WWE: NXT Spotlight 11/04/15 by Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to another edition of the NXT Spotlight right here on TJRWrestling! I jumped the gun on my vacation plans by a week, so I am in fact here once again to cover the best hour of wrestling going right now. We of course have a huge NXT Title Match signed for tonight between the champ Finn Balor and the challenger Apollo Crews. Let’s get right to the action!

Asuka vs. Cameron

Holy hell, Cameron still wrestles? Talk about a difference of styles. People want to hate on Eva Marie but at least she never tried to pin someone who was on their stomach. Yeah, I’m going to go ahead and put the .gif here.

Oh it still makes me laugh. The ladies lock up as the crowd chants that Asuka is going to kill Cameron.That’d be sweet. Quick as a hiccup, Asuka hooks on the cross armbreaker. Cameron barely gets to the ropes and ends up somehow in control. She gives Asuka a stiff kick to the ribs from a split position but only gets two. Cameron is now sporting a 90% purple hair color. If you’re interested in that type of stuff. Cameron doesn’t stay in control long and Asuka drops her and then mocks Cameron. Quite funny. Asuka hits a Rear View on Cameron, an homage to her old partner Naomi perhaps. Cameron is in the corner, but gets out, only to be caught in a reverse cross armbreaker. She gets to the ropes again but Asuka hits a couple jumping back fists, a spinning leg kick and then a Shining Wizard. She goes for the Asuka Lock after that and Cameron taps out quickly.

Winner: Asuka

The announcers review what Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder did last week to Enzo Amore and Big Cass. We go backstage to Tom Phillips with Carmella. She tells us that Big Cass has a sprained MCL and will be out awhile. Dawson and Wilder show up to gloat about what they did last week. Carmella says they better be careful because her boys will be coming after them when they’re back. She walks off and Dawson and Wilder talk about how they have a match with The Vaudevillians next week for the Tag Titles. They roll in a wheelchair and tell Tom to give it to the Vaudevillians because they’ll need it after next week.

We now go to Chad Gable and Jason Jordan. Jordan says people are still talking about them from Takeover: Respect but they’re not where they want to be yet. Gable says don’t worry about it though because they’re still going upwards. Before they know, people will be calling them the World’s Greatest Tag Team. Jordan tells him don’t say that. Gable says that’s his bad, he forgot they talked about that. Jordan says they should fight the longest reigning NXT Tag Champs, The Ascenscion. Gable likes that idea, so they should come back home if they’re ready, willing, and Gable. I popped huge for that exchange about World’s Greatest Tag Team.

Bull Dempsey vs. Angelo Dawkins (w/Sawyer Fulton)

Bull fakes a punch and Dawkins ducks for no reason to start our match. Bull takes advantage and hooks on a headlock. Dawkins rolls out and drops Bull with a straight right hand. He repeatedly kicks Bull but only gets a two count after a pin attempt. Now he has Bull in a front face lock. Bull gets to his feet but Dawkins knocks him back down. Now Bull starts to Hulk-Up and drops Dawkins with some clotheslines. Then he goes for his version of the Dusty flip, flop, & fly. Dawkins is dazed and ends up in the corner and gets hit with a reverse avalanche and then gets sent to the opposite ropes and is flattened by Bull. Bull goes to the top rope and hits his Whoopie Cushion finish and gets the win. Sawyer Fulton is disgusted with Dawkins performance and walks out on him

Winner: Bull Dempsey

Tom Phillips catches up with The Vaudevillians and brings them the wheelchair that Dawson and Wilder left for them. Aiden English says they say what they did to Enzo and Cass and it wasn’t pretty. But neither was their climb to the tag titles. They plan on adding their names to the list of great tag teams once they win their match next week. Simon says what Dawson and Wilder do, works for them. But being gentlemen has worked for The Vaudevillians. And doing what they do, they’ll ensure they walk out still NXT Tag Champions.

After some commercials, Tom Phillips is with NXT Women’s Champion Bayley. Tom asks her if she’s found some partners for her six person match that Alexa Bliss challenged her to. Bayley says she has and it wasn’t hard at all. She’s hyped for her partners as it’s The Hype Bros. Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley show up and they all are excited to show BAMF what’s up next week. Woo Woo Woo, You Know It.

Eva Marie vs. ???

The Red Queen of NXT is looking fantastic in white tonight. Eva tosses her opponent to the mat after a tie up and celebrates it like it was the greatest move ever. Then she flips her hair in the girl’s face for good measure. Now Eva gets shoved down and then tries to go after her and gets hiptossed and made to look bad. Eva rebounds and goes back on the offensive. To this point they still haven’t named her opponent, but she’s wearing a jersey that says Jersey on it, so I’ll call her Jersey Girl. Eva hits a suplex and then hooks on an armbar. The crowd has now decided Eva is ratchet since Sasha is gone. Jersey Girl gets out and hits a couple dropkicks and then mounts Eva and hits some right hands. Eva retreats to the corner and Jersey Girl charges her and Eva drops her with a big boot. Then as Jersey Girl is on her knees, Eva comes sliding in and hits a flatliner. Interesting variation on that move. Eva picks up the win with it. I can only guess they didn’t want her using the Sliced Bread #2 anymore.

Winner: Eva Marie

Tom Phillips is a busy man tonight and is now with Emma and Dana Brooke backstage. Tom asks Emma if she’s scared of Asuka. Emma says no she’s not. Asuka actually has her respect, she just doesn’t like the Asuka smiles at her. Dana says she respects Asuka too but she didn’t appreciate the way that Asuka patted her on the head. It was childish. Dana wants another shot at Asuka but Emma says she’ll has to wait because she’s going to show Asuka what NXT is all about.

“Ace of Spades” by Motorhead is the official theme song for Takeover: London

NXT Title Match: Finn Balor (c) vs. Apollo Crews

19 minutes left in the show as Apollo makes his way out. Hopefully that means these guys have an amazing match. Balor comes out with his Balor Club entrance. He is such a badass when he comes to the ring. Both men meet in the middle of the ring and the lights go out with just a blue spotlight over the both of them as Greg Hamilton announces them both. Really cool effect to give this a big match feel. Haven’t seen this before. Both men shake hands as the ref raises the belt to show what they’re competing for. The lights come back on and we’re off. Apollo gets a quick rollup for two. He tells Finn he was close. Finn takes down Apollo with a headlock and then both men trade headscissors and come to a stalemate.

Early commercial break in the match and when we return, Apollo has Finn down with a headlock. Finn gets up and sends Apollo to the ropes and then drops down, but Apollo shows off his athletism and catches Finn off guard with a beautiful dropkick. Avalanche splash in the corner by Apollo, but Finn recovers and hits a beautiful dropkick of his own. Finn hooks a front face lock, but Apollo turns it into a delayed vertical suplex. Apollo gets the two count. Apollo hits a huge elbow drop, but Finn moves and kicks Apollo in the chest. Finn goes for the cover but two count. Now Finn has a modified version of the Cobra Clutch on but Apollo fights out. Apollo goes for a sunset flip but Finn’s momentum rolls him out of it and hits a front dropkick while Apollo is sitting. Finn goes right back to that modified Cobra Clutch. Apollo tries to power out, but this time it’s Finn with the sunset flip, and this time it’s Apollo’s momentum who rolls through it and hits a front dropkick. Now Apollo gains momentum and hits a couple clotheslines and another avalanche splash. He kicks Finn hard in the face and jumps up on the second rope, but Finn hits a kick of his own that sends Apollo to the outside. Finn wastes no time to hit his suicide dive over the top rope.

We take one last commercial break and return to Finn chopping Apollo in the corners. Apollo sends him to the opposite corner but Finn comes back with a huge lariat. Finn tries to go for a reverse Bloody Sunday but Apollo blocks and hits a fallaway slam but holding on into a Samoan Drop. Cool move. Apollo gets a two count with it. Apollo gets Finn up in the Gorilla Press but Finn gets out. Apollo hits a jumping kick but Finn comes back with a Sling Blade. Finn sets up for the Shotgun dropkick but Apollo hits a clothesline to block. Apollo hits his Gorilla Press into the standing moonsault, but Finn gets his knees up. Now Finn is able to connect on the reverse Bloody Sunday, but Apollo just barely kicks out. Finn goes right back to the Shotgun dropkick and hits it. Coup De Grace time but Apollo rolls away. Finn lands on his feet but is caught with a bicycle kick, but then Apollo is caught with a Pele Kick right after that. Huge “Holy Shit” chant breaks out as this sequence has been nuts. Both men slowly to their feet and Baron Corbin comes in from the back and has ruined the match. The ref calls for the bell as Baron assaults Apollo.

Match Result: Disqualification/No Contest

Baron lays out Apollo on the outside after dropping him on the guardrail and then focuses on Finn. He beats on Finn until Samoa Joe comes to even it out. Joe clears Corbin from the ring. Baron looks happy with his work and stares down Joe. Joe turns to Finn and looks almost conflicted and then there it is, the Samoa Joe heel turn. He lays out Finn with a clothesline and then repeated kicks. He works over Finn in the corner and then sets up Finn for the Muscle Buster. Joe yells “I did this to you!” and then drops Finn. Joe goes to the outside and grabs Finn’s title. He drapes it over Finn’s chest and leaves the ring. That’s our show.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

– A much better showing for Asuka this week. I thought her mannerisms were toned down a bit, but she was still entertaining. Not that i’m in the Cameron fan club, but I don’t know why you’d bring her back just to get squashed.

– Really solid promo work from all three tag teams we heard from tonight. The star is rising quickly on Gable and Jordan. I really do think when it’s their time for a tag title match, it will be the main event of a Takeover. Perhaps whenever the first one in 2016 is. After seeing Dawson and Wilder vs. The Vaudevillians steal the show at the NXT: Austin live event, I really hope they get a lot of time next week to do more of the same.

– Loved Eva Marie again this week. Nothing too difficult for her and I thought that new finisher was intriguing. She was motioning as if she wants to be next women’s champion, so we’ll see if they think she’s ready for Bayley.

– Finn and Apollo clearly weren’t able to hit that next gear, but they’re probably saving that match truly for down the road when they want Finn to pass the torch of “leader of NXT” to Apollo. They had a couple really nice sequences though that give you a lot of hope for when they truly go at one another.

– The Samoa Joe heel turn had been rumored for quite some time; I personally even thought it was coming once I heard the crowd’s reaction to him and Tyler Breeze during the battle royal. I thought they may save Joe vs. Balor for WrestleMania weekend, but I would assume now that it’ll be the main event for Takeover: London. That crowd will obviously eat up that match and love every second.

– So I lied to all of you twice last week. I said I was going on vacation this week and it’s actually next week. I also told you to look out for an editorial from me and I never wrote it. I promise I will have that editorial out soon, the topic may change, but I’ll have one out for you to read. Next week I really will be on my way to vacation so either this will be a couple days late or I’ll have a fill in host. Either way we’ll have all your recap on the NXT Tag Team Title match and more.

Until next time, always be ready, willing, and Gable.