What’s up Diva fans and welcome to this week’s NXT Redux. It is I, Jack ‘Dumbass’ White, ready to “f” some people off once again. Or will my opinion be the same as everyone else’s today and please everyone? Maybe if hell had frozen over…
I’m happy to report that we’ve got two matches to get through this week and both of them should be right crackers! First up, we have the current WWE Divas Champion and soul mate of yours truly, Paige, face her Extreme Rules opponent Tamina Snuka in a non-title rematch. On top of that, we also have the second semi-final match up in the NXT Women’s Championship tournament which will see Sasha Banks (with Charlotte) vs Natalya. It’s the cast member of Hercules vs. the Hellraiser and it’s the Dungeon Diva vs. the Boss… Dragon?! Which two Divas will leave as winners?
TO THE VIDEOS!
The first match of the night is Paige vs Tamina Snuka, the latter of which appears first. We cut to Tamina’s entrance half-way through and the contact lens lover looks in a foul mood. Her foul mood is only worsened thanks to the unbelievable crowd reaction that Paige gets in her first match back since the night she was stripped of the NXT Women’s Championship. I can’t get over how good that reaction was. I also can’t get over how bad the edited commentary was either – LOL!
The match starts the Divas locking up three times, Tamina getting the better of all three exchanges. Paige fights back with a flurry of elbows before perforating my eardrums with an epic thrust kick complete with killer shoe-meets-skin noise. Dayum! Paige screams in Tamina’s face and headbutts her, only for Tamina to shrug it off immediately. Don’t try and headbutt a Samoan Paige! Tamina throws Paige onto the apron, yet Paige kicks Tamina in the gut again, gaining the upper hand for a brief moment until Tamina clotheslines her.
Writhing in pain after landing on the apron steel beam, it only gets worse for Paige as Tamina scoop slams her. The Island Princess Predator follows that scoop slam up with another two, yet Paige stays alive for the moment. After mouthing off at the ref, Paige gets elbowed in the kidneys and then Tamina begins to suck the life out of Paige with a bear hug.
Paige writhes in pain as Tamina’s tightens her clasp yet eventually Paige batters her way out, only to get flattened with a clothesline she sells beautifully. Paige follows up her clothesline with two nasty elbows to the back and then she clamps Paige with an awesome torture rack. Tamina is seriously bringing it!
Paige suddenly begins to bring it though as she elbows her way out of the submission and then sends some back elbows into Tamina’s face in the corner; watch those contact lenses don’t fall out T! Paige continues to do worse damage to someone’s eyes than Aksana as she aims right at Tamina’s face with her consecutive clotheslines. Before she can hit a third, Tamina manages to duck, yet Paige hits her dominant foe with a MAHOOSIVE knee to the jaw before hitting that elusive third clothesline. Paige delivers a thrust kick next, but an irate Tamina picks Paige right up, positions her on the top rope before shoving her off to the outside. That was a nasty tumble!
Tamina decides that it’s flying time now as Paige looks in prime position to be hit with the Superfly! Paige manages to get her knees up however! Tamina stumbles back into the corner yet tries to get back into things too quickly. She wasn’t as ready as she thought she was as she falls right into a small package and Paige gets the win!
From the WWE Divas Championship to the NXT Women’s Championship now as it’s time to find out who is joining Charlotte in the finals. Will it be Natalya or will it Sasha Banks?
TO THE NEXT VIDEO!
The Boss is out first and Sasha is looking ready. WWE then build the possibility of Sasha winning as a promo of Charlotte’s is shown from earlier that day. A really nice promo from The Flair! The “has-been” Natalya is out next (Charlotte’s words, not mine!) is out next and she’s all cloaked up and ready to fight!
The match starts with a collar and elbow tie-up which sharply turns into a scrappy brawl! Sasha pushes Natalya in the breasticle area, angering the Dungeon Diva. Sasha cowers on the ropes for a short time and then tries to kick Nattie, only for Tal to grab her leg and let the sound grappling from her begin. After a headlock takeover, a lovely sequence of wrestling ensues, with irish whips, leapfrogs and wheelbarrows all over the shop. After getting the best of the back-and-forth collection of moves, Nattie hits a snapmare and basement dropkick combo. It sadly only nets her a two count though.
Natalya aims to whip Sasha next, yet the Boss Banshee counters, going cuckoo in the corner, giving off a lot of Melina vibes. Definitely not a bad thing. Sasha is going all kinds of cray in the corner as she stomps on Nattie’s back. It may have been effective, yet it’s not enough to make her advance to the finals. Sasha tries a submission next, utilizing her trademark straight-jacket hold of choice whilst sticking her knees into Nat’s back. I also noticed the devilish shot of Charlotte laughing on the outside. Thumbs up!
Sasha temporarily releases the hold to crush Natalya’s face into the mat, yet she locks it back in, only for Natalya’s adrenaline to be pumping more than ever, allowing her to fight out and squash Sasha in the corner. Natalya hits a butterfly suplex and momentum has most definitely shifted!
PSYCHE!
Sasha throws Natalya face first into the turnbuckle yet Natalya reverses a bulldog to even things out yet again. Sasha rolls to the outside in pain, yet Charlotte throws Sasha right back in, pressuring her to get the job done. A little bit of friction later and Sasha is tapping out to the Sharpshooter. Natalya is fighting for the title!
Thoughts: What a brilliant episode of NXT. Two great Divas matches, the first one being particularly brilliant. If I am being critical of both, I would have liked Paige to win with one of her many finishers instead of a roll-up and I’d prefered Natalya to have a bit more of a comeback or perhaps make Sasha bang into Charlotte or something yet overall, I can’t not be pleased with this week’s NXT.
I honestly think Paige vs Tamina was Tamina’s best match to date as a heel character. Her submissions are unique for the Divas division and she didn’t just do a standard rest hold. She really impressed me. Her nastiness to the fans, her physicality in the ring, I tip my hat to you Tamina (even though I’m not wearing one!) Paige impressed yet again and her knee to the face and kick to the stomach (that sounded so loud only dogswcould hear them) were definite highlights.
It’s finals time next week too, as Charlotte and Natalya square off for the belt. I honestly don’t see Natalya winning whatsoever, yet stranger things have happened in wrestling. Chris will be bringing you next week’s NXT: Takeover Redux as his schedule meant it would be easier for him to cover NXT instead of Impact. Oh my god, it just dawned on me that I agreed to swap NXT’s equivalent of a pay-per-view special event for TNA. You know what they say, nice guys finish last. I’m bringing back the writer that divides the readers and makes a few of them send abusive tweets to me!
And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
