Last Night on NXT

Last night on NXT was their "night of champions" where title holders appear and defend their belts.
Match 1 - Antonio Cesaro v Adrian Neville
Firstly, very good match, Neville was allowed some pretty risky moves, and the match was very enjoyable.

But, it got me thinking....

Cesaro appeared as The US Champion, and a disclaimer ran under the match stating that this 1 match was taped weeks ago. (3 weeks ago if I remember from reading spoilers at the time)
This implies that 3wks ago, creative had no intention of Cesaro losing his title.

My questions,
Is this indicitive of Creative having zero mid or long term strategy.
Did Cesaro need de-pushing SO quickly, that they ignored NXT?
What on earth has Cesaro done to be on such an awful run??

Someone made the comment last week that Cesaro is on the de push before the push which i think is quite a valid point, we've seen it before. A guy goes on such a horrible run that it precedes a dramatic change in fortunes, if done right it could be and if this is the case it could actually be an example of solid long ish term booking.

In regards to NXT the stories have very little coloration to the main show, plans obviously changed post NXT tapping and the decision was made not to alter the show regardless.

Whilst the de-push could be considered long term booking - it is also terrible booking. If you want to get someone over as a top guy, surely it is better to make them look strong and then win something, rather than go for the shock value...which in turn leads to people at the top of the card that the fans think is rubbish as they always lose.

This was the discussion point on the podcast this week, not related to Cesaro, but in general. This is another good example of what the concensus opinion was though.

To be fair, I seem to be the only one who thinks as of right now, Cesaro isn't actually being hurt by these losses. I think if it continues and he keeps losing for the next few months, eventually it will have an affect, but as of the right now the character and the wrestler appear unaffected by the losses. It'd only take maybe 2-3 wins for him to be taken seriously again.

Is this indicitive of Creative having zero mid or long term strategy.

While they do have very little long-term strategy, I don't think this is indicative of it at all. It's simply that the match was taped 3 weeks ago, and at that point he was champion. When a wrestler is champion, he is that champion both in the ring and out of it, he has to look after the belt and take it around with him, so to that extent, to have a Champions night, Cesaro was the champion, whether they planned to put the belt on Kofi at that point or not.

Did Cesaro need de-pushing SO quickly, that they ignored NXT?

NxT isn't really considered part of WWE programming, it's a development area where nothing really counts. They will sometimes reference it on TV, as they did with The Shield, but it's certainly not the TV program it was a couple of years ago, now it's just FCW with a different name. I wouldn't look too deep into anything that happens on the show, for example Big E is a face champion in NxT but a heel lackey to Ziggler on WWE TV.

What on earth has Cesaro done to be on such an awful run??

I actually think it's because he's a good worker, and WWE have realised that he's managed to get fairly recognisable and over with the fans in a short space of time. He's good in the ring, makes others look very good and as I said above, the losses don't seem to ruin him in the way they could lesser workers. I wouldn't worry at all about Cesaro who I feel is in a better position than the likes of Daniel Bryan were before their pushes, as he was struggling to even get on TV. Cesaro has become almost a staple of Raw, which is mightily impressive from somebody who only debuted a year ago.

I'm a massive fan of Cesaro and I hope that him having this depush is to make his rise to the top look even more impressive...I've heard rumours of him p*ssing off Vince BUT this is just speculation based on his current loss record and the stupid gimmick they've given him. The cynic in me thinks they never planned for him to lose the belt to Kofi but with what happened in Boston they decided to change it, they even referenced that Kofi grew up or studied in Boston during the match (I can't remember which one they said).

In the next year I have a feeling that Cesaro will become a bigger name in the WWE, his in ring work is too good for him to be a jobber and his match against Neville on NXT was the highlight for me, they worked really well together.

It's wishful thinking but in the next year or two I'd lot to see him in the World Heavyweight Title scene or even winning the Money In The Bank.

EDIT: The highlight of NXT have actually been Kaitlyn and AJ Lee...completely different reasons though.

Did they get it on?

It's wishful thinking but in the next year or two I'd lot to see him in the World Heavyweight Title scene or even winning the Money In The Bank.

I don't think it's wishful thinking at all, I can definitely see him winning the Money in the Bank this year and winning the World Heavyweight Championship. He'll make a much better foreign heel champion than Del Rio ever did.

Shot 21 LCFC wrote:Did they get it on?

Sadly no, they did have a the best divas match I've seen in a while and AJ showed why she should be wrestling more.

Was it a good NXT then?
I recorded last nights. Worth a watch then?

I don't think anything that happens on NXT is supposed to be viewed as transferable to the WWE card is it? Roman Reigns had a completely different character before he joined the Shield.

As long as Emma brings "The Emma" when she's promoted, all's good

Emmalution?

Emmalotion

Was a good show last night, I havent watched much NxT but had a look based on what has been said on here

Barrett v Dallas was a good main event referrancing the Rumble elimination, Big E v Brad Maddox, Kaitlyn v AJ Lee and Cesaro v Neville

Regal's commentary excellent and the play by play guy wasnt bad either, liked the referrance to the jumping geordie (although didnt really sound the same in an American accent)

I am also in love with Paige , will have to watch this more often!

Really enjoyed NXT this week.
Thought Adrian Neville looked quality
Another example of how divas matches can actually be quality given the chance and the right personnel
Barrett and Bo was another good one.
Not sure on the point of Big E vs Maddox??

May also be that they intended on him keeping the title until the Boston incident made them think that Kofi winning would be a good idea...