Original Airdate: Thursday, November 13th, 2014
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
After recapping the debut of Finn Balor, he's here to introduce himself. The roster is getting closer and closer to getting towards the golden era of NXT. He says that he is the future and then is immediately interrupted by Tyson Kidd, who is with Natalya. Kidd says that Balor lacks respect and then out comes Justin Gabriel. He says that all of these international stars come in here, get some cool music and think they are top guys. They need to get through them first and they go after Balor. Out comes Itami and I think Teddy Long would be excited about what's about to transpire here. Gabriel and Kidd leave the ring and then a referee comes out to inform the crew that we have ourselves a tag team match.
Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel vs. Finn Balor & Hideo Itami
Balor hits the running dropkick on Gabriel. He goes up top, but Kidd grabs Gabriel out of the ring, so Balor hits a dive to take both opponents out as we go into a commercial break. I know there were a lot of reasons, but I still can't believe Itami wasn't a star. Kidd and Gabriel come back and hit a double kick for a 2 count on Balor. Kidd hits some aggressive forearm smashes in the corner, but their offense doesn't last long. Balor hits the Pelé kick and tags in Itami. Itami hits an awesome dropkick, but runs into a boot in the corner. Gabriel is tagged in, but gets hit in the midsection on his way down from a springboard leap. Things break down and all 4 men are in the ring. They hit the stereo dropkicks in the corner and Balor hits the Coup de Grace on Gabriel for the victory. This was a good way to show them off and kick off the show.
Match Rating: **1/4
We get a little history on the Sami Zayn/Adrian Neville rivalry and Zayn joins us for a backstage interview. Zayn says that tonight just feels different for him and that the road to redemption is not some cliché, it's destiny.
Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss
Becky Lynch is with Sasha here. After a quick start for Banks, Alexa is able to sneak in a headscissors and a sunset flip for a 2 count. Sasha quickly recovers, hits the Backstabber and puts on the Bank Statement for the victory. That was a quick match considering Bliss has been gaining a little bit of a following. After the match, she tells Charlotte that she wants the NXT Women's Championship.
Match Rating: 1/2*
Adrian Neville is interviewed backstage and says that he loves Sami, but he can't win the big one. We get it, they've only had him give the same promo for the last month.
Lucha Dragons vs. Wesley Blake & Buddy Murphy
This is a non-title match. Alex Riley talks about Blake and Murphy as if they were going for the Revival's gimmick before they became a thing. Murphy enters on a blind tag and catches Kalisto into a suplex. Blake hits a top rope stomp on the arm of Kalisto as it's being held by Murphy. Murphy hits a sweet move where he drove the face of Kalisto into the mat off the second rope. I'm not going to pretend like I know what that one was called. Murphy hits a monkey flip, but Kalisto uses it to hit a sunset flip on Blake. He's able to get the hot tag to Sin Cara and he takes care of both opponents. He hits a springboard back elbow on Blake for a 2 count. Blake accidentally catapults Cara into Murphy on the apron. Kalisto then hits a tremendous dive onto Murphy. Credit Murphy for adjusting to save Kalisto from injury. Cara hits the senton for the victory. That was a fun little 5 minute match here and the challengers looked legit.
Match Rating: **3/4
The Vaudevillains congratulate the Lucha Dragons on their continued success, but their titles will be going home with them.
NXT Championship Match
Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville
This is about as big as it gets for 2014 NXT right here. We get the we're both babyfaces and friends start to the match. We get an early commercial break, as is par for the course here on NXT main events. We get a first burst, as Neville is sent over the top rope and Sami hits the Senton over the top rope. Sami goes for a top rope cross body, but Neville counters and gets a 2 count. Zayn is able to hit a sit down powerbomb, but Neville kicks out. Zayn hits 2 German suplexes and another suplex for a 2 count. Neville is able to get his boot up before Zayn does on the Helluva Kick attempt and gets a roll up for another 2. Neville goes up top, but misses the Red Arrow. Neville is selling his knee and Zayn is gearing up for the Helluva Kick. Neville falls to the ground and the referee gives the X signal that he's hurt. Neville tricks him and hits the inside cradle for the pinfall victory. The crowd is stunned and Neville puts his arm around him real quick and crawls away. Zayn is still in shock and hasn't moved since the loss. A trainer comes down to check on Neville and they show the replay. If he was actually injured, you could see a legit case with the way he came down there. That was well done. The match felt like they were just scratching the surface and that greater things were to come.
Match Rating: ***
This was a really nice episode of NXT. Everything clicked and felt important. The stars that were meant to look good here, all shined. Well done.
Overall Rating: 76%
No comments:
Post a Comment