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| A fallen Angel, a punk-ass Kidd, and the signal of their collective failures Photo Credit: WWE.com |
As the old saying goes: if you can't beat them, beat them up.
By the time the NXT Champeen had arrived on the scene to close out the show the damage was more done than a tough piece of steak. That Tyson Kidd would use the opportunity given to him to beat on Sami Zayn after cheapshotting him wasn't a surprise; his on-and-off-and-now-back-on-again tag partner Justin Gabriel deciding to join in after losing to everyone's favorite Syrian-Canadian hybrid was. Again, Kidd's attitude wasn't a surprise. He flashed the same disingenuousness in his interview with Renee that played right before the Gabriel/Zayn clash: say (mostly) the right things, hint sporadically at regret while still providing an excuse to each and every part of douchebaggery executed, and the moment the room gets Enzo-and-Cass real, just walk out and bail. But Justin came as a bit more of a surprise, in part because of the quality of work he'd just got done putting in in the main.
The man known in Mexico as El Lobo de la AtreverÃa pulled off a cousin of Tyler Breeze's strategy last week in the opening chunk of the match. Again, it's great to see people counterwrestling people known for their aerialism by actually wrestling them and keeping them as contained on the mat as possible. So Gabriel and Zayn traded armbars and armdrags while Tyson sporadically gave Justin advice from a small distance without getting involved and the crowd respectfully clapped for the catch-as-catch-can in front of them. Thus having set the table with the metaphorical veggies, coming back from break saw the entrees whipped out until there wasn't a space of tabletop left without a plate. Gabriel hit a front legsweep, a super Lionsault, and a crazy-ass Air Raid Crush into his knee (that really should've ended the match, or any match, but whatever) amongst other goodness while Zayn busted out his now-trademark Blue Thunder bomb and exploder into the corner. In the end it was an adept combination of earlier fundamentals and later flash that put a bow on it, as Gabriel rolled through a 450 attempt once he saw Zayn roll out of the way of it only to get victimized by a Complete Shot/Koji Clutch combo.
Watching Gabriel and Kidd renew their partnership on the opposite side of the fence from where they once stood only brought one question to mind: what's the inverse of a Nexus? Suxen, presumably, but that'll never move any t-shirts. It's easy to see the motivation that brought Kiddriel together. It's the same thing Brando saw in Reqiuem, the same thing James Murphy sang about in "Losing My Edge." At one point the future is supposed to be the future. But the hope is in those instances that the future stays the future, and heaven forfend if they get ahead of you, and once they start lapping you, well...what else do you have to lose, really? These young punks are already stealing your dignity with their not losing to you and twerking and EDM and whatever, and instead of being feted as the N(e)XT Big Thing you're the guy people're razzing with your (possibly shaky) marital status rather than your bona fides or former Championships. That said, once Neville and Zayn and Kidd/Gabriel get together for some tag team fisticuffs, it should be something easily above average and possibly a low-level WWE MOTYC when it gets said and done. If only Tyler Breeze's finger hadn't gotten injured in that shoot, we could've had a title match that would've left Sami 100% less jumpkicked from behind by a pair of scumbags. Get better soon, T Breezie.
Considering Big Cass' two-move demolition of Sylvester Lefort and CJ Parker murking a newbie in order to make a point to Xavier Woods, the other in-ring highlight of the show was Bayley and Becky Lynch going up against the 2.0 iteration of the BFFs, Charlotte and Sasha Banks. One of these is an actual team with the NXT Women's Champion on it and the other is two well-meaning horribly adorable women who mean well, so guess what happened here? The heels got the advantage...then kept the advantage...and then the Champion hit the woman in her second NXT match with her finisher and that was it. What a perfect piece of business all around: the rapid tagging back and forth between Charlotte and Banks and keeping Bayley beat down in the Bad Part Of Town for most of the match meant they didn't have to do as much in between and kept each other fresh. It was death by a thousand paper cuts rather than a Mafia-style execution, done to the most sympathetic babyface the women's division has (and maybe in all of NXT, depending on how high Zayn gets your midichlorian levels up).
Also, it should be noted Becky Lynch CUT OUT THE DAMN DANCING, and you know what? She's still really good at the pro graps. While she didn't get much time to shine, her Matrish bridge out of pinfall attempts is exactly the sort of thing that's athletic and not in the domain of anybody else in her area, so she should completely keep working that in where possible. And BayLynch showed off potential in the opening slot of the match, both working the arm to the point where they were doing the same moves to it no matter which way either one of the mean girls turned. There are far worse things - especially given the recent exodus of female (baby)faces up to the main roster - than B-and-B becoming semi-frequent tag partners whose friendship is not only magic but canon as well. But anytime you're watching heels tag and you get Arn and Tully flashbacks, that says it all.
It's a shame that the further splinter was driven by Charlotte deciding post match to leave Sasha to get layed out by Bayley after she was smacktalking the fallen Lynch and then deciding to leave her partners entirely Because A Champ Has No Friends And Can Trust No One. With some passive-aggressiveness bandied about, it came to be that Bayley is going against Summer Rae in a #1 contendership match this coming week with the winner getting the Flair of NXT. At the risk of MMQBing, why must we only have one #1c? The ladies are so awesome and given the past history of both potential challengers to the crown a triple threat match for the first time in NXT history seems like the kind of thing that would be ready-made for an NXT Network Special.
But that's the sort of the pie-in-the-sky dreaming that can leave a belly empty. It's a world where the future can turn into your past just like that no matter how hard you try to fight the tides and injuries can wreck Championship dreams. At the end of the day, the person you have to live with is you. Whether or not you're a champion may or may not be in your hands, so you better control what you can while you can. As of this printing, the future is still undefeated.
By the time the NXT Champeen had arrived on the scene to close out the show the damage was more done than a tough piece of steak. That Tyson Kidd would use the opportunity given to him to beat on Sami Zayn after cheapshotting him wasn't a surprise; his on-and-off-and-now-back-on-again tag partner Justin Gabriel deciding to join in after losing to everyone's favorite Syrian-Canadian hybrid was. Again, Kidd's attitude wasn't a surprise. He flashed the same disingenuousness in his interview with Renee that played right before the Gabriel/Zayn clash: say (mostly) the right things, hint sporadically at regret while still providing an excuse to each and every part of douchebaggery executed, and the moment the room gets Enzo-and-Cass real, just walk out and bail. But Justin came as a bit more of a surprise, in part because of the quality of work he'd just got done putting in in the main.
The man known in Mexico as El Lobo de la AtreverÃa pulled off a cousin of Tyler Breeze's strategy last week in the opening chunk of the match. Again, it's great to see people counterwrestling people known for their aerialism by actually wrestling them and keeping them as contained on the mat as possible. So Gabriel and Zayn traded armbars and armdrags while Tyson sporadically gave Justin advice from a small distance without getting involved and the crowd respectfully clapped for the catch-as-catch-can in front of them. Thus having set the table with the metaphorical veggies, coming back from break saw the entrees whipped out until there wasn't a space of tabletop left without a plate. Gabriel hit a front legsweep, a super Lionsault, and a crazy-ass Air Raid Crush into his knee (that really should've ended the match, or any match, but whatever) amongst other goodness while Zayn busted out his now-trademark Blue Thunder bomb and exploder into the corner. In the end it was an adept combination of earlier fundamentals and later flash that put a bow on it, as Gabriel rolled through a 450 attempt once he saw Zayn roll out of the way of it only to get victimized by a Complete Shot/Koji Clutch combo.
Watching Gabriel and Kidd renew their partnership on the opposite side of the fence from where they once stood only brought one question to mind: what's the inverse of a Nexus? Suxen, presumably, but that'll never move any t-shirts. It's easy to see the motivation that brought Kiddriel together. It's the same thing Brando saw in Reqiuem, the same thing James Murphy sang about in "Losing My Edge." At one point the future is supposed to be the future. But the hope is in those instances that the future stays the future, and heaven forfend if they get ahead of you, and once they start lapping you, well...what else do you have to lose, really? These young punks are already stealing your dignity with their not losing to you and twerking and EDM and whatever, and instead of being feted as the N(e)XT Big Thing you're the guy people're razzing with your (possibly shaky) marital status rather than your bona fides or former Championships. That said, once Neville and Zayn and Kidd/Gabriel get together for some tag team fisticuffs, it should be something easily above average and possibly a low-level WWE MOTYC when it gets said and done. If only Tyler Breeze's finger hadn't gotten injured in that shoot, we could've had a title match that would've left Sami 100% less jumpkicked from behind by a pair of scumbags. Get better soon, T Breezie.
Considering Big Cass' two-move demolition of Sylvester Lefort and CJ Parker murking a newbie in order to make a point to Xavier Woods, the other in-ring highlight of the show was Bayley and Becky Lynch going up against the 2.0 iteration of the BFFs, Charlotte and Sasha Banks. One of these is an actual team with the NXT Women's Champion on it and the other is two well-meaning horribly adorable women who mean well, so guess what happened here? The heels got the advantage...then kept the advantage...and then the Champion hit the woman in her second NXT match with her finisher and that was it. What a perfect piece of business all around: the rapid tagging back and forth between Charlotte and Banks and keeping Bayley beat down in the Bad Part Of Town for most of the match meant they didn't have to do as much in between and kept each other fresh. It was death by a thousand paper cuts rather than a Mafia-style execution, done to the most sympathetic babyface the women's division has (and maybe in all of NXT, depending on how high Zayn gets your midichlorian levels up).
Also, it should be noted Becky Lynch CUT OUT THE DAMN DANCING, and you know what? She's still really good at the pro graps. While she didn't get much time to shine, her Matrish bridge out of pinfall attempts is exactly the sort of thing that's athletic and not in the domain of anybody else in her area, so she should completely keep working that in where possible. And BayLynch showed off potential in the opening slot of the match, both working the arm to the point where they were doing the same moves to it no matter which way either one of the mean girls turned. There are far worse things - especially given the recent exodus of female (baby)faces up to the main roster - than B-and-B becoming semi-frequent tag partners whose friendship is not only magic but canon as well. But anytime you're watching heels tag and you get Arn and Tully flashbacks, that says it all.
It's a shame that the further splinter was driven by Charlotte deciding post match to leave Sasha to get layed out by Bayley after she was smacktalking the fallen Lynch and then deciding to leave her partners entirely Because A Champ Has No Friends And Can Trust No One. With some passive-aggressiveness bandied about, it came to be that Bayley is going against Summer Rae in a #1 contendership match this coming week with the winner getting the Flair of NXT. At the risk of MMQBing, why must we only have one #1c? The ladies are so awesome and given the past history of both potential challengers to the crown a triple threat match for the first time in NXT history seems like the kind of thing that would be ready-made for an NXT Network Special.
But that's the sort of the pie-in-the-sky dreaming that can leave a belly empty. It's a world where the future can turn into your past just like that no matter how hard you try to fight the tides and injuries can wreck Championship dreams. At the end of the day, the person you have to live with is you. Whether or not you're a champion may or may not be in your hands, so you better control what you can while you can. As of this printing, the future is still undefeated.
