NXT – February 10, 2016: Hug Her Up

NXT
Date: February 10, 2016
Location: CFE Arena, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves

We’re on the road again and in this case we have a big main event with Bayley defending the Women’s Title against her friend Carmella. This isn’t quite on the level of the Takeover shows and title shots but the big TV shows are almost always good with this hopefully being no exception. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

The arena looks almost the same as Full Sail, save for the lack of a ramp.

Baron Corbin vs. Johnny Gargano

The fans chant for JOHNNY WRESTLING and he avoids a charge in the corner before pounding in left hands. Corbin will have none of that and throws Gargano around, followed by some heavy stomping in the corner. We get some good old fashioned yelling at the referee before Corbin slaps on a cobra clutch. Gargano reverses into a choke but gets sent hard into the Deep Six. End of Days is countered with a HARD superkick for two and Corbin rolls to the floor where he’s almost out on his feet. Gargano goes right after him but walks into End of Days for the pin at 5:50.

Rating: C. Gargano is a good hand in there and the Johnny Wrestling name is awesome. I don’t think anyone was expecting Corbin to lose again here but it was cool to see someone get close like that. Nice opener here as it’s almost always worth seeing a match happening for the sake of having a match, especially when it starts the show.

We look back at the end of Zayn vs. Joe vs. Corbin.

Sami is disappointed in the ruling but is willing to go through whatever to get the NXT Title back.

Vaudevillains vignette.

Hype Bros vs. Corey Hollis/John Skyler

Graves is all over Mojo as the announcers disagree over whether the Internet Title is still being defended. Ryder dropkicks Hollis in the face to start and it’s off to Rawley, who declares that Hollis AIN’T HYPED. A double clothesline sends Hollis and Skyler out to the floor and the Hype Bros are in control as you would expect. Back in and Ryder gets in a bit of trouble before Hollis charges into some knees. The hot tag brings in Rawley to clean house and Ryder adds a Broski Boot. The Hype Ryder puts Hollis away at 3:32.

Rating: D+. Just a squash here but the Hype Bros continue to have some excellent energy out there. There’s nothing wrong with a fun team who beats up the lower level acts but then goes nowhere against the top level guys. Let the Hype Bros be a goofy team and then have them lose to some more important team and everything will be fine.

Bayley says keeping the title has been harder than winning it but she’s not ready to let it go yet. Carmella is ready to make the most of her shot and their friendship isn’t in jeopardy.

Alexa Bliss vs. Cameron

I had forgotten about Cameron and her entrance talking (I hear no singing anywhere) of Girl Bye. Cameron armdrags her down before choking on the middle rope. Alexa snaps the throat across the top rope and the fans are really pleased with Bliss’ aggression. Bliss is instantly the face here as the fans start booing Cameron out of the building on near principle alone. It’s nowhere near Eva Marie’s level but they clearly don’t want to see her.

Cameron gets two off a running flip neckbreaker but Bliss puts her down and misses the moonsault into the double knees. It doesn’t matter as Cameron sells it anyway (this one was on Bliss as her knees didn’t really even get close to connecting), setting up the Sparkle Splash for the pin at 4:13.

Rating: D-. Other than Bliss looking good, this was a bordeline disaster. Cameron is some kind of weird flashback to the horrifying days of Divas past where they were all about the looks and how well they filled out tight costumes. This is a different era and the women like Cameron just aren’t going to cut it when we’re likely about to see Bayley carry Carmella to a good match in a few minutes.

Enzo and Cass are ready to start their pursuit of back to back Tag Teams of the Year. Enzo: “We’re back to back like Lethal Weapon 2.” American Alpha comes in to say this is their year before hyping up an eight man tag next week.

Elias Samson vs. Jesse Sorensen

Corey starts things off with a big rant about going to Pittsburgh and being disgusted by all the people playing Nickleback songs as Samson cleans house. The fans get in a DRIFT AWAY chant at Samson, who responds by dropping knees and ripping at Jesse’s face. The snap neckbreaker is good enough to pin Soresen at 2:38.

We look back at Finn Balor pinning Apollo Crews last week.

Crews has no regrets and promises a new Crews next time.

Women’s Title: Carmella vs. Bayley

Carmella is challenging. After the Big Match Intros, it’s time to trade some early holds with neither of them getting the advantage. Carmella’s wristlock has Bayley in some trouble but the fans get her back up with a “HUG HER UP BAYLEY! HUG HER UP!” chant. Bayley slams her down and we take a break.

Back with Bayley cranking on the arms but Carmella slams her into the mat a few times. A hurricanrana staggers Bayley but she sends Carmella into the buckle to take over. Bayley gets sent to the floor though and Carmella actually busts out a suicide cross body for an NXT chant. She even does it again for two back inside and the Staten Island Shuffle looks to set up crossface, only to have Bayley cradle her for two. We hit a nice pinfall reversal sequence with some very close rollups until Bayley keeps her down for the pin at 11:03.

Rating: C+. Yep Bayley is amazing. This was all the match needed to be and Carmella got to have the match of her career so far out there. No one was expecting this to be a masterpiece or even very good so just a nice wrestling match with little drama is just fine. It’s all about Takeover for Bayley now and that’s all it should be about.

Post match Eva Marie and Nia Jax beat Carmella down. Bayley gets taken out as well until Asuka makes the save. Asuka looks at Bayley’s title and smiles that creepy grin of hers.

Samoa Joe says that Sami has no triple threat to hide behind next week. I like this whole ending the show with a promo for the upcoming show. You don’t get that enough.

Overall Rating: B-. Just a nice wrestling show this week which seemed to set up one of the title matches for Dallas. As usual they were going about their business and getting things done as they needed to. Next week’s match will be fun and should give us another match for Takeover (if not earlier) as things continue to roll along very nicely around here.

Results

Baron Corbin b. Johnny Gargano – End of Days

Hype Bros b. Corey Hollis/John Skyler – Hype Ryder to Hollis

Alexa Bliss b. Cameron – Sparkle Splash

Elias Samson b. Jesse Sorensen – Swinging neckbreaker

Bayley b. Carmella – Rollup

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume IV at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AXP08DK

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

PDFPrint