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Welcome to this week’s NXT Redux! Bayley is back and better than ever this week as she takes on one of the busiest indy darlings out in the field, Deonna Purrazzo. We’ll also see the return of Nia Jax after losing her match at TakeOver, so she’s back and deadlier than before.
But before we get to our matches Bayley announces her return on Facebook.
Both women make their entrances, with Bayley receiving a huge pop and welcoming from Full Sail. The two tie up and chain wrestle, which leads to both trading quick pins. Deonna tosses Bayley in the corner but she reverses and catches Deonna with elbows and a slam. Deonna makes it back up on her feet and clotheslines Bayley but Bayley fights back. Deonna continues to try and wear Bayley down with kicks to the midsection and head before planting her with a Russian leg sweep. Deonna then kicks Bayley in the jaw and throws her face first into the turnbuckle. She starts smashing Bayley’s head into the corner but Bayley starts shaking her off. She turns around and manages to kick Deonna and hit her with a back elbow before putting her away with a Bayley to Belly.
She celebrates with Izzy after the match before departing the areana.
The dynamic duo of @ItsBayleyWWE and Izzy! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/oRGakVpiww
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) June 23, 2016
Carmella says she wants to be the face of NXT and winning the title will cement that. Alexa Bliss enters the picture and chastises her by telling her her dream is adorable but isn’t going to happen. She says without Enzo and Cass, Carmella is nothing. She explains she left Blake and Murphy because “she is a star but Carmella is only an accessory.” She tells Carmella that she’ll be the next champion and reminds her that she wasn’t the one who got pinned during the triple threat match several weeks ago.
Carmella fires back and tells Alexa that the championship will be hers and she’s not letting anyone stand in her way.
Before we get to our last women’s match of the night we are taken to a recap of the NXT Women’s Championship bout between Asuka and Nia during TakeOver two weeks ago.
After the package airs we are taken to our next match, pitting Nia against Liv Morgan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEUIMwdwRE8
Both ladies make their entrances, with Nia looking for a fight as the ref holds her back. Liv quickly ties up with Nia, trying to overwhelm her with her agility and spunk but Nia throws her down. She elbow drops Liv twice, throws her to the ropes and begins hitting her. Liv tries to fight back as Nia slowly drags her to her feet while mocking her and chocking her.
Liv continues to fight through by hitting Nia with her elbows and manages a sloppy headscissor which gets Nia near the corner. Liv dropkicks her twice but she is no match for Nia’s strength as she catches her in a powerbomb and puts her away.
After the bout Corey Graves announces that a match has been made for next week’s NXT between Alexa and Carmella.
Thoughts: Bayley’s back, back again. Bayley’s back, tell a friend! I don’t have much to say about her return. It was a typical Bayley match, she’s still our lovable baby face even when she’s pitted against other faces. I love her as much as everybody else does but the story just feels a little bit hollow until we start building to that inevitable match between her and Asuka again, since it doesn’t look like they’re building another credible heel right now that could stand in her way. I could be wrong though and I definitely welcome that. Like I’ve said before, there are girls waiting to be built and Bayley is such a star that everyone would benefit from a program with her. She brings out the best in everyone and she can adapt her style, which holds so much untapped potential for the new girls just starting out in developmental right now.
Onto my favorite part of the night, I am living for that promo package building the Alexa vs Carmella match for next week. It’s everything I’ve been waiting for! I was hoping they would harness the history between them and mention how Enzo and Cass have left Carmella behind, so to speak. I’m very excited for their match next week. Both have improved so much during their time in NXT, especially Alexa. Carmella just recently showed vast improvement last week as well, it should be a good match and I’m so proud of how far they’ve come. I’d honestly be OK with either of them possibly winning the NXT women’s title next. It’d be bittersweet since they’ve really earned it.
I know I said two weeks ago that Nia shouldn’t be in anymore squash matches and then I read the spoilers and saw that she was again thrown into one, so I was a bit skeptical as to how it was going to turn out. Nia continues to show promise in the ring, she’s pretty close to becoming a ring general and controlling/leading a match with new opponents. Liv is still pretty green, as we saw an obvious headscissors botch. I really admire Liv’s tenacity to try new maneuvers though, so I’m not counting that against her. I think when Liv’s character is built more and she’s thrown into a story, she definitely has potential to be a break out star. She’s quick on her feet and puts so much fire behind her moves, I’m interested in seeing more from her.
I’m very happy Nia used a powerbomb as her finisher here as well. It really drives home her new deadly attitude. At the beginning of the match she had to be held back from trying to quickly over power her opponent. It’s like she has something to prove and I’m curious as to where she goes from here.
I’m quite happy with this week’s edition of NXT. We finally have a bit of movement in the division and a promising match between two veterans that have grown so much set for next week.
What did you think of this week’s NXT? Excited for Bayley’s return? Pumped for Alexa vs Carmella next week? Sound off in the comments below.
