8/9 Short’s WWE NXT Review: Bo Dallas vs. Jinder Mahal, Justin Gabriel vs. Michael McGillicutty, Kassius Ohno in action, Paige and Tamina Snuka vs. Caylee Turner (Alicia Fox’s sister a/k/a Christina from Tough Enough) and Kaitlyn

By Josh Short

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

The new signature aired followed by last week’s footage of Interim NXT GM Dusty Rhodes announcement of the Gold Rush Tournament to decide the first ever NXT Champion. It featured comments by the participants that put over the importance of being the first man to win the championship. The participants also put themselves over...

The opening video played and Byron Saxton welcomed us to the show alongside JR and William Regal. They hyped that Justin Gabriel vs. Michael McGillicutty would be next and Bo Dallas vs. Jinder Mahal would happen later in the show...

Michael McGillicutty made his entrance to no reaction, he touched the championship at the top of the stage. Justin Gabriel made his entrance to a good pop with plenty of cheers from the women.

1. Justin Gabriel vs. Michael McGillicutty. Both men locked up and exchanged control of the others arm. McGillicutty then backed into the bottom corner. Gabriel continued to focus on McGillicutty’s arm as the crowd sat on their hands. He looked like he was going for an Octopus Stretch type of manoeuvre and transitioned into a pin for a nice spot. McGillicutty went for a suplex however Gabriel countered, hit a suplex of his own and transitioned into a modified butterfly lock for a nice spot. [C]

Back from the break McGillicutty was in control of Gabriel by hitting various strikes. A short time later both men went for a running cross body off the ropes and hit each other. Gabriel made his comeback, he hit various strikes followed by a springboard cross body. He went for the 450 Splash but McGillicutty moved out of the way and into the opposite corner.

Gabriel hit a splash in the corner followed by a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall. He went for a suplex however McGillicutty dropped down, rolled through and hit a Perfectplex for a very near fall. McGillicutty went for a backbreaker but Justin countered with a spinning headlock elbow drop, Justin went for a springboard moonsault but McGillicutty moved out of the way. He followed it up with the McGillicutter for the win...

Michael McGillicutty defeated Justin Gabriel in 8:06 to advance to the semi finals in the Gold Rush Tournament.

After the match, McGillicutty stood at the top of the ramp and pointed towards the championship. Saxton hyped that he would face Seth Rollins next week. He also hyped Kassius Ohno being in action next as footage of Ohno preparing for his match was shown...

Short’s Synopsis: A match that got much better as time went on. At first the match dragged because of the rest holds however the match did pick up. Both guys had some good looking spots and the last couple minutes of the match were really good.

Kassius Ohno made his entrance to a good pop. The commentators put over the idea the Kassius likes to hurt people. Kassius struck the turnbuckle with several elbows. His opponent; CJ Parker, was not even introduced.

2. Kassius Ohno vs. CJ Parker A “let’s go Ohno” chant started immediately as CJ took Ohno down with a fireman’s carry drop. CJ went for the early pin; this made Kassius roll to the outside. CJ attempted an attack however Ohno trapped him in the ring apron and hit a springboard stomp for a cool spot. Kassius then hit a kick to the face then several strikes to a grounded CJ followed by a flying forearm in the corner for near fall.

Ohno hit a rolling senton followed by a rest hold as the commentators put over Kassius Ohno as being from the same background as Daniel Bryan and CM Punk. A short time later, Parker made his comeback with several clotheslines and kicks. He went for a running double knee strike in the corner however Kassius hit a sick looking big boot which drew a great reaction from the match. Ohno then hit a rolling elbow to the back of the head for the win...

Kassius Ohno defeated CJ Parker in 4:43.

The commentators put over the upset victory for Jason Jordan and Mike Dalton over Hunico and Camacho. They aired footage from last week of Briley Pierce interviewing them. Jordan put over the fact that Hunico and Camacho are Smackdown superstars. He also stated that they are officially a team and Dalton chimed in, basically repeating what Jordan said...

The commentators hyped the match between Bo Dallas and Jinder Mahal for later on in the show. They also hyped Paige and Tamina Snuka vs. Caylee Turner (Alicia Fox’s younger sister and Christina from Tough Enough) and Kaitlyn...

An Ascension video aired. They said that they hold the keys to the future and that they will rise, they ended the video by laughing manically...

Short’s Synopsis: A squash match that I thoroughly enjoyed. While we may not have heard from Kassius the match itself contributed to his gimmick of being a sick guy who likes inflicting pain. His offense looked brutal and there was none of this over-the-top shouting that we’ve seen before. Instead; Kassius just looked like one badass SOB. As for character development, Jordan held his own on the mic, Dalton was annoying but they showed good fire when talking about officially becoming a team. The Ascension video package was probably the best we’ve seen. There was far less of the over-the-top theatrics which may put some people off, instead, like Kassius, the Ascension looked like serious and threatening.

Paige and Tamina Snuka made their entrance to a decent reaction. Paige worked up the crowd before Kaitlyn and Caylee Turner made their entrance to a few wolf whistles. Saxton said that Caylee was bubbly whilst Kaitlyn stood there in the same way in which she was a couple of weeks ago when she played the heel...

3. Tamina Snuka and Paige vs. Caylee Turner and Kaitlyn. Caylee slapped Tamina and smiled before being thrown to the ground by Tamina. Caylee tagged in Kaitlyn who had a test of strength with Tamina before ragging her hair to the floor. Tamina hit two armdrags followed by a sleeper slam for a near fall. She then tagged in Paige, this got a good reaction from the crowd and a “Paige” started immediately. Paige started with strikes in the corner and a headlock takedown.

Kaitlyn tagged in Caylee however Paige came back with several spinning back kicks. Tamina tagged in and the faces hit a double clothesline. Kaitlyn took control with a dropkick to the knee; she hit another before whipping her back into the corner. Caylee locked in a rest hold however Tamina came back with a nasty looking Samoan drop in sloppy spot. She eventually made the hot tag to Paige who hit a clothesline, a shoulder block and then a nice fall away slam for a pin attempt. Kaitlyn broke up the pin and ran to the outside when Tamina chased her. She pulled Tamina to the outside as Regal said Kaitlyn was showing a much more devious side. Back in the ring, Paige trapped Caylee in a small package as Kaitlyn just kneeled in her corner for the win...

Tamina Snuka and Paige defeated Caylee Turner and Kaitlyn in 6:23.

After the match, Byron hyped Bo Dallas vs. Jinder Mahal as next...

Short’s Synopsis: Two things stood out to me in that match; Paige and Kaitlyn. Now hold on, yes they’re hot but let me make my point. Paige, showed great fire in the ring; she easily worked up the crowd and was very solid in the ring. Kaitlyn was also solid in the ring; I remember her on NXT season 3 and thinking she was awful but she’s improved dramatically, her matches with Maxine a while back and this match here have shown me that while she may not be the most charismatic in the ring, she is, as I’ve said, solid. It’s worth noting that Caylee had an ok showing in this match, she didn’t do much and she wasn’t completely bad considering how little experience she has.

Backstage Derrick Bateman congratulated Bo Dallas on making the Gold Rush Tournament. Derrick said it was unfortunate that he didn’t qualify despite years of service on this show and accused Bo of costing them the tag match against Curtis and McGillicutty. Bo asked for Derrick’s support and he said he had it...

Short’s Synopsis: Hmm, that was a nice short interaction between these two.

Bo Dallas made his entrance to a good pop with very loud cheers from the women in the crowd. Jinder Mahal made his entrance to little reaction.

4. Bo Dallas vs. Jinder Mahal. Both men locked up and struggled for advantage all over the ring. Regal noted that Dallas split his kidney in half about 8 months ago as Bo took Jinder down. He hit a nice running cross body, Jinder then went for a big boot but then got caught with a roll up. He rolled to the outside to sell his frustration. [C]

Back from the break Jinder was in control as the commentators talked about the family legacies of both men. Jinder hit a neckbreaker for a near fall and hit his signature knee strikes to a grounded Bo. Jinder locked in a rest hold as Bo made his comeback. Jinder went for a belly to back suplex however Bo rolled over mid way through for a pin attempt. He then hit a big clothesline and a running club to the back. Jinder attempted an attack however Bo countered with a nice scoop powerslam.

Jinder took control with a tilt-a-whirl slam for a near fall. A short time later Bo hit a springboard bulldog for a very near fall. Jinder went for his signature knee but he missed. Bo hooked Jinder’s arms but both men fell into the ropes. Jinder then hit a hangman off the top rope followed by a complete shot and then the Camel Clutch for the submission victory...

Jinder Mahal defeated Bo Dallas in 7:47 to advance to semi finals of the Gold Rush Tournament.

After the match JR said that Jinder is one step closer to becoming NXT champion to close out the show...

Short’s Synopsis: An ok match. I remember when WWE first signed Jinder and I was happy that India could have someone that could wrestle better and had the potential to be a bigger star than Khali but seriously Jinder Mahal bores me to death. It’s the same shit over and over again and it makes me just want to stop watching. Bo however, like the commentators said over a thousand times, showed great fire and energy. The final minutes of the match were good; Bo worked the crowd well with his offense and were behind him when Jinder took control.

Overall this was yet another mixed bag for NXT. The show was fine but it wasn’t really that exciting. We’ve seen better but we’ve also seen worse.

Thanks for taking time out to read my review of this week’s NXT. If you have any question or just fancy a chat about anything; especially NXT and wrestling in general follow me on twitter @JoshTubeShort. Cheers.