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November 18th, 2015 On commentary tonight, at Full Sail University, are Rich Brennan, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves. Opening Segment Singles Match: Carmella vs. Nia Jax Corey Graves touts this match as the “Princess of Staten Island” vs. the “Princess of Wherever She Chooses”. The two women waste no time locking up at the ring of the bell. Carmella grabs Jax from behind but gets tossed to the corner. Carmella tries striking Jax instead but gets stopped pretty quickly. Off of the ropes, Jax lifts Carmella, delivering a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Jax grabs Carmella by the hair and headbutts her. She then lifts Carmella and crushes her torso with a bear hug. The crowd has little response to this, even when Carmella chokes Jax to break free of the submission. Jax catches Carmella’s splash attempt, lifts her over her head on to her shoulders, but can’t execute a Samoan drop. Carmella slides down her back attempting a pinfall. Jax reverses by attempting to sit on Carmella but misses. Carmella with dropkicks and punches but these do little damage. She sits on the turnbuckle and launches herself for a hurricanrana on Jax. Jax catches her, smiles, lifts her up to her shoulders for a power bomb. Jumping leg drop. 1-2-3. Winner: Nia Jax via pinfall in 2 minutes and 49 seconds One cool point for Carmella trying different techniques of knocking Jax down...even if she wasn’t very successful. Jax looked a little awkward in the ring, pacing a few times trying to decide what to do next when Carmella was down. No cool points for her this time. Backstage, Alexa Bliss, joined by Blake and Murphy, saying her hands will feel just fine carrying the Women’s Championship, but her ears aren’t. She’s fed up hearing about that Ironman match. She’s happy for Bayley earning respect at Takeover but she has something Bliss wants and deserves: the nXt Women’s Championship. She is what girls strive to be: beautiful and strong. Times are changing and the other horsewomen left you, Bayley. It’s time for a new era; the era of Alexa Bliss. A WWE referee enters the picture to share that nXt General Manager William Regal has stated that Blake and Murphy are banned from ringside for the match! Naturally, they complain but Bliss stops them. She’s going to bliss-slap Bayley and destroy all her innocent dreams. Coming Up: Jason Jordan & Chad Gable vs. The Ascension The official theme for nXt Takeover: London, England is “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead. Guess Triple H wanted to send some royalty money over to his favourite band! Second Segment Tag Match: Jason Jordan & Chad Gable vs. The Ascension The crowd is hyped for this match before it even begins. That’s decent! Viktor and Gable are starting for their teams. Viktor slaps Gable pretty well a few times but when he charges at Gable in the corner, Gable ducks and runs out, just as Viktor tags in his partner. Jordan enters the ring, too, and we’ve got a standoff. The referee manages to talk common sense into the men and Gable grapples with Konnor. Neither man is able to get the advantage so off the ropes, they go, Jordan tagging himself in. Gable slides out of the ring. Konnor turns around to be wrapped in the arms of one Jason Jordan. Jordan attempts multiple times to lift Konnor but Konnor keeps fighting him off. So, Jordan forces Konnor to their team’s corner. Gable tags in and the two start with the shoulder thrusts, tagging in and out so that neither man gets too tired. They wear down Konnor enough to connect with a double suplex and a 2 count pinfall. Now, it’s Gable back in, with stomps. The ref calls him off and it gives Konnor time to bring Gable to their corner to be stomped. Viktor is tagged in. He slingshots Gable from the mat directly into Konnor’s arms for a spinebuster. Viktor follows it with a jumping elbow drop and the crowd cheers. 2 count. Viktor slows down the pace, methodically striking Gable but Gable is feisty and he fights back briefly. Konnor is tagged in and receives extra momemtum from Viktor to connect with a running clothesline on Gable in the corner. Konnor sends Gable to receive a jumping knee from Viktor and another 2 count. Konnor now with the side headlock, which Gable fights out of. Both Ascension members charge at him in their corner to no avail, and end up on the outside of the ring. Konnor rushes back in, tries to grab Gable’s legs but receives a fireman’s carry slam. Jordan is able to tag in and he unleashes a flurry of dropkicks on both Ascension members. He slams Viktor, backs into the opposite corner, and spears him into the turnbuckle. Amazing overhead throw belly to back suplex! 1 count as Konnor breaks it up. Gable returns to the ring but he’s thrown out by Konnor. Jordan clotheslines Konnor out. He tries to spear Viktor again but is stopped by Viktor’s knee. A hop to the top rope leads to a jumping front dropkick on Jordan and a pinfall attempt, saved by Gable! Gable’s thrown to the apron but he does a somersault splash on Konnor outside the ring. Meanwhile, Viktor’s suplex attempt is evaded by Jordan who tags in Gable. Jordan lifts up Viktor and Gable finishes the sidewalk slam. Pinfall and victory! Winner: Jason Jordan & Chad Gable via pinfall in 6 minutes and 23 seconds One cool point for the ring smarts of the Ascension early on in this match. One cool point for Jordan & Gable’s athleticism, especially that suplex by Jordan. Plenty of good things happening with that team. Coming Up: nXt Women’s Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss Promo: A video package uses Bayley’s victory speech and her reading of her essay of wanting to be a pro wrestler. This is compared with clips of Bliss’ challenge, complete with sassy attitude, dressing Bayley down. Backstage, Tom Phillips is with Bayley who says that keeping the nXt Women’s Championship is just as hard as winning it. If Bliss thinks it’s easy to take it from her, she’s got another thing comin’. She’s going to get the wrestling lesson of her life. Respect isn’t given, it’s earned. Bliss is out of her league. Third Segment Singles Match: Emma vs. Mary Kate The women lock up until Mary Kate throws Emma to the mat. Mary Kate lands a forearm, brings Emma to her feet, throws her off the ropes and it’s a shoulder block. She poses for the crowd. She reaches down to pick up Emma but gets a foot to the face. Emma grabs at her and lands a few punches before being pushed off. She bounces off the ropes and connects with a front foot dropkick. Then another. She stands on Mary Kate’s hair and lifts her by the arms. Ouch. Emma chokes Mary Kate on the ropes for a count of 4 from the referee. She is firmly in control of the match, even as Mary Kate fires back with punches. Emma’s vicious with hitting her opponent into the turnbuckle. Running crossbody splash. Hard impact. Out to the centre of the ring and it’s a nasty Emma Lock for the win. Winner: Emma via submission in 3 minutes and 9 seconds One cool point for Emma who showed a lot of attitude in this match. She was extremely confident and arrogant in her gait, facial expressions and smack talk in the ring. Recap: Two weeks ago, Finn Balor vs. Apollo Crews’ match was interrupted by Baron Corbin’s interference. Last week, Apollo attacked Corbin prior to his match. Promo: Last week, WWE.COM’s captured a short video with Baron Corbin saying he doesn’t like Apollo. He’s destined to be a failure. He challenges him for a match at nXt Takeover: London. Coming Up: nXt Women’s Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss and Dash & Dawson are in action next Wait. There’s another official theme for nXt Takeover: London, England. It’s “Could Have Been Me” by The Struts. Fourth Segment Tag Team Match: Dash & Dawson (nXt Tag Team Champions) vs. Corey Hollis & John Skyler Dash & Hollis start off and Rich Brennan tells us that the Vaudevillains will get their championship rematch next week. Nice to see a flurry of title defenses! We kick it off with arm twists and punches. Dash tags in Dawson to lands a few more punches and slaps with intention and aggression. Dawson throws Hollis to the opposite corner but he jumps up and uses the ropes to push backwards over the running Dawson. Hollis runs the ropes and evades Dawson on 3 occasions before receiving a dragon screw takedown. Dawson follows it with a single leg crab and tags in Dash to continue the onslaught, attacking Hollis’ left leg. Another tag and Dawson is in, contorting Hollis’ leg, trying to weaken it. Dash is in again but Hollis starts to fight back. No problem. Huge clothesline from Dash. Tag to Dawson who picks up Dash to be thrown on to Hollis. 2 count pinfall by Dash. Hollis is reaching out for his partner but he’s in the opposite corner. Dash with a side kneebreaker. Dawson’s tagged in and the two bring Hollis to the steel corner post to get his legs smashed into it. Dawson tags in. Another kneebreaker. Then, Hollis wakes up. Enziguri on an incoming Dash. Kick on Dawson. He reaches for the tag and brings in Skyler. Skyler’s in long enough to receive a Shatter Machine finishing move. 1-2-3. Winner: Dash & Dawson via pinfall in 5 minutes and 4 seconds One cool point for Dash & Dawson for wearing down Corey Hollis for most of that match...and then for pinning Skyler to win. Either Skyler sucks or Dash & Dawson’s scouting report game played a big role in winning using that approach. Backstage, Tom Phillips asks Asuka about this significance of the Kabuki match. Dana Brooke interrupts before Asuka can say a thing. She challenges her to a rematch. Asuka lifts the mask off of her face and creepily says, “yess!” Emma joins Brooke to say bye to Tom Phillips. Brooke says Asuka bought it “hook, line and sinker” but we don’t know the plan. Up Next: Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss for the nXt Women’s Championship Closing Segment At nXt Takeover: London, Finn Balor (c) will take on Samoa Joe for the nXt Championship Last week, WWE.COM’s captured a short video with Samoa Joe saying he’s not in the nXt arena because GM Regal is afraid Balor will retaliate for everything Joe’s done. Joe’s not there for Balor’s protection and, in 7 days, Balor can sit at home angry and think. After the signatures are on the contract, it’ll be he and Balor at Takeover and he’ll rightfully take over what is his: the nXt Championship. nXt Women’s Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss We get official ring introductions for this championship match. That’s 3 weeks in a row! The women grapple and Bayley pushes Bliss to the corner, stomping all the while. To the adjacent corner and it’s repeated until Bliss reverses it and steps on Bayley’s back while the fans boo. She jaws at Bayley who attacks back and throttles Bliss on the mat. She slams Bliss’ head into the turnbuckle almost 10 times. Back to the middle of the ring, Bliss with the right hand on Bayley. In and out of the corner, Bliss attempts a backslide pin but Bayley reverses it. Snapmare and then running clothesline to the seated Bliss. Jumping knee drop and a pinfall attempt for 2. Bayley attacks Bliss in the corner again, clearly in control of this match, followed by a running bulldog and a 2 count. She slows the pace with an arm stretch, but Bliss kicks out of it and then rolls out of the ring to regroup. Bayley chases Bliss, grabs her by the hair, but Bliss reverses it, slamming Bayley’s head into the ring apron. Bliss chokes Bayley with her boot on the apron and... We go to commercial. When we return, Bayley is fighting out of a submission attempt by Bliss, but Bliss flips Bayley over and twists her arm. The referee asks if Bayley wants to quit but she says no, though her left arm is clearly hurting. Bliss mounts Bayley and punches her, pinning her for a 1 count. She continues to work the left arm, stretching it behind Bayley’s own back. Clothesline and a pinfall attempt for 2. Back to the chicken wing submission. The crowd claps a little but aren’t as vocal as usual. Bayley flips Bliss over herself to break the hold. She starts pulling and twisting Bliss’ left arm. Double axe handle. Another. Misses the third and receives a knockout slap from Bliss. Bliss flip double knees to the mid-section for a 2 count. Graves says “it’s gutcheck time” for Bliss just as she ascends the turnbuckle. Bayley’s up now, punching Bliss. She powerslams Bliss off the turnbuckle and pins her. 2 count! The crowd is chanting her name as she suplexes Bliss. Bayley charges at Bliss in the corner repeatedly, misses the fifth time and Bliss attempts a sunset flip pin, only getting a 2 count. Bliss shrieks at Bayley, brings her to her feet and seems to smirk at the crowd chanting and dancing to her left. Bayley seizes the day, slaps Bliss and then delivers the Belly to Bayley suplex for the pin and win. Winner: Bayley via pinfall in 9 minutes and 31 seconds Bayley celebrates with the fans following the match until Eva Marie’s music kicks off. Here comes the red lady with a microphone. She’s wearing stiletto heels and a nude halter top. She says she had to come out here...but the fans boo so hard she can’t continue. Eva tries to start again and the boos continue. She says they’re dorks and to be quiet. Wow. The fans are really laying into her. Eva finally proceeds with what she needs to say, which is that, next week, Bayley will defend “verse” me. Yup, she said that. Bayley holds her title high in the air and says “no way” to Eva’s title belt around the waist motioning. And that’s how it ends. Two cool points for Bayley and Alexa Bliss on an engaging and enjoyable main event title defense. I’m not sure how convinced anyone was that Bliss would win, but she was very competitive, very capable in this match. Bayley continues to fight well through injury and though that theme may grow tired at some point, I’m quite content to see Bayley persevere through injury to win. Eva Marie’s appearance at the end deserves a cool point, if only for the shock factor and for the sheer amount of heat she gets from just showing up and saying a few words. There’s no piping in that kind of reaction. It’s genuine, it’s uneasy, and it’s reactionary. Here’s hoping that match next week can provoke a fiery but more balanced reaction from the FSU crowd. How about the show at large, did you enjoy this week’s episode? Share your thoughts (and your own cool point suggestions) below. Peace!
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