Greeeetings everyone, and welcome to this week’s joyous NXT Redux!
If the title doesn’t make sense to you, I promise it kind of, sort of will by the time we get done with tonight’s festivities. Speaking of which, tonight we’ve got a big match set up, as Sasha Banks will again get her chance at Charlotte’s championship after (I believe) becoming the first woman to ever pin her on NXT television last week in a tag team match.
Charlotte, unfortunately, won’t have anyone in her corner tonight because Natalya probably “accidentally” drove into another dumpster on the way to Full Sail. Sasha, though, made sure to have her cohort, Becky Lynch, at the venue and ready to be by her side as she looks to finally take the title she’s been fighting for since day one.
Will she push Charlotte out the way and realize her dream? Or will the champ make Sasha once again Bow Down to the Queen (I realize the name was changed, but dang it, this worked better in terms of semi-rhyming so I’m sticking with it)?
Let’s find out…
BUT FIRST.
Gasp! It’s my Sue Simmons of wrestling broadcast journalism, Devin Taylor! The vision of beauty, grace and elegance introduces us to her interviewee for the evening, our Boss, Sasha Banks!~ Devin wants thoughts from Sasha on… err, Sasha puts a stop right to that. She wants to instead give her thoughts on how she beat Charlotte last week, that of which will be repeated this evening with the only difference being that she won’t have anyone to help her out. Tonight, the Boss will finally become the champ. Any more questions? Don’t care.
Perfection.
We head to the venue as Becky and Sasha are in the midst of entering to the world’s greatest theme song, while we get an audio recap of what happened last week to lead into the title match. As soon as Banks steps inside the squared circle, she’s cut off by the entrance of our champion… and her bangin’ new straight hair!~ Charlotte gives her shirt off to a young fan before flipping inside the ring as JoJo (LET. HER. WRESTLE.) provides some in ring introductions. With that, the referee raises NXT’s Women’s Title up in the air as the bell sounds and the “Sasha’s Ratchet”/”No She’s Not” dueling chants kick off.
Banks with a shove as the two lock up and continue to aggressively battle one another in order to attain the upper hand early on. This eventually ends with them falling to the outside as Charlotte beats some fists into the back of Sasha. Becky Lynch then tries to interfere, but Charlotte avoids contact and decks her with a clothesline to take the plaid pant wearin’ Diva down. Back onto Sasha, she throws her inside and nails a huge bodyslam. Following it with a knee drop, Charlotte only scores a two count. The champion tries to maintain the advantage; however, Sasha leaps onto Charlotte and nails some rights. Charlotte then returns the favor, as Becky Lynch runs in and hits an uppercut to cause the DQ!
Becky beats Charlotte down, as Sasha shoves her back and now both women take the champion to her knees with shots to the face. Suddenly, Bayley runs out to make the save! She scares both members of BAE off, much to the crowd’s delight, as Charlotte tries to regain her composure. The referee hands the title to Charlotte… or, he tries to, but Bayley grabs it and stares intently at the prize. Charlotte gets back up and snatches the belt from her, leading to Bayley firing herself up and hitting the Belly to Bayley on Charlotte! All hell has broken loose and the crowd LOVES it. Bayley starts to head off, but William Regal then walks out and announces that at NXT TakeOver on February 11th, Charlotte will defend her title against… Bayley!
AND… Becky Lynch!
AND… Sasha Banks! In a Fatal-4-Way!
So yes, it’s now official. Because I want to be creative and get the ball rolling in terms of finding some sort of hip, cool, trendy tagline for this edition of Takeover, I’ve decided to call it…
NXT TakeOver: Fatal-4-B.A.[y]E.
The “Y” is silent because it stands for BAY as is Bayley, while the overall word in itself encapsulates Sasha and Becky as Team B.A.E. I couldn’t find a way to incorporate Charlotte (why isn’t she calling herself the Bae-iest Diva in the Game?) so she can make up the “Fatal” part since she has killed the chances of all three women beating her for the title time and time again throughout 2014.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, when it’s spoken out loud, it will be read as “NXT TakeOver: Fatal Four Ba-why-e”, with the same sound and pronunciation as Hawaii.
Yes, yes, just think of me as your modern day wrestling trendsetter!~
Thoughts: THIS is the stuff I want to see from NXT every week. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve said it before… the matches range from good to great all the time. But I want storylines that have time to get proper build up, as opposed to just a few weeks. And while this is pretty much only actually being built up over the next two weeks, I think the backstory of Bayley and Sasha’s paths, mixed in with Becky’s transcendence from being the background player to now the underdog who really has a chance to break through, makes this match feel so much more special than even the other Takeover matches have to be honest.
When you think about it, Bayley thwarted Sasha to get her shot all the way back in September. Then Sasha built herself into the picture in December. Throughout that period, this is also when Becky Lynch was given the chance to step up, and so I think when you look at it that way, this match is just so exciting and so fun because literally anyone could win.
That’s also my favorite thing about them finally giving us a multi-Diva match… I’m not eliminating the chances of anyone. Do I think Charlotte will lose since this is a perfect way to get the title onto someone new without her looking weak by having to take the pin? Yes. But would I feel confident enough to bet against her? Heck no. I do think this is the time for someone to win, as it just feels like, more than ever, the perfect chance to switch things up. I just can’t see how either Bayley or Sasha can get another shot after this if Charlotte retains, considering they’ve both gotten at least two beforehand.
Some might think Becky Lynch isn’t ready to be in this spot just yet, especially considering how badly I wanted to see Bayley, Sasha and Charlotte have that triple threat feud. To me, though, this adds that sense of intrigue. Becky Lynch is BY FAR the underdog going in, and when you have a multi-woman match like this, I think having an underdog is essential. I’m in no way the biggest fan of Becky and Sasha as a pairing, with reasons I’ve stated before, but on her own, I think Becky is phenomenal. She needs a little bit of fine tuning, especially now that we’ve kind of seen less of her rock persona since the formation, but I think the story of someone going from loss after loss, to bringing themselves to the forefront of the division because of something they had to ultimately do by their own choice to get ahead (in that of turning heel on Bayley) is a freaking awesome story.
I swear to God NXT, if you give us a video package on the pre-show, please, please, please have Becky’s sit down confessional feature her embracing the role of the underdog, and saying that people know what to expect from Sasha, Bayley and Charlotte on the big stage, but not her. She’s the wildcard and I’m so ready to see what she can do with a chance like this.
Sasha, Bayley and Charlotte don’t really need any hype from me, as we know what they can do and I’m so excited for this. The possibilities for the match are endless, and I honestly am not sure who I want to see walk out with the title. I do think Becky would be interesting, but part of me still thinks it deserves to go to Sasha or Bayley because those two, in addition to Charlotte, have really been the glue behind the division for the past year. They’ve all worked so hard, and I want to see one of those two get rewarded.
On one hand, Sasha getting a reign is something I need. But would it now feel like it’s holding her back from going to the main roster? Given how many shows she’s worked recently, I’m not sure if her becoming champion would be what’s best for her career in that sense. With Bayley, I actually think this is the perfect time for her to win it, and with the emotion this girl caused me last September, I’m not sure I can handle seeing her dream get crushed twice like this. The fairytale ending would be so magical, but I just can’t decide. Maybe in the next few weeks I’ll be able to choose, however, for now, let’s just soak up this Fatal-4-B.A.[y]E. glory!
