3/27 Zim's WWE NXT Live Coverage: "Vengeance Week" feat. Adrian Neville defending the NXT Championship against Bo Dallas, Tyler Breeze vs. Xavier Woods, Natalya vs. Charlotte, and CJ Parker vs. Mojo Rawley
Mar 27, 2014 - 08:00 PM |
By Zack Zimmerman
WWE NXT
Aired March 27, 2014
Taped February 28, 2014 at Full Sail University
A video package highlighted Adrian Neville's win over Bo Dallas for the NXT Championship at Arrival and Bo announcing his rematch the following show. A graphic hyped Neville vs. Dallas for the title in the main event… The opening video played…
In the arena, Mojo Rawley made his entrance as Tom Phillips, Jason Albert, and Alex "Adamle Bad" Riley welcomed viewers. CJ Parker was out next to a smattering of boos and a lot of silence.
1. Mojo Rawley vs. CJ Parker. Parker hit a jumping crescent kick at the 30 second mark as the commentators argued about pollution. Mojo tried to make a comeback a short time later but he missed a stinger splash and Parker hit a clothesline and wore him down in the corner. Parker connected with the double-knee in the corner, but when he went for another, Mojo followed closely behind and hit a couple of stinger splashes. Mojo hit the butt-butt and the Overdrive for the win.
Mojo Rawley pinned CJ Parker in about 3:15.
Parker freaked out after the match… A replay from last week showed Corey Graves ramming Sami Zayn into the ringpost last week. A trainer backstage was tending to Sami and said all of the dizziness and initial concerns were gone, but they had more evaluating to do. Sami said he was fine, he just got his bell rung…
Scott Stanford hyped the main event title match and Tyler Breeze vs. Xavier Woods next… [C]
Zim Says: I'm so tired of Mojo Rawley already. Parker is trying hard he just doesn't seem to be clicking. Three minute matches with Mojo Rawley surely aren’t doing him any favors.
Xavier Woods made his entrance followed by Tyler Breeze. Riley made a reference to Zoolander by saying most models can only turn in one direction, but Breeze is a "bi-turner." Keep trying, A-Ry.
2. Xavier Woods vs. Tyler Breeze. The match started a bit slow but got going around the minute mark. Woods hit a huracanrana and a short time later, a slingshot into the turnbuckle for a two-count. Breeze reversed a chinlock with a stunner and then performed a bulldog type maneuver that drove Woods into the turnbuckles. Woods reversed a whip with a nice back-elbow and took Breeze down before connecting with a Shining Wizard for a good near-fall. Woods called for the Honor Roll, but Breeze dropped down and hung onto the ropes. He shoved Woods away and hit the Beauty Shot for the win…
Tyler Breeze pinned Xavier Woods in 3:50.
Backstage, Devin Taylor asked Bo Dallas for his thoughts. Bo said Neville has his championship. He said Neville climbed a ladder and unhooked the belt, he didn’t beat Bo. Bo said that luckily tonight wasn’t a jungle gym competition and he would be taking his title back…
Scott Stanford hyped Corey Graves vs. Yoshi Tatsu next…
Zim Says: Decent match from these two, but it really deserved to go much longer than the four minutes it got. I understand they're dedicating time to the main event, but if that's the case, give the main event the four minutes of this match and make this an 8-12 minute main event on a different show.
Corey Graves made his entrance. Yoshi Tatsu was out next before a replay showed Graves' attack on Tatsu the episode following Arrival.
3. Corey Graves vs. Yoshi Tatsu. Graves stalled and Tatsu eventually fired up and went to work on Graves with strikes and chops. Tatsu hit a chop off the top rope for a one-count and stayed in control until the referee got between the two and Graves took control. Graves went to work on the knee and hit his chop block around the three-minute mark. Graves hooked in Lucky 13 and forced the submission.
Corey Graves defeated Yoshi Tatsu in 3:10.
Graves took a mic and said that last week, he sent a message to Sami Zayn: "Stay down…"
Zim Says: Competent match as any Graves match will be, but not much to it. I'm dying for something over five minutes here.
Charlotte made her entrance accompanied by Sasha Banks, Summer Rae's head on a stick, and dubbed music. Renee Young joined the commentary team before Natalya made her entrance along with Bret Hart.
4. Charlotte (w/Sasha Banks) vs. Natalya (w/Bret Hart). The two ladies traded headlock takeovers, rear waistlocks, and armlocks in the opening minutes. Nattie hit a running dropkick for a two-count around the two-minute mark and a spinning clothesline seconds later. Charlotte took control with a kick to Nattie's leg and that’s where she targeted her attack from that point. Charlotte went for the Figure-Four but Nattie reversed into an unsuccessful pin attempt. Charlotte kept control of the leg and used a dragon screw, but she took too much time going for the Figure-Foure and Nattie reversed into the Sharpshooter. Sasha ran in and attacked Nattie for the DQ.
Natalya defeated Charlotte by DQ in 5:00.
Post-match, Nattie put Sasha in the Sharpshooter and the heels took off with their tails between their legs… A backstage exclusive with Adrian Neville showed him saying that this wont be a ladder match and he knows how good Bo is in the ring, but he has the title on his shoulder and that isn't going to change. Scott Stanford hyped that match next… Scott Stanford hyped Sami Zayn vs. Corey Graves for next week's show…
Zim Says: Not exactly the five minutes I was dying for, but it was actually pretty good for what we've come to expect from Charlotte.
Bo Dallas made his entrance for the main event. NXT Champion Adrian Neville was out next. Full in-ring intros for both guys.
5. Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville for the NXT Championship. Bo got a couple of quick amateur takedowns right out of the gate. The two tied up and both shoved the other to the mat once before a third lockup ended in a stalemate. Bo grabbed the hair on the fourth, but Neville went up-and-over with his handspring across the ring. Neville hit a missile dropkick and went to the top rope for the Red Arrow, but Bo rolled to ringside. Neville changed game plans and hit a huge moonsault off the top onto Bo at ringside.
A short time later, Neville attempted a springboard maneuver but Bo cut his legs out and Neville crashed to ringside. Bo decked Neville with a clothesline at ringside and heaved Neville back into the ring for a two-count. Bo hit repeated knee drops for a two-count as the crowd rallied with loud "let's go Neville" chants. Bo began to show frustration as the show went to its final break. [C]
Back from break, it appeared that Neville had broken free, but Bo leveled him with another hard clothesline. Bo showed good building frustration with every near-fall. Neville rolled to the apron and hit a high kick before attempting a slingshot sunset flip. He got a two-count before Bo took him back down. Bo set up for the double-arm DDT but Neville broke free and fired up with his flurry of kicks.
Neville went to the apron and hit an AJ Styles-esque springboard flying forearm. Neville charged in and rocked Bo with a running uppercut in the corner. A short time later, there was a narrowly-avoided ref bump that led to another near-fall for Bo. Neville hit a high kick and went to the top rope where he leapt off with the Red Arrow and came down across the raised knees of Bo Dallas.
Both guys were down until Bo made it up and hooked the arms. Neville charged into the corner to reverse it and after an exciting back-and-forth exchange, Neville hit a superkick that dropped Bo. Neville went to the top rope facing the wrong way and came crashing down with a wicked imploding 450 splash for the win.
Adrian Neville defeated Bo Dallas to retain the NXT Championship.
Zim Says: I apologize for not logging the time. I messed up my timer and didn't get an accurate time. I came up with about nine minutes, but it was likely 10-11. Very good match. Not exceptional, but a nice competitive main event with an exciting finish. This is what I expect as a standard weekly main event.
Overall, this was a better show than the past two weeks, but not by a great margin. I hear from people who were really looking forward to watching NXT weekly on the Network, and they're disappointed with the quality of the show after a great first impression from Arrival. There are rarely if ever gaping flaws, but a plethora of three to four minute matches doesn't make for compelling TV or character development. The main event was the only real 'hit' of this show because other than the Corey Graves-Sami Zayn continuation, I struggle to think of anything else that happened.
Be sure to check out Darren Gutteridge and myself on the Member-Exclusive Dot Net NXT Recap Podcasts each and every weekend!
Throw comments, questions, criticisms, or corrections @DotNetZim or DotNetZim@gmail.com; always happy to discuss.
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