Greetings everybody, and welcome to the your Thursday afternoon recap of choice… the NXT Watch! I’m sure that anyone who reads what I have to say knows how much I love everything about this show and how I pride myself in getting to review it, but tonight’s episode… how do I say it? Tonight’s episode brought my love to new heights. You see, we got to witness Maxine and Kaitlyn square off like we have a few times now, but because this is NXT — or as I like to call it, the Promise Land — we also get treated to a few tremendous segments backstage featuring the two women, Dirty Curty, and the most entertaining male wrestler around today (not named Husky Harris), Derrick Bateman!
Let’s continue on because I can’t contain my excitement any longer…
Following a match involving Percy Watson, we head backstage to see Kaitlyn warming up for a match against Maxine later tonight when she is approached, creepily might I add, from behind by Dirty Curty. He asks if she’s getting ready for her match, but before Kaitlyn can answer that, she questions where his shirt is at since it’s about 35 degrees backstage. From there, Kaitlyn then wonders why he’s even here since he’s off the show now. (Note: I guess NXT is like America where you must marry a roster member to stay on, and since Maxine dumped him, WWE has deported our very own Dirty Curty.) She adds that it doesn’t matter now, anyway, because Maxine chose Derrick instead of him.
Dirty Curty claims that their relationship will never last because he knows a secret that nobody else knows!~ Kaitlyn makes a fair trade in that if she lets him tell her this likely ridiculous secret, he will go back to his van and put a shirt on. Dirty Curty agrees, and informs her that when he was with Maxine, she would always complain about how Derrick had a thing for Kaitlyn. From her hair, to her skin, all the way to her method of gum chewing! He sums it up by saying that Derrick is digging her vibes, before creepily heading off and leaving Kaitlyn to wonder the legitimacy of what she was just told. She decides to shrug it off with a big, “Nahhhhhhhh”, although still appearing somewhat unsure.
After another excellent bout between Trent Barreta and Tyson Kidd, we are taken backstage to see Derrick Bateman walking down a hallway following his loss earlier to the ginger earlier in the night. Kaitlyn suddenly approaches and greets him with a, “Sweet Meat, what’s the deal?”, as he describes his disappointment at his loss earlier. She calls him a winner though, citing his head of cascading curls as a positive, which sparks him to dub her a “good friend” and take part in a consensual high five. He then proceeds to ask if she has any of the gum she likes to chew (GASP), but before she can answer, our beloved Queen of Mean enters the equation as a cold chill runs up their spines, I’m sure.
Maxine walks right in between them, shoving both backwards as she demands to know why he lost earlier! The Queen questions how they are supposed to ever move off of NXT if he keeps losing, especially when it’s to the ginger. (As if I didn’t admire Maxine enough already…) Before he can answer though, Kaitlyn comes to his rescue and sarcastically claims that Maxine is such a supportive girlfriend… and boy, let me tell you, this does not set well with our Queen. She slowly turns around and asks Kaitlyn if she got lost and couldn’t find an exit, because knowing her, she probably couldn’t find her way out of a paper bag!
Just then, that creep Dirty Curty sticks his head out from behind, watching his dirty work unfold before his very eyes. Kaitlyn informs Maxine that she knows right where she is, but this doesn’t stop Queen Maxine from offering her assistance in aiding Kaitlyn to leave. She then demands Kaitlyn to exit the conversation, and stop talking to Derrick. The spunky NXT winner just admits she was trying to be supportive, but oh no, Miss Maxine knows what she was trying to do, and she doesn’t like it one bit. She states that Kaitlyn is trying to sneak one in underneath her, and that it’s quite… um, I think Maxine said a word that ended up getting bleeped out. Vicious indeed!
Nonetheless, she demands that Kaitlyn stay away from Derrick which leads to the plucky fan favorite to ask Sweet Meat how he can kiss that mouth after hearing whatever word got bleeped! This INFURIATES the Queen, as she almost loses it until her Der-Bear holds her back. Kaitlyn then walks off as Maxine screams out, “Why don’t you tone your hair one color, okay?!” Genius. Derrick wants Maxine to act like an adult, and she amazingly tells him to shut up! From there, he makes the noise similar to when Kaitlyn was “giving birth” a few weeks ago, before walking off as Maxine questions what he’s wearing! The duo walk off, as that rotten scoundrel Dirty Curty walks forward and announces, “It’s getting weeiiirddd”. God, I love this show.
Out to the arena we go, to the tune of “If you want it, come and get it!” Our royal highness steps out in her finest thigh high stockings, before strutting down the ramp and climbing into the ring for her match against Kaitlyn. Speaking of which, after hitting the dance floor, I’m sure, Kaitlyn steps out from the back and poses on each side of the stage for the fans. She then twirls down the ramp and gets into the ring herself, as the bell sounds and we kick things off between these two enemies. Maxine charges forward and spears Kaitlyn to the ground, before choking her with her thigh. Those deadly stockings!
Maxine attempts to run after her again, but Kaitlyn moves out of the way and the Queen meets the canvas face first. Once she gets to a vertical base, Kaitlyn drops her with a nice sidewalk slam, before transitioning it into a neat submission hold. It stays in place until Maxine breaks it by reversing into a pinfall for a one count, as she then runs right into a bodyslam. The blond and black haired Diva plants her with a leg/elbow drop combination for a two count, as William Regal brings the “walnut crushing thighs” reference from FCW to NXT! My life has been made!
Maxine strikes Kaitlyn in the stomach, hits her with a knee to the face, and then runs forward with a big clothesline that gains her a few near falls. Kaitlyn shoves her off and gets a two count, as a “Let’s go, Kaitlyn” chant breaks out. Am I in heaven? Or at least, am I dreaming? Maxine slams Kaitlyn’s head into the canvas and locks in her dragon sleeper from a seated position. She strikes Kaitlyn in the stomach a few times, before Kaitlyn is just barely able to reverse it with a jawbreaker. She backs into the corner as the Queen seems imminent on ending this match with a victory by slamming Kaitlyn’s head into the turnbuckle. Maxine climbs up the ropes and looks to go for a few punches, but Kaitlyn cuts her off and shoves her backwards!
A shoulder tackle starts her comeback up, followed by a dropkick and a running crossbody for a near fall! Kaitlyn lifts Maxine up, but the Queen smacks her right in the jaw and runs forward into a crucifix hold. Kaitlyn uses her upper body strength to try and fight the move from being turned into a pin attempt, but ultimately does not succeed in this, as Maxine falls backwards and is able to pin Kaitlyn’s shoulders to the mat for the three count! She scurries out from the ring and walks up the ramp to grin at her victory over Kaitlyn, while the fan favorite wonders what just happened and looks on with revenge on her mind.
Thoughts: I’ve begun to realize that NXT is always going to make me happy, but tonight took it to new levels. The backstage segments are always a blast to watch because they actually get time to develop characters, and both Maxine & Kaitlyn work off each other so humorously. Between Maxine’s seriousness and Kaitlyn’s humor, I want them to feud forever if it results in segments like the ones we saw tonight. Plus, I still believe whoever writes NXT secretly reads what I want because that’s twice now Kaitlyn has been put into a storyline after weeks of my pleading for them to do so.
The match was finally a bit longer than what we’ve been getting the past few outings, and it didn’t feel rushed or anything. I thought they did well together, and I continue to be amazed at how much improvement both have shown since their season of NXT took place. The only fault I had is that I feel like if I see another roll up victory my head is going to explode. Maxine has some of the best finishers for a female, and I refuse to settle for roll up victories! Nonetheless, tonight’s episode of NXT has been perhaps the first strong one since the wedding, and it’s great that we’re getting back to having both segments and matches that go longer than twenty seconds.
