In my second flashback episode of NXT things start falling into place a little bit more. The show opened with Kassius Ohno entering the building, being interviewed and then attacked by Richie Steamboat. These two basically just keep fighting back and forth like this throughout the night and before the respective matches so odds are we're gearing up for another Steamboat vs. Ohno classic.
The opening contest saw Drew McIntyre defeat Richie Steamboat. I feel like Drew McIntyre was only in NXT to sort of reinvent himself. Hulu still has some WWE commercials within the show (And I'm sure WWE would have them there on The Network still too, you know, if this episode was available on The Network) and so they do the Raw Rewind or Rebound or whatever. CM Punk is apparently about to face John Cena at Hell in a Cell. What does this mean for the main roster placement of Drew McIntyre? I don't know, but I bet he's just floating around doing nothing until he comes back up as part of 3MB. By the way, McIntyre was way over with the crowd here and WWE really dropped some sort of ball letting him slip away.
I don't remember if it was after this match or the next match, but there was an interview with Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd about their main event match. It helps you to realize why the two never reeally got over on mic skills.
It also needs to be noted that during this show some time Curtis Axel announced that he was named the number one contender to the NXT Title, which is held by Seth Rollins, and so Rollins' first title defense would be against him. This lead to an in ring segment with Curtis Axel eventually leaving the ring and not wanting to fight. So the next episode has that coming.
The second match had Big E Langston squash Aiden English with a five count. Big E actually did the five count twice more before leaving the ring. If Big E had this type of energy and dominance in WWE on his initial call up then perhaps he wouldn't be in A New Day right now and in the title picture instead. Seriously, the way this guy is booked here he shouldn't have to be anyone's hired muscle.
Kassius Ohno defeated Percy Watson in the third match and as much as William Regal hyped up Percy Watson I was just never a fan of the guy. Ohno was attacked by Steamboat pre-match but didn't really sell it. Percy Watson just needs to go away, as this is not something about NXT that I miss. (Though, admittedly, yes, I do want Ohno back. For the record, TNA could make a huge impact- no pun intended- by hiring Chris Hero on their rebranding next year)
The main event saw The Ascension defeat Airstrike, which is what Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel were calling themselves back then. So it's good to see that Gabriel and Kidd have been losing to upcoming tag teams since at least 2012, right? What struck me as the real story here is that The Ascension was made up of Konnor (Who was Conor O'Brian in NXT previously and appeared on the show when it was a competition. For the record, yes, I do intend on one day going through and reviewing the seasons episode by episode of when NXT was a competition. Well, up until the final, seemingly neverending season that is. So maybe only four then) Now the funny part is that the version of The Ascension that you see on NXT right now (who should be on the main roster next year) is Konnor and Viktor. This version of The Ascension that defeated Airstrike was Konnor and Kenneth Cameron. I noticed right away that they were different but then when I looked up who Kenneth Cameron was exactly and why he wasn't in WWE anymore and all... Yeah, he's Bram in TNA right now.
So while TNA has a lot of former WWE stars like Ken Anderson and Bobby Lashley, they also have a lot of former WWE guys who never made it to the main roster really, like how Ethan Carter III was Derek Bateman. (EC3 is one of WWE's other biggest losses too, if you want to add him to the list with Drew McIntyre) So it's just funny to see these guys in NXT from two years ago but realize that they now are off doing other things. I didn't really know a lot about Bram, but I do like him in TNA, so this does also feel like a missed opportunity by WWE.
This episode of NXT had some decent matches, but mostly it opened the doors of who Bram was before TNA for me and that was kind of mind-blowing for me. (No joke) The next episode will see Curtis Axel get a title shot against Seth Rollins and so whatever other matches might come on that show, at least we have that as a guarenteed solid match.
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