Adrian Neville kicks off this episode and he’s…talking. Neville talks about Sami Zayn and how they went to war at TakeOver. He says Zayn deserves to be the NXT Champion. He says Kevin Owens is the reason Sami Zayn can’t be here tonight. And out comes Owens!
Neville tells Owens that his debut was shameful. The crowd chants “shame on you” at Owens. Owens says he doesn’t care what Neville has to say. Owens says he finally cares about being here and the fact that Sami Zayn is not. Owens says he doesn’t have a problem with Neville, but he came here to get to the absolute top. Owens will fight anyone and if Neville has a problem with him, then he’s got a fight.
^That didn’t feel as intense as it could’ve. Both guys seemed a bit out of their element when it comes to the promo itself. Nerves maybe? Should still be a great match.
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady will face the Ascension later tonight.
We see a flashback from R Evolution when Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks took down Bayley backstage.
Becky Lynch is interviewed backstage. Lynch says she sees what’s in front of her because of Sasha Banks. Her eyes were opened to the fact that smiling and having the fans cheer means nothing when she loses week after week. She says besides herself, the only person she can count on is Sasha Banks. Lynch goes on to say she’ll end Bayley’s career.
^Good promo work, but somewhat intense when she talks about ending one’s career.
We’re told that Adrian Neville will face Kevin Owens in the main event tonight!
Bayley takes on Becky Lynch. Lynch beats Bayley in a pretty short with match with the four leaf clover submission. Bayley sells the knee injury after the match.
^Lynch looked agressive here. For how short the match was, it was pretty competitive. This is the sort of WRESTLING I’d love to see on Raw and Smackdown from the ladies.
The Vaudevillains are shown backstage with William Regal. They show him a video from their match at TakeOver with the ending. The illegal man was pinned in the match and Regal acknowledges it. Regal offers them a rematch against the Lucha Dragons in the future for the NXT Tag Team Titles. Regal makes fun of them after they leave.
^English and Gotch were funny here. I like their gimmick alot, and I’d certainly welcome that tag team rematch in the future.
Bull Dempsey is taking on what appears to be an enhancement talent(they don’t say his name). Dempsey crushes this guy in his usual fashion and wins the match with his big diving headbutt from the top rope.
^Dempsey has got agility for a big guy. I like his different look, but the singlet needs to go. He’d make a great tag team partner for Bray Wyatt as he has that same sort of shape and look. Or he could stay different, keep the singlet, and show off his wrestling ability.
Baron Corbin comes out as Dempsey is heading to the back and they have a staredown.
^I like the build they’re doing for the eventual match, but man can we see something different aside from a staredown in passing?
Baron Corbin faces another enhancement talent and kills him in fourteen seconds as Dempsey watches. Nice to see Dempsey watch the match and build the rivalry. Dempsey shoves Corbin and then snakes away before Corbin can respond.
^Guess we did get something more creative after all! I love it. All I can say is that their eventual match better deliver in spades with this kind of build!
Time for Cassady and Amore to take on the Ascension. They do their usual routine on the way to the ring with Carmella(and you can’t teach that!).
The Ascension defeat Amore and Cassady in less than two minutes. Viktor pins Amore after a big clothesline when Amore tags himself into the match to impress Carmella.
Viktor gets on the mic after the match and says Atami and Balor had beginner’s luck in NXT when they beat them at R Evolution. They tell us the war is far from over. Konnor tells us they will rise.
^This was a segment for the Ascension. Cass and Amore were able to get the crowd excited before the squash. All in all, it worked.
Adrian Neville takes on Kevin Owens in our main event. We get a double countout at the 12 minute mark and the crowd is not pleased.
^That was really just a tease of how great these two guys can be. Twelve minutes of pure awesome action! Loved this, but I have a feeling we’ll get even more excitment from these guys in the future.
Owens delivers the same powerbomb to Neville on the ring apron that he did to Sami Zayn at R Evolution. Owens screams at Neville after the match and says “who’s fighting now?” The show ends.
^That was outstanding. The match was good, the finish was well done and protected both men, and we were able to witness true professional wrestling the way it should be in that main event. Great ending.
This was a well executed show. The ladies match was short but packed with wrestling, and the squash match for the Ascension was a nice sendoff. Lastly, we got a good tease between Corbin and Dempsey, and we were given a quality main event. Everything clicked, made sense, and was highly enjoyable. I give it an 8 out of 10.
When I score a show, I want to make sure people can understand my reasoning. If the show had made two of the matches just a bit longer and they’d cut off some time from the talking segments, I feel it could’ve been a 9 out of 10.
The Christmas episode of NXT was flashbacks and highlights of 2014, but it closed out with another match between Sasha Banks and Charlotte. It was a very good match with some nice back and forth action, but it wasn’t quite as intense as what we saw at R Evolution. Nature Boy Ric Flair was also ringside for this one.
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