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[2014-02-27-WWE-NXT Arrival] Cesaro vs Sami Zayn


Loss

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I know people are singing its praises, but its a good match, not a great match. It's exciting and all, but compare it to Cesaro's matches with Cena and Orton a few weeks before and you can tell which matches are better paced and mean more. The stretch run here was more a collection of spots than moves that worked into the flow of a match, done more for near falls than to tell a story, and I was a bit sad that after four matches between these two and with Cesaro having worked such great main event matches over the weeks prior that they couldn't rein things in a bit.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

This was an excellent match worked a lot more differently than the Cesaro/Cena. Here Cesaro was a higher ranked power house bully meanwhile in the Cena match he was the lesser ranked power house trying to pull out the upset over the much higherly ranked seasoned veteran. Cesaro's particularly great in both rolls, however here he just excelled in his roll.

 

Zayn isn't particularly great at selling and he blows off all of Cesaro's early legwork which in the long run doesn't really mean much, but he's excellent at playing the underdog and he's also willing to take some crazy bumps and letting Cesaro lay in his brutal European uppercuts and double stomps.

 

Like I said before, Cesaro's particularly great in this as he does a fantastic job playing the higher ranked power house bully beating up Zayn with all kinds of stiff European uppercuts, double stomping on Zayn and pulling out a ton of nasty slams and throws. Plus he's great at catching all of Zayn's high flying offense and most of the countering them with vicious slams and throws such catching a Zayn Arabian press to the floor and countering it into a brutal slam on the ramp.

 

The finishing stretch was particularly hot and got the crowd going wild since it had a bunch of neat contrived spots leading to some close nearfalls. I can understand some complaining that the early legwork was blown off here, but it really doesn't drag down the quality of the finishing stretch that much as they really go all out and pull out a ton of amazing spots they usually don't pull out.

 

Say what you will, but this was a fantastic match and although some may say it wasn't up there with the Cena or Orton matches, but that's still not a knock on this and this is still something I highly recommend since it's a totally different structured match and totally fun to watch.

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  • 9 months later...

Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT Arrival 2/14

NXT is where pro wrestling lives, baby! Where has this Cesaro been on the main roster? No, it is not completely booking's fault. I am taking that bully mentality and those violent heel tendencies. Cesaro is damn great wrestler, make no mistake about it, but he has the same problem that many midcard heels on the main roster have. They do NOT do anything heelish in the context of the match. This is why "This is awesome" is so prevalent because there can't be good without evil and no one is evil in the ring. On this night, Cesaro was a total, unmitigated, unadulterated prick. Zayn is the consummate babyface. He is the lovable underdog character that you believe can win, but know it is not going to be easy. You know he is going to leave it all in that ring and you will never be disappointed by Zayn win, lose or draw.

Watch the two out of three falls match first, before you watch this match. Ok, you watched it now, good. Unlike most modern WWE series of matches, this series actually builds layers on top of other matches. The only WWE series that comes close recently is Cena/Lesnar. The beginning of this match was probably my favorite beginning to any match of 2014. It was just so perfect. Zayn has proven from the previous matches that his best chance to elude Cesaro with his quickness, but now being familiar with Cesaro he is combining his natural elusiveness with actual scouting experience. Cesaro shows him up early with his power and gives him a playful slap to the back of the head that gets a rise out of everyone. Cesaro goes for the Giant Swing, but Zayn eludes it with a armdrag to the outside. Zayn goes flying out onto Cesaro and it is fastbreak offense that gets the crowd rocking. Cesaro nips in the bud by catching Zayn off the top and into a backbreaker. Cesaro is just in total bully prick mode throwing Zayn around on the outside and he looks to use the post, but Zayn yanks Cesaro into the post with his feet. Zayn looks to repeat his awesome dive through the turnbuckles, EUROPEAN UPPERCUT! HOLY SHIT! Cesaro had it scouted. Now, we get Cesaro going back to the post and wrapping around the post. Cesaro working the knee was incredible and some of his best work in the WWE. Zayn is killing it selling, but also mixing in hope spots. I loved the whiff on the enziguiri triggering the single leg crab. I love sequences like that. His next spot was for Zayn was his split legged moonsault caught by Cesaro and slams him into the ramp. Damn! That was actually credible countout finish tease and you really feel Zayn's grit and determination to return to the ring.

Zayn's first big score is the Exploder into the turnbuckles. I agreed that Zayn needed to get hit some offense at this point in the match, but I thought it was a bit too easy for Zayn and felt more like it was his turn than him earning it. Cesaro goes back to the knee to cut off Zayn’s string of offense and applying a leg wrench using his neck as a fulcrum. Then you move to another interesting aspect of the characters. Cesaro starts to get a little cocky and Zayn takes advantage with roll up out of the Giant Swing. I love how Zayn fights during the Swing; it really makes for an awesome visual and puts over Zayn’s character. During a sloppy Cesaro cover Zayn slides Cesaro over for a two count. Cesaro almost more pissed at himself for letting that happened, crushes Zayn’s head with a double spot that had me popping like crazy. Zayn has another burst of offense using a hurricanarana off the top to set up his Yakuza Kick (I could not understand what Zayn’s name for it is.). Zayn won the first fall of the last match with that move. 1-2-NO! OH shit, you just gave Cesaro your best shot and that has to take a lot of wind out of your sails. Cesaro starts to obliterate with European Uppercuts and Zayn is just rocked, but won’t stay down. Zayn has one last burst of burst and the fists start flying. He throws a wicked German. Can he pull it off? I love Zayn’s selling with him holding his mouth, fighting through the pain and showing great fire looking for that Yakuza Kick, but Cesaro demolishes him with a big boot. Cesaro throw him up and European Uppercut only get one, but Cesaro will not be deterred and hits a roaring European Uppercut and Neutralizer for the win!


Zayn and Cesaro just crushed it out there. If there is any NXT match as good as this, then hot damn I am going to be in for one helluva run. Cesaro showed some of his best character work here as an arrogant bully. Zayn’s story of craving that respect and proving himself by defeating the main event bully made for a great hook. He fought to the very end, but eventually succumbed to Cesaro. Then Cesaro comes back to the ring and gives him that respect in the form of a hug. This is a perfect representation of how to get someone over by losing. Everyone came out looking better from this masterpiece. ****1/2

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  • 4 weeks later...

I thought that they put Zayn over as the never-say-die face really well. The counter spots based off the 2 out of 3 falls were really well done. Some of the later nearfalls were a bit much though. The one count was just bad. Overall a very good match, but too many nearfalls and a really badly placed one count kill any chance of it being great.

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  • 11 months later...

I loved these two's singles matches in ROH and PWG. They were some amazing spotfests, and I'm sure stand the test of time. But with years removed from those indy classics, and now under WWE guidance, they finally put on the absolutely best match they could to date here. And you know what really makes me giddy? I believe these two have a flawless masterpiece in them once Zayn debuts on the big stage. BTW, I'm sticking to my prediction that I've had for months: he debuts on the April 7, 2014 Raw in New Orleans.

These two built off of their previous NXT matches AND their indy matches. When Zayn went for his through-the-ropes tornado DDT, Cesaro knew it was coming and delivered a perfectly timed European uppercut to stop his momentum. Cesaro also worked on Zayn's left leg in devastating fashion. Of course, Zayn was fucking selling that leg in this match, delivering his hope spots, and making the crowd believe he could pull off the upset. Remember, Cesaro had just beaten WWE Champion Randy Orton two weeks before this, pulling off his own upset. Imagine if Zayn had then pulled off that upset here to kinda get that rub.

Highlights of this instant classic include Cesaro doing a beautiful Stretch Muffler to continue damaging Zayn's left knee, and the two of them having their signature head scissors into a full rotation sunset powerbomb spot. Cesaro won this, but in the process Zayn was truly elevated, earning his rival's respect in the process. Tremendous match that will get better and better as time goes by. ****1/2

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  • GSR changed the title to [2014-02-27-WWE-NXT Arrival] Cesaro vs Sami Zayn

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