The Glimpse:
Sami Zayn is in tag action against Antonio Cesaro and Leo Kruger…oh and Bo Dallas is there too. He’s tagging with Sami. Three out of four isn’t that bad, I guess. You can’t get mad at me, folks – The crowd agrees.
The Action:
Match 1: Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy vs Tons of Funk
Winners: No Contest
Amore and Cassidy, the realest guys in the NXT arena, remind us that they are undefeated as a team and most definitely not sawft. Amore plans to do some dancing. And they do. Amore and Cassidy want no part of ToF, but Mason Ryan roadblocks them from leaving.
Into the ring, it’s stereo splashes in the corner for Amore and Cassidy, then a double splash on the mat for Cassidy. Ryan slides in and lays Amore out. Tons of Funk convinces Mason to dance before we call it a segment.
Dusty Rhodes is in the back and talking up Paige and Emma’s match last week. Summer Rae comes in to talk trash to both women and we get some bad acting before Dusty settles things. Summer suggests a dance contest and Emma ups the ante, making it a dance battle. Then she cabbage patches. Then Paige says dance all you want, I’ll kick either of your asses. THANK YOU PAIGE.
Match 2: Charlotte vs Sasha Banks
Winner: Charlotte via pinfall
Sasha grabs a headlock out of the tie up then a headlock takeover which Charlotte rolls over for a one count. Sasha hangs on as Charlotte fights to her feet, sending Sasha to the ropes from which she hits a headscissors arm drag and a dropkick for one. Sasha follows up with an arm drag and arm bar but Charlotte fights up and out and hits Charlotte’s Web for two, then a big time chop. Sasha goes cat fight on Charlotte in protest and grabs a knuckle lock then a rope running arm drag for one. Sasha Banks locks in a Camel Clutch (I really fought an urge to make a “making her humble” joke here) mid ring. Sasha has a finger from each hand in Charlotte’s mouth and the ref apparently doesn’t care. Sasha rolls over for a pin but Charlotte kicks out. Banks follows up with double knees in the corner and a whip – Charlotte flips up and over to the apron and Sasha does, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the slowest “run into corner” spot in history. Charlotte ducks a right hand and bashes Banks into the turnbuckle, then hits a running clothesline and her flipping low Cutter to end it.
Renee Young interviews Tyler Breeze and has a disgusted look on her face. In the background, I think CJ Parker, sporting some dreads, fools around in the background. At one point he pops up with a dreadlock mustache and I damn near lost it.
Match 3: Aiden English & Mickey Keegan vs Wyatt Family
Winners: Wyatt Family via pinfall
Ah, good – The Wyatt’s Raw entrance is now done just the same on NXT. The boys are in the ring as Bray blows out the lantern.
With a nod, Bray Wyatt unleashes his Family and Aiden English takes a corner avalanche, Harper’s discus lariat and Rowan’s splash.
Wyatt enters the ring and delivers Sister Abigail to English. The crowd begs him to do it again, but he commands they calm down. Wyatt continues that there are many kinds of dreamers – Those who do nothing, those who fail, those who succeed. Wyatt says that those who feel like outcasts should listen up. Hell has frozen, pigs are flying. Fear is a liar. Wyatt screams that the world should take notice of him, for he is bringing down the machine. Wyatt says goodbye to NXT “for now”.
Neville and Graves are in the back. Neville says he’ll be at ringside for Graves’ match. Graves mumbles about something and rolls his eyes.
Match 4: Scott Dawson vs Corey Graves
Winner: Corey Graves via submission
LeFort comes out and talks about money (wearing money pants, no less). When he thinks “money” he thinks Scott Dawson. You’re the only one, ace. I have got to admit this one here, guys – The snark is about to go through the roof. I couldn’t humanly care less about Corey Graves vs Scott Dawson.
Graves counters a whip, but runs himself into the corner. Dawson puts Graves on the middle rope and boots him in the gut. Dawson drops a leg then hits a back elbow as Graves comes off the ropes, good for a one count. Dawson drops an elbow this time for another one. Dawson grabs Graves by the nose, then drops an elbow and gets two. Dawson delivers a headbutt to the small of the back (old school). Graves hits a chop block after ducking a clothesline and wins with Lucky 13.
The Shield show up and Rollins reminds Graves they left him in a heap last time they were there. Rollins mocks the NXT Tag Team Titles as he hoists the WWE ones over head. Ambrose says Neville “slid into” Kassius Ohno’s spot and isn’t really a champion. In fact, he’s a thief and has committed…and injustice. Ambrose continues and challenges Neville one on one. Neville says he’s up for it and that Ambrose should put the US Title on the line. Ambrose is happy to next week.
Match 5: Sami Zayn & Bo Dallas (NXT Champion) vs Leo Kruger & Antonio Cesaro
Winners: Leo Kruger & Antonio Cesaro via pinfall
Bo Dallas is the biggest heel on NXT.
Kruger starts it off with Zayn. Kruger refuses a clean break after a tie up and it leads to Zayn getting a rear waistlock. Kruger grabs the wrist and Zayn rolls out. Zayn is up and over in the corner and hits a pair of arm drags, then the old lucha arm drag into an arm bar. Dallas asks for a tag, and the crowd riots when he gets it. Kruger sneaks away before Bo can put hands on him and tags in Cesaro. Bo hits arm drags of his own and teases a tag, but Cesaro boots away at him, then hits an elbow in the corner. Cesaro puts Bo in the corner and kicks Zayn off the apron, only to take a dropkick from Dallas. Tags on both sides but Zayn is incensed and chases Cesaro, running into Kruger and getting taken down. Cesaro tags right back in and hits a short arm clothesline, then pins Zayn with one foot. Zayn begins to stir and fights out of the enemy corner, but Cesaro powers him in and makes the tag to Kruger.
Back from a commercial, Kruger is still in charge and hits a snap suplex for two. Cesaro tags himself back in and stomps away at Zayn, who tries to fight back but Cesaro just absorbs the blows and hits a huge European uppercut for two. Cesaro wants the standing chin lock, but Zayn battles out of it. Cesaro powers him into the corner again for a tag to Kruger and a headbutt. Kruger continues with a jumping knee drop and another two count. Chin lock on the mat from Kruger now, but Zayn fights up and tries a sunset flip for two. Kruger prevents the tag by dragging Zayn back to Cesaro and they split the wishbone on Zayn. Cesaro stomps the head of Zayn and whips him to the corner for forearms. Zayn tries a boot, but Cesaro catches his leg and transitions to a powerbomb for two. Kruger is back in and hits a pair of double stomps, then kneels on the head of Zayn. Kruger goes to a front facelock and crawls back to tag Cesaro. Cesaro puts on a kneeling chinlock, but Zayn gets out and boots Cesaro. Kruger grabs Zayn’s leg to stop the tag, but he rolls through and gets Dallas back in the match. Bo hits forearms then a gut punch and clothesline. Dallas follows up with his rope run bulldog, but Cesaro breaks it up. Zayn takes Cesaro to the floor and they fight up the ramp. Back in the ring, Kruger runs right into the Hug from Hell and tries to escape, but Bo throws him back in, only to run face first into Kruger’s knee. Kruger follows with The Slice and pins the NXT Champion.
The Reaction:
So Tons of Funk is on NXT duty now? They cannot be happy about that. Unofficial squash so the realest dudes in the room can continue to claim to be undefeated. Perfectly fine.
Aside from the comically slow corner spot, Sasha was actually pretty on her game here. Charlotte is still new, but aside from her Velvet Sky lollipop lariats, she’s pretty ok. As a “moves guy”, it bugs me that her pinning combination has a name but her finisher doesn’t. Buuuut her finisher is a cutter variant and that makes it fine in my book. This one gets a thumbs up. The NXT Divas division is stellar compared to WWE’s. It’d be nice to see Paige vs AJ with the leashes off. Superplexes and shining wizards for everyone!
A squash of the highest order, followed by a great “good bye” promo. The fact that a heel can give a proper good bye shows SO much for this guy’s future. If you’re one of those “Ah, I’ll just read about NXT” type of folks, do your best to at least watch this promo.
Ah, nothing like a guy getting zero offense, hitting one move and winning, right? Dawson has some of the parts – He is very crisp in his offense, but the gimmick and the completely out of place manager are doing him NO favors. Now this promo exchange? Much better. Neville seems far more comfortable on the mic than previously and that was the only thing that could have possibly been an argument against him moving up to the main roster and making an impact. Ambrose was of course stellar as he spoke and Rollins has come so far from his Tyler Black days. Reigns stood tall and strong and that’s perfectly fine.
Now that is how you use a tag match to build up a title match! Bo comes in to run wild on the bad guys, he ends up one on one with the number one contender and not only does he lose, he loses CLEAN. Excellent visual, it puts the seed of doubt into the minds of the fans and Bo Dallas gets beat! No but seriously, all around a good match. Will Bo be a short lived NXT Champion? Will Kruger hit a Slice next week and get a very near two count? At least one of those is a resounding “Yes”. If we get a continuation of Zayn and Cesaro out of it too? That’s just icing on the cake. Podcasters on some of the “big sites” seem to think Kruger is too green to hit the main roster. I don’t know what matches they’re watching, but he’s as solid, if not better, than most of the mid card of WWE. He has a simple but actionable gimimck with a fun entrance. He even has a built in feud with a babyface in Justin Gabriel if they would acknowledge NXT on television. Perfect way to establish him right away and accent the “hunter” bit.
The Preview:
Bo Dallas defends the NXT Title against Leo Kruger after Summer Rae and Emma have a dance battle and Neville takes on Ambrose for the WWE US Title.
The Shill:
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!
