WWE NXT Review - October 23, 2013

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Sasha Banks def. Emma

Now that she is a full-fledged heel (and has been for quite some time now), it is good to see Banks adopt a new look and new entrance music to go along with new attitude. The match was good by Divas standards and involved two women who can flat out go in the ring. I was pleasantly surprised how much time they ended up getting and Banks winning was fine by me since she is in the midst of a push. This was a logical way of furthering the feud involving Banks, Emma, Paige and Summer Rae. The tension teased between Emma and Paige was intriguing and it should lead to something sooner rather than later since the commentators made mention of the fact that Emma is still due for a shot at the Women's Championship.


NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension def. Casey Maron and Tommy Taylor (Non-title)

This was your basic squash match that was over within mere minutes. This would have been acceptable six months ago, but not now when The Ascension are already the tag team champions. With Adrian Neville and Corey Graves splitting up, I realize there is now a void that needs to be filled in the tag team division, but there has to be some sort of tandem that can step up to rival The Ascension. I was hoping for them to rush into their next feud on this show, but it wasn't meant to be, unfortunately.

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Alexander Rusev def. CJ Parker

I realize officials are high on Parker for some reason (or at least from what I have heard), but he just isn't over with the Full Sail University crowd right now. It might be due to the fact that he is currently feuding with IWC favorite Tyler Breeze, so I guess it is understandable. It was odd to see Rusev accompanied to the ring by his usual manager (whose name escapes me at the moment) and tag team partner Scott Dawson, but that partnership is apparently over since Rusev will now be managed be this new mystery women. Parker got in very little offense before getting squashed, which won't do anything for him in his feud with Breeze. Speaking of such, why didn't Breeze's post-match attack on Parker happen during the broadcast instead of during the commercial? I can't say I'm excited for their third match next week, but I hope it is the blow-off of the rivalry. Expect Parker to win since Breeze won the previous two bouts between the two.


Corey Graves def. Adrian Neville

I didn't watch NXT regularly during his days as a heel, so I didn't know how well he portrayed a villain, but it seems like a much better fit for him based off what I saw on this show. It was strange to see this match take place so soon after the break-up, especially since they brawled earlier in the evening. The match was solid for what it was, but it felt like they were holding back a bit and Graves was targeting the knee of Neville for a majority of the match. Graves winning cleanly was shocking, but if his post-match attack on Neville was any indication, it was meant to write Neville off television for the foreseeable future.


Overall Show

There was no way that this show was going to top last week's stacked edition, but it was still a solid show from start to finish. There was plenty of storyline progression with a few squash matches thrown in. The opening and closing matches were good, but nothing going out of your way to see. Paige vs. Summer Rae and Tyler Breeze vs. CJ Parker were hyped for next week, so those advertised bouts should viewers something to look forward to.