12/20 Gutteridge's WWE NXT Review: Big E Langston vs. Camacho and Aiden English, Big Show vs. Bo Dallas, Kassius Ohno vs. Percy Watson, J.R. interviews The Shield's Seth Rollins, The Uso's vs. Primo and Epico

By Darren Gutteridge
 
NXT on Sky Sports 3
Taped on 11/15 in Winter Park, Florida
 
[Q1] The show opened with a video package showing Big Show hitting the WMD on several people, spliced with the video of him accepting Bo Dallas' open challenge from last week...
 
After titles, Tony Dawson introduced himself and William Regal as Epico and Primo, with Rosa, entered the arena. They are in tag team action against The Usos...
 
1. The Usos vs. Epico and Primo. The commentators played up the match as a 'family affair', delving into each teams ties within the industry. Jimmy and Jey began to isolate Epico, forcing him to roll to the outside and subsequently get taken out by a diving Jey Uso before the commercial... [C]
 
[Q2] When we returned it was Epico who was in control. After three rolling back suplexes, Epico tagged Primo, who continued to isolate Jey until Jey sidestepped a dropkick in the corner. Epico distracted the ref to make him blind to Jimmy's hot tag, allowing them to keep Jey in the ring. Jey absorbed a few more moves before taking Epico down with a backdrop and tagging Jimmy.
 
Jimmy took out Primo on the apron and then hit his usual flurry of offence on Epico. After a Samoan Drop, Jimmy went for the pin, only for Primo to break it up. Primo was thrown from the ring, and after Jimmy hit a superkick, he tagged in Jey who hit the Superfly Splash for the 1-2-3...
 
The Usos defeated Primo and Epico in 12:30.
 
Immediately after the bell, the lights went out and The Ascension appeared on the screen. Conor O'Brian said the 'war was far from over', before Kenneth Cameron added that The Usos were like cockroaches that they would extinguish. Tony Dawson stated that the bitter feud between the two teams was far from over. Oh, I beg to differ...
 
Gutt Check: ... Because after his arrest, Kenneth Cameron is no longer under contract. It's a shame as his potential was the only shining light in the otherwise dark abyss of the Ascension gimmick. I'm surprised this part wasn't edited out of the end of what was otherwise a solid tag match. It didn't feature NXT guys, so it felt a little too much like 'Superstars' for my liking, but they didn't stink the joint out, so I'll be fair.
 
Camacho and Aiden English entered the ring as Dawson questioned why Dusty Rhodes would book Big E Langston in a handicap match. Regal said he didn't know. Big E came out to a good reaction, with lots of 'five' chants. Again, this week must be strange viewing for people exposed to Big E for the first time on Raw and Smackdown this week...
 
2. Big E Langston vs. Camacho and Aiden English. English started and Big E immediately destroyed him with knees to the gut and a running body check. He dragged English over to Camacho and asked him to tag in. Camacho refused, and Big E hit the Big End on English for the squash win...
 
Big E Langston defeated Aiden English and Camacho in 1:11.
 
Big E stared down Camacho as he hit English with the Big End again before slapping the mat for the 'five' count. He repeated the whole thing again after the crowd chanted for 'one more time'. The announcers plugged Big Show vs. Bo Dallas as the main event... [C]
 
Gutt Check: I'll make the same point I did last week with Seth Rollins - it's a shame WWE fans may have to wait a while until they get treated to the surprise hit that is babyface Big E. I know there is a little bit of a cult mentality at Full Sail, but he is now the most over guy on the show. Having said that, I really like the potential of the Dolph Ziggler / AJ / Big E stable.
 
[Q3] Percy Watson made his entrance as Regal stated he would like to see someone tutor Percy. Kassius Ohno was his opponent, and Regal said he doesn't want Ohno to have the same regrets over 'taking liberties with people' that he has even now he's 'a changed man'...
 
3. Percy Watson vs. Kassius Ohno. Watson got most of the early going until Ohno turned up his vicious side. He utilised a variety of strikes in-between rest holds to wear Watson down. Watson managed to stem the time with a counter drop kick, building up a head of steam leading to a spinebuster and the Showtime Splash.
 
After a two count, Watson picked up Ohno on his shoulders, but Ohno grabbed the ropes to force the break. When he landed, Ohno kicked Watson in the stomach, and looked to be setting up a neckbreaker, but instead of landing it, he instead clocked Watson with the O.B.E. discus elbow for the pinfall...
 
Kassius Ohno defeated Percy Watson in 5:20.
 
Kassius stood on the apron, staring at Regal on commentary. He began to walk up the ramp whilst shouting at Regal, and the camera focussed entirely on Regal, who looked at Ohno and then just stared at the announce desk. They held the shot for far too long before cutting to a Royal Rumble promo...
 
Gutt Check: I see Watson as Shelton Benjamin with a little more charisma. He's certainly athletic, so I don't know why he is sitting in no-mans-land at the moment. The crowd was dead for the match, which may show that I'm not the only one clicking with the Ohno character, but working a programme with Regal could help that leaps and bounds.
 
JR was shown stood in the ring, and he introduced Seth Rollins. Seth came out in a suit jacket with a black t-shirt and cap on. JR congratulated him on retaining his title against Jinder Mahal, and asked him how he felt about being the hunted rather than the hunter. Rollins said he likes being the hunted, and he is a fighting champion. He said he wasn't hard to find if someone wanted to step up.
 
Corey Graves ran into the ring and attacked Rollins. He locked Rollins in the 13th Step for a while before refs came down to break it up. As refs got Rollins out of the ring, Graves grabbed JR and told him he was going to get an interview. He said every tattoo he has tells a story, and that attack on Rollins told a new one. The story is that he wants the NXT title. He said everyone sees the title as a 'new heaven', but for Rollins, it's going to be a path through hell. He closed by saying 'welcome to hell Seth' before grabbing the title and looking at it before leaving the ring... [C]
 
Gutt Check: I fully expected Big E to be the next challenger for the title, but I guess a slight detour through Graves could be interesting too. He hasn't exactly built up a win/loss record like most on NXT, but he offers a fresh opponent who has been shown to look dominant in the ring every time he has been out there, unlike Mahal. I want to also praise Rollins for upping his mic work as part of the Shield. He isn't the most natural sounding promo guy, but so far his main roster work has been slightly more convincing than the bulk of his NXT mic time.
 
[Q4] Bo Dallas came out to little reaction, before Show came out to a slightly louder pop. It's near the end of the taping so I guess the crowd is tiring. Regal said nothing, including cars, have hit him as hard as Big Show has hit him...
 
4. Big Show vs. Bo Dallas. Show completely controlled Dallas from the second the bell rang, getting decent heat out of the crowd. Dallas caught a break with a sleeper hold, which slowed Show for a while before he countered the hold with a side walk slam. Dallas rolled out of the way of a follow up elbow drop, and started to throw some punches and kicks.
 
As he charged at Show, Show caught him in a choke hold. As he picked up Bo for a chokeslam, Bo rolled out and suckered Show into running into the turnbuckle. Bo tried to hit a bulldog, but Show held him up and dumped him in the middle of the ring. Show set up and delivered the WMD to knock Dallas out for the pin...
 
Big Show defeated Bo Dallas in 4:51.
 
Show left as Regal and JR prised Dallas' fighting spirit. This brought NXT to a close...
 
Gutt Check: I think WWE made a lot of strange booking decisions here. It may have worked better had Bo gone on a winning streak of challenging and beating main roster guys in the build up, and the match had been more even and perhaps longer. But also, WWE would never have had Big Show in an evenly balanced match with an NXT rookie. I know Show had to face somebody, and I'd rather they had built up someone rather than having a random guy show up, but this could have benefitted Bo a lot more with more careful planning.
 
Not the most interesting of episodes, but the matches were all solid. There was a fair amount of main roster guys this week, which always dampens my enthusiasm for the show as I see most of them for 5 hours a week already, but the continued (and soon to be halted) face push of Big E and the Rollins / Graves section pushed the show from a 'Dull' rating to a 'Fine' rating.
 
Thanks for reading. If you had any comments or thoughts on the show or this review, add me on Twitter via @Dazatheg