Hello there everyone, and welcome to this weeks NXT Watch. It’s a new week in the magical land of female character development, and this week we’ve got a treat as Summer Rae and Paige put their bottled emotions against one another in the ring this time and square off one on one. We all know how long this match has been building, and I’m sure we’re all either Team Paige or Team Summer (I’ll keep my allegiance hidden for the sake of being unbiased, although knowing my poor memory I’ve probably already given it away or will accidentally do so later on without realizing).
Summer Rae has been able to run from Paige thus far in their feud, and even escape with a victory over the Anti Diva, which has been unheard of since the days of Sofia Cortez and Raquel Diaz… but tonight, she’s got Paige on what I believe to be level 5 anger after last weeks attack and the countless number of times she’s managed to avoid facing off in other types of matches. With that in mind, we can either get started or join together in a prayer circle that both women come out in one piece. I’m thinking we do the latter, but you all probably want to get started so let’s just individually have a moment of silence in support for the both of them.
We open up to a nifty video package highlighting the feud that’s been brewing between the Anti Diva and the quintessential image of one. From there, we fade into Paige’s interview last week with everyone’s favorite Canadian Maple Leaf, Renee Young, which culminated in another side attack by the one and only Summer herself. Ooh, we even get a match graphic hyping the bout as coming up after the commercial break. I swear this show seems so un-WWE like that it weirds me out seeing their logo on the bottom left hand corner.
Anyways, out to the ring we head as Paige makes her grand entrance to the… whoop, nevermind. Out comes Summer Rae from the back as she decks Paige and sends her into the ring. Rather then capitalizing, she taunts the crowd and applauds herself which is exactly what I would imagine her doing (in a good way)! Unfortunately for her though, she gives Paige enough time to get back up to two feet and kick away. Paige takes her jacket off and slams it across the back of our blond bombshell, then proceeds to throw her into the ropes and pull back on them which sends her flailing across the ring. Summer begs for forgiveness, but that’s not enough for miss hell in boots, who continues to be taken down. Summer finally goes for a slap, but Paige ends up drilling her across the face instead and beating her head into the mat.
Paige hits a beautiful fisherman suplex into a pin for just a two count, then attempting to choke miss Rae on the ropes. Summer finally gets the upper hand for a moment and starts beating on Paige’s back. She then hops up and hits a really cool flip into a beatdown as the two exchange sides. Summer now slides outside as we head to a break, but as we return it’s Rae who sends Paige into the ropes and begins targeting the leg. Summer busts out an imitation of Paige’s scream (which words can’t describe how much I love her doing), and then locks in my favorite move from her repertoire, the indian deathlock! She transitions it into a boot to the throat as the crowd gets behind our Anti Diva to no avail. Oh wow, Summer flips the move over into a really awesome submission, but Paige finally manages to crawl to the ropes much to Rae’s dismay.
The referee tries to tell Summer what transpired, but she fires back with an “I HEARD YOU”, then goes for something that gets broken up and turned into a sick kick to the abdomen. She flings Summer across the ring by the hair and decks her with that assortment of painful looking corner kicks. This time though, she transitions them into the ropes. The referee holds Paige back as Summer slides out of the ring and claims she doesn’t need this and tries to walk out! Paige goes after her though and sends her flying into the ring apron! Good lord. Summer looks to be in a lot of pain, but Paige slides her back in and catches Rae by the leg as she tries for her spin kick. She turns it right into the Paige Turner for the uno… dos… tres! Paige gets the victory!
Thoughts: Where do we begin? Oh yes, with the match. Personally, I enjoyed it, but I will admit there were some factors that weren’t 100% perfect (although what really is?). Truthfully, I think the crowd was (rightfully) exhausted since this was pretty much the fifth show they had to witness so they weren’t as into it as I was hoping for what I assume to be the blow off match in the Summer/Paige saga. Ring work wise, I thought there were a lot of high points to make note of though, in particular the brutality Paige showed matched up against the charisma that oozed out of Summer from start to finish. I love that they took the approach of having Summer ambush Paige from behind, but let her inexperience get in the way as to not capitalize on it by instead taunting and posing which is exactly what her persona would do in that situation. Paige pretty much… err, to put it in a nicer way, gave zero cares in the world about putting on this five star technical masterpiece. She just wanted to beat Summer’s ass and that made the match stand out to me so much more so insane props to her for giving off that mentality of “I know matches can be a lot of flash or show, but I’m just going to destroy you”. Okay, maybe only I picked up on it since I’m weird like that, but in my head that’s what she acted like and I loved it so I’m going to go with it. She does get a lot of praise from fans, and most are looking for her to do wonders when she gets called up, so it’s nice to be able to see that everything people say about her in terms of ring work, promo work, etc. all holds up each and every week. Here’s to hoping the powers that be on the main roster actually watch NXT and see what they’ve got brewing as I’d hate to see someone with such a bright future go to waste when they eventually move up.
Of course, we also have to factor in the great amount of time they got, mixed in with the video package that really put their entire feud into perspective. On the topic of Summer Rae, I was mixed only in the sense that I felt like some parts of the match she was on fire, but some also did seem a little off (of course, keep in mind as I alluded to above, this was both of their second matches in the same night so it’s understandable that they wouldn’t be these 100% perfect robot types who can do everything). I don’t think she was bad in those parts by any means, or even botchy in the slightest. Just that some of her taking Paige’s moves looked a little off at times (although that sick spot at the end where she got thrown into the ring apron was really awesome, as was the Indian Deathlock and the way she took the Paige Turner).
What completely made up for anything though was how much she kept the crowd invested. From the pleading for forgiveness to the trying to walk out to the ambushing all the way to my personal favorite, the imitation of Paige’s scream, she’s doing exactly what I personally feel a lack of in some of the main roster heels, with the sense that she doesn’t just walk out with a smirk and do her thing with no interaction whatsoever. She’s on point at all times with the fans (something I’ve noticed Aksana doing recently as well which I’m loving), and I loved that while the crowd was a little silent in parts due to the loooong night they faced, they did react when she would do those tactics and that’s going to do so much for her on the main roster when she starts competing in my opinion. Plus I love that Summer doesn’t just rely on charisma or the spotlight she’s getting to taunt the fans, but she also puts in the work when it comes to the ring and is turning into such a refreshing, good wrestler. She’s still so new when you look at how many matches she’s had considering she didn’t really wrestle even on the live events that much up until recently, and yet I’m really impressed that she’s getting everything down so quickly and continuing to improve.
Overall, I’m not sure what to think with this match in terms of whether it marks the end of Summer and Paige’s feud. With Summer on TV now and Paige seemingly not far behind, it would make sense that this was the blow off, but I really hope that both do stay on NXT even when they’re on the main roster like Big E and countless others do because it only helps them to continue in growing and getting character development. Let’s be honest, the Total Divas reality show did help us to finally get some character growth and time for the ladies on Raw this week, but there’s no telling how long it will last. NXT has shown they will devote time to giving their Divas promos and feuds, so sticking around is best for everyone to me. Do I hope the feud is over? Kind of, because this felt like the perfect finish to it with Paige finally getting the win over Summer in such a straight up brawl style of match. If it does continue, I think we need to inject something different in it though that’s not an interview or an attack. Maybe debut Anya as Summer’s bodyguard? Or add another Diva into the mix in some way. That’d be insanely fun to see, and with the news that Anya’s injured, it would limit what she has to do physically until she’s 100% again but still give her a role on TV so we can see her debut. Whatever the case may be, I’m excited to see where things go from here and I continue to really enjoy how much focus the Divas are getting on NXT.
