What’s up Diva fans and welcome to this week’s NXT Redux! There is a sickening chill in the air that is sending a shiver down my spine and shocking me to the core. Without giving anything away, I am in shock at the events that unfolded in the land of the yellow ropes this week. In their first tag team showing together, “The Boss” Sasha Banks and “The First Lady of NXT” Summer Rae a.k.a “BFFs: Beautiful Fierce Females” squared off against the unlikely duo of Emma and the NXT Women’s Champion Paige. Will the sassy sistahs (wow, I just typed that, how awful) get the win at the first time of teaming together or can Paige and Emma unite to successfully take down their common enemy? TO THE VIDEO!
Out first this week is the woman my heart belongs to (and the woman who would no doubt knee the crap out of it on the proverbial ring apron if she ever saw me as I’m not man enough for her), it’s the NXT Women’s Champion, Paige. Following the Diva of Tomorrow, Emma is out next in a flourescent green outfit, the colour of which reminds of me of those alien toys that you used to get where the alien grew when put in water. An incredibly random reference and comparison, yet hey, what more do you expect from me?! Next into the Full Sail arena are Sasha and Summer, who both arrive together using Summer’s theme. Who’s the boss now, Sasha? You just got a new theme – you need to demand that it get used!
Before the match can even start, Tony Dawson is already being borderline sexist (without actually intending to be) by making a perfectly valid statement yet I enjoyed the fact Renee Young and William Regal made him squirm on his final day as a WWE announcer. So long. Goodbye. Shut the door on the way out!
After an incredibly long and awkward pause from the commentary desk, the action begins with Sasha and Paige in the ring. Paige charges at Sasha like a bull in a china shop and needs to be restrained by the referee as her aggression is off the scale! Paige then rams Sasha throat first into the top rope. Sasha tags in Summer who ends up getting the same top rope rebound treatment from the Norwich, England native (Not so fun fact: Norwich is geographically ages away from me! *Sad face*) Paige then gives Emma a chance to step up, who just like Paige, runs at Summer like a.. dancing bull in a china shop! Summer immediately runs into her own corner and she tags in “The Boss”… or is that perhaps “The Lacky” Sasha.
Sasha runs toward Emma, who drop toe holds her for good measure. Tony refers to Emma as “the first Australian Diva” (I guess we’re meant to forget Leah West from FCW) as she gets her irish whip reversed by Sasha. Emma then avoids Sasha’s charge towards her by twisting onto the apron, which she follows up with a sliding pin attempt for the two count. Following another pin attempt, Emma is kicked in the stomach by Sasha, who then follows that up with some trash talking and an Irish Whip. The turning point of the match then takes place as with the referee distracted, Summer yanks on Emma’s hair as Sasha whacks her in the face.
Following some stomps and a cover, Sasha tags in Summer, who drapes her shin over the back of Emma’s head, which is unfortunately resting on the middle rope. From here, I have turned the commentary off for this second time of watching the action as Tony Dawson asked the dumbest of questions about fashion, which both Renee and William gave dumb answers too. Whilst talk of elephantiasis is ensuing, Summer hilariously mocks Emma’s dancing before ramming her head into the mat. Summer then applies an interesting submission to Emma’s shoulders and neck with those long legs of hers whilst Paige starts to rally the fans into helping Emma out. Emma and Summer then sloppily wrestle with each other in a tussle of strength before Emma wriggles free and tags in Paige!
Hell in Boots has well and truly arrived and she’s clobbered both Summer to the mat and Sasha to the arena floor! Paige then delivers her “I’m European like Sheamus so I get to ignore the rope break count” series of knees to the face on the ring apron, sending Summer into a daze. Sasha then grabs Paige’s ankle yet the Anti-Diva shrugs her off before dropkicking Summer. After a near fall, Paige throwbacks to her Britani Knight days and hits the Knight Light, a.k.a a Fisherman’s suplex, with Sasha breaking up the pin attempt following it. Emma then tries to send Sasha out of the ring, yet it’s the latter who reverse the former’s move. Paige then turns her back on Summer to get Sasha out of the ring. Sasha is out of the picture, yet Summer is very much in it! She locks a full nelson on Paige, which she transitions into a headlock before hitting her finisher that doesn’t officially yet have a name. Summer has done it agian – she’s pinned Paige for the three count, sending shockwaves throughout NXT.
Thoughts: This match was solid. The only thing I didn’t like was the awkward tussle between Emma and Summer when Emma was trying to get a tag. I feel like they could have done something more interesting than just having Emma wriggle free to tag in Paige.
Everything else was competent from the girls and they delivered. Is this a standout match that I will remember forever and rewatch? Probably not yet there was still nothing wrong with it; there just wasn’t many unique and standout moments, for me personally anyway.
What will stand out though is the fact Paige was pinned for, I believe, only the third time in NXT. She’s pinned by Summer twice and by Raquel Diaz back in NXT’s incredibly early days. Correct me if I’m wrong Diva fans out there. Although I’m the biggest Paige fan going, having her lose and also get pinned has only made this story more interesting and only solidifies the new BFF unit of Sasha and Summer. It makes perfect booking sense and makes things more exciting so I’m definitely a fan of that.
Also props to Renee Young. The Pony Princess will no longer be known for just her signature hair-do but also her 95% of the time excellent commentary. She called the action on all of this week’s show and from the bits I heard, she was a natural!
With that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
