WWE NXT Review - March 13, 2014

Natalya holds up the hand of Women's champ Paige.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

NXT Women's Champion Paige def. Sasha Banks (Non-title)

It was a very good match by WWE Divas' standards, but a relatively good match by NXT women's wrestling standards. It's no secret that Paige and Banks can go in the ring and they have nice chemistry together, but there wasn't much of a story to the match nor did it receive much time. If nothing else, the new submission finisher that Paige is now using is a sight to see. It's just hard to get excited about a feud between a potential Paige-Charlotte feud since Charlotte is still very green in the ring. I'm sure Paige will carry her to a passable match, but Charlotte simply isn't ready for this kind of push yet.


NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension def. Travis Tyler and Cal Bishop (Non-title)

You've seen one Ascension squash match, you've seen them all. It's so ricdiclous to the point where it's comical how many times The Ascension have faced local athletes in the last two years. This is relatively new to those who just started watching NXT on the WWE Network but extremely tiresome to everyone else. They quality of the matches hasn't changed at all, but at least the Full Sail University is reacting to them now by chanting "YAH!" constantly, which is hysterical. Needless to say, The Ascension needs new challengers for their titles.

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Alexander Rusev forces Xavier Woods to tap out.

Mason Ryan def. Wesley Blake

As terrible as Ryan is in the ring, he is well protected in brief squash matches, so he didn't look too bad here. Even still, it is rather sad he has hardly improved at all in the three years he's been on the roster. I just see what purpose he is supposed to serve. He has an impressive physique, sure, but honestly, what does he really add to the roster at this point?


Alexander Rusev def. Xavier Woods

We have seen this match multiple times in the past, but I believe this was their longest match together to date. Regardless, the ending outcome was no different in Rusev decimating Woods and forcing him to tap out. It is also sad to see the crowd barely react to Woods when he first enters. Having him use Brodus Clay's old entrance theme was a terrible idea and has done nothing but damage his act in the last few months. He was used as fodder for Rusev here, but at least he had an out for losing since Tyler Breeze attacked him before the bout began. Is anyone at all excited to see a feud between Woods and Breeze right now?


Bo Dallas def. Colin Cassady

Dallas can have great matches if given the right opponent, but Cassady just isn't that guy. As charismatic as he has become, Cassady is still a work in progress in the ring and this match was proof of that. This wasn't a bad match by any means, but it felt that it dragged for longer than it should have been and was boring down the stretch. While it was a nice win for Dallas and helping him build momentum toward his NXT Championship rematch, it seems that Cassady has been losing a lot as of late, which won't do anything to boost his credibility as a singles competitor. By the way, Dallas' new finisher is an improvement over his last one, but is it not a direct rip-off of Drew McIntyre's Future Shock DDT? McIntyre rarely wins nowadays anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter much.


Overall Show

With the last two shows being extremely entertaining, this episode felt mediocre in comparison. While nothing terrible was featured, the show mostly consisted of squash matches with very little development of storylines and furthering of feuds. Thus, for those who missed out on watching the show live didn't miss much and might as well wait until next week to see what that edition of NXT brings.

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