WWE: Looking At "Elbows, Robos and More Bos" Editions Of NXT & Main Event
Over the last few weeks, I have focused on the announce teams when it comes to the WWE's broadcast Main Event and NXT. This week will be no exception as we have the greatness of two Englishman behind the booth in Wade Barrett and William Regal. The United Kingdom definitely made a world of difference in how the product was presented on both programs. Let's begin looking at this week's edition of Main Event. Just a few days away from Payback in Chicago, there was definitely a wind of change on commentary this week. The three-man booth of Ricardo Rodriguez, the Miz and John Matthews of the last few weeks was dropped (no surprise there) in favor of guest commentator Intercontinental champion, Wade Barrett alongside Josh Matthews.. And I have to say, Barrett definitely has a career of a color commentator if he wants to. The master of the BullHammer brought insightful and solid perspective to the booth. Barrett did what every good commentator supposed to do, getting content over the audience. He made every character and their matches matter. Overall, there are very few that can actually do that these days. And the fact that Wade kept his character to a minimum and made the action matter was phenomenal. Speaking of action, the action begins with one of Wade Barrett's opponent this Sunday as The Miz goes against Cody Rhodes. Unlike the match from this past Monday, Cody Rhodes saw a lot offense and psychology working on the Miz and his arm. Unfortunately, the Miz did not do the same as once again we see a Figure 4 with very little work on the leg from the awesome one causing Cody to tap out. It will be interesting to see if that injured arm will play into this weekend's triple threat with Curtis Axel and Wade Barrett for the IC title. Next, we see a more serious Damien Sandow versus a green cheetah printed Sin Cara. I like the fact that Sandow becoming more serious as a character. However, the fact that he struggled so much with the masked man doesn't give me confidence in his immediate future. I love Wade Barrett, who stayed on commentary throughout the whole show talking about the special lighting of Sin Cara. Why do they still have that? It's not like he's been pushed recently. In the end, Damien Sandow gets the victory over Sin Cara with Silence (his new side slam finisher) getting the three count. I really don't see things ending well for the Intellectual Savior this Sunday though. We then go to a video package looking back at Ryback versus John Cena. Josh and Wade try to get over that Ryback is a threat even though pay-per-view record says otherwise. And in the final contest of the night Tons of Funk were bested by the color coordinated and face painted Usos. The Samoan warriors (or as I call them Twomaga). The two babyface teams have a little dance party before things breakdown into a fight in the end , the brothers get the victory with the Rocket Launcher. It seems the push continues for the dynamic duo and tag team division. Maybe WWE wall actually stick with it for once. I know I'm asking too much. Moving on NXT this week, the focus was definitely on the championship main event between Big E Langston versus Bo Dallas. But there was great action on the rest of the show as well. And you knew it was going to be a special night when the first match was the follow-up to Antonio Cesaro versus Sami Zayn. The two men definitely proved they had the chops in a very technical contest only made better by having William Regal on commentary. The two really went back-and-forth and gave it their all. Sami even pulled out one hell of a head scissors that threw Antonio out of the ring and led to one hell of a Senton to the outside. In the end though, Antonio ties up the series with 1-1 using the Neutralizer. After the match, Antonio attacks Sami Zayn again. So the rivalry will continue.. I'm all for that, if he gives us matches like these on a weekly basis. Backstage, we go to René Young with a very shy Bailey talk about her upcoming match in NXT Women's Title Tournament against Alicia Fox. The newly gimmicked Bailey is a fan girl that is excited about facing Alicia in the ring and wants to battle robots after the the match with René. It is definitely an interesting character and I want to see where that develops. Next, we see the return of the barbecue boys Garrett Dylan and Scott Dawson along with their manager Sylvester Lefort as they battle Travis Tyler and Baron Corbin. Altogether, a squash match get over the new redneck team. I love the plug for JR's barbecue sauce. William Regal did a great job conveying these two comparing them to the Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Ole and Arn Anderson) in their tag team continuity. This match really showed why the art of tag wrestling is so great and that not many have mastered it. In the end, Dylan and Dawson gets the win with their top rope Ax Handle Spine Buster combo called Southern Pride. Backstage, we see a segment with Kashius Ohno, Adrian Neville and Corey Graves discussing the fact that they want their shot at the Wyatt family. Neville says he's got a match with Bray Wyatt next week. This causes friction between the three until William regal comes on the scene. Regal tells the group that they have to unite using the example of the Shield in stopping the family from destroying the NXT roster. They all agree. Corey Graves and Adrian Neville leave, Ohno stops William from leaving says thank you to Regal and that he will repay him someday for his advice. We move on to the NXT Women's Title tournament as the very excited and wide-eyed Bailey battles Alicia Fox. Not the best match in the world. Interesting that they focus on the fact that Alicia Fox has good grip strength stays when the match ends with a really sloppy scissor kick. Bray Wyatt has a message for William Regal saying that he's getting into dangerous territory and something maybe coming his way. Wyatt also says that NXT is their playground. And finally we get to the main event with Big E Langston versus Bo Dallas for the NXT championship. Overall, an interesting match. Langston not only showcased his power and agility executing a leapfrog on Bo Dallas. In the end, Dallas grabs a top turnbuckle to block a Big Ending causing the metal to be exposed. Bo then runs Langston into the corner and then hits a belly to belly on the stunned Big E for the win. After the match to a chorus of boos the new NXT champion has a postmatch interview with René Young in which he says he shocked and he's going to Disney World. They are definitely positioning Dallas as a heel going forward. It be interesting to see what happens next week. I would actually recommend both shows this week as the commentary really added something to the broadcast.