Short’s WWE NXT Review: Seth Rollins and Jinder Mahal, Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel vs. Michael McGillicutty and Johnny Curtis, Kassius Ohno and Antonio Cesaro in singles matches, released Divas final NXT match

By Josh Short

8/22 WWE NXT on Youtube
Taped in Winter Park, Fla. At Full Sail University.

Before I start this week’s review I just want to say sorry that to everyone that it’s taken me this long to start this week’s review. I’ve been really ill these past couple of days, nonetheless, here is this week’s NXT review; cheers...

The signature aired followed by the opening video played and Byron Saxton welcomed us to the show and hyped that we would hear from both Seth Rollins and Jinder Mahal tonight. Derrick Bateman made his entrance to a polite pop, we was screaming like a lunatic. Antonio Cesaro made his entrance to a polite response, followed by a few scattered boos...

1. Derrick Bateman vs. Antonio Cesaro (w/ Aksana). Both men locked up and Cesaro hit several strikes and headbutts. Bateman came back with strikes of his own followed by a dropkick and a snap suplex. Regal said that he believes there is a record which shows that Derrick Bateman is the strongest man in the WWE and I just scoffed in disbelief that Regal would try put Bateman over in that way. Cesaro dropped Bateman on the top rope to take control. He followed it up with a butterfly suplex.

Cesaro locked in a rest hold however Bateman fought out of it and made a comeback. He hit a cross body in the corner followed by a unique version of an STO. Cesaro then rolled to the edge of the ring. Bateman threw him back in and went for another cross body in the corner but missed. Cesaro then hit a gutwrench suplex followed by the Neutralizer for the win...

Antonio Cesaro defeated Derrick Bateman in 4:02.

After the match Saxton hyped that Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd would face Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty and that Seth Rollins and Jinder Mahal would be face to face.

A video showed various superstars including Daniel Bryan and John Cena talking about how important becoming the very first NXT Champion would be...

Short’s Synopsis: That match was poor. Neither guy had enough offense to look good and whole thing just seemed like a waste of time. The video that featured the superstars putting over how important becoming the first NXT Champion was, as you’d expect from WWE’s production team, well done and made the title match seem even more important.

Tamina Snuka made her entrance to a good pop. The recently released Sofia Cortez made her entrance to a good pop as well.

2. Tamina Snuka vs. Sofia Cortez. 9.47. Sofia taunted Tamina before Tamina ragged Sofia’s hair. Sofia took control with various kicks. Tamina hit chop however Sofia locked in a body scissors and grounded Tamina. Tamina made it to her feet and managed to get Sofia off her in the corner. Sofia went to attack Tamina however Tamina came back with chops, a sleeper slam and a super kick for a near fall. Tamina hit a scoop slam and hit the Superfly Splash for the win...

Tamina Snuka defeated Sofia Cortez in 2:54.

After the match Raquel Diaz attacked Tamina and drew a “L” on her head. She did the “Loser” sign with the wrong hand...

Short’s Synopsis: That match was much better than the first match despite it being shorter. It’s a shame Sofia has been released because she has shown to be much more skilful and athletic than some of the other divas such as Raquel Diaz. Sofia played a pest heel well and Tamina looked like a beast with that super kick. A good showing from the match participants and more of the same from Raquel.

Kassius Ohno made his entrance to a good pop. His opponent; Jake Carter (Vader’s son) was introduced in the ring and got no reaction...

3. Kassius Ohno vs. Jake Carter 15:13. The bell rang and “Ohno” chants started immediately. Ohno locked in a long rest hold however Carter hit two shoulder blocks. He took control in the corner and hit an armdrag followed by a scoop slam. Kassius rolled to the outside. Both men fought on either side of the ropes before Ohno hit a sick looking big boot. He hit various strikes and went back to the cravate. He went for the big boot again however Carter dogged it and hit a suplex followed by side walk slam. He attempted to whip Ohno into the ropes however Ohno countered; Carter came back with a kick to the face, he charged at Ohno however Ohno dogged it and hit a sick looking rolling elbow for the win...

Kassius Ohno defeated Jake Carter in 3:57.

After the match Regal called Ohno’s elbow the “Dream Killer”. Ohno then attacked Carter in the corner and hit another Dream Killer before Richie Steamboat made the save...

After the match Saxton showed a video that focused on the superstars interacting at various events as a part of Summerslam Axxess. They showed highlights of the superstars visiting a children’s hospital as well as the Summerslam Party. Pierce Morgan was shown; thank you America for taking that pompous prick off our hands. The party was shown as part of B.A. Star initiative...

Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd vs. Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty was hyped as being next...

Short’s Synopsis: That was the best match of the night so far. Kassius is much better being extremely aggressive and relentless than calm and creepy. Similar to Sofia Cortez vs. Natalya from a couple of weeks ago this match focused on rookie getting the better of the more experienced wrestler only to misstep and lose the match. Kassius was great on offense and looked like a bad ass. I’m not sold on his finisher’s name; can’t they just call it the “K.O” or is that too obvious or boring?

Another video focused on the importance of the Gold Rush Tournament and the NXT Championship; it featured some of the same superstars from earlier...

Michael McGillicutty and Johnny Curtis made their entrance to a good reaction; “Sha!” chants started immediately as JR checked in on commentary. Tyson Kidd, followed by Justin Gabriel made their entrances to great pops. JR called them the “Air Force”.

4. Michael McGillicutty and Johnny Curtis vs. Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel. Kidd and McGillicutty started. Regal said that Curtis and McGillicutty are banned from Disney parks for causing some kind of trouble with the Little Mermaid and Pocahontas. How the hell did that comment make it on the air? McGillicutty took control and the very annoying and loud “Sha!” chants continued. Kidd took control and hit and armdrag. He tagged in Gabriel and Gabriel hit a sunset flip. Gabriel hit an armdrag before they performed another tag manoeuvre which featured Kidd hitting his springboard pin. Saxton noted that Richie Steamboat has challenged Kassius Ohno to a match. Gabriel ran to the tope rope, he attacked Curtis on the ring apron; McGillicutty used the distraction to hit an absolutely brutal looking clothesline. He locked in a rest hold as Saxton took us to a break...[C]

[C] Back from the break Curtis was hitting various strikes. He and McGillicutty made quick tags hitting repeated strikes. Curtis whipped Gabriel into another corner and hit a nice suplex. He locked in a rest hold. Gabriel tried to make a comeback however Curtis caught him with a death valley driver type of manoeuvre whilst holding Gabriel’s arm. McGillicutty tagged in and dropped some knees to Gabriel. Curtis tagged in and eventually hit a knee to Gabriel’s gut. He went to the top rope and went for a phoenix splash but missed. This got a great reaction from the crowd.

Gabriel made the hot tag to Kidd and Curtis made the tag to McGillicutty. Kidd hit his kick from the apron followed by a springboard dropkick. Kidd hit several kicks as various Kidd chants broke out. He went to attack McGillicutty in the corner however McGillicutty moved. McGillicutty picked Kidd up in a side walk slam position and Curtis hit a springboard leg drop onto Kidd’s neck. Great move. Curtis went for the pin but Gabriel broke it up. Curtis placed Kidd on the top turnbuckle and Tyson fought him off. He went for moonsault but botched it badly, he ended up falling down, Curtis ran to him and sold it as if he’d been kicked in the head. Kidd hit a neckbreaker and went for the pin but McGillicutty broke it up. Gabriel threw McGillicutty to the outside. Tyson picked up Curtis into a spinebuster position, Gabriel climbed the ropes and they hit a blockbuster/spinebuster for the win...

Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel defeated Michael McGillicutty and Johnny Curtis in 7:41.

After the match Saxton hyped that Seth Rollins and Jinder Mahal would be face to face next...

Backstage Briley Pierce interviewed Kassius Ohno about Richie Steamboat challenging him to a match. Kassius said that Richie doesn’t like seeing people in pain and he’s going to hate it even more when he’s the one in pain. He concluded by saying that “Kassius hurts people, Richie Steamboat; you’re on”.

Short’s Synopsis: A match that started off decent but got way better as time went on. A couple of weeks ago I laughed at the idea of Curtis and McGillicutty continuing to team together and now I’m going to eat my words. I still don’t like them teaming together but there’s no denying they make a solid team in terms of in-ring action. The same can be said for Gabriel and Kidd. The match itself featured a lot of rest holds and McGillicutty playing up to the “Sha!” chants was just stupid. The botch from Kidd was bad but I like Curtis’s logical selling of being caught with a kick as Kidd did end up kicking him in the head.

However this was a match that completely sold me on these two teams. McGillicutty and Curtis are great ground and pound style performers and that side walk slam/ springboard leg drop was amazing to see. Kidd and Gabriel are fun to watch and I would prefer seeing them as the WWE Tag Team Champions in the style of “Air-Boom”. They’re already half way their seeing as JR called them “Air-Force”. As for Kassius, he toned down the calmness and creepiness and it worked better for him. Like I said before, I think he’s much better as an intense angry SOB. Michael McGillicutty could look to Kassius in that respect seeing as McGillicutty tries very hard to be seen as intense.

Byron Saxton was in the ring and hyped that we are one week away from crowning the very first NXT Champion. He welcomed Seth Rollins who made his moshing entrance to huge pop. Saxton then introduced “The Punjabi Nightmare” to very little heat.

Saxton asked Rollins what it means to have the opportunity to become NXT Champion. Seth said all he has ever wanted is to hold a championship in WWE so this opportunity to become NXT Champion means everything to him. He said that growing up isn’t always easy and that he found himself when he found wrestling and WWE. He said it give him purpose, direction and a dream. He said there is no way he was leaving Full Sail University without becoming the first NXT champion. He got some hardly noticeable boos for going for the cheap pop. He proceeded to head bang.

Saxton asked Jinder the same question. Jinder spoke in his native language before saying Seth, like the crowd was a born loser. He said he was born into greatness and that becoming the first NXT Champion is his birth right as “what?” chants started. He said Seth’s dream will remain a dream and that the first NXT Champion will be him.

Seth responded by rhetorically asking Jinder “born loser?”. Before he could say anything else Jinder attacked him. Seth came back and clotheslined Jinder over the top rope. Seth then hit a suicide dive before referee’s came out and stopped Mahal from re-entering the ring. JR hyped the Seth Rollins vs. Jinder Mahal for the NXT Championship for next week to close the show...

Short’s Synopsis: A good segment to close the show. This was probably the best we’ve heard Jinder on the mic and Seth was great here two. They played up the difference in background well and it added a more personal touch to the match.

Overall this was a good edition of NXT. It got better as the night went on and it even managed to make me feel a little better as it took my mind off this nasty illness I’ve got. Bateman vs. Cesaro was a waste of time but Sofia vs. Tamina was decent. (It’s a shame Sofia got released). Kassius vs. Carter told a great story and both men came out of it looking good. Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel vs. Michael McGillicutty and Johnny Curtis was a great match that showed how good tag team wrestling can be and Seth and Jinder added a personal touch which made me looking forward even more to their match next week.

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!