WWE NXT
May 6, 2015
Winter Park, Florida (Full Sail University)
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
Recap by: Jason Namako of Wrestleview.com
We see the usual intro, then commentary welcomes us to the show. We then go to the opening match.
Emma vs. “The Dirtiest Diva in the Game” Charlotte
Emma comes out, still wearing Bayley’s t-shirt & headbands that she stole from Bayley last week. Charlotte lets out a “Wooo” to Emma as the bell sounds, but Emma throws Bayley’s headband at Charlotte. Chain wrestling early, Charlotte takes down Emma. Emma with a headscissors, Charlotte kips out. Emma with a gut kick, then mocks Charlotte’s “Wooo.” Charlotte comes back with a cravate, along with a series of knees to the head. Crowd chants for Charlotte. Emma goes onto the apron, but then as Charlotte goes to bring her back in, Emma catches her with a Koppo Kick of sorts. Emma runs into a back elbow, but as Charlotte goes up top, Emma kicks her leg out, sending Charlotte crashing down to the mat. Referee checks on Charlotte, but Emma shoves the ref and stomps away at Charlotte’s injured leg. Running basement dropkick by Emma to the injured leg, then she goes outside and drives the leg off the apron. Emma wraps the injured leg in the ropes and pulls at it. Back in, Emma with more shots to the injured leg, then wraps up Charlotte’s leg and pulls at her hair. Emma slams Charlotte’s face off the mat for 2. Charlotte comes back with forearms, but her leg gives out when she tries to slam Emma, allowing Emma to hit a big kick to the injured leg. Emma traps Charlotte’s leg on the middle rope, then hits a kneedrop to the back of the injured leg for another 2. More kicks to the leg by Emma, then she drives Charlotte’s injured leg into the mat. Half crab applied, with Emma sitting down and pulling back on the injured leg of Charlotte. Referee asks Charlotte if she wants to submit, but Charlotte is able to reach the ropes to force a break. Emma goes to drive Charlotte’s leg into the mat again, but Charlotte is able to handstand onto her feet to counter it, then catch Emma coming in with a kneelift. Big chops by Charlotte, followed by a Swinging Hangman’s Neckbreaker. Emma misses a clothesline, Spear by Charlotte gets 2. Emma takes Charlotte down, but gets no count off a Jackknife Pin.
Charlotte then catches Emma with the Natural Selection for the win.
Winner: “The Dirtiest Diva in the Game” Charlotte by pinfall (The Natural Selection)
Charlotte celebrates her win afterward, then as she goes to leave, Bayley comes into the ring. Emma turns and sees Bayley in the ring with her. Emma tries to apologize to Bayley and they embrace. However, Bayley keeps Emma in the embrace and then DRILLS her with the Belly-to-Bayley! Bayley goes after Emma, ripping her t-shirt off of Emma until Charlotte has to pull her off. Bayley leaves, throwing her t-shirt & headbands into the crowd.
We go to a video package on Becky Lynch.
“My journey, getting to NXT, started when I was 15 years old. I left home and went over to England and I began training and I was the only girl there. I would watch people like Dynamite Kid and I could watch his matches over and over and over again. And then, you’ve got Shawn Michaels and of course, the Rock & Austin, they were the people I looked up to. I went to Japan, I was the youngest foreign female to ever wrestle in Japan and I wrestled all over Europe, around the United States, all around the world and then I came to takeover NXT, because this is what I’m meant to do.
(We see Lynch’s debut last year when she came out in stereotypical Irish gear, ring music and doing an Irish jig.)
“I saw myself out, I wasn’t being true to myself, it wasn’t who I am, it wasn’t who Becky Lynch is and so, I’m a little bit resentful about that. I think anybody wants to be the best and be at the top of their game. Ever since my change in attitude, I’ve been unstoppable and I’m gonna do what I have to do to get to where I want to go. I’ve been working towards this since I was born, I deserve that title opportunity. I came here to be the best. You’re gonna see a whole different side of Becky Lynch when that title is on the line. Welcome to N “BEX” T.”
Commercial
Back from commercial, we go to Michael Cole’s interview with NXT Champion Kevin Owens.
Cole: “Kevin, welcome.”
Owens: “Thank you.”
Cole: “We could sit here all night and debate a lot of things, but there’s one question that the world wants answered.”
Owens: “OK.”
Cole: “And that’s why. Why did you do what you did to Sami Zayn? It is because its personal to you?”
Owens: “Um, well, of course, its personal. When it comes to this title, everything’s personal. Uh, anybody coming after me is coming after this thing and this, you know, this means, uh, a better life for my family, more money, it means, uh, I can provide more for everybody I love and that’s what its always been about for me. So yeah, its very personal.”
Cole: “So, you can honestly sit there and tell me that the only thing that is about is the NXT Championship?”
Owens: “Well, I mean, its not just about the NXT Championship, its about what it represents. Like I said, it presents a bigger name, which equals to more money, a better life, uh, you know, but it all stems from the NXT Title. So, yeah, in a way, it is, uh, what this is all about is me being the NXT Champion.”
Cole: “I, I don’t believe personally that that’s what this is all about, but…”
Owens: “OK.”
Cole: “So, let me rephrase the question.”
Owens: “Sure.”
Cole: “What if it wasn’t Sami Zayn who was champion? What if it was someone else that was NXT Champion? Would you have conducted yourself in the same manner?”
Owens: “You know, I don’t know what to tell you, uh….”
Cole: “Just tell me the truth, Kevin……”
Owens: “I am telling you the truth and the truth is, this isn’t about Sami, this is about me being NXT Champion. You know, a minute, literally, one minute after I walked to the back, after winning the title, Renee Young came up to me, as I was trying to cool down, to ask me, not about winning this title, but about what I did to Sami Zayn. And now you’re doing…….do you know that you haven’t even congratulated me on winning this thing and its been 2 months now? Like, I’m giving you the respect of sitting here and talking to you right now and you can’t even give me the respect of treating me like a champion and letting me enjoy the fact that I won this thing.”
Cole: “OK, Kev, you know what? Respect’s a two-way street. So first off, congratulations on being NXT Champion.”
Owens: “Thanks.”
Cole: “You’ve gone through a lot in your career……”
Owens: “Mm-hmm.”
Cole: “…….to get to this point.”
Owens: “Yeah.”
Cole: “So I apologize. However, I’d like you to show me some respect and I’d like for you to respectfully answer this question. How could you do what you did? Sami Zayn is as close to you as family. Kevin, here’s a guy who traveled the roads with you, OK. Here’s a guy who you knew before your wife, who stood up at the altar with you, next to you, as your best man. How you could do this to him?”
Owens: “OK, you know what? I know what you are trying to do, you want the headlines? You’re a journalist, right? You’re one of those silly, little journalists that wants……you want people to go to dot com and read this headline that you got, ‘Kevin Owens admits to stabbing his best friend in the back because he’s jealous’. Is that what you want? You want me to sound jealous, you want me to say its about greed?”
Cole: “I want you to tell me the truth.”
Owens: “No, no, I will tell you the truth. And the truth is, I’m really sorry……I’m very sorry that I can’t give you what you’re looking for as a ‘journalist’ and I use that term loosely. The best headline I can give you, if I could offer something, is ‘Kevin Owens is a good father and provides for his family, thanks to the NXT Title’. And I know that’s not juicy and controversial and I know its not what you’re looking for, but this is what I can give you.”
Cole: “Alright well, I guess, is there anything else you want to add?”
Owens: “Uh, follow me on Twitter, @FightOwensFight. Thank you (shakes hands with Cole), you asked the hard questions, that’s why I like you and uh, I love you on Monday nights, I really do enjoy your work.”
“The New York Nightmare” Bull Dempsey vs. “The Man-Beast” Rhyno
Crowd chants for Rhyno as the bell sounds. Bull with a knee to the ribs and a series of forearms. Rhyno fights back with a chop, followed by a shoulder tackle. Rhyno avoids a corner charge, hits a Belly-to-Belly.
Gore, GORE, GORE!!!! 1-2-3!
Winner: “The Man-Beast” Rhyno by pinfall (The Gore)
Rhyno celebrates his win afterwards, then grabs a mic.
Rhyno: “Everybody says I’m an unstoppable force. People say someone else here is an unstoppable force. So at TakeOver, I…..want…..YOU, Baron Corbin!”
Backstage, we go to a promo from NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks, staring at a picture of WWE Hall of Famer The Fabulous Moolah.
Sasha: “Fabulous Moolah, the greatest Diva in the history of WWE, until I came along. At NXT Rival, I showed the world why I am the baddest Diva in NXT and now, my former friend Becky, wants to challenge me for my NXT Women’s Championship? Now Becky, I will give you credit where’s it due and I know that you traveled the whole world to try & make a name for yourself, but let’s not forget who made you in NXT and as quickly that I made you, I can make everybody forget about you (snaps fingers) like that. You wanna say that this is the start for your empire? Well, to blow up this empire, you’re going to need the crown jewel. At NXT TakeOver, this right here, is staying with the Boss.”
Commercial
Back from commercial, we go to NXT GM William Regal’s office where he welcomes in the newest NXT signee, the former Uhaa Nation. Regal welcomes him and has him sign his NXT contract.
We then go to a vignette on the former Uhaa Nation, with him traveling to the Performance Center, getting set-up in the locker room, meeting some of the NXT stars and then stepping foot in the ring at the Performance Center for the very first time.
“Everyone in NXT has got the same goal, to one day be a champion. Walking through these doors means I’m one step closer to acheiving my goal. The voices of the past echo these halls and I hear them loud and clear. I study their history, but now, its time to create my own, let’s get to work.
We are supposed to get a match between The Mechanics & The Jersey Boys, but the Jersey Boys don’t come out when their music hits. We see that on the Titantron, the Jersey Boys have been laid out backstage by NXT Tag Team Champions Blake & Murphy. Referees attend to the fallen Jersey Boys.
We go to Michael Cole’s sit-down interview with Sami Zayn.
Cole: “Kevin said this is not personal, it is personal to you?”
Zayn: “Yeah, I think there in lies the key difference between Kevin and myself and that is Kevin’s a liar, I’m not. I’ve said from day one, I mean, he made this personal from day one, what he did. So yeah, its personal. Of course, its personal, you know, and uh, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. Kevin got it to this point, you know, with sneak attacks and mind games and that’s not really my style, but if that’s what I got to you to, you know, fight fire with fire and that’s what I’ll do and that’s how we’ve reached the point we’re at now.”
Cole: “You’ve been very emotional over the past few weeks about this. Are you gonna be able to take a step back and focus now on the task at hand, which is the NXT Title?”
Zayn: “As personal as this is, its personal because of the NXT Championship and it took me a long time to win that. I worked very long and very hard to get it, so I know exactly what’s at stake, so focusing is not gonna be an issue.”
Cole: “I can’t imagine what it must be like for you. Its gotta be eating you up inside, um, considering that you & Kevin were once best friends, I mean, you stood at the altar as the best man at his wedding, you know his family, you’re close to his children, but its gotta be eating you up that you don’t know why Kevin did to you what he did?”
Zayn: “Yeah, oh yeah, I would love to sit here and tell you that it doesn’t bother me. I’d love to do what Kevin has been doing all along and just tell you that’s ‘its all business, none of this is personal, none of this bothers me’. I’d love to sit here and tell you that, but that’s just not true. Of course it bothers me, I’ve been waiting to hear from him. I’ve asked him point-blank in the ring, I’ve asked him. We stood face-to-face and he just, he won’t say it, it drives me nuts, of course it does. In fact, you know what? The match is already set, I would love nothing more than to just find out, in fact, Kev, you know what? This is directed straight at you. Next week, I’m gonna come to the ring and the match is already set for TakeOver, so we don’t need to fight. We’re gonna fight at TakeOver and its gonna be a helluva fight. Next week, I’m gonna come out to the ring. I want you to come out, look me in the eye, in front of the whole world and just tell me why you did, once and for all. I mean, you say you’re this great family man, why don’t you be a role model for your kid? Show some guts. Come out to the ring, in front of everybody, tell me why you did what you did.”
We then see video of Zayn’s match with John Cena on Monday at RAW in Montreal, then commentary brings up Zayn’s shoulder injury he suffered during the match. Commentary notes that it is unclear what Zayn’s current health status for TakeOver: Unstoppable in 2 weeks.
Commercial
Back from commercial, NXT GM William Regal is in the ring and introduces NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch to the ring for the contract signing for their match at TakeOver: Unstoppable for the NXT Women’s Title.
Lynch, then Sasha, head down to the ring for the contract signing. Lynch is given the opportunity to speak first before signing the contract.
Lynch: “I’ve been working towards this, in one way or another, since I was 15 years old and I started training when there was only a few mats in a little, tiny gym in Dublin and I would spend my summers going over to England and I left home at 18 so that I could go to Japan, so that I could wrestle around America, wrestle around Canada and uh, at one stage or another, I didn’t even believe that this, right here, was possible and I did a lot of other things, I was a stunt-woman, a flight attendant for heavens sake, I was an actor and uh, I made a lot of mistakes, I made a lot of sacrifices, but every single one of them was worth it for this moment, right here, so that I can take the next step in becoming the NXT Women’s Champion because believe me, Sasha, I did not come here to take part, I came here to takeover.”
Lynch signs the contract. Now, Sasha is given an opportunity to speak before signing the contract. Sasha doesn’t sign the contract, however, instead she pulls out a stamp that has a signature on it that she stamps onto the contract, which commentary notes that she does to sign autographs at all NXT live events. “Like a Boss” chants by the crowd. Sasha then throws the contract at Lynch and sends her over the table. Sasha drives Lynch’s face off the table, then stands on the table and stands on Lynch’s head, trash talking her, while holding up the NXT Women’s Title belt. Sasha gets off the table, then throws it over. Sasha goes after Lynch, but Lynch takes her down and locks in the Seated Fujiwara Armbar. Sasha taps out, as referees pull Lynch off of Sasha. Sasha stares in disbelief at the fired up Lynch as we go to commercial.
Commercial
Back from commercial, we see video from last week when Kevin Owens laid out Alex Riley with an Apron Powerbomb after Riley’s match with Sami Zayn.
We go to video sent in from home by Riley.
Riley: “You guys know by now that I’m preparing for a second knee operation I’ve had in 2 years here in the WWE. I’ve always known that being a WWE Superstar doesn’t come without a certain amount of risks, risks that I’ve always been willing to take. Back in 2011, leaving my boss, The Miz, if you know me and have been following my career, that was a huge risk, going out on my own. But that’s what the people wanted to see. Couple months ago, when I left my commentary spot, I mean, after what Kevin Owens had done, William Regal pretty much demanded that I get back into the ring, but I took that risk because I thought that’s what the people wanted to see. Last week, barging into William Regal’s office, demanding a third match with Kevin Owens, jamming myself into the NXT Title picture, you don’t think that was a risk? But, it just doesn’t seem like this risks are worth the reward, because now instead of preparing for a NXT Title match, I’m headed north to spend a week in Pensacola to get my knee operated on by Dr. Andrews. But that didn’t bother me really, what bothers me the most is that when I was laid out in Full Sail University, I heard something that made me sick, I heard ‘Thank You Kevin, ‘Thank You Owens.’ I guess that’s what the people want. I went home late that night, watched the match back, I watched the show back, the last minute of the show was Sami Zayn, the last shot of the show was Sami Zayn. I guess that’s what GM William Regal wants, I guess that’s what NXT wants is Sami Zayn. Well, good luck Sami, because I watched the last TakeOver, the match with Kevin Owens didn’t go so well. I guess what I’m trying to say is that for the first time in my life, all these risks just aren’t worth it. You’re not gonna be Alex Riley for a while because that’s what the people want.”
Backstage, Devin Taylor interviews Dana Brooke. Devin says that Dana has been on a roll………
Dana: “……since I was born. You see, I’d allow myself to be interviewed more often, but with all thse journalists, along with their questions and um, like your body, are ugh, whack. And last night, I saw the new WWE TapOut commercial which yeah, is pretty cool, but takes me back to whack. Ugh Charlotte, are you kidding me? They chose Charlotte over the ‘Total Diva?’ I am way better than Charlotte and especially when it comes to training. So, the next time I see Charlotte, I will run circles around her and run her right out of NXT because the ‘Total Diva’ has arrived, so deal with it.”
Back to the ring, Finn Balor heads out to ringside to observe the main event.
Main Event in a Grudge Match: “Prince Pretty” Tyler Breeze vs. Hideo Itami
Feeling-out process early. Breeze avoids a running basement kick and rolls outside to re-group. Back in, Breeze avoids a head kick by Itami and rolls back outside, yelling “I’m not getting kicked.” Itami has words with the ref, allowing Breeze to get back in and hit Itami with a savate kick to the ribs. Itami comes back with a kitchen sink, followed by a PK. Breeze rolls back outside again as we go to commercial.
Commercial
Back from commercial as Itami with a Victim Kick to Breeze. Series of kneedrops by Itami, then he feigns hitting a kneedrop after dropping his kneepad down, but instead, leaps over Breeze and mule kicks him, then mocks Breeze. Series of right hands by Itami, but Breeze side-steps a backdrop attempt and hits a swinging neckbreaker for 2. Breeze stomps away at Itami in the corner, then chokes him with his boot. Breeze has words with the ref, then hits a stomp to the ribs of Itami. Legdrop by Breeze gets 2. Chinlock applied, crowd wills on Itami. Breeze trash talks Balor at ringside while keeping Itami grounded in the chinlock. Itami fights out, but Breeze catches him coming in with a dropkick for another 2. Breeze goes to the middle rope and leaps off, but Itami catches him coming down with a gut shot. Two clotheslines by Itami, followed by a leg sweep. Running high knee by Itami in the corner, followed by the Tornado Hot-Shot. Itami heads up top, flying clothesline gets 2. Itami with the KENTA Series, rocking Breeze back into the corner. Itami goes for the running corner hestitation dropkick, but Breeze rolls outside again. Itami goes after him and hits a right hand, sending Breeze into Balor at ringside. Itami goes for a running boot on Breeze, but Breeze ducks and Itami accidentally hits Balor, sending Balor crashing into the barricade!
Back in, Itami avoids the Beauty Shot and hits the Shotgun Kick for the win.
Winner: Hideo Itami by pinfall (Shotgun Kick)
Itami celebrates his win afterward as Balor comes to at ringside. Itami sees Balor at ringside, but then all of a sudden, Breeze nails Itami from behind. Breeze goes after Itami, but Balor comes in and sends Breeze onto the apron. Balor goes to help up Itami, but Breeze nails with the Supermodel Kick, followed by laying out Itami with the Beauty Shot! Breeze stands tall in the ring over the fallen Itami & Balor as the show closes.