Condo On The Moon Wrestlemania Bonus Edition

We have an extra special glitter filled bonus podcast for Wrestlemania week. Brock is back and getting paid well. The impact on all based on this. Walder has been converted to an Alexa Bliss fan. While I see Dana Brooke as a possible answer to Ronda Rousey for WWE. In addition we preview the ROH Supercard of Honor IX.


We are back tomorrow with our HUGE Wrestlemania preview. So join us then.

If your unable to listen or download via website head over to Podomatic and listen or download there.

NXT Report

Only 3 weeks in and we missed an NXT Report. Note it is time to get some staff coming out of Wrestlemania. I won’t bore everyone with week the old news, but have just a few comments on NXT’s first outing to Ohio.

It is clear the vision for NXT has changed or at least expanded to the idea of it being its own unique brand. The test drive in Columbus was a huge success. Crowd was even more jacked than the crazies at Full Sail were and they knew everything and everyone connected to the product.

NXT is getting a show on Friday Night of Mania week at San Jose State University and it will sell out and likely be one of the most talked about things as part of Mania weekend.

As for this week’s show, it was two title matches that we have to see. Alexa Bliss got a count out win and earned a shot at Sasha Banks for her NXT Women’s Title. Bliss did a decent job in the match. Really does a great job with facial expressions to the camera. Her work in ring is still a little bit off in comparison to the top girls like Banks, Charlotte and even Bayley. I still see a bright future for her on the main roster, as she will really appeal to the kids. She will also appeal to the adult males and she is very attractive. That is a winning combination. She predictably came up short falling prey to the Banks Statement the finishing submission hold of Sasha Banks. Stone Cold would approve of this finisher as she really locks it on every time. It is quickly becoming one of my personal favorites as far as submission finishers go male or female.

Couple back stage segments one setting up a feud with Bayley and Emma who seems to have gone heel in her return to NXT. In addition, a rubber match between Tyler Breeze and Hideo Itami in a two out of three falls match that is booked for next week’s show.

Breeze calling Devin Taylor Barbra Walters based on her simple question was a highlight for me. Taylor seems to be cast in the role once played by Maria now in ROH as the ditsy but loveable backstage reporter. Taylor has the ditsy down but I am not feeling the loveable part at the moment. Maria played that character so well and it is amazing the contrast of that to her current ROH character that is a mean and nasty female valet for The Kingdom.

Kevin Steen as you may have heard had to have a minor knee surgery. The last match he had in the can was his title defense against Finn Balor. These two were given almost half of the show and made use of the time with a fantastic match. Balor sold a leg injury that ultimately led to his demise and Kevin Owens would retain the NXT title via pinfall.

Another note word is that Sami Zayn may also be injured with a shoulder injury of some sort. There is no real info on it, as the injury hasn’t been a part of storylines to this point. The same is true for Owens. Sadly, fans at Mania will miss on seeing Owens and possibly Zayn Wrestle.

Someone will be getting a ticket into the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and will be determined in a tournament going on at Axcess or perhaps on the Friday night show in San Jose. Most people are suggesting Adrian Neville will win and get the chance to appear on Mania.

I think that would be a bad debut for him in terms of his finisher being from the top rope and this being a Battle Royal. The two don’t make for a happy marriage. Neville I see more than any of the other top NXT male stars having a hard time getting over on the main roster. Vince McMahon is likely to see his negatives more than his positives and that could spell doom for him. Triple H is a huge supporter though so maybe he can help Neville survive in the land of the sharks on the main roster at least at first.

Lastly, there has been a lot of talk of how you change the Diva’s Division and make it into something different. Aside from cutting the dead weight, like the Bellas and the other non-wrestling chicks out of the picture there could be another way too eventually.

Most will say that Charlotte is where this goes next but it isn’t where this is heading. No doubt, Charlotte will be a success but given her ties to Ric Flair being his daughter she is not the answer on here own to change the divas back to women.

Dana Brooke is being teased as debuting soon in NXT. Assuming she is capable in the ring, I have an idea that is long overdue for the Diva’s Division. UFC has Ronda Rousey and she is not going to be wrestling anytime soon in a WWE ring. Brock maybe back but the UFC’s number one draw is not stepping in a WWE Ring to fight.

I purpose you make Brooke into a Ronda Rousey like smashing machine. She is attractive like Rousey and is a fitness model and body builder. So, she has the look to be that attractive ass kicker. Only question is how quickly she can get good in the ring. You could book her in a way to protect her much as they have with Baron Corbin at first. Like the real Rousey, have her come out and just maul he competition. Hell on the main roster she can be part of the authority and make her Stephanie’s response to the Give Diva’s a Chance Movement. If A.J Lee is not sticking around have this girl debut taking out A.J and putting her into a wrestling retirement.

It could work and the WWE’s most successful Women’s Champion started as a fitness model that wasn’t the greatest wrestler in the world. Her name is Trish Stratus and she is the Ric Flair of Women’s wrestling with nine Championship reigns the most by any women in WWE.

Hell if some day the real Ronda comes maybe you have the biggest women’s match ever. It is just a thought of where they could go with Dana Brooke. Now can she do that Rousey ring walk death stare? I have no idea. Nevertheless, this is a gimmick that fits her well. If she can’t do an armbar have Chris Jericho teach her it was one of his 1004 moves in his great feud with Dean Melenko back in WCW.

That is it for NXT. Don’t forget later today a special edition of Condo on the Moon Podcast talking Brock re-signing and previewing the ROH show tomorrow in Cali with Walder and myself.   

NXT Report: March 11th 2015

There has been a lot of talk about NXT this week and for once, it is not as much about what is happening in the ring. Bill Demott stepping down as the head trainer at the WWE Performance Center dominated the headlines last week. He has been replaced by Matt Bloom (Jason Albert) in the role. This is likely a positive to have the WWE try to distance the NXT brand from Demott. While almost all of the allegations against Demott pre-date NXT his presence there currently would only serve as hindrance for the brand moving forward.

This is another thing that is being talked about quite a fair bit is what exact the future for NXT will be as it grows. Is it still a developmental system or is it growing into its own unique promotion. Is it now growing into a brand that is some kind of super independent promotion? Obviously having the backing and money of the WWE behind it gives it an advantage over any promotion including TNA and ROH. The NXT show took to the road last weekend in Columbus Ohio and it was promoted on last night’s episode of the show that we would see some of the events from that road trip next week.

Samoa Joe has stated he is in talks with WWE and he would be another huge name born on the independent scene that could be added to the mix in NXT. Joe may need some conditioning not unlike a Kevin Owens, but as far as his work in the ring, he has proven to be at an elite level when motivated to be. Add him to the mix with Finn Balor, Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, Hideo Itami and Owens it is top 6 that would make any independent promoter drool.

It all leads to the question of is NXT still a developmental program or it becoming a brand geared to attract the hardcore wrestling audience that has been under whelmed with the current WWE product. Can it be a mix of both at the end of the day?

If we put a label on last night’s show it was leaning more to the developmental side than the creating a brand side.

The night started with Big Cass and Enzo going against the Lucha Dragons for the number one contender spot for the NXT Tag Team Championship. The expected happened with Enzo and Cass winning as the angle between them and Blake and Murphy was already teased. No question Cass and Enzo are over and have been for some time in NXT. I have always stated if this act goes to the next level, I see Colin Cassidy as the big star and Enzo more as a manger than his partner in a tag team. One thing that Big Cass has is his size and to steal one of their catch phrases…You Can’t Teach That!  Enzo is entertaining but more so for his personality and work on the microphone as opposed to anything he does in the ring.

Alexa Bliss returned to action after being sidelined for two months with a broken nose. She took on the third member of that crew Carmella. This match was a step below what we have come to expect from the women in NXT. I still think Bliss has a bright future and like Bayley could get over huge with kids. Unlike Bayley she is looks wise a miniature version of Trish Stratus. If she can learn and develop as Trish did, she can be a big hit on the next level. Lots of work to do though but I really like Alexa and think she has an “it factor” to her that can work well on the next level. That cross between Diva and Women’s Wrestler that ideally fans want.

Alex Riley returned to the ring after over 2 years away from it. It took about 2 minutes to realize why he was placed in commentary and not wrestling. His promo prior to his match with C.J Parker was little over the top but great. In ring, Riley is average at best and just doesn’t hold a candle to the talent even here in NXT. Owens came out and promised to end Alex Riley’s wrestling career and move on to ending the rise of Finn Balor. After watching Riley this week, Kevin Owens would be doing us a favor he delivered on his promise about Riley. Kevin will be able to get a good match out of Riley despite his lack of skills in the ring. Kevin is just that talented that he can. In addition the build verbally and storyline wise has been outstanding.

Hideo Itami and Tyler Breeze seem to be paired together based on having nothing else for either. It has been a good re-establishing of Tyler Breeze and with his new selfie stick; it adds a new layer to the gimmick. Hideo Itami on the other hand while clearly talented also seems clearly lost in some ways. I will say this that his selling is amazing. Problem might be he is selling too much and we have not got to see the offensive capabilities of this man.  The have teased is use of the GTS which fans at NXT now are determined to see. If he ever hit the main roster with that move not sure if that would be received with welcoming arms as it will be at NXT. While he did invent the move, even C.M Punk admits that, the move is forever tied to Punk for WWE fans. Itami lost the match to Breeze and that seemed the right outcome for me. Tyler Breeze while not the big name that Itami was as Kenta prior to the WWE, He is much more comfortable in the WWE setting and NXT environment

This was one of those rare NXT shows that I would say there wasn‘t anything that you need to go out of your way to see. Not that it was a bad show or anything close to the 3-hour snooze feast that was Raw. It just wasn‘t up to the standards that NXT is known for as being very high and over performing that leaves us wanting more.  .

NXT Report: March 4th 2015

This is likely long overdue but welcome to the first ever NXT Report here on Condo on the Moon. If you have listened to our podcast, you know how much I love NXT in fact who doesn’t love NXT. It is a big weekend for the WWE’s Developmental brand, as they will be appearing at the Arnold Classic on the weekend. This will be the first venture outside of Florida for NXT as a whole. A big step as Triple H has stated he wants to see NXT expand and tour doing some live events in the future going forward.

A couple of notes on this new venture it will be spoiler free for the most part and follow what is going on with the product based on the most recent T.V. Any reference to future events are just speculation and is not based on info gather from spoilers.

So, here are some thoughts based on this week’s episode of NXT:

We had a couple of squash matches featuring NXT Tag Team Champions Blake and Murphy who have flipped the script to being heels. They are being positioned to face the much-loved team of Enzo and Big Cass. Who cut a promo with Carmella declaring their intentions to become #1 Contender to the tag team titles. Not sure if it was Blake or Murphy, but one of them hit a pretty nice frog splash covering 3/4 of the ring to get the win.

The other jobber match saw Baron Corbin squash some poor sap with The End of Days. The NXT crowd tried to do their counting gimmick but it appeared they were trying to kill that by have a long pause before Corbin and his prey locked up. Corbin has definitely had a noticeable drop in his buzz since his brutal match with Bull Dempsey. It was a horrible match and exposed Corbin for being not ready for prime time.

Solomon Crowe had a match over the aforementioned Bull Dempsey and came out on top. I wasn’t blown away with his in ring work but maybe Bull Dempsey just makes people look bad at the end of the day.

Segments of note on this show included Bayley wishing Charlotte luck in here title match with Sasha. After which Emma came along and suggested to Bayley that acting nice was what got Emma back in NXT. Some might say it was a terrible pairing with Santino, a shoplifting incident at a Walmart and a general failure to get over but let’s go with she was too nice for sake of storyline.

Sami Zayn had a taped promo that he claimed was taped from his home in Montreal. He talked about not being mental right to compete right now. He stated he has yet to watch back the match he lost against Kevin Owens yet but will and promises to return to NXT. He also made mention of all the changes in the short time he has been gone. So it appears if Sami is going to the main roster he will at least have one more run of matches on NXT.

Speaking of Kevin Owens, he was on the show again. At the start of the show, Alex Riley who Owens attacked last week was in Regal’s office begging for a match with Owens. Regal stated that he could not be a commentator and competitor in NXT. Later in the night, Kevin Owen came out, starred at Riley, and eventually dumped water on his head. Jason Albert restrained Riley and Steen calmly walked away. Riley stormed into Regal’s office as he was talking with C.J Parker. Riley said he wanted to wrestle and wanted Owens. Regal stated he needed to sign a talent contract and he would get to fight Owens but only when Regal deemed he was ready. C.J Parker chimed in stating he has been the only person that ever hurt Owens and Riley had no chance. This sets up Riley and Parker for next week.

Alexa Bliss was back and stated she is ready to compete and looking for revenge against Sasha Banks regardless of if she retained her title or not. Banks apparently broke Alexa's nose and she has been out as a result. Don’t remember that happening, but hey, its part of the story now.

Divas always get a chance on NXT and that includes main eventing as Sasha defended her title against Charlotte. It was a great match that really showed off the flexibility of Charlotte. It also showed the growing aggression in Sasha Banks. Charlotte survived many submission attempts after stopping Banks from running out on the match and taking a count out loss but keeping the title. In the end, Banks would get a pinfall using the ropes for leverage keeping this feud alive if they choose to do so. Charlotte has been another name rumored to be heading to the main roster. Her not regaining the title adds fuel to that speculation.

Last note on NXT mark your calendar as the week of Wrestlemania on Wednesday we will be getting Kevin Owens defending his title against Finn Balor. It should be an amazing match that likely will be better than many at Wrestlemania.

So, that was your NXT Report look for this every Thursday going forward here in Condo on the Moon. Don’t forget tomorrow night that we have the Condo on the Moon Podcast.