The Good, the Great and the Awesome from NXT 1/29/14

Welcome to the debut edition of the Good, the Great and the Awesome from NXT!

For those of you familiar with the Raw and Smackdown recaps that I write for the site, no explanation regarding the format of this article will be necessary.

For those who are not familiar with those recaps, the Good, the Great and Awesome celebrates the best of WWE programming, rather than focusing too heavily on the negatives. It features the best segments from any given episode put into categories of good, great and awesome with an explanation as to why it worked as well as it did.

This week's NXT broadcast featured the contract signing between heavyweight champion Bo Dallas and number one contender Adrian Neville, whom he will defend against on the live episode of NXT on the WWE Network this coming February 27.

Would Dallas man up and sign or would he try to wiggle out of the title match and avoid the challenge of the Man That Gravity Forgot?

Tyler Breeze, Colin Cassady, The Ascension and special guest star The Miz were all in action on this week's show. Who would make the greatest impact as the developmental brand inches closer and closer to its biggest show ever?

Find out now as we take a look back at the best of the January 29 episode of NXT.

The Good

Credit: WWE.com

The Ascension dominates

NXT Tag Team champions Viktor and Konnor continued to roll over the competition as they made short work of Mike Quiary and John Ikarino, two enhancement workers who stood absolutely no chance of even putting a dent in the dominance The Ascension has established since winning the titles in October.

What was interesting about this week's squash was that the fans in Full Sail University were solidly behind the champions, reminiscent of the way audiences accepted Demolition back in 1988, leading to the duo turning babyface and becoming the most popular team in WWE.

Scripted promos, elaborate entrances and on-the-fly booking may be the direction the industry is moving today but fans will always relate to two big guys who go to the ring and beat their opponents up and do so in dominant fashion.

If the company can resist giving Konnor and Viktor a complicated backstory and just allow them to do what they did this week, then WWE could have a very over tag team on their roster in the very near future.

"Stay tuned"

Corey Graves made his return to NXT television this week and wasted no time addressing former partner Adrian Neville. He said he would never forgive the flying Englishman and finished by telling fans to "stay tuned." He then turned his attention to Camacho, who he defeated in short order by using the Lucky 13 submission hold.

Graves was treated as a star tonight and commentators William Regal, Tom Phillips and Alex Riley did a phenomenal job of putting him over as such.

"I know what it feels like to have spite and vengeance in my heart and I see that in Corey Graves," was a money line from Regal and could very well foreshadow the direction Graves' character takes in the coming weeks and months.

The Miz vs. CJ Parker

There is a lot said about The Miz, mostly critical, but one thing that is not is just how much he has improved as an in-ring worker since his WWE title reign ended nearly three years ago.

His improvement was never more evident than on this week's show, when he carried CJ Parker to a very entertaining match.

Parker has been the bane of the NXT fans' existence. Despite being pushed as the '60s hippy babyface, he earned the scorn and jeers of the audience over the last six months and only recently began discussing his displeasure with the NXT faithful for their dislike of him.

He was good enough in this week's match, but Miz was spectacular and appeared more energized than he has in many of his more recent, insignificant WWE TV matches. He dictated the action and looked every bit the star that he is.

Miz picked up the win with the figure-four leglock and, to Parker's credit, he did a great job of putting over the pain of the hold while also showing good resilience before finally tapping out.

This was a good match that was probably the best on this week's angle-heavy episode.

The only thing holding it back from the "great" and "awesome" sections of this week's article was the lack of any real story or long-term effect on NXT as a brand.

The Great

Credit: WWE.com

Two down, one to go

After a months-long feud with the Beautiful Fierce Females, BFFs for short, Bayley had the opportunity to defeat a second Diva in the trio when she went one-on-one with Sasha Banks.

She had previously defeated BFF leader Summer Rae.

The match was on the shorter side, as were most of this week's bouts, but it accomplished everything it was meant to.

Natalya accompanied Bayley to the ring and her brawl with Summer Rae and Charlotte, the second-generation daughter of two-time Hall of Famer Ric Flair, provided a hot end to the bout and allowed Bayley to catch Banks with the Hugplex (belly-to-belly suplex) for the pinfall victory.

The victory means that Bayley has only one more Diva to overcome and that is Charlotte, who betrayed Bayley months ago and has consistently avoided the hug-hungry competitor's retribution. Perhaps that match will finally take place on the live February 27 episode of NXT, adding a greater feel of importance to a contest that deserves it given the story behind it.

Sylvester Lefort scouts new talent

Last fall, Sylvester Lefort had both Scott Dawson and Alexander Rusev under his lead and looked to have a team he could conceivably lead into tag title contention.

Then Dawson suffered an injury, Rusev split from Lefort and aligned himself with Lana before appearing in this past Sunday's Royal Rumble match.

Now, with no Superstars to represent, he held auditions backstage.

Cal Bishop was up first but Lefort was disgusted by his cauliflower ears and denied him. Next was Sawyer Ford, who was more creepy than impressive.

The final Superstar was Mason Ryan, who has a long history with Lefort. He agreed to work with his rival, but only if Lefort can beat him next week.

If Zeb Colter has taught us anything, it is that managers still have a place on WWE programming, and Lefort can easily have an impact in the future. He has a unique look and has demonstrated a comedic value that would make him a great mouthpiece for some of the lower-tier Superstars on today's roster.

The potential partnership with Ryan is interesting, but at this point, it may be time for the company to part ways with the former Nexus member, who has never shown great improvement in any of his years with WWE.

The Awesome

Credit: WWE.com

Big Cass

The 6'10'' Colin Cassady has become one of NXT's breakout stars over the last month, thanks to his development into an entertainer.

A recent rivalry with "the Artiste" Aiden English has given Big Cass something to do while awaiting the return of tag partner Enzo Amore, who may be the most entertaining star in all of NXT.

This week, Cassady took on the white hot Tyler Breeze, who has won the audience over with his devotion to his character. The match itself was largely just alright, but the real story development happened near its conclusion, when English appeared on the video screen and entered the trainer's room where Amore was waiting.

The distraction allowed Breeze to score the win, but Big Cass was more concerned for the safety for his tag team partner. He rushed to the back, where he found Enzo unharmed.

It was then that Cassady's performance became awesome.

While he retained some of catchphrase and comedy lines, the big man showed tremendous intensity, which Amore even applauded.

At one point, it felt as though the Cassady-English program existed only to give both men something to do. Now, after this week's great performance by Cassady, there is more heat surrounding the feud and a bit of anticipation surrounding their next match.

A great bit of booking for Big Cass that immediately improved the program.

NXT Championship Contract Signing

The Adrian Neville-Bo Dallas rivalry over the NXT title may be missing the hype that Dallas' rivalry with Sami Zayn had behind it, but this week did a lot to make the upcoming title bout on February 27 meaningful.

Neville did not hesitate to sign the contract for the match, but Dallas failed to appear when his music played the first time. When it exploded over the PA system the second time, he entered the ring and came face-to-face with the number one contender.

Dallas dropped the goofy heel persona for a moment and for the first time in a very long time, looked angered and irritated. He was completely serious as he told Neville how tired he was of becoming the Englishman, and his facial expressions backed up his words.

Dallas proceeded to defeat Danny Burch in short order before signing his name to the contract and delivering a cheap shot to Neville. Just as it looked like Dallas may celebrate to close out the show, Neville recovered and dove through the ropes and onto the champion.

The two brawled to end the show.

What a way to end this week's show. The entire closing segment featured tremendous old school booking that set up what should be a great title match to headline NXT's live broadcast on the WWE Network on February 27.

Dallas showed a brand new side of himself and really played that serious role well. The facial expressions were as good as it gets and really showcased the seriousness of his words and his overall frustration with Neville.

The brawl leaves fans wanting more and when building to such a huge match, that is the sign of effective booking.