NXT Orlando 12-4-14

A mere one week away from NXT Takeover REvolution, the stars of NXT shook the foundations of The Orlando National Guard Armory with high impact wrestling action. Enemies looked to even scores and gain valuable momentum heading into the next live special. Fans in attendance would not be disappointed.

The night kicked off with fast paced tag team action as The Mechanics squared off once more against the team of Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy. The match started off evenly as both teams looked to take the early advantage, which quickly tilted in the favor of Murphy and Blake. The Mechanics may not be as flashy as their opponents but they are just as tough and every bit as synced as a team, and they found themselves in control eventually punishing Blake before he made the hot tag to Murphy who proceeded to clean house with a controlled frenzy. With Dawson cleared of the ring, Murphy landed a running brainbuster on Wilder allowing Blake to seal the deal with a frogsplash for the win. These two teams have faced off quite a bit lately and traded off victories as well, and my respect is only growing for both teams.

Next out is the guy with possibly the most heat in NXT, CJ Parker. His opponent for the night was Ty Dillinger who made his way to the ring to his now familiar burlesque music dancing his way into the ring and shaking his rear for the ladies. Parker, not very amused began to mock Dillinger. This resulted in the two men exchanging gymnastic tumbles in the ring trying to outdo each other until eventually Parker took a cheap shot and took instant control of Dillinger. Once the match was underway it was fairly short and largely one sided. Ty managed to get in a little offense but the match largely belonged to Parker, who ended the match with his open palm strike to the face followed by a facebuster for the pinfall victory. Another win for Parker who has been on a roll as of late.

Next up Mojo Rawley made his way to the ring a tad bit calmer than usual, thanks to his arm still being in a sling. He gave a short and sweet promo in typical Rawley style, hyping the live special and also his eventual return. Rawley has noticeably improved in promos, however as of now it looks like it will be the same overall gimmick for Mojo.

Big Cass is out next accompanied by Enzo Amore, who runs through his mic routine much to the delight of the crowd. After, Amore leaves for a hot date leaving the big guy to take care of business. This evening that business consisted on taking on the very man they drove over the edge, Marcus Louis. As soon as the tortured Louis finally removed the towel, the two were quickly into battle. The early advantage went to the Frenchman who was in no mood for technical wrestling. It was all fists and feet as he looked to unleash his frustration on Cass. The seven foot Big Cass made an impressive effort and even mounted a comeback, but it wasn’t enough to finish off the tortured Marcus Louis who scored an impressive tap-out victory over Big Cass with a neck lock. I am enjoying the new direction for Marcus Louis, and I’m going to go as far as saying he will eventually be very over with the fans.

We continued with more tag team action and a sneak preview of next week as The Lucha Dragons faced off against The Vaudevillians. It was a good back and forth battle that showcased the best of both teams. Gotch and English controlled much of the match until the chaotic final moments when Kalisto made the hot tag to Sin Cara who changed the complexion of the match allowing Kalisto to nail English with a corkscrew body press for the win. If this match is any indication these two teams will put on a tag match at the live special that will exceed previous tag match ups. The Lucha Dragons never fail to fire up the crowd with their high flying offense, while The Vaudevillians are always seemingly over with the crowd no matter how they book them.

The action continued with a match that was a highlight of the evening as the wrecking ball Bull Dempsey took on Solomon Crowe. It’s hard not to be biased when talking about Crowe who is explosive in the ring, but Dempsey would not allow himself to be outdone dishing it out as good as Crowe gave. Like he often is, Dempsey was in control and looked to be in a foul mood. The two kept a great pace in the ring, the rest holds Dempsey often fall back on were gone, except for a well place bearhug. Crowe was as exciting as ever and egging Bull on, at one point he even managed an impressive body slam on his much larger opponent. Crowe looked to have the match won on several occasions, but as he often does Bull eventually ran his opponent over and finished him off with a flying headbutt. Dempsey looked possibly better than I’ve ever seen him, although I’m hoping Crowe can turn his luck around soon. An exciting match, nonetheless.

That followed with womens tag team action as the team of Bayley and Carmella took on Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. Like they always do down here in NXT, the girls looked to steal the show and did a pretty impressive job of it. It was a good back and forth battle, but in the end the bad girls proved they were just a little more savvy when Carmella attempted to make Banks tap and Becky made the save. This allowed Banks to roll up Carmella for the pin. I’ve went on record many times stating the talent of all four women here on the blog, but what is noteworthy here is how well the rookie Carmella works so well with the more experienced athletes. She has come very far over the last year and I’m looking forward to seeing where another year takes her. I’m not sure about her recent face push, but time will tell.

Baron Corbin found himself further up the food chain this week and taking on NXTs resident supermodel Tyler Breeze. Even Breeze seemed to know that tonight wouldn’t be the night for selfies and lightheartedness, and made it his business to try and take the big man down before the big man ended him. Breeze matched Corbins power with ring savvy and took control of the match, perhaps being the most serious threat yet to Baron Corbin. A well placed superkick had the crowd on the edge of their seat thinking they would see Corbin finally defeated. Later though, a second superkick would be intercepted all together, giving Corbin the only opening he needed to take control. Once Corbin takes control it doesn’t take long, and Breeze finds himself the victim of the brutal End Of Days.

As much as everyone is clamoring for the next live special, it is hard to imagine anything topping tonights main event which was a fatal four way non-title match. The competitors were Sami Zayn vs Finn Balor vs Viktor vs Adrian Neville. Balor and Viktor clearly had their sights set on each other while Zayn was gunning for the champ. Sick spots galore had the audience either on the edge of their seats or jumping to their feet. In the final moments Neville landed a perfectly executed 450 splash on Viktor, but as he attempted the pin Balor came off the turnbuckle with a double foot stomp on top of both men breaking the pin. Balor looks to finish Viktor with a Bloody Sunday only to find Zayn break it up and eject Balor. Neville charges Zayn and gets caught with an exploder suplex and finished off with a Helluva Kick giving Sami Zayn the victory. Is this luck or foreshadowing? In seven days Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn will answer that question with the gold on the line.