NXT
Date:
March 25, 2015
Location:
Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators:
Rich Brennan, Corey Graves
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We're
back home in Florida tonight with the main event being Kevin Owens
defending the NXT Title against Finn Balor. This is the lower level
main event that still has the potential to tear the house down if
they're given enough time, which NXT is usually really good about
doing. In addition to that, we have Sasha Banks defending the
Women's Title against Alexa Bliss. Let's get to it.
We
open with a recap of last week's road trip to Columbus for the first
episode out of Florida.
Opening
sequence.
Women's
Title: Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss
Sasha
is defending after losing a non-title match via countout last week.
Bliss grabs a quick rollup for two and a crucifix gets the same.
More rollups get more near falls and Sasha is having trouble keeping
up with Sasha early on. Bliss tries to jump over her in the corner
but gets kicked in the ribs to finally slow things down. A running
slap to a seated Bliss gets two and the double knees to the ribs in
the corner get the same. Sasha shouts that Bliss isn't in her league
but Bliss escapes the straitjacket choke into a small package for
two.
The
champ gets thrown out to the floor for a big crash. Back in and
Bliss lands a slap of her own followed by some forearms before the
Glitz Flip (moonsault into two knees to the chest) gets two more.
The fans are WAY behind Bliss now which really does show both how
good she is as a plucky face and how awesome Sasha is as a heel.
Bliss takes time going up and gets slammed down, setting up the Bank
Statement for the submission at 5:38.
Rating:
C+. I seem to be the last
person to notice it, but Sasha has gotten AWESOME in the last few
months and is looking like the next big star of the Women's Division.
I believe Sara Del Ray is training the girls down there and it might
be time to bring her up to train the Divas, because I don't remember
the last time these girls had a bad match. That's unthinkable for
the main roster Divas.
Kevin
Owens says Finn Balor made his mark by dressing up like a demon.
Owens made his mark by debuting and becoming NXT Champion in two
months. Bring the demon tonight because it won't matter. No one is
taking this title from him and his family.
Video
on Owens' short time in NXT and his quick rise to the top.
Emma
comes up to Bayley in the back and says she told Bayley so. Bayley
has been being too nice with the hugs and then she went out and lost
to Becky Lynch. She needs to find her inner aggression because the
NXT Universe will lie to her. Bayley doesn't but it and stands up to
Emma, so the Aussie slaps her HARD in the face. Emma
as the disenchanted main roster failure is an interesting new
character and a logical progression for her.
Tyler
Breeze doesn't like being asked what his next move is because it's a
stupid question. After beating “Hideous” Itami last week, he
wants to get the NXT Title and make it gorgeous. Itami comes up and
says he beat Breeze too, so he wants 2/3 falls next week.
Wrestlemania
card rundown.
Finn
Balor video, showing him taking NXT by storm.
We
look at Alex Riley getting beaten up by Owens last week.
Enzo,
Cass and Carmella are in the back when Murphy and Blake come up to
apologize to her. They bring her jewelry but the guys aren't
impressed. Carmella wants to know why they never get her jewelry.
NXT
Title: Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens
Owens
is defending and Balor isn't in the demon paint. We're
ready to go after some Big Match Intros and they have well over
twenty minutes for the match not
counting commercials. Kevin
bails to the floor to start before getting back into the corner.
It's a trap though as Balor shoves him back but eats a hard shot to
the face. A headlock slows
Balor down a bit and Kevin wants to know where the demon is now.
He's a Dale Torborg fan? Finn gets up and scores with a nice
dropkick as we take a break.
Back
with Balor holding an armbar before a basement dropkick gets two.
Owens drives him into the
corner but uses the weakened arm to drive a shoulder into the ribs,
only to further damage it. A Stunner over the top rope puts Balor
down and Owens puts his boot
on Finn's jaw. We hit the
chinlock as this is clearly
going like a long match instead of just running through the motions.
Back up and Owens levels him
with an elbow to the face but is good enough to hold the arm after,
making it easier for Balor to kick out. Off to another chinlock as
we take a second
break.
Back
with Owens driving his boot
into Balor's ribs before putting on another chinlock with his knee in
the back. This one doesn't
last as long as Owens throws him to the floor and has an evil look on
his face. The powerbomb onto the apron is countered with a backdrop
and they head back inside with Owens catching him in something
resembling White Noise for two. The backsplash gets the same and we
hit the chinlock again. That's
getting a bit repetitive which isn't something you often see in NXT.
Owens
asks if Balor wants to stand back up and whips him hard into the
buckle. A nice overhead
belly to belly (with an even better face from Balor) gets two and
we're back to the chinlock, earning a big ovation from the crowd.
They're nothing if not perceptive.
Back from another break with
Finn making his comeback with forearms and a backdrop to put the
champ on the floor. He follows Kevin out with a big flip dive and
the top rope double stomp to the back for two in the ring.
The
Pele drops Kevin again but Finn can't follow up. The
Sling Blade sets up the reverse Impaler for two more and
Balor is STUNNED. Owens
avoids the running corner dropkick and Finn comes up holding his
knee. The champ goes right after the injury with kicks and chop
blocks before ramming it
into the apron. A
backsplash on the knee sets up a half crab but
Balor crawls over for the rope. Balor
escapes a powerbomb attempt and hits the jumping double stomps to put
both guys down.
Owens
goes up but gets kicked in the head, only to counter Finn's superplex
attempt into a spinning release
fisherman's superplex
(freaking SWEET) for two. Kevin
can barely move so Finn kicks him in the head again, only to have the
champ chop block him again. The
Cannonball connects and Finn is almost
out of it.
Owens
wraps the bad leg around the ropes and hits a Cannonball onto the
leg, but his third attempt only hits buckle. Finn
hits a running dropkick (he really shouldn't be able to do that) and
the Coup de Grace but his knee is too hurt to cover. That's more
like it. Owens gets up and
hits the pop up powerbomb to retain at 30:37.
Rating:
B+. This took its time getting
going and the first half had too much chinlockery, but once they got
in a grove and had Balor messing up his leg, this was all gravy.
Owens is ready for the main roster and Balor has been ready since
before he set foot in NXT, but I'm
very glad they're sticking around here and getting to put on awesome
matches like this one. That arena is going to come unglued when
Sami comes back to fight Owens again.
Overall
Rating: B. Good episode this
week as we wrap up the first half of this cycle and can move on to
the next big batch of matches, perhaps with the next Takeover coming
soon. This was a really fun night though and Balor showed how ready
he is for the main roster. I wasn't completely thrilled with the
main event at first but they made me care about it. That's one of
the hardest things to do in wrestling and those two nailed it.
Finally, I continue to love this crowd as they acknowledged the
amount of chinlocks and applauded to let the guys know to mix it up a
bit. How awesome is that?
Results
Sasha
Banks b. Alexa Bliss – Bank Statement
Kevin
Owens b. Finn Balor – Pop up powerbomb
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