NXT, Lucha Underground and Indy Wrestling Minutes - You weekly source for independent wrestling news

Happy New Year wrestling fans and welcome to the first installment of Indy Minute in 2015! Not much going on since Lucha Underground is on a break, NXT is a clip show and most indy feds slow down around Christmas and New Years but don’t worry, I’ve got plenty of info and videos to keep you occupied until Wrestle Kingdom 9 this Sunday.

Don’t know much about New Japan or Wrestle Kingdom 9? Then you should check out my guide to New Japan’s biggest show of the year right here

NXT, 12/25

 Corey Graves and Renee Young host a very special episode of NXT this week which meant a clip show, even though NXT is pretaped.

 But there’s still the Charlotte vs Sasha Banks rematch? I don’t get what’s happening right now.

 Renee says that NXT is one of the cornerstones of WWE Network since its launch and I can’t disagree.

 They talk about how Paige dominated Women’s division and won the Divas title on her first night on Raw – despite largely disappearing after her feud with AJ just sort of ended.

 Go on to talk about Arrival, the first NXT live show, the first show to stream live on the WWE Network. They should just show Cesaro vs Sami Zayn and not bother recap anything else. Ends with Adrian Neville winning the NXT Title against Bo Dallas in a ladder match.

 Now an original video package about Adrian Neville returning home to Newcastle, England, surprising his parents (and his mom breaking kayfabe, calling him Ben the whole time). Neville talking about how he wasn’t allowed to watch wrestling as a kid and for a time wanted to be a soccer player with Newcastle United but for the most part, had his heart set on being a wrestler.

 They air a short promo for the Royal Rumble and it centers around Cena and Lesnar. It talks about Cena losing at Summerslam and the rematch at Night of Champions.

  But what I found most interesting is that they left out a big piece of the build up - Seth Rollins. They played a quote from Cole about “could Cena have beaten Brock Lesnar? We’ll never know” but they don’t mention why - they don’t mention Seth Rollins. And that is the problem. It would have been easy to put Seth Rollins in there and mentioning him in the same breath as Cena and Lesnar, even in something as small as an ad for the Rumble, puts him in the same class as those main eventers. But they don’t. They focus on Lesnar and Cena, because they’re who everyone cares about, right? Right?

 A short Tyler Breeze promo (way too close up if you ask me) calling himself everyone’s hero (hmm...Chris Hero is my hero) and wishes all his wanna-Breeze merry Christmas and just because it’s a new year doesn’t mean he’s changing his ways. But he will be changing his ensemble by adding gold to it. My guess is he’s probably going to be Zayn’s first challenger who will get destroyed by Owens as well.

 Next they recap the NXT title match between Zayn and Neville at R Evolution. Start from where Zayn blocked the Red Arrow and locked in the Koji Clutch followed by the ref getting knocked down for a bit after Neville’s head collided with his. If anything, this recap just proves how over Sami Zayn is. He’s easily the most likeable, natural face since Daniel Bryan. He’s not huge, he’s not flashy, he’s humble and he has an uncanny ability to draw you into his performance which not many people can do in WWE. (Just noticed Riley saying Zayn is “All heart” like Johnny Gargano and Rich Brennan calls a half and half suplex a throw)

 It’s crazy how loud the pop was when Zayn won considering the NXT is basically half of what you see on TV. The whole hard cam side is used for production. I’d say there’s maybe 200-300 people in there and you’d think that was a Raw or PPV crowd.

 Next they recap the Lucha Dragons vs Vaudevillains at R Evolution. The Vaudevillains will get another shot at the NXT Tag Titles because the Dragons pinned Simon Gotch even though Aiden English was the legal man.

 But first, a WWE.com exclusive showing Curtis Axel in William Regal’s office. Not surprising the Axe Man is back down in NXT. Says it’s time for him to rejuvenate and recharge his career and since everyone in NXT is getting noticed, he wants to be noticed too. But Regal says he may be able find something for him but now isn’t the time and says if he wants to talk to Regal, he needs to make an appointment, basically telling him to get lost.

 Lucha Dragons video package but it’s basically just highlights of Kalisto doing insane flips. Followed by a recap of the NXT tag title match at R Evolution.

 Next week, The Ascension get a rematch against Hideo Itami and Finn Balor. Followed by Itami and Balor short promo about The Ascension hounding them. Hideo says the Ascension tried to destroy his debut in NXT and next week they will destroy the Ascension. Balor says in NXT the future is now and they’re going to see the Ascension straight out the door.

 Next a look back at NXT debuts in the last year. First is Baron Corbin squashing jobbers. Next is Bull Dempsey (reusing Riley and himself calling himself “the last of a dying breed” or as indy fans know, the phrase he stole from Eddie Kingston). Next is Hideo Itami and Finn Balor. Finally, they get to Kevin Owens and how he was beloved to start R Evolution and hated by the end.

 In a Kevin Owens promo he says in the span of 7 days he’s sent the former champion and current champion to the hospital on stretchers. If he did that to people he’s considered friends for years, imagine what he’ll do to people he doesn’t care about? But if they want a nice tagline, it’s he’ll fight anyone and everyone until he’s the only one left standing.

 Another video package on the former NXT stars who were called up to the main roster. Paige, Bo Dallas, Emma, Summer Rae, Adam Rose, Rusev and Lana.

 I like how they keep calling the Charlotte/Sasha Banks “an exclusive rematch.” Exclusive being an oxymoron in this case - where else would I see it if not on NXT on the Network?

 Rich Brennan talks to Bayley in the Performance Center and sits uncomfortably close to her on the couch. There’s like, inches between her and the arm rest and he wedges himself in there. Anyway, Bayley is watching the Triple H DVD “Thy Kingdom Come” and what do you know, they are at the part where he got a knee injury - just like she has! And how he trains to come back as The Game and takes over. And she’s going to come back better and stronger than ever.

 And the main event (well, the only event) Sasha Banks with Becky Lynch takes on Charlotte for the NXT Women’s title.

 Ric Flair is out first and is on the mic. He didn’t pass the torch - his daughter took the torch. That she and Sasha had one of the best matches in the history of WWE, not just NXT.

 Drake has to hold back Sasha as Charlotte gets into the ring. They start off trading blows after Sasha mushes Charlotte. But Charlotte quickly takes her down with a single leg then drops a knee on the inside of Sasha’s knee. Charlotte keeps working her knee, even dragging her to the corner and wrapping it around the ring post. She tries to do it twice and Sasha pulls her into the post and Charlotte goes down.

 Back in the ring, Sasha is pounding on Charlotte, throwing her into the corner. On commentary, Alex Riley references “the internet wrestling community on Reddit” (r/SquaredCircle) sending Triple H a fruit basket after R Evolution. (Which he didn’t eat because they sent it to WWE Headquarters in CT and Trips was in Florida. But MetsFan4Ever on Reddit said he wouldn’t have liked it cause he doesn’t like fruit and that they should’ve sent him a ham, because he apparently really likes ham.)

 Sasha jaw jacking with Ric Flair and gets a two count putting the knees to the midsection of Charlotte. Sasha straight jacket on Charlotte and drops her on her knees but Charlotte powers out of the submission.

 Charlotte picks up Sasha in a suplex and lifts her up and over and Sasha on her feet. Charlotte holds onto her and spins through then hits a neckbreaker. Long way to go for a neckbreaker.

 Sasha hits the Bank Statement (lungblower into a crossface) but Charlotte uses her insane flexibility to reach the ropes. She rolls to the outside and Sasha goes for a dive but Charlotte hits her with a forearm. Charlotte to the top but Sasha blocks her and follows her up and seems like the ending of the R Evolution match but Sasha hits the superplex but Charlotte kicks out.

 Charlotte sets up for the Figure Four but Sasha rolls her up. Charlotte kicks out but still has the legs and locked in the Figure Four. She bridges up for extra pressure and Sasha has to tap out. Becky checks on Sasha outside the ring and Flair walks by talking trash as he gets in the ring to raise Charlotte’s hand and teases dropping the knee on his jacket.

Lucha Underground

 No Lucha Underground last week or this week either. It will be back on January 7 with Aztec Warfare to crown the first Lucha Underground champion.

 On their YouTube page they are asking fans to vote on a Lucha Underground match of the year. There are 8 contenders, all of which you can watch on their YouTube channel. They are:

The 10-man match featuring Prince Puma, Fenix, Drago King Cuerno and more

Prince Puma vs Johnny Mundo vs Big Ryck, triple threat ladder match

Fenix and Sexy Star vs Pentagon Jr and Chavo Guerrero Jr

Prince Puma vs Big Ryck, Boyle Heights street fight

Pentagon Jr vs Fenix

Fenix vs Pentagon Jr vs Drago

Prince Puma and Johnny Mundo vs Cortez Castro and Cisco

Johnny Mundo vs Prince Puma from the first episode

  Ring of Honor announced that all of the 2013 live events have been added as Exclusive Videos to the website for Ringside Members and features

#RAWlternative 

https://www.facebook.com/events/845376668819111/

 Was initially called “#BoycottRaw” but that didn’t give off a very positive attitude. Beyond Wrestling and several other promotions are hosting a night of free independent wrestling matches on Monday, Jan. 19 at 8 p.m.

 Matches announced so far are The Young Bucks vs Super Smash Brothers from Smash Wrestling and Ricochet vs Josh Alexander from Alpha-1 Wrestling. Also going to feature matches from Absolute Intense Wrestling, Beyond Wrestling, AAW Pro, 2CW, C4, Hoodslam, Dreamwave, Inspire Pro, Interspecies Wrestling and St. Louis Anarchy Pro Wrestling.

 From the Facebook post:

"The purpose of #RAWlternative isn't to get fans to stop watching WWE. The purpose of #RAWlternative is to get the internet wrestling community to band together for one night to raise awareness for the mainstream alternatives. If you are unhappy with what you see on your TV every Monday night, please don't stop supporting professional wrestling. Tune in to #RAWlternative on 1/19/15 and thrust yourself head first into the indie scene. We are teaming with a dozen of the most prominent independent wrestling promotions in North America to broadcast some of the best matches of 2014 to a worldwide audience."

Pro Wrestling Syndacite, which runs out of Rahway, New Jersey, will be getting a weekly TV series on WLNY starting January 3.

Roderick Strong vs Drew Galloway from Evolve 35 is now on YouTube for free. It’s a grea match and not often you get to see full Evolve or DG USA stuff online because Gabe is crazy about getting stuff taken down.

IWA-MS asked fans to vote on the top matches in company history and added the top 18 most voted matches to their YouTube channel. Number one is Chris Hero vs CM Punk TLC match and also includes matches like Samoa Joe vs Necro Butcher, Chris Hero vs CM Punk 90+ min 2 out of 3 falls match, CM Punk vs Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio, Claudio Castagnoli vs Mike Quackenbush, Necro Butcher vs Low Ki and more.