{"id":50798,"date":"2017-11-10T13:51:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T19:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=50798"},"modified":"2017-11-10T13:51:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T19:51:58","slug":"nxt-hits-misses-118-cole-vs-strong-main-event-bad-promos-kairi-sane-vs-billie-kay-velveteen-dream-vs-bononi-heavy-machinery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/11\/10\/nxt-hits-misses-118-cole-vs-strong-main-event-bad-promos-kairi-sane-vs-billie-kay-velveteen-dream-vs-bononi-heavy-machinery\/","title":{"rendered":"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES 11\/8: Cole vs. Strong main event, Bad Promos, Kairi Sane vs. Billie Kay, Velveteen Dream vs. Bononi, Heavy Machinery"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2467950532\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>This week\u2019s episode was not like last week as there was not much build up to Takeover: Houston.\u00a0 There was a great match between Roderick Strong and Adam Cole that prepared the fans for War Games, but that was about it.\u00a0 The episode felt more like a filler with numerous promos and matches that did not serve a true purpose.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at the Hits &amp; Misses of this week&#8217;s show.<\/p>\n<h3><b>HITS<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b>The Velveteen Dream vs. Cezar Bononi:<\/b>\u00a0 This was a match that was indirectly related to Takeover: Houston as a showcase of the Dream.\u00a0 He appeared very vicious and calculating in this hard-hitting match with numerous blows coming from both sides, but it was the Dream who came out on top with a victory with the Death Valley Bomb.\u00a0 Afterwards, the Dream had some words for his opponent at Takeover: Houston, Aleister Black.\u00a0 He once again promised to make Black \u201csay his name,\u201d setting up for this showdown that is sure to not disappoint.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-tag\" data-ad-name=\"pw_incontent_2\" data-ad-size=\"300x250\"><\/div>\n<p><script src=\"\/\/tags-cdn.deployads.com\/a\/pwtorch.com.js\" async ><\/script><br \/>\n<script>(deployads = window.deployads || []).push({});<\/script><\/p>\n<p><b>Roderick Strong vs. Adam Cole (Main Event):<\/b> This was absolutely a great match.\u00a0 It served its purpose as a buildup to War Games while putting on a clinic of fine technical wrestling.\u00a0 The pace of the match was outstanding as Adam Cole brought it to a grueling halt to wear down the \u201cMessiah of the Backbreaker.\u201d \u00a0Not being strangers to each other in the ring and not living up to their matches that they have had in other promotions, it was still outstanding as it was well-paced but showing the animosity between the two.\u00a0 Both delivered outstanding moves on one another, Strong with numerous backbreakers and Cole being devious while delivering some of his signature moves such as a super kick and the Last Shot.\u00a0 The match appeared to be all but over when Strong hit Cole with a backbreaker on the top turnbuckle.\u00a0 While Strong gathered himself to potentially make a pin, the remaining members of the Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O\u2019Reilly) came to the ring to make the save for their leader.\u00a0 This is when it really got good.\u00a0 The Authors of Pain came to ringside to make the save for Strong while Sanity showed up at ringside also to make their presence know.\u00a0 That is when all hell broke loose and every man going at each other in the ring.\u00a0 The fight led to outside of the ring and concluded when Strong superplexed Cole onto the other participants of War Games outside the ring leaving total carnage.\u00a0 The last scene served as a precursor to their match in two weeks only heightening the anticipation.<\/p>\n<h3><b>MISSES<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Heavy Machinery vs. Chris Payne &amp; Sean Maluta:<\/strong> The match did not have much to it except for it to showcase the strength of Heavy Machinery.\u00a0 Besides that, it was full of goofy-ness mainly on the part of the muscular duo.\u00a0 From Otis Dozovic\u2019s channeling of Scotty 2 Hotty with the awful centipede to just the overall shenanigans by the pair just made this match horrible.\u00a0 The only saving grace was that it was short, and fans did not have to endure too much of it.\u00a0 It ended with Heavy Machinery picking up the win with the Compactor, to the delight of the crowd, but not really because of the move, but because the misery was finally over.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kairi Sane vs. Billie Kay:<\/strong> With all the hype behind Kairi Sane and her winning the Mae Young Classic, one would expect more.\u00a0 Overall, the match was not that exciting as it had relevance since two of the ladies involved (Sane and Peyton Royce) being participants at Takeover: Houston\u2019s Fatal Four-Way match.\u00a0 The match came off kind of amateurish, mainly due to Sane\u2019s perceived inexperience and lackluster moves.\u00a0 It really made her to seem like a novice to the wrestling world, making her appear as the weak link in the four-way match to come.\u00a0 Billie Kay was her usual cunning self as she taunted her opponent, delivering some pretty good moves, especially the Argentine Torture Rack.\u00a0 Sane seemed to pick up some steam with some weak chops and a sliding forearm, setting up for the Insane Elbow (her only real highlight) to pick up the win.\u00a0 It did set up tension with Royce, but in a very slow and disappointing fashion.<\/p>\n<p><b>NXT\u2019s Promos: <\/b>If you have had the chance to read some of my other articles, you would know that I am not a fan of the promos that NXT uses throughout the show as they come off highly scripted.\u00a0 It&#8217;s about as if the participants are reading from a teleprompter while being uninspired.\u00a0 This might be due to that it is a developmental promotion, but it still needs work.\u00a0 This is evident in this week\u2019s promos beginning with Ember Moon\u2019s interview.\u00a0 She was questioned about her match in the Fatal Four-Way only to be questioned about the comments from Mercedes Martinez last week on how Moon could not win the \u201cbig one.\u201d \u00a0Moon challenged Martinez to a match next week to prove otherwise, but the ball was dropped as it did not have any relation to Takeover: Houston.<\/p>\n<p>Next there was Kassius Ohno making a case on why he should be in the championship picture and requesting a match with Lars Sullivan at Takeover: Houston.\u00a0 This was terrible in many ways, mainly for one; Ohno&#8217;s claims are almost laughable as he has not faced many opponents that would catapult him into the championship race.\u00a0 The other point is that he will be served up to Sullivan as a sacrificial stepping stone to the later.<\/p>\n<p>Then we have an interview with Zelina Vega and Andrade \u201cCien\u201d Almas.\u00a0 This was probably the best promo, but that is not saying much.\u00a0 Vega is a gem in front of the camera, coming off very conniving and ambitious, which only makes Almas look good too.\u00a0 This is to make up for his lack of charisma even though he seems more focused than he has ever been.\u00a0 Another promo that followed was an update interview with Ruby Riot as she discussed her injury from two weeks ago during a three-way match for advancement to the Fatal Four-Way at Takeover: Houston.\u00a0 She spoke of how she did not know how long she was going to be out of competition only to be interrupted by Sonia Deville and blamed for her losing out on her opportunity for the Women\u2019s Championship.\u00a0 The two had an exchange of words only to lead to Riot challenging Deville in two weeks for a match.\u00a0 It really did not have that much hype as both women are not even in the championship picture at this moment.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-838770283\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The last, and possibly the worst of all the promos, was with the Street Profits.\u00a0 Even though they are becoming very popular, the promo was very weak with outdated urban catchphrases and riddled with just downright silliness.\u00a0 It really went over the top when they stole a suit that was supposed to be delivered to Tino Sabbatelli, only to be approached by Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss.\u00a0 The four exchanged words leading to a challenge for a match.\u00a0 Even though the match might be somewhat entertaining, the promo wasn\u2019t to where it mainly just comes off as an afterthought with everything else that is going on.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, it was not a bad week for NXT, but just not as strong as others.\u00a0 With the attention being on Takeover: Houston and the potential of how great it could be, there could have been more of a buildup, but with this being a week before the going home show, one could only expect for next week to be better with a climatic set up for this monstrous event.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK&#8217;S COLUMN:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/11\/03\/111-nxt-hits-misses-build-takeover-houston-war-games-mcintyre-vs-almas-nxt-title-match-contract-signing-gargano\/\">NXT HITS &amp; MISSES 11\/1: Build-up to Takeover Houston and War Games, McIntyre vs. Almas NXT Title match contract signing, Gargano<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-576366448\"><div id=\"pwtor-1563760509\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>This week\u2019s episode was not like last week as there was not much build up to Takeover: Houston.\u00a0 There was a great match between Roderick Strong and Adam Cole that prepared the fans for War <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2017\/11\/10\/nxt-hits-misses-118-cole-vs-strong-main-event-bad-promos-kairi-sane-vs-billie-kay-velveteen-dream-vs-bononi-heavy-machinery\/\" title=\"NXT HITS &#038; MISSES 11\/8: Cole vs. Strong main event, Bad Promos, Kairi Sane vs. Billie Kay, Velveteen Dream vs. Bononi, Heavy Machinery\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/10\/StrongRoderick_ValleyJim3x2_600.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50798"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50799,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50798\/revisions\/50799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}