10/18 Short's WWE NXT Review: The Usos and Richie Steamboat vs. The Ascension and Kassius Ohno, Trent Barreta vs. Jake Carter, Alex Riley vs. Jinder Mahal, Damien Sandow appears

By Josh Short

WWE NXT on Dailymotion
Taped in Winter Park, Fla. At Full Sail University.

The WWE signature aired followed by footage of Seth Rollins talking to CM Punk about respect and the match between Rollins and McGillicutty. The opening video aired and Byron Saxton checked in; hyping The Uso’s and Richie Steamboat vs. The Ascension and Kassius Ohno. Alex Riley made his entrance to a small pop and Regal said that he doesn't really get Riley's appeal. Jinder Mahal made his entrance to little reaction as Saxton pointed out hadn't been seen on NXT since losing to Seth Rollins in the NXT Title Tournament final...

1. Alex Riley vs. Jinder Mahal. The crowd chanted “USA” and Regal called them xenophobes. Brilliant. It looked as if Riley was telling the crowd to chant his name rather than “USA”. Both men locked up and exchanged rest holds. Riley eventually hit a dropkick to a good pop. He then hit a shoulder block from the second rope for a two count. Jinder recovered and hit a knee to the gut on a charging Riley, before suplexing him onto the top rope. Mahal stomped Riley on the mat and locked in another rest hold. Riley escaped and hit a clothesline, and managed to counter an Irish whip from Mahal into an almost botched roll up for a surprise win...

Alex Riley defeated Jinder Mahal in 3:50

After the match Jinder hit a good looking running knee. Mahal then applied the Camel Clutch as the ref rang the bell. He eventually let go and left up the ramp. Saxton hyped The Uso’s and Richie Steamboat vs. The Ascension and Kassius Ohno for later on, before also hyping Trent Barreta vs. Jake Carter as up next...[C]

Short’s Synopsis: That match was a complete waste of time and hardly featured any exciting action. Why did Riley go over if Jinder’s being pushed as top talent on NXT and is on Raw? On the plus side, Jinder finally managed to hit a good looking running knee.

[C] Back from the break Jake Carter made his entrance in the ring to no reaction. Trent wasn’t introduced but the crowd quickly chanted his name.

2. Trent Barreta vs. Jake Carter. Regal called Carter the “luckiest man in the world”, as he gets his looks from his mother, and said Vader had Carter doing push ups since the age of 5. Both men locked up and Jake hit a shoulder block and taunted Trent. Trent hit an elbow as Carter came back off the ropes and locked in a rest hold. Carter dodged a crossbody that sent Trent into the ropes. Cool spot. Carter then hit a back drop and hit body shots in the corner. He whipped Barreta into the corner and wore Barreta down with a headlock. Trent escaped and came back with a back suplex. He then hit several chops and hit a nice enziguri. Barreta then hit a running elbow to a cornered Carter however Carter regained control with a great looking clothesline.

Carter set up Trent for a back suplex from the top rope, but Trent fought out with elbows to knock Carter down. Trent hit a great looking Whisper in the Wind for a two. Trent went for his running knee finisher, but Carter dodged it and countered with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Carter picked up Trent, and went to run the ropes however Trent ran behind him and hit Carter with his running knee for the win...

Trent Barreta defeated Jake Carter in 6:22

After the match Trent left up the ramp and yelled “I won't be forgotten again”. Saxton hyped that Damien Sandow is up next...

Short’s Synopsis: A fun match. I said last week I wanted to see more of Carter and thankfully we did. Carter looked powerful and juxtaposed Trent’s agility nicely. There was great energy and it was exciting to watch.

Damien Sandow made his entrance to a very loud pop. He had a mic with him and performed his usual introduction. He questioned what George Washington would say about the people in attendance. He asked if Washington would call them lazy and stupid. “Don’t boo me, I’m simply asking questions”. Hilarious. Sandow concluded by saying everyone in attendance was beyond help, and he will prove this by beating the jobber in the ring...

3. Damien Sandow vs. Brandon Traven. Regal stated that Traven was trained by Harley Race. Sandow hit a fireman’s carry drop and slammed Traven’s head to the mat. Sandow cowered in the corner when Traven was about to punch him. Sandow hit a shoulder block and mixed knee drops and stomps with punches.

Sandow dodged a dropkick and hit a low clothesline to a grounded Traven. Sandow hit a new move in which he stood on the top rope above a seated Traven, posed, and then hit a knee drop. Traven started a comeback with a back elbow onto a running Sandow. He tried for a sunset flip however Sandow escaped and dodged a follow up knee drop. He hit his usual offense; including knee strikes, a Russian leg sweep and the corkscrew elbow. He finished Traven off with the cross neckbreaker whilst also saying “You're Welcome”...[C]

Damien Sandow defeated Brandon Traven in 6:08

After the match the commentators were showing the replay while Sandow was doing the intellectual cartwheel. The crowd chanted “one more time”. Sandow teased it again, before blowing it off and leaving... [C]

Short’s Synopsis: I could watch Sandow all day, the guy is a complete riot. However I question the use of him in a six minute squash match unless they’re going to build Brandon Traven up; which I don’t think they will. That’s nothing against Traven; it’s just that despite Regal and Saxton putting him over on commentary, this was a complete squash.

[C] Back from the break The Ascension made their entrance to little reaction as Saxton put them over huge with various adjectives. By the way Summer Rae has completely butchered every introduction she has done all night. Kassius Ohno then made his entrance to a decent reaction. JR checked in on commentary as Ohno elbow the turnbuckle pad. The Uso’s then performed the Hakka to a good pop. As they finished, Richie Steamboat ran out and together they slid into the ring and cleared house. JR turned it over to a commercial break...

A video package aired, putting over The Uso’s.

4. The Usos and Richie Steamboat vs. The Ascension and Kassius Ohno. the Uso’s have some new ink, one has his left arm completely covered, the other has the right arm completely covered. Back from the break The Uso’s were double teaming Kenneth Cameron. Steamboat tagged in, but got hit with a stiff punch from Cameron. Ohno tagged in, but when Richie seemed to be fighting back, he tagged out and slid to the outside. A loud “you suck” chant started. Conor O’Brian tagged in and hit a bully bomb and dragged Jey to his corner with a body scissors locked in...[C]

[C] Back from the break O’Brian kicked Jey back into the ring through the ropes. The heels locked in various rest holds and strikes to keep Jey worn down. Jimmy distracted Ohno long enough for Jey to eventually get the better of Ohno and get the hot tag to Steamboat. The crowd popped as Steamboat hit Ohno quickly with clotheslines, punches and a back body drop. He eventually hit a super kick. Steamboat had a pinfall broke up by The Ascension, which prompted The Usos to get in the ring. The Usos cleared The Ascension and took them out with dives over the ropes. Richie looked as if he was about to do the same but as he ran to the ropes, Ohno hit his discus elbow finisher from the apron. Regal dubbed it the OBE (One Behind the Ear) as Ohno covered Steamboat for the win...

The Ascension and Kassius Ohno defeated The Usos and Richie Steamboat in 11:39

After the match, Ohno quickly made his way up the ramp. The heels then celebrated on the ramp as The Usos checked on Steamboat. JR thanked us and brought NXT to a close...

Short’s Synopsis: Such a disappointing main event. I want to like The Ascension as when they tone down their gimmick and don’t rely on extended periods of ground and pound they can be entertaining. Unfortunately, the majority of the match was The Ascension and Ohno working ground and pound.

Overall, this episode of NXT just plain sucked. The main event was disappointing and while Sandow and Carter/Barreta were entertaining at times I couldn’t help but be bored by the overall show. Hopefully next week is much better.
Thanks for taking time out to read my review of this week’s NXT. If you have any questions or just fancy a chat about anything; especially NXT and wrestling in general follow me on twitter @JoshTubeShort. Cheers.