I Need a Wrestle Buddy

Living down in Florida, especially in the Tampa area, I am near an abundance of wrestling. Just last week, there was Monday Night Raw in Tampa, an NXT show in Largo on Friday, a crummy independent show at a church in Largo on Saturday, with a pretty stacked independent card on Saturday and Sunday nights in Tampa. Also, there is a women's show this Friday in Tampa. That's a lot of wrestling, and I would have been interested in going to all of it.

Unfortunately, I was only able to make it to the NXT show, because my wife really likes going to those. She's learned to like wrestling, but she's not a total nerd like me. So when she has a friend in town, like she did this past weekend, she actually wants to hang out with them instead of going to independent wrestling shows.

This is why I need a wrestling buddy. It's just not that much fun to experience a wrestling event by yourself. You need someone to share those special moments with. Now, I still love my wife, so this would be a strictly platonic pro wrestling relationship, but it would really help improve things for me, as I wouldn't have to constantly get turned down when I ask my wife to go to five wrestling events in a week.

I mean, they have Tinder and Grindr, couldn't they come up with an app for me to meet cool wrestling fans? I don't feel like that's too much to ask.

Long story short, I'm too socially awkward to make new friends who like pro wrestling, so I need one of my old friends to move down here and watch wrestling with me. Until then, I guess I'll just dress up my dog in a trenchcoat and sunglasses. She likes the independents a lot more anyway, since they lack any sort of fireworks.

Sami Zayn Is The Perfect Professional Wrestler

I went to NXT in Largo at The Minnreg Hall this past weekend, and this was probably the strongest NXT house show that I have seen. They put a lot of top level talent out there like American Alpha, The Vaudevillians, and Bayley, while complementing it with some hilarious talent like Alex Riley, Angelo Dawkins, and Patrick from Tough Enough. But most importantly, it included Sami Zayn, and his match against Manny Andrade, more than any other, showed why Zayn is the perfect professional wrestler.

Now I guess that before I start talking about Zayn, I should probably let you know who Manny Andrade is. Right now, he's a nobody, because I don't think he's been on television before, but he is, like many, a guy who tore it up in smaller organizations (as La Sombra) before moving on to developmental, and seeing him go against Zayn made me feel very good about his future. That being said, I saw him once earlier and thought very little of him besides him laying in the ropes once and looking like a "cool guy."

But Sami Zayn vs. Manny Andrade showed me that Sami Zayn is the best professional wrestler for so many reasons. When I saw Manny Andrade come out, I started to hypothesize who would dominate him in the upcoming match. I was guessing Baron Corbin or maybe even Apollo Crews, but when Sami's music hit, the entire crowd erupted in cheers. There is no question that Sami Zayn is the most beloved NXT Superstar out there, and the whole crowd immediately perks up with happiness and sings along with his song making it an incredibly positive place to be. My wife isn't a huge wrestling fan, and had really only seen parts of his matches on NXT, but just watching his entrance and his interaction with fans made her remark, "He seems nice. I'd like to hang out and have a beer with him." And here's the thing: Obviously I would want to go, but if my wife said that she was going out for drinks with Sami Zayn without me, I'd be totally fine with it. I mean, I'd be jealous, but I wouldn't worry about any funny stuff going on.

So I got prepared for a squash match where Sami Zayn would dominate this little known wrestler. It was not that. With other top wrestlers like Finn Balor or Apollo Crews, you always kind of know that they will prevail, but with Zayn, it's different. He doesn't always win, so there is always that small sense of doubt that he might not pull it out. It adds so much drama and excitement to his matches that other top stars simply can't match. He's in that sweet spot where you'll believe he can beat anybody, while simultaneously believing he could lose to anybody.

And this match was incredible. Had I gone to four hours worth of NXT tapings, this could have easily stolen the show, and I would have felt lucky to have seen it. The fact that I saw this at an NXT house show at a place that is basically the size of an elementary school gym made it all that more amazing. There were 4-5 times where I could have seen the match ending, only to have it continue with just a split second before the three count. I mean, sure Sami Zayn was 99.9% going to win, but it was just a house show, so maybe he could take a loss? With other top guys, you don't get that feeling; you know they'll win. Sami Zayn is different, and it makes it so much better.

And yes, Sami Zayn did end up hitting the Helluva Kick for the win. But I was on the edge of my seat (which I guess would be on my toes, since I was standing) the entire match. That is why Sami Zayn is the perfect professional wrestler.

Date Night at NXT Largo

I've got a good thing going with my wife where I can count going to NXT shows as date nights. She still isn't a big wrestling fan, but her interest is growing. Also, I think she has street cred with the Internet Wrestling Community as she is a bigger fan of NXT than the main roster. We recently moved, and maybe the best thing about the new place is we are eight minutes from the Minnreg Hall which hosts NXT house shows about once a month.

First off, Minnreg Hall is pretty awesome. They have a full blown concession stand with a kitchen to cook you up something fresh. Amazingly, they not only sell beer, but they are whipping up mixed drinks as well. Since I am the oldest 30 year-old around, I was not prepared for drinking, so I got two waters and unlimited popcorn for the hefty price of $3. Yeah, it's cheap as shit. Also, tickets are $10, and it's so small that the furthest back you can be is row 8. It's really fantastic.

As for the actual wrestling show, these were a few of the highlights.

First off, Elias Samson came out and has a gimmick of "arrogant acoustic guitar guy." I'm super into that idea, because anyone who went to college is super familiar with this guy, and he is THE WORST. I think every single person has had their game thwarted by some asshole who just wants to jam out and play girl's favorite songs. Congratulations dude, you know Wonderwall, now get the fuck outta here; I'm trying to get laid. Anyway, Samson used his acoustic guitar to talk shit about Largo, and then call out his opponent. I was convinced that this match was to get Samson over, but unfortunately, that opponent he called out was Uhaa Nation who is stupidly talented and can do things like this:

Since it was the first match of the night, they wrestled a pretty safe match, but the athleticism was easy to see, and even my wife added Uhaa Nation to her list of favorite wrestlers.

In the next match, Cassie and Jessie took on Gionna and Lina. The first three girls seem to be fairly similar to what you would expect Divas to be. Lina, on the other hand, is huge. Like, she is almost as big as her cousin, Dwayne. Yes, I am referring to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Anyway, she just kind of dropped people and was bigger than them, so I didn't see much in the way of wrestling, but I think worst case is that she's a way more legit looking version of Tamina.

Mike Rallis vs. Angelo Dawkins was the most nothing match possible.

Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder took on Jason Jordan and Chad Gable. Despite not having great size, I think Gable has the most potential in the group. He has a natural charisma, and even though nobody is really showcasing their skills, Gable was very smooth in the ring, and I will always root for the guys with amateur wrestling backgrounds.

The other thing that stood out to me during this match was some 8-year-old kid chanting chickenhead at someone in this match. I'm not even sure who it was directed at, but he called all of them chickenheads. I doubt the kid knows the most common meaning of that, but I laughed pretty hard that he yelled it.

Bull Dempsey beat Tyler Breeze. I just feel like that should be pointed out, but the most important thing is they are entertaining crowds. They're doing comedy wrestling, which is not an area WWE usually does well in, but they did a good job of balancing comedy with it still making sense as a wrestling match.

Solomon Crowe took on Baron Corbin in a matchup of guys that are spinning their wheels. Crowe has more crowd support, but Corbin definitely has the greater potential of success and has gotten the far bigger push thus far. Overall, the match was fine, but they did not make a believer out of my wife.

Preston Cunningham Jr. The First came out dressed like a rich idiot and said his Dad financed the show. I thought he was a bad guy, but then former NFL safety, Sabby Piscitelli came out, and it turned out that Sabby was the bad guy, because he insulted Largo, and that is the ultimate offense for a wrestler. It was honestly very revealing in how hard it is to portray an unknown character to an audience. It takes a lot of work, and these guys have a long ways to go, but just getting in reps, seeing what works and what doesn't is important in and out of the ring.

Sasha took on Carmella, and it is fairly clear that these two are on different levels right now. Sasha has her wrestling down, as she's just compelling to watch in everything that she does. Carmella is just trying to hang in there. Sasha Banks is amazing, and I would watch her wrestle anybody right now and be fully entertained.

They ended with a Triple Threat Tag match with Blake & Murphy, Enzo and Big Cass, and The Vaudevillains squaring off. It was a good match to end on as it was just a fun match. The bad guys won, but then the good guys hit them with all of their finishers after the match to send the crowd home happy.

Overall, NXT is about the best way to spend $10 for a night of entertainment. The card went about 2.5 hours, and had I gotten there earlier, I could have gotten pictures and autographs from Mojo Rawley, Dana Brooke, and Tyler Breeze. I'm still holding out for personal hero, Norman Smiley, but that'll have to wait for another day.

Oh, and NXT is so awesome that you can use it as a date night and have your significant other entertained even if they couldn't give two shits about pro wrestling. That's quality right there.