Peter Kostka
In memory of Rowdy Roddy Piper.
From the NXT Arena at Full Sail University. Your commentators are Rich Brennan, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton.
Charlotte vs. Bayley
I absolutely adored this match. Obviously the point of this match (and her match with Emma a few weeks ago) is to establish Bayley as a credible title contender and it did a tremendous job of doing so. In their NXT Women’s title match last year Bayley came across as a game challenger with a lot of heart, but she was clearly not quite the level of what Charlotte was at the time. Here, she’s much more confident in her abilities and is matching Charlotte move for move. It showed that Bayley doesn’t just have the heart to be on top, but now she can GO. Bayley hits the Bayleycanrana for 2 and Charlotte twists her into a neckbreaker and spears her for a 2 of her own. She locks in the Figure-Eight, but Bayley reverses the pressure to force a break. They fight over a backslide and Bayley smartly walks up the ropes to flip over her, pulls her in and hits the Bayley to Belly….for 2. What a great sequence that was. Bayley hits a German (!) for 2 but Charlotte boots her on a charge and sets up for a top rope Natural Selection, but Bayley fights her off and hits a SUPER BAYLEY TO BELLY for the pin. The camera focuses on a little girl dressed like Bayley crying with joy. I’ve seen her in one of those “fans talk about how awesome NXT” videos and she’s always dressed like that. You don’t see many girls dressed like the Bellas, do you? Bayley gives her a hug and her headband. Can we just make her the female Cena already (but without the terrible character and promos)?
Michael Cole interviews Kevin Owens. It’s a contentious interview as it’s been established that Owens does not like Cole (who does?) Cole asks him about hitting GM Regal at the contract signing and later apologizing, but Owens says he watched the footage back and caught Regal’s comments after he left about wanting to see Owens get beat at Takeover. He NEEDS the NXT title because his son needs to EAT dammit! He doesn’t think Regal is going to be objective and may throw a crooked referee into the match to screw him over so he proposes that the match in Brooklyn….be a ladder match.
Sorry, I just ran a lap around my house giddily. Oh PLEASE let that happen. If Owens can pull off a ladder match with Finn and a great match with Cesaro in back-to-back nights, maybe he can prove to some (*coughKevinDunncough*) that he isn’t some fatass loser. Cole asks if he thinks he can beat the Demon and Owens just pulls off his mic, throws it at Cole and leaves. NXT Kevin Owens is still the best.
Bull Dempsey watches back his vignette that aired last week and vows “let’s do it right this time.” Then…we get truly the best montage ever as Bull watches people work out and decides to try the bench press…but he can’t lift the weight! To be continued……
Baron Corbin yadda yadda yadda. So I’m guessing they are doing four Corbin squashes in one night to try and get the Full Sail crowd to boo him out of the building? If so, mission accomplished.
Bayley walks into Regal’s office and asks for an NXT Women’s title match. Regal does think she deserves it, but he also thinks someone else does as well so he books a #1 contender’s match between Bayley and Becky Lynch next week with the winner facing Sasha Banks at Takeover. Obviously Becky has been injured and hasn’t been on the show for a while, but “you took the champ to the limit so you should get another chance” is as good an explanation in my mind as any. That should also be an awesome match next week. Bayley goes for a hug, but Regal is a Handshaker. Bayley is Regal’s niece’s favorite wrestler at least.
Tyler Breeze vs. Aaron Solo
It’s basically a Breeze squash as he once again complains about the lack of competition he’s been facing before dispatching Solo with the Beauty Shot in about a minute. Regal appears on the ramp and announces that, in Brooklyn (Full Sail: “BOOOOOOOOO!!!!”) Tyler Breeze will face….Jushin “Thunder” Liger! Understandably the crowd loses their shit and we get a goddamned Liger hype video! I think my head exploded about three times here. Obviously it is using WCW footage, but seriously, Jushin goddamned Liger is going to compete in a WWE ring. Let that sink in for a minute.
A Uhaa Nation video reveals his new name is Apollo Crews and he will debut at Takeover. He’s a really agile guy for his size.
Byron talks with Finn Balor. He’s not surprised at anything that Kevin Owens does or says and he’s been talking with Sami Zayn about how to deal with him and not underestimate him. He doesn’t care what kind of match it is because he is going to prove that the Tokyo match was not a fluke. Byron asks if the Demon will appear, but Finn is coy about it.
Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder vs. The Hype Bros
The Bros take the early portion of the match but Ryder is distracted and gets pulled off the turnbuckles and the heels work him over. Ryder fights back and makes the hot tag to Mojo who clears house and the Hype Ryder gets the pin on Dash. A lot of tag matches in NXT are pretty formula, but they are establishing quite a few teams in this division which is a great development. Plus, it’s always nice to see Zack Ryder actually happy to be in the ring. Dash and Wilder jump them after the match and lay Zack out with the Shatter Machine. Poor Zack.
Regal gives the Vaudevillians a tag team title rematch with Blake and Murphy at Takeover and talk about Alexa Bliss’ actions. Gotch: “You do not exploit chivalry!” That’s the best line. Regal advises them to find a way to contain Alexa. Hopefully this is a way to get Cassie or Jessie a bigger role and not something for Eva Marie.
Now, the stirring conclusion to the Bull Dempsey story as Bull trains his ass off, gaining the respect of his gym peers as they root him on as he flips a big tire. I take back everything bad I said about last week’s segment if this is the payoff. Now I want Bull vs. Balor at the soonest opportunity. Or have him and Joe throw each other around.
Samoa Joe vs. Rhyno
This is another match I really liked because it was just two big tough guys beating the crap out of each other. If Jim Ross was calling this he would have made many references to hosses and T-bone steaks and slobberknockers. Joe sends Rhyno out and dives out after him which must be the scariest sight imaginable; just a big Samoan bullet coming at your head. Joe cracks him with a jumping enziguri but Rhyno plants him with a spinebuster as we take a break.
Joe fights back and hits an STO and slugs away as Graves is asked about how it feels to be punched by Joe and answers “It’s like being punched in the face by Samoa Joe” in such a matter-of-fact way that it cracks up the other announcers. Rhyno blocks a charge and drills Joe with a TKO for a close 2 and Joe answers with a flying kick from the middle turnbuckle for another 2. Joe goes for the choke but Rhyno tosses him off and clotheslines him for 2. He goes to the middle turnbuckle for…something but Joe hits another jumping enziguri and hits the Kidd Krippler for the pin. Great power battle between two guys just throwing bombs at each other. I hope Joe has something good for Takeover.
OVERALL: That hour just FLEW by and they pretty much filled a large part of the Takeover undercard with a bunch of matches that I am excited to see. So far the card looks like this:
NXT Title Ladder Match (?): Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor
NXT Women’s Title Match: Becky Lynch/Bayley vs. Sasha Banks
NXT Tag Title Match: The Vaudevillains vs. Blake and Murphy
Tyler Breeze vs. Jushin “Thunder” Liger
Apollo Crews debut match
That’s a card right there.
That’s it for this week. I’m @PKIsTwitting on Twitter if you want to say hi. I seriously want to know if people actually read these and what they think.
