3/14 Gutteridge's WWE NXT Review: Alberto Del Rio makes an appearance, Big E Langston vs. Antonio Cesaro, Bo Dallas vs. Bray Wyatt, Kassius Ohno vs. Derrick Bateman

By Darren Gutteridge
 
WWE NXT on Sky Sports 3
Taped on 2/21 in Winter Park, Florida
 
[Q1] Before titles, a video packaged announced that Alberto Del Rio will be on the show tonight...
 
After titles, Kassius Ohno made his way out to the ring. The camera switched to Tony Dawson and William Regal at the commentary table, and Regal acknowledged that he and Ohno have had a few exchanges recently. As Derrick Bateman came out, Dawson explained that Bateman was wearing a knee brace after suffering a knee injury...
 
1. Derrick Bateman vs. Kassius Ohno. Bateman had his hair done like Jericho had when he debuted after the Millennium Countdown. It didn’t look good in the 90s, it doesn’t look good now. The match was fairly even until Ohno went on the first real stint of offense by suckering Bateman to the ropes, and then utilising a cravat to pull Bateman down across the top rope. Ohno returned to the cravat in the ring, but Bateman turned it into a pin to break the hold.
 
Bateman broke out the hit and run offence, utilising clotheslines, dropkicks and shoulder tackles to try and get the pin. Bateman set up his strange looking finisher, a forward falling DDT, but Ohno shot him into the ropes, and hit a big boot on the rebound. This lead to the pinfall...
 
Kassius Ohno defeated Derrick Bateman in 4:15.
 
After the match, Ohno reapplied the cravat, forcing Regal to run to the ring and break the hold up. Ohno went to hit him, but Regal beat him to the punch. As Ohno lay on the mat, the two had a stare down before Ohno left up the ramp and Regal began shaking his head...
 
Backstage, Renee Young was stood with Bo Dallas. Dallas said Bray Wyatt wanted his attention, and now he has it after Wyatt cost him a shot at the NXT title. He said he loathed Wyatt, and what he does to Bray tonight will not be forgotten...
 
A Wrestlemania advert aired, with Rock and Cena talking about "legends"... [C]
 
Gutt Reaction: Well no one can blame them of rushing to this point in the Regal / Ohno feud. They cut out an Ohno segment from last week’s UK edition, so I’ll need to check with Zim if anything pertaining to Regal was mentioned, but I’m still not entirely sure what the beef is. I know it started with Regal saving Tyson Kidd from a beat down, but Ohno hasn’t really elaborated (in my memory) on why he wants Regal to fight him. But I’m ready for an actual concrete feud, leading to match, to start already, regardless of previous motivations. The punch this week should be enough going forward anyway.
 
[Q2] Dawson welcomed us back, and Regal looked downbeat. Regal said what he did was unprofessional, and he apologised. Meanwhile Emma, the strange Australian dancing lady, made her way to the ring, followed by Summer Rae...
 
2. Summer Rae vs. Emma. Emma got all of the early offense following a roll up pin attempt, leading up to a crossbody to Summer Rae when she was seated in the corner. Summer fought back with a snapmare, and began to work on Emma’s left leg. She locked in an Indian deathlock, which Emma escaped via a pin attempt.
 
Summer kept the pressure up, throwing Emma into the corner and letting out a Paige-esque scream. This allowed Emma to recover, escape out of the corner and attempt another roll up pin. Rae escaped, and as Emma sold her leg injury, Rae caught her with a spinning roundhouse kick for the 1-2-3...
 
Summer Rae defeated Emma in 3:51.
 
As the bell rang, Paige’s music hit and she came down to the ring. As she climbed in, Summer Rae rolled out. Paige shouted ‘Summer session is over’ before letting out a scream as Rae escaped through the crowd...
 
Gutt Reaction: A small but OK step in the ongoing feud. Yeah, the match was all kinds of sloppy in places, but the post match stuff got the crowd’s attention, something a Divas feud rarely does. I like the pairing of Paige and Summer a lot, but hopefully this doesn’t lead to the creation of an NXT Divas title. I don’t think the Tag Team titles are needed either to be fair. Also, I’m changing from "Gutt Check" to "Gutt Reaction". Makes more sense, and avoids unwanted TNA comparisons.
 
After a video highlighting Adrian Neville’s match last week, and the Wyatt family dragging Oliver Grey onto the stage, aired, Neville was shown backstage with Renee Young. Renee asked for an update. Neville said Oliver was fine, but the Wyatt Family won’t be. He issued an open challenge for anyone from the Family to face him next week, and promised the beating they gave Grey would pail in comparison to the one he would dish out...
 
In a locker room, Matt Striker asked Big E Langston what his reaction was to Conor O’Brian’s becoming the No. 1 Contender. He said this was his first title defence, so although Conor defeated two superstars (he raised to fingers on his hand), his victory would be ‘dominant, destructive, and delicious’ (raising all five fingers)...
 
Gutt Reaction: Neville is still a ‘deer in the headlights’ on the mic, but that promo was his best so far. He showed fire, if not really any confidence. Big E’s was cookie cutter.
 
Bray Wyatt made his way to the stage. He said in his world, there is no time, machines, computers or distractions. He said his people come from the dirt, and protect what is theirs at any cost. He questioned how far Bo Dallas was willing to go, because if he wasn’t willing to make the ‘ultimate sacrifice’, then he had already lost. Bo Dallas came out with new music, and quickly got to the ring...
 
3. Bo Dallas vs. Bray Wyatt. Wyatt took control with a headlock not long into the match, and hit a big running crossbody after Dallas escaped the hold, before we cut to commercial... [C]
 
[Q3] Wyatt had a headlock applied again when we returned. When Dallas again escaped, Wyatt threw him into the corner, before hitting a low dropkick and a bodyslam to take it back to the mat. Dallas escaped another hold, but this time outsmarted Wyatt when Bray went for a seat drop.
 
Dallas hit his running punches, and looked to be building momentum before Wyatt dropped him with an ura nage. Wyatt hit a splash into the corner, and began to dance with Wyatt, only for Bo to land a forearm and deliver a belly to belly suplex out of nowhere to pick up the surprise win...
 
Bo Dallas defeated Bray Wyatt in 6:26.
 
The commentators put over their surprise before quickly cutting backstage, where Renee Young was this time joined by Justin Gabriel. She asked him to elaborate on his past with Leo Kruger. Gabriel explained that he used to read about Kruger in the newspaper, saying he was part of the South African militia, and suggested that something happened to him when he ran with a militia that screwed his mind up. He concluded by asking for match with Kruger for next week, and said if Kruger thinks what happened in the militia was bad, he hadn’t seen anything yet...
 
Gutt Reaction: What an awful booking decision that is. I know, there is no PPVs to put a feud ending match on, and Bo seems (or at least, seemed) to be main roster bound, but how can they squander a feud with such storyline potential in a week, with no advertising or strong build up? Wyatt’s first defeat should have meant a lot, but it barely registered here as a big occurrence. Erick Rowan and Luke Harper could have easily interfered to allow the feud to continue. Illogical decision all round. Also, is this ‘weak promo babyfaces making dark threats during mic time’ week or something?
 
Another World Tour Report, hosted again by Renee Young, aired. That’s our fourth helping of Renee tonight. It’s a good job she’s pretty...
 
Byron Saxton introduced Ricardo Rodriguez, who got a big reaction. He introduced Del Rio, who also got a good pop. Del Rio was wearing a Real Madrid scarf (a huge Spanish football team, in case you were wondering), which he gave to a little girl in the crowd. Dawson said everywhere Del Rio goes, it’s a ‘lovefest’. Lay it on thick their Tony.
 
Del Rio gave a classic ‘My name is Alberto Del Riooooo’, before saying he was World Heavyweight Champion thanks to all of the WWE Universe. He said he thought the next WWE champion could be backstage right now, and told everyone to continue to support the NXT superstars.
 
Antonio Cesaro cut him off, and said although the next WWE champion could be backstage right now, the US Champion definitely is. He challenged Del Rio to a champion vs. champion match. As he climbed in the ring, Dusty Rhodes music started, and he said Del Rio was a guest, so he won’t be wrestling tonight, but instead set Cesaro up to face another champion, Big E Langston...
 
4. Big E Langston vs. Antonio Cesaro. Big E got a ‘five’ chant going before we cut to the final commercial break... [C]
 
[Q4] Both men traded blows before Cesaro landed a few European uppercuts and a running knee. Cesaro took it to the mat with a headlock, and when Big E escaped, he dropped him again with a falling knee drop out of the corner. Cesaro delivered his gut wrench slam before again working a headlock. Big E got up and hit a few clotheslines, followed by five knee lifts and a running body check. As he started a ‘five’ chant, Corey Graves attacked him from behind...
 
Big E Langston defeated Antonio Cesaro via DQ in 4:55.
 
Big E managed to drop Graves with the running body check, only to be attacked from behind again, this time by Conor O’Brian. The two heels stomped on Big E as the bell rang repeatedly, before posing as NXT went off the air...
 
Gutt Reaction: I thought they had booked themselves into a corner with pitting the undefeated Big E against the main roster champion Cesaro, but the even match did Big E a favour in his little bubble at Full Sail, and the post match attack sets up a triple threat NXT Title feud nicely. A solid closer to help me forget about how lame Del Rio is as a pandering babyface.
 
No match tonight will live long in the memory, but this can be classified as a ‘solid build’ of an episode. Most matches and promos set up something for down the road, meaning the only major negative was the finish of Dallas vs. Wyatt. Yes, this doesn’t have to mean the feud is over, but it’s taken a huge chunk out of both the momentum and what could have been the eventual payoff. Apart from that, the hour went pretty quickly.
 
Thanks for reading. If you had any comments or thoughts on the show or this review, feel free to add me on Twitter via @Dazatheg