Peter Kostka
From the NXT Arena at Full Sail University. Your commentators are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.
GM Regal officially makes the NXT Title match at Takeover a ladder match. He didn’t want to just give in to Kevin Owens’ demands, but he talked to Finn Balor and Finn gave him the OK to change the match. I still love how they take a couple minutes to give logical reasons for things on this show. It’s the little things that differentiate NXT booking from the main roster booking.
Solomon Crowe vs. “The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger
The gimmick that enraptured NXT house show crowds across the nation makes its TV debut! It’s a good basic idea for a gimmick that is ripe for refinement. The announcers actually take a few minutes to get the gimmick over and of course Corey Graves is a huge fan of Tye all of a sudden. The match is actually pretty fun as Tye is 100% into his gimmick, the crowd loves it and Crowe is a squat ball of energy in the ring; he just can’t seem to find a character that works for him. Crowe makes a comeback with a cutter and goes for the Crowebar, but Tye tosses him off and hits a kind of one-legged Codebreaker move (but instead of jumping he pulls Crowe down from the ground) for the pin.
Tonight: Finn Balor in action and the #1 contender to the Women’s title will be decided.
Mojo Rawley (in his gear) bugs Zack Ryder about his night at the club. “Twelve chicks! Dude, it was twelve chicks!” These two just mesh together so well and it’s hard to describe why.
Baron Corbin has resorted to re-squashing previously squashed victims and the crowd boos him out of the building. He wants better competition and states that nobody gets up from the End of Days. Steve Cutler tries his luck but earns the same fate and Corbin squawks some more which brings out Samoa Joe. Joe tells him to try that End of Days crap on him and the brawl is triggered. Corbin actually gets the upper hand, but Joe escapes the End of Days and slaps on the Kokina Clutch, choking Baron into unconsciousness. I smell another Takeover match. I guess this will be a good test of Baron’s ability to go longer than 30 seconds and that Brooklyn crowd will probably be 100% Joe.
Bull Dempsey continues his rigorous training as we learn “Steel Sharpens Steel”. So is his new name Iron Bull Sharpe?
Tyler Breeze has words for Jushin “Thunder” Liger. He commends Regal for giving him something special, but he took care of one Japanese import in Hideo Itami, so it won’t be a problem to take care of another.
Marcus Louis vs. Finn Balor (non-title)
A decent little squash match for Finn to let the commentators hype up the ladder match at Takeover. Louis looks scary and gets a bit of offense, but Finn hits the Slingblade and finishes him with the Coup de Grace. Kevin Owens jumps him post-match and goes for the apronbomb, but Finn grabs the ropes and kicks him away before sending him through the guardrail with a dropkick. Finn rolls him in and goes for the corner dropkick, but Owens catches him and powerbombs him to the mat. Owens raises his arms in a mock Balor pose before dropping the title on him and stepping on him on his way out of the ring.
Again, NXT Kevin Owens is the best.
Greg Whatshisface asks the Vaudevillains about their plan to neutralize Alexa Bliss in the tag title match. Alexa enters and is flattered that they thought of her, but she slaps the both of them again.
They show the same Apollo Crews video they showed last week.
We run down the Takeover card, which now includes Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin. Interestingly, the Women’s title match gets top billing. It may just be because of the main event of this show, but it says something about NXT that a Women’s title match (or the women in general) has main evented plenty of regular episodes and actually could be the main event of one of these shows someday.
Bayley vs. Becky Lynch (#1 Contender’s match)
Sasha Banks graces us with her presence at the commentary desk. Unlike most guest commentary spots on the main show, Sasha actually adds something to commentary as she puts over both women while, as the egotistical heel champion, still putting herself over the most. I checked the clock as this match began and was kind of stunned that there was still 15 minutes left in the show. Though I guess I shouldn’t be at this point. Becky gets a big reaction as we get another gem from Graves:
“My mother once told me you only wear your sunglasses indoors for two reasons: either you’re blind or you’re a jerk and Becky’s not blind! I’m just sayin’!” He thinks Sasha’s glasses are fashionable at least.
The match itself is a great intense battle with Becky focusing on the arm and Bayley showing the same heart and skill she showed in the Charlotte match last week by trying to out-wrestle and escape Becky’s holds. Becky takes control and goes back to the arm, using her feet to hyperextend it and cutting off Bayley’s comebacks by attacking the arm. Bayley of course sells it like a champ. Sasha thinks Becky should work on Bayley’s injured hand, so she’s not that smart. Graves asks if Jay-Z and Beyonce will be at Sasha’s after party. Byron asks if Darius Rucker will be there. Becky grounds Bayley with a wristlock as we take a break.
Bayley tries to fight free and starts another comeback, but the bad arm is slowing her down which allows Becky to escape a charge, but Bayley fights back with different rollup attempts and a backslide for 2 counts. Becky pumphandle suplexes Bayley onto her arm and drops the legs (no “better than Hogan!” chant here), but Bayley avoids the third legdrop and uses the good arm to clothesline her before going up and hitting her spinning back elbow for 2. They fight on the apron and Becky goes up, but Bayley cuts her off and pulls her down with a powerslam. I love that we’re seeing all of this new offense from her. Bayley catches a boot and tries to roll her up, but Becky catches her in the Disarm-her, but it is too close to the ropes and Bayley can force a break. A pissed off Becky goes for a suplex but Bayley counters with one of her own and goes for the Bayley to Belly, but Becky fights free and goes for the Disarm-her again, but Bayley manages to roll her up for the pin. Sasha stands on the announce desk with her belt in the air as Bayley stands on the turnbuckle and they trade words as we fade out. Just a great hard-fought match that played to both women’s strengths. This will be an awesome match.
OVERALL: Takeover is shaping up to be something special if the matches that should deliver do. I would not be surprised at all if they actually go the extra step and actually have Bayley vs. Sasha main event. HHH and Stephanie have been saying that the women will one day main event PPVs so what better way to prove that theory than to put a match that the crowd will be 100% invested in in the main event of the biggest show in NXT history? Finn vs. Owens will be an awesome match in it’s own right, but Takeover ending with (what I believe will be) a Bayley victory and her celebrating would be the best capper to the night. Regardless of which match main events, I am more invested in NXT’s card next weekend than SummerSlam’s by a wide margin.
That’s it for this week. There is still one more Wednesday episode before Takeover, but if it is just a hype special for Takeover I most likely will skip the recap. I will however have This is NXT Takeover: Brooklyn ready either very late Saturday night or sometime on Sunday (probably the latter), so look forward to that.
I am @PKIsTwitting on Twitter. Say hi!
