It’s NXT time, and we’re live from Full Sail University in Tampa, Florida. Your commentators are Renee Young, Rich Brennan and Alex Riley, who hype NXT’s move to Wednesday nights.
Match 1: Tyson Kidd vs Finn Balor
Kidd makes his way to the ring in hoodie and headphones that don’t seem to be connected to anything, and the commentators start hyping the WWE network as Finn Balor makes his entrance.
The match starts off quickly as Balor hits a dropkick, followed by chops and a corner hesitation dropkick. The Irishman is all over Kidd so the Canadian escapes to the outside, only to be chased by Balor. Clubbing forearms on the ramp lead to Kidd being thrown back into the ring, only to roll out the other side. As Balor chases Kidd hits the heel move and throws his opponent into the barricade, then stands on his throat, kicks him in the back and poses for the crowd.
As Kidd rolls Balor back into the ring Renee Young points out that Kidd has dedicated the match to his cats, and in fact has pictures of them on his boots. Because that’s what gets a heel over, being a crazy cat guy. Kidd hits a legdrop and poses again while Balor sells like a champ.
After a short rest hold Kidd taunts Balor with a ‘Kill me, Finn!’ and hits a neckbreaker, then an elbow drop and a pin attempt. Do you remember the last match that was won with an elbow drop? No, me neither. Balor kicks out at one but Kidd remains in control, hitting a series of knees and tying up Finn in a tree of woe. As Tyson chokes and kicks his trapped opponent the crowd starts duelling chants, although it’s clear that Balor has the lion’s share of support.
Back to his feet and Balor fights back, hitting a pele kick followed by a floating spinning neckbreaker. As Kidd climbs the top rope Finn hits a top rope enziguiri, spilling Tyson to the outside. This leads to Balor hitting an awesome tope con hilo, hitting the ramp hard and opening up a cut on his lower back.
As Finn climbs back into the ring Tyson reverses, then hits his running apron kick. After throwing Balor back into the ring Kidd hits a springboard elbow drop, followed by a pin and a one count. Kidd locks in the sharpshooter and Balor slowly makes his way to the ropes, making his opponent look like a legitimate threat after months of being buried and booked as a whiny bitch.
Back to their feet and Balor hits a reverse Bloody Sunday, laying Kidd out and setting him up for the top rope double stomp. Rather than taking it lying down, Kidd struggles to his feet and gets the stomp to the back of his head for his troubles, then it’s pin and one, two, three.
Solid match for both competitors, making Tyson Kidd look like a real threat while proving that Finn Balor has the potential to be one of the top workers in the company.
Recap of the Sami Zayn / Adrian Neville feud, ending with the locker room filling the ring to congratulate Zayn on his win. Feel good moment of NXT 2014.
Next up is an interview with Bull Dempsey with the fat man laying out his battle plan, apparently not realising that his role was made redundant the day that Kevin Owens came to NXT.
Match 2: Bull Dempsey vs Baron Corbin
Corbin enters first, followed by Dempsey with what sounds suspiciously like a piped in Bull chant. Corbin towers over Dempsey as the match kicks off – slugfest from both competitors. Bull bails to the outside and Baron follows him, followed by more brawling.
Yet more kicks and punches, then Bull goes to the top rope and misses the diving headbutt. Corbin picks him up and hits the End of Days, which is the first actual wrestling move in the match.
Essentially a squash match that should really end Dempsey’s run in NXT.
Match 3: Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks vs Natalya & Charlotte
Lynch and Banks seem to be playing a rock chick gimmick, while the teaming of second generation stars Natalya and Charlotte bring a level of experience to the ring that their challengers may struggle to match. Charlotte towers over everyone else in the ring including the ref.
Becky and Natalya start out with some chain wrestling, followed by stiff-looking elbows. Probably not the best idea to shoot on a member of the Hart family, Becky. Natalya and Charlotte hit simultaneous baseball slides, throwing Becky back into the ring and following up with a double stalling suplex. Charlotte really seems to be enjoying herself as she tags Natalya back in.
Sasha finally makes the tag but fares little better than her partner, with Natalya literally running over the top of her, followed up by a basement dropkick. Pin and a two count by Natalya, then Banks finally reverses an Irish whip into the corner and hits a double knee on Natalya draped across the second rope. Banks tries a pin on Natalya about six inches from the ropes, showing a serious lack of ring awareness, but Nattie kicks out at two.
Cravat style rest hold from Banks while she screams at the crowd, then a tag to Charlotte who unfortunately stands on her partner as she climbs into the ring. Chops by Charlotte take Sasha down, followed by a suplex into a neckbreaker. Becky breaks up the pin and the heels try a double team move, but Charlotte cartwheels out of the way, only to be caught in a cravat neckbreaker by Sasha followed by a pin with a handful of tights.
Not a great match but continues the feud between Charlotte and Sasha, and at least Natalya has something better to do than that farting gimmick…
Match 4: Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn
The man formerly known as Pac makes his way to the ring first, followed by Sami Zayn to a huge crowd reaction. Rich Brennan lets us know that Sami’s fans are called Zayniacs, which isn’t the worst name I’ve ever heard. For the record, the worst name for fans I’ve ever heard is when Test christened his fans testicles. Dear lord…
Handshake starts the match followed by a quick overhead armdrag by Zayn, then another. Zayn locks in a headlock while the crowd starts an Ole chant, then Neville hits a huge armdrag. The commentators speculate on the health of both men as the match goes back and forth, with Neville demonstrating his athleticism with a leaping head scissors takedown.
Zayn locks in another headlock followed by a series of reversals as the pace starts to pick up, both men anticipating the other’s moves. Sami hits a big dropkick and covers for one, followed by some stalling from Neville. Zayn seems to have learnt something and doesn’t fall for it, hitting a hard elbow and talking some smack. Slugfest is broken up by spinning kicks from Neville, leading to Sami being thrown to the outside. Neville follows with a top rope twisting dive, slamming both himself and Zayn into the barricade.
Neville is in control and hits a running European uppercut in the corner, covering Zayn for a two count. Zayn reverses another uppercut attempt and hits a flying cross-body into a two count, followed by another series of reversals. Momentum shifts as Neville hits a wicked code red/Canadian destroyer variation, dropping Zayn on his head.
A groggy Zayn gets back to his feet and tries to hit the blue thunder bomb, but Neville reverses with a series of elbows to the back of the head. Don’t you know that’s how people get concussions, dude? Zayn dodges a kick and hits the blue thunder for another two count.
Channeling Kurt Angle, Zayn hits consecutive German suplexes, but Neville lands on his feet on the third and hits a big elbow. Neville reverses an electric chair into a headscissor, dumping Zayn onto the back of his head once again.
Zayn teases an injury and suckers Neville into the koji clutch, but Adrian escapes, only to be hit with a nasty overhead suplex. Sami goes for the helluva kick but Neville rolls out of the ring, giving Zayn the chance to set up the diving through the rope DDT that made his match with Cesaro a MOTY contender. Once again Neville reverses, hitting a standing sidekick to Sami’s head as he dives through the ropes.
Adrian goes to the top rope for the red arrow, Zayn rolls out of the way and tries another helluva kick, only to be reversed again and rolled up for a long two count. After another reversal Sami hits the exploder suplex into the corner and finally hits the helluva kick on an exhausted Neville.
One, two, three, and Sami Zayn retains the NXT championship in an excellent match from two of the best rising stars in the WWE today.
As Sami celebrates Kevin Owens hits the ring and delivers a huge powerbomb to Zayn, standing on his throat for good measure. It’s interesting to note that Owens is still sporting the cut on the bridge of his nose courtesy of a botched palm strike from hippie waste-of-space CJ Parker, but he seems to be setting himself up as a genuine threat to Zayn’s NXT title.
With two great matches, one passable tag team bout and a squash match with a fat bloke, this was overall another solid show from NXT.
