Peter Kostka
From the NXT Arena at Full Sail University. Your commentators are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.
Carmella vs. Nia Jax
Pretty much another Nia Jax squash, but Carmella does get a bit more offense in than her other victims until she tries a headscissors and is spun around into a spinebuster and Nia drops the leg to get the pin.
Alexa Bliss cuts a promo about her title match while Blake and Murphy stand behind her to emphasize her points with hilarious gestures. She’s sick of hearing about the Iron Man match and how everyone loves Bayley. Alexa is small but fierce and takes what she wants. A referee RUDELY interrupts her to tell Blake and Murphy they have been barred from ringside by order of GM Regal. Eh, Bayley would have beat the shit out of them too anyway. Alexa says she’s going to destroy all of Bayley’s “innocent dreams” which is one of those overly scripted lines that makes me cringe.
The Ascension vs. NXT’s Greatest Tag Team
No matter how much they suck on the main roster, the NXT Arena crowd will always give a mega pop to the Ascension, I guess. And honestly they show more personality and fire in this match than I have ever seen from them. Jordan and Gable muscle Konnor around to start and isolate him in their corner, taking turns giving shoulderblocks and hitting a double northern lights suplex for 2. Konnor throws Gable into his corner and Yah-stomps him down to commence the Gable beating and seriously where the hell has this version of the Ascension been hiding? Gable fights them off and judo throws Viktor to get to Jordan for the tag. Jordan runs wild and Gable wipes Konnor out with a senton off the apron before the Grand Amplitude (though I don’t know if that’s the name of the move anymore) gets the pin. A fun little tag match to keep the JJ/Gable train rolling towards possibly a tag title match in London. The announcers sell shock that they were able to beat the Ascension, but seriously, all they did for a year was squash jobber teams and lose to any real competition they ever faced. Why be shocked?
We recap the buildup to the Bliss/Bayley title match tonight. Bayley then cuts a promo talking about how she’s learning it is just as hard to stay champion as to become champion. She thinks Alexa is progressing, but she isn’t in Bayley’s league and is going to learn that lesson tonight. Hearing Bayley cut assertive, confident babyface promos is still something I’m getting used to, but it’s awesome to hear.
Emma vs. Mary Kate
Mary Kate is Rosie Lottalove of TNA….fame? Mary gets the first shots in, but that just pisses Emma the hell off and she systematically tears her apart. This is a fantastic exhibition of Evil Emma; the addition of a curbstomp before the Emma Lock is a vicious stroke of genius. She keeps the hold on after the bell for good measure.
We recap the NXT title match two weeks ago and the resultant brawl between Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin last week. Corbin, standing in the darkened hallway of an insane asylum (or a hallway at Full Sail, your choice) challenges Crews to a match in London.
Dash and Dawson vs. Corey Hollis and John Skylar (non-title)
It is announced that the Vaudevillains will get their tag title rematch next week. Hollis basically spends the entire match in the ring getting his ass kicked. Dawson dragon screws him down and they just pounce on the knee. It quite frankly goes on for a touch too long and the crowd begins to get restless. Hollis makes the comeback as Dash and Dawson get too cocky in their destruction and makes the hot tag to Skylar. Skylar is full of fire as he charges into the ring……right into a Shatter Machine and gets pinned. That’s a five star jobber match ending right there.
Tom Phillips asks Asuka about her masks, but Dana Brooke interrupts. Dana says Asuka earned her respect at Takeover, but she wants a rematch next week. Asuka removes her mask and accepts before walking off. Dana dismisses Tom with a head pat as Emma comes into frame and they cackle about the evil plans they have for Asuka next week.
The NXT Title match between Samoa Joe and Finn Balor at Takeover: London is made official with the contract signing next week. Joe cuts a pretaped promo outdoors somewhere as he was told by GM Regal not to be at the NXT Arena tonight. Joe was told it was because Regal didn’t want Finn to do something that would jeopardize the title match, but Joe knows it was for Finn’s protection. He’ll see Finn in seven days.
Bayley (C) vs. Alexa Bliss (NXT Women’s Championship match)
Bliss has a new theme which seems to be a dubstep remix of her face theme. It’s…kinda awesome. Bayley is the aggressor to start as she takes the fight right to Alexa but Bliss lays her out with a forearm. Bayley answers with a clothesline and drops a knee for 2. Alexa takes a powder and rams Bayley into the apron, snapping her arm on the rope to take control as we take a break.
The crowd is randomly going “BOO/YAY” as Alexa works the arm and I’m already really sick of the “AYYYYY WE WANT SOME BAYYYYLEEEYY” chant. I hate when this crowd gets too far up its own ass like that. Just pay attention to the damn match. Bayley makes the comeback with a judo throw (seriously, which PC coach is on a judo kick right now?) but Alexa slaps her down and hits the Bliss Flip for 2. She goes up, but Bayley fights her off and pulls her down with a powerslam. She elbows Bliss in the corner but Bliss avoids a charge and rolls her up for 2, frustrating the challenger. Alexa puts the badmouth on her so Bayley just slaps the taste out of her mouth and hits the Bayley to Belly for 3. Not a bad match at all as Alexa looked good as the heel and Bayley showed she was up to the challenge and didn’t take any of her shit.
As Bayley celebrates Eva Marie comes to the ring and holy shit she is booed out of the damn building. People are even giving her the old Bo Dallas “turn my back to the ring” treatment. She has to shout over the mic to even be heard as she robotically tells the crowd to be quiet like she’s shushing people in a movie theater. She finally gets out that Bayley is defending the title next week “verse me”. So my assumption here is that this is setting up Nia Jax laying Bayley out to set up a match in London. I assume that because anyone that actually suggests Eva Marie win the title not only needs to be fired from WWE immediately, but also fired into the sun.
OVERALL: Honestly nothing to go out of your way to see this week, though the next set of tapings will be interesting as we flesh out the London card. Takeover: London so far doesn’t really have the “holy shit I need to see this” match the last few specials did, but the card they are seemingly building towards is still solid and the UK crowd should be a good one.
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