Peter Kostka
From the NXT Arena at Full Sail University. Your commentators are Rich Brennan and Corey Graves. I don’t know if this switch to a two man commentary booth is temporary, but I oddly kind of miss Jason Albert’s joviality.
Sami Zayn is back! He wanted to enjoy his time wrestling in Abu Dhabi, but all he could think about was Kevin Owens. This isn’t the same Kevin Owens he has fought in the past so he has to formulate a new plan of action:
Step 1: Kick Owens’ ass.
Step 2: See step one.
A very short and to the point promo from Zayn that….I kind of wasn’t expecting. I’m still in the WWE mindset of making a simple point but taking twice the time to make it. Especially for what is basically a major feud like this. But Zayn got his message across perfectly and I cannot wait to see these guys hook it up again.
Rhyno squashes a jobber and makes it known that he wants the NXT championship. And he doesn’t care who he goes through to get it. I love this show already; dudes aren’t wasting time and are promising to beat the shit out of each other.
Dana Brooke debuts in two weeks. Again, she’s blonde and has muscles.
We recap the main event last week between Owens and Finn Balor and we get a post match promo from Owens as he sits on the floor in a darkened hallway, clutching his belt and repeating that all that matters is winning and that nobody will take this away from him.
Bayley vs. DARK EMMA~!
“I don’t give a fuuuuck” Emma is like the 15th great character NXT has produced. She’s just going through the motions of her dance and can barely be assed to do her awkward skin the cat entrance. If I remember right, the live crowd does not see the little pre-tape packages so I feel that if they had seen Emma mocking Bayley for being nice and that the cold hard reality of WWE ate Emma’s soul they may have reacted better to this match. It’s actually a brilliant piece of work by Emma as she is just toying with Bayley out there and wants her to drop the nice act and let the dark overtake her. The dead smile on her face as she dances for the crowd (because that’s all she has) is tremendous. She blandly does her dance while sitting on Bayley and gets rolled up for the pin. Bayley tries to tell her to keep her chin up because Bayley is the greatest. Maybe I’m not saying anything revolutionary here, but goddamn do I want Bayley to win the Women’s Title and put replica belts on her wavy tube men and skip along with AJ Lee forever and ever and ever…….
….Sorry, I blacked out for a second. Oh hey, I just ordered a “I’m a Hugger” shirt.
Uh….make that ten of them.
Devin interviews Becky Lynch who bemoans her lack of title shots. She came to NXT to be the champion and nobody is better than her. “Welcome to N-Bex-T”. Everybody wants to be the best and the champion; what a novel concept. I’ve wondered when Lynch was going to get some attention again.
The Dubstep Cowboys vs. The Lucha Dragons
Fortunately this is MUCH better and more controlled than their Rival match. Still, I really hope with his RAW showing this means Kalisto FINALLY gets his time to shine on RAW and become Rey II (the masked wonder that sells millions of masks to children). Sin Cara will just never be taken seriously by the masses again. Blake and Murphy are rounding nicely into douchebag heels that seem to think they are the coolest guys ever but in reality are total fucking dorks. Blake KOs Cara from behind and the brainbuster/frog splash combo (The Drop?) gets the win. I may or may not be headbanging to their theme right now.
Devin asks Zayn about his future plans, but Rhyno interrupts and says the line for Owens starts behind him. I have no problems with this potential matchup.
Solomon Crowe video package (which features him beating on CJ Parker; Vaya Con Dios, buddy).
Tye Dillinger vs. Jason Jordan
Oh yeah, these guys are feuding.
Sorry, I was cancelling nine of my shirt orders so all I caught was Jordan getting the win. Now….are we SURE he isn’t Shelton Benjamin under an assumed name? Have they done DNA testing? Launch him at Shawn Michaels and see what happens.
We recap the feud between the participants of this week’s main event.
Next Week: NXT at WrestleMania! I hope they show some of that San Jose show. I stayed up until 4 AM following that show on Twitter and desperately looking for YouTube videos. But seriously, having an NXT live special on the Friday before Mania in front of 5000 people seems to be a great way to kick off the weekend next year.
Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze (2 out of 3 falls)
Fall 1: These guys have like the best chemistry in the ring. Tyler is such a smug prick that you just want Hideo to kick his head off and Breeze sells everything like he is made of Slinkys. Hideo gets the upper hand and hits the flying kick (Brennan calls it the Shotgun Kick. I can dig that) for the pin.
Fall 2: Breeze looks out of it in the corner and the ref holds Hideo back, but it’s all a ruse as Breeze hits the Beauty Shot to tie it up.
Fall 3: Things slow WAY down as Tyler keeps Hideo grounded until Itami makes the FIGHTING SPIRIT comeback and lays him out with a clothesline for 2. They do a nice pinfall exchange and Itami goes for a roundhouse kick but spins right into the Super(model) kick for a close 2. Another FIGHTING SPIRIT comeback, but Breeze lands another Beauty Shot to get the pin. A fine TV main event and I am once again surprised Breeze won clean, but he is definitely due for better things and if there is any God he will be facing Daniel Bryan for the IC title sometime before SummerSlam.
Overall: Not much on the wrestling side to talk about, but there were some really good character moments this week as we got to see some different faces. That’s what is great about the one hour format of this show; you can’t fit everybody in on one show so you put the focus on certain people for a few weeks and then push those stories to the side to focus on somebody else and keep things fresh while not completely ignoring what you’ve already built. Adding another half hour to the show wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, but in no way should this program be regularly two hours or more.
Until next week…anybody want a women’s medium Bayley shirt? I must have been REALLY out of it.
