd laid him out with a Pele kick but rather opted to throw it back to him on the ramp (admittedly at high speed from the ring). Shortly thereafter backstage Bálor promised to kick Sampson's ass and then did so in the showcase of the main event. But even that was an apertif to what the main thrust of this going down was: the post-match announcement of Joe/Bálor IV at Takeover in Full Sail on June the 8th.
For all the complaints lobbied at the now ex-NXT World Champion being too much of a non-entity as a persona, this hour must've been rebuke and rehabilitation all in one. He got over how much being champion meant to him and the fact that he was willing to unleash hell to regain it, he went from chagrined and saddened at the beginning of his promo to noticeably irked that a bottom-dweller like Samson was out here covering "How You Remind Me" or whatever, and in the closing moments of the program he and Joe had a taut staredown.
A clearly aggrieved Regal showed up out of nowhere before chastising both men and making the presumable main event of Takeover: Orlando, yet that still didn't stop the war of the words with the new champion repeatedly yelling his former friend didn't deserve the shot and that he should go to the back of the line with Bálor rejoining that it began and ended with him, that he was the line before defying the GM and hitting a signature tope con hilo before hoisting what was once his and informing Joe that he should enjoy it while he lasted because it wasn't going to be lasting too much longer. It's understandable if some feel that art school nerd with inexplicable inner (ahem) demons isn't an archtype, but fired-up justifiably angered babyfaces isn't just the bread and butter pro graps was built around, it's the jam, too.
With Bayley/Nia Jax II on the horizon for next week as well as the possibility of the Dirty Heels reuniting and it feeling so good for everybody less the Dubstep Cowboys and Alexa Bliss (who just celebrated Happy Mama Bliss Day with the rest of us TWBers on Sunday prior) it's obvious that with the latest infusion of talent coming in through the door, NXT's alive and well.
It's almost a shame we can't say the same for the employment for one of their former hires.
...oh, wait, no it's not.
Carry on, Full Sail. Carry on.
In the case of the douchebro MRAhole mouthbreather former Miz lackey, it gave us so many things. It gave the matriarch fornicating King of Strong Style a chance to react to the probably Affliction-endorsed RAGE RILEY RAGE by spazzing out, a perfectly hilarious and oddly on point response to the DC resident's new attitude and barely disguised persona. It gave Corey Graves the chance to land two quality burns on the (ahem) White Lion more words.before the King entered Full Sail for the first time to the absolute rapture of his loyal subjects. Riley once claimed the difference between he and everyone else was that he wanted it more; as of this writing, the only difference between A-Ry and the BCB is one of us still has a paying job.
While that evil has been cleansed from NXT's house, another is finding himself as powerless as a forgotten Nelly Furtado single, and he only has himself to blame. It's weird to realize you can sum up the beginning and end pieces of a program by saying beltless Irishman returns to Full Sail to undo wrestling hobo, but it's what happened here: a clearly chagrined and then increasingly irate Finn Bálor came out to address not making Day 293 of his reign, only to be cut off by a song. The only mal note really hit was that he didn't destroy the guitar or El Kabong its owner once he'd laid him out with a Pele kick but rather opted to throw it back to him on the ramp (admittedly at high speed from the ring). Shortly thereafter backstage Bálor promised to kick Sampson's ass and then did so in the showcase of the main event. But even that was an apertif to what the main thrust of this going down was: the post-match announcement of Joe/Bálor IV at Takeover in Full Sail on June the 8th.
For all the complaints lobbied at the now ex-NXT World Champion being too much of a non-entity as a persona, this hour must've been rebuke and rehabilitation all in one. He got over how much being champion meant to him and the fact that he was willing to unleash hell to regain it, he went from chagrined and saddened at the beginning of his promo to noticeably irked that a bottom-dweller like Samson was out here covering "How You Remind Me" or whatever, and in the closing moments of the program he and Joe had a taut staredown.
A clearly aggrieved Regal showed up out of nowhere before chastising both men and making the presumable main event of Takeover: Orlando, yet that still didn't stop the war of the words with the new champion repeatedly yelling his former friend didn't deserve the shot and that he should go to the back of the line with Bálor rejoining that it began and ended with him, that he was the line before defying the GM and hitting a signature tope con hilo before hoisting what was once his and informing Joe that he should enjoy it while he lasted because it wasn't going to be lasting too much longer. It's understandable if some feel that art school nerd with inexplicable inner (ahem) demons isn't an archtype, but fired-up justifiably angered babyfaces isn't just the bread and butter pro graps was built around, it's the jam, too.
With Bayley/Nia Jax II on the horizon for next week as well as the possibility of the Dirty Heels reuniting and it feeling so good for everybody less the Dubstep Cowboys and Alexa Bliss (who just celebrated Happy Mama Bliss Day with the rest of us TWBers on Sunday prior) it's obvious that with the latest infusion of talent coming in through the door, NXT's alive and well.
It's almost a shame we can't say the same for the employment for one of their former hires.
...oh, wait, no it's not.
Carry on, Full Sail. Carry on.