The John Report: WWE NXT Review 07/15/15
This was the last episode taped from the previous tapings. The next tapings are being taped tonight (Thursday), which will set up the NXT Takeover event in Brooklyn on August 22.
The video recap told us about how Charlotte teamed up with Sasha Banks to get a tag match win last week and this week on NXT they have a Women’s Title match.
Jason Jordan & Chad Gable vs. Steve Cutler & Elias Sampson
This is Jordan’s first time teaming with Gable after weeks of building up to this. After Jordan started and didn’t really get going, Gable tagged in. Gable showed some nice amateur moves and rollups on Cutler. Sampson tagged in and hit a body slam. Gable took down Cutler with an arm drag leading to the hot tag to Jordan. Jordan hit clotheslines, then tagged in Gable, Jordan tossed Cutler in the air and Gable brought him down with a back suplex for the win after three minutes. Fans were chanting for Gable.
Winners by pinfall: Jason Jordan & Chad Gable
Analysis: * A good win for the Jordan/Gable team that has a lot of potential. They’re really not heels or faces at this point, but it looks like they are faces. Gable’s the other over the top face that the fans like while Jordan really hasn’t done much character development. It will take some time, but they could turn into a good team.
There was a video showing Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Charlotte debuting on Raw this past Monday. Awesome moment.
(Commercial – It was advertising Owens vs. Cena at Battleground on Sunday. Good reminder that I need to work on the preview. Another commercial for WWE 2K16 with Steve Austin on the cover.)
Samoa Joe vs. Axel Disher
Disher’s pretty new, so we don’t know much about him except he’s from Germany. Joe nailed some hard chops as well as a series of punches. Running knee drop by Joe and more hard chops. Disher hit some uppercuts and raked Joe’s eyes along the top rope. Joe came back with an atomic drop, boot to the face and senton splash. Disher got in some offense, but Joe took him down with a one armed slam. Joe nailed the Muscle Buster and slapped on the Rear Naked Choke for the win after three minutes.
Winner by submission: Samoa Joe
Analysis: * It was just a squash win for Joe. He needs a feud. If Kevin Owens is going to be busy with others then they need to find somebody for Joe to feud with. I expect Joe will be on the Takeover card, so they need to start a rivalry for him leading to a match.
(Commercial for Total Divas.)
There was a video package about Baron Corbin talking about his accomplishments in football and boxing. There was a video of him getting a tattoo on his legs as he complained about guys making names for themselves on the internet or in small gymnasiums. He said he relished in the fact that people hate him because he’s destroying our heroes. It was only about one minute long.
Analysis: I liked that they showed some images of his background playing football and boxing. At least that’s some backstory for him. These kinds of things are good for character development. He still has a lot of things to improve on, but it’s easy to see why WWE is high on him since he’s a big guy with an athletic background.
Eva Marie showed up for a promo on the stage. Fans were booing her before she could say anything. She said she’s so excited to see the Women’s NXT Title match, but more importantly she’ll be making her in-ring debut next week. She ended it like this: “All red everything is coming.”
Analysis: She’s already had matches on Raw and even got some wins, but next week is her NXT debut. She’s had more training in the last few months, so she should know the basics at least. It’s only taken her over two years of being employed by WWE to actually give a shit about her job.
The announce team of Rich Brennan, Byron Saxton and Corey Graves talked about the main event still to come.
Wesley Blake & Buddy Murphy (w/Alexa Bliss) vs. Angelo Dawkins & Sawyer Fulton
The tag titles are not on the line. Murphy got his boots up to take down Dawkins. Blake applied a headlock on Dawkins and then brought in Murphy, he applied a headlock of his own on Dawkins. While Murphy had Dawkins in a headlock, Blake tripped up Fulton on the other side of the ring because the ref is dumb. Murphy hit a suplex leading to Blake hitting the top rope Frog Splash for the win after three minutes.
Winners by pinfall: Wesley Blake & Buddy Murphy
Analysis: 1/2* Another short match to put over the tag champs. If this was Raw they would lose to a non-title match to set up another match, but this is NXT where champions are booked strong. I can’t remember the last time Dawkins & Fulton won a match or if they ever have.
Post match, Bliss told the champs to attack Fulton, so they stomped away on him. They carried Bliss off the ropes and then tossed her onto Fulton as she hit the Sparkle Splash.
Analysis: That was better than the actual match because Bliss is easy on the eyes.
Sasha Banks was shown warming up earlier in the day.
Sami Zayn update is up next.
(Commercial for Tough Enough.)
The former NXT Champion Sami Zayn showed up in an arm sling because of the recent surgery he had on his left shoulder. There was a big ovation for him. The crowd is excited to see him again as am I.
Sami Zayn Promo
The crowd greeted Zayn with “ole ole ole” chants. He spoke about how he’s had shoulder surgery and he hasn’t forgotten about us and he thanked the fans for not forgetting about him. Loud “Sami” chants. He said that things have not been good. Zayn said that 2014 was probably the best year of his career because week in and week out he did it “here” in NXT. It ended great because he won the NXT Title. He added that this year started bad and it won’t end well because he’s probably not going to be back before the end of the year. That’s the truth because it’s a six month injury at least.
Zayn added that he’s not finished and that he has goals. He joked that his goal is to find a comfortable position to sleep, to raise his arm past 90 degrees and then he fired up saying his goal is to win back his NXT Championship. Zayn said there’s no better motivator than revenge. He spoke to Kevin (Owens) saying that his career since day one has been linked to Zayn. He said everything for 12 years has been linked to him and that’s how it will be for the next 12 years. Zayn ended the promo by telling Kevin “to watch your ass because I am coming for you.” The crowd cheered as he left.
Analysis: Good promo. I have really missed him because he’s arguably the best in-ring performer in all of WWE. The injury is a major one and the timing sucked because he had an amazing match with John Cena on Raw in Montreal. I’m excited about Zayn’s future because he has the potential to be a main eventer on the main roster. I hope he reaches his goal.
There was a video of last week’s tag match win to set up Banks vs. Charlotte this week. A video aired of Charlotte from “earlier today” warming up for the match.
A clip aired of Finn Balor winning the NXT Title from Kevin Owens on July 4 in Japan.
They aired a clip of William Regal at Comic Con in San Diego announcing Balor defending the NXT Title against Owens on August 22 in Brooklyn, New York. There were comments shown from both guys with Owens talking trash while saying Balor saying his title win was like a fairy tale.
Analysis: I’m not surprised that they would go with that match because they’re going in the Barclays Center and Owens presence helps since he’s established on the main roster. Balor should keep the title while Owens may be gone from NXT after that match.
Charlotte made her entrance first followed by the champion “The Boss” Sasha Banks. The difference between his match and their other matches is that Banks is more of a face now as opposed to being a heel like she has been in the past.
NXT Women’s Title: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte
Slow start as they tried to get an advantage early on. Charlotte hit this athletic headscissors move followed by a cover for two. Charlotte did this leg lock where she flipped Banks all over the ring. Banks slowed her down with a knee and then the double knee drive with Charlotte up against the turnbuckle, which was good for a two count.
(Commercial for WWEShop.com plugging NXT merch.)
Banks was in control as she slammed Charlotte head first into the turnbuckle, then Banks put her foot on Charlotte’s throat and Charlotte did a Flair Flop out of the corner. Well done like her daddy. Sasha hit a Backstabber. She stretched Charlotte back by holding her arms and putting her legs into her back. This is a familiar looking move from their other matches together. Banks used a leg lock where she wrapped her legs around Charlotte’s throat. Charlotte powered out of it by nailing a huge Powerbomb. Big spot leading to the crowd chanting “This is Awesome” for it.
They exchanged forearm blows, then Charlotte hit a chop, a neckbreaker and a huge Spear for a two count. Banks had a backslide for a two count and then a got a neckbreaker where she yanked Charlotte down by her arms. Banks trash talked her saying she’s better than her and she slapped her, so she still has some heel in her. Charlotte came back with aggressiveness including a big boot that knocked Banks down. Charlotte went for the Figure Four, but Banks turned it into a small package for two. Banks countered a move and dropped Charlotte face first in a reverse powerbomb spot. Banks did some more trash talking, so Charlotte came back with a Figure Four Leglock. There were some hair extensions from Charlotte that came out during the match. That was unique! They were going so hard that some hair fell out! Banks got to the ropes, but Charlotte held on so that she was applying the Figure Four outside the ring as well. The ref made Charlotte break it up after a five count.
Banks got a rollup for two with some tights. Charlotte came back with a rollup of her own. Banks hit the Banks Statement leading to the submission where she yanks back on Charlotte’s head. Charlotte tried to fight out of it by turning it into a pin, but Banks pulled back on her head some more leading to the tapout. Banks wins by submission after 14 minutes.
Winner by submission: Sasha Banks
Analysis: ***3/4 Wow that was a lot of fun. What a great WRESTLING match. The last five minutes were especially amazing and had me saying “wow” a few times. Any time these two have a match it’s great and when they get time to really tell a story they can get to that next level, which they did here. The right woman won as Banks retained her title in clean fashion. Charlotte may not have many more matches in NXT left because as we saw on Raw she’s on the main roster now. Banks is too, but she still has to drop the Women’s Title to somebody. I love their matches because you can see how much chemistry they have. Here’s hoping they get a chance to have matches like that on the main roster.
Post match, replays was shown. Then the girls were starting cry and they did a big hug in the ring. A huge sign of respect for two tremendously talented women that have done so much for the NXT women’s division in the last year or two. The crowd gave them a standing ovation for their effort. They raised each other’s hands and then hugged again as the show went off the air.
Analysis: Awesome ending that showed they have a lot of respect for eachother and they are close friends. Nothing wrong with that kind of finish to end the show.
Three Stars of the Night
1. Sasha Banks
2. Charlotte
3. Sami Zayn
Final Thoughts
It was a boring show other than the main event, which was excellent. If you missed the show, just fast forward to the last match and watch that.
Banks and Charlotte deserve a lot of praise for that performance. I’m not sure where it ranks with their other matches, but it’s definitely one of the better NXT TV main events we’ve seen this year.
Thanks for reading.
John Canton –mrjohncanton@gmail.com
Twitter@johnreport