Tenken347
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|  #1 Posted on 25.12.15 1116.53
Reposted on: 25.12.22 1120.08 | Man, I've got to tell you guys, RAW has had me really down in the dumps for a while now. It's a static, boring show full of guys who just aren't being used to their full potential. Sure, every now and then, you get something like the show from two weeks ago where Roman won the title, and you think, "hey, maybe now things will get on track," but then you get a show like the Slammies, and you realize those bright spots are few and far between. It's enough to make you lose your faith in wrestling altogether.
But then, and you guys are not going to believe this, last night I was visited by three spirits, who offered me the chance to change my fate. I shall tell you now what transpired. You might be surprised!
Oh, and by the way, this show consists of the matches taped before last week's Takeover event, and was punctuated with recaps and packages from the event itself, which I'm not going to write up here. If you're interested in what happened last week, you might be able to find that information somewhere (The W).
We start off with our first specter. This specter showed me a four-way tag match between the Vaudvillains, the Hype Bros, Blake and Murphy, and Jordan and Gable. It was great, it was dynamic, it was full of excitement. The Vaudvillains started by coming out dressed as classic Dr. Who and Sherlock Holmes (no points for guessing who was who), taking advantage of their bright, larger than life gimmick, and really stealing a lot of everyone else's thunder. Of course, that's easy when the crowd hates the Hype Bros as much as the London crowd did. Blake and Murphy, but especially Alexa Bliss, got a good hot reaction, and then the overwhelming favorites, Jordan and Gable came out. The crowd was way into these guys for the whole match. There was some great chain wrestling, and all four teams were treating this match like it was important and they all wanted to win it. There were some great ring-out spots, and finally Jordan and Gable won the match with their Motion-Assisted German Suplex, to the delight of the crowd.
Match Rating: Ghost Of Wrestling Past.
We get to see what happened backstage with Dana and Emma after Emma got knocked out by Asuka last week. Asuka again came back to taunt the pair of them, and Dana is ready for more. Emma, on the other hand, is ready to call this one.
A final video package for Elias Samson sets up the next match, where he faces off with Bull Dempsey in what is, despite the announcers tell us, definitely not Samson's debut. This is a dull, plodding match between two guys who are actually much better than this. They're doing what they can, but the crowd's not into this one, and they aren't really fighting over anything. This goes nowhere until its one bright spot - an absolutely beautiful top-rope Macho Man elbow drop from Samson, which scores the pin.
Match Rating: Ghost Of Wrestling Present.
You can see where I'm going with this, right?
Anyhoo, Dash and Dawson actually give some respect to Enzo and Cass after their match at Takeover, but while Enzo and Cass are good, Dash and Dawson are the best. Well, at least as long as they've got those belts.
Finally, our main event. Out first contender is Perfect 10 Tye Dillinger, and the crowd gives him a warm welcome. But his opponent is none other than the returning Sami Zayn! P10 works the injured shoulder, as one would expect, but Sami keeps coming back. It's a highlight reel of most of his best offense, including a fisherman's suplex and a big dive to the outside, which sets up the Blue Thunder Bomb, which never gets the pin but really looks like it ought to. This is a fun, dynamic match featuring a beloved face that the crowd is all the way behind, and even though it's a glorified squash, everyone's invested in it. The finishing sequence is dynamite. Zayn goes for a Helluva Kick, but P10 avoids it and goes for a rollup. Zayn kicks loose, but eats a superkick when he gets to his feet. That gets a close two, and Dillinger decides to try and put away Zayn with his own move. Sami catches him out of the Helluva Kick, though, and kills him dead with a corner exploder suplex. Sami hits his own Helluva Kick, and that's that!
Match Rating: Ghost Of Wrestling Yet To Come?
Tell me, oh spirits! Is this a vision of what must be, or only a vision of what may be? Because, I mean, I'd really like it to come true, but man, RAW is a disaster. Hey wait, maybe Sami Zayn knows? He looks like he's got something to say. "For about 7 months now, there's something I've been dying to say, and I've got to get it off my chest. I'm back!" See, he's tired of every triumph being followed up by a disaster, and even though 2015 was a big year for NXT, Sami knows 2016 going to be even bigger. And 2016's going to be a big year for Sami, too. He closes out with a simple message: "We Are NXT!"
We are NXT. And I don't mean that in a big-headed, "we should decide the direction of the product" way, or a "let's all chant and go into business for ourselves at the live events" sort of way (see, I do read these threads after I'm done posting). No, all I mean is, wrestling don't work without the fans. It's about drawing us in and making us care. We care about guys like Sami, and Bayley, and Apollo Crews, and heck, even Baron Corbin. They're all great performers, but they need an audience to be anything. And I, for one, really feel special and even privileged that I get a chance, every week, to watch these guys come out and do what they do and be a part of it. Whenever I get down in the dumps about RAW, I remember that this is the show I really care about, and I remember that any one of these guys has the potential to blow this all up and make the people in charge of the company remember exactly what the spirit of wrestling is all about, and perhaps a hard-hearted old rich miser might just see the error of his ways, someday.
Aw man, I really went off on a whole thing there. I'm sorry about that, and you've all got to have something better to do on Christmas than read all that saccharine nonsense. So Merry Christmas! And God Bless Us! Every one! | Promote this thread! |             | andy1278
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| #2 Posted on 27.12.15 0950.45
Reposted on: 27.12.22 0951.01 | I always feel so happy when NXT is over. It's just an hour of joy. I also don't FFWD through 90% of it, because it is fun seeing the guys actually grow into their characters instead of being force-fed into a spot.
The tag match was great. Gable & Jordan are going to be rock stars when they hit the main roster, if they let them be that is. The videos on Twitter of the UK fans singing "Gable Gable Gable Jordan Jordan Jordan" for TEN MINUTES STRAIGHT is something to see.
Sami is great too. He's one of those the fans just want to cheer, the male Bayley. He's probably the one they will do an ill-advised heel turn that doesn't work to on the main roster.
(edited by andy1278 on 27.12.15 1430) | CRZ
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| #3 Posted on 27.12.15 1548.47
Reposted on: 27.12.22 1551.21 | | Another fine recap, and I know how you love it when I gush, but you have really continued to do some MVP-level work talking about this show every week during our slow, inevitable decline. | BigDaddyLoco
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| #4 Posted on 28.12.15 1348.41
Reposted on: 28.12.22 1358.31 | I agree. It's nice to see you sticking with this project. I know it can be a bit of a drag banging these out with little to no replies, but it's good stuff.
Originally posted by CRZ
during our slow, inevitable decline.
This is one of those things that makes me sadder than it should. I miss the banter.
(edited by BigDaddyLoco on 28.12.15 1449) | andy1278
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| #5 Posted on 29.12.15 1450.15
Reposted on: 29.12.22 1452.20 | | Agreed! I have been a reader and visitor daily for years, dating back to [slash] when CRZ posted my poorly written columns. However, I have just finally come back out of the shadows and started commenting in the last six or so months, and your NXT recaps are a big part of that. I look forward to them like I used to look forward to CRZ's Raw and Nitro recaps hitting. That's a very good thing. | El Nastio
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|  #6 Posted on 29.12.15 1818.00
Reposted on: 29.12.22 1818.00 | I'll echo the others; your recaps are great, Tenk.
Ryder is someone who I wanted so badly to succeed, which has left some scarring of sorts - every time someone catches fire, it's always on the back of my mind that they're going to get merc'd to the point where Ryder did. I'm hoping that a run in NXT can help reboot his career, namely with a well-timed heel turn vs Mojo.
Gable & Jordan are going to be mooooooneeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy, and I look forward to their inevitable matchup against the throwback team of Dash & Dawson.
| Tenken347
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| #7 Posted on 30.12.15 0748.43
Reposted on: 30.12.22 0759.01 | | Aww, y'all are fixin' to make me blush. Don't worry, though; I love doing the recaps and they aren't going anywhere. I don't get many chances to do long-form writing anymore, and doing these write-ups helps me digest the show. So as long as I'm still having fun doing these (WARNING: if the show ever goes to 2 hours, I'm out), they'll keep coming. I might even have tonight's show up by tomorrow morning, cross your fingers. | CRZ
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| #8 Posted on 30.12.15 1432.19
Reposted on: 30.12.22 1432.30 | One interesting* thing during RAW was the hype for this week's "best of 2015" NXT show because the announcer said "twenty fifteen" like a normal person instead of "two thousand fifteen" like everybody else on RAW seems to say
*only to me, I know
Anyway, I have found that recap shows are a theoretical (Tyler) Breeze... unless something happens to distract you into a multi-paragraph editorial aside.
| whatever
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| #9 Posted on 30.12.15 2245.36
Reposted on: 30.12.22 2252.16 | Finally caught up on the episode, only 1 week late. I'll also chime in with my appreciation for your recaps, especially since my schedule results in way-delayed viewing of episodes. Thanks for the continued effort!
I could watch Simon Gotch and Chad Gable wrestle all day. That was some really great stuff. NXT's tag division is totally loaded right now.
Line of the night was Graves noting how the Hype Bros were dressed like idiots. My youngest thought that was fantastic. | | ALL ORIGINAL POSTS IN THIS THREAD ARE NOW AVAILABLE |
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