A video package recapped Hideo Itami’s history with The Ascension leading to the debut of Finn Bálor last week… The opening video played… The show opened with Finn Bálor making his entrance to a big reaction. He gets a red spotlight on him in an otherwise darkened arena before red lights blare when he hits a pose. Very cool entrance, but perhaps a bit overdone. Once in the ring, he grabbed a mic before pausing to let the crowd chant “Finn! Finn! Finn!”
Bálor introduced himself and said he’s here in NXT because he’s the future. Before he could say anything else, Tyson Kidd’s music hit and he made his way onto the stage with Nattie hand-in-hand. Kidd said that he’s sure Finn has a riveting story to tell, but the fact is that nobody cares. The crowd chanted “Nattie’s husband” before they allowed Kidd to carry on. Kidd said that Bálor just got there and Kidd isn’t buying that he’d ‘the guy’. Kidd said being a Hart, the first thing they’re taught is respect, which Bálor clearly lacks.
Justin Gabriel’s music hit and he joined Kidd ok the ramp. Gabriel agreed with Kidd and said that it seems like every week a new guy shows up with some cool music and thinks he’s a top guy. Gabriel said Bálor would have to go through them, and they’d show him that he’s far from a top guy. The crowd berated him with “who are you” chants. Funny. Both heels entered the ring and cornered Bálor when Hideo Itami’s music hit and he made his way to the ring.
The crowd chanted “Hideo” as the heels backed out of the ring. Suddenly, a ref entered the ring and got the attention of a production team member who had Jojo announce that William Regal was making this into a tag team match. The crowd popped big and it was on.
1. Finn Bálor and Hideo Itami vs. Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel. Both teams were feeling each other out early but Kidd clearly wanted no part of Bálor. He tagged in Gabriel who turned right into a shotgun dropkick from Bálor. Bálor wasted no time going to the top rope, but Kidd pulled Gabriel out of the ring. Bálor hit the ropes and wiped out both heels with a tope con hilo. Bálor was clearly not used to the metal grate ramp as he came down hard on his tailbone and came up looking like he wanted to cry. [C]
Back from break, Itami was working over Gabriel as Albert talked about Bálor’s time in the New Japan Dojo. Neat! Bálor performed an impressive leap over the ropes to wipe out Kidd with a boot on the apron, but Gabriel took advantage of the distraction and knocked Bálor off the apron with a dropkick. Kidd tagged in and dropped Bálor with a neckbreaker at ringside before ordering the ref to count Bálor out. Gabriel tagged in and went to work on Bálor who already had a nasty looking bruise on his ass from that tope. Ouch!
The heels hit tandem soccer kicks and continued to isolate Bálor in their corner. Bálor finally fired up with forearm shots on Kidd and rocked him with a Pele kick before Itami got the hot tag. Itami wore Kidd out with kicks to the chest and followed up with a running single-leg dropkick for a two-count. Gabriel tagged in and went for a springboard maneuver, but Itami caught him with a high knee to the gut on the way down. Itami tagged in Bálor and the two hit their tandem hesitation dropkicks before Bálor went up top and came down with the double foot stomp for the win.
Bálor and Itami beat Kidd and Gabriel in about 6:30.
The babyfaces celebrated and the heels backed up the ramp as the commentators (Brennan, Riley, and Albert) touted the match as the greatest debut NXT has seen. They then transitioned to the main event title match between Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville. They threw to a recap of the great No. 1 Contender’s match the two had against each other last year which Adrian Neville won…
Backstage, Devin Taylor welcomed Sami Zayn onto the set. She wanted his thoughts going into his title match tonight. He said he has a lot of thoughts. He said he could say that Adrian Neville has been a great champion and that would be true, but above all else something tonight just feels different. He said he’s labeled this recent streak his road to redemption, but it’s more than that; it’s destiny. He said destiny never makes mistakes and tonight is going to unfold exactly the way it’s supposed to…
Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss was hyped up next… [C]
Back in the arena, Sasha Banks made her entrance flanked by Becky Lynch. A replay showed Banks pinning Bayley with a handful of tights in the tag match last week. Alexa Bliss was out next blowing glitter as usual.
2. Sasha Banks (w. Becky Lynch) vs. Alexa Bliss. Banks wasted no time going after Bliss. She hung Bliss up between the middle turnbuckles and came down with a double-knee strike across the mid-section. Banks used a snapmare and hit the ropes into a hard slap to the face for a two-count. Banks applied an impressive bow and arrow rack on the mat, but Bliss was able to slip out into a quick pinfall attempt.
Bliss followed up with a running headscissors and a great looking sunset powerbomb out of the corner for a near-fall. The crowd inexplicably began to chant “ECW” before Sasha regained control with a dropkick. Sasha followed up with the backstabber and floated over into the Bank Statement to force the submission.
Sasha Banks over Alexa Bliss in about 2:15.
After the match, Becky entered the ring and Sasha took a mic. Sasha mocked Bliss before addressing Charlotte. She said Charlotte has what she wants, and that’s the NXT Women’s Championship. She said they could make it official, but Charlotte should just hand over the title since Sasha is just going to beat her and embarrass her anyway. She said Charlotte and the NXT Universe will find out why she’s the baddest Diva in NXT…
Backstage, Devin Taylor welcomed NXT Champion Adrian Neville onto the set and asked for his feelings going into his title defense tonight. Neville said that Zayn is a good friend of his and is an incredible competitor. He said he knows Zayn will go out there and give 110 percent which is why everyone loves him. However, he said that the difference between himself and Zayn is that Zayn can’t win the big one when it comes down to it. He said everyone will see that tonight when Neville leaves with the NXT Championship and Zayn leaves disappointed…
NXT Tag Champions The Lucha Dragons were hyped to be in action next… [C]
Back in the arena, The Lucha Dragons made their entrance looking like a couple of human highlighters. They look like such jabronies chanting “Lucha!” louder than anyone else in the arena. Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy were out next. Yup, they actually got an entrance! Oh wait, their music is dubstep. Ew. A-Ry said he wants to start calling them the most function tag team in NXT, which makes zero sense considering they’ve never won a match.
3. The Lucha Dragons vs. Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy in a non-title match. Kalisto used some fancy moves into an armdrag on Blake before Murphy caught a tornado DDT attempt and turned it into an impressive running suplex. They’ve done that spot before but it’s very cool looking. Murphy hit a soccer kick before Blake hit the ropes with a sliding lariat for a two-count. A short time later, Blake held Kalisto in a surfboard as Murphy came down with double knees across the back of the head for a near-fall.
From there, they did a cool spot where one guy went to monkey flip Kalisto, but Kalisto flew over the other guy with a sunset flip which he rolled through into a kick to the head. Sin Cara got the hot tag and went all Sin Cara with a springboard crossbody meant for both guys but only hitting one. He hit a springboard headbutt on one guy and a headscissors on the other. He hit a handspring back-elbow for a two-count.
Blake tried to catapult Sin Cara, but Sin Cara knocked Murphy off the apron and Kalisto followed up with a crazy springboard tornillo to wipe out Murphy at ringside. In the ring, Sin Cara hit his awesome schoolboy bomb and followed up with a Swanton for the win…
The Lucha Dragons beat Blake and Murphy in about 5:00.
Backstage, Devin Taylor welcomed The Vaudevillains onto the set and the screen got monotone and grainy. Funny. She asked for their thoughts on the Lucha Dragons. English reminded everyone that they’re the No. 1 contenders. And as for the Lucha Dragons, The Vaudevillains sarcastically applauded them. He said they have a message for them as well, turning the mic to Simon Gotch who spoke for the first time. He told the Lucha Dragons to keep the gold shined and the leather oiled, for those titles will not be staying with children, they’ll be coming home with men…
Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn were shown walking backstage and their match was hyped up next…
Main event time! Sami Zayn made his entrance to a good reaction from the lively first-show-of-the-taping crowd. He was met with a loud “Ole” chant. Adrian Neville was out to an unreceptive crowd. I fell out laughing for a sign in the crowd that said “Adrian Neville thinks Gredo shot first.” Look it up. The crowd chanted “Ole” louder than ever before as both guys got full formal in-ring introductions. Big pop for Zayn and a loud “Sami” chant. Neville was met with loud boos and scattered applause.
4. Sami Zayn vs. Adrian Neville for the NXT Championship. Zayn got the first armdrag takedown and scored the first mental point as Neville backed into the corner and Zayn held the middle of the ring. Zayn got the second takedown as well and was clearly in Neville’s head by the minute-mark as the crowd chanted “Ole” in support of Zayn.
Zayn and Neville both performed leapfrogs over each other, but Neville missed a calf kick and Zayn caught him with the flapjack dropkick. Zayn hit his feigned Arabian Press and held the ring as Neville looked rattled at ringside and the crowd continued to chant “Ole.” Zayn opened the ropes for Neville trying to get in his head further, but Neville flipped over the top rope instead. Neville managed to hit his series of kicks into a sliding dropkick going into the final break of the show. [C]
Back from break, Neville used a snap suplex for a quick one-count before settling into a chinlock. Zayn escaped but ate a hard running uppercut from Neville in the corner and Neville was in control. Neville hit a running back elbow and barely got a two-count before going back to the chinlock. Zayn escaped again, but took a spinning kick to the mid-section and a flurry of forearms. He finally began to fire up with clotheslines and sent Neville to ringside before hitting his tope con hilo.
Back in the ring, but went for his high crossbody but Neville seemed to block it and followed up with a standing SSP for a near-fall. A short time later, there was an incredible spot where Neville used a back handspring and jumped onto Zayn’s shoulders, but Zayn spun him around and planted him with a sit-out powerbomb for a great near-fall. Zayn ate several kicks from Neville, but caught him in a rear waistlock and hit two rolling German suplexes and a sick half-and-half for a great near-fall.
The crowd chanted “Yes!” as Zayn retreated to the corner and charged with the Helluva Kick, but Neville countered with a boot to the head. Neville reversed an exploder into a rollup for a near-fall and then dropped Zayn with a roundhouse kick. Neville went to the top rope as the crowd begged with “No!” chants. Neville leapt off with the Red Arrow, but Zayn barely managed to roll out of the way and Neville was down selling his knee.
Zayn retreated to the corner once again and crowd serenaded him with “Ole” chants, but the referee backed him off and held up the “X” sign. Zayn and the ref were checking on Neville when he snapped up grabbed Zayn in a small package for the cheap win. The crowd was not happy.
Adrian Neville pinned Sami Zayn in about 11:45 to retain the NXT Championship.
Zayn sat in the middle of the ring looking mindf***ed as Neville sat beside him and hugged him. Neville continued to sell the leg, going so far as to have the trainer come in and check on him. Poor Zayn looked like he wanted to cry. Replays aired, including a slow-mo shot which showed that Neville went the extra-yard to have his knee come down first on the missed Red Arrow; incredible detail. The show closed with a great shot of Zayn’s face telling the story and Neville being tended to in the background…
Source: Prowrestling.net
