G’day mates, and if you didn’t get a chance to check out the OVW Write-Up I wrote this week, I’ll explain myself here too as to why I have all my recaps coming on the same day (other than the fact I’m clearly attempting to overexpose myself in a plot to become the star of our beloved website after Brie & Nikki Bella inspired me last Monday night on Raw.) Unfortunately, I’ve had unreliable Internet for the past four days and for some reason it’s not kicking me off right now so here I am, a redux writing machine at five in the morning! I haven’t even checked my social networking profiles or bank account because I have no idea when this boost of power will leave me and I want to get this up as soon as possible, so bear with me. I may be slightly insane, but I’m here to bring forth all that’s went down on this weeks NXT as we move forward to crowning our inaugural Womens Champion.
If the pain still didn’t present itself in full force, I’d run down a Glee style opening of what you missed on NXT, but the fact Redemption did just that has forever proven my version could never compare. (I mean come on guys, Redemption leaving me and moving on to that big pair of yellow ropes in the sky still hurts a year later. I’ll never heal.)
But here we are, on this festive July day to recap the first round of the semi-finals in our tournament. We’ve seen Paige, Alicia Fox, Summer Rae and Emma advance over Tamina Snuka, Bayley and her robots, Sasha Banks and Aksana, but that doesn’t mean they can rest just yet. Now these four women have to face each other until we get down to the final two, and up first this week, we’ve got Paige going one on one with Alicia Fox. Alicia shocked the world, and by that I mean at least me, when she defeated Kaitlyn on SmackDown. Even though NXT was taped far in advance of that, can her luck continue here tonight? Or will Paige prove that being the original FCW turned NXT Diva fan favorite is enough to guide her on to the top of the division as it flourishes into the 21st century with its very own championship?
Out struts A-Fox in her new gear that we finally get to see an entrance for, swinging her hoody around before she’s cut off by the ecstatic crowd noises and upbeat rock anthem of none other than the one and only Diva of Tomorrow, Paige! Following her smiling entrance, the bell sounds as Paige scores with a nice roll up quickly, then with a side headlock that Fox counters into a leg scissors. Paige kips up as they jockey for position, but it’s Paige to get the side headlock takedown. Fox gets a roll up quickly, as Paige fights back out. Alicia slams Paige down and heads outside to fix her top which seems to have come undone I believe. The camera tries to avoid it, but Alicia is back in before we know it.
She grabs Paige by the waist, but the feisty aggressiveness of our Diva of Tomorrow aka D.O.T. just begins elbowing her. Alicia nails a sunset flip off the ropes and a sharp kick into a northern lights bridge for a two! Paige gets her head jammed into the turnbuckle, as Alicia just toys with her (which I swear I typed right before Regal said). Fox with a rope choke and some taunting, which I love because Alicia’s random heel/face turning is probably one of my favorite things going on in the entire sport. She literally walked out swinging the coat looking all friendly, and has already begun eliciting boos for her taunts. I don’t know why she turns so much, but I find it unique and it amuses me. Okay, back to the match, Alicia applies a headlock as the crowd gets behind Paige to no avail as Fox hits a sharp elbow.
Alicia reverts back into a chin lock, nailing some knees to the back to add more pain. Paige finally hits a jawbreaker and scores with a sharp hair slam as she mounts her fiery comeback and tosses Alicia across the ring. She now heads to the ring apron and hits a flurry of knees to the skull that can only jar Alicia’s brains up from the impact. As she walks back in though, Fox surprisingly nails a sick dropkick! She gets a two count and goes for the scissors kick, but Paige boots her in the abdomen and hits the Paige Turner for the thunderous victory as the crowd cheers in sheer glee at their beloved favorite advancing to the finals. Now the question remains, who will she face?
Thoughts: THIS is the type of action that I’ve been wanting when it comes to a few of the opening round matches where I felt it was too one sided. I absolutely loved this match, and I’ll be honest, going in I wasn’t expecting to be as drawn into it as I was. That’s not a knock at either womans skills because we all know their talent is undeniable, but it didn’t have that “never before seen” feel that really pumps me up. This, however, not only topped both their previous encounters, it completely left them in the dust as far as I’m concerned. Alicia has been given more opportunities this week than she has in the past, I want to say at least year and a half that I can recall, and I really hope it’s a sign of things to come for her. She can go when it comes to her wrestling ability, and matching her up with Paige can only do wonders. Not only that, they actually let both women control equal portions of the action before it ended and they gelled so well for me. I love how Paige sold all of Alicia’s moves, and outside the unfortunate-for-her wardrobe malfunction that Alicia seemed to face, everything about this was spot on and exactly what I hope Summer and Emma also get to do next week.
I also loved how invested the crowd was throughout the entire bout as well. I don’t know if it’s just that Emma’s popularity has been moving up so quickly, but it had seemed like she was starting to give Paige a run for her money when it came to the crowd’s fan favorite. This week, however, Paige proved that she’s not an easy target to overthrow. I really really hope, as much as I’m a huge fan of Summer Rae, that they go for the final two of Paige and Emma because I’m infatuated with the idea of seeing how the crowd will side when it comes to having to pick between them. We’ve seen that match before, but it was prior to Emma’s dancing craze sweeping the Full Sail nation, so as far as I’m concerned, that’s enough of a level of freshness that leaves me pleading for those two in the finals.
Alright ladies and gents, I could gush about this and all the possibilities for another hour if it wasn’t now six in the morning. I must head off, but I’ll be back with you again next week as we find out whether Paige will face off against Summer Rae or Emma. Forcing me to choose between them would normally be like asking a mother to choose her favorite child, but as I mentioned above, the excitement and unpredictability of the crowd that could be Paige vs. Emma has me siding in that direction. Hopefully the first lady can understand where I’m coming from and doesn’t poke fun at my (in her words) “ghastly” nature…
Until next week, adios!
