But none of that matters, because Kane wore a suit! Holy crap, you guys!
Down in NXT Land, the BFFs started looking for a potential new recruit. Leo Kruger returned and started looking to make an impact. Alexander Rusev has a new manager. NXT's These Guys continue to struggle against the Ascension. Mojo Rawley stays hyped!, and in the main event, Luke Harper tried to break his "new plaything" in Kassius Ohno.
A lot of the NXT wrestlers are starting to show their improvements from the work with the veterans at the WWE Performance Center, but others are still obviously learning. Charlotte, for instance, may have great athleticism and capability in the ring for someone so new to the business, but her acting abilities leave much to be desired.
Match 1: Sylvester LeFort vs Alexander Rusev (w/ Lana)
We opened up the show with a WWE.com Exclusive featuring Sylvester LeFort confronting "Miss Blondinka," the mysterious blonde woman that had been "courting" Alexander Rusev over the last few weeks. LeFort expressed his confusion over Rusev's attacking him, citing his managerial skills and that he'd always paid him well, but Miss Blondinka (who at this point had not been named in any way) interrupted him in Russian, telling him emphatically that Rusev is now her client.
That segued nicely into the opening match, where LeFort-- not dressed to compete-- came out, looking nervous, and counting a wad of cash. Miss Blondinka came out and introduced Rusev in Russian, and it wasn't until the identification banner for Rusev showed up on the screen that we found out her name: Lana. Renee Young, on commentary, expressed confusion over who she was, that she hasn't been able to find out a lot about her. She ended up summarizing Lana as a "stone cold fox."
LeFort tried to buy his way out of the match, offering the wad of cash to Rusev, who just threw him into the ropes and clobbered him. Then he stuffed the money in LeFort's mouth and clamped on the Accolade for the tap-out before leaving with Lana.
I think we're going to get a LeFort face-turn out of this, though what this means for LeFort's management of Scott Dawson remains to be seen. Dawson was, once again, nowhere to be found, and I can't recall whether or not he's out with injury.
Backstage: Best Friends and BFFs
Bayley and Charlotte were hanging out backstage, talking about how they managed to "fix" Bayley's broken headband. They "fixed" it by wrapping a bandage around the broken part. It wasn't long, however, before the BFFs-- Summer Rae & Sasha Banks-- interrupted to offer some pretty obviously insincere apologies for breaking the headband in the first place. But they did have a new headband for her, which Bayley gushed over. ("It has kittens on it!") Charlotte wasn't fooled by the BFFs attempts at kissing up to them, telling Summer "I don't need another stepmother." Summer just brushed this off, claiming Sasha's improved greatly under her tutelage, and that she'll be like her soon-- on Raw, pay-per-views, international tours, and photo-shoots.
Throughout all of that, Bayley was looking eager and enthusiastic, which the BFFs promptly seized on, saying that "we could use [emphasis theirs] someone like you," but that she'd need to "take out the trash," with a pointed look at Charlotte. Bayley had to hold Charlotte back as the BFFs retreated.
I'm unsure what to think about this. While I think the "mean girls clique" concept has been done countless times in WWE before (the Bellas in their heel days, and best exemplified with LayCool), it gives those NXT women's wrestlers that aren't immediately involved in the NXT Women's Championship hunt something to do. On the other hand, I'm getting a "Eugene gets used by Evolution" vibe out of this angle, and I don't really want Bayley to be seen as retarded. She's socially awkward, fine, a bit of an ingenue, fine, but not retarded.
Match 2: El Local vs Leo Kruger
Let me start by saying that this match was heralded before a Hulu commercial break with an "Up Next" graphic for Kruger, but the still picture they were using was a very old pic of Kruger, from FCW during his "arrogant handsome man" phase before he changed into a deranged hunter. This just seems very amateurish and unlike NXT, which is pretty on the ball about having some recent photos of their stars.
The story of this match was Kruger had "re-found a side of himself" following his loss to Antonio Cesaro and was looking to regain his momentum. Commentary was doing its part this week to sell Kruger's strangeness. Much was made about his eyes and his creepy smile, although Tom Phillips was a bit of a goof when he said "He almost looks like he's missing teeth, but he's not!" Yes, he is missing teeth. If you look back at this old video from last year, Kruger is quite plainly missing at least one tooth.
Kruger showed a lot more aggression in this match, and Local sold like a pro for him. The sickest bump was probably when Local fought out of the corner and jumped on the turnbuckles, only for Kruger to sweep his legs out. Local's head hit the turnbuckle on the way down. Kruger put him away with the Slice running clothesline, then a trio of snap suplexes, the last of which he rolled through into a guillotine choke for the tap-out.
I'm not sure where else Kruger can go in NXT, and there's not much call for another creepy bush-man on Raw or Smackdown with the Wyatt Family running around. Kruger's supposed South African mercenary background would make him a fit for the Shield, but that team is a solid three-man unit. I could only see Kruger getting called up to fill a hole if one of the Shield members breaks away.
Further Developments: Emma & Paige
We had a brief look back at the last couple of weeks on NXT, when Paige accidentally hit Emma when she came to assist, and the following week when Emma did the same to Paige. This was followed up by a WWE.com Exclusive video showing Paige confronting Emma backstage about it. Paige was pretty clearly positioned as in the wrong here, getting in Emma's face and refusing to accept that Emma's strike on her was an accident. "No, mine was an accident. Yours was just you getting your own back!" She promised to hurt Emma if she did anything like that again, leaving Emma to comment, "Something wrong with that girl."
It seems like they're definitely turning Paige heel in this feud, or at least the 'heel' in the Emma/Paige rivalry. Paige's darker turn lately definitely fits her Anti-Diva persona, and both of these women are ready for the main roster.
Match 3: These Guys (Travis Tyler & Troy McClain) vs The Ascension (Conor O'Brian & Rick Victor)
I said it earlier that NXT seems at a loss with what to do with the Ascension. There's no real tag teams left for them to face, with the Wyatt Family called up, and Neville/Graves broken up. This comes down to the sorry state of tag-team wrestling, and WWE's persistence in seeing tag teams as a means to develop two singles wrestlers, rather than as a unit together. The main roster's gotten better about it, but tag-team wrestling is still seen as almost an afterthought.
That the Ascension were facing off against a tag-team of NXT jobbers just emphasizes my point here. Victor still seems ... unfinished, to me. Maybe it's the superfluous steampunk goggles, or the way his entrance attire doesn't quite match up with Conor's. Then again, Conor's previous Ascension partner, Kenneth Cameron, wore a similar coat, so maybe it's not that. Victor has the attitude in the ring and the creepy look, with those black contacts, but he still just seems like he needs more polish.
Then again, he's standing next to Conor O'Brian, a man whom I've noted has improved by leaps and bounds since his earlier days on the original NXT. He has much more presence about him now, and continues to show little improvements here and there, bringing more things to the table with every match. This week, he debuted a "rolling headlock" sequence that is very unique.
As with the previous jobber matches the Ascension has had, one of their opponents was the only one who got in the ring. (In this case, Tyler.) Again, the Fall of Man finished These Guys off, and it still underwhelms me. A tag-team finisher that shows off Conor's strength as well as Victor's agility would be better suited to them. Something with Conor's impressively huge flapjack would be good.
Match 4: Mojo Rawley vs Tye Dillinger
This was another decent outing for Rawley, showing a little more character. Well, by that, I mean he no-sold some chops from Dillinger. But like with Rawley's debut match against Danny Burch, his opponent got more offense than you'd expect on him, and got to show off their own character or talent. Dillinger's character wasn't much, but just seeing a guy doing a little celebrating and showing off after hitting a move is more than most jobbers get in WWE. One of the best things Dillinger showed off happened after Rawley shoved him down: Dillinger scissored his legs around one of Rawley's and took him down. That shows a level of ring awareness you don't often see from enhancement talent.
Part of Rawley's finishing flurry-- a Stinger Splash-- could use a little work, since he looks like he actually comes up short in the end, or isn't connecting as flush as he should. The end of his flurry, a sit-down senton, still doesn't really "click" as a finisher to me. Seeing Rawley do a three-point stance in the middle of the match makes me think that some kind of running strike from that position would fit better, and play into his football background a bit more.
Match 5: Luke Harper vs Kassius Ohno
The main event made up for a lot of the disappointment I had in this week's episode. I've been a fan of both men since their days on the indies (as Brodie Lee and Chris Hero, respectively) and seeing them getting to whale on each other for fifteen minutes (plus a commercial break) made the indie mark in me giddy. The visual of most of the NXT Crowd swaying to Harper's music is a great thing, and part of me hopes that we'll get something like that happening on the main shows.
Harper keeps bringing the little things along to add a little depth to his character. From his billing location being "Snake Bite, Florida," to his menacing stare and eerie grin, to his unwashed wifebeater and altogether unkempt appearance, it all adds up to one great whole. Even without Erick Rowan or Bray Wyatt accompanying him, Harper still comes across as a major threat. Commentary was putting over Harper as well, talking up his unwashed appearance, questioning whether or not he showers, and how that serves as an additional psychological edge to his matches. One of the best visuals to emphasize his derangement came after kicking out of a pin, getting to his feet while wagging a finger, a grin on his face.
Kassius Ohno looks like he's hit the gym recently, as he looked leaner and more built than he has in a while. Recently, he was allegedly in the infamous "doghouse" for perceived attitude problems regarding his unwillingness to hit the gym. He had some serious fire to his offense, too, so I think he's starting to pick it up to prove to management that he can take criticism. Commentary was being very favorable to him as well, talking up his "fighting spirit" and his world-traveled resume, explicitly saying he's wrestled greats like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Antonio Cesaro, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose "all before he even got to WWE."
The story behind this match is that Ohno is still looking for retribution against the Wyatt Family for injuring him several months ago. One month earlier, Ohno had challenged Harper and gotten beaten for it, and last week, Harper said that he was looking forward to having "fun with my new plaything, Ohno." The match itself was a hard-striking affair, with Ohno refusing to stay down and Harper refusing to go for pinfalls much of the time, clearly "just playing with him." Ohno showed a lot of heart here, and almost had the match won when he hit his big Rolling Elbow knock-out finisher, but only got two. Harper responded by immediately hitting him with the discus lariat for the pinfall.
It was a great showing for both men. Harper showed a lot more depth to his arsenal and psychology than has previously been shown in singles matches, and Ohno got to hang with a main roster member and was still put over in the defeat, as commentary played up his resilience and fighting spirit once again.
Next week: Bayley & Charlotte vs The BFFs; Adrian Neville vs Corey Graves in 2-of-3 Falls
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