WWE NXT - August 21, 2014
by Samoa Rowe
-From Orlando, FL. The crack commentary staff are Renee Young, Tom Phillips, and Byron Saxton.
#1 Contenders Tournament – Semi-finals:
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. The Vaudevillains (Simon Gotch and Aiden English)
Big Cass ain’t SAWFT and knocks English down with a shoulder tackle. Gotch tags and suffers a Cassady elbow drop. Amore thinks he’s a wrestler and it’s adorable, but he serves a hard Irish whip to Gotch. English drop-kicks Gotch into a cover on Big Cass. The Vaudevillains deliver their “That’s a Wrap” finisher, featuring a rolling power slam into a senton, for the victory at 1:46. Amore has a bright future as a manager, if nothing else.Winners: The Vaudevillains
-The Legionnaires sneak attack Enzo Amore on the ramp and shave some of his beard. Can’t wait to see the guy who just lost in under 2 minutes gun for revenge.
-WWE COO Triple H graces NXT with his godly presence. HHH could stomp a puppy to death on Raw and still get a hero’s welcome from the NXT crowd. He’s here to announce Takeover 2 in three weeks, and all the NXT titles will be on the line. Also, next week there will be a new NXT General Manager, and teases that it will be a fan favorite pick.
-Devin Taylor interviews Tyler Breeze backstage. He’s upset that his championship match was meddled with by Tyson Kidd and he’s going to do something about it.
Tyson Kidd vs. Tyler Breeze
This is a heel vs. heel match between two bad guys that the NXT fans like, so this should work out. Breeze is looking for retribution and stomps a mud hole, but Kidd fires back with rapid strikes. Breeze rolls to ringside to escape the Sharpshooter and walks out with his phone. Kidd wins via count-out at 1:49. Kidd is far too proud of this victory and poses in Tyler’s jacket.Winner via count-out: Tyson Kidd
-Tyler Breeze is furious that the media is making such a big deal about him leaving his match and refuses an interview.
NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch
They taunt each other, as Charlotte has adopted the WHOOO! and Lynch is simply a crazy red head. They lock up and Charlotte looks for a quick pinfall. They trade submission counters and Lynch scores a near fall. Charlotte loses her temper with corner kicks and applies the Figure Four Headlock. Becky counters with a pinning predicament and holds her own with the aggressive champion. Charlotte delivers her cutter for the win at 4:11. Good little match here. Lynch is a welcome addition to this roster.Winner: Charlotte
-Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady come back to the arena. Amore is upset about getting shaved and now has a razor of his own. He challenges Sylvester Lefort to a hair vs. hair match at Takeover 2.
Mojo Rawley vs. Steve Cutler
Cutler is a former Marine, but unfortunately he isn’t as hyped as Rawley, who gets a hot start. Hard Irish whip by Rawley sets up a pair of running splashes and a vertical leap. The Hyper Drive finishes this at 1:34. The guy who lost to Tyler Breeze in 30 seconds just won a squash, good for him.Winner: Mojo Rawley
-Rawley grabs a microphone and refuses to back down to Bull Dempsey. The fans cheer for Bull, so this program is off to a great start.
#1 Contenders Tournament – Semifinals:
Sin Cara and Kalisto vs. Sami Zayn and Adam Rose (with the Rosebuds)
Kalisto and Rose feel each other out (with the fans getting behind Rose). Zayn and Sin Cara trade places and exchange holds to Ole chants. The pace quickens and Sin Cara scores a springboard arm drag, and the Luchadores fake Sami out on a dive. Cue the commercial. Back from break, Kalisto has Rose in a headlock. Kalisto hits a springboard cannonball of sorts and resumes the headlock. Rose counters with a back suplex and tags Zayn for a backbreaker. Kalisto defies gravity to flip into a hurricanrana. Zayn suffers stereo kicks and a wheelbarrow senton but still manages to kick out. Sami comes back with another backbreaker on Kalisto and tags Rose for repeated mule kicks in the corner. Rose channels his inner Leo Kruger with a chinlock. Rose dishes out a spinebuster for 2. Sin Cara gets a hot tag of sorts and flusters Rose with quick flying attacks. Sin Cara takes out Zayn with a suicide dive, while Kalisto plants Rose with Solido Del Sol. Sin Cara finishes Rose with the senton bomb at 8:32 (shown). I wasn’t feeling this until the last couple of minutes, the lack of a heel dynamic kept this from falling into a groove. More or less a ** outing.Winners: Sin Cara and Kalisto
Final Thoughts: This was a maintenance episode to help build towards Takeover 2. It’s like that episode of Breaking Bad where Walter spends the entire episode trying to catch a fly. It’s important to the show as a whole, but maybe not the most satisfying episode in itself. Thumbs in the middle.
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