Sami Zayn Promo
I have to admit, as soon as I realized Renee was interviewing Zayn, my first thought was “I HOPE THEY GET MARRIED ON RAW ONE DAY THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER.” Then Zayn went ahead and called her “a ray of sunshine.” C’mon guys, I’m trying to write a macho wrestling column here, try not to make me feel all squishy inside.
ANYWAY, how great was this segment? Zayn is a bona fide star already, and giving him extended mic time against the Bo Dallas Experience was a great way to highlight him even further. Zayn cut Dallas down without acting like a dickface, and anytime a face does that an angel gets its wings. For anyone worried that he might not work without the El Generico gimmick, it’s clear now that he and WWE felt his natural personality, incredible in-ring skills and charisma would make him a star. You know, just like the two other guys who followed a similar path, Punk and Bryan. Not a bad way to start your WWE career.
Dallas took his cluelessness to another level with a “Boo-Urns” esque lunatic rant about how much the people love him, all while wearing a suit only Harry or Lloyd could love. He seems to relish his new role stealth-heel role completely, wearing his 100-watt shit-eating grin in the most punchable way possible. I’m actually a little surprised he’s pulling it off so well. Also, his line, “Just because a couple of people on the internet said you had a good match” was a great way to introduce some of the meta-heat Triple H is using on the main roster down in NXT. I’m a Bo-liever, at least this version of his character.
Raw-worthy
***
Adrian Neville vs. Conor O’Brian
This is probably the worst main event on NXT since I’ve been watching. I like Adrian Neville, but as he showed with his match against Dean Ambrose a few weeks ago, he’s not ready to carry a match just yet. His work is fine here, his offense for a high-flyer is stronger than main-roster guys like Kofi and RVD, but he has little to no crowd interaction to really engage the audience. As a tag-team wrestler, he could have been brought up yesterday, but unless he wants to get stuck in Justin Gabriel/Evan Bourne purgatory, he needs a little more seasoning.
And what to make of Conor O’Brian? Considering he should be positioned as the big hulking heel of NXT, he kind of got his ass kicked in this match. The booking isn’t his fault, but I was surprised by how little they let him shine here. Sure, The Ascension got to “stand tall” after the match, further setting up the main NXT tag feud, but O’Brian was weakened in the process. Vulnerability is tough to sell while portraying a cosplaying steampunk psychopath. Getting pinned clean in the middle of the ring doesn’t bode well for how confident management is in your Hoss skills either.
Superstars-worthy
Matthew Timmons can be harassed on Twitter @matthewtimmons
