THEN. NOW. FOREVER!
RECAP!
We take a look at last week's NXT which was LIVE in Columbus Ohio. This also helps set the table for tonight's show which includes TWO Championship matches.
IN RING!
The Following Contest is scheduled for ONE fall, and is for the NXT Women's Championship! The challenger is out first, getting glitter all over EVERYTHING! Dammit Bliss! I know you're supposed to be a face, but c'mon woman! You know glitter is impossible to remove. Banks is out next. Trash talk to start . Drop toe hold! Roll Up! Bliss with a second and THIRD roll up for a couple quick one and two counts. Bliss rolling. Hit a drop kick went to climb the ropes and she launches blitz punts the blue out of Bliss! Get it? Cuz her hair has blue in it. Running slap to seated Bliss. Sasha hits her double knees in the corner for a two and change count. Sasha locks in her stretchy pretzel submission. Bliss gets out. She ends up chucking Banks out of the ring and Sasha lands HARD. Banks almost gets counted out. Bliss hits the Glitz Flip, which is a back handspring double knee drop. That almost got her the gold! She also hit a bit of a flipping piledriver. That was nicely done. Bliss climbed the top rope looking for her finisher, but Banks gets to her and drags her off the top rope, and locks in the Banks Statement.
Good opening bout. Bliss doesn't feel completely ready for a match like this so the finish works, and I think having her dominate a good portion of the match will help her as she continues to grow in the ring. She has some nice moves. Things don't look as full speed with her as they do with the other NXT women. I think she'll get there. Banks continues to not be one of the best women in NXT, but one of the best overall performers on the entirety of the roster.
BACKSTAGE!
Kevin Owens says he and Finn debuted at the same time, and both made an impact. Finn by painting his body and pretending to be a demon. And Owens did it by destroying Sami Zayn and becoming NXT Champ. ZING! Owens says that championship isn't going anywhere tonight. You can't take it from him OR his family.
BACKSTAGE!
Bayley is tweeting or candy crushing, and Emma oozes into the scene. Emma says "She told her so" that she's too nice and that is why Bayley lost to Becky. Bayley doesn't buy it. She says the people have helped get her where she is! Emma had enough talking and slaps the HUG outta Bayley.
BACKSTAGE!
Breeze is talking to female mic stand. She asks something. He calls her Barbara Walters. He gonna have to update that reference soon… dangerously close to be outdated. In walks "Hideous Itami" (I'll own it Breeze's moderately cheesy joke made me chuckle) – Itami reminds Prince Pretty that HE's WON ONE TOO! So Itami challenges Breeze to a two out of three falls match, and then walks off. Breeze is all salty being like "I didn't ACCEPT!" That match will be excellent. Perhaps we see the first Itami GTS?!
HYPE!
Dana Brooke is coming. Seems she'll be a cocky heel. I'd like to say two minutes into this show they've dedicated more than half of that to five different women. Decent match. An undercard feud… I'm really enjoying Emma/Bayley and the story here.
BACKSTAGE!
Balor talks about not needing the beast to beat Owens… Uh… that's gonna be a mistake. PAINT UP, BRO!
BACKSTAGE!
Cass, Enzo, and Carmella are talking. In walk BaM. They have a gift for Carmella, they bought it with their championship bonus… Love the subtle storytelling with champions talking about the added prestige, money, and power that comes with the championship. They SHOULD be valuable. They SHOULD mean something. Anyway. BaM are continuing to woo,
Not THAT "WHOOOO!!" – but they're wooing Carmella and right now every championship division is humming NICELY!
IN RING!
Finn is out. He's paint free! Only for Takeovers. Championship matches ain't enough. Owens is out, and getting booed. GOOD! Big championship announcements. Owens kisses the belt… perhaps GOODBYE?! Owens bails early. Crowd chants Finn. They tie up, Finn backs Owens into the corner. Finn breaks clean… Owens quickly snaps a kick into Finn's gut. Sideheadlock takeover. Keeps it locked in. Dominates a bit, a quick whip off the ropes and Finn turns the tide with a dropkick. Which sends Owens rolling out of the ring, and taking a fiver. And sends US to a commercial. Hey, did you know there was some sort of Mania of the Wrasslin' This weekend? This guy told me:
Mama said knock you OUT, if you miss Wrestlemania.
And… We're… BACK! Another dropkick from Finn. Works Owen's left arm. Owens gets the advantage and slows it down. Methodical offense. He steps on Balor's face. Which, oddly enough, brings out an "OWENS! OWENS! OWENS!" chant. He locks in the… Wait for it… REAR! CHINLOCK! O'! DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Finn fights out. Elbows. Hits the ropes, and gets bulldozed. Back to the RCoD. Talking trash to the crowd and to Finn. This sends us to our second set of commercials.
They seem to be really hammering this "Wrestlemania" thing… Might check it out.
And… We're… BACK! Owens yelling "That's Why I'm the Champ"! Finn gets tossed out of the ring. Owens stays on the attack. Looking for that power bomb into the ring apron. Balor backdrops himself out of it. Rolls Owens back in. Owens catches a cross body and swings Finn into a version of what looked like Sheamus' White Noise. Senton. Two… and… CHANGE! Owens stays on it. Locks in the RCoD… tells the crowd to shut up. Crowd getting amped, and behind Finn. More clubbing blows and kicks. Owens whips Finn HARD into the corner. The turnbuckles clicked, and the ring might have moved. That was a weird noise. Suplex by Owens. Cover. Just a two. Owens locks in another reverse chin lock… and the crowd goes… wait… WILD?! Biggest pop for a RCoD I've ever heard. And this again takes us to a commercial. this one was actually hyping Itami vs. Breeze two outta three.
And… We're… back. Balor hits a forearm. Owens ends up on the outside. Huge somersault plancha. Back inside Balor hits the double stomp to the back of the head. Looks to be going for his double undercooking lifting reverse DDT, but Owens clubs out, PELE from Finn! They exchange chops. Finn hits the Sling Blade and then the double undercooking… yadda yadda yadda… Gets near three there! Crowd chants "better than Raw". Owens in the corner. Finn looking for that full speed high velocity running dropkick into the corner. BUT… NOBODY HOME! Finn hits the corner hard. His left knee seems to have taken the brunt of that! (nudge nudge wink wink) – Owens starts in on the bum knee. Smashing it on the apron. Kicking it. Stomping it. Sentoning it (I can make it a verb if I want!) – Single leg crab and Finn claws his way to the bottom rope. In the ring. Owens looking for a power bomb, but Balor takes out the legs and does an in close double foot stomp! Both men down. "This is Awesome Chant". In the corner. Balor looking for a suplex. Owens reverses it into a quarter turn almost capture suplex. It was nifty. We'll just call it the "Nifty" cuz I can't describe it better than that. Finn in the corner. Owens has URGENT, and BREAKING news.
CANNONBALL!
Now Owens puts the leg up on the bottom rope… isolating it… and? CANNONBALL! Owens going for a third. Balor gets outta dodge! High velocity running dropkick! Finn heading to the top! COUPE DE GRACE! Finn can't capitalize. Both men struggle. Finn charges in… POP UP POWERBOMB! Ball. Game!
Excellent match between these two. Slow to start, but the pacing was good. Story was solid throughout and liked Owens methodical offense trying keep the crowd against him. The trio of cannonballs was great. Finn definitely looked the strongest of all of Owens' opponents. Owens has already beaten THREE of the top guys. Impressive. These two going again, with the Demon taking his shot will be AWE. SOME!
OVERVIEW!
Very enjoyable episode of NXT. Only two matches, but they were both title matches. One was good. One was EXCELLENT! I enjoyed the segments, too. I'm really into the Bayley and Emma storyline. Emma filling this role of "Ghost of WWE Diva Future" for Bayley is excellent. I'm getting more and more into the tag title feud. REALLY looking forward to Itami vs. Breeze two outta three falls. Been doing a lot of great work and all this without Zayn and Neville the last few weeks! Really hoping to catching some of their Axxess stuff this week on the Network.
See you in Seven!
