The show kicks off with NXT General Manager William Regal making an announcement about the next NXT special on February 11th and a tournament to decide who is the number one contender for Sami Zayn’s NXT title.
Match 1: Sami Zayn vs Tye Dillinger
Zayn hits the ring and takes out Dillinger, tossing him over the top rope, then picks up a microphone and calls out Kevin Owens. Rather than the French-Canadian roughhouser, General Manager Regal makes another appearance, chiding Sami for losing control. Regal explains that Owens hasn’t earned a title shot, so Zayn asks for a non-title match and Regal sets the match for NXT Takeover.
Not even a squash match, with Dillinger looking like a total jobber.
Back from the break and Regal confirms that he has set the Owens/Zayn match for Takeover, but Sami would see his nemesis much sooner than that, when they held a contract signing in the ring next week. Wow, a contract signing. Excuse me while I try to contain my excitement.
Match 2: Curtis Axel vs Finn Balor
It seems like Curtis Axel has been sent to NXT because the writers don’t have any ideas for him on Raw or Smackdown. After an extended tag team with Ryback that didn’t elevate either or them, the former Michael McGillicuddy has watched his more muscular yet less talented partner get pushed to the moon. The commentators generously describe the move to NXT as Axel wanting to ‘kickstart’ his career, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the son of Mr Perfect in the next round of future endeavours.
Finn Balor makes his way to the ring accompanied by orchestral music and a funky lightshow, and we’re reminded that this is the first match in the tournament to crown a number one contender.
Slow start as Axel trades insults with the crowd and uses his size to push Balor around. A reversal sees Axel run the ropes and Balor hit him with a high elevation dropkick, sending his opponent to the outside. Finn measures him and hits a tope con hilo, knocking Axel to the ground without hurting himself too badly.
Back in the ring Axel stalls for time and then takes out Finn’s knee using the ref as a shield, then hits him with a clothesline to the back of the head. Balor kicks out of a pin attempt at two and Axel continues his punchy kicky offence, ignoring the fact that he’s actually a decent wrestler when given the chance.
Axel locks in either a ‘deep rear chinlock’ (commentators) or a rest hold (me) and keeps it locked in for a long time, making crazy faces like a low rent Luke Harper. Balor eventually fights his way to his feet but drops his head too soon on an Irish whip and gets a knee to the face as a reward. Long two count for Axel.
Suddenly, Finn fires up and hits Axel with a pair of running forearms, followed by a Pele kick, then the running neckbreaker that is apparently called the Sling Blade. Because the hottest NXT prospect is sort of slow like Billy-Bob in that movie, I guess?
Big dropkick by Balor in the corner, then the Irishman climbs to the top rope and hits the double foot stomp for the three count and the victory. Another strong match for Balor finished with some great elevation on the foot-stomp finish, now being called the Coup de Gras. Because that’s Irish, right?
Recap of the divas tag match last week when Charlotte lost to Sasha Banks by tights-grab, then into an interview with Sasha. Not the worst interview I’ve ever seen, but The Boss definitely needs some work before moving up to the big leagues.
Next up we’ve got a promo from Bull Dempsey, delivered to his hands like he’s holding an invisible script. He says something about the contender’s tournament not having any counting in it, which he seems to be happy about. I guess he’s meant to be intense, but he looks like he’s got a cold. He repeats his Bull chant and looks at the camera with his best menacing/sleepy stare.
The commentators hype that Bull and Baron Corbin have a rematch next week, which should be up there with Flair/Steamboat in terms of psychology.
Match 3: Sasha Banks vs Charlotte – NXT Women’s Championship
Sasha Banks enters first accompanied by her lackey Becky Lynch. After more shilling for Takeover, Charlotte makes her way to the ring, woo’ing all the way in case you forget who her father is. In the ring Charlotte towers over Banks, but the challenger doesn’t back down and they lock up.
The lockup is held for an almost ridiculous amount of time, with the divas eventually rolling out of the ring to break. Lynch tries to interfere but gets taken out by a Charlotte clothesline, followed by a hard slap to Sasha before rolling her back into the ring.
Charlotte picks up Sasha and hits a delayed powerslam, then drops a knee on her face. Banks reverses a clothesline into a Lou Thetz press, but gets thrown out and Charlotte hits a Thetz of her own. For some reason Becky Lynch hits the ring and attacks Charlotte at this point, leading to the referee calling for the bell.
The heels beat down Charlotte in the ring before Bailey makes the save to a good reaction from the crowd. Bailey stares at the title and then hits Charlotte with a belly to belly suplex, bringing out William Regal yet again. Fortunately, Regal continues to be awesome and sets a fatal four way for the Women’s title in three weeks time.
Back from the break and an interview with Kevin Owens. Owens looks pissed off and surly, ignoring the questions and saying he would see Sami at the contract signing next week.
Match 4: The Vaudvillains vs Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake
Simon Gotch and Aiden English make their way to the ring accompanied by their old-timey music and lighting, while Murphy and Blake wait patiently in their corner. These two have put on some strong performances in recent months and might benefit from a gimmick change (or you know, any gimmick at all). At least they’ve stopped wearing the matching ripped trunks.
Gotch starts out with Murphy before quickly tagging in English, hitting elbows and knees before tagging his partner back in. The Vaudvillains use the five count to their advantage and hit a nice backbreaker/suplex double team on Murphy.
The crowd don’t seem to be very interested as English and Gotch wear down the hapless Buddy Murphy, making quick tags and hitting some classic British style offence. This sequence repeats a couple more times, before Murphy finally wakes up and tags his partner.
Wesley Blake hits the ring like a man possessed, hitting clotheslines and back elbows, followed by a springboard elbow, kip up and powerslam. Gotch breaks up the pinfall at two and a half, only for Murphy to hit Aiden English with a kick to the head from the outside. Blake takes advantage and rolls up English, getting the pinfall and unexpected win.
English looks like he can’t believe it as Muprhy and Blake celebrate on the ramp, hugging it out like people who know they probably won’t be winning another match for a while.
Short Tyler Breeze promo about beautiful people and uggos. Nothing to see here.
Interview with Blake and Murphy, coherent only sporadically. Wesley is the better speaker of the duo, and Buddy seems to have an Australian accent, which is pretty funny for some reason.
Match 5: Tyler Breeze vs Hideo Itami
Despite being recognized as one of the best wresters in the world, the man formerly known as KENTA doesn’t seem to be getting over as quickly as his tag partner Finn Balor. Just my opinion, but a small part of this may be Hideo’s ring entrance gear, which looks like a cross between Ryu from Street Fighter and The Bride from Kill Bill.
Breeze locks in a headlock, only to be pushed off and narrowly avoid a spinning kick from Itami. Some cursory chain wrestling and Breeze continues to dodge kicks from Itami, shouting at him like it’s illegal to kick people in the face.
Tyler briefly takes control after using the ref as a shield, only to be stopped in his tracks by a running knee and kick from Hideo. Breeze kicks out at one and manages to throw Itami out of the ring, following up with a kick to the ribs and a high elevation drop kick. Breeze takes control and begins to wear down Itami, dropping knees before locking in a deep rear chinlock.
Spinning neckbreaker by Breeze leads to a two count, then we break for an ad and come back to find Itami locked in a deep rear chinlock. Again. It’s like WWE teach rookies there’s only one submission move in the world…
Itami fights back with a series of stiff kicks and a running knee in the corner, followed by a rope-assisted DDT and flying clothesline. Breeze kicks out of the pin at two, makes a brief recovery, then Itami hits him with a fisherman suplex, followed by a long two count.
The match seems to rhythm for a minute, with a series of reversals ending up in a supermodel kick from Breeze. Hideo kicks out at two and both men are down, eventually fighting their way to their feet. Breeze stomps a mudhole in Itami and lifts him onto the top rope, but Itami fights his way out. Breeze blocks a kick and hits a cool move I’m going to call a crucifix destroyer, dropping Itami on the back of his head.
As Breeze continues the beat down, Itami gradually gets to his feet, eventually unleashing a combination of strikes and a volley of kicks. Hesitation dropkick connects in the corner, then Itami hits a big running kick to Breeze’s face. Itami pins Breeze, one, two, three..
This was a solid back and forth match between Itami and Breeze, with the model getting in more offence that most of Itami’s opponents to date.
With four decent matches and a build to the Zayn/Owens feud, that wraps up another fine episode of NXT. Still the home of the best wrestling on TV, and made all the more charming by the frequent appearances of William Regal.
