WWE NXT
July 24, 2014
Full Sail University
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Alex Riley, Renee Young
Recap by: Jason Namako of Wrestleview.com
We see video hyping up tonight’s NXT Women’s Title match between challenger Summer Rae and champion Charlotte.
We see the usual intro, then go to the opening match.
NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) vs. Jonny Vandal & Aaron Solow
“Yah” chants for the Ascension. Viktor & Vandal start. Vandal works over Viktor’s arm, but it has no effect on Viktor, who simply slams Vandal down to get free. Viktor sends Vandal into his corner to tag Solow, but Solow drops down off the apron. Vandal sent to the outside, then Viktor goes outside to stalk Solow as Konnor blocks Solow’s path. Solow with a chop to Konnor, who just shakes his head in disgust. Konnor with a shoulder tackle, then stomps away at him in the corner as the crowd does the “Yah” chant. Viktor tags in and baseball slides Vandal off the apron.
Fall of Man by the Ascension to Solow for the win.
Winners: NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension by pinfall (The Fall of Man)
The Ascension stand tall afterwards.
Commercial
“Prince Pretty” Tyler Breeze vs. Mojo Rawley
This is Breeze’s first match since sustaining an injury to his finger after a tragic hand modeling accident. Breeze yells to Mojo about his finger injury. Mojo drives Breeze into the corner.
Ref has words with Mojo, allowing Breeze to hit the Beauty Shot for the win.
Winner: “Prince Pretty” Tyler Breeze by pinfall (The Beauty Shot)
Commercial
NXT Women’s Title: Summer Rae vs. “The Dirtiest Diva in the Game” Charlotte (c)
Shoving match ensues early, then Charlotte with a big slap and mocks Summer’s dancing. Summer with a Thesz Press and a catfight ensues. Both take each other down by the hair. Charlotte sends Summer into the turnbuckles, then stomps away at her. Charlotte runs into a back elbow, but hits a clothesline for a nearfall. Knees to the back by Charlotte, then locks in the Figure Four Headlock. Charlotte turns over and hits the Scissor Stomp. Charlotte with another Scissor Stomp and keeps the Figure Four Headlock applied as we go to commercial.
Commercial
Back from commercial as Charlotte takes Summer over from the Figure Four Headlock. Summer begs off, but pulls down the top rope on a Charlotte charge, sending Charlotte to the outside. Summer brings Charlotte back in and gains a nearfall. Charlotte sent off the middle turnbuckle, then Summer stomps away at Charlotte and chokes her with her boot, yelling that she made Charlotte. Summer stretches Charlotte’s arms in the ropes, then slams her down and gets a 1 count. Body scissors applied, then Summer pulls at Charlotte’s face. Charlotte bridges backward and gains a nearfall. Summer keeps the hold maintained, then gains a nearfall. Charlotte sent off the turnbuckles, then Summer with a slap. Charlotte fights back, but Summer chokes her again in the corner. Charlotte comes back with a roll-up for a nearfall. Leglock applied by Summer, then transitions into a half crab while pulling at Charlotte’s face, but Charlotte bites Summer’s hand and gets free. Summer with a roll-up for a 1 count. Summer drives Charlotte face-first into the mat for a nearfall. Both women clothesline each other and both go down. Summer with the floatover DDT for a nearfall. Summer hits the spin kick, but Charlotte kicks out! Summer can’t believe it! Charlotte comes back with a knee to the ribs, the spinning back chop and a discus clothesline for a nearfall.
Charlotte takes Summer down and hits Bow Down to the Queen to retain the title.
Winner and STILL NXT Women’s Champion: “The Dirtiest Diva in the Game” Charlotte by pinfall (Bow Down to the Queen)
Charlotte celebrates her title retention afterwards.
Commercial
The Vaudevillains (“The Artiste” Aiden English & Simon Gotch) vs. Kalisto & Sin Cara
Kalisto & English start. “Lucha” chants for Kalisto. English backs Kalisto into the corner, then Kalisto applies a side headlock. English blocks a takeover, but Kalisto uses the ropes to spring off and take English down. Kalisto with a spinning arm drag, then tags in Cara. Double snapmare, sandwich kicks, then an assisted wheelbarrow back senton by Kalisto & Sin Cara for a nearfall. Big chop by Cara, followed by a springboard crossbody. Another big chop and a leg kick, but English counters a springboard with a dropkick to the knee for a 1 count. Gotch in as English drives Cara into the corner. Gotch with a series of uppercuts, followed by a snapmare into an armbar. Gotch with a series of chest clubs for a 1 count. Head and arm lock applied by Gotch, then switches to a crucifix for a 1 count. Cara fights back, then slips out of a slam with a Sunset flip for a nearfall. Gotch with another uppercut, then tags in English. Gotch with another uppercut to the back of Cara’s head, then English with a swinging neckbreaker for a nearfall. Series of fist drops by English for a nearfall. Head and arm lock applied by English, crowd wills on Cara. Cara counters out with a jawbreaker, but English with a right hand and a stomp. Leaping leg drop by English for a 1 count. Cara with a roll-up into a power clean bomb. Kalisto & Gotch in, Kalisto with a springboard crossbody, followed by a roll-through into a roundhouse kick. Kalisto with a back handspring into a roundhouse kick, but English breaks up the pin. Cara sends English to the outside, then wipes him out with a tope suicida!
Gotch misses a clothesline and Kalisto hits an Asai DDT for the win.
Winners: Kalisto & Sin Cara by pinfall (Asai DDT)
Kalisto & Cara celebrate their win afterward.
Commercial
Before the main event, Lana says that in America, you worship stars. Movie stars, athletes and politicians, but stars fade. In Russia, we worship heroes. Your American president is just a star, while my president, Vladimir Putin, he is a hero, not only of mother Russia, but of the entire world. Neville, you are a just a star and just like all the stars before you, you will burn out and fall to the greatest hero. Rise, America!
Main Event in a Non-Title Match: NXT Champion “The Man That Gravity Forgot” Adrian Neville vs. “The Super Athlete” Rusev w/”The Ravishing Russian” Lana
Neville slides under Rusev’s legs, then slips out of a slam, but Rusev catches him off a crossbody and hits a series of knee strikes to the ribs, followed by a Samoan Drop. Rusev stomps away at Neville, followed by a series of elbow drops. Rusev sends Neville into the outside and hits more stomps, then chokes Neville with his foot. Rusev rakes his forearm against the face of Neville, then hits another stomp. Rusev crotches Neville against the middle turnbuckle and hits a kick to the back. Neville fights back, then Rusev runs into a back elbow and a boot. Neville with a series of chest kicks, followed by a dropkick to the knees. More chest kicks by Neville, but Rusev catches one and double goozles Neville. Neville fights out, but Rusev with a big right hand. Neville goes to the apron to avoid a charge in the corner, then hits a springboard dropkick. Lana distracts the ref, then Tyler Breeze comes out and grabs Neville from the apron. Neville knocks Breeze off the apron, but the distraction allows Rusev to nail Neville from behind. Rusev runs into another boot by Neville, then Neville with a basement superkick.
Neville heads up top for Red Arrow, but Breeze knocks Neville off the ropes, forcing the ref to call for the bell.
Winner: NXT Champion “The Man That Gravity Forgot” Adrian Neville by DQ
Afterwards, Rusev hits the leaping superkick, then locks Neville in the Accolade. Lana signals for Rusev to release the hold and they stand tall over the fallen Neville as the show closes.
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7/24 NXT Pros & Cons
Pros
* Good, fun match between the Vaudevillains and the new Lucha team of Kalisto & Sin Cara. Kalisto’s flashy offense off the hot tag has whipped the crowd into a frenzy since his debut and it definitely worked here. Cara worked fine as a face-in-peril and the Vaudevillains worked a good, solid control section. The tag division in NXT is really starting to come together in the last couple of months.
* Love me some Ascension squashes, as does the crowd, so its always a fun sight to see when it take place, no matter how many times you have seen it before.
Cons
* Who the hell did Mojo Rawley piss off for him to lose in less than 30 seconds to Tyler Breeze? Look, I get that Breeze is the #1 Contender to the NXT Title, but Mojo was built as WWE’s next pet project down in NXT and for him to lose that quickly just doesn’t fly to me. Yes, the guy is still very green, but he has charisma, presence and size out the ass. The work will eventually get there over time, but this booking was stupid. There is umpteen amount of people that could have been thrown out there for Breeze to beat, why Mojo? Just didn’t make sense.
* Speaking of bad booking, the Neville/Rusev main event and the DQ finish helped no one. The biggest thing is this. Rusev dominating Neville, then losing by DQ due to interference from Tyler Breeze and leaving Neville laying afterwards make NXT look like crap. Much like Breeze should have faced someone other than Mojo, if you want Rusev on the show, have him squash a nobody rather than make your champion look bad by getting demolished. The Breeze interference for the DQ was fine to continue their story, but to have Neville get dominated by Rusev does nothing for Neville, does nothing for the Neville-Breeze feud and more important, makes NXT, which people foresee as the best weekly WWE show, make it look like what is ACTUALLY is and that’s the developmental show, which is the worst thing that WWE could have done after the two great specials on the Network this year. Felt bad for all involved that this booking took place, just bad booking by WWE on this one, plain and simple.
* Finally, while Charlotte & Summer Rae had an OK match, not great, but OK. The “Con” in this match is the crowd who unfairly crapped on this match. People have said that the Full Sail crowd is one of the better wrestling crowds out there right now. After tonight, I call BS. Charlotte & Summer worked a fairly decent technical-based match and this crowd is chanting “Boring” and doing the Wave? Just extremely unfair by this crowd and it just goes to show that in 2014, wrestling crowds think they have so much power that they want to hijack shows when the matches and angles are not up to their level, well guess what? You people keep acting like this, there won’t be wrestling to watch because it will be ALL OF YOUR FAULT if WWE does bad business. Not them, YOU! Felt extremely bad for Charlotte & Summer because they didn’t deserve the moronic chanting by this crowd during their match. Wasn’t on the level of Charlotte’s match with Natalya, but what could be, honestly? Was a decent match that was crapped on by a moronic, smarky bunch of people who consider themselves “fans.” I consider them parasites, but I digress.
Hope you enjoyed this new “Pros & Cons” section after NXT recaps. Let me know what you thought of this and if I should do this more for not just NXT, but for ROH TV and all other recaps I do for indy wrestling and New Japan.
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