Original Airdate: Wednesday, January 15th, 2014
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
Triple H is here to kick off the show and he announces that NXT will be live on the brand new WWE Network on February 27th. This of course is Arrival.
Adrian Neville vs. Tyler Breeze
Neville hits a hurricanrana and Breeze rolls out of the ring. Neville teases a dive out, but taunts him instead. No pressure here, but this one has potential to be one of the best NXT matches in their short history. Breeze hits a springboard dropkick and knocks Neville off the apron going into the commercial break. After Breeze checks his phone, Neville makes his comeback and hits a variety of kicks. Neville goes for a springboard dive, but Breeze greets him with a dropkick for a nice spot. Neville is able to avoid a Beauty Shot and hits Breeze with a kick to the head. Neville misses with the corkscrew backflip and Breeze almost picks up the victory. Neville catches Breeze and hits a sit down powerbomb for a 2 count. Neville goes up top, but it's blocked by Breeze. He goes for a top rope hurricanrana, but Neville holds on. He hits the Red Arrow and that is all. This was good, but not anywhere near my high expectations.
Match Rating; **1/2
CJ Parker vs. Jason Jordan
Jordan actually gets an entrance here, as we get nearer to him being relevant. Parker hits a big kick on Jordan and then hits the Third Eye for the victory. Jordan's entrance was longer than the match, so obviously there wasn't much else to go off of here.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Mojo Rawley vs. Bo Dallas
The announcers are hyping up Rawley, which doesn't bode well for his chances here. They collide off the ropes and it knocks Bo out to the floor. Mojo gets to show off his diverse offensive repertoire with shoulder tackles and splashes in the corner. He misses with another splash in the corner and Bo rolls him up for the victory. Just in case you didn't see it, the announcers let us know that Bo held his tights about 15 times. Yeah, I would have rather given this time to Breeze and Neville.
Match Rating: 1/4*
Alexander Rusev vs. Kofi Kingston
Rusev is introduced by Lana, of course. They show the results of the last time these two squared off, which was basically a glorified squash match. 2014 was the year that changed Kofi's career forever, but not until the summer. Kofi gets tossed around to start. Rusev stays in control until Kofi avoids a charging Rusev and sends him out of the ring. Kofi misses with the baseball slide. Rusev tries to throw him into the steps, but he leaps over and leaps back at Rusev, finally getting him to the ground. After the commercial break, Rusev is once again in control and hits him with clubbing blows to the side of the head. The NXT fans start doing the wave for some reason. Kofi hits a dropkick, but Rusev catches him and hits him with a series of knees. When he goes for the Samoan drop, Kofi counters it into a 2 count. Rusev catches him again and this time he hits the Samoan drop. Kofi hits the SOS, but Rusev is able to kick out. Rusev goes for the Accolade, but Kofi moves out of the way and hits a Boom Drop. I can't emphasize how bad the announcing has been tonight. Lana tries to distract Kofi, but he still avoids Rusev and hits Trouble In Paradise for the victory. I'm a little surprised they didn't just go with a DQ finish here. They certainly were given enough time and followed the formula, but it just felt a bit off to me. It definitely wasn't bad, but it just didn't click for me.
Match Rating: **
This was a show that focused entirely on wrestling, with the lone exception being Triple H's quick announcement. The two main matches were fine, but I can't help but being slightly underwhelmed. Overall though, the show never felt long and it was not even close to being bad.
Overall Rating: 59%
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