Greetings everybody and welcome to another wondrous edition of the NXT Watch. I believe the last time we met, we discovered (and at least I fell in love with) the catchy dance of one Australian native, Emma. While it’s true, she may not have a last name, that didn’t alter my joy with those sweet, sweet dance moves one bit. This week though, both she and Paige are given the night off as it’s instead time for Sasha Banks to step up to the plate and take on a former Divas champion in Alicia Fox. In addition, we also get to hear some sort of semblance of words come together as Aksana, fresh off her Tout fueled feud with Layla, speaks to us on what she has a problem with when it comes to a certain Anti-Diva.
That got you enticed? I didn’t think so, because I’m not the best at making something sound so irresistible that you just have to watch. But please forgive me and watch anyways!
To the action we have Alicia Fox making her grand entrance as the greatness of Summer Rae watches on in the background. Up next comes her opponent, Sasha Banks, who in three appearances has already had more theme songs in her WWE career than Kelly Kelly, Beth Phoenix, Natalya, and probably many more. Sasha rallies the crowd up, as the bell ding ding dings and we get underway with this intriguing match up. The two lock up, as Foxy takes the early advantage and slams Sasha head first into the corner multiple times. An Irish Whip, but Banks gets a kick and then an awesome headscissors takedown!
Sasha hits a dropkick to follow it up, but only attains a two count. Alicia now scores with a dropkick of her own, but much like she a few moments earlier, Sasha kicks out. Banks is sent into the corner, as Fox nails a beautiful northern lights to garner another near fall. Fox now with a choke hold, as the crowd gets behind the yellow and black clad Diva. She attempts to make a comeback, but Alicia doesn’t let off. This commentator seems in utter shock that a girl could play American football as Sasha did… and then asks what this move we’re seeing Alicia Fox do is called like it’s some sort of 850 degree asai moonsault into a plancha ddt to the barricade off a sixty foot ladder, when in reality it’s a chokehold. Oh my.
Sasha lands a sick monkey flip, then mounting a comeback with a set of clotheslines and a smack to the chest! She grabs onto Alicia’s hand and runs off the ropes with an armdrag, following it up with an attempted handspring bulldog that gets countered as Alicia slams Sasha face first. Fox now goes for a bodyslam, but Sasha quickly rolls through and gets the surprise upset victory over the former Divas champion! Alicia does not look happy, thus continuing to have us question if she’s ever going to decide whether she wants to be a face or a heel.
(Skip to 18:42)
Yes, I know what you’re all thinking… didn’t we see this Paige video already? Well never fear as the clips have been updated! Okay, just playing. I know the video is in a language that I do not comprehend, but when you’re searching 35 minutes to find something — ANYTHING — to contain Aksana’s interview, you take what you can get. If it’s too much, mute may be the better option, as well as blaming WWE for making this task so difficult. Following the Paige video, we are taken backstage to a new female correspondent for NXT, Renee Young. She welcomes Aksana to the interview station, and in she walks to discuss her match with Paige next week.
Aksana says that if you ask her, Paige has tried to emulate her signature black haired look… only Paige’s is much trashier than the class that hails from Lithuania and runs from shovels. She adds that she’s a little angry with how receptive the fans are the Paige, but that doesn’t matter because she’s 2012’s news. 2013 is going to be the year of Aksana, and next week, everyone is going to find out that she’s IN and Paige is OUT.
Thoughts: I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see a different match up this week, in that of Sasha against Alicia. They meshed really well to me, which I think is part of Alicia’s strong suit in that she shines when put with the smaller sized, faster paced Divas like Sasha or AJ because she can bump for their moves so well. Sasha is fast becoming a rising star on the show, and I think she’s had the most spotlight of the NXT Divas second to Paige so it’ll be interesting to see where we go from there.
I also absolutely love that they built up to Paige vs. Aksana next week. It makes it feel like a big match, and like something is going to happen that’s different from your usual NXT bout where they just compete and it’s done. With the introduction of NXT Tag Team Titles on this show, I think it’s safe to say the next belt to be introduced may be one for the Divas of the gold and black brand. No telling as to just when that will happen as I’m sure they will want to introduce Anya, Charlotte, Summer Rae, and Davina to fill up the roster before they get the ground running on that, but it would definitely be the next step to give them all something to fight for. Once those four start competing on the TV show, you can just add in Emma, Paige, Sasha, and Audrey, and there you have eight Divas set for a tournament.
All in all, I enjoyed getting to see Sasha Banks shine and pick up her first victory. Here’s to next week! And Until then — peace!
