Wednesday PWTorch Livecast with Pat McNeill – NXT Post-Game Special
Guests: East Coast Cast host Travis Bryant & PWTorch specialist Brian Leahy
Aired Live: December 16, 2015
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Recap by Dominic DeAngelo
SUBJECTS COVERED
– NXT Takeover London
– Nia Jax, Bayley & Asuka
– Baron Corbin’s Development
TIME STAMPS OF MATCH COVERAGE
(2:23) Pat McNeill intro
(3:30) Travis Bryant intro
(4:55) Asuka vs. Emma discussion
(7:00) Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Dash & Dawson discussion
(8:30) Baron Corbin vs. Apollo Crews discussion
(12:25) Bayley vs. Nia Jax discussion
(15:40) Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe discussion
(19:00) Taking phone calls
(19:30) What’s next for all three NXT champs & is there going to be Rumble qualifiers on upcoming NXT tapings?
(24:25) Beautiful People to NXT?
(26:30) Bayley to feud with Asuka & who else can feud with Finn?
(29:00) How can Joe keep up with Finn if a rematch happens?
(31:15) How do they plan out a feud with Bayley and Asuka?
(32:18) Finn Balor wins the Royal Rumble?
(37:00) Brian Leahy calls in / Baron Corbin
(48:45) Nia Jax / Awesome Kong parallels?
(54:40) What else may we see from Lucha Underground?
(56:45) Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe tag team?
(58:00) Babyfaces returning / Enzo & Cass: what’s next?
(1:03:25) How long will Zayn be on the NXT roster?
SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
– Pat enjoyed NXT Takeover – a good crowd with a good formula. Travis agrees – he thought it was thoroughly enjoyable from top to bottom.
– Pat thought Asuka and Emma had a little trouble early meshing early in the match, but it turned out okay. Travis was on the bus at the time, but what he did see he really liked the beginning. It dragged at first with the arm-locks and such, but overall it was good. Different styles and different speed and intensity, Pat says.
– Pat thought the Enzo/Cass vs. Dash/Dawson tag match was a good, longish match. Travis loved this match – good, close pinfalls and the crowd was way into it.
– Pat’s question after the Corbin-Crews match is does this mean Apollo Crews is about to be called up to the main roster? It’s his first loss and mentions the two-step raise on Breaking Ground. Trav says it’s always a possibility, but doesn’t think they’d make him do the job leaving NXT. He thought this was a good match, too, and the finish was clean, surprising, and refreshing. Trav used to look at Corbin as soft, but he’s doing a good job at turning it around. Pat brings up Breaking Ground and how Corbin looked to be the third person (after the trainers) to show up at the Performance Center in the morning.
– Pat mentions the crowd having fun in the Bayley-Nia Jax match. Pat thinks there’s more to do with Bayley as champ. He likes the way they portray Nia Jax, but he’s not sure she’s the right one right now. Trav loves some Nia Jax, but doesn’t understand why she’s getting a title shot? Besides beating Carmella, she’s only fought jobbers. He assumed that Nia would win the title to feud with Asuka because of this, but thinks it’s refreshing that typical thought isn’t hitting on the usual points when it comes to booking. He thought the two worked well together. He said if you’re going to book that match, the two played it out perfectly. He said it really worked well. Pat says they can play off of Jax’s inexperience to build her up to a title Reign down the road.
– James Caldwell gave the Balor-Joe match four-and-a-quarter stars. Makes you wonder if Finn is going to get a call up soon. It was a hard hitting, really good match, Travis says. However, it’s just the type of match where no one took risks, which is nice and makes note that although Joe played the heel, he didn’t do anything dirty.
– Regular Livecast listener James from Houston (not Caldwell) loves that PWTorch is finally having an NXT post-game show. He starts off his questions with what’s next in line for all three NXT champs? Pat thinks it’s going to be Balor & Corbin next for the NXT Title and Trav thinks that makes sense. He thinks Joe is at the bottom and will have to work his way back up. Apollo Crews is a little higher than Joe. They also talk about Sami Zayn returning for an eventual title shot. As far as Bayley, they could Eva Marie prolonging their feud by putting other competitors in the champ’s way. Pat thinks Dash & Dawson will start feuding with Gable & Jordan. Trav is not a fan of Dash & Dawson.
– Will they have Royal Rumble qualifiers during NXT tapings? Pat expects a battle royal or that NXT will just pick someone to go. He’d try to space out the WWE PPVs and the NXT Takeover shows and Travis agrees.
– Emailer asks about bringing the Beautiful People to NXT to feud with Bayley? Pat doesn’t know about that one, he’s not sure if they fit the style. Maybe Madison Rayne could do it, but figures NXT wants to build their own talent. Trav says as good as the Beautiful People were back then, the act is so old by now. He’s not against bringing them in as individual talent, but doesn’t think them as a group holds too much weight. Trav is all for a Dollhouse invasion though.
– Travis drops off for a bit as Darrell from Georgia calls in. He liked how Takeover was booked and how storylines were booked to go in any direction. He asks Pat if he thinks they’re setting up Bayley and Asuka to feud down the line? Also do they have guys lined up to feud with Balor or is it just Corbin? Pat says they have guys lined up – Rich Swann and Biff Busick haven’t even debuted yet, and Hideo Itami still has yet to return. As far as Bayley & Asuka goes, Pat thinks they’ll start Asuka and Nia feuding and then maybe in March have her feud with Bayley.
– Boris liked how Nia & Bayley sold in their match. With Joe & Balor, he wasn’t a big fan of Finn’s Undertaker style. From a storyline point of view, Finn wore Joe out. What does Joe have to do to keep up with Balor if they have a re-match? Pat says they could have Joe do something very heelish since they haven’t done that yet, or challenge him to a street fight or something.
– How do they plan out a feud with Bayley and Asuka? Pat says Bayley has feuds with other competitors, Asuka feuds with Nia Jax, and then the two face off and Asuka wins just in time for Bayley to get called up to the main roster.
– Boris asks Pat’s thoughts on having Balor win the Royal Rumble as a surprise entrant? Pat’s guess is that Lesnar wins the Rumble, if not that – will they have Balor win the Rumble? Boris is talking like they have someone from NXT to walk into the WrestleMania main event and that’s a tough one to buy right now.
– Brian Leahy (Torch contributor) calls in. He thought the show was quite formulaic, but the opening match and closing match were the two highlights of the show. Would Travis change anything about the formula? Brian answers: he isn’t sure about changing the formula, but the content of the matches. He mentions the tag match and that Corbin was really exposed. He said there were moments he liked in the Nia Jax vs. Bayley match, but thought some of moments were a little silly. Perhaps formulaic isn’t the right word, maybe predictable?
– Trav thinks Brian is being too hard on Corbin. When you’re green you’re going to rely more the story that’s being told. He’s going to look more plotting because he’s a big man. Brian clarifies and says Corbin looks a little to meticulous with his motions and positioning. Maybe he’s being too hard on him – he did think his execution was good and him and Trav agree that The End of Days is a legit finisher.
– The Balor-Joe match is leading the Livecast poll as the best match on the card.
– VIP caller Dave really enjoyed the show, but can’t get over how their characters will get ruined when they get called up to the main roster. Pat sees his point, especially with Tyler Breeze, but Kevin Owens is feuding with Dean Ambrose, so that’s a positive.
– Pat brings up the parallels between Awesome Kong and Nia Jax. Travis definitely sees it, and thinks they might try to prolong an Asuka vs. Jax match until WrestleMania time. Pat will be surprised if they did that.
– Dave was impressed with Asuka. Pat mentions her Shimmer background and how she just has to learn to work with different competitors.
– Next week is the Wednesday Livecast Christmas Party.
– How does Pat see a Samoa Joe & Kevin Owens tag team on the main roster? Pat thinks maybe after their singles run, but they’d be good together. Brian agrees.
– Jay from Tampa calls in: He’s surprised they kept the belt on Finn with all the other babyfaces that are returning (Sami Zayn and Itami). Also, what’s next for Cass & Enzo? Pat says they can pit them up against other teams. What’s Brian’s thoughts on potential main roster candidates? He doesn’t think they are not quite there yet, but they’re close. Maybe another non-title feud will do them good. Also you never know with roster call-ups and injuries. NXT could even be depleted from it.
– Pat doesn’t think Joe was damaged from tonight’s loss and Brian thinks that Finn needs to have a little longer of a title reign. He does think Jay raises a good point about babyfaces returning. He doesn’t have a huge problem with babyface vs. babyface feud, but doesn’t want it to be a common trend.
– How long will Zayn stay in NXT? Brian thinks maybe WrestleMania? Pat thinks too they’ll address a run at the title since he left injured so he’d give him a few months.
– Follow Travis at @travlord and Brian @CobyHectic.
SCORE & REVIEW
8.0: All NXT, all the time. Plenty of newsworthy discussion in this episode. Being a post-game edition and not to mention having Torch regulars like Pat & Travis interact with one another on a rare occasion really added an extra element to the show’s format. Callers asked good questions that led to future speculation of potential feuds, potential call-ups and potential returns. A heavy amount of the show focused on the women’s division and there was some interesting talk about Baron Corbin’s development too. If you enjoyed NXT Takeover London, you’ll enjoy this week’s analysis.
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