Happy April 15th, y'all! Hope you got those taxes in. This guy especially hopes that:
Remember to claim your dependents.
Today Tax Day falls on a Wednesday, so if you're frantically "Carrying the two" and working on your dividends and what not? Hopefully you took a break to watch some NXT, or the next best thing… READ THIS!
Lets Giddyup!
IN RING!
CJ Parker is out. CJ is annoyed. CJ isn't the most successful NXT wrestler. His opponent hacks the arena and the lights and screens go wonky (that's technical jargon) . Solomon Crowe is out and the bell rings. A little back and forth early. Parker showing a little more edge. Crowe hit a nice double jump flying clothesline with CJ on the apron. Also a high speed suicide dive. CJ hit a senton, locked in a sleeper. Crowe faded. CJ went for a second senton, but Crowe got the knees up.
Finish saw Crowe splash on to CJ's left leg and then lock in a Stretch Muffler to score the tappy-tap-tap-tap.
Post match Crowe tells us to stay tuned, stuff is just beginning and then returns us to our regularly scheduled programming.
Solid match. Guessing this is CJ's last. For those that don't know CJ asked for and was granted his release Wrestlemania weekend. Announcers go hard at the fact that Crowe has designs on the NXT Championship. Ambition is nice, and all… But… yeah… pump the breaks there, skippy.
HYPE!
Zayn vs. Rhyno and Dana Brook debuts. Both of those will happen tonight!
IN RING!
Corbin's music and lights. Corbin walks to the ring to random guy. Oh, his name is Steve Cutler, former Marine. Crowd is counting. Corbin levels Cutler with a Clothesline (Alliteration is fun) – End of Days. Ball game. Graves reminds us Corbin is not paid by the hour. Graves also says "All Hail the Big Bad Wolf." – Yeah, maybe… no.
BACKSTAGE!
Zayn talks to Dude Mic Stand. He asks about Rhyno. Sami is all "no one else is going to use me to get to the top."
IN RING!
Enzo and Cass' music is playing to the joy of the Full Sailors. Out they come with Carmella in tow. Carmella gets booed during intros. Always cracks me up. Enzo is proud of his silver tongued exploits. Full Sailors agree. They cut a promo on Blake and Murphy. Their opponents are Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton. Wearing their amateur gear.
Bell. Enzo's speed gets him a quick advantage, but he spends too long celebrating, and the size, power, technique of Sawyer and Fulton takes over. Desperate tag to Cass and Cass gets them back on track. Nice double team move, and Enzo goes to the top… ends up crotched and the amateurs are in control as Murphy and Blake come out. They present Carmella with flowers. IN the ring, Sawyer has Enzo in the abdominal stretch. Enzo tries to make a tag. Stopped short. Hits a jaw breaker and makes the hot tag to Big Cass. Cass house of fires the NCAA Tag Team Champions. Cass hits a big move, and then helps with an aided big splash from Enzo off the top rope. .
Cass and Enzo win. The tag title feud continues. Sawyer and Dawkins looked impressive in this match. Could be good stuff moving forward for the tag division.
BACKSTAGE!
Alex Riley asks if we thought that was going to be it? He threatens Owens. Then challenges him for next week.
IN RING!
DA-DA-DA-DAAAAAAAA! BLUE PANTS!!! Cass sings her to the ring. Full Sailors chant her to the ring. Dana Brooke is out next. She cartwheels and flexes. She's got good entrance music. Full Sail all about those blue pants. Dana Brooke slingshots blue pants into the bottom rope. Mounted… uh… Punches? That was a little awkward. Brooke drives some forearms in the corner and then does a hand stand where she chokes her with her foot. Pants hits a high kick and a follow up and a third. But Brooke hits her with a right hand and then a fireman's sit out driver type move. She gets the win, and flexes and poses post match.
It was what it was and what I thought it'd be. Debut from a big musclebound egotist. She wins. Be interesting to watch her progress.
IN RING!
LETS GO! Sami Zayn is out. GORE! GORE! GORE! Early tie ups shows Rhyno's size and power advantage. Announcers doing a good job of selling Owens and potentially Rhyno "cutting the line". Rhyno dominates early. Working more methodically and powerful. Sami gets some offense in and nails a dropkick, but Rhyno quickly snuffs out Sami's fire. Which sends us to commercial. We come back and Rhyno has a rear chin lock locked in. Zayn powers up, gets some momentum and hits a high cross body for a 2 count. They brawl a bit and Rhyno ends up planting Sami with a spine buster. Rhyno pummels away. Tossing Sami around. Rhyno delivering a few running shoulders into Zayn's gut. Just gets a two count. Sami can't stay up. Rhyno pie faces him to the mat. Sami jumps up fists a flying. Rhyno hoists Sami up in Fireman's position, but Sami fights out and ends up hitting the Blue Thunder Bomb! Two PLUS! Zayn to the top. Crossbody… CAUGHT! Back up on his shoulders, and hits the spinning cutter/TKO on Sami! THREE MINUS… and Rhyno can't believe it! At this point in time my Xbox got the whirling logo of "Feed is paused"… so… excuse me while I go curse a blue streak.
And… I'm… back. They head into the corner, both feeling the effects. Sami slaps Rhyno and Rhyno responds with clubbing blows. Rhyno goes to the second rope, sitting… maybe looking for a tornado DDT, but we'll never know as Sami hits a jumping forearm and Rhyno spills to the outside. Zayn is up and hits a somersault plancha to the outside. Back inside, Rhyno hits a belly to belly throw. Looks for the Gore!Gore!Gore!, misses. Sami ends up hitting the Heluva Kick in the corner, and gets the pinfall victory.
This was a good match. Good way for Sami to get back on track in a NXT Ring. He celebrates and points and yells at the camera, I'm guessing with a few choice words for Kevin Owens.
OVERVIEW!
Another solid episode. Nothing wildly memorable. One feud pushed forward. Sami Zayn kept his claim to being the #1 contender for the NXT Championship. Two newer wrestlers made their presence felt and Baron Corbin got his "Baron Corbin" thing on. Five matches feels like a lot to get into an hour show. Even if one was an outright squash and two were close to squashes. Zayn and Rhyno had the match of the night. Good use of someone who is bigger than Zayn, like Owens is. Wrestles a physical pounding style, like Owens does. We're probably about 5 weeks away from the next Takeover. So thing should really start shaping up. Next week there will be a Women's triple threat for #1 Contendership. So that could put another piece into the Takeover Puzzle.
I'll see you in seven!
