What’s up Diva fans and welcome to this week’s NXT Redux. It is I Jack, back yet again today to deliver the Diva goodies. The goodies over on NXT are thankfully a lot sweeter than they were on the main roster this week. On NXT, our usual combo of a match and a backstage segment continued as we got both plus an additional backstage segment to boot. With three segments featuring six Divas (Charlotte, Bayley, Sasha Banks, Summer Rae, Paige and Emma) and an indy performer (Santana Garrett) plus a little bit of Renee Young on commentary, I’m excited to get started. TO THE VIDEO!
This week’s yellow roped segment begins with Charlotte entering the arena first, with Bayley by her side. Her opponent doesn’t get an entrance and to a major surprise for anyone who didn’t read the spoilers, Charlotte’s opponent is none other than star of SHINE Wrestling, Santana Garrett. The match begins with some excellent chain wrestling from both women, who flip, tie-up and wristlock like those maneuvers were going out of fashion. Following that great chain of fluidity, Charlotte reverses one of Santana’s irish whips, sending her into the corner. The Daughter of Ric Flair then charges at Santana, who delivers a seriously stiff looking elbow to the face before using Charlotte’s to send the North Carolina native face first into the second turnbuckle. From there, Santana executes a snapmare which she follows up with a running kick to the gut. If I’m being picky, the kick looked kind of lackluster to me.
Renee Young has been stellar on commentary in the last few weeks continued to sound educated as she referenced comments that Charlotte made about a WWE.com article a few months ago. Whilst it was good that Renee referenced this and clearly does her research, Charlotte was wooing in her entrance; not exactly a sign of her trying to create her own image! Whilst it’s not Renee’s fault Charlotte has seemingly done a u-turn regarding those comments, she probably shouldn’t have brought it up. When commentary and the action on screen disconnect, it dilutes the integrity of either or both aspects. Again, I’m being picky I guess!
Continuing in the ring now, Santana hits a sweet russian leg sweep which she transitions into a not so sweet submission. Don’t get me wrong, it looked impressive at first, yet Charlotte was in it for way too long and it looked like it wasn’t grasped as tight as it did at the start. I’m not in an easy to please mood today, if you couldn’t tell! After Sasha and Summer make their way to ringside and Charlotte breaks from the eternity long submission, Charlotte levels Santana with two chops, once again showing us signs of her famous daddy! Charlotte then hits the Charlotte’s Web yet she can only muster a near fall. Sasha Banks then distracts Charlotte on the steel steps, and Santana looks to take advantage, yet the unsigned talent can’t get the win. Charlotte hits a slow looking flapjack before her finish move goes completely wrong. Charlotte picks up the win regardless.
After the match, Summer and Sasha take to the mic (well, Summer speaks and Sasha just stands there) and Summer says that now that Paige has been sent packing thanks to Sasha, the beautiful fierce females, or BFFs, are going to run the entire WWE and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do about it. One woman majorly disagrees with this, the returning NXT Women’s Champion and proud owner of my heart, Paige! Paige storms into the ring for the first time in a month and she headbutts Sasha. The numbers game eventually gets to her yet Emma makes the save.
Skipping to 26:37 in the video now and Sasha and Summer takes to the mic to address the brewing situation between her, Sasha and their two rivals. Summer says that her and Sasha are not going to get embarrassed, they’re going to get even. They won’t back down and they challenge Emma and Paige to a tag match next week. Now Tony Dawson, go and get a response from the faces, as it’s going to be your last ever call of duty in WWE!
Later, at the 32:28 mark, Paige and Emma are seen backstage and the banter is hilarious. Tony asks them if they will accept the challenge laid down by BFFs and of course they do – Paige never backs down from a fight!
Thoughts: Well first of all, thank the lord that this was better than Main Event! Whilst the match was one of Charlotte’s worst showings in my opinion, it started out really well, and Charlotte showed signs of promise in terms of her wrestling and not just spots of athleticism. I’m still not keen on her newer haircut though. And Bayley, why were you there? I don’t believe for one minute that the Bayley and Charlotte characters are good friends.
Santana also did well in the early going yet I felt like her submission was a little dodgy and no doubt the finish will be blamed on her. I hope she gets a second chance to prove to WWE what she can do real soon. Good luck Santana!
Summer’s in-ring promo was once again excellent. Summer is at home on the microphone and she nailed it yet again, like she also did in the backstage segment. I love that Summer and Sasha’s duo now has a name, ‘The BFFs’ and all I ask now is that Sasha can have a chance to speak on the mic and prove why she’s ‘The Boss’ and not just a sidekick.
I also loved Emma and Paige’s interaction with one another. Although it pains me to admit it, Paige can overact at times yet this time, her performance was funny and genuinely believable. Emma sticking her hands in my personal space all the time would rile me up too Paige! Paige and Emma convey a relationship of respect to me really well and it’s clear that although Paige can’t take Emma seriously a lot of the time, she knows she is still a threat to her Women’s Championship. I’m really looking forward to the tag team match next week thanks to the solid foundation laid this week. Bring on next week!
And with that, stay tuned, Jack will be back!
