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November 4th, 2015 Coming Up Tonight: Welcome to Apollo Nation. Crews, the #1 contender, takes on Finn Balor for the nXt Championship. On commentary tonight, at Full Sail University, are Rich Brennan, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves. Opening Segment Singles Match: Asuka vs. Cameron “As colourful as she is threatening”, it’s Asuka vs. the former Funkadactyl, Cameron in the first match of her return! They begin with a hard grapple and Cameron shoves Asuka into the corner. Cameron attempts to kick her but Asuka holds her leg, leads her to the middle of the ring and gently lowers the leg. How kind. Cameron swings an open hand at Asuka when, simultaneously, Asuka flips her by the other arm into a cross armbar on the mat! Cameron squirms out of it but the crowd was impressed. Cameron retorts with a few face slams on the mat, a split leg kick and a cover for 2. Another cover for 2. And again but nothing doing. Snap suplex, followed by a split leg drop and a 2 count. Cameron holds Asuka in a modified dragon sleeper hold for a few moments until Asuka snapmares Cameron to break the hold. She meets Cameron’s torso with a jumping back kick and then mocks her pose in the middle of the ring. Cameron shrieks and punches her. She goes to run off the ropes but Asuka meets her at that side of the ring with a jumping hip attack. Asuka sends Cameron off the ropes for another one. She strikes Cameron with kicks and open palms. Cameron retreats to the middle of the ring and charges. Asuka catches her and brings her down to the mat into an arm submission. Cameron rolls out of it, tries to counter but Asuka locks in an STF-like submission. Cameron, up on her feet, tries to throw Asuka towards the ropes. Asuka reverses, twirls and slaps Cameron not once, not twice but thrice, followed by a spinning heel kick. Off the ropes, she smashes Cameron in the face with her knee. Asuka lock and Cameron taps out. Winner: Asuka via submission in 3 minutes and 43 seconds One cool point for the multitude of submissions Asuka can lock in on an opponent. That kind of offense is hard to beat. It’s fine to see Cameron back in the ring. Is she better than Eva Marie? Recap: Dash & Dawson’s attack on Enzo & Big Cass Backstage, Tom Phillips is with Carmella, asking her for a medical update on her tag team. Carmella says Cass has a sprained MCL and he’ll be out for a while. And here come Dash & Dawson, joking about the injury, saying they reserved hospital beds for them. Carmella calls them George Costanza and Danny Devito, and to watch their backs cause they’ll be sorry. Dawson says they’re only sorry they didn’t do it sooner. They’re putting the whole roster on notice that they’re gonna be the new nXt Tag Team champions after beating the Vaudevillains next week. Wilder brings in a wheelchair with “Vaudevillains” written on it. Dawson says they’re gonna need that after next week’s match. Tonight: Finn Balor vs. Apollo Crews for the nXt Championship! Second Segment Promo: Earlier today, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable discuss having earned a lot of respect at nXt Takeover: Respect. Jordan says they’re still not the champions though. Gable says they’re still going upward so don’t worry. Focus on being the best tag team in the world and the rest will take care of itself. Gable says they just need a plan. Jordan says what if we challenge the greatest tag team in nXt history. Gable says we can’t wrestle ourselves! Jordan says, no, the longest reigning champs in history: The Ascension. Gable calls them out to come on home and then they’ll start to ascend to the titles. They joke about the pun. Only come if you’re ready, willing and Gable! Singles Match: Bull Dempsey vs. Angelo Dawkins w. Sawyer Fulton The fans yell “Bullfit!” as Dempsey begins the match getting a few early hits on Dawkins. Dawkins sends him off the ropes and Dempsey grabs him into a headlock on the mat. Dawkins gets up, throws him to the mat and then lands a strong punch to the face. He stomps a mudhole into him and covers Dempsey for a 2 count. Dawkins gets Dempsey into a front headlock, while Dempsey’s on his knees. He works him like this for 15 seconds or so before striking him with clubbing hands and kicks. Dempsey starts getting angry and hulking up after every punch. Off the ropes, Dempsey knocks Dawkins down twice and then begins with the punches and a windup headbutt mid-section hit, then a headbutt to the chin. Dempsey slaps his stomach and throws all of his weight into a hip check on Dawkins in the corner. Dempsey knocks Dawkins to the mat and ascends to the top rope for a diving seated senton and the win. Winner: Bull Dempsey via pinfall in 2 minutes and 52 seconds Fulton shakes his head at Dawkins’ loss, throws his hands up in the air and leaves Dawkins. Backstage, the camera zooms in on the Vaudevillains’ wheelchair, the gift from Dash & Dawson. Zooming out, we see and hear Tom Phillips asking the Vaudevillains about it. English says it wasn’t pretty what Dash & Dawson did to Enzo & Big Cass, but their push to the top wasn’t pretty either. They want to add their names to the elite when they beat Dash & Dawson next week. Gotch says they aren’t gentlemen and they depend on easy victories which work for them. They will retain their status as nXt Tag Team Champions. English rolls the wheelchair out of view. Backstage, we see Apollo Crews staring down the nXt Championship belt that is hanging in Finn Balor’s locker room stall. One cool point for Bull Dempsey’s fans who are his motivation and reason for winning. This match wouldn’t have been as entertaining without them. Third Segment Tom Phillips meets Bayley backstage asking who she has picked for her 6-man tag next week vs. Alexa Bliss and Blake & Murphy. She has chosen the Hype Brothers, Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder. The 2 of them crash the interview with their frantic energy. They say that Blake & Murphy aren’t hype. They have Bayley’s back. They cheer together and run off. Singles Match: Eva Marie vs. Marley The commentators question why she went to Paris when she could have just went to a spa. The referee calls her and Marley to begin and they oblige. Eva Marie with the hip toss and a “Woo” and shimmie for the crowd. Then she tosses her hair into her Marley’s face and Marley pushes her to the ground. This is followed up with evading a clothesline by bending backward and then an elbow and a 2 count. Eva Marie takes over control, bringing her opponent’s arm to the middle rope, crooking it around it and pulling. Eva Marie with a suplex and a 2 count. Eva locks Marley into a left arm lock, pulling at the socket. Up to her feet, her opponent punches Eva 3 times in the face, followed by an enziguri, dropkicks x2. Eva tries to roll her up but she rolls it into a mounted position and punching. The two separate briefly and face each other in opposite corners. Marley charges right into a big boot from Eva. DDT. 1-2-3. Winner: Eva Marie via pinfall in 2 minutes and 40 seconds One cool point for Eva Marie’s attitude. It’s attention-grabbing, although it could be more consistent. Backstage, Tom Phillips interviews Emma and Dana Brooke about being scared of Asuka. Emma says no. Asuka has her utmost respect but she’d appreciate her being out of her face, smiling. Brooke says she has the utmost respect too but when she was patted on the head by Asuka, that’s childish. Brooke would love to wrestle her again one day, but Emma says she’ll have to wait her turn. Asuka needs a welcome and she’s the one to give it to her. Up Next: Finn Balor (c) vs. Apollo Crews for the nXt Championship Promo: Thanks to Motorhead and their song “Ace of Spades” for being the official theme song of nXt Takeover: London. Check out their latest album, “Bad Magic”. Closing Segment nXt Championship Match: Finn Balor (c) vs. Apollo Crews (#1) We get official ring introductions for this championship match and, yes, the champion came to the ring last. Not bad for tradition! The two shake hands, circle around one another and tie up to begin the match. Crews quickly goes for the rollup for a 2 count. This prompts a chain wrestling competition between the two which finishes with them staring each other down as... we go to commercial. Upon our return, Crews has Balor in a side headlock and Balor is getting to his feet. Balor punches at the torso but Crews won’t let go. They run off the ropes. Balor throws Crews to the opposite side and lies flat on the mat while Crews does a cartwheel over him and then a backflip. Exceptional! Crews leaps over the charging Balor, lies flat as Balor bounds over him and nails Balor in the head with a jumping dropkick! Now, at opposite corners, Crews hits a running splash on Balor, runs off the ropes for his next attack and gets smashed in the face by a Balor dropkick. He covers for a 1 count and then applies a front headlock on the mat. Crews stands, grabs Balor’s tights and holds him high in the air in suplex form for 10 seconds. The dude even took one hand away for a moment before suplexing him to the mat. His pinning attempt only garners a 2 count. Crews attempts a jumping elbow drop but Balor evades, runs off the ropes and soccer kicks Crews in the head. 2 count. Balor returns to an arm trap half nelson, trying to wear down Crews’ endurance. Crews breaks free by whacking Balor in the gut a few times. Off the ropes, reversal, sunset flip by Crews but Balor does a back roll and connects with a seated jumping dropkick to the head. And we’re back to the arm trap half nelson to slow the pace down. 45 seconds later, Crews returns to his feet, lifts Balor who adjusts to execute a pinning attempt but gets a seated jumping dropkick for his efforts. Both men are matching one another move for move. And here come the clotheslines by Crews. Another corner splash. He attempts a second but Balor leaps over Crews who was running from behind him. Crews kicks him in the face, ascends to the top rope and is met by an enziguri from Balor! Crews lands on the ramp and here comes Balor with a diving somersault senton on Crews. We go to commercial. Promo: Next week, The Vaudevillains defend the nXt Tag Team Championships against Dash & Dawson. Meanwhile, Balor has the upper hand as he sends Crews from corner to corner for slaps across the chest. Crews reverses the third attempt but Balor explodes out of the corner with a clothesline and a 2 count pinfall attempt. Balor executes an inverted headlock on Crews for 10 seconds until Crews flips Balor out of it, throws him off the ropes and connects with a fallaway slam. 2 count and the champ kicks out. Both wrestlers are looking fatigued. Crews picks up Balor over his head. Balor squirms free and receives a dropkick for his efforts. Balor retaliates with a Sling Blade but he doesn’t go for the pin. He waits in the corner, runs and Crews meets him with a clothesline. Gorilla press slam. Standing moonsault into Balor’s knees! Balor with a lifting inverted DDT for a close 2 count. Balor follows up with a running front dropkick, knocking Crews into the turnbuckle. He ascends to the top rope but he only foot stomps the mat because Crews rolled and is up on his feet. Kick to the chest. Balor responds with a massive enziguri and both men are laid out on the mat as the referee counts. He gets to 6 when Crews regains his footing, only to be attacked by an incoming Baron Corbin! Corbin punches both wrestlers, especially laying into Crews, forcing him to the ringside area. Post-Match: He slams Crews into the ringsteps. Balor wants a piece of Corbin now but he is laid out with punches as well. The crowd is quite unhappy about this. Samoa Joe charges into the ring to scare off Corbin, and he succeeds. The two stare down each other, Corbin smiling at Joe. Joe looks strained as he turns around to clothesline Balor and begin pummeling him down. He throws him into the turnbuckle and lays into him with jabs. Sits him up on the top rope and delivers the muscle buster as Brennan asks, “What is going on?!” Joe exits the ring to grab the nXt title belt. He stares at it and then lays it on top of the fallen Balor as the crowd boos. The show ends with Joe staring at the results of his in-ring attack on the nXt champion. Winner: No contest in 11 minutes and 9 seconds due to interference from Baron Corbin Two cool points for Crews and Balor putting on a tightly contested match in which each wrestler was mirroring the other’s abilities. If it were a test, both men pass with flying colours. I’m not sure how I feel about the Joe heel turn. It wasn’t a surprise since we knew his desire for the championship ever since he arrived to nXt. It appears that Crews will redirect his attention on to Corbin so that Balor and Joe can have a proper feud and title match. This gives Crews more time to shine. I feel he’s easily the most gifted athlete on the roster although he ought to get a chance to practice his promos, too. Or, with Corbin’s abilities, we could have a fatal four-way. How do you think the nXt title picture will shape up in the coming weeks? How about the show at large, did you enjoy this week’s episode? Share your thoughts below. Peace!
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