music
Welcome to the ring, it's Richard and Adam
music
breaking down the fights with flair and passion
music
Tag teams grappling belts are clashing
music
finishes and factions, catching action
music
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the newest
episode of finishes and factions goes
NXT from the 29th of January
in the centre stage arena in Lanter, Georgia
with myself, Rich and Adam, whoops no
correction a sold out
centre stage
I thought I fucked that one up in the first 30 seconds
Jesus Christ, yep I've been rich, we have Adam
here as well and we are back in
Atlanta with NXT for the first time in
seven years
That is a long ass time for Atlanta without
NXT and what a card
we've got for the, what a card we've got for today
this is um, I'm on all card
yeah 100% I mean we're going to crack straight in
because NXT this week did not start off
with a promo, it did not start off with
in ring backstage GM office, we started with
match one
We got downed business straight away this week
which I thought was brilliant, women's tag team match, we had
Julia the current NXT women's champion
tag team in with Bailey who was in her first
match on NXT since 2020
against Cora Jade and Roxanne Peretz
So it's important to realise how
historic stages in Atlanta
a majority of WCW
how shows filmed at centre stage
in fact one of the commentators
for this programme won his first WCW
tag championship at centre stage
in Mr Booker T
Can you dig it? Sucker!
I got a little bit too into that
I'm pretty sure my neighbours are not going to appreciate this one too much
Yeah
Never mind, never mind but
we started off with Julia and Bailey
and Cora and Roxanne Peretz
and this
I'm not going to lie, this wasn't a bad opening match
to be quite honest, considering the
NXT level star power we had in this
and this isn't downplaying NXT, it is
still a developmental brand
but a brand all the same, this is why
they don't go for the big arenas, they go for
the smaller venue
and that venue shows
a big confidence boost, unlike their TV rivals
and PWE
it's nice to have a full crowd in the background
100%
and now that NXT and TNA
have a multi-year talent sharing deal
it's a case that we're not just going to be treated
to NXT talent, it's going to be TNA talent as well
I cannot wait for the day that Joe Hendry turns up at NXT
with that title stuck on his shoulder
the pop in that arena is going to be incredible
100%
we digress, back to
Bailey and Julia vs
Cora Jade and Peretz
we had a few big spots
in this match as well, there were some big
talking points, I know you pulled this one up
I didn't pull it up in my notes but I did
definitely remember
that suicide dive from Peretz
that went into a turnbuckle attack
was absolutely amazing
100%
it sort of leads me on to the next point
that I had in my notes
I am of a firm belief that
Peretz is overdue
a call up to the main roster
she's not long dropped her title
I think it will be either the Monday night Raw after
WrestleMania at the latest
that we will see
Peretz up on the main roster
well at the minute, I think instead of doing it
obviously we've mentioned it here
about a transfer window
so traditionally, WWE
have done a WWE draft
where different superstars can be drafted to different
brands, whereas this time they've done it
a little bit differently where they've done a transfer window
instead
we've already seen some big names changing hands
Damian Priest went from Raw to Smackdown
Wyatt Six, who again went from Raw to Smackdown
The Miz, Raw to Smackdown
and just the night before this
we were told that
Selena Vega was going to be transferring
from Raw to Smackdown
in quite a big move
we have seen a lot of people go from Raw to Smackdown
I don't know if this is them just trying to give
a lot of the talent at Raw that isn't getting used
at the moment an opportunity to get used
there is not a lot of talent going from Smackdown to Raw
so I think we're trying to maybe even up the shows
a little bit, so Smackdown and Raw are more
similar in style
with their competitors, because at the moment you've got a very obvious
step in programs, there's very much Raw at the top
Smackdown in the middle, sorry, and NXT
is several steps below Smackdown
but that's because it's a developmental show
we've mentioned that already today and their budget
it purely just isn't as big as the two main
rosters so to speak
So what I think it's important to realise is that Raw
has recently
from being a three hour cable
and is now
between two to three hours
extreme and the
talent roster was so much more
bulked than
was so much more bulked than
it would have been ordinarily
And we've seen every show drop down in length as well
we're getting to it
this week's NXT was only actually an hour and 15 minutes
in length, but what they managed to pack into that
hour and 15 minutes was substantial
which I think if they can drop a bit of time
out of Smackdown and Raw a little bit more
with the content they're putting in with the promos
and their actual matches
you can only better
what's coming up in future
and I think you can see at the moment how WWE are experimenting
with play times and timing schedules
just to see what works for them
with obviously the move to Netflix
Netflix means that they're not bound by a certain
times or anything
a lot created
Obviously we're going to see
Perez in the women's Royal Rumble
that's being confirmed
that she's taking part in the women's Royal Rumble
So I don't think she has
declared the women's Royal Rumble
I am just double checking
so currently no she has declared
for the Royal Rumble but I think it is a safe bet
to say that she is going to be seeing
the Royal Rumble
Yeah, so I had here
that there was a reasonable amount of
it was even contested for a majority
of the match
but I found
I'm not sure if it's just me personally, Cora Jade seems to be a bit of a weak link
in this match
So this seems to be a bit of a running thing
But then next here it does seem to be
Well, I'm just thinking with Cora Jade's
she seems to be getting quite a bit of
she seems to be
being used as filler most
Like we've said in previous episodes it's as though she's got
something signed into her contract that says that she has to make
a certain amount of appearances per year
and they are literally just trying to
get her in just in case she suffers an injury at some point
Yeah, it's as if she's due for some time
Yeah
It's Cora Jade off to have a baby
and that's why she's been shoved down our throats for the last couple of months
Possibly
I mean we are only speculating here there's nothing that has been confirmed
or nor denied but say I put in here
that I didn't think it was a great match
I'm not saying it's a bad match by any stretch
of the imagination but if you do
compare what you normally get
from a women's tag match in the main roster
it wasn't quite up to those standards but
again developmental company
they're still learning they are obviously bringing in
some bigger names to try and help with that I think
obviously Bailey's coming down and helping out but that workhorse has been everywhere
You know and
she's got Roxanne Perez as well as very experienced
and she's kind of using a bit of that
I think they'll be using her backstage to try and help some of these
smaller women that are coming up through
push through before Bailey goes back to main roster
and Roxanne Perez goes with it
Yeah and I think that's fair enough to assume
Yeah the crowd really seems
to go I mean it had Bailey in it
and Bailey is a bit of an NXT here
She is and she was one of the original
four horse women sorry of NXT
a majority of her titles
and things to start off with were all NXT titles
so she was very very popular within the NXT brand
before she went to main roster so when she gets to go back to her
what I suppose to her would be a
home roster more than anything
she loves it and because she's enjoying being there
the crowd really do get to pick up on that
and it makes us as viewers
definitely more interested in what's going on
Oh yeah definitely
it gives people like myself and Rich who aren't very
Yeah I mean I struggle with NXT
I've made this known from the start
you know as one of the I find it the weakest show
I struggle getting into it some weeks
some weeks have been brilliant some weeks
have been not quite so good
but then for me this week was one of the ones where
it wasn't necessarily bad wasn't necessarily great it filled it in
a lot of gaps ready for
the Royal Rumble
but in storyline and you know and then obviously
they're pushed through to NXT Vengeance which is their next pay-per-view
pay-per-view PLE
so yeah I feel we both jumped in
at a weird time and we're having to try and learn a lot
of backstory to where we came into it
and now we're slowly pushing through into new storylines
it will hopefully I will get a little bit more into it
especially if we consider
some of the later matches in the card without giving
too much away but the trick Williams-Wesley match
I've been looking forward to that one because I have the follow-up
from last week's NXT
but then there were some matches that I was a little bit like
not really sure I want to watch that one
but I think it all
depends as wrestling fans you know we've all got people we enjoy watching
and all got people we don't so
it makes that one a bit interesting I must admit I was
looking forward to the next aspect of
the next segment so to speak of this week's NXT
but before we jump on to that
we had a couple of interesting bits well I'll say
two more points that I kind of want to throw to this one apart from
you know the fact that they let Bailey
finish it which I
I think they could probably have used
they were going to lose out either way
on who got the win and how they did it
because none of these four women met
maybe Cora Jade at most needs a push
you know Bailey is very much over Julie is the current
NXT women's champion so she doesn't need anything
Roxanne Perez is the former NXT champion
so she's already had a big push and she's
working off the benefits of that but
Cora Jade was the only one that could have benefited
from a win
if they'd have got the win
yeah and it's
I think as we get further on through
I think the reason behind the creative decisions
on the match will probably become clearer
I'm hoping so
but yeah we had Bailey stick the pin
for the win on Cora Jade after a huge
flying elbow
which sort of closed that match out but
my view solid match can't really
a great way to open up a great card
I've got from there
that we went into an Eddie Thorpe
VT
after
this gave actually me a chance
to understand a little bit more about Eddie Thorpe
as a character
because up to this point he's just a guy that's been going after the NXT
rather unsuccessfully
yeah so I didn't actually realise
some of the stuff in this VT
was a thing so I learnt a little bit from this
especially with Eddie Thorpe I did not know he had a Native American
history
so that was quite a big bit of knowledge
for me to pick up and kind of go well that's kind of cool
because that then incorporates into what we were saying
on Monday Night Raw's episode about
so many different elements of wrestling
from Japan, from Mexico and stuff like this
and now we're getting more
plays from other
aspects of American
wrestling
and it's quite an interesting one
I think he's the only Native American superstar in professional wrestling
I don't think AEW have got anyone
that clicks in there at the moment and I don't think TNA have got anyone either
I think possibly big promotion
sort of big promotion
saying all of quite a wide net
in the bigger promotion
there's so many people that class themselves as pro wrestlers
now even if they're only maybe semi amateur
yeah this is it
I actually went away and did a little bit of
research because
with Native Americans
they obviously come from tribes
and I actually found out Eddie Thorpe is
from the, and I'm probably going to really butcher this
so any Native American who listened
to the apology but from the
Northern Peuti tribe
I mean, I don't think you've butchered it as badly
as you thought you have, it's not one that I've heard of
I did do some
history subjects on the American West when I was younger
it's not one I've heard of but there's so many
and it's not a country that we're from so it's not a history that we know
No, this is it
but we went from that
VT into an in ring promo
It wasn't really an in ring promo as such
it was more of an episode of the Grayson Waller effect
with Grayson Waller and Austin
Theory interviewing Oberfemi
I'd say interviewing very lightly, it was pretty
much just Austin Theory ripping the living
balls off the guy
I would argue
Austin Theory didn't really say an all
He didn't say a massive amount
it was more Grayson Waller running his mouth
Have I got the two confused?
I think you might have done some
Austin Theory wasn't the guy that was sat on the desk at the end
the guy from Atlanta where the other guy is Australian
Yeah, so Grayson Waller was the one sat down behind
Yeah, and Austin Theory was sat on the corner
Yeah, yeah, I mean either
or they kind of both of them had a little bit of a cheap
shot at Oberfemi and you can see through the entire
segment that he's kind of like who the fuck do you think you are
like the NXT champion here are you not going to have a little bit of respect for me?
Well, it actually sort of lends itself
how he decided to tackle
the pair of them
I mean, in the verbal aspect
I mean he really, he didn't go after them
personally on a physical level
or anything like that, he went after
purely professional level
It's important to realise that
all three of these wrestlers in the ring
have or are still
in have an NXT career
where they have competed within NXT
recently and
yeah, I mean Femi obviously current
Austin Theory and Grayson Waller were
being called up to the main roster
they had their own separate NXT run
I had no way in research
just to sort of get in
to understand what the
what the
the next sort of comment was about
because Oberfemi has said that
in the two years being in
that he's been in NXT
that he's out, he had a phenomenal
he had a record breaking run
the North American Champion
which sort of started on the 9th of January
Yeah, he had that for 272 days
the North American Championship
that is a long run considering
NXT don't normally let their titles hold that long
Now, to put this into perspective
the current NXT champion
has only helped a title roughly about
about
Dean
Yeah, so the current North American Champion
in NXT at the moment is Tony DiAngelo
from the DiAngelo family
I'm just going to recap on him because you broke up a little bit there so I think it might be a bit easier for me to do that for you
He's currently
114, 115 days into his reign
and we've seen a fair chunk of him
even since New Year's Evil when we started this podcast
with the first NXT episode
So, he's still got a long, long way to go
to be able to catch up with Oberfemme
basically over double the amount of time
and you've got to think about it, Oberfemme's already
he's already kicking on with the next title
and already defending that so he's completely forgotten about the North American Championship
Yeah, that's you, certainly
and
I mean, what a championship run he's had
And he has and it's been, you know, we find out a little bit later on in the episode
that that championship run is going to run, you know, even further
but he's got a difficult next match
with it
So, this segment basically, you know, finished with
A-Town Down Under basically, they really underestimated Oberfemme
and he's got to a point where he's fed up with listening to these two boys
kind of mouthing at him and having a cheap shot
without really getting him allowing him the time to speak
So, he does what we'd love to see champions do
and basically says, look, if your boys think you're good enough, come and get it
I've got a big bit of gold here and I'm willing to take one of you one in two weeks time
You know, whichever one it is, work it out between the two of you
So, before this happened, we had a bit of a segment
We had a bit of a popper
still comes out, aren't I?
Yeah, I think we need to turn your game up a little bit
and drop your game down a little bit
I've switched mic, Brian, stop it
Okay
Oh, right, so for the main event of this week's A-T, we've got
Bianca Belair and Naomi versus Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson
representing Meta 4 for the women's tag team championship
Yeah, and an interesting one for two main roster superstars
to make not just an appearance in NXT, but offering up a title
a main roster title match to a team in NXT as well
So this is breaking new ground for WWE as far as I'm aware at least
Yeah, it's not really something I can remember them doing in the past
So it's definitely...
Speaking of breaking new ground, I actually think this may have been Naomi's first time in NXT as well
So there may have been plenty of carries popped in this particular match
Well, yeah, definitely, because we all know that Bianca Belair had a fantastic NXT career
where Naomi was one of those that jumped in at the right time where NXT wasn't really...
wasn't a televised thing, so she went from their training performance centre straight to main roster
Well, she made her debut on the main roster, if I remember correctly, as a funk adaptor
I mean, more than likely that's a little bit out of my wheelhouse, I think
I didn't follow the early amounts of women's wrestling hugely closely
She was a support wrestler and I forget his name, but I can remember his fiend tune
because it sticks in my head more than once
Brody's Clay was the...
That's long
Yeah, and the other funk adaptor was Cameron
Yes, she was released a long time ago
But anyway, we digress
Yeah, so the other important thing to mention is that Tag Team Champs actually competed 24 hours before this match aired
So they were competing on Raw on Monday night and then competing again on NXT on Tuesday
Yes, that is true, they ended up going against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez
Find that match covered in our previous podcast episode
Yes, most definitely, but yeah, there was definitely a differing power dynamic in this match
I mean, part of it is that we're used to seeing a superstar like Bianca Belair
who prides herself on being quite a strong competitor week in, week out
But it's unusual to see her go toe to toe with somebody who can sort of equal her power
Somebody like Lash Legend who was quite honestly throwing Belair around at one point like a rag doll
Which is not something you see a lot of hugely
Unless you end up seeing her with against people like Nia Jax
But even then she holds her own against some of the bigger superstars as it is
Considering she's one of the smaller in height superstars as well
Fair enough, I didn't particularly look that far into it
But one of the next things that I was going to point out was going to point out that
I mean, Meta Girls in general were just looking very dominant over what are now some pretty seasoned tag team champions
And I mean, Lash Legend managed to hit quite an impressive handspring moonsault at one point
Which I didn't actually think she'd ever attempt let alone pull off
But did really well with it in the process
Yeah, and I think sometimes a lot of these guys and girls, to be fair, when you see them hit moves like that
Just because you don't see them hit them week in, week out doesn't mean they can't necessarily do it
But they save some of those nicer ones for special occasions
What more is a special occasion as a main roster title being challenged for on NXT is a main event of all places
This is true, but considering it was such a, it was the main event and it was a big title match
The one thing that surprised me that WWE did is partway through this match
It was only about 30 seconds, but it was 30 seconds too much in my opinion
We did like a little mini mid-match promo between Ava, the NXT GM and Cora Jade
Where basically Jade was upset about everything that had happened with Roxanne Perez earlier in the evening
Basically demanding to talk with Ava the GM who'd already had an action packed evening with everything to do with Roxanne Perez
That lot as well as the trick Williams incidents earlier in the evening
But it was just enough to take me completely out of the match and spoil it for me a little bit
Because if they were going to do something like that, then surely they could have found time to do that before the match started
Or even had it as a closing promo as opposed to interrupting the main event as well as a women's world tag team championship match
To just say, oh yeah, Cora wants a chat
Pretty sure that could have waited until after the match or preceded the match starting even
Yeah, it seems a little bit disrespectful, doesn't it?
That's how I felt about it, but maybe I'm just being a bit, I don't know, just feel it just doesn't feel like it does the performers in ring
Any good to have their TV time interrupted
I mean if you're going to do it during one of the undercard matches then yes, fair enough, mechs complete
But you don't do it during your main event, no, not at all
I've seen a few times where you'll be halfway through a match and I take an ad break
And you're like, what was the point of that?
It is completely pulled you out whether it be for an actual televised ad break or for like I said, like when they spoke to Cora Jade, it does completely kill the vibe
And it's happening more often
So ad breaks I can sort of understand, especially with the likes of NXT and SmackDown because they are still being broadcast on cable TV in the US
NXT on the CW and SmackDown I think on, I think it's on USA, I think it's on USA
I'm not 100% certain on what SmackDown has on in the US but they have cable TV affiliates that broadcast within the United States
And it makes sense for them to go to ad breaks because they have to do it on TV, they can't then continue playing footage
They still continue to play footage, it's just the commentary normally that's interrupted
But yeah, I mean that just sort of took me out of it, the ad breaks I can forgive because I understand that they've got to be able to appease the networks and things like that
Which when they move over to fully over to Netflix, which I imagine is the case, it will be the case at some stage
Then we may well see that recede either completely or next to never having a sort of ad break or at least giving the commentary team some kind of quick minute to sort of gather themselves
Because it's a long time to keep talking realistically about a match without sort of continually repeating yourself over and over again
But coming back to the match, we've got really regular momentum shifts within the match
It remained from beginning to end a really competitive match which to be quite honest was almost too close to call in some cases
The Meta Girls really did put up a very good fight for those tag team champions and would have vastly deserved it had they won
However, Belair and Naomi retain after Jakara Jackson gets a bit desperate and tries what I've always referred to as a dirty pin
She's got a handful of tights trying to gain that extra bit of leverage towards the end of that match and it backfired on her completely
Which was such a shame to a degree because it would have been nice to see those titles go to someone in NXT but at the same time it's a dishonest way to win
I think Gerrero wouldn't have cared, he's the lychee and still
This is true, this is true, but that essentially is the last match on the card for NXT, there was nothing after that, no promos, anything of that nature
It finished with the end of that match really didn't it?
It really did
So yeah, we fade to black on yet another episode of Finishes and Factions and we hope that you'll join us again when our episode drops for SmackDown
So we look forward to seeing you then
See you soon, peace