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Welcome to this week’s NXT review! It’s been slow here rebuilding the women’s division. But, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce rise to the top again as they poise themselves on Asuka‘s tail.
Before they can look to dethroning the champion, Daria Berenato stands in their way. She’s out for some revenge after taking a loss several weeks ago to Ember Moon and her partners Liv Morgan and Aliyah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05JJLHEj-64
Right off the bat Daria looks to ground Billie in a wrestling hold but Billie escapes. Daria hits and kicks her down as Billie crawls over to Peyton and the two whisper to each other. Peyton grabs Daria’s leg and it’s enough to throw her off her game. Billie hoists her up for a suplex. Daria tries to make it to her feet but Billie shouts at her,”We run this place, not you!” before hitting her several times.
Two big clotheslines take Billie down. Daria knees her several times before spearing her down. Daria takes her gloves off and starts socking Billie with her fists. Peyton rolls Billie out of the ring to stop the attack. Daria goes outside and hits Peyton in order to drag Billie to the ring. Peyton, quick to her feet, makes a recovery and shoves Daria into the ring apron. She rolls her into the ring where Daria eats Billie’s boot. Billie gets the win.
After the match Billie says this is a lesson to everyone in the women’s division. They call out Asuka saying her competition is right here.
Later on an NXT interviewer stands by with Asuka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkrh09J1Biw
Asuka dismisses Billie and Peyton’s threat. She says they need to be careful. Suddenly Nikki Cross creeps into the frame. She just laughs and Asuka smiles.
Thoughts: I see what they’re trying to do here but it’s not enough. Where’s the focus for the women’s division? There is barely any character or story development to be found.
What I’m hoping to see in the near future is a triple threat or fatal four way between Billie, Peyton, Nikki, and Asuka. This will throw a wrench into her reign as Asuka will have to watch out for three opponents at the same time. Nikki is also a wild card who has been the only one built up enough, alongside Sanity, to pose the biggest threat.
This booking of one on one matches with little to no context is ruining the division right now. Daria looked strong here and her character, I believe, will go very far but six minutes wasn’t enough for either of them.
Peyton and Billie are more than competent wrestlers but, I feel like they are being held back too for some reason. When both girls debuted moons ago they were pulling out flashy moves, I understand heels dialing down their move sets but, what are their move sets? I think they can do wonderful things and I’m rooting for them but, what the heck booking?!
Now that the Aussies have taken everyone out on their terms, it makes sense they’d be going after Asuka even though they called her out already a few months ago. What they all really need though is deeper interaction with each other. Where did Liv and Aliyah disappear to? Ember Moon still has no real feud or story, she’s just floating around.
It’s a big mess. Experiments they are running on house shows should translate over to the televised show now! I’ve always wondered why Finn Balor had more personality during a house show than on TV where it really counted, or why the matches they ran between Alexa Bliss and Asuka never made it to TV despite rumblings that these were good showings.
If the rumors of WWE Network subscribers not watching NXT as much as they were before are true, maybe they should take a look at why because their current formula isn’t working. It’s painful.
What is NXT waiting for?
What did you think of last night’s NXT? Sound off in the comments below.
