What’s up Diva fans and welcome to the NXT Redux. This is your second part of your Thursday double dose of Divas and the second part of your double dose of Jack – hope you can handle this much of me!
This week’s NXT saw one half of the BFFs: Beautiful Fierce Females, Sasha Banks scrap with the bubbly and bizarre Emma. Sasha, of course, had Summer Rae by her side, giving the heels a definite advantage. Could Sasha keep her badguy winning streak up or will Emma burst her bubble? In addition to this, none other than Lana makes her NXT debut as a scouting valet, and god knows what she has in mind for Alexander Rusev! Unfortunately, there is one sad thing to note this early on. The awesome Renee Young has been replaced on commentary… by Tensai. Pass me the sick bucket, quickly! TO THE VIDEO!
The NXT Divas kick off the show this week and out first is everyone’s favorite bumbling bundle of fun, Emma! We even get a super close-up of Emma trying her damnedest to get in the ring. Why thank you for mixing things up NXT cameraman! Out next to her new thug/ghetto heel entrance theme is Sasha Banks, complete with new ‘Boss’-like black coat. Sasha is for once working that new attitude of hers (and the bling on that coat!) and it’s refreshing to see. She seems more practiced and comfortable this week so good on you Sasha for putting the work in!
The match begins with both girls shoving each other several times before Emma’s bubbles boil over and she trips Sasha to the ground and beats the bajeebies out of her. After breaking out, Sasha charges at Emma, yet the Australian reverses with a waistlock that she transitions into a schoolgirl. The fast paced action continues with a snap armdrag before Emma slows the pace with a submission to the arm, adding insult to injury by digging her knee into Sasha’s face. Next, Emma has her irish whip reversed by Sasha yet Emma makes the most out of a bad situation, launching herself on to the apron before pinning Sasha for two sunset flip style, except with out the flip! (Note: Why don’t basic moves like this have fancy names?!)
Emma goes for yet another cover before hitting an armdrag yet again. Summer Rae scowls in anger on the apron as Sasha tries to impress her fellow BFF and First Lady of NXT. Sasha certainly then impresses me with her character; she starts going off on one on Emma, talking trash to her whilst mocking her dance. She then decides to stop mocking and start beating as she rams Emma’s face off the top turnbuckle. Sasha then Maryse-hands the crowd as she continues to work on Emma. Learning from the best I see, Sasha?!
Following another blow to the head and a cover, Sasha seems to have gone to the well too many times as Emma begins to fight back. She nails Sasha’s face into the corner like it’s going out of fashion! Summer provides a brief distraction and thanks to that, Sasha takes advantage by ramming the back of Emma’s head to the mat.
Now this is where I started to zone out. Sasha applies various chinlocks with body scissors FOR ETERNITY. Like a long time. I don’t mind one or two interesting rest holds yet when you do it over and over, I completely lose interest. I finally regained interest when Emma tried to get out the second submission and she slapped Sasha across the face. With fierce immediacy, Sasha goes batsh!t and slaps Emma repeatedly like she’s just been possessed by a banshee. Love the fire in Sasha’s heel persona – she means bidness! Yeah, I just said bidness. I’ll refrain from now on.
It’s business (there we go!) as usual for Sasha after this as she locks in the third straight rest hold. However, like the head bashes to the top turnbuckle, Sasha has tried the same tactic too many times and Emma’s had enough! Emma elbows her way to a vertical base before clotheslining the taste out of Sasha’s mouth. Following another clothesline, Emma hits the Dilemma before squashing Sasha with her “Emma Sandwich” according to Todd Phillips. Ok then…
Following that, Emma tosses Sasha by her ankles as she looks to put her foe away with the Emma Lock yet once again, Summer makes her presence felt. To even the odds, NXT Women’s Champion and the woman loved most in the UK other than Princess Diana, Paige storms out and sends Summer chin first into the ring apron! The outside interaction seemingly distracted Emma as she gets rolle dup by Sasha out of nowhere for the three count! After the match, Sasha taunts Emma yet the BFF doesn’t realise that ‘Hell in Boots’ is right behind her. Sasha turns around… and DUCKS Paige’s clothesline, leaving Paige to clobber Emma by accident. The two faces argue as the segment draws to a close.
In addition to that, check out Lana make her debut, scouting the winning efforts of the ‘Bulgarian Bruiser’ Alexander Rusev. The lady in red just made more of a statement in 30 seconds than Tamina has in her lifetime! Skip to 12:45 in the video below:
Thoughts: The storyline continuation and character development this week was second to none. Sasha is growing with confidence in her new role with each appearance and it showed massively this week. This showing was the first time that Sasha and Summer looked like equals as opposed to Sasha doing Summer’s dirty work. ‘The First Lady’ and ‘The Boss’ are meant to be on a level playing field and in my opinion, we saw that this week.
As for the match, it was nothing special. Solid work most definitely, yet I didn’t find anything memorable. The way the momentum shifted from Emma to Sasha with the hair pull move was bland and an unusual headscissors or backbreaker or something would have been more memorable. Also, the constant rest holds took a lot away from the match for me, but that’s just my opinion. However, the segment served it’s purpose. Summer and Sasha looked dominant and dastardly, Emma and Paige’s eventual title match was hyped and dissension was clear to see and both intertwining storylines march on well, making me excited for next week.
And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
