|
May 25th, 2016 On commentary tonight, at Full Sail University, are Tom Phillips and Corey Graves. Before the show proper begins, the cameras fade into WWE nXt General Manager William Regal in his office. He announces that he had planned for Bayley and Asuka to compete for the Women’s Championship at nXt Takeover in June. WWE doctors have announced that Bayley is not fit to compete so he has booked a triple threat #1 Contender’s match to determine who will face Asuka. In this match, Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax and Carmella will fight for that opportunity. Opening Segment Tag Team Match: Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa vs. TM61 TM61 is Shane Thorne and Nick Miller, and they are apparently one of the hottest tag teams on the planet. They get the benefit of a picture in picture video to promote themselves. They say they’re here for the nXt Tag Team Championships and they are the mighty, the mighty don’t kneel. Ciampa and Miller grapple to begin. They each trade the advantage with a few different holds and takedowns before deciding to tag out to their partners. Gargano and Thorne listen to the crowd chant “Johnny Wrestling” and then lock up. They each work one another’s arms amongst some acrobatic flips and jumps, in which Gargano one-ups his opponent with a dropkick. Double team from Miller and Thorne keeps Gargano on the mat with double axehandles. Big uppercut from Miller after he’s tagged back in byt his partner, and he follows it with a headlock, keeping Gargano face first on the mat. The crowd cheers him on right into a suplex and another tag is made. Thorne enters the ring but can’t keep Gargano down, and the latter scurries to his corner to tag in Ciampa. He and Thorne trade big chops. Miller tags in and delivers a standing moonsault while Thorne delivers an elbow drop. No pinfall attempt is made, but Ciampa escapes the ring to catch his breath. Miller fakes a plancha and, instead, backflips back into the ring as... We go to commercial. On the return, Thorne has Ciampa in a side headlock. Ciampa battles out with elbows, gets behind Thorne but can’t deliver a suplex. Ciampa hits Thorne with an elbow off the ropes, tags in Gargano and he spears Thorne through the ropes. Gargano attempts a pinfall and gets a 2 count. He picks up Thorne and delivers a Russian leg sweep. He applies a unique submission hold where he’s got his arms pulling down on Thorne’s head, while Gargano’s left leg is trapping Thorne’s right arm from moving. He’s effectively immobilizing his opponent who, after some struggle, is able to make a rope break. Gargano with a big chop in the corner on Thorne. He tags in Ciampa who continues with the chops and then throws Thorne down to the mat and into a headlock. Thorne escapes with a jawbreaker. He follows it with a few punches but Ciampa’s answer is a kick to the jaw. Thorne, in the corner, tries to fight back but Ciampa knocks him to the mat. Thorne retorts with a dropkick and both men are down and the referee begins to count. It’s Thorne who reaches Miller first with the tag. Miller takes out Ciampa and Gargano with clotheslines. Gargano enters the ring to try and surprise Miller but Ciampa is thrown into him and then Miller connects with a double clothesline. Miller holds Ciampa on his shoulders. He and Thorne deliver a double neckbreaker to Ciampa. Miller covers him but the pinfall is broken by Gargano. He follows that with a through the ropes diving splash on Thorne. Miller runs the ropes and gets caught by a slap from Ciampa who has recovered. Knee to the face and a tag to Gargano. Both he and Ciampa deliver a superkick and a running knee respectively. Gargano covers Miller for the victory. Winners: Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa via pinfall in 10 minutes Post-match, both teams stare each other down and offer a sign of respect to their opponents, pointing at them and nodding to the crowd. One cool point for the respectable debut from TM61. They certainly held their own against Gargano & Ciampa. Are they here in nXt to stay? Plenty of back and forth in this competitive match. One cool point for Gargano & Ciampa who are building momentum as a team going into the summer months. It’s not such a stretch anymore to see them in the hunt for the nXt Tag Team Championships. Recap: A video package on Samoa Joe is shown, highlighting him as a champion and how intense he’ll be inside the cage against Finn Balor at the next Takeover event. He guarantees we’ll see the end of Finn Balor. Backstage, Cathy Kelley asks Bayley how she feels about not being medically cleared to fight Asuka at Takeover. Bayley says it sucks. Mr. Regal is probably right. She’s not 100%. Nia Jax interrupts her and says the truth is that you were broken in their match. You will never be the same again. Carmella shows up to defend Bayley, but Nia Jax says she’ll wipe the floor with her and Alexa Bliss. Speaking of which, Bliss shows up but Jax says she’s not even worth it and leaves. Bliss and Carmella insult each other a little until Bliss leaves. The official theme song for the next nXt Takeover event is “Karate” by Baby Metal. Second Segment Promo: A promo of a masked lucha libre wrestler is shown. It shows the man removing his mask from behind, and watching old wrestling footage on a screen. The name is Andrade “Cien” Almas and he’s coming soon. Austin Aries’ music hits and he comes down to the ring in street clothes. Aries talks about being the best and how there are other wrestlers in nXt who are grabbing all the attention. Aries says all of that is about to change. After Samoa Joe and Finn Balor settle their rivalry, it’s simply a matter of time before he becomes nXt champion. Suddenly, the lights go out. Shinsuke Nakamura’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring, with the assistance of strobe lights. The crowd is hype for his presence. Nakamura speaks in Japanese for a bit and then says “sorry, you don’t understand Japanese”. He says the nXt championship is coming to strong style. He smiles at Aries as the crowd chants his name. General Manager William Regal’s music hits and he strolls on to the ramp. He commends them both for their incredible impact on nXt. He sees them both standing there and he’s interesting in more. The crowd chants “Takeover!” and Regal agrees. At nXt Takeover, Aries vs. Nakamura will happen. The crowd does the “Yes” chant. Nakamura extends his hand and Aries shakes it. The crowd was just buzzing during this segment. Backstage, it’s American Alpha speaking about how tough the Revival will be. It doesn’t matter where Takeover takes place, Jordan and Gable will prove anyplace that they are the better team. They will be ready, willing and Gable. Third Segment Another theme song for nXt Takeover is “Paranoia” by A Day To Remember. Singles Match: No Way Jose vs. Jonathan Oregon The two men grapple and there`s a distinct size advantage for Jose on Oregon. As usual, Jose dances around when he is not holding or taking down his opponent. Hip toss by Jose, followed by a snapmare. He picks up Oregon on his shoulders, does an airplane spin one way and then the other direction, then does a rolling senton. He struts and drops the leg on Oregon. In the corner, Oregon sends Jose into the turnbuckle. He follows it with a punch but Jose just gets angry. Jose reverses the Irish whip into the opposite corner. He catches Oregon`s leg and clotheslines him down. Atomic Drop. Off the ropes, he drives Oregon`s face into the mat. The crowd chants his name as he winds up and delivers a strong right punch. He picks up Oregon from behind, turns him 180 degrees, and slams him to the mat, similar to a choke slam. It’s a pinfall victory for No Way Jose. Winner: No Way Jose via pinfall in 2 minutes One cool point for Jose’s success thus far in combining dance moves with decent wrestling moves. The crowd seems to be on board with him so far in these squash matches. Whether that will continue into an actual feud remains to be seen. After the match, Jose got Phillips and Graves to dance with him in the commentary area...so he gets another cool point for that. Promo: A video package on Finn Balor is shown, starting with his loss of the nXt Championship against Samoa Joe last month. Clips of Balor discussing the match and the upcoming cage match against Joe are interspersed with wrestling action from the Demon. Backstage, Cathy Kelley interviews nXt Women’s Champion, Asuka. Asuka says no matter who wins, she’ll defeat them. She stares down Kelley as the camera fades to black. Final Segments Triple Threat #1 Contender’s Match for the nXt Women’s Championship: Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax vs. Carmella Bayley wishes Carmella good luck before she enters the arena. Alexa Bliss exits the ring and lets Carmella and Nia Jax begin this match with each other. Jax puts Carmella on the top turnbuckle. Carmella kicks back at her, leaps at her but Jax catches her. She attempts a sunset flip but Jax counters it. Jax throws Carmella off of her and they restart. Carmella tries to lock Jax’s arm but Jax throws her to the mat. Meanwhile, Alexa Bliss mounts the turnbuckle to leap on her but Jax turns around and scares her back to the ringside area... We go to commercial. On the return, Carmella succeeds in delivering a head scissors which sends Jax into the turnbuckle, just when it looked like Jax was going to powerbomb her to the mat. Bliss enters into the ring at this point and rolls up Carmella for a 2 count. She grabs Carmella by the hair and slams her to the mat. She steps on Carmella and slams her head into the mat repeatedly before pinning her for another 2 count. Jax tries to get back into the ring but she gets kicked away by Bliss. Carmella rolls up Bliss for a 2 count. Powerslam by Bliss on Carmella. In the corner area, front splash and a pinfall attempt by Bliss get her another 2 count. Carmella elbows herself free of Bliss’ hold but it’s only momentarily. Bliss grabs her by the throat and spikes her to the mat. Then it’s a backflip of double knees to the mid-section. Nia Jax interrupts that count with a big elbow drop. Bliss responds with knees to Jax’ torso. She goes to the top rope and delivers a Sparkle Splash to Nia Jax. 1-2- Carmella interrupts the count. Carmella sends Bliss to the corner and smashes her face into her foot. Jax misses a running clothesline. Carmella and Bliss attempt to double suplex Jax but she counters with a double suplex of her own on her opponents. The match pauses as all the women recover. Bliss and Carmella throw Jax out of the ring and continue to fight one another. Carmella kicks Bliss out of the ring and then dives to the outside on Jax. Jax catches her but gets kicked by Bliss. Carmella returns to the ring and kicks Bliss to the floor below. She takes off her elbow pads, runs the ropes and connects with a splash on Jax. The crowd cheers her on as she gets hyped up. Bliss brings her back into the ring. They run the ropes and Carmella connects with 2 week shoulder blocks. She follows it with another takedown and a Broncobuster. Slam to the mat and she applies the triangle chokehold. She pulls back the leg but Nia Jax crawls into the ring to break up that submission. Big headbutt on Carmella. Carmella climbs on to Jax’s back and applies a sleeper hold, bringing Jax down to one knee. Jax finds more strength and backs up into the corner, breaking the submission. Carmella stands up on the top rope and connects with a Lou Thesz press. 1-2- Jax kicks out. Jax crawls into the corner and Carmella attempts the Broncobuster but Jax catches her and slams her to the mat. Leg drop. 1-2-3. Jax wins. Winner and new #1 Contender: Nia Jax via pinfall in 11 minutes Post-match, Nia Jax smacktalks Alexa Bliss when suddenly, Asuka’s music hits and she walks on to the ramp, holding the Women’s Championship. She raises it in the air and stares down her Takeover opponent. She smiles at her and walks down the ramp. Asuka enters the ring to confront Nia Jax as the crowd chants “Asuka’s gonna kill you!” Jax says she’ll drop you where you stand but Asuka just smiles as she holds up the title. One cool point for Nia Jax who continues to dominate her competition. Bliss and Carmella each had their spots but I’d say there was only one spot where Jax was truly at risk of losing- during the triangle chokehold. Carmella looked rather weak in this match and Bliss didn’t get involved enough to truly be threatening, although I liked the strategy she took of picking her moments to attack. That sets her apart from the others so one cool point for her, too. Asuka vs. Nia Jax should be interesting since Asuka’s offense is very kick heavy. The fight will be to bring Jax down to the mat, and I’ll be disappointed if Jax roughs up Asuka as much as she did Bayley. I feel like Asuka’s offense should prevent that from happening. Looking forward to your thoughts and cool point suggestions on tonight’s episode. Peace!
|
