Good day all, and welcome to this week’s NXT Redux. Last time we saw each other, Charlotte and Bayley were killing it at Takeover and reducing me to a trainwreck because… well dammit, I just felt so bad Bayley didn’t win. What can I say? She broke me.
So let’s pick ourselves up like Bayley always does, and focus on whats next to come. A triple threat feud looked to be building, but will it see any movement tonight? What we know heading into the show is that Charlotte is going one on one with Emma which is kind of a fresh match up since Emma has been away from NXT for a while. But can the clunky, lovable dancer outsmart the superiority of our Womens Champion?
Let’s find out.
We head to the ring as Charlotte struts out wearing her new shirt over my favorite of her gears. Blue on blue son!~ Following a brief recap of Takeover 2, the music of Emma hits and she dances out from the back to a great reaction from the crowd as I continue loving the light up ring apron. The fans immediately chant “Welcome Back” to Emma as she bops along with it, sparking Charlotte to grab her Womens Title as Emma chops it out of her hand. This allows Charlotte to immediately go on the attack with some knees and elbows to the shoulder. The flipping leg-headlock! One of my favorite moves in Charlotte’s arsenal.
The fans try to will Emma on, as she bridges back into a near fall. Charlotte now with a stiff knee to the face and starts choking Emma on the ropes and dragging her around the ring. Emma with a roll through and a sharp kick, but Charlotte ultimately takes her down again and slams her face into the canvas. She goes for the moonsault, but Emma grabs her by the boot! Charlotte kicks her back, with the two now fighting back and forth. Roll up! Two count.
Emma nails some shots to the face and shoves her back down, now hitting the Emmamite Sandwich in the corner and heading up top… until Charlotte grabs her. Emma with a sharp kick! She now hits the top rope and leaps off with a crossbody for a two count. The two ladies quickly get up, but Charlotte takes immediate control with a stiff neckbreaker to set Emma up for the Natural Selection! Uno, Dos, Tres… this one’s over.
For video of the following segment, please click here and skip until the countdown clock has 18:31 left on it.
Following Baron Corbin‘s second victory over CJ Parker and the second showing of his beautiful finisher, we head to a recap of Enzo Amore and Big Cass‘s hair shenanigans that ended with Marcus Louis being shaved bald and without eyebrows, which… I’m hoping he was generously compensated for. We’re then transported to a video of some actions that took place earlier in the day at the WWE Performance Center as Enzo trains on a machine that I remember using in ninth grade gym but can’t put a name to it if my life depended on it.
Suddenly, an assistant walks in and says Enzo’s sister is here to see him… only he doesn’t have a sister. Then… SUDDENLY… in walks… could it be?!
IT. IS.
Sound the alarm! It’s Carmella making her (official??) NXT Debut, barging in like she just found out the local Orlando mall has run out of cheetah print clothing on a Black Friday sale. She is absolutely furious that the two of them got her fired from job at “Hair” when they ruined her clients dog by clowning around. She demands Enzo shut up, then reveals that her true intentions of being here are that she wants a job, and not only that, she wants to fight!
They question if she’s serious on account of going from hairdresser to WWE Diva might be quite the career change, but she assures them she’s all in. She claims she has five brothers that are all tougher than Enzo and Cass, and she’s even tougher than the brothers are so it’s like a chain of command with Carmella at the top and Enzo/Cass at the bottom. Enzo tries to downplay her but she decks him with a medicine ball! From there, Carmella exclaims she will be back tomorrow to train with them and struts off, leaving Enzo on the floor and Cass pretty surprised.
Thoughts: A pretty decent to good week for NXT this go around. In terms of Carmella, you have to suspend A LOT of disbelief for the way she’s being introduced (hair salon employee turned Diva who will possibly debut with storyline-wise under two months of training), but after how long I’ve been wanting anyone to be brought into the division, she could say she’s a yellow dinosaur and dress up in a mascot suit for all I care. The more the merrier! I cannot wait for her to enter the division. Her segment was spot on and exactly the type of character she shines at, bouncing so well off Enzo and Cass as always. I especially loved the medicine ball decking as seeing her take down a guy illustrated how tough she was to people who may underestimate her, and Enzo is so believable in that role that he really made it come off perfect.
Emma vs. Charlotte was very hit or miss for me. Emma’s kicks were on fire throughout the match and I thought Charlotte did fine as a whole. There were a few off spots here and there if I’m being honest, and overall I don’t think I will probably remember a lot from it a few months down the line. Some high points though – I absolutely LOVE the new set up Charlotte debuted for Natural Selection. Part of the problem with that move is the set up always seemed kind of too staged as the opponent is literally just on their knees waiting to take it. Charlotte saw that and added a new move to her arsenal in order to make the set up way more believable, and to be honest, I think it will help her out a ton. I can’t really think of any other Diva that uses a move to set their opponent into their finisher unless I’m just drawing a blank, so it’s definitely something different in that her finisher is now sort of two moves in one. I still wish she could incorporate the Figure Four, but maybe in time.
Another thing I liked was the match sort of felt fresh. We’ve seen it happen a few times I believe, but it’s been a while since Emma’s been on NXT and I really enjoyed seeing her back again. The crowd welcomed her with open arms (literally), and it felt like a treat to get to see her work with the NXT Divas. I’m honestly kind of hoping she stays just because after Carmella, there’s not really anyone who seems next in line for a debut since Dana just started on live events a few nights ago, and so at least she could help maybe get us some different match variations for the time being since it’s another Diva that can be used in action.
Oh, before I forget, one bad thing though is the fact there was no build up towards a triple threat at all following Takeover. Kind of strange, but maybe the coming weeks will provide us with a bit more direction. They do presumably have a few months before the next live special so it makes sense in that regard.
That’s it for this week! Join me again next time when I’ll be back to recap all of the Diva action on WWE’s golden roped brand of joy.
