The Glimpse:
Will the newly sassy Sasha Banks be able to take down the NXT Women’s Champion Paige? How will Sylvester Lefort’s motley crew deal with the realest dudes in the room when it’s two on two? And what the hell did Leo Kruger do to Xavier Woods?
The Action:
Match 1: Colin Cassidy & Enzo Amore vs Scott Dawson & Alexander Rusev
Winners: Colin Cassidy & Enzo Amore via disqualification
Amore says that the sawft guys are back-fighters and he ain’t happy about it! Lefort introduces his money making legionnaires…Rusev is freakin scary.
Amore starts with Dawson and pops him with a few jabs, then celebrates by tagging in Big Cass. Cass catches Dawson’s foot and after obliging him by putting it down, nails him in the gut with a knee. He continues by hammering the back of Dawson and popping him in the face. Cass tags Enzo back in to lay in some jabs. Dawson turns Amore clear over with a lariat and gets a two count. Rusev tags in and boots Enzo in the ribs. Rusev hits rapid headbutts on the mat then knees to the back as he hangs Enzo in the ropes. He follows with a scoop slam and Dawson tags back in, stopping Enzo from making a comeback and knocking Cass to the floor. Dawson holds Enzo up for a Hart-Attack style spinning heel kick and Rusev tries to make a cover, but the ref calls for the bell.
William Regal concludes that this must be due to Lefort’s guys being in the ring for longer than a five count and is proven right as Jersey’s finest are announced as the winners. This was…wonky.
Bo Dallas
Bo Dallas, all goofy smiles, makes his way to the ring to address the Bo-lievers. “I bo-lieve I can fly”. Bo says he came out during Zayn’s match to cheer him on and claims he’s a mentor to him. Bo continues that when he’s healthy and cleared, he’ll wrestle Zayn…just not for the NXT Title, as he hasn’t earned it. Bo thanks everyone again and says he loves them.
Renee welcomes in CJ Parker to see what’s going on between he and Tyler Breeze. Parker says Breeze is in love with his outer-self, where as Parker is in touch with his inner-self. Parker wants to spread his love all over the world. Breeze does the world a favor and jumps Parker, then takes a selfie over his fallen body.
Match 2: Sasha Banks vs Paige (NXT Women’s Champion), non-title
Winner: Paige via pinfall
Sasha wrenches the arm to start, but Paige rolls out and delivers a headbutt. Paige bounces Sasha off the top rope, then again. Sasha answers with a knee to the gut and tries to bounce Paige off the ropes, but she blocks and delivers a third. Paige covers, but Sasha is out at two. Paige tries to pin Sasha by her hands, but she springs up and gets a victory roll for two. Sasha with a rear waistlock and Paige walks her to the corner to break out with a flurry of elbows, then stomps her. Sasha kicks up from the mat and schoolgirls Paige into the bottom turnbuckle. Back from a commercial, Sasha has Paige in a Camel Clutch. Paige tries to fight up but gets her back stomped and Sasha settles for a chinlock and body scissors. Paige gets sent to the ropes and Sasha hits a back elbow for a two count. Back to the chinlock/body scissors midring and Paige tries to find a way out. She eventually spins out to her feet and reverses a scoop slam into a schoolgirl for two, but Sasha immediately answers with a dropkick for two. Chinlock/body scissors number three is countered with a bridge, forcing the break. Sasha with a kick to the gut, but Paige blocks a suplex attempt and hits a fisherman’s of her own. Sasha is up to her feet first, but Paige delivers a headbutt from the apron and then her customary knee strikes. Sasha with a small package as Paige approaches, but out at two, then she dodges a dropkick from the Champ. Sasha tries a crossbody, but Paige rolls it through and hooks the leg for the three count.
Paige offers a handshake and Sasha is upset, ultimately attacking Paige from behind and using a strait jacket neckbreaker ala Damien Sandow’s Terminus to lay her out. Banks/Summer vs Paige/Emma, anyone?
Summer Rae meets Sasha in the back and they chat about how great it was to beat up Paige. Sasha hugs Summer, who flips her hair and rolls her eyes – So there’s dissension already.
Match 3: Leo Kruger vs Xavier Woods
Winner: Xavier Woods via pinfall
Kruger attacked Woods last week in the parking lot for no apparent reason. I still love Kruger’s entrance – It’s so simple, but effective. The titantron looking at his face, the music and the fact that he barks his name at the crowd.
Kruger runs away from Woods and uses the ropes to get some space, then bails to the floor. Woods chases and Kruger hops back in, then bails again and mocks Woods’ dancing entrance. Woods catches Kruger by the hair and delivers some hard to believe trash talk before Kruger drops his arm across the rope and delivers a running elbow. Kruger immediately goes to work on the arm with elbows and his shoulder. Woods is forced down to the mat in an armbar and tries to fight out, but Kruger keeps it locked on for a lengthy time. Woods tries to elbow out, but another arm wrench grounds him. Woods pushes Kruger to the corner and tries to punch out, but gets put down yet again. This is a two minute arm bar and it’s being done in a perfectly effective way. Woods to the corner once more and uses an arm drag to escape, only to walk into an elbow. Kruger returns the favor by eating a headscissors and Woods tries to follow up with a plancha, but whiffs, leaving both men on the floor.
Back in from a commercial, Kruger is stomping away at Woods in the ring. Kruger drops a pair of elbows and gets a one count as Woods tries to shake feeling back into his left arm. Kruger wraps Woods up for a snap suplex with a hammerlock applied for a two count. Kruger rips at the face of Woods and goes back to the armbar, transitioning to a hammerlock. With the hammerlock applied, Kruger bends Woods’ other arm by his fingers and keeps him grounded. Kruger drops knees on the back and trapped arm, but Woods manages a jawbreaker to make some space. Woods with kicks to the leg and Kruger answers with a jab to the throat. More leg kicks and another jab. Woods hits a dropkick after escaping a scoop slam, but runs into a backbreaker for two. Kruger hits a Jackhammer for another two count and begins to show frustration. Kruger mounts the middle rope and comes up empty on a diving elbow, allowing Woods to rally. Kruger runs into an elbow and Woods begins to strike back, chopping him across the ring and hitting a discus punch, then a shoulder block. Woods hits a front dropkick and nips up, then tries the Honor Roll flipping lariat but Kruger spikes him with a spinebuster for yet another nearfall. Kruger misses with the Slice and takes an enziguiri, which Woods follows with Lost in the Woods (a sliding reverse STO) but he only gets two. Woods hits the Honor Roll this time and then a jumping Eat Defeat to beat Kruger.
The Reaction:
Weird ending out of nowhere. One of two things happened – That was the planned ending, since Regal was “clued in” on commentary OR this was some kind of weird audible because the ref thought Amore was legit KO’d and Regal was dubbed in after. Either way, oddball finish and this rivalry will continue. Amore is entertaining, but we need to see some offense other than jabs out of him.
Well they flipped that switch something fierce. It was cute when Bo was oblivious or even in denial. Now it’s way over the top…which is probably what they’re going for anyway.
Good match from both. I’ve said before I like Sasha and she was allowed to show that she could take the NXT Women’s Champion to the limit – Important to note that Paige doesn’t win with her finish here; she used a roll up out of a counter. That’s meaningful in modern WWE. It’s an “out” that says she lost, but didn’t get beat. Was curious to see if Sasha would fall under the spell of Summer Rae and now we have a split of heel and face Divas in NXT. Odd that with all the wrestling moves in the world, she used one from an established WWE Superstar.
A healthy portion of that match was “just” an armbar and a hammerlock, but it was done in the ideal way. Woods repeatedly tried to fight out, but Kruger being a good grappler, wouldn’t let him. When Woods finally broke free, he fought back with all he had and Kruger had an answer for damn near everything, until Woods countered the Slice and finished him off. I like this as a set up for a rivalry and wouldn’t mind seeing this match again, but unless I’m forgetting something, Kruger’s motivation for the original attack was basically non existent. Woods is on that slide of bouncing around between finishers – The sliding STO was it at a point, and I could swear he’s won with the Honor Roll before. His version of Eat Defeat will work fine, since it’s a move that can “come out of nowhere” and can be done to damn near anyone. Just slap a name on it and call it a day.
The Preview:
None given, but I expect follow up and lead in to Sasha/Summer vs Paige and Emma making a save to set up a ladies tag. Woods winning clean in the main event can only mean he’s the next focus for them, so he’ll likely have a match next week where Kruger interferes or something. And that’s fine – Woods is a stellar performer and I’m happy to see more Kruger. I have a feeling we see Dallas/Zayn for a title sooner rather than later. Zayn and Bo are both on the road for dark matches and there’s really no logical reason to keep Zayn in developmental, shy of waiting for a gimmick or storyline for him. Bo will always be lower midcard fodder when he hits the main roster, so they don’t have to wait too long for him.
The Shill:
I’ll not go into a huge side chat here as we sit here, years removed from a tragedy. I’ll simply offer a huge thank you to those lost, those that helped. I’m a born and raised New Yorker – I remember the fear of “who do I know that could be there”. I remember sitting in 11th grade physics as the announcement came over the loudspeaker. But we pull through; we’re not SAWFT. If you lost someone, I hope you can find some modicum of solace in our little microcosm of pro wrestling and my (hopefully) entertaining musings on it.
As always, if you like what you read here, let me know in the comments or on twitter @sbfantom. I sincerely would like to hear what people think and strike up some conversation!
