Hello everyone, and welcome to this weeks NXT watch. Now I know we’re accustomed to seeing Divas of the future square off between the yellow ropes, but this week the Orlando based show has decided to put forth a Road to WrestleMania type ordeal, which means the women of the present will get the chance to shine tonight. Now, that may come as a disappointment to some who want to see the developmental Divas since they only get one show a week, but never fear, for they knew this may come into play and therefore have given us a treat in the form of a Divas title match between Kaitlyn and Natalya. What else can I say about this match that isn’t simply me clamoring to see more and bowing at my very own computer screen? Well scroll on down and don’t allow me to waste any of your time.
I can already tell this is going to be a special match because Youtube finally decided not to block an NXT Diva bout and force me to resort to Dailymotion. Raise your glasses for a toast everyone! Anyways, we start with the entrance of our challenger, Natalya, and what’s that sound I hear? Not Tony Dawson! As if I wasn’t already thrilled enough. Okay, focusing back to the Divas and less on my feud with Tony Dawson that nearly rivals my other feud with Maria Menounos, Natalya steps into the ring and gets ready for her chance to claim a second reign as champion. Okay, the one downfall we’re going to have is that Kaitlyn’s new (and insanely awesome) theme song wasn’t yet given to her when this match was taped, but that’s okay because this can be our sort of tribute farewell to spin the bottle.
Kaitlyn enters the squared circle in her own right, as Howard Finkel introduces them main event style and makes the match seem all the more important in doing so. The crowd seems split between both combatants, and I can’t even blame them. The hybrid hands her butterfly off to the ref, as the bell sounds and we get started. They lock up and jockey for position, as Kaitlyn applies a waistlock and takes Nattie down. Natalya finally breaks out and trips Kaitlyn up, reverting to an ankle lock of sorts until Kaitlyn can escape out. They circle around the ring, but as Natalya goes to trip her up again, Kaitlyn applies a headlock and smacks her in the booty. They exchange positioning, with Nattie scoring a fire(wo)mans carry for a two count.
An Irish Whip sends Natalya off the ropes, but she nails a shoulder tackle. As she charges off an opposing side, Kaitlyn flips over, but Natalya beautifully rolls over her. The two go after various pinfall attempts to no avail, as Kaitlyn hits a dropkick. She runs after Natalya, but Nattie moves out of the way, allowing Kaitlyn to leap up to the second rope and hit a sunset flip… but Natalya rolls through and sets up the Sharpshooter! Kaitlyn kicks her away and ducks a discus clothesline into a reverse DDT attempt, but Natalya escapes that and ends up scoring the clothesline after all. If at first you don’t succeed…
Natalya hits a sick snap suplex for another close call, as she ultimately decides to lock in the abdominal stretch and hope Kaitlyn submits, but the crowd starts to get behind our champion as we head to a commercial. This would normally bother me, but the fact we return and find out all they did was exchange positions during the break doesn’t ruin the match at all. Kaitlyn now applies her own version with the crowd chanting for both women. This seems to fire Nattie up into hitting a hip toss and slamming Kaitlyn down by the two toned hair. She attempts a legdrop, but Kaitlyn manages to move away in time. Unfortunately, she’s still slapped in the face soon after. But after that, she nails a clothesline and a huge tackle seems to knock Natalya loopy.
Kaitlyn signals that the end is near and hits the gutbuster! One… two… Oh my, Natalya must be the first person to kick out of that. What a history maker. Kaitlyn sets up for the spear, but Natalya leaps over her and locks in the sharpshooter! Kaitlyn struggles, fights, screams, and claws her way to keeping her title, but it appears that her time may be over. She finally gets toward the ropes, but Natalya drags her right back off. Kaitlyn now hits a nice reversal that sends Natalya flying into the turnbuckle and both women are showing the effects of such a hard fought bout. Finally, Natalya charges after her… and right into the spear! Uno.. Dos… Tres! Kaitlyn retains her title in a top notch showing. After the bout, the two women shake hands and embrace, before raising the belt up to proudly display in a classic DOD style way.
Thoughts: I know stating opinions can be a hard thing to do on the Internet, but for me this was the best Divas match we’ve seen in a long time. They were on fire with one another, and everything seemed to click to perfection. Not only with the ring work, but with Jim Ross on commentary, Howard Finkel announcing, and the crowd actually being invested, it was perfect. Natalya looked like the veteran always getting the upper hand with Kaitlyn’s attacks seeming like moments she was able to strike at the right time. Kind of like any of the times I’ve tried to play WWE video games and end up button mashing to get a few shots in here and there… if that made any sense whatsoever. I loved the counter to the sharpshooter, the fact Natalya kicked out of the gutbuster, and the intensity that both showed through the entire match. It really felt like they were fighting for their lives and would do anything to either win or retain the Divas title. If we got more matches like this on a regular basis (mostly with this time, I should say), the division could be spectacular. Like I said on Superstars though, I’ll take it where I can get it and I thank both Kaitlyn and Natalya for delivering an outstanding match.
