Gorilla Position – Episode 51
Hosts: James Delow and Rob Leigh
Release Date: December 17, 2015
Main Topics: NXT “Takeover: London” recap, last episode of the year
DIRECT LINK TO LISTEN/DOWNLOAD
Recap By Tania Leong
Top News Items
– NXT Takeover Recap: James and Rob attended NXT Takeover at Wembley. They found the show to be very enjoyable and the crowd was very involved with chants and songs throughout the night.
Topics Discussed (with time stamps)
Introduction by James Delow – 00.00
This will be the last episode of the year and they will return on Wednesday, January 13, 2016.
James and Rob were backstage at SSE Arena in Wembley for NXT Takeover. He thought there was ‘not a dud match on the card’ and the crowd was ‘electric’; ‘there’s no crowd like a UK crowd.’
NXT Takeover: London Recap – 05.52
Radio 1Xtra DJ, Ace and rapper, Skillit who are WWE fans, join James and Rob.
The atmosphere and crowd were amazing; there were all sorts of chants throughout the show there were distracting at times but fun nonetheless. This Takeover show had a different feel from previous ones, being in the U.K.
They discussed whether this type of atmosphere and crowd would affect the possibility of U.K. hosting WrestleMania in the future. Ace said that this crowd reminded him of the ones at Raw, post-WrestleMania.
They appreciated that Triple H mentioned about his beating at the hands of Roman Reigns and didn’t gloss over it.
The Vaudevillians and Chad Gable & James Jordan were cheered but the Hype Bros were ‘booed out of Wembley.’ They compared Gable to Owen Hart in terms of wrestling style and personality.
Emma is much better as a heel but her in-ring presence and interactions with the crowd are still missing. They were glad that this was not a squash match. They were very impressed with Asuka.
The tag team title match was very good. The crowd had some interesting chants such as singing Big Cass to the tune of Hey Jude. The ending of the match was brutal. They found it amusing that the crowd pretended not to know which was Dash and Dawson. Although Enzo and Cass lost, they felt that they don’t need the titles and are ready to move to the main roster.
James appreciated the attention to detail that was put into the show such as The Vaudevillians, Enzo and Cass, and Finn Balor’s entrances.
Baron Corbin has improved a great deal and he handled the crowd pretty well. They thought that Apollo Crews was missing of the move sets and personality that was shown in his match against Balor. James questioned the possibility of Crews being a participant in the Royal Rumble.
NXT is quite different from WWE and if a main roster wrestler is bought into NXT, they may not fit in and vice versa. However, Bayley could be the exception, she is popular with the whole crowd and WWE needs to be very careful with her when she is called to the main roster.
The women’s title match was enjoyable, Nia Jax was impressive, Bayley led the match well and made Jax look good. Bayley is a good storyteller. James would have preferred if Jax attacked Bayley post match to further the feud.
The main event was great and fun, not as great as previous NXT main events though. It looks like there are grand plans for Balor once he comes to the main roster but not necessarily for Joe, so it made more sense to keep the title on Balor. This was the match of the night.
The show felt very intimate as opposed to the shows in Tokyo and Brooklyn. The dark main with Sami Zayn was a nice surprise.
Overall, Gable and Jordan were standouts of the NXT tour. And the Takeover show itself was very enjoyable and they wished that it was longer than two hours.
Competition – 59.29
This week’s competition is to win 34 WWE blu-ray and dvd bundle. To win, retweet the blu-ray and dvd picture on James’s Twitter account. Entrants must be over 18 years old and live in the UK. Closing date is midnight on Sunday, 3 January 2016 (GMT).
James was very appreciative of the ongoing support from listeners and he looks forward to bigger things next year. He thanked the many guests that he had on the show and thanked WWE for allowing the talent to be on the show.
Score & Review
8.5 out 10: This was a very good episode. For a first year podcast, they are quite successful and have the chemistry of those who have had a podcast for many years. James and Rob’s passion and understanding of wrestling is apparent and their opinions, criticism and praising of the industry, WWE in particular, are a result of them being life long wrestling fans.
Although this episode was shorter than normal, them and their guests covered a lot of topics and issues.
Having watched NXT Takeover live, the London crowd was brilliant and gave the show a very different atmosphere. Although there have been some criticisms of the chants, this is typical of U.K. sports fans.
I agree that overall, NXT Takeover was an enjoyable and each match was good. The main event was match of the night and it did make sense to keep the NXT Championship on Finn Balor.
Hopefully, this show demonstrated that the U.K. is ready to host a WWE PPV in the future.
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