With NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II tomorrow night, we’re going to have a look back at the “go home” episode of NXT.
NXT’s not going to be added to our regular rotation (for now, anyway), but since I’ve barely seen any NXT shows since Takeover: The End (from a hotel room in Seattle, of all places), it’s probably a good idea to catch up! Billed as NXT 349 on the Network, we start with hype for an interview with Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura ahead of their title match. Oh god, when the they add the laser “whooshes” to the music?!
Hideo Itami vs. Mustafa Ali
Itami made his return from over a year out with injury a few weeks back, beating Sean Maluta from the Cruiserweight Classic. We’ve still got Corey Graves and Tom Phillips on commentary, and Hideo’s got another CWC competitor tonight in Mustafa Ali.
Itami starts tentatively, but goes for a waistlock, then a headlock, before Ali is shoved into the ropes and lands a pop up dropkick. A running knee takes down Ali, before a kick drops him and leaves Ali in place for a back-heel to the head.
Ali flips over Itami in the corner and slides out of the ring to avoid an avalanche, but gets caught with a baseball slide. Despite that, Ali catches Itami with a swinging neckbreaker as he came through the ropes, and then went to a rear chinlock. Itami fights free, but again misses an avalanche and takes an enziguiri, then another neckbreaker for a two-count.
Itami fires back with a couple of clotheslines, then a Dragon screw leg whip and a leaping kick into the corner. A barrage of slaps, backhands and kicks drop Ali into the corner, and Itami does his best Shibata leaping dropkick into there, as a running high knee strike finishes off Ali. For a TV match that went under four minutes, it did it’s job – re-establishing Itami and a returning finisher (the high strike that Daniel Bryan used). Itami is still a long way off from where he was pre-injury, but it’s good to see him back. **½
Corey and Tom run through the Takeover matches with their backs to the ring… then we get a plug for a six-woman tag match, featuring no-less than three debutants. Carmella, Livv Morgan and the debuting Nikki Glencross (formerly Nikki Storm) against Alexa Bliss, and the debuting Tough Enough pair of Mandy Rose and Daria Berenato. Hey, where’s Sara Lee?!
We get Network plugs for the Cruiserweight Classic, SummerSlam, Ride Along and Holy Foley, amongst others. I’ve not seen the preview episode for that, but the comments I’ve seen haven’t been good.
Bobby Roode’s got a video package, featuring his appearance at Takeover over WrestleMania weekend, his NXT arena debut (which I heard was glorious), and some shots from his TNA days, featuring a Team Canada jacket with his name spelled as “RUDE”. C’mon, everyone knows it’s “Roooooo”… Hey, we even get a Glorious Bomb!
“Serpents” by Neckdeep is going to be a song you’ll hear a lot on Saturday.
Back to Tom Phillips and Corey Graves, this time facing the ring, and they pitch to a video package building up Bayley vs. Asuka. Starting with Asuka winning the title at Takeover: Dallas by ref stoppage, and show us Asuka destroying everyone since. They’ll replay this on Saturday, so no big deal if you fast forward through it. By the way, it’s amazing how the biggest monster in this company right now (full time) is under 140lbs…
Backstage we’ve got the Carmella, Livv Morgan and Nikki Glencross warming up. Nikki so looks the odd one out here… Another video package, focussing on some of the undercard matches: Gargano/Ciampa vs. The Revival, Austin Aries vs. No Way Jose, Bobby Roode vs. Andrade Almas.
Another backstage spot with Alexa Bliss, Daria Berenato and Mandy Rose, and thankfully that match is next.
Well, actually it isn’t, as we’re going to William Regal, as he’s talking up Takeover, when Billie Kay walks in on him. She’s still going on about doing a match on SmackDown, and she’s campaigning for a match. So she’s going to be facing the debuting Ember Moon. We barely get enough time for her to show any reaction, before going back to the arena…
Livv Morgan, Nikki Glencross & Carmella vs. Daria Berenato, Mandy Rose & Alexa Bliss
All six women get their own entrance, which was a nice way to make them stand out rather than the usual “bunch them all together” treatment we’ve seen before. Glencross’ gear is rather inspired by the Saltire (the flag of Scotland), but at least she’s not hitting any stereotypes in her debut, unlike, say, Becky Lynch…
Berenato’s wearing MMA gloves and seems to be wearing a Gladiator-style outfit. Mandy Rose seems to be All Gold Everything, and has instantly won over Graves as he flicked the switch for “heel mode announcer”.
Glencross and Bliss start, and Bliss starts by pulling her back by the hair. Glencross returns the favour from an armwringer, before she leaps over Bliss in the corner and hits a crossbody off the ropes for a two-count. A dropkick from Glencross sends Bliss to the floor, and when she returns, she instantly tags out to Daria, whose Tough Enough tenure isn’t even mentioned. They fade to commercial just as they lock up… why?!
We return, and evidently there’s been a tag as Livv Morgan’s got Daria in a headlock, before she hooks the ropes from an Irish whip, before Matrix’ing out of a clothesline from Bliss on the apron. Sadly, she’s dropped by a clothesline from Daria, who gets a near-fall, before Bliss comes in and stomps Livv’s head into the matt for another two-count.
Daria’s tagged back in and kicks Morgan in the corner, before Mandy Rose finally tags in. A forearm to the chest, a snapmare and a kick to the back are her first moves as Corey Graves loses his mind. Rose locks in a neck crank/abdominal stretch combo, before a roll-up gets Rose a two-count. Daria’s brought back in for some knees to the midsection, then a high kick to get a two-count on Morgan as they finally acknowledge her Tough Enough appearance.
Daria catches Morgan in a bodyscissors, trapping her on the wrong side of the ring, before adding in a chinlock for extra punishment. Morgan almost makes the tag, but Daria dragged her back by a foot before bringing in Alexa, who knees Morgan in the ribs before missing an elbow drop. An enziguiri to Alexa allows Morgan to make the hot tag to Carmella, who clotheslines Rose repeatedly, before clearing the apron.
An atomic drop from Carmella stuns Rose, who then takes some headscissors off the top turnbuckle. A superkick gets Carmella a two-count as Bliss breaks up the cover. Things get crazy as Glencross takes down Bliss with a Regal Cutter (a neckbreaker with a trapped arm), just before Daria sends Glencross flying out of the ring with a spear.
Back inside, Rose jackknifes over Carmella for a near-fall, but Carmella turns around from the kick-off and catches Rose in the Code of Silence (headscissors stretch) for the submission win. For a match with as much inexperience in it, this was alright, but I’d dare say that out of the three debutants, Rose could be next for the Eva Marie push on NXT. And reaction too. **½
We’re backstage again as William Regal briefs everyone on the Samoa Joe/Shinsuke Nakamura interview. Byron Saxton’s hosting it.
Another vignette for Ember Moon. Man, someone’s played old-school Mortal Kombat, then Graves and Phillips run down the Takeover card.
We finally get the sit-down interview with Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura. My God, Nakamura’s shirt is loud. All three men are on bar stools, and Joe’s still annoyed at all of the jumping through hoops he had to do to get title matches. Joe’s disgruntled that he was never consulted about this defence, and he thinks that William Regal doesn’t want him as champion.
Saxton challenges Nakamura by saying that people don’t think he’s taking this seriously. Despite never having wrestled before, Joe brings up how they trained together, but Nakamura blows him off. Joe apparently doesn’t respect Nakamura, but Nakamura does respect him… and the easily annoyed Joe stands up and has to be held back by security as the show ends.
This ticked all the boxes for a go-home show, whilst building to the future of a division that’s been raided quite heavily by the recent draft. I wasn’t a fan of how my hour-long show barely had ten minutes of in-ring action, but with this show building up Saturday’s Takeover, it was either this, or a bunch of nothing matches.
Is this still the same NXT as it was last year? Probably not, but it’s not for the want of trying.