Tonight the weather in Tampa Bay was
wet and humid, but inside the UADC Gymnasium the action could not
have been any hotter as the athletes of NXT brought the fight back to
the city where it all started. Rivalries continued and perhaps the
future was foreshadowed on the road to NXT Takeover.
In the opening bout of the evening The
Mechanics took on fan favorites The Vaudevillians. The two teams
fought hard in a match that was a highlight of the night. The antics
and showboating of Gotch and English stand in sharp contrast to the
tough no nonsense team of Dawson and Wilder. The Vaudevillians are
looking better every match, between the unique gimmick of Gotch and
the charisma of English it's no wonder they are so over with the fans
right now. However, don't overlook The Mechanics who have all the
tools to make it to the top of the division and are quickly becoming
a favorite of this blogger. Tonight the Vaudevillians would find
themselves victorious as English pinned Wilder following an
impressive senton from the second turnbuckle.
Baron Corbin made his way to the ring
with an eerie intensity to take on everyones favorite hippy CJ
Parker. Surprisingly Parker got in quite a bit of offense and
presented Corbin with his biggest challenge since he's taken this new
direction. However, it wasn't enough to faze the 6' 8” beast who
easily made quick work of CJ Parker. It was a short match that was
still a step up from the last few squash matches, but still did a
great job of making Corbin look like a very dangerous man and a
future major player.
The action continued with divas tag
team action as the team of Sasha Banks and Carmella faced the
surprising pairing of Becky Lynch and Kendall Skye. I've went on
record before stating that I expect great things from the natural
heel Carmella and the highly athletic Skye, but tonight the stars of
the match were most definitely Lynch and Banks. The two continue to
prove that they are indeed the future of the divas division. Despite
the fact that it was a very pro-Becky crowd, the bad girls managed to
snag a victory when Kendall Skye tapped to Banks Boss Lock.
Next, Solomon Crowe made his way to the
ring to deliver an excellent promo. He made sure to remind us that
before he made his way to this company he was a big deal, but it
doesn't matter now because he is in NXT which is the best thing going
on in wrestling today. He tells us he is willing to start at the
bottom but he will kick in opportunities door when the time is right.
Crowe appeared very comfortable behind the microphone, and the promo
was an improvement upon an already good promo. Hopefully a big Crowe
push is not far away.
Sylvester Lefort accompanied to the
ring by Marcus Louis took on the highly charismatic Enzo Amore
accompanied by Big Cass. The match began with plenty of trash talking
and hijinks before referee Drake Wuertz had enough and ejected both
Louis and Cass from ringside. Lefort kept control most of the match
while Amore mounted offense in small bursts. In the end, the perhaps
over confident Frenchmen was duped by a surprise pin leaving Amore
victorious. Louis ran to the ring to commence a post match beat down
before Big Colin Cassady made the save, along with the trusty bucket
of hair remover. If Amore can pull this off again a mere weeks away
at Takeover Lefort will lose a lot more than a match, but his head
full of locks as well in a hair vs hair match.
More tag team action followed as the
two man juggernaut known as The Ascension took on the team of Kalisto
and Justin Gabriel. NXT has done a great job of building up The
Ascension, they seem so indestructible that you never believe anyone
will beat them, even a team made up of frenetic Kalisto and former
Nexus member Justin Gabriel. It was a surprisingly slower paced match
that saw Konnor and Viktor in control much of the match keeping the
two high-fliers grounded. At one point Gabriel gave Konnor a legit busted nose which seemed to slow the match a little bit. In the closing moments of the match Kalisto
found himself victim to The Fall Of Man leaving NXT tag team champs
The Ascension victorious yet again.
Underdog Bayley once again went to
battle with NXT womens champion Charlotte. I've seen these two
compete several times now and it has become apparent that fans will
be in for a treat when these two wrestle with the title on the line
at Takeover. Bayley brought the fight to Charlotte but came up short
in the end. Will history repeat its self at Takeover? At this point I
could see it going either way.
The always hyped Mojo Rawley attempted
to gain a little retribution from NXTs resident wrecking ball Bull
Dempsey. It was a short match that featured a lot of back and forth
action from the two big guys. The highlight of the match came when
Bull performed a surprising flying head butt from the top rope giving
him the pinfall victory over Mojo. I enjoyed the new offense from
Dempsey.
Our main event and Takeover preview was
a non-title fatal four way featuring Tyson Kidd vs Tyler Breeze vs
Sami Zayn vs Adrian Neville. The match started building slowly until
you couldn't blink for fear of missing the action. The crowd was on
the edge of their seats, and many times standing to see the bodies
flying in and outside the ring. I was never too big of a Kidd fan
before tonight despite his obvious athleticism, but I find myself a
fan now. Kidd trying to start his own "Tyson" chant was priceless. He seems to be finding his footing in the heel role while
the other three men stole the show as always. The action was fast and
the jaw dropping moments were numerous. In the final chaotic moments
of the night Zayn hit a helluva kick to Neville in the corner and
went for the pin. Kidd pulled Zayn out of the ring by the feet and
stole the pinfall victory. His celebration would be short lived
though when Zayn gave him a helluva kick and ejected him from the
ring. I say with confidence if these men can repeat this performance
at Takeover mere weeks away we will have a match of the year
contender on our hands.
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