Spiritof

So, I need to know, are the Heyman audio troubles legit or is this some kind of "reality" bullshit? The bit with Heyman and Lesnar, I thought, was legitimately interesting stuff, or at least Heyman sells it as such. I almost thought they might come out and say that Lesnar's contract had been extended, but I've a feeling that announcement wouldn't make Roman look strong.

@milkman: Took me a while to notice that Itami is the conductor!

(I'm seriously trying to fake-plan a vacation to Orlando this summer [Disneyworld/Universal] with friends and family, just so I can have the convenient excuse to go see a NXT taping)

So, I guess the one way to get a great match out of Roman Reigns is to put him in the ring against Daniel Bryan? Best match of the night...can't think that the Mania main event will come close though.

@nedshead said:

Ambrose did walk off with the belt without actually winning it. We might get some good stuff in the next few weeks if we get some "Where in the World is the Intercontinental Title This Week?" segments. Poor, poor finish to a pretty good match, but it does set the plate for Mania.

I think the waste of the evening was the Wyatt/Undertaker build. Undertaker is CUSTOM BUILT to insert into the Lesnar/Reigns/Bryant rumble (preferably in the corner of Reigns). It's the perfect tool to set up the Lesnar title drop at the Mania main event. What a waste of a real opportunity.

So far the match of the night has been the Usos vs Cesaro/Kidd match. Great in-ring stuff, with a pay-off that legitimately surprised me....at least until the Usos win them back at Mania. :(

I ordered myself a Balor "Arrival" t-shirt today. Not sure how I'm going to explain this to all my friends who have no idea what NXT is.

Just finished watching this week's NXT and my lord that Balor/Itami match!

When this happened:

I saw the face of God.

Finn Balor is approaching God Tier for me right now, and at first I really didn't see what all the hub-bub was about with Itami, but the last 3 or 4 weeks of Itami's work has shown me that this guy can COMPLETELY hang. He's had a great tag match with Balor and Ascension and two phenomenal matches against Balor and Breeze. He really seems to be coming into his own lately and the crowd is responding. Fucking hell, WWE proper looks like my grandpa in overalls compared to what NXT has been doing over the last several months

I can actually see it the other way, with Rollins walking out of Mania the champ. I think that, if he interferes in the Bryan/Reigns match at Fastlane, costing Bryan his shot, that would set up a pretty epic Rollins/Bryan match at Mania. Lesnar/Reigns happens at Mania with Reigns winning, but barely (and badly beaten). Rollins comes down with a ref, curb stomps both Reigns and Lesnar (maybe adds a Phoenix Splash on top of it all) and Rollins walks out the NEW WWE Heavyweight Champion!!!

It's actually the most productive outcome for the future too. It helps elevate Reigns and brings in a potentially interesting four-way conflict between Reigns, Rollins, Bryan and (hopefully) Lesnar. It makes sense to me, but then again Vince isn't a man that typically makes the sensible decision.

I think if it would have been Reigns, Ambrose, Wyatt, Rusev, Bryan and Ziggler, as the last six guys in the ring, you have a shot at putting Reigns over convincingly. It would feel earned. Putting him against Kane and Big Show just perpetuates the mega-tired "Authority" storyline. Now we get HHH and Steph trying to screw Reigns until Mania, instead of trying to continue to screw Cena. If Reigns had eliminated the top (new) talent with a mixture of help from Ambrose, some legit eliminations, and maybe even a 1 on 1 face off at the end with Ambrose, I think you could have got a little momentum on Reigns' side and the crowd would have at least felt involved. The way it played out ended up having zero heat, with no real sense of struggle to cling to.

EDIT: Cancelled my network subscription. I'll probably re-up for Wrestlemania and cancel again right after.

It's a real shame they can't get more work out of Brock Lesnar. He and Seth Rollins REALLY shined tonight, with Lesnar more then cementing himself as a worthy champion. All his other matches since squashing Cena have seemed laid out in front of him, except tonight's. Tonight's match actually had him fighting, struggling, and actually earning a really satisfying finish. In other words, Lesnar put on a really great performance, and it's a shame he doesn't make more appearances.

With that said, Seth Rollins is also an absolute beast, who deserves every ounce of fame he has coming to him. The dude was on fire tonight and probably had (possibly) the match of his career. I'm riding the Rollins train until it skips the track, does a 360 twist flip, and headbutts Satan in hell.

The rest of the show was pretty much full of shit, with a Roman Reigns win that literally NO ONE in the arena wanted. The boos when it was down to Reigns, Kane, and Big Show were deafening, but I still think there might be hope for a successful Wrestlemania. If Reigns faces Lesnar at Mania, Reigns beats Lesnar at Mania, but then Rollins cashes in his MitB case, and walks out of Mania the champ, all might be forgiven. If Reigns wins clean, and he's the new "face" of WWE (write this down), I'm done with WWE proper. I'll still watch NXT, but I can't fucking watch Reigns as champ.

Seth Rollins, I love you.