‘Ello there everyone, and as always, welcome to this weeks NXT recap extravaganza! Wow, it really has been a long time since I’ve gotten to say that, but if you haven’t noticed, Jack isn’t with us this week. Filling in for him will be a person who is currently rocking out to Naomi‘s iTunes hit, Dance All Night. Yes, that’s right… hold your cricket sounds and disappointed groans because my name is Bobby and I’m here to make a name for myself.
This week on NXT, we’ve got Emma taking on Sasha Banks in what’s sure to be a fun match when you mix the kooky stylings of one dancing Aussie with the scrappy spitfire offerings of the Boss. And if that isn’t enough of a palette cleanser, Charlotte (and Summer Rae on a stick) makes her presence felt this evening as she accompanies Sasha to ringside… AND we even get a nifty backstage interview with Paige! Champion, Paige!
I won’t force you to scroll down and see what happens, but I would appreciate if you did. It’s up to you all however so let your body do what it want to do (do do do do do do).
Get your arms grooving and your feet stomping because here comes Emmmmmmmmmmmma! We get a replay of Emma’s match with Charlotte from a few weeks ago, as Eden Stiles looks to get her Emma dance on in the ring. And now we have Renee and Regal partaking in it as well! Well, until they’re interrupted by the beautiful tune of Sasha Banks’ music. Out struts The BFF’s (complete with Summer on a stick), as Sasha preps for the upcoming challenge by posing and showing off her newly styled gear and Boss Coat/Glasses. Meanwhile, I am sitting here cheering at the fact Sasha is finally wrestling someone besides Bayley for the 10000th time, and genuinely excited to see how things play out with these two!
Emma taunts Sasha with fists at the start, ducking a lock up or two and being taken down with a drop toe hold. Headlock follows up, as Emma takes Sasha down and hops over her in a comical taunt, then moving out of the way as Sasha inadvertantly bangs her fist into the canvas. Banks now in control for just a second until Emma scores with a bodyslam as Charlotte stares on unamused. Sasha drops Emma face first into the corner and connects with the scrappy kicks! She keeps Emma grounded and taunts the crowd as a “Sasha’s Ratchet” chant breaks out. Renee feels this is very rude, but William Regal doesn’t know what ratchet means! She has to explain it to him and give pronunciation lessons, while Sasha keeps control over Emma in the ring and asks “Who’s ratchet now, huh?!”
William Regal dubs Sasha the hidden gem of the Divas division (Amen to that), as Emma applies the Dil-EMMA! Roll through into the stomps and scores with the Emmamite Sandwich for a two count as Charlotte now hops on the ring apron taunting Emma. Sasha goes to roll up Emma, but Emma ducks and Sasha collides with Charlotte! She then turns around into the Emma lock for the tap out victory!
Let’s all soak in this wonderful, badass video package on Paige.
Ahh, beautiful. Now that it’s over, we head backstage to an undisclosed interviewer asking her about the actions of Charlotte. Paige is basically ready for whatever Charlotte has to bring, stating that they wouldn’t even let her have her moment at NXT ArRIVAL because of the fact that Charlotte and Ric interrupted her post match interview as soon as it was over. She claims if Charlotte wants to come at her, stop hiding behind daddy and face her one on one by herself! With that, Paige demands the camera leave her presence and heads off to prepare for what’s to come.
Also check out Devin Taylor interviewing the NXT Champion, Adrian Neville, in all his brilliance:
And when you’re done with that, skip on over to 27:50 in the same video as she interviews Sami Zayn!
Thoughts: As far as the match goes, I thought it was pretty solid and fun overall! Sasha and Emma added some comedy with their wrestling, and the ending was good for what it was and accomplished what it needed to. It wasn’t much we haven’t seen before, but when your roster is only five Divas big, it’s hard not to be. Plus I love it when Sasha Banks does those spitfire kicks in the corner and just her presence overall. William Regal calling her the hidden gem of the division is something I couldn’t agree more with. Maybe it doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I feel like out of the whole roster, she’s got the total package when it comes to look, ring skills, working a mic, and being able to do anything she’s given. Paige obviously does too, but Paige is actually being recognized as such for her talents and Sasha Banks is…. well not.
I do have to unfortunately add that I’m tired of Sasha Banks not being able to win anything unless Charlotte does it for her. There are only five or six Divas on this roster depending on whether Natalya can make it down or not and when Sasha sees competition as actively as she does, it’s so repetitive since the match results are never different if she’s in a singles. I do have the same problem with the roster being so small as many others, but I’m going to give them a little more time before I get too frustrated because they’re finally utilizing Alexa Bliss and Kendall Skye on live events and it’s starting to give me hope perhaps a debut is near.
And honestly it might just be me that has the problem with Sasha losing because when you’re at the shows and seeing four Divas matches in the same night, all of which consist of either Sasha losing or Charlotte winning for her, it can be A LOT different than seeing these one week at a time. And my frustrations are not meant to take anything away from the babyface girls because Bayley, Emma, Paige etc all deserve to be winning… but you need to have Sasha at least one up them occasionally or it feels like she’s the Jillian Hall of NXT when she’s got everything it takes to be a top Diva of the division. Like it might not come off as well on TV because of the commentary team speaking over everything, but she seriously gets so much of the crowds attention at these shows in person, and always gets at least a ratchet chant whenever she’s out there. When Nattie faced Charlotte last week (or last month in my mind), Bret Hart of all people was standing ringside and the crowd chanted at Sasha. Local Be A Star children chant that she’s ratchet! I just don’t get it… but please someone make it *spreads arms out in Layla formation* STOP.
One last thing about the BFF’s though… am I the only one who likes them better without Summer Rae? Don’t get me wrong, I love my Summer Rae fix but it just feels like Sasha and Charlotte were so overshadowed by her natural presence and charisma and they’re finally being seen as equals in her absence (despite what their win/loss ratio shows). It reminds me of when Angelina Love left The Beautiful People and Velvet/Madison became an actual tag team instead of just being her background players. Sasha and Charlotte just seem to compliment each other so much more to me when they’re on their own and really come off like a legit tag team who are equal players instead of a Summer being a half and Sasha/Charlotte each being a fourth. I know Summer is a popular Diva and she’s deserving of being one, but I kind of wouldn’t be objecting if she were to permanently be away from them and maybe just come back for one taping to partake in a storyline that writes her off with a legitimate reason.
And because it’s not said enough, the improvements Charlotte has been making with everything from her look to her acting to her ring skills since alligning with the BFF’s deserve so much praise. I love watching her every single week as it’s like a whole new Diva from her time as a babyface. Keep it up!
Oh, and before I forget to mention it, Renee Young was so on point and funny in her commentary this week. I loved the teaching lesson about what “Ratchet” means, as well as bringing up the question on whether or not Summer is okay with that photo The BFF’s chose of her because of how picky she is on her Instagram account. Brilliance!
As far as the Paige segment goes, it was short but DEFINITELY welcome. Paige’s reign hasn’t been the best due to a lot of inactivity, so any time we can get her on the show through whatever means neccessary is worth it. She’s also someone who I feel has everything going for her right now, and I’m not furious or anything that she’s not wrestling every week because she is still only about a month off from being injured so it’s understandable when these shows were taped in early March and she only came back to the ring two weeks prior. I will forever and always love that video package though, and I could watch it five more times even after having already seen it at Arrival.
Jack shall be back with you guys next week, but hopefully you enjoyed spending some time with me this go around!
Until next time!
