Wednesday, May 20th, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida
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NXT Championship #1 Contender Match
Tyler Breeze vs. Finn Balor
Tyler Breeze gets an entrance with a bunch of female models. This was supposed to be a triple threat match with Hideo Itami, but they show him being attacked in the parking lot and he has a torn rotator cuff and is out of the match. Back in the arena, we get the Demon version of Finn Balor, complete with wing and spike cape. It's too bad about Itami because they had built up the Balor/Itami dynamic nicely. Breeze is able to withstand an early onslaught from Balor and hits a reverse neckbreaker. His offense doesn't last long and before you know it, Balor is stomping on the back of Breeze from the apron. Balor goes for Coup de Grace, but Breeze wisely rolls across the ring. Balor runs into a Supermodel Kick, but kicks out at 2. Breeze takes off the turnbuckle pad and then stomps away at Balor in the corner. Breeze misses with the Beauty Shot. After a counter, he ends up hitting it and Balor runs into the exposed turnbuckle. He goes for the pin, but Balor is able to somehow kick out and Breeze is throwing a fit. Meanwhile, Balor sneak attacks Breeze in the entrance way. Balor climbs up the stage and hits Breeze with a dive. Balor throws Breeze back in the ring and hits the running dropkick. He climbs up top and hits the Coup de Grace to become the #1 contender. This was a solid opening match that kicked into second gear nicely. It was pretty clear that Balor was going to win, but they did give Breeze the one real nice close call to make you believe otherwise.
Match Rating: ***1/2
They show Kevin Owens watching backstage and shaking his head.
They show some guy from Game Of Thrones (sorry, never watched it) sitting next to Stephanie McMahon in the crowd.
They show a hype video about how great NXT is live.
Dana Brooke & Emma vs. Charlotte & Bayley
It really is a testament to Bayley's greatness of how over she was able to get with a 100% true babyface act in this era. Her and Dana start things off and Dana shoves her to the mat out of the lock up. Bayley comes back with a catapult into Charlotte, who clotheslines her. We get to Bayley and Emma and Bayley shoves her to the mat. Emma goes out of the ring and Bayley hits the sliding dropkick through the bottom rope on both opponents. A Dana distraction allows for Bayley to get pulled off the second turnbuckle and she hits her head on the way down. I'm surprised you don't see that more often, as it's just effective as being crotched. Bayley gets the heat segment here and we get frequent tags from the heels. Emma hits the Emma Sandwich and gets a 2 count. Bayley is able to hit a suplex and makes the tag to Charlotte. She hits a double DDT but Emma is able to kick out of the pin attempt. Emma hits a crossbody off the top rope, but Charlotte rolls through. She puts her in the Figure Eight and Dana tries to break it up. Bayley slides underneath Charlotte and Dana to hit her with the Bayley To Belly. Charlotte then hits Natural Selection and picks up the victory for her team. I think it's pretty clear it was time to move Charlotte up to the main roster here. This was better than I had remembered as the fun tag match on the show.
Match Rating: **1/2
They show the Sami Zayn injury on Raw against John Cena 3 weeks ago. They then show him backstage starting at himself in the mirror.
They show off some of the new signees for NXT, which includes some familiar faces like Apollo Crews.
Rhyno vs. Baron Corbin
We get a Corbin mistake early on where he was supposed to fall out of the ring and awkwardly recovers. I'm not being critical, just noting something that happened. The crowd has completely turned on Corbin. They were really into the squash gimmick, but now not so much. Corbin stomps away on Rhyno in the corner and risks a DQ, as he is not listening to the referee. After Corbin gets the better of Rhyno in the early going, they collide in the middle of the ring and both are down. This probably already has gone on longer than it should have. They should have booked this like a Goldberg match. Rhyno comes back with punches and a clothesline. Rhyno hits a spinebuster, but only gets a 2 count. He sets up for the Gore but Corbing hits a clothesline. Corbin hits End Of Days and that's all. I don't think anyone thought Rhyno had a chance here. This was about as good as you would expect it to be.
Match Rating: 3/4*
Kevin Owens talks about his good week and how he showed John Cena that the US Title is nothing compared to the NXT Championship. He says that if Sami Zayn shows up tonight, it will be the last time we ever see him.
NXT Tag Team Championship Match
Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Blake & Murphy
It's nice that they've given this one a story, as Blake and Murphy still feel very random. Murphy tries a tornado DDT and Cass counters by just chucking him across the ring. Enzo comes back in and as per usual, that is when the opponents take control of the match. The champs hit a Codebreaker/powerbomb combo, but Enzo kicks out. Enzo comes back and hits a leaping DDT off the second rope. He makes the hot tag to Cass and he hits his usual combo of splashes and big boots. He hits the Empire Elbow, but Murphy breaks up the pin attempt. Cass hits a side suplex and then drags Enzo to the corner and pulls him up the turnbuckle. Out comes Alexa Bliss and she attacks Carmella. Cass goes to check on her and gets hit with a superkick from Murphy. Alexa shoves Enzo off the top rope and Blake pins him to retain their titles. This was very much a TV match that worked well enough because of how over Enzo and Cass are. They celebrate with Alexa after the match.
Match Rating: **
Eva Marie is here. She sure worked out well.
We get a lengthy video package for the Women's Championship match.
NXT Women's Championship Match
Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks
They go the wrestling route to begin and we get a series of quick pin attempts. That ends abruptly when Sasha is able to pull Becky on the apron with Becky falling face-first into the ring. Sasha turns to submission wrestling, twisting Becky in numerous holds. Becky is able to power out of an arm submission and drops Sasha on her back to start her comeback. Becky hits a missile dropkick, but then Sasha returns with running double knees in the corner. They continue to battle and Becky is able to slap on the Disarm-Her, but Sasha gets to the bottom rope. Sasha hits a dive to the outside, but Becky catches her...kind of. She drives her into the ring and throws her back in to break the count. Becky climbs up top, but Sasha runs up and brings her down to the mat. She puts on the Bank Statement and Becky has to tap. The crowd loved this one very much and the announcers did a nice job of putting it over. It was a very worthy title match. Becky gets a standing ovation out of respect before heading to the back.
Match Rating: ***3/4
NXT Championship Match
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
As soon as the bell rings, Owens rolls out of the ring to stall. Sami eventually goes out and runs after him to attack. They go in the ring, but not for long as Zayn clotheslines Owens out of the ring. Owens goes for a powerbomb. Zayn counters that and hits a back body drop. Zayn sends Owens over the guardraill and they start fighting in the crowd. Owens goes for a powerbomb, but Zayn is able to grab a railing on the bleachers to block it. He then hits a back body drop on Owens that sends him back to just outside the ring. Back in the ring we go and Zayn hits a Blue Thunder Bomb for 2. Zayn goes up the ropes to go for hits tornado DDT and Owens counters it into a backbreaker. Owens goes for a cannon ball and Zayn moves. He hits an exploder in the corner, but Owens rolls out of the ring before the Helluva Kick. Zayn charges at Owens, but he gets caught and Owens finally hits the powerbomb into the ring apron. The officials are out to check on Zayn, which just gives Owens the green light to attack him some more. Owens continuously does so and now William Regal is out. He pulls Owens off by his nose, so Owens headbutts him. He goes out and grabs a chair and starts to hit him until Samoa Joe is out and makes his NXT debut. He gets up in Owens face and Owens begins to back away. Joe follows him and gets in his face again, so Owens walks out of the ring. Owens comes back out and then says not tonight and we go off the air. They were obviously limited with what they could do here as a result of Sami's injury. The brawling that we did get was good, the debut was great and the ending left a lot to be desired. It's definitely a bit of an unsatisfying finish given how much build up they have had leading into the match.
Match Rating: ***
This was another good TakeOver event from NXT, but probably not as strong as the last 3. The women got their time to shine and delivered here tonight and I thought the opener was also an entertaining match despite the injury to Itami. Everything was right around where you expected it to be, making this a thumbs up.
Overall Rating: 77%
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