NXT
Date: March 4, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Jason Albert, Rich Brennan, Alex Riley

Tonight it’s time to get back to the serious business around NXT as Sami Zayn is making his first appearance after losing the NXT Title to Kevin Owens by referee’s decision. Owens is currently gearing up to defend against #1 contender Finn Balor, but it’s clear that another showdown with Sami is coming. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Owens saying he’ll fight anyone anywhere, which leads to his feud with Balor. This includes Owens being insulted by Alex Riley on commentary and beating Riley up as a result.

Riley demanded that William Regal give him a match with Owens. However, Regal says no because of what happened to him when he tried to be a competitor and commentator at the same time. That’s not good enough for Riley as he wants the match, but Regal says he has to pick. Riley seems to be thinking about it.

Opening sequence.

Adam Rose vs. Tyler Breeze

The Trust Fall works this time and Rose seems to be a good guy here. The fans chant for Rose’s ninja turtle before he chases Breeze around the ring. An armdrag sends Rose down and Breeze lounges across the top rope. They pose at each other a bit more until Rose grabs an atomic drop, giving us the Honky Tonk Man sell job.

Rose dives into one from Breeze though and both guys are in pain. Breeze nails him in the face a few times but Adam leans back in the ropes and raises his feet to fend Tyler off. With a raise of the roof (as we flash back to 1998), Rose hits a running corner clothesline, only to walk into the Beauty Shot for the pin at 2:35. Again, who in the world thought making Rose a heel was a good idea? He’s one of the easiest acts to cheer for in years so they turned him heel. Main roster brilliance personified.

Breeze fends off the Rosebuds with the selfie stick in a funny moment.

Enzo, Cass and Carmella don’t like what Murphy and Blake have been saying. No one talks to Carmella like that and she thinks Cass and Amore need to take care of them. Enzo promises to beat the bacon off their backs and bring that bacon home. Do whatever you want with the bacon. Just drop Carmella already.

Alexa Bliss has been off recovering from an injury but she’s back and better than ever. She’s coming for Sasha, whether she keeps the title or not.

Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake vs. Angelo Dawkins/Sawyer Fulton

Non-title. I keep thinking the champs’ record scratch music is Solomon Crowe hacking the feed. Dawkins and Fulton are part of a trio of amateur wrestlers with Fulton rocking the Rick Steiner head gear. He takes Murphy down to start and cranks on an armbar. Murphy makes a blind tag though and a double elbow gets two.

It’s off to Blake for a chinlock but Fulton flips him over and nails a nice uppercut. Dawkins comes in to speed things up and hammers Murphy down, but makes the mistake of going after Blake. Murphy gets in a cheap shot and suplexes Dawkins down, setting up the frog splash from Blake for the pin at 2:27. That was one heck of a leap for the splash. The losers looked good while they were in there but they need more ring time to get the gimmick over.

Bayley offers Charlotte good luck on the title shot tonight but Charlotte says Banks needs the luck. Charlotte leaves and Emma comes in and brings up Bayley lost at Takeover. She tried being nice like Bayley and look where it got her on Raw: right back here to NXT. Just something to think about for Bayley.

Rhyno return video.

Baron Corbin vs. Tony Briggs

Briggs says bring it on so Baron hits him in the face and plants him with End of Days at 54 seconds. Kevin Owens was shown standing behind Alex Riley but didn’t touch him.

Riley turns around to look at Owens but doesn’t do anything. Owens pours water over him and Riley snaps. Albert holds him back and reminds Riley that he has a job. Kevin turns his back on him and leaves with no physicality. Owens is nailing this evil bully character to perfection.

Sami Zayn was in Montreal earlier this week but he can’t help but feel that the NXT landscape is changing. You have guys like Rhyno and Kendrick back and new faces like Solomon Crowe with Kevin Owens on top. This is filmed on March 1, 2015, meaning he’s been a wrestler for thirteen years to the day. For the first time though, Zayn doesn’t feel like he’s mentally ready to be in the ring. That’s why he’s here in Montreal, where it all started for both he and Owens. He still hasn’t watched the Takeover match, but maybe that’s what he needs to get his mind right.

Riley storms into Regal’s office and quits being a commentator so he can get his hands on Owens. Regal says he’ll get Owens when he (Regal) thinks he’s ready. CJ Parker is in the office too and laughs at the idea of Riley fighting Owens, so Riley wants Parker next week.

Bull Dempsey vs. Solomon Crowe

Crowe comes into the ring with a bunch of energy and nearly slides under the ropes upon entry. He goes right after Dempsey and gets stomped down, setting up a stiff headbutt. All Dempsey so far and he mounts Crowe for some right hands. Solomon fights back but can’t slam the big man. Instead Dempsey just pounds him in the chest with forearms for one. Solomon fights up and now the slam works. Dempsey runs him over again but misses the top rope headbutt. A running knee and running elbow drop Bull and a slingshot headbutt to the rips is enough to give Solomon the pin at 3:01.

Rating: D+. Solomon comes off as a guy where the character is going to drive the development instead of the in ring action. I was getting something like a Kevin Sullivan vibe off his in ring style, as he’s much more of a scrappy brawler than a polished wrestler. He basically just stuck around and waited for an opening to take Bull down, but it worked well enough. I need to see more of him though.

Women’s Title: Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks

Banks is defending in a one on one rematch from Takeover: Rival’s fourway where Charlotte lost the title. This gets big match intros, which is actually deserves over Nikki vs. Paige on Monday. The fans are split, as you would expect. Banks hides in the corner to start so Charlotte asks if she’s here to fight or not. Some chops have the champ in early trouble but she bails to the floor for another breather.

Sasha grabs her title and says count her out but that doesn’t work for Charlotte, who chases her down and rams the champ’s back into the apron. Now the fans are almost all behind Charlotte as she slaps on an early figure four. Banks is way too close to the ropes though and bails to the floor one more time as we take a break. Back with Banks hitting a running slap to a seated Charlotte before busting out La Mistica into the crossface.

Charlotte powers up and hits a running backpack Stunner. The moonsault misses but Charlotte lands on her feet, only to have her front flip hit Sasha’s knees. That’s a nice bit of psychology there as they learn each other’s spots and build on the sequences. Sasha chokes and WOOs in the corner as the fans argue (YES SHE IS/NO SHE’S NOT) over Sasha’s level of ratchetness.

Double knees to the back have Charlotte in trouble and Sasha bends her ribs around the post to stay on the injury. The Backstabber into the double arm choke has Charlotte in even more trouble but she refuses to give up. That’s fine with Sasha who rolls into the Bank Statement, only to have Charlotte right next to the ropes for the escape. A big spear gets two for Charlotte and she puts on a Hartbreaker (figure four around the post). Back in and Natural Selection off the top is countered and Sasha puts her feet on the ropes (ala Ric Flair) for a rollup pin at 15:00.

Rating: B-. Not quite a classic but still a very good TV main event. The girls are so far ahead of Nikki and Brie that it’s unreal, but they can’t afford the same plastic surgery or whatever. This was a solid match in the same vein of Orton vs. Christian from 2011 as they built on previously established sequences and made logical progressions. Well done indeed.

Overall Rating: C+. Much better than last week which seems to have been an aberration. It’s amazing what happens when you do stuff that matters instead of just filler for an hour. Sami holding off on his return is an interesting idea as it allows them to go through Riley and Balor before we get back to the big time feud that a lot of people really want to see. This is the fallout period from Rival before we start building to the next Takeover, which means we should be coming up on some big shows soon.

Results

Tyler Breeze b. Adam Rose – Beauty Shot

Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake b. Angelo Dawkins/Sawyer Fulton – Frog splash to Dawkins

Baron Corbin b. Tony Briggs – End of Days

Solomon Crowe b. Bull Dempsey – Slingshot headbutt

Sasha Banks b. Charlotte – Rollup with feet on the ropes

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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NXT
Date: January 28, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Alex Riley, Jason Albert, Tom Phillips

This is another big show as we’re two weeks out from Takeover and the showdown between Owens and Zayn. The contract signing is tonight and Owens has promised to say what he has to say to Zayn to his face. Also tonight the tournament to crown a new #1 contender continues with more first round matches. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Tag Team Titles: Lucha Dragons vs. Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake

Blake and Murphy are challenging and have some new, loud entrance music. We even get big match intros before we get going. Cara and Blake get things going with Wesley slamming him down in the corner, only to have Cara come back with a double springboard wristdrag.

Murphy dropkicks him out of the air for two though as the challengers are staying aggressive. Blake puts on a chinlock for a bit until Cara fights up and makes the tag to Kalisto. Everything speeds up and a sunset bomb gets two on Buddy as everything breaks down. Blake counters Cara’s springboard and makes a blind tag. Kalisto hits Salida Del Sol on Murphy but the legal Buddy rolls him up for the clean pin and the titles at 4:00.

Rating: C. This is where NXT’s booking pays off for them in the end. Murphy and Blake haven’t won a bunch of matches over the months, but they’ve hung in enough of them that this isn’t the most shocking win in the world. In WWE, a team like Slater Gator has been crushed almost every time they go out there and would have almost no chance in a title match. Even if they won, it wouldn’t be accepted. On the other hand, this was fine and made sense, as well as giving us a fresh set of matches for the division.

We recap Bayley suplexing Charlotte last week and Regal making the fourway title match.

Charlotte yells at Bayley but Bayley says maybe she’s been too nice. She saw what Sami Zayn did when he got more serious and now it’s time for her to do it. Charlotte says if Bayley tries that again, she won’t make it to Takeover.

Tyler Breeze is going to be watching the rest of the tournament very closely.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd

The fans are split on who they like best. They hit the mat to start for a nice counter sequence leading to a standoff. Adrian starts cranking on the arm before he takes Tyson down with a hurricanrana, sending Kidd scrambling to the floor. Neville even teases him with a dive but pulls back with a Tajiri handspring flip. Kidd keeps sliding under the corner and out the other side of the ring to break the count, eventually drawing Adrian outside where he gets sent into the floor.

We take a break and come back with Kidd hitting a hard dropkick to the face and rubbing the same face into the mat. Neville sends him right back outside with a clothesline and hits a big old flip dive to take him down. A standing moonsault gets two for Neville as the referee is drenched in sweat.

The spinning fisherman’s neckbreaker snaps Adrian’s neck for two but he flips out of a release German suplex and grabs a Batista Bomb (crowd: “Better than Batista!”) for two. Neville heads outside but a hard dropkick sends him to the floor. Back in and Kidd can’t hook the Sharpshooter, allowing Neville to hit a running kick in the head (similar to the Helluva Kick), setting up the Red Arrow for the pin at 16:25.

Rating: B+. These guys beat the heck out of each other and it got better and better throughout the match. This is the basic idea of hitting each other really, really hard over and over again until one of them can’t get up and that’s a great way to enjoy a match. Really fun stuff here and worth checking out.

Neville says he’s ready to face either Corbin or Dempsey. The fans seem very interested in Neville vs. Corbin. I can’t say I disagree.

Becky Lynch implies she’d turn on Banks to win the title. Good, as I like her better than Sasha.

Murphy and Blake are thrilled to win the belts and would give the Lucha Dragons a rematch anytime anywhere. They’re still getting the hang of this talking thing.

Becky Lynch/Sasha Banks vs. Bayley/Charlotte

The fans aren’t as into Bayley as they used to be. Bayley and Banks get things going with Bayley hitting a springboard armdrag but botching a second attempt, allowing Banks to take over. Off to Lynch for a forearm to the back before it’s already back to Sasha. Charlotte comes in and snapmares Becky down before tagging Bayley right back in. In a smart move, Bayley thinks about going to the ropes but realizes http://onhealthy.net/product-category/stop-smoking/ Banks would nail her in the back and opts for a jumping clothesline to a seated Lynch instead.

The villains use some cheating to take over and Sasha gyrates a bit, drawing a Sasha’s ratchet/no she’s not dueling chant. Becky comes back in and goes for the knee, only to get suplexed down, allowing the hot tag to Charlotte. She quickly gets Banks in the bridging Figure Four but Becky breaks it up as everything breaks down. Sasha Bankrupts Charlotte and Bayley makes a save but hits her partner in the process. Charlotte and Bayley start fighting each other and the opponents come in, drawing a double DQ at 5:50.

Rating: C. The match wasn’t great but it was exactly the right booking. There was no need to have anyone get a pin here and it let Bayley show a lot more aggression. I’m still really high on Becky but she needs to show that she can do something in the ring as she’s barely had any ring time so far. The fourway could be awesome if they let these four go nuts.

Hideo Itami comes up to Finn Balor in the back and says he brought Finn into the company and will take him out if he has to in order to advance in the tournament.

The returning Emma says things haven’t gone as she planned since she left NXT so next week she’s coming back to face Carmella.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Bull Dempsey vs. Baron Corbin

Baron sends him into the corner to start and runs him over with a shoulder. Dempsey bails to the floor but Baron is right back on top of him to send him back inside. Back in and a corner splash has Bull in trouble and the End of Days is good for the pin at 1:31. Total squash here with Dempsey getting nothing. That almost has to end the feud.

Baron Corbin says he just took a step closer to becoming NXT Champion and next week Adrian Neville takes a step closer to being erased. Dempsey comes up and says he’ll knock Corbin’s teeth out. Baron just walks away. That would seem to be the way out of Baron losing clean next week.

It’s time for the contract signing. The champ comes out first but Regal is hesitant to bring out Owens. Kevin comes out and Sami looks sad as much as mad. Regal isn’t going to let this turn into every other contract signing in WWE because he’ll cancel the match if they make any contact. The fans chant OLE and Sami signs without saying anything. Owens looks at Sami instead of the contract. Sami asks if he’s just going to look at him or if Owens is going to explain why. Owens doesn’t move so Sami says he’ll talk about the last 12 years.

They fought with and against each other so maybe he should have seen this coming. The truth is he didn’t see it coming though and he never thought it would happen on a night like R-Evolution when both of them arrived. It doesn’t matter though because Sami is going to beat the heck out of him at Takeover. Owens still won’t sign because he doesn’t like it being a non-title match.

What Owens did at R-Evolution was business because he’ll fight anyone for the right prize. That title means more money and a better life for his family, so Owens isn’t doing this unless it’s a title match. Regal doesn’t like Owens’ last minute demands but Sami says wait a minute. Make it a title match because Owens really won’t do it if he doesn’t get what he wants. Regal writes something on the contract and Sami signs again. Owens eventually signs and throws the pen at Sami before leaving to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This show was about moving things forward for Takeover and they’ve done a great job. The title change was a nice surprise as it was something you almost never get on TV but it made sense. That’s the tagline I would use for almost everything on this show: it made sense. It’s clear that someone is paying really close attention to these stories and has planned them out step by step. That’s such an important thing to do and the matches are almost always worth the payoff. Good show here and they’re doing a very good job of a short build to the next Takeover.

Results

Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake b. Lucha Dragons – Rollup to Kalisto

Adrian Neville b. Tyson Kidd – Red Arrow

Bayley/Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch went to a double DQ

Baron Corbin b. Bull Dempsey – End of Days

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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NXT
Date: January 21, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, Jason Albert

Things are starting to pick up again in NXT with Kevin Owens making another appearance last week to lay out NXT Champion Sami Zayn after a successful title defense against Adrian Neville. These two are on a collision course and there’s no way the match isn’t going to be awesome. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens over the last few weeks. Neville promises revenge.

William Regal announces the next Takeover special for February 11. There will be a tournament for the #1 contendership starting tonight, as well as Charlotte defending against Sasha Banks. As usual, Regal keeps this quick as he was on screen less than a minute and announced a show, a tournament and a title match.

Opening sequence.

Sami Zayn vs. Tye Dillinger

Sami charges the ring and EXPLODES on Dillinger, knocking him to the floor before the bell rings. No match I’m assuming.

Zayn demands Owens get out here right now but he gets Regal instead. The champ says he isn’t wrestling one more match unless it’s against Owens so get him out here right now. Regal says he can’t do that because Owens hasn’t earned a title shot yet. Sami offers to make it non-title or whatever he has to do to get his hands on Owens. He won’t explode out of respect for Regal, but he’ll do whatever Regal asks him to get what he wants. Regal agrees and makes the showdown for Takeover.

Owens vs. Zayn at Takeover will be non-title.

Regal says Owens and Zayn will sign the contract next week.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Curtis Axel vs. Finn Balor

I love how foreboding Balor’s music is. Fans: “FINN’S GONNA KILL YOU!” Axel elbows him in the face to start so Balor knocks him to the floor for a big flip dive. Back in and Axel clotheslines him in the back of the head for two and nails a great looking dropkick. The fans keep it simple by telling Axel that he sucks.

We hit the chinlock before a running knee to the head gets two more. It’s amazing how much easier Axel matches are to sit through when he doesn’t have all the big expectations behind him. Heyman seems to have caused him more problems than good. Balor fights back up with the Pele and Sling Blade, followed by the top rope double stomp for the pin to advance at 4:55.

Rating: C-. Not much of a match here but Axel is fine for a generic heel. He has the skills to make a match work but all of the expectations put on him due to being associated with Heyman really brought him down. I liked his work in NXT (this one, not the old show) as McGillicutty and now he’s just a more intense version of that character, meaning he’s a lot easier to sit through. That being said, this was just a formality for Balor.

Here are the full tournament brackets.

Finn Balor

Curtis Axel

Adrian Neville

Tyson Kidd

Hideo Itami

Tyler Breeze

Baron Corbin

Bull Dempsey

Sasha Banks says Charlotte has no one to protect her tonight and it’s time to win the title. She doesn’t care if Devin has any more questions.

Bull Dempsey swears revenge next week.

Women’s Title: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte

They grapple to the mat to start with Charlotte getting the better of it but having to nail Becky in the face. Back in and Charlotte hammers away but Becky comes in for the DQ at 2:15. Not much of a match due to time.

Bayley comes in for the save but eventually picks up the title. Charlotte isn’t cool with that and eats a Belly to Bayley. It doesn’t seem like a heel turn as Bayley almost looks like she regretted it. It worked for Rick Steiner back in 1989 (albeit in a face turn) so why not here? Regal comes out and makes a fourway title match for Takeover.

Kevin Owens doesn’t want to be interviewed and will say whatever he has to say to Sami’s face next week.

Vaudevillains vs. Buddy Murphy/Wesley Blake

The Vaudevillains have been doing dinosaur training to make up for their recent losses, which apparently involves the Iron Sheik’s Persian clubs. English misses a forearm to Murphy in the corner to start and eats a running forearm, only to take Buddy into the corner for a beating. Off to Gotch for a suplex for two and English hooks a chinlock. Murphy finally rolls over for the tag to Blake who gets a fast two off a powerslam with Gotch making the save. With the referee getting Gotch out of the ring, Murphy sneaks in a kick to the head, giving Blake the pin at 3:58.

Rating: D+. The match was nothing special but I really like the booking. Murphy and Blake have been around long enough that people are familiar with them and they’ve gotten close enough to picking up wins that this isn’t a huge stretch. It gives the Dragons fresh challengers for the titles and keeps the cycle moving. That’s one of NXT’s strengths and something I really wish WWE would get better at. Keep the future challengers safe instead of squashing them, because you never know when you might need them.

Tyler Breeze is ready to implement his plan to separate the gorgeous ones from the uggos.

Murphy and Blake say that wasn’t an upset and want a title shot next week.

#1 Contenders Tournament First Round: Hideo Itami vs. Tyler Breeze

Marcus Louis is seen looking at Breeze from behind the stage during Tyler’s entrance. Breeze avoids a big kick to start and wags a finger at Itami. Another kick misses and the fans call Breeze a TOTAL DIVA. Breeze suckers Itami in for a kick of his own before running into a knee to the ribs. Back up and Itami gets sent face first into the middle buckle and tossed out to the floor. A dropkick (noticing a theme here?) gets two for Breeze and a neckbreaker gets an even closer near fall as we take a break.

Back with Breeze holding a chinlock but Itami fights up with clotheslines and a tornado DDT necksnap. There’s the top rope clothesline followed by a release fisherman’s suplex for two on Breeze. Back up and Breeze blocks an O’Connor Roll and DRILLS Hideo with the Supermodel Kick for two.

Itami is shaken up in the corner so Breeze crawls onto his back for a kind of snap crucifix for a fall so near that the referee looked like he had to slow down for the kickout. Tyler shouts that this is about him but Itami screams at him. More kicks have Breeze rocked and the running dropkick in the corner sets up a running boot to the face for the pin at 14:24.

Rating: B-. I’m trying really hard to care about Itami and it’s just not quite there. His offense has definitely gotten better but I really have no reason to care about him. There are a lot of guys who kick really hard and Itami hasn’t shown he has much to differentiate himself from the pack. Breeze continues to live way beyond his gimmick and looks more and more comfortable every week.

Overall Rating: C+. This show was much more about moving things forward than the wrestling itself. They’re rushing to the next Takeover with only about six weeks since the least one, but with the main event they have set up, they would be crazy not to go with it right now. The rest of the card could be excellent with the fourway being wide open and the tournament having some potentially awesome finals. Another good show this week but in a different way.

Results

Finn Balor b. Curtis Axel – Top rope double stomp

Charlotte b. Sasha Banks via DQ when Becky Lynch interfered

Wesley Blake/Buddy Murphy b. Vaudevillains – Kick to the head

Hideo Itami b. Tyler Breeze – Running kick to the face

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of Saturday Night’s Main Event at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SATPVKW

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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