What’s up Diva fans and welcome to the NXT Redux. After her loss to NXT Women’s Champion Paige last week, ‘The Boss’ Sasha Banks is back in action, taking on the “Doctor of Huganomics” and as they would say in Essex, the “totes adorbs” Bayley. Will Sasha lose yet again or can Miss Boss Lady prove who is indeed the Boss?
TO THE VIDEO!
First off, how awesome is the new match graphic for NXT? I’m so glad they made the change since ArRIVAL. Matches are all made to look like they are mega important!
Out first in the arena is Sasha and her generic WordArt titantron that still annoys me. Once again, she’s flanked by Charlotte and Summer Rae‘s head on a stick. Is that another new I see as well for Sasha? She’s got Sandra working her fingers to the bone!
Following on from Sasha’s crickets from the crowd (I want more boos Full Sail!), Bayley enters the arena to rapturous applause. She’s joined by the main roster equivalent in terms of fan support, it’s Natalya. Bayley is apparently being tutored by Natalya and god forbid if Bayley has forgotten her manners!
Shout out to Eden on ring announcing duty, it seems like you’ve been at the Byron Saxton School of Announcing as you said “IT’S BAYLEY!” What is with the “it’s”? I think that’s a bit strange.
The match starts with an aggressive collar-and-elbow tie up, which Sasha gets the better of, despite Mother Hen Natalya getting the fans rallying for Bayley. Sasha tries to punch Bayley yet she dodges it and then misses a shot of her own thanks to Sasha’s agility. Good start from the girls. After Sasha gets mouthy in the corner, she runs into a full nelson from Bayley. Whether it’s a hug or a full nelson, Sasha is wanting no bodily contact with Baylz!
Bayley leaves Sasha in a spin before snapmaring her and then knocking her right back down with a shoulder tackle. Sasha tries to regroup with Charlotte, yet Bayley leaves no time for chinwagging. Sasha fights back with a knee to the gut, yet trash talking costs her as Bayley locks in the full nelson once again. Bayley declares how she’s “got this” whilst doing her best Chris Masters impression. Can you imagine if they started doing a Master Hug Challenge with Bayley? The world doesn’t need to witness that.
Sasha makes a nice attempt at getting out the submission by traversing the ropes yet there seems to be no way she can flip out of the move. What comes up, must come down. With a thud. Ouch.
Out of nowhere, Bayley grabs Sasha’s Kanye glasses (her cousin Snoop Lion must be furious she isn’t wearing apparel made famous by him) and starts getting all ratchet! “OHHH HELLLL NOOO”, Sasha responds, and she’s no doubt saying it again in her head as Bayley ends up on top of her and mocking her big style! Nattie and Charlotte exchange words on the outside and allow me to give you the insider knowledge of how the conversation transpired.
Charlotte: Woo!
Natalya: Settle your tea kettle, you mutt.
Charlotte: What rhymes with mutt? Rut. That’s what your husband is in being married to you.
Natalya: What rhymes with married? Carried. And that is what you’ve been by Summer for long enough.
That’s the kind of dialogue WWE need to give us!
Moving on, Sasha ends up getting the upper hand on Bayley, avoiding a corner splash before going going cuckoo with a series of slaps. After a hard dropkick to the back, Sasha beats Bayley’s head and steals her hairband. Sasha stomps on Bayley’s hands and then proceeds to choke her out on the ropes. After making Bayley her newest ragdoll, Sasha goes for the first pin of the match and gets a two count. Sasha works on Bayley’s back some more before going for another pin attempt, which is also unsuccessful. Following a chinlock, Bayley throws Sasha off yet Sasha keeps the offense coming with some punches in the corner.
Bayley elbows back, trying to get back in the midst of things, yet she misses a dropkick and is back to square one. Sasha throws Bayley out of the ring like a piece of trash and this leads to a staredown between the generational Divas. Bayley gets back in the ring and when the official’s back is turned, Charlotte clubs Natalya to her knees. Sasha tries to take advantage to roll Bayley up, yet Bayley reverses Sasha’s pin and gets the win!
Thoughts: This was a so/so edition of NXT. I felt like the match was a little bland, with Bayley’s win coming randomly out of nowhere. Bayley is the type of character that the fans eat up, and a bigger comeback for her towards the end of the match would have made more sense to me. Although it made her look strong that she could overcome such a distraction, it made Sasha look terrible. Sasha is nailing her character each and every week, yet all these losses are stacking up. I also would have preferred to see Sasha target one specific body part of Bayley, yet I suppose Bayley’s quick comeback can be explained by the fact Sasha didn’t really pick her a part. She worked Bayley over with a bunch of random moves and although it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t really good either.
Natalya and Charlotte performed fine as secondary characters, and although a lot of people moan about Natalya being down in NXT, as long as she’s losing and giving the NXT girls a good rub, then I’m all for it. Althogh, the more often she loses, the less serious of a threat and less of a rub any future girls will get. I think after Natalya’s program with Charlotte, she should return to the main roster and allow her screen time to go to a new developmental girl. I’m crying out for some Alexa Bliss or Becky Lynch!
And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
