What’s up Diva fans and welcome to this week’s NXT Redux. A new number one contender will be revealed tonight as Bayley takes on Sasha Banks. Bayley has notched up a win over Eva Marie (LOL!) on her way to this match (obviously making her the favourite…) whilst Sasha convincingly beat Alexa Bliss a couple of weeks back. Now we’ve made it to tonight. Will Bayley finally get a chance to shut up the woman who turned on her all those months ago? Or will it be Sasha who gets to clash with her former BFF, the NXT Womens Champion, Charlotte?
TO THE VIDEO!
Sasha and Bayley are in a backstage segment first off and other than the very amateur-esque walking around that Sasha was doing, this was absolutely hilarious.
Sasha: “Who do you think you are?”
Bayley: “I’m Bayley.”
LOL. This was very well written. NXT delivering yet again with the character development and backstage segments!
Onto the match now and Bayley and her inflatable friends get a massive reception from the crowd. Renee mentions she loves blow-up dolls and I’m all kinds of turned on flabbergasted. Good god Renee, this is a PG show!
Sasha makes her entrance next and to me, this is by far the best she has ever looked. The excessive straps on her attire are a little distracting yet I really like the lilac colour. Sasha, you are looking FIT!
The crowd are WELL into this confrontation before the girls have laid a single finger on each other yet it’s not long before these two are grappling like hellcats! Sasha does a great Heihachi Mishima impression with a brutal looking headlock (hooray for Tekken references) before proceeding to knock her hug-loving foe down with a shoulder block. Bayley retaliates with a hip toss whilst Renee Young bigs her up tremendously on commentary. I cannot give this woman enough praise!
After a staredown, Sasha knocks seven sacks of sh*t out of Bayley before Bayley returns the favour and delivers a dose of Sasha’s own very sickly medicine. The pair then get tangled in a completely awesome back-and-forth pin exchange and then Sasha is left in a lengthy sticky situation as she tries her damnedest to get out of Bayley’s front facelock yet Bayley hilariously holds on. This is so good!
Sasha eventually breaks free and decks Baylz with a dropkick yet she lets her sass get the best of her as Bayley manages to land a dropkick of her own. After doing what I will coign as ‘hard-hugging’ Sasha into the corner twice, Sasha high-tails it out of the ring as there’s no way she wants a third hug, one that could turn into a Belly-to-Bayley! Sasha takes her time recuperating which catches Bayley off guard. Bayley tries to bring Sasha back in the ring, yet The Boss trips Bayley from off the bottom rope, whacking that robot-loving brain hard off the mat.
Back from the commercial break and Sasha’s legs are firmly meeting up with their new victims, Bayley’s kidneys! Bayley manages to wriggle free, despite writhing in pain. Because of that, it’s not long before Sasha shuts Bayley back down with some ferocious beat heads (at least that’s what they were known as back on vintage WWE video games such as SmackDown vs Raw 2007). After a suplex, Sasha wrenches Bayley with her patented straight jacket style submission and the tort on Bayley’s back looks nasty! Sasha trash talks as she switches up the positioning of the submission as we now see Bayley’s back being crippled by Sasha’s knees. Then out of nowhere, Bayley seems to be making a comeback!
Bayley pummels Sasha with two closed hand strikes before ramming her shoulder deep into Sasha’s stomach. Bayley’s elbow then formally introduces itself to Sasha’s face. Unfortunately for Baylz’s elbow, there’s no second date as Sasha’s face doesn’t show up. Bayley’s chest then gets a blind date though as Sasha comes charging in with a massive double knee strike! Bayley isn’t going down without a fight though, and fight she does as she drops with a solid clothesline.
With both girls down and exhausted, it is anyone’s match to be won and I’m loving every second. Bayley tries to to end the match first by going for her finisher yet Sasha slaps the taste (and probably some teeth!) out of Bayley’s mouth. Sasha stomps her opponent down in the corner before ramming her thigh off Bayley’s face, sending the Californian to the floor. This girl means business!
Back in the ring, Bayley rolls up Sasha with a small package yet Sasha’s will to survive is as clear as day as she kicks out at two. Bayley then slaps Sasha back and it looks like it’s Belly to Bayley time. Or so I thought! Sasha rips at Bayley’s hair and hits her finisher – the brutal backstabber/crossface combo! Just when you think this match can’t supply any more twists and turns, Bayley manages to pin Sasha for the win as Sasha’s submission is applied – amazing!
After the match, Charlotte raises Bayley’s arm on the ramp and raises her hand too. Takeover 2 is set up excellently.
Thoughts: I am so glad I get to recap NXT. I absolutely loved this match. I can’t fault anything. It was just as good, if not better the second time I watched it. Bayley and Sasha have their characters down perfectly and it showed evidently here. I also loved how back-and-forth the match was. Not one element of the match felt predictable and I was on the edge of my seat. From the relentless pin attempts early on, to the hilarious turmoil Sasha had trying to get out of the front facelock, to the brutal looking momentum shift when Sasha pulled Bayley from the bottom rope, to the even exchanges of dropkicks and slaps, this match ticked so many boxes for me.
I’m about to go all proud parent-ish here yet I am so happy that Bayley and Sasha are now getting the chance to have matches of this length and are at the top of the division. Both girls had fans surprised when they were signed, as they were either too small, didn’t have the right look or weren’t considered experiences enough. To anyone who judged them before they got a chance to prove themselves, this match was a big middle finger to you all. I honestly think this was as good as Natalya vs Charlotte at Takeover. Fantastic action, fantastic characters, fantastic commentary and a fantastic match-up soon for us to see at Takeover 2. Did I mention this was FANTASTIC?!
I love you NXT!
And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
