Peter Kostka
Tracking The Callups
Neville: A couple of really good matches with Bad News Barrett this week. It’s actually amazing how well they are booking him right now; he’s not tearing through everyone, but he’s holding his own and showing off his amazing skills while the announcers actually put him over. The crowd is getting behind him more and more and if the IC belt wasn’t some cursed HP draining item, I’d love to see him fight for it.
Sasha Ba..
I’m sorry? That’s just Naomi doing a shitty and embarrassing ripoff? Fuck whoever came up with that.
From the NXT Arena at Full Sail University. Your commentators are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton. They really should have just kept the two man booth going.
We recap the events of last week where Kevin Owens once again whooped Alex Riley before Sami Zayn finally got him some of Owens and about a dozen other people.
Owens comes to the ring to open the show. He wants to finally settle this issue with Zayn and calls him out, but GM Regal is out instead. Owens points out that he isn’t Zayn and is such a total jerk to Regal that I am so sad that we will never get an Owens/Regal match. They just fit so well together. Eventually Zayn makes his way out and Regal lays down the law: on May 20th, LIVE on WWE Network it will be Zayn vs. Owens at the next Takeover special. Zayn wants a title match, but Owens refuses so, like Owens did to him in their first match, Zayn goads Owens into making it a title match by pressing the exact buttons he needs to piss Kevin off. He points out that it seems all of Owens’ successes in wrestling have involved himself in some way and that he is stuck in Sami’s shadow. Just a brilliant bit of creative here. Three weeks can’t go by faster.
Backstage, Enzo, BIG CASS and Carmella are still arguing and Carmella shoos them off. This of course allows the Dubstep Cowboys to try and keep the woo train going, but Carmella doesn’t like their insults of her boys and shoos them off too. Alexa Bliss questions Carmella’s class and gets piefaced. The Cowboys ask her if she is OK. Man, an Alexa Bliss heel turn would be WEIRD but honestly, I could see it work. The Carmella turn is a bit too obvious.
Sami signs the contract for the title match in Regal’s office and…oh god, Alex Riley wants another beating. He gets snippy with Zayn so Zayn challenges him to a match. I think that Riley is homeless and living in the Performance Center so he keeps trying to get matches with the champ so that they think him being there before everyone else and wearing the same clothes everyday means he’s REALLY focused on training.
Enzo and BIG CASS (w/Carmella) vs. The Dubstep Cowboys (non-title)
As an aside, Enzo and Cass being followed by Cottonelle toilet paper is like the greatest thing to happen on Twitter in years. Wesley Blake is now sporting a bitching Jericho-style topknot. He’s finding his inner douche.
Like usual, Enzo takes a beating to start the match until he makes the hot tag and Cass runs wild. Enzo tries a cross body from the top but the Cowboys avoid it. Poor Enzo. Murphy distracts himself with Carmella which allows Cass to boot him down and the Rocket Launcher gets the pin. I’m a bit concerned at how these teams will fare in a longer match at Takeover. Especially Enzo and Cass. The NXT crowd is usually pretty forgiving with guys they like, but they are going to have to show a bit more than they’ve been showing lately.
In one of the best segments of the night, they actually give Becky Lynch a minute to explain why she wants to be the champion. She talks about starting training at 15, going all over the world and how being NXT Women’s Champion means she is at the top of the mountain. Simple, easy to understand shit that makes people want to root for her. This segment is why I love NXT: they give us actual CHARACTERS and give those characters actual MOTIVATIONS. If this was the main roster, this match would have been Sasha making fun of Becky for having a funny accent and them having five matches in a row where nobody cares. Sasha has already built her own following and with stuff like this Becky will have her fans. I assume this match is at Takeover and it should be a HELL of a match.
Devin wants Bayley’s thoughts on her match tonight, but *GASP* Bayley’s t-shirt and headbands are missing! LOCK FULL SAIL DOWN! NOBODY LEAVES UNTIL BAYLEY FINDS HER STUFF! Emma appears after Bayley leaves and SHE is the dirty thief. *Insert WalMart joke here*
Baron Corbin video package. He speaks! It’s definitely a heel promo as he wants to destroy dreams and break rules.
Bayley vs. Dana Brooke
Brooke looks a bit more comfortable in the ring than her first match. Having two months to improve between taping schedules will do that for you. Her offense is still the typical shitty Diva offense, however. She at least isn’t rubbing herself after every move. Bayley makes the comeback and goes up, but her music begins to play and Emma comes out for a distraction and Brooke takes advantage to hit her slam for the pin. Ugh. I guess it’s better done than the usual WWE distraction finish since Bayley still tried to finish the match but let Emma get to her too much and Brooke did something to win instead of the typical “babyface paralysis leads to a rollup” finish that is like 80% of RAW match endings nowadays. Still, goddamnit I didn’t want Dana Brooke’s first WWE win to come against Bayley.
GM Regal announces a triple threat #1 contender’s match at Takeover between Hideo Itami, Finn Balor and Tyler Breeze. That makes three potentially awesome matches announced or heavily teased for this thing.
Hideo Itami vs. Adam Rose
Even the NXT fans aren’t into Rose anymore. They sing along to his theme but the SECOND it ends they break into a “Hi-de-o” chant. That’s awesome. Rose fools around to start so Hideo just beats the crap out of him. Rose gets token jobber offense but it’s just for Hideo to make the FIGHTING SPIRIT COMEBACK and the Shotgun Kick gets the pin. I assume the GTS makes it’s NXT Arena debut at Takeover. It does kind of seem Hideo is the third wheel in that match though. I just don’t think they really know what to do with his character.
Bayley roams the backstage looking for Emma. It looks like the friendship is over and Emma’s gonna get the most adorable ass kicking in WWE history.
Becky Lynch vs. Sarah Dawson
Graves acknowledges Lynch’s smarts in getting the pin last week, so Becky must be a face again. They have a nice little match that showcases Lynch and she gets the submission with an armbar.
Rhyno heard Baron Corbin’s words and also likes hurting people. That…is an intriguing matchup and something to allow Corbin to show more than “dude whose matches the crowd timekeeps for him.”
Alex Riley vs. Sami Zayn
Kevin Owens joins commentary for this match and Brennan and Graves are very respectful to him, admonishing Byron when he asks questions that might cause a body to fly over the table. Owens is just happy to be there and wants them to RAGE with him during Riley’s entrance. Owens understands why Zayn gets attention but he’s had enough of Riley and when he’s asked by Byron if he gained respect for Riley after their matches, completely ignores the question. Owens wonders why nobody talks about how as NXT champion he provides a better life for his family and all they can ask him is why he hurt Sami. Saxton still won’t get the hint and keeps poking the bear, so when Sami hits a flying dive onto Riley (the match itself is nothing special to write about), Owens leaves the booth and attacks Sami for the DQ before finally getting to powerbomb Riley into the apron. SEE WHAT YOU DID, BYRON? Owens poses with the belt over Sami to close the show.
OVERALL: Now that we have an official live show to look forward to, they are firing on all cylinders with matchups that are intriguing in their own ways and should lead to yet another home run of a show.
Until next week…
