Original Airdate: Wednesday, July 8th, 2015
Full Sail University
Winter Park, Florida
Follow me on Twitter: @WorkTheNetwork2
We open the show with highlights of Brock Lesnar's match at Beast In The East, but not the Finn Balor/Kevin Owens. That's because they are going to show it here tonight. So...awkward moment here for me. I guess I am going to remove my review from Beast From The East on the last NXT review and just copy/paste it here.
Dana Brooke & Emma vs. Sasha Banks & Charlotte
Sasha comes out alone and Dana mocks her for it. She says she'll take both of them on and calls Dana "little Miss Piggy". Charlotte's music hits and she says that she'll be Sasha's partner. Sasha accepts and we're underway. Lost in all of this Dana Brooke stuff is that Emma has been really solid in the ring and a real bright spot. I am kind of curious where all of this takes us, if anywhere. WWE isn't really known for going heel vs. heel too often. Sasha gets the hot tag and quickly gets the Bank Statement on Dana and she taps. Charlotte also got the Figure Eight in on Emma. While Emma was given some offense, Dana was mostly presented by a jobber here. I didn't expect that. Sasha and Charlotte shake hands after the match. Charlotte grabs the mic and says that she wants a title shot next week. Sasha agrees. The match was mostly a squash.
Match Rating: 3/4*
They show Bayley from this last weekend at a NXT live event to tell us that she can't wrestle because Emma broke her hand. She says she will come back and be NXT Women's Champion.
We get a hype video for Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor and now it's time for the match.
Saturday, July 4th, 2015
Ryogoku Kokugikan
Sumida, Tokyo Japan
NXT Championship Match
Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens
Hideo Itami is shown in the crowd, as the streamers are flying in and flowers are handed to both opponents. Owens of course chucks his out of the ring. Balor hits the running dropkick as soon as the bell rings. He runs up to the top rope for the Coup de Grace, but Owens rolls out of the ring. Balor pivots and hits him with a crossbody. After a quick spot in the ring, Balor hits a dropkick through the ropes and then another running dropkick to a seated Owens into the barricade. Owens is able to shift the momentum and slows the pace down. As he did on the most recent episode of NXT, Owens hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Also just like he did on NXT, Balor counters out of the Attitude Adjustment and then hits a double stomp. Balor hits a Pelé kick and then a dive outside of the ring. Owens is able to roll out of the way of another Coup de Grace attempt. Owens hits a German suplex with a release and then hits the cannonball in the corner. Balor comes back with a Sling Blade and once again goes up top. This time he hits the Coup de Grace, but Owens kicks out at 2. They battle up on the second rope. Owens goes for the package suplex, but Balor escapes and hits a kick. Balor still ends up on Owens' shoulders and he hits the rolling senton slam. Balor is able to kick out at 2 to the crowd's delight. Owens goes back up top and goes for the senton, but Balor gets his knees up. Balor hits a brainbuster, but Owens kicks out at 2. Balor runs into a superkick and Owens hits him with a suplex for another 2 count. Balor leaps over the Pop Up Powerbomb attempt and levels Owens with a clothesline. He hits the running dropkick in the corner and the Coup de Grace to become the new NXT Champion. Balor put on a really great performance here. Owens seemed a little off to me for whatever reason. This was a very good match, but not quite a classic.
Match Rating: ***3/4
And we're back to Orlando. Chad Gable is here for an interview and says that apparently Jason Jordan must want to stay at the bottom of NXT since he won't have him be his partner. In walks Jordan and he offers him an invite to be his partner.
Solomon Crowe says he's back. Oh...yay.
Marcus Louis vs. Solomon Crowe
Louis comes out with no music and just as I'm about to type that it looks like he's yawning, the announce team even jokes that. Talk about two characters that I was fine with not seeing on this show again. They announce that Charlotte and Sasha will square off next week on NXT. I can't believe they would make that announcement during this match, which should have all of our attention. Louis does some submission hold that doesn't look like it hurts at all with the exception of him squeezing Crowe's skin. Crowe comes back and hits a few kicks and puts on the Crowe Bar for the win. This was horrible.
Match Rating: 0 Stars
The Vaudevillains say they're going to be Enzo and Big Cass to become #1 contenders.
They show Finn Balor backstage in Japan after winning. He gets some high fives from Cesaro and Neville and then John Cena congratulates him.
NXT Tag Team Championship #1 Contender Match
Vaudevillains vs. Enzo & Big Cass
Corey Graves rips on both teams, but he does it in the right way saying that the current champs are a better representation of the company. We get the usual Enzo/Cass formula where Cass gets the hot tag after the Enzo beatdown. English gets a roll up that almost gets the victory. He then eats a big boot and Cass hits a spinning side suplex on Gotch. Enzo tags in and goes off the top rope for a crossbody. English rolls through on it and picks up the victory. Enzo continues to be booked like a total goof. I guess he kind of is, so I have no complaints. The match was pretty standard, but it was spirited.
Match Rating: *1/2
If you just pretend the Solomon Crowe/Marcus Louis match didn't happen, this was a strong show. However, you could have already watched the title change when it originally aired and that makes it a little less essential. It's good to see some progression in the tag division, even if it's a little stale right now and knowing we will get another Charlotte/Sasha match is promising.
Overall Rating: 58%
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