Sunday, May 14, 2017

The Architecture of NXT: Episode #125

The Architecture of NXT
Episode #125
July 11th, 2012 | Full Sail Arena in Winter Park, Florida


Byron Saxton and William Regal are on commentary.

Camacho w/ Hunico vs. Tyson Kidd
This stems from the six-man tag last week. Things start with a battle of speed against strength. Camacho tries overpowering Kidd, but gets taken to task because Tyson is too quick and too skilled. Kidd gets trapped in between his opponents after a failed dive but it goes nowhere because the referee is watching. For no real reason, the official ejects Hunico. Before he leaves, Kidd takes them both out with a somersault. After a break, Camacho gets in control. His heat segment is rather dull until he counters a wheelbarrow move for a near fall. Camacho busts out a super double underhook suplex for two. WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? Kidd rallies and hits the blockbuster. He goes for the Sharpshooter but here’s Michael McGillicutty. The distraction allows Camacho to win with a lame DDT at 12:18 That was going fine until the lame finish. I get a distraction being involved but a DDT finish in 2012 isn’t good. Best Camacho/Tanga Roa match ever. [**¾]

VIGNETTE ~ Typical Bray Wyatt stuff, though it interestingly features a woman laughing.

Backstage, Matt Striker interviews Justin Gabriel about his return from injury in next week’s main event against Heath Slater. Gabriel cuts a generic promo before Slater interrupts to brag about his recent segments with legends. Gabriel says next week, he’ll get embarrassed by a current star this time.

Aiden English vs. Bray Wyatt
Is it 2017 Smackdown? Bray cuts a promo during his entrance. Saying people will understand what he’s all about. He calls himself the angel in the dark and is pleased to meet the fans. Wyatt comes out aggressively and gets the fans behind him for it. His suplex sees him just throw English. Bray already has all the mannerisms down. He takes Aiden’s lifeless body and dances with it before winning via Sister Abigail in 1:45. A great debut. Bray showed things that made him stand out. [NR]

PPV SHILL ~ At Money in the Bank, CM Punk defends the WWE Title against Daniel Bryan with AJ Lee as the referee! They also plug the two MITB matches and the first in a seemingly never ending series of singles matches between Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio.

Briley Pierce is standing by with Richie Steamboat. Richie wants to show everyone how good he is. Leo Kruger interrupts to say he’s already proven that he’s better. Steamboat, like a sourpuss, shoves Kruger and they scuffle.

VIGNETTE ~ Raquel Diaz time! She is bringing the “Exfoliating Ugliness Tour” to NXT next week. For those unaware, she’s the daughter of Eddie and Vickie Guerrero.

The Prime Time Players vs. The Usos
It’s a battle of future WWE Tag Team Champions. Jim Ross joins commentary for the main event. Young wastes time getting his afro picked, so Jimmy slaps him. Titus consoles his partner but it just leads to him taking more tandem offense. The hot streak of the Usos ends as Titus helps his guys gain control. They hold serve through a break and wear down Jimmy. The hot tag nearly comes but Darren cuts it off by pulling Jey off the apron. SMART. Jimmy continues to get worked over and finally makes the tag. Jey does the signature stuff including a Samoan drop and Umaga ass attack but can only muster a near fall. Titus stop his momentum and he falls to a backbreaker/elbow drop combo at 10:29. Solid tag team wrestling here. They used plenty of deprivation, which is what tag wrestling is built on. Something was just missing to make it really good though. [**½]

Overall: 6.5/10. Cutting back on the amount of matches helped this week. We only got three matches and two were given time to develop. Neither was great but you could tell there was something there. The one short match was a great showcase for a new star, so that worked well too.