As WWE's main brand continues to sputter through bad booking, over scripting, and way too much of the same characters, NXT and Lucha Underground are thriving. This is a unique moment in time where Lucha in particular could steal enough market share to make itself viable and NXT has a chance to become a bigger part of the reason people buy the network. Last night's show were proof of this.
NXT
The Takeover special promised two of the best indy matches to happen in the past ten years. It was hard to imagine that you would not be entertained, but they also did a great job building towards both of them. I thought they had overplayed the Women's match and wasn't as excited for it, but boy did they deliver. Here's a quick recap.
Itami beat Tyler Breeze to open the show. A much needed marquee win for Itami. He's the guy that needs time to develop and this is a good start to pushing him up the food chain in NXT. Breeze entered the ring the more finished product and despite losing he showed me he is ready for the main roster. I'm not sure what more he can do. Although sadly I see them screwing him up fairly easily.
Corbin and Dempsey has been a little played out. There's not much Dempsey can do to put Corbin over that doesn't hurt any momentum he had, so it's like a slow burial. This third match was not needed, but Corbin is coming along nicely. He needs more time, but Corbin looked really good getting the win. I think Dempsey is more ready to go up. I think he will never be a more than a mid carder, but he adds a different style and look. I think he could tag with Big Show to make a pretty cool big man team. Maybe it's because they have similar outfits, but that thought dawned on me last night.
The only tag match of the night featured Blake and Murphy versus the Lucha Dragons for the titles. The Dragons can work, but they are being played up as too much of a kid friendly team. Although I'm sure WWE loves that I don't see them getting very far being that way. Blake and Murphy can also work and have a good look they just need a little more of a gimmick. Some reason why they are special beyond coming out of nowhere. They get the win and continue their run.
Balor and Neville was the in ring match of the night. If this match had 8 or 10 more minutes I think it would have wowed even more. In a lot of cases they had to move through some things a little to quick, but they fit with each other like a glove. Balor's entrance is the best in the business right now. With Raw being three hours they could use it as 10 minutes of filler!
Balor countered the Red Arrow with a double knee to the guy and reversed into a roll up for the spot of the night. His finish to get the win was also stellar. Neville has lost the crowd a touch because he doesn't have the gimmick or mic skills to connect with them. It's probably time to move him up, but I fear the main roster gimmick they might give him. His in ring ability is stellar, but he needs that little something to have him connect to the audience. This is a guy that should never be booed, but in back to back specials they have put him in a spot with guys that outshine him.
Balor is beyond main roster ready. He doesn't need any polish to his gimmick. He's basically a bad ass that could go heel or face. The paint stuff is for these big occasions and it works. He's 33 years old I don't know what WWE could be waiting for beyond just wanting to finish their WM31 season. I inject him as a heel because he could easily make it work and the main roster is void of them right now.
The women's match between Lynch, Banks, Bailey and Flair shocked the hell out of me. Banks really stole the show in this match as she executed the most memorable moves including her crafty finish to get the win and finally earn that title belt. I figured Bailey would win and Banks and Flair would be moving up post WM31.
The heartfelt moment after the match indicated that Flair probably is going up, and she was happy to do the job for her real life sister in arms Sasha. If you think about it Flair going first is the better path way. She can go up have success, but then Sasha can debut later as her greatest nemsis. It's probably smarter than debuting them at the same time. Also that allows Banks to work a run as champ and probably put Bailey over in a one on one match.
I give these ladies credit. I thought they were used way too much on TV after the last special in December and the program between them was a little stale, but they delivered in the ring and that's what matter most.
The main event had the drama that a feud like Cena Rusev lacks. It's the use of history and recent events that help tell a story that puts both Owens and Zayn over. When WWE was really good they did this part of the business better than anyone. Even when two guys couldn't work half as well as these two. Drama is a huge part of wrestling and Vince understands that. He just has forgotten how to make it happen. Dusty Rhodes and Kevin Ward (ok HHH too) showed they know how to squeeze the juice.
Owens won a great match that didn't lack for in ring quality at all. The match was stopped when it appeared Zayn concussed himself doing a moon salt off the ring apron and banged his head on the steel ramp. So he kind of did it to himself. Owens laid a beat down on him and Zayn was deemed not fit to continue crowing Owens the new champ.
A couple of reactions to this. Some people thought this was actually real and that Zayn legit hurt himself and the match was stopped for real. I do not believe that for a second as they could have ended it after the three consecutive powerbombs and that would have been ok. This was just Zayn and the booking crew using kayfabe, which proves it isn't dead. It added to the drama of it all.
A good chunk of people complained they didn't like that finish. Honestly I think that had a lot to do with the Royal Rumble. I at first was a little put off by it because it looked like WWE was going out of their way to protect Zayn just like they did for Reigns at the Rumble. So I was having flashbacks, but as I digested it I realized the genius of it.
Zayn won the belt just 60 days ago. Owens trapped Zayn into a match he didn't deserve yet. For Owens to go over 100% clean means that you are short selling Zayn as not the guy you told us he was 60 days before. He probably loses some steam and that wouldn't make sense as he is red hot right now. The other thing you have to remember is if you have Zayn lose because he was so angry and couldn't stay focused in the match then he looks like a clown.
The booking team here wanted to elevate Owens and protect Zayn. Now you have a story where Zayn didn't lose clean and looked heroic trying to press on while Owens has exploited the system and probably will deny Zayn his chance to get the belt back. You have created the chase. It's excellent booking. It has Dusty Rhodes finger prints all over it. (Baby Sami Zayn is money, can you feel me!)
One additional thing to consider. You could have Zayn and Owens building to something then call up Zayn to the main roster denying him his revenge. Let this whole thing spill into the bigger audience. Owens would then be upset he got passed over again. This stuff is so good that if done right that the main stream fans will eat it up. Neither one of these guys needs to stay in NXT and last night proved it. That match was electric. School is out time to move on up, but I know WWE is proudly not ready to do something just yet. They are too focused on Reigns.
Some additional things to consider. I think it would be ok to bring both guys up, but have them split time on the main roster. I'm not sure how that wouldn't work. Regardless of how it goes I see Owens using the commitment to fight Balor as a way of putting off Zayn, also he will probably claim Sami is not medically cleared. The best way to make the next match as big a deal is to put it off for 60 or 90 days at the least. I would be ok with waiting all summer honestly.
Last note on NXT. I get that HHH deserves a lot of credit and I have softened my hard stance on him of the past few weeks, but he did himself no favors yesterday with his photo ops on social media. He had about 20 pics of himself with NXT talent and staffers on social media last night. Why? Because he wants credit for being part of this. It breaks Kayfabe to do this, which annoys me and to a greater point it's like hey HHH we get it, NXT is your baby. You don't have to keep reminding us every 10 mins.
I also thought Stephanie's tweet congratulating her husband was so poorly done. Why does she have to publicly congratulate her husband for this show? Why not do the same for Vince after he has a good show? In the same tweet she mentions him and the NXT roster, but HHH first. This is the stuff that HHH and Steph need to work on if they really want to be taken seriously. Vince has almost never taken credit for anything he has done publicly unless it was a heel character. I think it shows major insecurity and a desired to beat their chests, and it frankly needs to stop.
Lucha Underground
On a night where NXT was putting on that show Lucha Underground stayed at full throttle. We had three matches that were all excellent and vignettes that were out of this world. All I can say is give me more Dario!
Argenis put over Fenix. Within a few moments of their match starting a move happened that I have never seen before, which is common place for this show. I loved Mil's girl coming out and licking Argenis post match. She's sexy as hell and adds a maturity to the angle that WWE sorely lacks these days. Where ever this is going I'm in. Great match.
Mundo and Son of Havoc had an excellent match. I know that SOH's fortunes are going to turn, but he does an excellent job playing the talented guy that keeps botching up his chances. This was the best match of the night.
Ricky Mandell got his arm snapped by Pentagon Jr. When they debuted Pentagon is was just as a guy that could work and had an over the top look, but he has transformed into an absolute bad ass. I like the idea of putting him over with jobbers so he can get his move set in and build his reputation. What a concept!!!
All three matches were entertaining to watch and developed stories that didn't involve the title. That's how you make things matter. You put stories front and center and focus on them instead of just putting over the same guys week after week. This is how you allow guys to build up to that level and this is how you keep people interested without having to do something major every week. Great booking!
The vingettes were off the charts this week. Dario continues to be the best boss character on TV. I'm saying knowing that Authority characters are beyond stale. The guy just kills it and his promo with Alberto was spot on. When Alberto asked him about the key and he just pretended like he didn't ask and its that subtle way of making that key important. (THEY ARE PUTTING THAT KEY SO OVER!!)
The Mil Chavo segment was awesome. Having Mil talk was a major surprise and set up a match to look forward to next week. Mil comes off as way more than just a big guy and it's an excellent use of vignettes to make a guy more feared. He stock rose like 10 points off that.
The best one of the night though was Big Ryck's. For a guy that can't do much with his in ring promo's I was shocked at how well he did this. Here's a promo that puts over a angle that doesn't have bearing on the title picture. It's just a feud between guys that got the better of him. Ryck becomes face and these guys have more heat on them than before. (Why aren't they using more comedy in their mid card like WWE???)
Alberto Del Patron closed the show with a really good promo just pointing out that he felt held down in WWE, but he wasn't crying about it. Lucha did a good job of bumping his popularity. I never envisioned him as a face, but once he tossed his tie aside I was locked into the idea. Striker and Vampiro did a good job of putting over his attacking and making you understand how much of a top guy he is. I'm not sure how the interplay will be since that's mainly a AAA angle, but it's a treat if they make it a focus in Underground.
Vampiro was pretty on the money the entire show. He has been spotty for me in the past, but tonight he seemed to really be on his game. I think if you give these guys time nothing, but good things will happen with them.
What really makes this show so fresh is that key characters were not featured on the show. Puma has not been on since he was smashed by Cage. The girl who popped in on Dario was not on. Drago was not on. Sexy Star was not on the show. By keeping talent off the show you allow them to stay fresh and promote other talents. In a format that is striving to be a weekly staple versus selling PPV's at the moment this formula is genius.
Closing Thoughts
NXT has a chance to become more popular with a segment of the WWE universe, what this could lead too is WWE considering having NXT take over the Smackdown show. They could do two hours a week very easily. This would allow Raw to stay at three hours and become a better show and overall product because of the decrease in content. This wouldn't cause people not watch the network because you could continue to run the Takeover specials on the network. It's really something to consider.
It would then totally make sense for WWE to run three hours of RAW as they have the roster for it and they would have two hours of content less to help make each minute count. For those still worried about the lasting effects of the three hours on the announce team I think they can use an alternate crew for the first hour like WCW used to do. It would help a ton even if they never do this.
Lucha Underground has to start thinking about pushing their marketing of the show because what people will find is a fantastic product that I can't find very many faults in. Is it the perfect show, no, but because it's more than just lucha libre and it's so well done and fresh you will appeal to a large enough audience to eventually make this profitable and a staple. Remember they are simply using this as a vehicle to build the El Rey network and create some staple content.
In the end the fans win. You can be entertained for two hours a week without having to watch Raw or Smackdown. You can support the network without having to be a fan of the main roster product. You can get a mature and well produced product by watching Lucha. Time to start considering cutting out TNA and Raw as mandatory TV for real fans.
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