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The following report originally published 10 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com…
WWE NXT Results
December 18, 2014
Taped 12/12 at Full Sail University
Report by Justin James, PWTorch contributor
Tonight’s NXT is the first to follow the outstanding NXT Takeover: R-Evolution. By the by, I am fairly certain that if you take the Roundtable Reviews of R-Evolution and rank it against all other WWE and TNA PPVs of 2014 that it is the highest-rated PPV of the year.
[Q1] Video package recapping R-Evolution. Lots of use their high-framerate cameras for incredible slow motion effects. Extra focus on the brutal Kevin Owens’s powebomb on Sami Zayn into the apron to close last Thursday’s special.
The title package has been updated to include Sami Zayn’s championship victory celebration.
Announcers are Rich Brennan, Jason Albert, and Corey Graves.
Adrian Neville comes out to a more positive reception than he’s had in a while. He looks nervous. Guy gets more popular by losing a championship?
“For what it’s worth, it should be Sami Zayn out here right now.” He says that last week was the best match of his career and he’s proud of his performance. The crowd gives him an “it was awesome” chant. He says that the better man won, it was a bitter pill, but Zayn deserves to be champion. He says that it should be Zayn out there and he would love to introduce his friend to celebrate. But he can’t because of Kevin Owens. Big boos. Neville gets fired up and says that he hopes Owens is proud of himself, or that there is someone out there proud of him, because Neville isn’t proud of him.
Owens slowly brings himself to the ring. His nose is still in rough shape. Neville tells Owens that his actions were shameful, and that it was the wrong way to handle his debut. Neville is disgusted. “Shame on you!” from the crowd. “You don’t know what to say? I don’t care what you have to say!” from Owens. Owens says that all he cares about is being here, and that Zayn isn’t. Owens has no beef with Neville, but he is here for one reason, to get to the absolute top and he doesn’t care who is in his way. If Neville has a problem with him and wants a fight, he’s got it. Owens confidently leaves the ring.
[ J.J.’s Reax: NXT just made the perfect pivot. They went from Neville the former face, now tweener champion facing super-face Zayn, to Neville the loyal friend standing up for his friend against the huge bully. And, based on crowd reaction, it worked perfectly. Neville is now the super-face gatekeeper between Zayn and Owens and I can’t wait to see a few matches between Neville and Owens. ]
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady are advertised against The Ascension later tonight.
Video from pre-R-Evolution of Becky Lynch ambushing Bayley.
In an unusual move, interview with Becky Lynch with Devin Taylor in the locker room. Lynch doesn’t have time for a talk. Lynch denies a change of attitude, just a better visibility that smiling and crowd support doesn’t help her win and that Banks is the only person she can rely on.
Tyler Breeze has a selfie video. He says he will be taking some time away from NXT since he will be modeling in Europe over the holidays and will be keeping us up to date.
Rich Brennan tells us that Kevin Owens will face Adrian Neville in the main event tonight. That’s some hot-shot booking right there. If this were televised they would want to hold that a week or two to build to a good rating.
1 – BAYLEY vs. BECKY LYNCH
Lynch is sporting a knee brace.
[Q2] Bayley unloads on Lynch and beats her to the mat. Bayley with a hard assault. Repeated running elbows to Lynch. Bayley is just wrecking Lynch. Cover gets two for Bayley. Lynch suddenly rallies and attacks Bayley’s knee. Bayley gets some traction. Suplex gets two for Bayley. Lynch tries to return to the knee but Bayley fights her away. Rollup, Lynch rolls through and returns to the leg… a submission hold (the “Four Leg Clover”) makes Bayley tap.
WINNER: Becky Lynch in 3:48. Good match. Loved the fire from Bayley, seeing a win for Lynch, and a logical match progression.
Next is a look-back at Banks vs. Charlotte from Takeover. I love how the petite Banks was easily the heel against the physically dominant Charlotte.
Backstage interview from Takeover between Renee Young and Charlotte. Charlotte talks up her win over Banks and her Raw debut. Charlotte put over Banks’s toughness and her dominance of NXT.
Brennan tells us that Banks gets another title shot against Charlotte next week. The graphic implies that Ric Flair will be involved.
Backstage, the Vaudevillains come into William Regal’s office. Somehow the screen goes to black and white. They show him footage that Gotch was not the legal man when he was pinned. Regal grants them a re-match, but not for tonight since the show is already booked up. Lame villain laughs all around.
Bull Dempsey gets a nice pop on his way out for a match.
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2 – BULL DEMPSEY vs. JOBBER
No chance for the jobber.
WINNER: Bull Dempsey in 1:12.
As expected, Baron Corbin’s entrance interrupts Dempsey’s return to the back. The wordless feud continues.
3 – BARON CORBIN vs. JOBBER
WINNER: Baron Corbin in 0:14 by the audience’s count.
Dempsey didn’t move from the ramp the whole time. He pushes Corbin then backs off the ramp to establish himself as the heel in this.
[Q3] Replay of the pre-credits R-Evolution recap package.
Video of Zayn being stretchered out of the area. In a nice touch, Regal made sure that he had the championship with him.
Amore, Cassady, and Carmella are out. They still get an awesome reception. They have a Christmas carol dedicated to The Ascension. Included are “four letter words” and “two fugazi studs” and “a beating from the certified g’s.”
4 – ENZO AMORE & COLIN CASSADY (w/Carmella) vs. THE ASCENSION (KONNOR & VIKTOR) – Tag Team match
“Certified G’s/Bonafide Studs” dueling chant as Cassady and Viktor start off. Viktor comes out strong but a ref break lets Cassady break out. Amore tags himself in, and tries (and fails) to clear Konnor from the apron. He watches Carmella and tries to get her attention which lets Viktor cream him for the pin.
WINNERS: The Ascension in 1:10.
Post-match, Viktor reminds us of their dominance of NXT. They consider their loss last week to be beginner’s luck, and says that the feud will continue. Konnor vows that they will rise and Balor and Itami will fall.
5 – ADRIAN NEVILLE vs. KEVIN OWENS
Owens immediately leaves the ring. Neville welcomes him back to the ring, but Owens plays games walking around the ring. Owens comes in and tries to take Neville down, but he eats a kick to the face and rolls under the ropes again. Owens re-enters the ring and delivers offense to Neville. Neville uses his speed to chase Owens out of the ring again.
[Q4] Owens comes in the ring just enough to break the count then goes to the outside again. Neville has had enough, gives chance, and gets ambushed. Owens continues the assault inside the ring.
[ Break ]
Neville is trying to rally out of the break, but he is stopped. Cannonball in the corner gets two for Owens. Owens: “Nothing I do makes me shameful!” He reminds Neville that he was champion for almost a year and then calls him a joke. Neville dodges a corner charge and lands a huge kick to Owens, then clobbers him with an elbow from across the ring. Neville is fired up and puts Owens on the mat. springboard missing dropkick gets two for Neville.
Owens with a bearhug through the ropes to keep Neville from going up top. Neville springboards in but Owens catches him in a fireman’s carry into a gutbuster into a senton for a nearfall. Owens puts Neville on the turnbuckle then looks for a superplex, but Neville fights. Neville sends Owens to the mat, wants Red Arrow but Owens clips his feet and Neville takes a spill to the mat. Owens puts Neville’s feet on the turnbuckle for a big DDT and hits it for a close nearfall.
Owens with a fireman’s carry, Neville escapes. Neville pitches Owens into the ropes then nails a gorgeous German suplex on the rebound. Kick sends Owens to the outside, corkscrew dive over the top and Neville manages to land on his feet. The crowd is nuts for Neville and Brennan points out the change. Owens dumps Neville into the ringpost but is down too, double count-out.
WINNER: None at 12:25. Pretty good match, though a bit methodical at times.
Post-match, the ref tries to stop any further action, but Owens powerbombs Neville into the apron, who then sells glassy eyes.
Final Reax: Great presentation of Kevin Owens here and the turnaround on Neville is perfect. NXT is firing on all cylinders post-Takeover. Surprisingly little follow up from Itami/Balor, though, as they were not even advertised for next week.
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s NXT Hit List: Eddy Thorpe twist, Trick Williams and Oba Femi, booking of the women’s division, Tony D’Angelo vs. Ethan Page for the NXT North American Title, Je’Von Evans vs. Wes Leehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3PZ2HZXRto&t=4s
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