We start with the aftermath of last week’s episode, with Carmella being checked on by Trainers and the referee after being on the receiving end of a stiff Eva Marie Kick. Concern backstage turns to relief as Carmella is able to walk out of the ring. Matt Bloom immediately checks on her and tells her never to be afraid of telling the ref something is wrong. Bayley also checks on her.
Afterwards BayMella go out to dinner with Enzo, Cass and Emma and Enzo immediately brings the conversation to things that are really important, like Cass apparently producing as much sound as the Niagara Falls when he goes to the bathroom. According to Enzo, Cass should learn pissing like a woman. And thank you Enzo for making me write this.
We soon learn that Carmella did not suffer a concussion and will follow her as she takes some rest at home, carving pumpkins with boyfriend Cass and fretting over having to take some time out of the ring, before she gets put through some exercises by medical trainer Tara to see if there are no lasting effects. Finally she is cleared to return to action and does so in a six-woman tag match also involving Asuka and Athena.
We then see Matt Bloom arriving at the Performance Center in the early morning. Bloom tells us that coaches also need to stay in shape and we watch him and Sara Amato work out. Funny moment and lesson of this episode at the same time: working out with weights and having nipple rings don’t always go together. Thank you for this demonstration Lord Tensai, you were wonderful.
Of course being head-coach isn’t always fun and games and Matt does have a lot of responsibilities. He also has to have an eye on everything as demonstrated when he sets Mojo Rawley in his place after the latter was goofing off in the background. Finally we see Matt Bloom meeting the nail in his coffin… I mean ZZ who has apparently suffered some kind of knee injury (he doesn’t seem to sure himself) which allows him to do only light training. Bloom used to have a slightly exasperated expression when it came to ZZ, now it’s more resigned than anything else. ZZ proudly tells him he is eating a lot of broccoli now, and Bloom congratulates the Gator Boy on having learned to eat vegetables.
Speaking of ZZ we see him rushing off in a white corvette (I think it’s a corvette anyway) to a crocodile encounter park in Tampa. See, here is the thing with ZZ. When he’s in a swamp, surrounded by gators and crocodiles, the guy really seems at home. And I do not even say that in a mocking way because he really knows his stuff and respect for that. But in a ring? Facing another wrestler? Or even doing cardio? He seems about as much at home as gator in Antarctica.
Next up is Lovepreet who is training under the watchful eye of coach Robbie Brookeside who berates him for nailing his opponent with a careless low blow. Later Lovepreet gets to work a tag match at the Performance Center and the reaction to his performance is rather positive. He is then booked in a Battle Royal on a NXT live show. In between all that, Lovepreet invites coach Brookside to a traditional Indian dinner, as a way to thank him for all he’s doing for him. Brookeside first says he can take the every Indian spice Lovepreet throws at him but then wisely retracts from that. I’ve eaten some of those traditional Indian dishes, it’s been more than ten years and my stomach is still burning. The Lovepreet storyline ends with him stating that coach Brookside is like an older brother to him.
Tino Sabbatelli also gets a bit of the spotlight. Now he’s been cleared to wrestle, he is featured in the main event of those Performance center matches. His performance is well received and Tye Dillinger, amongst others, give him some feedback. Some words of wisdom from Dillinger who tells Tino that with his ripped physique, people are going to hate him whatever he does so he’s got to play with that.
Things look less bright for Diva hopeful Nhooph/Aliyah. She meets William Regal to work some more on her entrance, and while said entrance looked to me like a teenage girl playing at being a Diva (probably because that’s exactly what it is), kind grandfather Regal patiently gave her some pointers, telling her to pay attention to the cameras and making sure the audience get what her character is supposed to be by the time she approaches the ring of they will switch off. Aliyah then performs her entrance in front of the other PC dwellers, and completely bombs. She then cuts a promo that’s even worse. Regal now looks like the grandfather who just learned his favorite granddaughter made some inappropriate comments on twitter. Not good.
But the main character of this week’s episode was Bayley as she gets some make-up advices and puts over the “world-class” WWE make-up artists. That’s so typical WWE, world-class when it come to make-up, shitty when it comes to creative. Anyway we then meet her and her boyfriend at her home, watching Sacha Banks vs Bayley for the 100th time (according to her boyfriend) or 92th time (according to Bayley herself). Bayley talks about how crazy it is that Steve Austin put her and Sasha over on his podcast. Shatner brings up the 4 Horsewomen curtain call and gives them credit for the Divas Revolution. That’s not how WWE tells the story, William, Stephanie McMahon is single-handedly responsible for the Divas Revolution. With some help from Nikky Bella. And they wouldn’t lie to us, would they?
Bayley then meets with Sara Amato for a performance review and it’s all good of course. Sara puts over Bayley’s fan-base and says it’s second to none in NXT. She also give bayley a new goal and that is picking out talent and helping them improve. Which is the reason Bayley plays around with Eva Marie and Nia Jax for the moment instead of having awesome matches with Asuka for example. But it’s not a bad thing indeed, Bayley has proven she is very good in that role and the best way for inexperienced performers to learn is get in the ring against great athletes. Although I still maintain Eva Marie is beyond help.
BayMella is then reunited as they let Sara lee tag along with them on a car ride. Sara Lee seems rather impressed by her present company as bayley and Carmella give her some advice on how to cope with the NXT environment.
A hush falls over the episode as Lord Palpatine… I mean Triple H arrives and announces to Darth Ceman that he wants a meeting with Bayley and Sasha Banks. Both are pretty nervous about this as Bayley is NXT Champion and Sasha is on RAW so what could this be about? Triple H then greets and dramatically announces they will change the course of WWE forever.
End of episode.
And it was another good offering this week, with plenty of characters we have met in previous episodes being featured. Breaking Ground continues to offer a very interesting insight in the progress (or lack thereof) of some NXT rookies, while also featuring some more established stars. Furthermore, the keep the rather refreshing habit of offering us some rather candid backstage comments and views about the inner workings of the Perfomance Center and NXT. This is only episode 7, but we can already state breaking Ground is arguably the best program WWE network has to offer.
Next week we get the continution of the Sasha/bayley/triple H storyline and also Sami Zayn!
