The opening match of NXT Arrival made absolute sense. There was no way this match was going to disappoint and really it was bound to upstage anything else on the card. Placing it first with plenty of buffer matches in between allowed the Women’s Title match as well as the NXT Title match to still make an impact.

Wow, that was just great stuff. Cesaro winning never seemed like a forgone conclusion even though he has been heavily featured on WWE programming. Sami Zayn is going to do big things when he gets the call up and after that match it seems like a forgone conclusion he will be up sometime after WrestleMania.

Thus starts the “Not ready for the big show” part of the event.

Mojo Rawley has the look of Nikoli Volkoff. That works for the 80’s but now it makes him bland. His gimmick of the over excited, hyped, frat brother isn’t going to work in the big show but it does make him standout in the smaller NXT.

CJ Parker’s promos crack me up but the overall gimmick will get lost like Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks. Yeah I used Reks because they both have dreads.

William Regal is awesome.

The Ascension; yuck name. What does The Ascension even mean as a tag team name? Their gimmick is right out of that awkward transition period between the early 90’s and late 90’s. Pairing them with Too Cool though made both men look huge and absolutely intimidating. Despite the criticism this was a solid, formula tag team that did its job in showcasing The Ascension. With the right tweaking they could be up on the main stage soon enough.

There was something totally different about Stephanie McMahon. Her character was totally different and dare I say she looked like she was totally enjoying herself? Oh and maybe basking in a tad bit of pride over her husband’s baby.

William Regal is awesome.

Stupid Emma with her entrance song and dance. I call her stupid cause it grew on me and now find myself liking the dance gimmick. The prepackage videos are a great touch. They explained who the Emma character is very well. Instead of the doddering blonde foolish girl on Raw we got to know the woman. Her quirks, clumsiness and dancing now make sense. Did no one else wonder why they would show her struggle to pull herself in the ring? Well now it makes sense and it helps make Emma more relatable. I do wonder though if Emma wouldn’t work better as a heel.

Paige, um, delicious and carries herself like a seasoned professional.  She has the swagger that is needed to be a top dog wrestler.  Her slight frame gives her the ability to bump loosely. What I mean is when she is tossed around her body isn’t rigid. When Emma threw her to the ground her body looked much faster going to the mat. It made the fall look that much more painful. This may be a personal preference though.  It eventually dawned on me that Paige sort of reminds me of MsChif. Guess it is the dark hair, pale complexion and eye makeup since that is about all they have in common.  She has a wonderfully brutal looking submission finisher. Good match from these ladies. It would really be nice to have this sort of match on WWE television. It had a good amount of time behind it as well as two characters the crowd were familiar with and behind.

William Regal is awesome seventeen times over.

It should speak loudly in the offices that Xavier Woods got the exact same reaction from the NXT crowd that he does from the larger WWE audience. Crickets don’t ride motorcycles so I am thinking that sound of silence is the norm no matter where he is at.

William Regal is awesome.

Tyler Breeze is great. The gimmick is great and the selfie on the big screen as he walks to the ring is great. The Sultan of Selfies is a perfect modern day “The Model” gimmick. He may need some work in the gym to truly have legs but the gimmick is so modernly annoying it has legs.

Alexander Rusev doesn’t wear shoes? Wow a big nasty to that.  It was good seeing him in the ring again after his impressive showing at The Royal Rumble. The man just looks like a legit badass. He has a throwback physique that gives him a very powerful look. He doesn’t look polished at all and that is a compliment.  What I mean is he looks like he gets in gym, bulks himself out and gets out. No time for a shred since he is too busy eating metal plates when he is done lifting. Having a hottie mouthpiece will certainly get him places as well.

William Regal is awesome.

Look, before this event I loathed Bo Dallas. I didn’t get it at all since he didn’t talk on his limited appearances on WWE programming.  After his short vignettes leading up to NXT and then his video package I get it and it works. He doesn’t have much of a look and his face is absolutely punchable so it makes sense to make him the disingenuous heel.  It works for him. I don’t know if that will translate well to the bigger show though. Not sure the crowd has patience to get behind something like this for someone who looks like you could squash him with a rubber mallet.

This isn’t exactly a big issue but when you pull out a Blu-Ray to promote; call it a god damn BLU-Ray. DVD’s barely exist now and those who buy those are poor. Let’s have some class already.

Adrian Neville is English, has long hair and isn’t black somebodies mama has some explaining to do? (Anyone over 35 years of age will get that joke. I hope. ) How is it both of Mike Rotundas kids inherited his physique? Apparently the NXT rings have ring aprons made of rubber cement, glue, suction cups and tiny vacuums. How else do you explain trapping someone’s arm in it?

The ladder match was very good. They limited the amount of huge bumps and totally avoided anything dangerous. The end was curious as it seemed like there was some sort of miscommunication. Dallas rolled out of the ring and then suddenly appeared to climb the opposite side of the ladder.  The sequence leading up to the end was very good though and the finish was in no way tainted by this , maybe, snafu. Neville will inevitably be called up this year sometime and it appears Dallas may have what it takes based off of this match. He needs to tighten up in the gym though. His brother gets away with it since his gimmick covers the less than desirable WWE body type. Hell, Dallas could always join up with his brother down the lien and put his look to good use. Who knows?

William Regal is awesome. -Jeremy