Alright, not much to see here this week. This is effectively just a recap show for Takeover, but there's just a handful of new stuff so I figured I'd go ahead and write it up. If you missed this one, though, you're not really missing too much.
Tom Phillips and Corey Graves join us from Dallas, and immediately kick it to Cathy Kelly in the Stamford offices. Cathy is...awful. All she needs to do is read some copy off a teleprompter, and she does as bad a job at it as I've ever seen. Where did they find her? She does this like someone who's never even seen television before. Every segment with her is death.
Anyhoo, we actually start off by mentioning the one real match we're going to see on this show, Crews against Samson, which got removed from the actual Takeover show so that they'd have more time. This segues into mentioning AC's RAW debut, and even though I mentioned it over there, this seems like a good time to congratulate NXT's Graduating Class of 2016: Sami Zayn, Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Enzo & Cass, the Vaudvillains, and after Smackdown, it sure looks like Emma's gone as well. They're all great performers, and I hope for the best for them. With the NXT ranks thinned out a bit, though, I wouldn't mind seeing some new folks from the PC work their way up to TV.
Meanwhile, American Alpha won the tag titles in Dallas. It was a great match, and really stood out on a show full of great matches. After the recap, they show the backstage web segment that somebody actually posted here on the board. Watching it a second time, it really stands out to me how much of a make-or-break moment this must have been for Jordan. He'd been around from the beginning of NXT, and he's seen a lot of guys go up, and a lot of guys go home. He had to have been thinking a release wasn't too far away, but this finally validated the choices he's made. So when he starts bawling like a toddler, it's almost impossible not to feel good for him. This is a bit that really chokes me up, no joke. I'm legit happy for Jordan.
Next recaps the Women's title match, where Asuka won the belt. We go to comments from Bayley, who admits that Asuka's on a whole other level from the other challengers she's faced, and although she got knocked down, and disappointed everyone watching her, she's going to come back better than before. I'll pay real money for a training montage.
We recap the AC/Samson rivalry before going to the Aries/Corbin match. Aries won with a rollup, by the way. Afterwards, Aries admits that he's a polarizing figure, but he's in NXT to prove things to himself, not to anyone else. Then he says "Greatest Man Who Ever Lived," which is the most indie thing any wrestler has ever said, and I wish Dusty was still around to stop guys from doing dumb shit like that. It's a bad tag line, Aries. You're better than that.
We see Corbin win the ARMBaR, then we move on the recap of the NXT title match. Most of the blood has been edited out. Not all of it, mind you, because there was simply way too much blood to avoid all of it. Finn is modest in victory, claiming he once again "merely survived." I think it's nice to give your opponent credit, Finn, but maybe after you beat him clean, twice, and opened him up like it was the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, maybe then you're allowed to say that you're just better than Joe. Because you are. Anyhoo, Joe's so upset that he can't even be bothered to eat the cameraman when they try to get comments from him. He just storms off. Back of the line, Joe!
No Way Jose! There's No Way this can deliver on the hype, is there?
Okay, it's time for our one match, which, funnily enough, is still not the main event of this show. Take that, Crews and Samson! Samson's out to antagonize the Dallas crowd by playing guitar and absolutely failing to sing for them. He's so bad, my wife wonders if he's singing badly on purpose. I hope so. Anyhoo, this crowd wants wrestling, and lets Samson know about it. That brings out Crews. Once the match actually gets underway, it's alright. Samson stalls to start, eventually eating a dropkick and getting put into an ARMBaR. No, wait, that was Corbin, this is just a regular armbar, and it's a lot less flattering. Crews is working the arm pretty good here, refusing to let go even as Samson tries to roll out of the ring. AC drags him back in and modifies into a keylock. Samson elbows his way out, but AC goes right back to the armbar, until Samson is able to move into the corner. Crews tries to go up, but Samson sweeps his legs out from under him. It's punches and kicks, followed by a headlock. AC gets loose for a second, and gets a stunning turnbuckle-assisted mule kick from Samson for his trouble. I think that, eventually, Samson is going to be *very* good. AC's had about enough of this, though, and so he turns it around on Samson, hits the corner splash, the big clothesline, and the enzuigiri. Samson tries to take a walk after that, but it's a moonsault off the apron for him. AC goes for the combo, but the standing moonsault gets blocked. Samson takes control, briefly, but AC is able to position for a sunset flip, but Samson counters with a victory roll for two. He hits his jumping knee strike, and moves in for the swinging neckbreaker, but AC blocks that, hits a pump kick, and then locks it up with the toss-bomb. Match Rating: AC Had The Most Disappointing Farewell Match Out Of Everyone, Even Though He's The Only Person Who Won.
Our main event is actually the recap of the Nakamura/Zayn classic, an early and likely contender for Match of the Year. If, for some bizarre reason, you didn't watch it yet, you should really get on that. In fact, if you have seen it, see it again. Afterwards, Sami is overcome with emotion (his default state), giving us his last words in NXT, and letting the fans know how much their support meant to him as he walked up the ramp for the last time. Awww.
We also get some words from Nakamura, though! Funaki's there to translate for him. They say some stuff back and forth in Japanese, and as Funaki turns to the camera to start translating, Nakamura just shoves him out of the way to announce, "Strong Style has arrived!" And you'd think, you'd really think, that Nakamura would be the best part of this, but he's not. As Nakamura's making this big show of his announcement, Funaki does this perfect eye-roll, like he's just standing there thinking, "Oh man, this fucking guy!" It's the perfect sell for the whole thing.
Real show next week, hopefully. Nakamura and Aries are both scheduled for action, at least. I'm excited by the possibility of seeing some new faces soon. The landscape of NXT has changed radically, so it's all brand new going forward.
Originally posted by Tenken347Next recaps the Women's title match, where Asuka won the belt. We go to comments from Bayley, who admits that Asuka's on a whole other level from the other challengers she's faced, and although she got knocked down, and disappointed everyone watching her, she's going to come back better than before. I'll pay real money for a training montage.
Wasn't there a training montage for Bayley (and Sasha!) in the lead-up to the Iron Woman match?
Originally posted by Tenken347Next recaps the Women's title match, where Asuka won the belt. We go to comments from Bayley, who admits that Asuka's on a whole other level from the other challengers she's faced, and although she got knocked down, and disappointed everyone watching her, she's going to come back better than before. I'll pay real money for a training montage.
Wasn't there a training montage for Bayley (and Sasha!) in the lead-up to the Iron Woman match?
So so true. I think during the whole course of the 80's I saw less than 10 Hogan matches. Even today I cant think of Piper as a wrestler because I cant recall any matches he did. Theres a kid at my job, hes about 18.
Thread rated: 5.80
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