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Welcome to this week’s NXT review and what a week it has been for our women’s division! In this episode Bayley encounters her first roadblock on the road to Brooklyn, Nia Jax. This is Nia’s final match in NXT and Bayley’s moment to prove she’s ready for another shot at that title.
How does Bayley vs Nia Jax III go down? Before we find out, Andrea DiMarco is backstage with our champion Asuka.
She asks her who Asuka would prefer to face for the title. She says that she’s faced both of them before and she’ll face either of them again.
Now let’s get to our main event!
The match begins and Nia looks to corner Bayley but Bayley takes a more cautious approach, waiting for an opening. She tries to tie up but maintains her distance from Nia.
Bayley attempts a headlock, then wrist lock. The two reverse it before Bayley is able to pummel Nia into the corner. Nia powers out and throws Bayley into the turnbuckle. She then throws Bayley into the ropes, which she bounces off of before rolling outside of the ring. Nia taunts Bayley, calling her a loser, and tells her to stay out of her ring.
Bayley comes back in but Nia continues her dominance, elbow dropping Bayley and headbutting her. Bayley grabs her and smashes Nia’s head into the turnbuckle repeatedly.
We come back from a commercial and Nia is chocking Bayley. She slams her and gets Bayley into a reversed bear hug. Bayley fights back though, splashing her into the corner and attempting a cross body which Nia reverses into a wicked back breaker.
After another back and forth toss out of the ring by Nia, Bayley turns the tables and throws Nia out of the ring. She dives on her to take her down but Nia is quickly back up and pursues Bayley. She goes for a spear but misses and hits the steel steps instead.
Bayley gets back into the ring, as does Nia but Bayley catches her in the ropes, getting her stuck. Bayley uses her environment to subdue Nia, performing a neck breaker and tying her up.
Nia gets back into the ring as Bayley starts powering up. Before she can do so, Nia plants her with a knee to the kidneys. She goes for another spear move but Bayley moves out of the way. Nia hits the turnbuckle post. Bayley again ties Nia up in the ropes and hits her with knee strikes.
She successfully pulls off another cross body but Nia catches her afterward, pulling her into an attempted power bomb. Bayley counters the powerbomb with a victory roll but Nia kicks out.
Nia then plants Bayley with an intense Jackhammer. She goes up to the turnbuckle to put Bayley away but before she can Bayley pops up, taking Nia by surprise and puts her into a Super Bayley to Belly for the win!
During the broadcast, NXT celebrated WWE’s draft picks with a touching video:
Thoughts: I almost feel like I need to watch the match again. At the first go, I wasn’t as impressed as I thought I should have been but the more I thought about it, the more I became certain that Nia’s evolution is almost complete and the match was a success!
This bout was all about how she is now able to tailor her moveset to her opponents. That’s something Bayley does incredibly well. Bayley is able to work any style, which we just saw here. As much as I wanted to see Nia work a little faster, it just wasn’t going to happen because that’s not the story being told here.
The story is all about standing in Bayley’s way and her movements and maneuvering reflected that. Holy hell, I also marked at that Jackhammer. I was so impressed. I have a feeling Nia is holding back for the right moments and I’m really happy that her basic moves are almost all gone. She’s pulling out all the stops in an attempt to put away her opponent so she’s not relying on old tried and true tricks so much anymore.
Bayley continues to be a delight. She’s carrying the division on her back right now. She just keeps getting better and better. That Super Bayley to Belly was magical! She digs deep to muster up the resources to defeat Nia and we’ve seen Bayley resort to things like this before without crossing the line. I’m curious if in her quest to be the champion again if she’ll ever compromise?
I’m intrigued at what’s waiting Nia on the main roster. She’s really going to be unstoppable, a force some of the girls have never experienced before. And Bayley will get there, NXT just needs to start building up the next generation and with the most recent call ups and spoilers out there it looks like the next generation is coming soon!
What did you think of Bayley vs Nia part three? Who are you excited to see emerge in the next generation of the division? Sound off in the comments below.
