NXT
Date: July 15, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Corey Graves, Rich Brennan, Byron Saxton

It’s a title show as Charlotte came out last week to help Sasha Banks, in exchange for a title match tonight. These two have had some big showdowns in the past and this should be the same, especially after their debuts this past week on Raw. The other major story will be the return of Sami Zayn for an update on his injury. Let’s get to it.

Chad Gable/Jason Jordan vs. Steve Cutler/Elias Samson

This is Gable/Jordan’s debut as a team after Jordan spent weeks trying to find a partner and Gable saying they would work perfectly together. Gable quickly takes Cutler down for two and shows off some very nice technical stuff for some rollups. Cutler finally drives Chad into the corner and tags off to Samson for some right hands in the corner.

It doesn’t last long though as Gable drives him into the corner for a tag to Jordan, who powers Cutler down with ease. In a very unique looking double team, Jordan lifts Cutler up in a belly to back but drops him into a bridging belly to back from Gable for the pin at 2:47. Cool finisher at least and Gable looked good.

Clip of the NXT girls debuting on Raw and cleaning house. No sign of Stephanie and suddenly this is WAY better. That triple submission is an awesome visual.

Samoa Joe vs. Axel Tischer

Axel is German. Joe peppers him with strikes in the corner to start, kicks Tischer in the face and hits the backsplash, followed by the Rock Bottom out of the corner and the Muscle Buster into the Koquina Clutch for the tap out at 2:59. Total squash and that’s a good idea for Joe at this point.

Video on Baron Corbin’s athletic background. He boxed, did judo, won conference titles in college football and played in the NFL. At least he’s accomplished something though, because most of the guys in NXT are popular on the internet after being paid in hot dogs and chips. Corbin is in NXT to destroy the internet’s heroes. Well that came out of nowhere and tells us about 1.9 million times more about Corbin than we ever knew. Nice job there, as is always the case with these videos.

Here’s Eva Marie to talk about how awesome she is and announce her in ring debut next week. Get your little signs ready! There’s a chance that could be good, but oh man it’s not going to be well received.

Blake/Murphy vs. Angelo Dawkins/Sawyer Fulton

Non-title. Blake and Murphy start by taking turns on Dawkins with Blake slapping on a chinlock. Murphy comes in for a chinlock of his own as the announcers talk about sandwiches for no apparent reason. Dawkins fights up but Blake is smart enough to pull Fulton to the floor. The brainbuster and frog splash are enough for the pin on Angelo at 3:03.

Rating: D+. Total squash in a night of them with the champions looking great. They’re a pretty generic team but at least Alexa is nailing her role as the manipulative, stuck up boss. They should have a fun match against the Vaudevillains too and have made solid champions after looking like filler coming in.

The champs beat Dawkins down post match and flip Alexa into the air for the Sparkle Splash. Again, that looked cool.

Here’s Sami, with his arm in a sling, for his big update. After the OLE chants finally die down, Sami talks about how great it is to hear that the fans haven’t forgotten about him. It’s been a rough patch for him because he’s gone from the best year of his career in 2014 to the worst year of his career in 2015 because he isn’t likely back to close out the year.

He isn’t finished by a long shot though because he has goals. Like being able to find a comfortable position to sleep in or come back and regain his NXT Championship. There’s no greater motivator than revenge and Kevin Owens’ career is going to be linked to his career forever. Owens better watch, because Sami is coming for him. Not much to be heard here, but Sami’s charisma carried it everywhere it needed to go.

We look back at Charlotte being granted a title match.

Clip of Owens losing the NXT Title to Finn Balor in Japan.

At Comic Con, William Regal announced Owens’ rematch for Takeover: Brooklyn. Both guys traded some shots at the press conference.

Women’s Title: Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks

Sasha is defending. Charlotte starts slowly by shoving Sasha into the corner (too common a move) and throwing in a little Flair strut. The champ is sent down into the ropes and Charlotte nips up just because she can. A knee to the face and the double knees in the corner put Charlotte down for two as the momentum swing takes us to a break. Back with Charlotte getting choked in the corner (because where else would it be?), allowing Sasha to bust out the Flair strut.

We hit the chinlock with Banks’ boots in the back, followed by a figure four neck lock. The fans misfire pretty badly here with a Sasha Banks chant to the New Day rhythm. It doesn’t work for everything guys. Charlotte powers up into a powerbomb but both of them are down for a count of seven. It’s Charlotte up first with a backslide, but instead of trying a pretty obvious failure, she drops to her knees for a backbreaker instead. That’s a new one on me.

Banks gets two off a regular backslide but makes the mistake of ranting about how much better she is, thereby earning her a boot to the face. The Figure Eight is countered into a VERY close rollup, only to have the hold go on with Charlotte losing some hair extensions in the process. Sasha makes the ropes but Charlotte rolls under the ropes with the hold still on in a cool visual. Back up and Charlotte’s slam is countered into the Bank Statement. The hold stays on longer than it ever has before but Charlotte finally taps at 16:30.

Rating: B. This division is really becoming its own worst enemy as they’re getting caught in their own success. With their classics at Takeover, even a really good match like this is considered a letdown. Banks and Charlotte are going to be great additions to the Divas’ division and could easily carry the whole thing on their backs, assuming we can get the Bellas out of the way first.

Above all else though, this showed the difference between the Divas and the NXT girls. All night long, this match was treated as a major deal and as big as any showdown you’ll see on Raw. The fans bought what the promotion was sending them though and that makes it seem like something special. I don’t remember the last time any Diva has hooked the fans in, but this is proof it can be done if set up right.

They shake hands and hug for a cool moment to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was an interesting show as they started setting up Takeover: Brooklyn and reminded us that some people are around, followed by a good main event to cap things off. That’s NXT in a nutshell: a big match and setting up stuff for the future. Good show here and the main event is worth checking out for some of the cool and unique offense.

Results

Chad Gable/Jason Jordan b. Steve Cutler/Elias Samson – Bridging belly to back suplex to Samson

Samoa Joe b. Axel Tischer – Koquina Clutch

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

Sasha Banks b. Charlotte – Bank Statement

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NXT
Date: January 8, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, Alex Riley

One of the many things I like about this show is they set up something for next week almost every time. In this case, we have three things, ranging from Itami vs. Curtis Axel to the Vaudevillains getting their rematch from R-Evolution to the return of Sami Zayn for the first time since he was laid out by Owens. That sounds like a stacked show so let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Here’s the champ to get things going. Sami gets ready to talk but leaves the ring to go be with the crowd and hold up the title. A YOU DESERVE IT chant stops him again before he gets to talk about what this title means. In anyone else’s hands, it means you’re the best. In his hands though, it means you can do it your way and keep doing it how you want because the proof is right here.

He’s going to hate himself for saying this, but this title isn’t his. It belongs to both him and the fans. Everyone here is part of a band called Sami Zayn and the Zaniacs. The fans start the OLE chant and Sami loves that song. Takeover was the best night of his life, but it didn’t end like he wanted it to. Owens cried on his shirt that night and then hurt Sami really bad. He may have hurt Sami, but the champ is right back here, ready to defend the title.

This brings out Adrian Neville who says they tore each other to pieces last time and Zayn was the better man. Neville saw a new Sami and he’s now the champion so congratulations. Sami appreciates it and is pretty sure Neville is entitled to a rematch. This brings out William Regal to congratulate them on having such a great match at R-Evolution. There will indeed be a rematch and it takes place next week on the first Wednesday show.

The Vaudevillains can’t wait to right the wrong from Takeover and prove their manliness.

Hideo Itami vs. Curtis Axel

Axel is trying to be the last real man in wrestling. At this point point there are almost enough of those to make a stable. Itami scores with the early kicks but Axel takes him into the corner and hits a series of clotheslines to the back of the head. A chinlock doesn’t get Curtis anywhere but a knee to the jaw gets two. Axel throws Hideo down and asks who cares about Itami.

Curtis slaps on an armbar out of nowhere (no arm work so far into the match so let’s ignore the neck work and go after the arm) but Hideo fights out and nails a clothesline of his own. Itami loads up a tornado DDT but instead jumps to the apron to snap Axel’s throat across the top rope. The top rope clothesline is good for two but Axel tries the PerfectPlex. That goes nowhere so Itami snapmares him down and hits something like Trouble in Paradise to a kneeling Axel for the pin at 5:45.

Rating: C-. Not bad here and Hideo is starting to round into form as a singles guy. The clotheslines are a nice alternative to the kicks and it really opens up his offense quite a bit. It’s also nice to see him finally have a finisher, even if it’s the same move he does more often than any other. Axel as the new version of Tyson Kidd would be a fine role for him as he’s talented in the ring but needs to reestablish himself after the last few years.

Tyson Kidd is getting ready in the back so Natalya tries to intercept Byron Saxton. A Total Divas interview is cut off by Kidd asking if she’s taken care of the cats. Natalya goes off to feed them so Kidd can talk about how important it is to become NXT Champion. That means he can be the new face of NXT, right before he replaces Sarah McLachlan as the face of the ASPCA. Kidd loves all cats, except Grumpy Cat. Fact.

Video on Bull Dempsey vs. Baron Corbin, based on who can squash jobbers faster. They face off for the first time next week.

Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss

This is due to Banks breaking Bliss’ nose a few weeks back. Alexa grabs a quick sunset flip for two but has her headscissors countered into a faceplant. Banks takes her time trash talking but stops to blast Alexa with right hands to the face. She lays Bliss across the middle rope for a double knee to the ribs, setting up the Bank Statement for the submission at 2:06.

Quick package on Neville vs. Zayn from R-Evolution.

Tyler Breeze vs. Chad Gable

Gable is an Olympic wrestler who has gotten rave reviews so far. Gable easily takes Breeze down to start and rides him with a front facelock. The fans are WAY into Chad to start as Graves won’t confirm or deny that he runs Breeze’s fan club. Breeze fights up and takes him down for a chinlock while throwing in some trash talk to the Uggo. Gable gets to his feet and throws on an armbar over the top rope ala Alberto Del Rio. He breaks at four and Breeze is TICKED, setting up the Beauty Shot for the pin at 2:37. Gable looked good out there in the limited time he had.

Finn Balor is looking forward to facing Tyson Kidd next week, but Kidd is going to need more than nine lives to survive. Fact. Simple, yet effective. Why is that so lost on the main show writers?

We see a still from Breeze’s post match celebration, showing an ominous face peeking out from the curtain to look at him. It’s not clear whose face it is.

Tag Team Titles: Lucha Dragons vs. Vaudevillains

Vaudevillains are challenging again after the Dragons pinned the illegal man at R-Evolution. Kalisto quickly springboards onto Gotch and pounds away with right hands before it’s already off to Cara. Some kind of modified Gory Stretch has Gotch in trouble as Graves says these two might be equally strong. English comes in and says the titles are coming home with them tonight. He school boys Cara through the ropes and out to the floor for a nice move, but Kalisto sends both Vaudevillains to the floor for a big double dive.

We take a break and come back (after an announcement that Daniel Bryan will be in action on the first Thursday Smackdown) with Kalisto trying the big spinning wristlock, only to have English hold the ropes to send the masked man crashing down. Gotch gets two off a big belly to back before a double chop puts Kalisto down again.

English comes back in but gets rolled up for two, only to slap on a chinlock. Back up and Kalisto finally rolls over for the hot tag to Cara. Everything breaks down and Gotch kicks Cara in the head, only to be low bridged out to the floor. In what looked to be a botched finish, Cara lifts English up for a powerbomb and Kalisto adds a spinning clothesline to the back of the head to retain at 11:45.

Rating: C+. The match was fine but the ending really didn’t look good. In theory it was supposed to be a clothesline to the front but it looked awkward instead of devastating. The Dragons need new opponents now, and thankfully NXT actually has some teams they could quickly build up into contenders. I’m not sure where the Vaudevillains go, but a refocus on the comedic stuff could be in order.

Overall Rating: ­C+. Not one of their stronger episodes here but they did a great job of setting up next week to look like something special. Sami’s opening promo was excellent with a ton of emotion and it set up the rematch next week. I really like how NXT is able to wait things out and tease the big stuff, such as Owens showdown with Zayn. Not the match mind you but just those two in the same place at the same time. Instead of hot shotting to that, we’re getting what should be a great match out of the way, instead of just jumping straight to it. WWE could learn from that, but the circumstances are a bit different up top.

Results

Hideo Itami b. Curtis Axel – Spinning kick to the head

Sasha Banks b. Alexa Bliss – Bank Statement

Tyler Breeze b. Chad Gable – Beauty Shot

Lucha Dragons b. Vaudevillains – Powerbomb/top rope clothesline combination to English

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