5 greatest things from the NXT invasion.
 

5. The armbands, it's a uniting theme.

4. The teamwork of Blackface Cena and Ginger Cade. They seem to be a natural tag team combination.

3. The Sheffield Lariat. That was the most brutal lariat I have ever seen by a man NOT named Stan Hansen or Kenta Kobashi.

2. http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...07c906b6f1.jpg

This is just creepy as hell.

1. http://i46.tinypic.com/d8dx2.jpg

This is equally the most vicious and most hilarious thing I've ever seen.

It's vicious because Daniel Bryan Danielson looks like a monster here.

It's hilarious because Justin has this facial expression where he looks like he's about to get de-brained in a bad zombie flick.

1. Cena got killed

2-5. See Point 1.

6-859. See points 2-5.

860. seeing black cena pummel white cena

<font color=goldenrod>Honestly, the angle was so well done it's hard to make a list of the 5 best things from it. It would probably be easier to mention its flaws - and honestly the only one I can think of was really minor when Danielson set up Cena for a kick only for Tarver to come in with a right hand by mistake.

Given that they wore uniting armbands, appeared to be a cohesive unit, and they pretty much turned 5 of the rookies heel for this (Bryan, Gabriel, Slater, Young, Sheffield) leaves me pretty certain it's a legit stable, not a one-off "make a statement" thing.

Barrett looked great directing traffic. Bryan will probably be seen as second in command by virtue of experience, and is likely the easiest guy to turn face and challenge Barrett's authority when it reaches that point down the line. The other 6 will be support players, although some of them could break out of this and become solid midcarders.

Can't wait to see where this leads.</font>

I agree, Vito.

1. http://i46.tinypic.com/d8dx2.jpg

kinda feel bad for the guy, u can tell Dragon was chokin the shit out of him

This has gone on for a whole 1 day. 2 days if you count what the Pros did to the new Rookies. Can't believe 1 good SEGMENT is getting such good praise. Yes it was awesome, unpredictable, and such, but geez.

Who had the black bandana over his face? Was that Tarver? I still don't know all the names. Anyway, he looked badass with that.

And I loved Otunga in the ring guarding Cena the whole time.

How often do we get something of this magnitude of awesome and unpredictable in WWE?

I honestly believe it would hold up to the best single segments in wrestling history.

Take that out of your fucking sig right this instant. I beat you to the punch, now accept the consequences forever.

You've lost all rights to anything NXT, Narcissus.

For some reason I like Tarver, not sure why. Durring the season when they were doing the interviews, Matt Striker asked him to talk about toothpaste or cereal he just kinda scowled and threw the mike down.

The IWC: Putting the cart before the horse since 1997.

Man people will bitch about anything huh? The anybody who didn't like this segment, or wants to complain because we all thought it was awesome, please f u c k o f f! When was the last time something this kick ass happened?

Tarver impressed me the most in the beatdown even though he did fuck up Bryan's head kick moment. He looks like a fucking psycho killer and I loved it! Even Young reminded me of a WWC sicko from the 80's, they were all so on, so bad ass. Even Otunga played his role well and fit it.

Again, yes FUCK YES that segment rocked.

<font color=goldenrod>I think that on Monday, we'll only see Wade Barrett (who, really, should be the only one allowed within a 25 mile radius of a WWE event after last week's actions) - but he'll cut a promo explaining that the NXT guys were humiliated, so now they're getting their payback. They're the next generation, and they're all ready to make a statement.

A hospitalized Cena promises to be at Fatal 4 Way, as does an injured Orton. Then at the PPV, Orton is laid out backstage - it's implied that Edge did it, but then Wade Barrett cashes in his PPV title shot to get in the match. A taped up Cena gets his ass kicked and can barely move, and the NXT guys show up again and wreak havoc - taking out Edge and Sheamus as well, showing no loyalty. Barrett wins the WWE Title and the angle is pushed WAY the fuck over the top.

I'm going to Raw the night after Fatal 4 Way, I'll mark the fuck out if Barrett is WWE Champion at that point, or if I get to at least see some NXT chaos.</font>

Lance Storm posted this idea on his website, I was just about to post it. He goes further though, this what he wrote:

"If I were booking I’d have Edge’s attack on Orton the reason Orton gets pulled from the PPV match allowing Wade Barrett to cash in his Title Shot opportunity and take Orton’s spot in the Fatal 4 Way. You have Cena cut a promo from his hospital bed this Monday saying that he will be at Fatal 4 Way even if doctors have to roll him there in a wheel chair. Cena goes into the PPV like the Spirit of 76 all taped up and you put Wade Barrett over for the WWE Title and put this angle over the top. Wade Barrett with the Title and his NXT gang covering his back could be a very interesting dynamic.

A lot of these guys are inexperienced but if you present this group like men on a chess board I think it could work out great. You have Wade Barrett as the King; he’s the guy with the crown and thus the most important member. Daniel Bryan is the Queen (not meant as a joke) he is the second most important piece but also truthfully the most useful and powerful. You take the next 2 most competent workers and use them as your bishop and knight, and the least experienced and skilled guys are your pawns. Pawns don’t main event and will never draw money but they can be an important part of the game"

I think it sounds awesome.

I don't think they'll give him the strap.

<font color=goldenrod>I wouldn't put anything past WWE at this point. I never thought they'd give Sheamus the WWE Title a mere 6 or so months after his debut. I definitely didn't think they'd have Swagger (who was largely jobbed out on Raw) win MITB and take the Title less than a week later.

WWE's clearly trying to create new stars - so it's certainly not out of the realm of the possibility to give Barrett the belt, especially when he has 7 angry young men with chips on their shoulders backing him up.</font>

I think your shrink needs to adjust your meds.

oh shit, Raw's in Charlotte this Monday. didn't even know

Let me guess, KK? You have something negative to say about the segment?

Kane Knight enjoyed the segment, but he felt it ran too long.

It might've ran too long but I still think that even that added to the "chaos" feeling of the segment.

No doubt this angle could bomb... but for once... shut the fuck up and stop being a downer.

I'm beginning to get on the "IWC will complain about anything" train though more and more lately. Especially, following this. I mean, come on.

I laugh at the idea of Cena being hospitalized. He's had worse and been back the very next day like nothing has happened going "I WANNA FIGHT!!!!"

Judging from this thread the IWC collectively isn't complaining. Yeah, some people have complaints, but this is a rather large group of people. We can't all agree on everything. Hell, you tell me one time the IWC has wholly agreed on anything and I'll never knock another retarded noob again.

I'm trying to take a positive approach to this, but I can definitely see how some people may still be skeptical. The InVasion started off hot as shit, but the payoff was lousy. We can definitely enjoy that segment for what it was, but I'm not completely jazzed just yet.

If it's nothing more then that segment will still stand as one of the best ever.

That I have seen at least, and when it comes to WWE I have seen it all pretty much. Still just an opinion but I think a lot of people are feeling this way not just TPWW.

It doesn't matter how many people feel that way. That doesn't mean everybody has to.

Just think it's a little more than ridiculous to see people complain when the product is lousy then complain equally when the product is wonderful.

I agree Jordan. Yeah, the angle could bomb or even be aborted without any payoff at all, but that segment was freaking awesome. Only part of Raw I saw this week.

Be that as it may, it's also a little silly to complain about the fact that people are complaining. As long as you enjoy the product, the way Kane Knight feels about it should really be of no concern to you. The fact that you feel differently than he does should actually make you feel better about yourself.

Eh I pretty much complain about everything in day to day life also, wrestling is nothing different.

i liked him alot too i think he will be a good heel.

Or in Narc speak, I hated it.

Seriously, it was one of the freshest bits I've seen in a long time, and the worst I can say is they could have done it in half the time to better effect. Jordan was still being a spazz, though.

If that counts as being a downer, you need to kill yourself now, because the real world is gonna eat you up.

Am I the only one that though the segment would have been that much more awesome if the WWE still did blade jobs? A group of angry upstarts take out WWE's golden boy, leaving him a battered, beaten, bloody mess in the destroyed shambles of the ring. I thought the segment worked great, but a "proverbial mask of crimson" would have sold it even better.

For the record, I think their next target should be Michael Cole. Have him giving a stand up at the top of the ramp, then have the nxt rookies jump in and basically do a repeat of Outsiders/Bischoff back at the start of the nWo. Keep him off TV for a few weeks, maybe bring Striker in to replace him for a bit.

I don't think blood would have really added to it.

It was all good but I'm not so sure I like the idea of Cole being the "higher power" in all of this it'd be like there trying to pass him off as the next Vinny, Steph, or Shane-O-Mac.

IT WAS ME, CENA! IT WAS VINTAGE ME ALL ALONG!

No you're not the only one. I agree with you completely.

Some folks say blood is never beneficial or necessary and I just don't get that argument. The idea of seeing your top face get busted open by a group of 8 rookies not having any impact as opposed to him just getting stretchered out by selling a few signature moves is ridiculous.

I for one see the impact that blood can have in complementing and really selling the impact of a particular worker, stable or storyline.

I'm not saying however, that you have a blood bath every week to have great wrestling or great writing, but that blood still does have an impact and can be used to make a statement. Especially if used infrequently.

Is the only reason they do not blade now is to keep things PG?

That's my understanding of it. They also claim it's for the safety of the wrestlers and fans in attendance too, if I recall correctly. So there's no transmission of diseases, etc. That was basically an excuse after years of blading to suddenly stop for the PG era IMO.

Blood always seems silly to me when you can tell that a blade job was done. Hardway is one thing, but blading always came off as amateurish and unnecessary to me.

Sort of agree.

BillyBonez, you really are an idiot.

You don't NEED blood, but this was an angle where it would have helped things.

It adds drama and gravity to something like this.

Blading has its place in wrestling, and this is one instance where it can make a great angle even better.

Like many things, I think some wrestlers are better at it than others. It seems like some guys know how to blade better than others.

Also, I think it works better in the main event/upper card levels. It gives the appearance that these guys are at a different level, a more dangerous level, and that the competition and title(s) is more important.

Again, not too often, but an occasional blade job adds that little something extra I think. But that's just me. :wave:

Thank you Xero, I think we have a very similar outlook on this business which I can appreciate.

That's reasonable.

Nobody's "jellous" of you, fella. You just didn't pay attention to what was said.

I don't think the addition of blood would have improved anything really.

The attack wasn't on Cena as an individual. They weren't out to get him. They attacked him as the champion and "face of WWE". They ripped the ring and ringside area apart because most of it is covered in WWE logos. Making Cena bleed doesn't really enforce that message anymore so than they already did.

This fella's on the right track. :y:

Only thing i "disliked" about the segment was that afterwards they all just sorta casually walked backstage. Felt like they should have left via the crowd...

Or smashed up a cameraman to end the show.

Here's what I'd like to happen next week:

Lawler and Cole get into the ring with the NXT rookies and interview them about what happened. During the interview Lawler questions Cole about where he was. Cole states that he ran away. Lawler starts getting pissed about what the NXT rookies did to him and then Cole hits him from behind leading to a NXT beatdown of Lawler. Cole gets gets the mic and says "now that's vintage Micheal Cole" and celebrates.

Everybody hates Cole and he'd be way over as a heel. Cole could explain that he's been constantly living in the shadow of JR and treated badly, just like the NXT rookies. Cole becomes a Bischoff type figure in the group. Cole can be extremely aggrivating and I think he'd do awesome.

Gertner coming out of retirement??

Blading isn't what WWE is about anymore. And I support that because when I watch TNA and see someone blade, it just looks bad. It's stupid that wrestlers always bleed "like that". On the forehead, a small cut that gushes blood. It's so fake. Since the blade ban there has been more hardway blood than ever, and at least its realistic. The reason it is happening is because of Rey's knee brace sure, but also because the guys are working harder to make up for the lost brutality they used to show.

So to me that beatdown was brutal enough with the wrestling holds they used and the attitude and intent of the characters.

From PWInsider:

As we mentioned on the Elite site on Tuesday, very few people were clued in to what was going to happen during the NXT attack on Monday's Raw, including those at ringside when the NXT attack took place. People were told that Wade Barrett would come out to ringside at the end of the show to confront Cena, but that was largely it. I was told that almost everyone else had no idea that the NXT guys would be joining him or that they would lay down the destruction that they did. The idea was to make the people at ringside react, which may explain why Michael Cole was able to run away and not get laid out. I was told that creative was very happy with how the angle played out.

--

Just makes it that much more awesome.

If Justin Roberts didn't know it was coming, then him getting choked makes it that much more priceless.

I'm not sure I like Cole being behind the whole thing - especially at this juncture.

Im liking Wade Barretts push lets just hope they dont do to him what they did to Elijah Burke

I'd rather Bryan take out Cole on his own one of these weeks.

What I'm concerned about is that the group has very few good talkers, and I think Cole who provide that. Plus he's so friggen easy to hate. He has that personality kinda like Bischoff. All Cole has to do is throw out a couple "Vintage Barrett" and keep looking like the dweeb he is and he'd get very over. Hell, Vickie. Guerrero made a career off of yelling "excuse me".

That segment NEEDED blood. That is all.

I definitely agree with Lance Storm and Vito. Putting the WWE Title on Barrett at Fatal 4 Way might be the best way to take this angle to the next level, and really set up "The Network" as major villains for John Cena and other guys to overcome. I'm on the fence about whether or not Edge or The Network should take out Randy Orton, but you can't have everyone after Barrett at once, so let Edge get his in on Orton, so that rivalry can keep gaining steam.

I'd have Evan Bourne take Orton's spot. They're trying to get the kid over as a star, and persistence is all that will need. Putting him in the main event of Fatal 4 Way would be a big nudge towards that. He can bump around for Sheamus, and add that extra dynamic to the match. Eventually, Cena overcomes the odds, and his hand is raised high as he celebrates with the WWE Championship. Some new music hits, and it's Wade Barrett's entrance music he won during NXT. He walks to the ring in wrestling gear, and he announces that he's cashing in his NXT title shot right now. Cena tries to fight, but he is mutilated, and The Winds of Change finishes the match -- Barrett is the new WWE Champion. Optional: Having the other members of The Network then beat the living crap out of Edge, Cena, Bourne & Sheamus.

Ultimately, I think they should be behind The Undertaker's attack. It seems like it was originally going to be a vehicle for Kane to turn heel, and that would still be cool, but seeing The Brothers of Destruction unite to take on The Network could make them huge stars.

And I've been thinking -- if anyone is "behind" this group, I'm thinking it could be a good reveal for it to be Bret Hart. I didn't see it, but apparently Vince McMahon confronted Bret recently and said something about the fans turning on Bret as General Manager? How he sort of gave him the job to slowly torture him? Bret could reveal that he has allowed The Network to run wild because he still has a resentment for this company, to some degree. He's going to remold it with this movement.

Oh, and some random great things about the NXT invasion:

* Michael Tarver is ominous as hell. I don't know why people don't like him. Granted, in the ring he's not that exciting, but as a pitbull he works. I loved how ambitious he was during this segment, too -- even getting in the way of his allies in the assault. Tarver seems hungry to prove himself.

* Skip Sheffield is a beast, and has slowly been impressing me. He understands how to play a crowd. I think Sheffield is a guy to keep an eye on. He has a sweet finishing move, too.

* Justin Gabriel's stare. You just don't know what that guy is thinking. We got to know him as a happy-go-lucky fan favourite over the few months NXT ran for. Then he plays a complete asshole and beats up Jerry Lawler. I know it's the same deal with Heath Slater, and there is nothing offensive about the Ginga Ninja, but Gabriel just interested me more. Slater just seems willing to be an asshole, but Gabriel's motivations just seem to run deeper.

* Chad Patton getting dropped was pretty intense. Referees get laid out all the time, but something about Otunga doing it was just eerie.

* The arm-bands were awesome. I heard them referred to as "NXT armbands" but they weren't. The "N" was different, and they looked like generic designs, which just made it all the more awesome.

* "You are not better than me! You are not better than me! You are not better than me! You are not better than me!"

Have Randy Orton turn babyface and kill the NXT rookies.

I was sold on him during his little intro promo. He seemed really smooth in delivery, and I thought the goofiness was the only thing holding him back. He's dropped the goofiness, and holy fuck.

By the way, which Finisher: The Backpack Stunner or Murder by Lariat (at least that's what I call it.)? Both look good, but holy fuck is his Lariat vicious looking.

<font color=goldenrod>Yeah, when the rookies were attacking, Gabriel was the only one that seemed...odd...as a heel. Barrett, Otunga, and Tarver were heels to begin with. Danielson I've seen as a heel in the indies so I was used to it and it made me mark out. Sheffield seemed to be on the verge of going heel in NXT. Young seemed to be unsure about where he stood in NXT, so going heel seemed normal. I just didn't really like Slater, so seeing him as a heel made him mildly more interesting. Gabriel was the one that stood out.

For what it's worth though, at Thursday's FCW TV tapings (they tape several weeks worth of tapings in one go), Gabriel wrestled as a face without an armband on. Otunga wrestled as well, but he DID have his on. That leads me to believe that Gabriel was gonna ditch the group or he'd get kicked out in the relatively near future.

But now with Danielson presumably gone, they may have to re-tape stuff and ditch those plans. Although most of the NXT guys weren't BAD in the ring (Otunga being the only really shitty worker), Gabriel was easily the 2nd most competent in-ring guy behind Danielson. I think they're gonna want a versatile in-ring guy for the group, unless they throw Kaval in there or something.</font>

Orton is face...

The thing about Gabriel, is that he does have that pretty boy look. I think he can do alright as a heel. He just seems more natural as a babyface. I figured he'd end up on SmackDown! very quickly, with Matt Hardy getting him a job. Perhaps Gabriel could even go to bat for Hardy, feud with Drew McIntyre, and maybe even get Matt Hardy the opportunity to earn his roster spot back.

Seeing the two as Unified WWE Tag Team Champions isn't a stretch, either. Matt Hardy gets the fans behind Gabriel, and the 450 Splash gets highlighted, merchandise moves, and Gabriel slowly works his way up the card.

It would have been very easy to see Gabriel split off the The Network. He could have the biggest guilt trip about what they did, and take a beating for speaking his mind about it. I could still see that happening, but do they want to take another guy out of the group? I'd definitely leave the others. Barrett leading them is good, Michael Tarver and Skip Sheffield both play their parts in it so well, and it gives Heath Slater a purpose. Darren Young could do something else, but I think he'd be better in the group as opposed to standing alone. David Otunga isn't ready to be by himself.

An idea is to have them managed by William Regal. He had some very kind words to say to Mr. Barrett when he won NXT, and Skip Sheffield did say he should have listened to Regal right from the start. Regal being the one to have given the idea to Barrett would make sense, and provide them with another capable mouthpiece and ring general. They could beat the living shit out of Vladimir Kozlov and Santino Marella during one of their comedy segments. It wouldn't be the same sort of impact as the segment last week, but people love Marella, and Kozlov is sort of a threat.

Why are we assuming that this stable is going to be called The Network just because WWE trademarked it?

because it only makes sense

I wish I could find a decent picture of Palmer Cannon.