So, last night’s NXT ArRIVAL was marred by some because WWE oversold the show. If you arrived late, or even early in some cases, and didn’t get a wristband when you were supposed to, they made you wait till all the wristbanded fans got in and seated and if there was open seating after that, then you got in.
Unfortunately, there was no seating and Full Sail student volunteers that were on crowd control were losing control of themselves. The guy in charge lost his cool and snapped at the angry crowd telling them there was no promise of a refund, but they’re giving them free tickets for upcoming events and bringing out talent for them to interact with. Still unsatisfied they were given full refunds too.
Events get oversold, it happens. Whether it was unprepared and unpaid Full Sail students or Soulless WWE drones doesn’t matter. The swag should’ve been enough. On the other hand, they could’ve done more to make sure they didn’t oversell by 200 tickets+.
That said and out of the way, WHAT AN EVENT!
Let’s go, spoiler free, match by match and get some of these thoughts off my mind.
Cesaro vs Zayn IV was easily one of the best matches I’ve ever witnessed. Sami Zayn’s ring presence is bar none. His body flops and flails are spectacular and not to understate his talent at all, he’s a god damn acrobat in the ring. And what can I say about Cesaro that’s not already been said a thousand times about him? Not much. Everything they say about this guy is true and he can go back to the main roster now and continue to dominate in WWE. Sami Zayn is ready for Monday Nights and ready for a high profile rivalry with Cesaro. They have all the makings of a classic rivalry and they’re two guys at the absolute peak of performance and to not put these guys through every test of strength imaginable is a crime. Iron Man Match, Cage, Hell in a Cell, Ladder, TLC, I don’t care I want to see these guys fight forever. FOR EVER. Kudos to them for taking my advice and hugging it out at the end too.
Mojo Rawley is the next Paul Heyman guy. He’s big, he’s a little bit not all there, and he’s insanely powerful. He’s no Brock Lesnar but in the future he’ll give some of the company’s best a run for their money. As for CJ Parker, I could take or leave him right now. Neither of these guys are really ready for Monday nights, they’re not even ready for Superstars, they’ve got a ways to go still, BUT the potential is there. Mojo’s “I stay hype!” gimmick is fantastic and would mesh well with some of the PG-era crowd. Parker, needs to drop the Moonchild thing…the hippie act is weird and unsettling.
Paige and Emma are a an absolute and pure god damn testament to what women’s wrestling was and what it’s going to be. The current “model divas” are not fighters. They’re pretty, they give girlfriends something to watch (Total Divas) and give the rest of us a guaranteed pee break. You get Emma or Paige in the ring together again, or with AJ…we’ll have a real women’s division and none of this…friendship spin spot crap. Side note; Aksana is a goddamn hazard to these girls can we send her back to NXT?
Tyler Breeze, now, being there I didn’t get the gorgeous experience that WWE Network viewers got. Apparently there was an infinite loop of Tyler Breeze entering the ring all the way through the main event, which just sounds pleasant and beautiful to me. And then, of course, there’s Xavier Jackson, who might just be one of the best dancing gimmicks on the…nevermind. The bell doesn’t even ring and a fucking wall of flesh comes stomping out with his sexy ambassador/manager and then, of course, Rusev crush. That’s not a spoiler, this is what he does. Rusev crush. Much to my dismay I was not able to get a “YOU ARE AWESOME” chant riled up. People legitimately don’t like Rusev, and that’s fine because he doesn’t make himself likeable. I’d love to see Rusev become the next Meng.
For a ladder match featuring the man that gravity forgot, I was hoping we’d see a Red Arrow off of the ladder, sadly we didn’t. However we did get to see a brutally fought ladder match where the title felt like it was legitimately earned. I love both of these guys. Neville brings me back to the high flying antics of the cruiserweight division in WCW and Bo Dallas is the most unlikable nice guy heel I’ve ever seen since Kurt Angle. The best part of the night was trolling the marks and rooting for Bo.
All in all, this was an unprecendented and epic night for both NXT and WWE. The fans make NXT what it is and it is the most FUN to go sit and be a part of. I had promised live tweets but didn’t come through due to my phone dying before the show even started. However, we’re gonna keep going to these and these things will happen in the future!
Check out NXT ArRIVAL available now on WWE Network and don’t forget to worship your Bo-ssiah.
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