NXT Lakeland 6-20-15

Written by Wayne Mason

Photos by Maryann Mason

On June 20^th 2014 Masons Ringside View posted its inaugural blog post about NXT Lakeland. One year later down to the day, NXT returned to Lakeland as our humble blog celebrated its first birthday. Fans and bloggers alike were treated to an incredible night of action as only NXT can offer.

The evening starts with Solomon Crowe taking on NXT newcomer Uhaa Nation. The two familiar competitors size each other up and come to a stalemate after locking up. The two run the ropes and after several leap frogs Uhaa delivers a dropkick to Crowe and follows with a very prolonged vertical suplex. Crowe eventually fires back with the smashmouth offense fans have come to expect from him. He land a series of punches and kicks and delivers a Boing Splash. Crowe continues his onslaught with a series of knees and strikes until Uhaa mounts a quick comeback. He hits Crowe with a clotheline and a splash before delivering another clothesline that turned Crowe inside out. Uhaa lifts Crowe over his head with a military press and drops him, then follows with 2 astounding standing moonsaults for the victory. Ty Dillinger comes out and gives the match a 3. I would have given much higher to a contest I consider match of the night. The explosive Crowe has long been one of my NXT favorites. With only 3 NXT matches under his belt Uhaa Nation as already proven he is going to be a major player in NXT. I have no doubt that we will see these two competing in a main event setting sooner than later.

Next is six-woman tag team action as the team of Carmella, Devin Taylor and Cassie take on Lina, Jasmine, and Alexa Bliss. The intimidating Lina starts out against Devin Taylor who quickly tags out to Cassie after failing to budge her opponent. With no better luck Cassie quickly tags in Carmella who undeterred brings the fight right to Lina. With relative ease Lina tosses Carmella around before tagging out. Later enemies Carmella and Bliss comes to blows in the ring and Carmella gathers a measure of retribution. Later Lina turns things back around for her team squeezing the life out of Taylor with a massive bearhug. Ultimately Devin makes a hot tag to Carmella as Lina tags in Jasmine. She runs down Jasmine with a Thez press and a series of punches before delivering a shoulder in the corner. In the fray Jasmine makes a blind tag to Bliss who comes in and rolls up Carmella for the pin. This was a very entertaining match with a lot of back and forth wrestling. Cassie continues to make new fans while the debuting Jasmine made a great first impression. It’s Lina who really stands out though, she has a presence, a look, and power advantage that is going to take her far.

Next up Dasha welcomes out Levis Valenzuela Jr who comes out with a Dominican Flag. She asks him about what brings him to NXT. He talks about his love and respect for the business, then continues to state that NXT is the hottest brand in the world. He says that NXT is the future but we must celebrate the now. He states we must sing and dance, we must fiesta. His music plays as he dances with Dasha and the crowd grooves along. It was a promo that really didn’t say too much, but it did a good job of showcasing his charisma, of which he has plenty.

The tortured soul Marcus Louis is out now to face the wrecking ball Bull Dempsey. In the early going Bull lands a little offense but it doesn’t do much to faze Louis. The two begin running the ropes until Dempsey gets winded and has to stop, at which point even Marcus looks at him confused. The two begin running the ropes a ridiculous number of times until an absolutely exhausted Bull Dempsey collapses and Louis trips over him and pummels out of the ring. Louis makes his way back to the ring and takes advantage of a worn down Dempsey. Marcus thrashes Dempsey with a series of blows. Eventually Dempsey fires back with some punches of his own before he runs Louis down and follows with a seated senton/ whoopee cushion off the top rope for the win. Ty Dillinger comes out and gives the match a 2. This was a fun match that had just enough of a comedic element without going too far.

We continue with three way tag action as Cass & Enzo take on Jordan & Gable and Blake & Murphy. Jason Jordan starts off strong against Murphy before tagging in Gable. Murphy tags in Blake but Gable quickly goes to work on his arm culminating in an armbar over the top rope. Later Enzo makes his way into the match showing off some improved ringwork, while his Bionic elbow did not go unnoticed. The match goes on with several bling tags in and out from several competitors, mostly everyone working over Zo until he makes the hot tag to Cass. He lays waste ejecting everyone but Murphy, laying him out with a big boot. He attempts to set up Air Zo but Blake pulls Amore off the apron. In the chaotic final moments everyone is in and Blake stunners Gable. Jordan tosses Blake with a massive overhead suplex. Murphy comes off the ropes delivering double knees to Jordan, but then walks into a swinging side slam from Cass. He then follows with Air Zo, launching Enzo onto Murphy for the pin. Kudos to all three teams for putting on a hell of a match, although I’m simply happy with Gable getting much deserved ring time.

Next up, Jessie takes on women’s champion Sasha Banks. After some trash talking the two lock up and Jessie takes the early advantage grounding Banks with a side headlock. Eventually Banks takes over though, landing her double knees in the corner and tying up her opponent into a straightjacket. Later Jessie breaks free and mounts a comeback with a couple of clotheslines and a big boot. The action picks up as the two battle back and forth until Banks pulls a Bank Statement from out of nowhere for a submission victory. Banks looked great as she always does, while Jessie looked strong and confident against the champ. Jessie will be competing for gold in NXT sooner than later.

Ty Dillinger is out next and tells us that so far NXT Lakeland has been a 3.3, but not to worry because we are about to see a perfect 10 performance. Unfortunately for him, his opponent is the mountainous Braun Stowman. Undeterred, Dillinger walks up to him and hoists his huge 10 sign over his head. Stowman grabs it and tosses it out of the ring, but Dillinger pulls another sign out of his trunks. Stowman does the same, but the ever prepared Ty pulls a card sized 10 sign out of his boot. Stowman attempts to grab it but Ty smacks his hand and tells him “No!” The action begins and the speedy Dillinger chops Braun in the chest to no effect. He follows with a crossbody but simply bounces off of the 6’8 375lb Stowman. The massive Stowman manhandles Dillinger with huge clubbing blows. Later Dillinger mounts a comeback with 2 superkicks followed by a third kick that brings the man to his knees, he follows with a DDT. However moments later the angry big man was back to his feet planting Ty with an inverted sitout side powerslam. Whether playing the heel or the face, Dillinger is gaining more and more support from fans due to performances like this.

Bayley is out next for a promo and is wearing a cast on her hand. She explains that Emma broke her hand. She takes the mic and talks to fans ringside asking them about bones that they have broken. She says that like them she will get better and be back in the ring soon. She also points out that she still has one good hand for high fives.

More tag action follows as Dawson and Wilder take on the “Hype Bros” Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley. The match starts with some of the usual Rawley banter followed by some power moves and dancing. The Hype Bros stayed one step ahead much of the match and looked to be having a lot of fun doing it, even showing off some tandem offense. Eventually, the wily Dawson and Wilder take over, isolating and picking apart Ryder. The two employ frequent tags and some tag team maneuvering of their own, showing why pound for pound they may just be the best tag team in NXT. Eventually though, Ryder makes the hot tag to Rawley who comes in with a series of splashes. With an opponent down in each corner, Rawley and Ryder utilize a double Broski Boot. Rawley hoists Wilder over his shoulders and Ryder comes off the ropes with a Rough Ryder for the victory. I’m enjoying seeing more of Zack Ryder in NXT, and as much as I’d like to see him in singles action I have to admit tag teaming is more beneficial for Rawley at the moment.

Our main event of the evening is Tyler Breeze taking on Baron Corbin. From the start Breeze wisely evades Corbin by stepping out of the ring. It would be to no avail as Corbin eventually gets his hands on him and beats him down. The two brawl to the outside of the ring and back in before Tyler manages to lock in a sleeper hold. Corbin breaks free and they brawl some more once again to the outside where Breeze drops Corbin with a superkick. They both make it back inside and continue their fight. With Breeze prone on the bottom rope Corbin attempts his patented baseball slide to the outside to smack Breeze, but Tyler lifts up the ring skirt effectively trapping Corbin. He follows with a dropkick knocking Corbin to the ground. Back inside Breeze plants Corbin with a Killswitch, but cannot keep the lone wolf down. Moments later Corbin takes down Tyler with a huge swinging side slam. Finally, a frustrated Corbin grabs a chair from the outside. Before he could use it referee Drake Wuertz took the chair from him. Seconds later, Breeze nailed Baron with a superkick and followed with a Beauty Shot for the victory.

All in all it was another great night of wrestling in Lakeland, the kind of wrestling that motivated me to start this blog in the first place. So happy birthday to Masons Ringside View and huge thanks to all of you for reading!