7/26 Short’s WWE NXT Review Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre. Sofia Cortez vs. Natalya. The Ascension in action. Antonio Cesaro vs. Alex Riley. Derrick Bateman and Bo Dallas vs. Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty

By Josh Short

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

The opening video aired and Byron Saxton welcomed us to the show. William Regal checked in on commentary and hyped the main event of Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre as Bo Dallas and Derrick Bateman made the entrance to a decent pop. Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty made their entrance to little reaction. Regal said that Curtis and McGillicutty could probably be one of the greatest teams WWE has ever seen...

1. Bo Dallas and Derrick Bateman vs. Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty. Curtis and Dallas started. Bo hit a big shoulder block and Curtis crawled to McGillicutty and made the tag. Bo chased Michael to the outside, Michael made the tag to Curtis but before Curtis could enter the ring Bo attacked him, Michael took advantage and hit a dropkick to the outside. Bo played the babyface in peril as Regal compared McGillicutty and Curtis to the Andersons. Curtis pushed Bo into the corner; he charged at Bo however Bo managed to hit Curtis with an elbow.

As Bo was trying to make the hot tag McGillicutty charged at him, Bo, however, managed to pull the top rope down and McGillicutty went to the outside. Bo finally made the hot tag to zero reaction. Bateman hit numerous strikes followed by a flapjack and a running neckbreaker, he went for the cover but McGillicutty broke it up. Bo knocked McGillicutty out of the ring, Curtis got to his feet and pushed Bateman towards the ropes, McGillicutty then grabbed hold of Bateman’s foot. Bateman turned around Curtis took advantage by hitting a nice Falcon Arrow for the win...

Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty defeated Bo Dallas and Derrick Bateman in 4:05.

After the match Regal continued to put over McGillicutty and Curtis as a team. Byron Saxton hyped Sofia Cortez vs. Natalya, Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre and that Antonio Cesaro vs. Alex Riley was coming up next...

Short’s Synopsis: ZZZZZZZ. That may be harsh but that match was just plain boring. Regal put over Curtis and McGillicutty HUGE and yet, aside from some decent teamwork they didn’t live up to the praise they were getting. Besides, I bet we’ll see these too competing in singles matches rather than as a tag team. The crowd was also dead for this match. They made zero reaction for the hot tag and you could see them staring into space or on their phones. Overall a complete waste of time.

Antonio Cesaro and Aksana made their entrance to little reaction. Regal immediately talked about Cesaro’s rugby and wrestling background. J.R checked in on commentary and said that he thinks Antonio Cesaro is the most interesting man in the world. Alex Riley made his reaction to a good pop...

2. Antonio Cesaro vs. Alex Riley. Cesaro immediately took Riley down from behind. He rubbed Alex face into the mat. J.R said the reason he thinks Riley has been set back is because he hung around the Miz too long. Cesaro came back off the ropes and Riley hit a beautiful dropkick. A short time later, Cesaro picked Riley up and dropped him face first onto the ropes. He followed it up with and abdominal stretch. He went for a European uppercut however Riley countered it into a schoolboy. Riley caught Cesaro with a roll up; Cesaro kicked out and hit a sick looking knee to Riley’s gut. Cesaro drove Alex into the corner in a rugby style which Regal also made note of. Cesaro hit numerous strikes followed by a big boot in the corner.

Cesaro locked in a gutwrench lock on a grounded Riley. Cesaro picked him up and hit a gutwrench suplex for a near fall. Cesaro went back to the abdominal stretch only this time he placed his leg on Riley’s head. Riley came back with a backdrop: he hit numerous clotheslines followed by a spinebuster. He got Cesaro onto his shoulders: he appeared to be going for his TKO however Cesaro grabbed Riley’s ear to get out of it. Riley pushed Cesaro into the corner and walked towards Aksana: with Riley distracted Cesaro took him down and hit the Gotch-Style Neutralizer for the win...

Antonio Cesaro defeated Alex Riley in 5:12.

Short’s Synopsis: That was basically a squash match but I did enjoy it. Cesaro’s gimmick is growing on me, if you’ve ever watched rugby you’ll know how rough it can be and Cesaro mixes the rugby style with his wrestling background perfectly. I have no idea how Riley continues to be as over as he is, it’s not that he’s ridiculously bad; it’s just that he’s bland. He did have a nice showing here though when he was on offense. Speaking of offense, Cesaro’s combination of rugby and wrestling make him look like a beast.

Backstage Briley Pierce interviewed Kassius Ohno. He spoke of how he brings an element of danger. "If you see me flying out of the ring at you, you better move out of the way. If I’ve got a hold on you, you better get to the ropes before something snaps. If you see me swinging for you, you better duck before I take your head off." He said he was the most dangerous man in sports-entertainment and he’s here to inflict pain and enjoy. He concluded with "My name is Kassius; I hurt people"...

[C] Backstage Matt Striker interviewed Drew McIntyre. He said everyone’s been talking but tonight the talking ends...

Natalya made her entrance to a great pop. Sofia Cortez made her entrance to a good pop...

3. Natalya vs. Sofia Cortez. Regal and Saxton put over Sofia’s background in MMA and boxing. The divas started with some chain wrestling. Natalya hit a nice discus clothesline and spanked Sofia which got a loud reaction from all the men. Natalya locked in a surfboard and pulled on her hair as the crowd chanted "Yes!". Sofia tried to comeback after hitting a dropkick but Natalya kicked her in the gut and pinned her with her legs on her legs. Both divas traded pins and Natalya ended up on the outside as the crowd chanted "this is awesome." Natalya took her time getting into the ring and was counted out. After the match Natalya attacked Sofia and locked in the Sharpshooter...

Sofia Cortez defeated Natalya via count out in 3:16.

Short’s Synopsis: Another squash match and yet once again I wasn’t bored by it. The crowd was already into the match before the spank sent the men into a frenzy and they had good reason to be. Natalya and Sofia told a really good story of how Natalya was underestimating Sofia and how at several times Sofia was close to an upset. Natalya’s post-match attack also re-establishes any doubt that she is the more dominant diva in terms of the story they were telling. This was nice work and I’d like to see more of it. As for Kassius, I like what we’ve seen from him in terms of promo’s. Yes I think he needs to be more convincing in what he says but I like the content of his promos.

Byron Saxton hyped that The Ascension would be in action next...

[C] Back from the commercial The Ascension to a decent reaction. Dante Dash and Garrett Dylan made their entrance to no reaction.

4. The Ascension (Kenneth Cameron and Connor O’Brian) vs. Dante Dash and Garrett Dylan. 31:24. O’Brian pushed Dash out of the way and knocked Dylan to the floor. The Ascension made quick tags involving kicks and elbows. O’Brian grabbed Dash from behind and both he and Cameron hit spinning wheel kicks to either side of Dash for the win...

The Ascension (Kenneth Cameron and Connor O’Brian) defeated Dante Dash and Garrett Dylan in 1:48.

A Big E Langston video aired hyping his debut next week. He said that life is about getting paid and the world we know is about to change.

Short’s Synopsis: Once again this was something that didn’t need to be on this show. Nothing to really say here other than that The Ascension’s dominance was maintained and that they showed more of their gimmick. I want to know how these guys would do in a real feud because I think NXT’s audience is now completely aware of the gimmick and I think it would be interesting to see them in a match with more meaning than a squash. As for Big E Langston, last week it was about rituals, this week it’s about making money. I get the feeling that they haven’t established his character yet. At this point it’s fine because that’s what NXT can be used for. Plus he’s a big enough dude and monster in the ring, he could just coast on that for a while.

Seth Rollins made his entrance moshing to a good pop. Drew McIntyre made his full entrance to little reaction aside from a few cheers from the women...

5. Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre. Both men locked up and McIntyre hit a big elbow. He went for a big boot however Seth caught him with a leg sweep. McIntyre attempted to grab Seth’s leg however he jumped over it and hit a kick to the chest ala Daniel Bryan. Seth hit three beautiful dropkicks which forced Drew to the outside. Ross noted that it’s ironic Rollins is a striker given that Iowa is an amateur wrestling state. Rollins then hit a suicide dive as the show went to a commercial.

[C] Back from the break Drew was clubbing Seth on the back. Seth hit a jumping lariat, a few seconds later Drew eventually popped back up which got a nice reaction, Seth then popped up and hit a nice enziguri. Rollins hit several running strikes. He went to the corner, started moshing and hit a cross body on Drew in the other corner. He followed it up with a Mic Check/Complete Shot into the middle turnbuckle. He hit a spinning back kick and went for The Blackout however Drew countered with a knee to the gut.

He went for the Future Shock DDT but Seth got to the ropes. Drew pulled him out however Seth dropped down for a pin attempt, he went for a roll up but Drew rolled through. Seth hit the Avada Kedavra (Super kick to a kneeling opponent) for a near fall. It may be worth noting that there wasn’t the usual slap noise that accompanies Super kicks during Seth’s. Seth climbed to the top rope, he went for the Phoenix Splash but Drew moved out of the way and he landed on his feet. Drew hit a sick big boot; he picked Seth up and hit the Future Shock DDT (which J.R described as an Impaler DDT) for the win...

Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins in 5:35.

After the match Byron hyped that Interim GM Dusty Rhodes had a major announcement for next week to close out the show...

Short’s Synopsis: There’s a surprise, I didn’t expect Drew to get the win given that WWE officials are reportedly not high on him yet are reportedly high on Rollins. The match itself was good. Both men had the opportunity to shine and they worked well together. The near falls and counters were really entertaining and I liked how they combined Drew big strikes with Seth’s fast ones. A really nice showing from these two as you’d expect and I’d really like to see more.

As for the overall show it got better as the show went on apart from one slight dip. It started with a snooze-fest of an opening match. It then got better with Cesaro vs. Riley. Sofia and Natalya told a good story, The Ascension squash could have been left out however the main event was a good match. I’m really looking forward to next week’s show given that I’ve read the spoilers; it should be a good one. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions or just want a general wrestling chat follow me on twitter @JoshTubeShort. Cheers.