NXT
Date: April 22, 2015
Location: Full Sail
University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Corey
Graves, Rich Brennan
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We haven't heard from
NXT Champion Kevin Owens in a good while so it's probably time to get
him out here for more greatness. Alex Riley has called Owens out to
meet him in the ring tonight because, due to quitting his commentary
job, Riley has nowhere else to go but the ring. Let's get to it.
Opening sequence.
Finn
Balor vs. Tye Dillinger
Balor starts with some
dropkicks as the fans want him to KILL THE JOBBER. The Pele sets up
the Sling Blade and the Coup de Grace ends Dillinger at 2:28. This
was an old school squashing and Balor looked great.
Tyler Breeze pops up on
screen to call Finn Balor the flavor of the month. See you around
Finn.
Dana Brooke says last
week was the rebirth of the women's division in NXT because it was
the debut of the strongest Diva ever. It's play time.
Kevin Owens is asked
his thoughts on the match with Riley tonight but first, he thinks
it's cold. Riley gave him a good fight a few weeks back but he's
never going to be NXT Champion. After the loss tonight, he can go
find a chair, table and headset to use because his future isn't in
the ring. If you'll excuse him, he'd like to go find a coat.
Charlotte
vs. Bayley vs. Becky Lynch
#1 contenders match. Becky
gets double teamed to start and Bayley throws her to the floor,
setting up another showdown between herself and Charlotte. A chop
out goes to Charlotte (of course) and we hit the figure four headlock
with the flips to knock Bayley senseless. Becky sneaks back in with
a nice German suplex to take Charlotte down and we take a break.
Back with Becky dropping some running legs on Bayley for two.
Off to a knee hold as we get
what might be the first ever crawler advertising NXT live shows. A
limping Bayley fights out of the corner but charges into a knee.
Becky outs on a complicated leg lock but Charlotte breaks it up with
Natural Selection and no cover. The fans think that this is
wrestling and better than the Divas.
Becky pulls Charlotte off
the middle rope to break up a superplex attempt but Charlotte pulls
her away from the corner into a powerbomb with Bayley adding a middle
rope elbow to the jaw to drive Lynch down. Charlotte pulls Becky off
the cover and puts her bad leg in the Figure Eight (the official name
for the bridging version). Charlotte can't see though and Becky
drapes her arm over Bayley for the pin at 11:32 with the hold still
on.
Rating:
B. The girls continue to steal
the show and Becky is getting better every week. Lynch vs. Banks
could be something interesting given their history and now I have a
reason to believe it could be a good match. Charlotte has nothing
left to do in NXT and is ready for the main roster and the
destruction of her career as a result. Bayley needs to find
something to do as she's been running in still adorable circles for a
while now.
CJ
Parker vs. Hideo Itami
Dang
Parker just won't leave. Parker
stalls to start as the fans want Hideo to kick his head off. A
headlock slows Itami down but he drives a knee into Parker's ribs to
set up some kicks for two. CJ
punches him in the corner and gets two off a suplex. Another attempt
doesn't work though and it's time for the strike off. A
running delayed corner dropkick sets up the Shotgun Kick to give
Hideo the pin at 4:06.
Rating:
D+. This has to be Parker's
last match as I can't find anything else taped for him. Hideo looked
better here and it seems that the GTS is going to be his super
finisher when he isn't using the Shotgun Kick. This did its job of
getting Hideo back on track after his big moment was treated like
nothing special by Big Show at Wrestlemania.
Becky
Lynch doesn't like Sasha Banks taking credit for her career.
Rhyno
vs. ???
No
name for the jobber. Gore ends this in 27 seconds.
Blake
and Murphy sing to Carmella when Enzo and Cass come up to accuse the
two Sinatras of having Halitosis. Carmella
is wearing the jewelry they gave her and that's not cool either.
Cass brings up getting
Carmella a job.
Alex
Riley vs. Kevin Owens
Non-title
and no sign of the coat.
Owens gets in his face in
the corner but Riley shoves him into the same corner. A nice
dropkick sends Owens outside and the champ needs a breather. The
mind games begin as Owens won't get back inside, which eventually
draws Alex outside for a whip into the barricade.
We
come back from a break with Owens
choking on the middle rope and not seeing Riley as much of a threat.
The backsplash gets two and
we hit the chinlock. Riley
fights up and hits a running elbow in the corner, followed by a
flipping neckbreaker. He
gets crotched on top though, setting up the Cannonball and Pop Up
Powerbomb for the pin at 8:44.
Rating:
C-. I
wasn't wild on this one as it was basically a less energized version
of their first match. Owens is a killer and looked fine while Alex
looked like he could still go in the ring, but we knew those things
after their match in Columbus. Not much to see here but Owens is
always entertaining with his explosiveness.
Post
match Owens loads up the apron powerbomb but Sami Zayn comes out for
the big brawl. Security comes out but Sami dives on the pile to send
Owens running away to end
the show.
Overall
Rating: C. This wasn't the best
show but it seems that this was a show taped out of order which took
away a lot of the chemistry. Sami coming out to go after Owens was a
great sign though as it's time to pick things up all over again,
likely for the next upcoming Takeover. Not a great show but it set
up the future and gave us a good triple threat.
Results
Finn Balor b. Tye
Dillinger – Coup de Grace
Becky Lynch b.
Charlotte and Bayley – Lynch pinned Bayley while Bayley was in the
Figure Eight
Hideo Itami b. CJ
Parker – Shotgun Kick
Rhyno b. ??? – Gore
Kevin Steen b. Alex
Riley – Pop Up Powerbomb
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