What’s up Diva fans and welcome to this week’s NXT Redux! How are you lot this week? I’m on top of the world, thanks for asking. Two weeks ago, Charlotte was on top of the world after defeating Bayley in her debut match. Tonight, Charlotte returns to Full Sail (sadly without her good ol’ Dad, Ric Flair) and she’s looking to extend her winning streak. Standing in her way is “we have no gimmick for her yet so tell everyone she’s related to Snoop Dogg and they might give a monkeys”, it’s Sasha Banks. Unfortunately for Sasha, we can’t give a rat’s backside about someone with no character and I feel really bad for her; she deserves to shine like every other roster member. But more on that later in my closing comments. With Sasha’s run as of late, is the match a foregone conclusion before it’s even begun? I wouldn’t bank on it just yet. Sasha pun intended. To the video!
We begin this week’s NXT proceedings with a backstage segment that sees Emma and NXT Women’s Champion and my soul mate Paige speaking with NXT General Manager, Dusty Rhodes. Luckily, I know Rhodesish, an incredibly rare language only spoken by Dusty and a clan of tribesman living in the Rocky Mountains so as you will have no idea what he is saying, allow me to translate. Dusty tells Paige and Emma that their match last week was one of the best Divas title matches he has even seen. 1. Dusty, it’s a Women’s Title and 2. It was the first ever match for that belt. Sidenote: I know he meant every Women’s title match ever yet it’s funnier to be pedantic with someone who has no idea you’re writing about them.
“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!”
All rise for the First Lady as the divine dancing partner of Fandango, Summer Rae more than makes her presence felt backstage. Summer says that Paige and Emma are far from the future of the Divas division, as as she’s beaten Paige before, the “Diva of Tomorrow” may as well just give her the belt now. Paige has a better idea, beating Summer’s face in and giving her teeth back at the end. Nice idea! Having no teeth would certainly be an interesting gimmick for a Diva. Sort of like a female Snitsky but with no teeth instead of brown ones.
Moving on swiftly from that disgusting reference, Summer declares Emma’s win a fluke and the Australian calls Summer a loser… and her dancing sucks.
“I DO NOT SUCK!” I LOL-ed.
Summer proposes a dance contest to prove that she is better than Emma. Dusty says “gkug losurno dhvjp aefod” a.k.a he thought the idea was ridiculous, but he liked it. Emma says to raise the stakes and make it a dance BATTLE. Things just got so much more intense #sarcasm. Emma declares that she’s going to win before doing dancing that even Layla wouldn’t be seen dead doing.
“SHUT UP!”
Steady on Paige! The enchanting raven-haired lady says that regardless of who she faces, they’ll be a loser. I agree. But that’s because I’m a major Paige stan and if she loses, hell will freeze over and I will be on the warpath. To the ring!
The catchy theme of Charlotte is first out of the speakers and out comes the fantastic and gymnastic North Carolina native. The fact Charlotte is billed from Charlotte, North Carolina made me laugh but hey, we knew it was going to happen! Charlotte does her amazing walkover flip move before splitting into the ring; she’s got a unique entrance which I love. Out next is someone without a very unique entrance, it’s Sasha Banks. Sasha manages to get the crowd hyped as the bell sounds.
Sasha starts the match in control, applying a side headlock to her opponent. Charlotte tries to power Sasha off of her, yet Sasha manages to keep her grip, and she now has the headlock applied on the mat. Charlotte briefly rolls Sasha onto her shoulders for a quick one count, yet Sasha regains the momentum. The two then get to a vertical base, with Sasha performing a crisp headscissor armdrag takeover followed by a lovely dropkick, that Charlotte sells really well. Following a two count, Sasha flips Charlotte with an armdrag before whipping her into the corner after it appears that she’s losing her dominance over Charlotte. Sasha has lost just that, as Charlotte jumps over her, handsprings and then utilizes her Charlotte’s Web for two.
As both girls get to their feet, Charlotte channels her father with a brutal knife-edge chop that leaves Sasha reeling. Sasha clicks her fingers after hearing Charlotte say “AND WHAT?” and Sasha let’s hell break loose! She pounds Charlotte with a flurry of slaps before continuing her assault with a beautiful turnbuckle armdrag. I love how Sasha didn’t relinquish her hold of Charlotte’s hand, allowing for her to rollover right into the pin attempt. Simple yet seamless, and little moments like that are what makes things look a lot better in the ring. Sasha then sits on top of her adversary and applies a camel clutch style submission. She then transitions it into a sweet little pin attempt. Following that, Sasha rams both of her knees into Charlotte’s chest into the corner before whipping her to the opposite side. Charlotte flips over the top rope causing Sasha to run into the turnbuckle. After beating her head with the aforementioned turnbuckle, Charlotte clotheslines Sasha and then hits her gorgeous flip cutter for the win.
Thoughts: This was fresh, dynamic and I loved it. Sasha and Charlotte had great chemistry in the ring and I loved how their similar athletic styles came together. Sasha then grounded Charlotte a little more, with Charlotte using power more, which made for a very even contest. Although Sasha perhaps dominated for longer, the match could have seemed like a squash on paper, yet it definitely wasn’t.
Charlotte reminds me of a hotter Alundra Blayze or even TNA’s Sirelda (yes, I know I’m diving into irrelevance here with the latter reference), and I think it’s her blonde hair and those epic shoulders. To see a Diva have such an athletic build that has came from years of extensive training in a different field is so refreshing. I can’t wait to see more from Naitch’s daughter.
As for Sasha, I CRAVE A HEEL TURN. The sass and attitude Sasha displayed was fantastic, as was Charlotte’s cockiness. With Sasha’s face character doing absolutely nothing right now, I would really like to see Sasha boost the Heel side of things. There is only Summer Rae right now, and as she’s on the main roster with Fandango, it’s hard to determine how much time she’ll get to come to NXT.
I also really enjoyed the backstage segment this week. I love Paige’s way of getting right to business and I thought she looked great. Summer’s character is hilarious and I’m a real fan of how she has managed to incorporate her dancing main roster gimmick into her bitchy First Lady gimmick. Great stuff from NXT yet again – I can’t wait for next week’s Dance Battle!
And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
