It’s time for another NXT Watch! Yours truly is here to bring forth the female action from the black (and pink) roped show emanating from Orlando, Florida. This week, Layla goes one on one with Aksana in what looks to be the first form of Diva competition we’ve seen in a few weeks. And since we’re lucky this week, they also get a backstage segment to set the match up! Now let’s get started.
Up first, we head backstage to see Aksana approaching Layla, and oddly complimenting her by telling her she looks good. She claims that she loves Layla’s hair in particular… because it looks so bad that it makes her own look even better! Aksana adds on that (real talk), a lot of the girls in the back hate what Layla did to her hair as well. Layla doesn’t seem to care about that, but Aksana begins rubbing some sort of lotion on her hands so I’m not sure how much of what Layla’s saying is comprehending well to our Lithuanian Llama God. Nonetheless, Layla calls her an Eastern Euro-trash, before imitating her own former catchphrase, “real talk” and stating that everybody’s really going to be talking when she gives Aksana a makeover in the ring later tonight. She heads off, as Aksana looks startled, intimidated, and somewhat confused all at the same time.
Following the entrances of both Layla and Aksana (as well as Aksana’s full screen titantron), the bell sounds and we start things off. The two lock up, as Layla gets a roll up quickly to a one count. Aksana tells a female fan to shut up, before taking Layla down and shoving her face around. Some taunting now from Aksana, as the referee restrains Layla due to Aksana grabbing the ropes. The Lithuanian beauty takes Layla down and now begins… crawling on the ring apron. Unfortunately for her, Layla gets a dropkick to Aksana that sends her to the outside.
Aksana quickly crawls back into the ring and goes for a slap, but Layla ducks and kick her in the abdomen. The former Divas Champion gets a few roll ups, but nothing attains a three count. Layla with a kick, but as she ascends to the top rope, Aksana shoves her off for a close count. Aksana scores a few elbows, but still just gets a one count. Layla now begins to feel the pain of a choke on the ropes, followed up with a triangle leg lock that is twisted into a repeated facebuster type move. Aksana hits a few kicks to the midsection, before crawling and piefacing Layla to the mat. After a few attempts at a pin, Layla manages to flip it over into a brief catfight that is taken down by a clothesline from Aksana soon after.
Aksana sends Layla into the corner, and continues to crawl towards the former Champion, now grabbing her face and taunting her. Layla now gets a slap in, before making her comeback. Layla leaps off the second rope with her crossbody, but only gets a two count. Aksana hits a kick and looks to attempt something else, but unfortunately for her once again, Layla ducks it and scores with the bombshell kick for the victory!
Thoughts: Maybe it was my low expectations due to the match report, but I actually enjoyed this match a lot more than I thought I would. Honestly, this would probably be Aksana’s best match since she became a more active force in the division for me, and I loved all the crawling around and trying to get in Layla’s head. It’s not something we really see any other Diva do, so it stands out more than just stepping in the ring and going through the moves. We know Aksana isn’t the most skilled in ring Diva (although I still stand by that she was very strong during her reign as FCW Divas Champion), so I think doing these little mind games works in her favor to mask what she may lack in other areas. Layla played into Aksana’s tricks very well too, and I thought the two were pretty funny in the backstage segment earlier on as well. Nice to see the females being given some spotlight on NXT after a few weeks without any.
