Wrestling Wednesday is LIVE. We open tonight's NXT with a recap of last week's Women's tag team match with Charlotte and Sasha teaming up and setting up tonight's Main Event for the NXT Women's championship. Lets giddyup!
IN RING!
Jason Jordan's music hits and out come Jordan and his partner, Chad Gable.
Full Sail with a big "GABLE" chant. Their opponents are in the ring. Which means those two dudes? Gonna have a BAD time. Gable wants to start, but Jordan is like, NOPE! Jordan shows off some mat skills, but gable wants in. Jordan tags Gable in and Gable QUICKLY shows off his mat acumen. Good grappling and pinning attempts. Good stuff from Chad. Elias Sampson and Cutler get Gable on the ropes for a bit. Quick hot tag and Jordan comes in and wrecks house a bit. Then a nice double team bridging sidesuplex deal and Gable gets the 1-2-3.
OVERVIEW!
Really good debut match for the team of Gable and Jordan. Both have impressive amateur backgrounds and that was apparent in this tag match. Tag Division needs to be put on notice. Gable and Jordan are coming.
RECAP!
They recap the NXT Women showing up to Raw. Use that to hype Banks vs. Charlotte.
IN RING!
Samoa Joe's music is playing. His opponent is in the ring. His name is Axel Tisher, from Dresden Germany. No music or entrance for Axel. We know what that means… Full Sail (Or at least 12-17 crowd members do) does as they chant "JOE'S GONNA KILL YOU". Joe hitting hard. Chops. Punches. He drops a knee across Axel's chest. A big tomahawk chop and a knife edge chop. Axel gets a little offense in, including raking Joe's face across the top rope, but Joe hits an inverted atomic drop and a running big boot. Joe hits an S.T.O. then finishes it with the Muscle Buster and Rear Naked Choke. Post match, Joe mouths, "Owens… I'm coming for YOU!"
OVERVIEW!
Solid squash for Joe. I feel like he hasn't been as over as I imagined he'd be after his debut. I know its hard to compare here because this is the end of a long taping for the crowd at Full Sail. Kinda feels like he's gotten lost in the shuffle a bit. We'll see what happens moving forward.
HYPE!
Baron Corbin talks about being a real deal athlete. Conference champion in football, he has some rings for that. He was a Golden Gloves boxer, and a says he was a champion in Jiu Jitsu. He says how HE won those things, including the Football championships… NOT his teammates, HE WON them. He says guys in NXT came in here thinking they were owed something. Cuz they wrestled in high school gyms… yadda yadda yadda He puts down the indie darlings. As the production shows, Zayn, Joe, and Breeze. He says he is going to show NXT what he's all about.
OVERVIEW!
Solid piece that firmly establishes Corbin as a heel. Taking credit for winning a football championship single handedly. Putting down all of the NXT Favorites. Makes sense. Crowd was pushing him there anyway. Time to fully lean into it. I could see a feud with Joe.
IN RING!
Blake and Murphy come out with Alexa Bliss. Their opponents Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton are in the ring. Dawkins kicks it off with some stiff jabs and a dropkick, but Murphy takes control with burying his boots into a charging Dawkins' teeth. Blake and Murphy begin to work over Dawkins. Quick tags and a beatdown begin. Blake pulls Fulton off the apron and they hit the running suplex frog splash finisher and score the win. Post match they are celebrating and Alexa pulls the boys back in and points at Fulton who was checking on Dawkins. Beat. Down. En. GAGED! They wail on Fulton. Then she calls them over and they help launch her into the Sparkle Splash. They celebrate and gloat some more.
OVERVIEW!
Interesting that Sawyer didn't get into the match. Solid enough win for the tag team champions. The post match was better. Impressive and I LOVED the launching Sparkle Splash they did.
BACKSTAGE!
Sasha Banks is loosening up and preparing the impending Women's Championship match. Little things like this are awesome for the women's division. Simple and effective and helps add layers to the upcoming title match.
MEDICAL UPDATE!
LETS GO! Sami Zayn is out. Still in a sling. HUGE "OLE" chant and Sami looks legit emotional in the ring. He thanks the crowd. Says this is one of the first chances he's had to get out of the house post surgery. Crazy how into this the crowd is. Zayn talks about how 2014 was the best year of his career. And how 2015 is the opposite of that. He then says "I Ain't Finished". He has goals. "I want to find a comfortable position to sleep in." He says he wants to get back his NXT Championship. Sami says he and Kevin Owens have been tied together for the last 12 years and they'll be tied together for the NEXT 12 years. Cuz when he's healthy he said he's coming for Kevin Owen's Ass.
OVERVIEW!
Great promo. Real. Natural. Made a simple health update pop the crowd appearance, but turned it into something special and powerful. Reminds me how much I miss Sami Zayn being on NXT regularly. Can't wait for that return in early 2016… or hopefully late 2015 as they love to bring �em back early.
HYPE and BACKSTAGE!
They recap the setup for the title match, and as they cap that? Charlotte is jumping rope to get prepared. She takes off her NXT warmup, cuz its GO TIME!
RECAP!
Finn Balor pins Kevin Owens! Then the Comic Con panel where Regal announces Owens vs. Balor 3 live at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn for the next Takeover!
IN RING!
WOOED!!!! We're doing it with Flair as Charlotte is out first. Banks out next. Super excited for this match as they get the big fight announcements. They circle and have a feeling out process as Full Sail does some echo chanting. Collar and elbow and Charlotte backs Sasha into the corner. Flair Strut. Collar and elbow and the end up on the mat. Nice mat wrestling and athleticism from Charlotte. Two kip ups and her unique roll up where she bridges over her opponents legs. Charlotte dominating early, but gets caught coming back in the ring. Sasha drags Charlotte into the corner and drops the double knees down into her chest/stomach. That sends us to break.
Back in the ring, Sasha has things in control. Straight jacket choke type submission hold, bending Charlotte back in awkwardly. Into the corner. Sasha gets the mounted boot rash to Charlotte's face. Flair Flop. Sasha's turn to Flair Strut. Crowd enjoying this. Charlotte tries a bodyslam, but Sasha gets out the back door, and straight jacket back cracker back into that submission, only now Sasha puts her foot between Charlotte's shoulder blades. Charlotte tries a reversal, but Banks puts her in same rear mounted triangle choke. She then begins driving her forehead into the mat in. Very nice. Charlotte slaps Sasha, Sasha answers with a nasty slap to Charlotte's stomach. Charlotte rolls over. Stands up with Sasha on her back. Sasha goes for a �rana. Charlotte catches. Hoists. DIVING POWERBOMB! First "THIS IS AWESOME" chant. Double count by the ref. He's to seven. Sasha up. Charges. They begin exchanging forearms and chops. Charlotte ducks under. Neck breaker. SPEAR! TWO PLUS!!!! Vertical suplex. Sasha flips out. Couple quick counters and Sasha plants a straight jacket neck breaker. She covers for a two plus of her own. Sasha talking trash. And slaps the HELL out of Charlotte. Charlotte goes nuts. Slaps, chops, punches, shoulders in the corner. Charges in, eats feet. Sasha charges out and eats a big boot. Charlotte goes for a figure four, but inside cradle almost ends it. Wheel barrow was reversed into Charlotte eating the canvas, but it only got a two. Sasha hissy fits.
Sasha Grabs a leg and looks for a figure four. Charlotte kicks her off. Sasha comes back and ends up locking Sasha into the figure four. Loses some of her hair extensions and these two end up slapping the hell out of each other in this position. This is NASTY. They get to the ropes. Charlotte slides under the bottom rope and WOW… Holds the Figure four as she bumps to the outside and holds it. That exchange was great. Back in the ring. They exchange roll ups. Charlotte hoists Banks for a slam, but Sasha out the back door. BANKS STATEMENT! Charlotte rolls through and gets a two count, but Banks won't let go. Oh… My… God… That angle is disgusting. Good lord Charlotte is flexible. Charlotte ends up tapping.
Post match both women are in tears, guessing they knew this was it for the two of them doing this in NXT. Clearly with what we saw on Raw that makes sense. They hug. Charlotte hoists Sasha's hand, and they hug again and there is the Logo.
OVERVIEW!
Spectacular women's championship match. These two are amazing talents and I hope they bring about legit change and improvement to the "Divas" Division in WWE. They have the ability to main event any show if given the right opportunities. The emotion really speaks that they knew this was their "last dance"… so to speak. They've spearheaded a change to how women's wrestling is perceived and consumed by many. Now they have the chance to do that on a grander stage.
TOO LONG?! DIDN'T READ!!??
Very good episode, mostly because of Sami Zayn's great heartfelt promo, and the wonderful Women's Championship match. Plus we had Jordan find a tag team partner and I expect big things from those two. Sprinkle in a little Joe and that's a recipe for this set of tapings. Now we move forward with the NXT roster in total upheaval. Seriously… 3 women might be gone. Owens vs. Balor will headline Takeover in Brooklyn, but we KNOW Owens deal. Itami and Zayn are on the shelf. Starting next week we will set off down the path to Takeover Brooklyn. I can't wait. See you in seven!
