WWE NXT - August 28, 2014
by Samoa Rowe
-From Orlando, FL. Our hosts are Alex Riley, Jason Albert, and Rich Brennan.
NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) vs. Two Unfortunate Souls
The match serves as a backdrop for a plug for the WWE Supercard game on phones and tablets. The crowd ironically chants for the jobbers as The Ascension plows through them. The Fall of Man ends it at 1:04. Just a squash to remind us what the winners of the tag team tournament will be up against.Winners: The Ascension
-Viktor grabs a microphone and preemptively dismisses whoever their next challengers are as mere victims. Konnor overly articulates the phrase ?Total Annihilation? to play into the crowd?s annoying ?yah!? chants.
-Brandi Rhodes introduces the new NXT general manager: WILLIAM F'N REGAL! Good call on that one. JBL was an awkward GM due to never seeming overly familiar with the NXT talent once they showed up on Raw, so this needed to happen. Regal's first act as GM is to announce the main event of Takeover 2 and invites NXT Champion Adrian Neville to the ring. Neville is happy that a fellow Englishman is in charge and is eager to know who his next challenger is (sparking a "Goldberg" chant, of all things). Before Regal can answer, Tyson Kidd interrupts, as he feels he should have another title opportunity. Tyler Breeze does the same, pointing out that Natalya is more deserving than Kidd. Sami Zayn joins the party, believing he should be ahead in line of both bad guys. Neville wants to face all of them and volunteers for a fatal 4-way. Normally, 4-way title feuds feel like filler, but this one is shaping up to really interesting without a foregone conclusion going in.
-Devin Taylor interviews William Regal backstage. Regal takes the time to announce a tag team main event for later featuring the fatal 4-way participants.
Sasha Banks vs. Bayley (with the wacky, waving, inflatable arm, tube men)
Sasha palms and slaps the face, sparking Bayley to drive her into the corner. Sasha smashes Bayley's head into the turnbuckle and takes control. Sasha repeatedly drives her body weight into the midsection and applies her modified chinlock. Bayley comes back with the Belly to Bayley suplex for the win at 3:14. This felt too much like a Raw divas match for my liking.Winner: Bayley
-Renee Young interviews Bayley in the ring about her upcoming title match against Charlotte. Bayley says it would mean everything to become NXT Women's Champion and has been preparing for this her entire life. Charlotte interrupts and confidently struts to the ring. Charlotte tells the crowd to shut up and belittles Bayley for being too nice. Bayley stands up for herself and promises to win the title. Charlotte coldly rejects a handshake offer and takes off. This succeeded in making me interested in their match at Takeover 2, so huzzah.
Bull Dempsey vs. Angelo Dawkins
Dempsey completely dominates Dawkins and chooses not to win right away after hitting a splash. The slaughter continues until Dawkins connects with some desperate jabs. Dempsey counters with his Bulldozer power slam finisher for the win at 2:46. Whatta squash.Winner: Bull Dempsey
-Devin Taylor interviews The Legionnaires, who are still laughing about what they did to Enzo Amore's beard last week. They are more than happy to accept Amore's challenge for Takeover 2. That's sure to be terrible, but I've been proven wrong a lot lately, so who knows.
Tyson Kidd and Tyler Breeze vs. Sami Zayn and NXT Champion Adrian Neville
Neville and Zayn make quick tags early to keep Breeze off his game. Zayn dumps Breeze and catches slams Kidd in place for Neville to hit a corkscrew off his back. Breeze manages to back Neville into a tag to a fresh Kidd. The referee forces a break, but Breeze hits a blind super kick to Neville's head. The bad guys take control as we head to commercial. Back from break, Breeze and Kidd have cut the ring in half and work Neville over. Neville hits a well-aimed drop-kick to Kidd's knee and Zayn gets the hot tag. Zayn catches both Breeze and Kidd with a flying cross body and slams Kidd for a near fall. Kidd surprises with a swinging neck breaker for a close 2 count. Zayn bounces back with an exploder suplex into the turnbuckles on Breeze. Neville returns with a springboard drop-kick and running Shooting Star on Breeze! Neville outmaneuvers the opposition and perches for the Red Arrow, but Breeze trips him up. Zayn goes for the Yakuza Kick on Breeze, but misses and knocks Neville off the ropes! Zayn manages to put Breeze down with a Blue Thunder power bomb, but Kidd tosses him out. Kidd opportunistically pins Neville at 9:27 (shown). These guys seem incapable of having a bad match together, **1/2.Winners: Tyson Kidd and Tyler Breeze
-Kidd's celebration is cut short by another Yakuza Kick from Zayn. The show ends with Zayn clutching the NXT title somewhat obsessively.
Final Thoughts: If you're planning on watching Takeover 2, this was a must-watch episode, filled with important chapters in the stories being told. Thumbs up!
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