NXT – January 8, 2014: The Modern Day Hart Foundation vs. Demolition

NXT
Date: January 8, 2014
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Alex Riley

The main story coming into tonight is the Tag Team Title match with Hunico and Camacho finally getting to challenge Ascension for the belts. It continues to amaze me how NXT can take any match and make it feel like it’s a big deal whereas every other promotion has one or two stories on top and that’s it. Let’s get to it.

Welcome Home.

Summer Rae vs. Bayley

This fight is over Summer snapping Bayley’s headband a few weeks ago. Bayley has Natalya to counter Sasha Banks. Summer offers Bayley a hug but Bayley rips off Summer’s tiara and gets two off a sunset flip. Bayley sends Summer crawling into the corner, only to have Bayley get rammed face first into the buckle.

A spinning face plant gets two for Summer before she chokes Bayley across the ropes and stretches at the same time. We hit a cross arm choke on Bayley but she fights up and hits a jumping back elbow to the jaw for two. The same move from the middle rope gets two more on Summer before the Belly to Bayley is enough to pin Rae at 3:54.

Rating: C-. The match was pretty decent by NXT standards and Bayley continues to be too adorable for words. Every single week this promotion proves that characters can get over if they’re given the time and Bayley is a good example of that. Her character is a super fan obsessed with hugs yet she’s over. Think about that for a minute.

Xavier Woods is here and doesn’t mind that Kane is looking for him.

Colin Cassady vs. Aiden English

Cassady goes right at English in the corner with knees, followed by forearms to the back while spelling S-A-W-F-T. English avoids a charge in the corner and follows up with forearms to the chest and a chinlock. Big Cass fights up and backdrops English to speed things up. A SAWFT elbow drop gets two but English gets in a kick to the knee to slow Cass down, followed by the Director’s Cut for the pin at 2:33. Energetic while it lasted.

Adrian Neville gets a phone call from Tyler Breeze who is standing two feet away. Tyler says this way he can talk to Adrian and not have his eyeballs melt out of his face because of Adrian’s ugly face. They get in an argument over Breeze costing Neville the NXT Title match against Bo Dallas before Tyler implies he wants the title. A match is made for next week.

Xavier Woods vs. ???

Kane comes out to bring up Woods’ petition to bring Big Show back to WWE. That’s still a thing? Tonight it’s time to Woods to be punished by his opponent, Alexander Rusev. Woods tries some forearms to start but runs into a Samoan drop for two. Rusev puts on a nerve hold before dropping elbow after elbow for two. Kane walks around ringside in his suit and glasses, making him look even more creepy than usual. Woods fights back with forearms and a dropkick but Rusev shrugs off the Honor Roll and runs over Woods, setting up the Accolade for the win at 1:55.

Kofi Kingston wants more of Alexander Rusev.

Tyson Kidd vs. Baron Corbin

The much bigger Corbin runs Kidd over to start before forearming him in the face for two. He throws Kidd into the corner and takes him down with another shoulder block for two. A knee staggers Kidd again but he sends Corbin into the middle buckle and slows him down with a dropkick. Another dropkick gets two and a slingshot legdrop to the back of the head sets up a Blockbuster for the pin at 3:09.

Rating: C. This was basically a Corbin squash until the last 45 seconds though. I like the Blockbuster for Kidd as a finisher as it’s something that could take down bigger guys while also being something he could make look convincing despite his size. Corbin came off looking good here too and has a good look to back it up.

Tag Titles: Hunico/Camacho vs. Ascension

Ascension is defending and this is a tornado match, meaning there are no tags, countouts or disqualifications. It’s a brawl to start as it should be with the challengers taking over in the corner. Hunico chops Viktor as the fans want tables. Konnor fights back against Camacho and stomps him down into the corner but Hunico trips up Viktor, allowing Camacho to drop a leg for two.

We take a break and come back with Camacho ramming Konnor face first into the bicycles Hunico and Camacho rode in on. Back inside with Hunico and Camacho raining down right hands in the corner, only to have the champions come out with stereo powerbombs for two each. Hunico is rammed into the bicycle again before Konnor gets two on Camacho with the flapjack. The champions stomp away and Viktor gets two on Hunico via a suplex.

Camacho backdrops Hunico to the apron so Hunico can come in with a cross body to take the champions down and things kick up a notch. Two dropkicks put Ascension down again and a Hunico moonsault gets two on both champions. The Swanton gets two on Konnor but Viktor makes a quick save. Camacho tries a suicide dive to take out Viktor but dives into a forearm. Konnor jumps Hunico from behind and the Fall of Man retains the titles at 8:38 shown of 12:08.

Rating: B. I liked this more than I thought I would with Camacho and Hunico complimenting each other very well. This was in the vein of Demolition against the Hart Foundation with the pure power vs. power and speed. It’s going to be a shame when Ascension gets to the main roster and JBL and Cole spend their entire matches making fun of them.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a show to hold the place for NXT before we get to the new taping cycle and a fresh batch of matches. Thankfully that didn’t make this a boring show as the matches worked for the most part and we have some stuff set up for next week. This show also makes me want to see the Royal Rumble to see which NXT guys can get a cameo in the big match.

Results

Bayley b. Summer Rae – Belly to Bayley

Aiden English b. Colin Cassady – Director’s Cut

Alexander Rusev b. Xavier Woods – Accolade

Tyson Kidd b. Baron Corbin – Blockbuster

Ascension b. Hunico/Camacho – Fall of Man to Hunico

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