Greetings everyone, and welcome to this week’s WrestleMania edition of NXT! Last week brought forth a fantastic match between Kaitlyn and Natalya, which saw the plucky underdog barely escape with her title still intact. This week, however, we throw it back to the Divas in training as our two hot button feuds combine into the ultimate tag team match when Summer Rae and Audrey Marie team up to face Paige and Sasha Banks. Clearly these four have a storied past with one another, but which duo will leave with a win? Let’s find out.
Brad Maddox and he who shall not be named are shown arguing on commentary, but thankfully they are interrupted (well I should say thankfully Tony is interrupted as Brad is 1000x more amusing and it wouldn’t make me happy to see him get cut off). Summer Rae’s enlightening theme song hits, as the leggy blond struts out from the back and executes her signature entrance… err, tries to. She’s kind of cut short by Audrey Marie, who quickly walks to the ring and blows a kiss. The two look pleased with one another, but not for long as out comes Sasha Banks followed up by Paige! Paige and Sasha chase both Summer and Audrey outside the ring, but we’re soon able to get things underway and start off with Paige and Audrey.
Paige charges for Summer, but Audrey refuses to let her pass and the two lock up. It may not be the best idea to piss Paige off, but nonetheless, Audrey uses the distraction Summer’s mere presence provides and takes control of the anti-Diva with a few shots and a hip toss for a near fall. Audrey with a nice one legged monkey flip, before she’s sent face first into the canvas. They fight into the corner, which allows Sasha to tag in and score with a nice armdrag off the ropes! Sasha follows it up with an equally nice headscissors takedown, but only attains a one count. Marie with a clothesline, as the first lady finally gets into the action and begins choking the queen of the Sasha scouts on the ropes.
Summer gains a near fall, then making the tag back to Audrey who hits a snapmare and applies a… hair grab? Head claw? I can’t tell but it looks painful so good on Audrey. Quick tag back to Summer Rae who drops Sasha down and begins taunting Paige. Audrey’s back in, as she continues to dominate Sasha and tag back to Summer. Rae hoists Sasha up, who slides underneath the legs and rolls her up for a two count! From that, she’s able to roll through and tag in Paige! The raven haired lady slowly comes in, which is perfect as it adds so much to the level of animosity between them. Even more than if she just charged right in in my opinion. Paige backs Summer up, but Rae immediately runs away and Audrey walks in. Paige with a boot to the stomach and the Paige Turner for the victory! From there, she runs away from the ring after Summer, as Sasha celebrates on her own.
Thoughts: I really enjoyed this match a lot, especially due to the fact that it was made with a purpose behind it since we’ve got two feuds going on NXT and all four women involved have a beef with one on the opposing team. The action was good, the story between Paige and Summer specifically was great, and they got plenty of time to have a good showing. Audrey Marie impressed me the most I’d have to say. I thought she carried herself exceptionally well and worked really great with both Paige and Sasha. She never looked a step behind or anything. Summer didn’t really get to do much, but I like that because it leaves the thought of seeing her face Paige as still being fresh. Their first encounter was short and Paige had the whole shoulder injury, so not seeing them face one another is perfect because when they ultimately have their blow off match, it’ll be something we’ve yet to see anywhere before and it’ll automatically make the match feel all the more important. Overall, this was a pretty solid showing from NXT, and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.
