The SmarK Rant for NXT – 06.12.12
So back to the beginning of NXT we go, as the show changes from wacky reality competition to developmental showcase. I started doing these in August of 2013, so we’ve got about a year to get through before we catch up again.
The idea here is that the reality show was bombing, but WWE still needed TV to produce for international distribution (and Canada) to fill the contractual obligations previously held by the ECW show. So here’s what we got!
Taped from Full Sail University
Your hosts are Jim Ross & William Regal
Jim Ross kicks off the new format, introducing the new General Manager, Dusty Rhodes.
Bo Dallas, who is the son of Mike Rotundo and grandson of Blackjack Mulligan, is ready to debut and be all exciting and stuff. And he likes to smile.
Bo Dallas v. Rick Victor
Bo was firmly a smiling babyface in his debut. Victor, who looks like any other indy geek at this point, would end up getting a pretty drastic repackage into half of the Ascension. They trade armdrags and Dallas slugs away in the corner, then follows with a powerslam and finishes with a spear at 2:20. *
Next week: Some kid named Seth Rollins debuts.
Also next week: Antonio Cesaro is here.
Damien Sandow v. Jason Jordan
Sandow lets us know that we’re all too stupid to watch him wrestle an ignoramus like Jordan, so he’s leaving.
Coming soon: The Ascension, which started out as a drastically different gimmick.
Let us take you back to RAW, with the exciting main event of John Cena facing Big Johnny & David Otunga in a handicap match.
The Ascension (Kenneth Cameron & Conor O’Brien) v. Mike Dalton & CJ Parker
CJ ended up getting repackaged pretty quickly into an annoying hippie. The Ascension beats on Parker with elbows in the corner to start, and finish with a stunner into a flapjack at 1:10. The gimmick was completely different at this point, more like two generic mean guys rather than the Illuminati-influenced Road Warrior ripoff gimmick it became. ½* Cameron of course got busted for DUI and ended up as Bram in TNA.
Bray Wyatt is also coming soon, and he wants us to know that monsters are real.
Meanwhile, Johnny Curtis is getting sick in the bathroom, because he’s so tired of being around Derrick Bateman. Next week, they face each other in the main event. There’s two more massive repackages, as they’d end up as Fandango and EC3 respectively. At this point the gimmick with Johnny Curtis is that he’s really dirty and a douchebag. Can’t see how THAT one didn’t take off. Have to say, I did NOT expect that of all people, Bateman would end up as a World champion.
Michael McGillicutty v. Tyson Kidd
Kidd works a headlock to start and takes him down to work on the leg. McGillicutty tries a wristlock and Kidd does the Owen Hart springboard escape, but Michael takes over with a suplex for two. Kidd puts him on the floor with a clothesline and follows with a suicide dive and we take a break. Back with Kidd stomping away in the corner and a leg lariat gets two. McGillicutty catches him with a neckbreaker through the ropes, and a whip into the turnbuckles for two. Kidd gets a hope spot with a sunset flip for two, but Michael beats him down again and hangs him in the Tree of Woe, pounding him down for two. He misses a baseball slide and posts himself, allowing Kidd to make the comeback with a low dropkick for two. They fight to the top and Kidd comes down with a moonsault press for two. McGillicutty escapes a Sharpshooter attempt and hits a suplex for two, then gets his own Sharpshooter. Kidd makes the ropes and reverses a Perfectplex into a small package for two, then wraps up McGillicutty into a Dungeon Lock for the submission at 13:40. Just your average Superstars match between two midcarders. ***
The Pulse
As a TV show there’s not much here at the moment, as it’s mostly midcard-level work with the former Nexus-era guys, but as we know, it gets much better once they start introducing the newer characters.