Welcome one and all to this weeks NXT Watch. Last week, Sasha Banks took a victory over Alicia Fox in singles action, but that surprise upset is nothing to the set of surprises we have in store for us this week. It’s Paige squaring off with Aksana tonight, and both women mean business as one looks to keep her streak, and the other looks to start one. In addition, we also have a surprise from Summer Rae, and a secret for Sasha Banks so let me shut up now and we can get things started because you’re likely not even reading this part as it’s of no interest when there’s a video link right below it!
We head to the ring as the Saxophone/slightly sounding porno music hits and out struts Aksana. She looks to high five a fan, but completely no sells him and gets a huge “Owwww” from the crowd in doing so. (+10 points) From there, she climbs into the ring as I now want to mute the video due to the horrible commentary by the guy who isn’t William Regal. Up next comes the rebellious anthem (come on, it completely tops “You Oughta Know”) of Paige. The fan favorite steps out from the back and gets her occasional hand slap in, as we see a lot of signs to support the Anti-Diva.
The porcelain princess as Sir Regal puts it (which kind of makes me think she’s a doll), suddenly hops on top of Aksana and lands on the top rope before getting knocked to the outside. Aksana rolls her back in and immediately catapults her into the ropes, which in return sparks Paige to fall backwards onto her knees. After a failed pin attempt, she begins choking Paige in the ropes, then proceeding to slam her into the corner and seductively crawl around the ring. Continuing to show her intensity off after that brute intimidation, she nails a sidewalk slam but can only muster up another two count.
A submission hold now gets locked in, as Paige is unable to get the upper hand in a match one would think she’d be dominating. Aksana decides to break the hold to beat her down a little, then locking it in once again and reverting to pulling the hair. She’s forced to break it, which allows Paige to mount a comeback with some sharp fists. Aksana heads to the top rope and looks to be going for a move of sorts, but Paige slams her off and locks in a brutal cloverleaf variation for the tap out victory!
Summer Rae now gets into the ring and announces Paige the winner, but our Porcelain Princess (which I’m so bummed is a nickname I didn’t come up with on my own) accidentally bumps into her and knocks the microphone out of her hand. Summer looks a tad bit irked, but Paige instantly apologizes like every good friend would. She turns around to continue celebrating, when…
WHA-BAM!
Summer Rae drills her from behind and screams “That’s right Paige! This is for the year I’ve had to be here without getting a match on TV to show my talent! This is for having to become a permanent announcer while you shined on my show!” Oh wait, nevermind. That was what happened in my own head. The first part really did happen though! With Paige laid out on the canvas, Summer stands up and gives us her greatest pissed off expression before angrily walking off to the back and leaving Paige looking like a sad puppy dog, or one of those women on daytime talk shows that has just found out her husband has been sleeping around with other women… and men. And has 20 children — not all of which are human — that he has potentially fathered.
Following that, we head backstage to new correspondent, Renee Young. She’s standing by with Sasha Banks to catch up on Banks’ big win last week over Alicia Fox, that of which appears to please Miss Banks so much as she gleams from eye to eye. To get a victory in this company has been her dream since she was a mere toddler in dollar sign emblemed diapers. The fact that her win was over a former Divas champion has just made this moment even better, but before she can continue, an assistant interrupts and says that he was instructed to hand her this pink note.
*Ahem*
Roses are red… Violets are blue
I lie awake at night… thinking of you
Your secret admirer.
Sasha seems surprised, but nonetheless heads off to possibly prepare for which member of the NXT roster this note comes from. (PLEASE be one of the options I’m about to predict below.)
Thoughts: Hallelujah! Praise everything that is right! NXT has finally begun to incorporate storylines for the Divas and I could honestly not even be happier with the direction they went this week even if my own personal favorite, Naomi, walked in and had a match with Paige herself. I’m really excited that Summer Rae finally got to do something and will ultimately be entering a feud with Paige as she’s my second favorite in NXT after Emma. I’ve gotten to see her compete a few times at the live events and I think she will surprise people if given a fair chance to showcase her abilities. Unless something catastrophic happens like nerves get in the way or the match between she and Paige is cut short, I’m expecting them to put on a great showing together, and hopefully we get some more build in the coming weeks like a backstage interview with Summer so she can explain why she attacked Paige.
There’s so much this feud could become, but the question is if they’ll take it to the next level or not. You have this Anti-Diva that the crowd absolutely thrives on seeing beat down anyone that steps in her way, who looks nothing like any female WWE has ever signed before, and is who most fans consider to be the next breakout star of a division that’s desperately in need of one. Then you have a Diva who most will possibly write off because she looks exactly like what fans think of when they hear the title of a WWE Diva. Blond, skinny, tan, and stunning. But the difference (to me at least), is that I think Summer Rae is better than that stigma, even if she gets labeled in that role for her first appearances. The crowds are going to want Paige to just beat and destroy her, which will make for the perfect feud. I really don’t want this to be a one and done type deal, and considering it seems that NXT is getting fond of storylines and segments, I actually have hope that it can develop into a top rivalry for the show. And I also think it helps that this will be the first TV appearance that Summer Rae wrestles in, so nobody really knows what to expect. It’s fresh, new, and exciting. I cannot wait!
The match itself was good, and definitely the best from Aksana in a long time. I’ll be honest and say that I’m not an Aksana fan anymore, which is upsetting because I used to really like her. But I can admit this was definitely the type of Aksana I missed — the one who put on good matches and was fun. I will say that I think I prefer her blond comedic character, and also when she was doing great stuff in ring each week as Divas champion in FCW. Paige is great, and I’m sure nobody disputes that. But it was nice to see Aksana do some additional things this week and I’m pretty happy with her performance. Hopefully these two can square off again because you can only get better when working with Paige.
And here I was beyond satisfied seeing Summer and Paige getting a feud, NXT goes beyond that and gives Sasha Banks a storyline to boot! I like this new interviewer, Rene. She seems comfortable behind a camera, and as someone who has rarely ever been a fan of some of the female backstage interviewers in WWE, I think she’s closer to the top of the list than the bottom. We’ve only seen her a few times, and she’ll continue to grow and get more comfortable as it goes on, so I like that we’ve got a new female that is in a different role than everyone else.
Onto Sasha, she is very very fun to watch in the ring, and I love that she’s (seemingly) going to be getting these backstage segments until she finds out her secret admirer because it will aid her in the acting part of being a Diva. Not many really start off strong when they first get to developmental (AJ’s first FCW promo to now is like a different person) as they have to adjust to actually being behind the equipment and lights etc. Plus, acting is not easy — especially for people who are getting thrown in front of a camera fairly quickly without prior life experience. It takes time, and the fact that Sasha is getting a platform to improve is great. As far as her crush goes… I’ve assembled a list of suspects I want/think it might be:
1. Fandango/Johnny Curtis – One of the NXT originals! Plus she did manage him once on a WWE live event.
2. Judas Devlin – I don’t even know why, but I could really see this working.
3. Briley Pierce – He needs to debut in a fun way already.
4. Garrett Dylan – I like him, and he deserves a bigger role on the tv show. Plus nobody would see it coming.
5. Anya – Okay I know this is way out there, but this is honestly the person I want the most. It would be so fun to watch them as an odd couple Diva tag team pairing. Plus, would Sasha really tell Anya to leave her alone when she’s probably a good foot shorter than this towering Russian? I think not.
That’s it for this week. Shoot me a comment with your ideas for Sasha Banks secret admirer, and I’ll include them in next weeks recap (provided I actually remember to). So until next time — peace!
