The SmarK Rant for WWE NXT – 11.07.12

The SmarK Rant for WWE NXT – 11.07.12

Hey, it’s actually been an entire year now since I last did one of these, so might as well pick it up again. These never did particularly well but that’s no longer a consideration anyway.

Last week the former Leakee got repackaged into “Roman Reigns”, so we’ll see if that goes anywhere.

Tonight: It’s not NXT without a four-way to determine a #1 contender, so that’s what we get.

Taped from Orlando, FL

Your hosts are Tony Lufton, Byron Saxton & William Regal

Kassius Ohno v. Trent? Baretta

Weirdly they have Matt Striker doing ring announcing here, maybe trying him out in that role to get him off commentary? Ohno immediately bails to the apron and Trent tries a powerbomb to the floor, but Ohno stomps him into the apron to block that. Back in the ring, Ohno chops him in the corner and puts him in a facelock and holds that on the mat, but Trent comes back with a sunset flip for two. Ohno gets his own rollup for two, but Trent gets a tornado DDT out of the corner for two. Ohno catches him with an elbow, but Trent rolls him up for two. Ohno puts him down with a big boot for two. They head to the top and Trent puts him down and follows with a missile dropkick, but misses the bu saiku knee. And Ohno hits him with the roaring elbow to finish at 6:17. Just a match, as Trent was really green in the days before Roppongi Vice in Japan. *1/2 And I’m sure I’m not the only one to wonder this, but why did Chris Hero never end up in AEW? He’s done nothing since getting fired from WWE.

Meanwhile, Corey Graves shows off his tattoos, sounding kind of like Raven.

Big E Langston v. Memo Montenegro

Memo is apparently the brother of Alberto Del Rio, but without the talent or personal baggage. Big E finishes him with the Big Ending at 0:55, but the ref forgets the five count, so Big E does it again and counts it himself. But then Vickie Guerrero pops up on the Dusty-Tron and offers $5000 for anyone who can take him out. Given what NXT wrestlers make, I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of takers on that one. And some guy named Chad Baxter tries for the bounty immediately, running in and attacking, but Big E wrecks him and hits him with the Big Ending as well. Fun angle to get Big E over early in his run, which makes it all the weirder that he got over in the big time with unicorns and pancakes.

Luke Harper v. Jason Jordan

Yes, it’s the debut of Bray Wyatt in his new gimmick, complete with the Fireflies music. Funny to hear him do a relatively normal promo, as he comes down and talks some shit to Jordan before bringing out his new disciple to fight for him. The announcers don’t know his name, but of course we do. Luke beats Jason down in the corner and chokes him out on the ropes. Lariat out of the corner gets two, but he misses a charge and then regroups with a Bossman slam to finish at 2:21. And then Bray introduces Harper and declares him to the first son of the Wyatt Family.

Roman Reigns joins us for an interview with Byron Saxton, but he blows off Byron and decides to conduct his own interview. He tells us how great that he is. Well we’ll hear enough about that for the next decade from the announcers.

#1 Contenders match: Justin Gabriel v. Jinder Mahal v. Drew McIntyre v. Bo Dallas

So now we switch to Jim Ross & William Regal on commentary. Nothing against Drew’s current music because it fits him perfectly, but his original music was kind of a banger as well. Jim Ross is more than happy to lay out Bo’s entire family tree here, even though they don’t talk about it anymore. Dallas and Gabriel clear the ring with dropkicks, as Bo was still the smiling babyface at this point in a direction that was a complete bust from the start. Everyone piles up on the floor and we take a break, returning with Gabriel working a headlock on Drew in the ring. Bo helps out with a double suplex on Drew, but Gabriel goes up and Jinder crotches him to bring him down. The heels double-team Dallas for a bit, but Gabriel springboards in and runs wild for a bit with a couple of near falls. But then Dallas quickly spears Gabriel and pins him, and then spears Drew immediately after and pins him, leaving Jinder as the last one left. We take another break and return with Jinder running Bo into the stairs, which gets two. Dallas fights out of a uranage and makes a comeback with a powerslam, but he tries a spear and clotheslines him on the ropes, leaving him open for the CAMEL CLUTCH. And Bo taps at 11:18, making Jinder the #1 contender. What a bore this was. **

So next week we get another Seth v. Jinder title match, although we have to be getting close to them taking the title off Seth in advance of Survivor Series and obviously Jinder wasn’t the one to get it.

This was a complete bore of an episode, an obvious time-filler, although it did give the world Brodie Lee at least.