Welcome to NXT Future Five on Last Word On Sports, where each week we analyze the latest episode of World Wrestling Entertainment Network’s hottest program, NXT and rank the five performers who made the biggest impact.
Highlights of the Night
- Bayley/Sasha Banks Contract Signing: Bayley and Banks both got a great reception. Bayley played to the crowd, thanking them, which lead to the fans to try and chant over one another for both girls, so no one could understand them. Bayley talked about her past failed attempts to win the championship, but this time is different. She, the fans, and Sasha Banks can feel it. The crowd chanted “Bayley’s gonna hug you”. Sasha then got on the mic and began to mock Bayley’s moment. GREAT line from Sasha to get heat, saying there’s a reason Takeover is in Brooklyn and not Orlando. Glad to see Banks going back to being a heel. Banks says she’s better than Bayley and everyone knows it. Fans duel with “Bayley’s better/no she’s not!” annoying me to no end. She then uses her stamp gimmick to sign the contract (Which I love). Bayley brings up how contract signings usually end and challenged Sasha to a fight right then and there while NXT General Manager William Regal shook his head disapprovingly. Banks clarified that both Charlotte and Becky Lynch were threats, and Bayley isn’t. Banks said that for Bayley, fairy tales don’t come true, and fighting Bayley tonight wouldn’t be worth it. Bayley looked hurt as Banks paraded away with the title, but Bayley jumped out of the ring and began brawling with Sasha until they were pulled apart by referees.
- Blake & Murphy w Alexa Bliss vs Angelo Dawkins & Sawyer Fulton: Funny “Come on Barbie, let’s go party” chants directed at Alexa. Dawkins started with a few arm drags and a tag to Fulton who continued to work the arm. Another quick tag and a double fireman’s carry. A series of moves ended with Blake in control after a kick to the face. Murphy then got the tag, who stomped on Angelo in the corner. Another tag to Blake, and a surfboard submission wore down Angelo until the hot tag is made to Fulton, who cleans house and performs a swinging gut wrench that the fans ate up. Sadly, Fulton would miss an elbow in the corner, leading to Blake and Murphy scoring a suplex/frog splash combo for the victory. Post match, the Vaudevillians came out to cut a promo on the ramp, but were interrupted by Alexa who walked up and slapped them not once, but twice, not allowing them to finish their promo. The Vaudevillians being gentlemen, refused to hit back.
- Kevin Owens Promo: Owens came out carrying a ladder. He gazed at it for a moment before speaking. The crowd immaturely started a Brooklyn sucks chant. Owens to his credit, called them out on it, and then wrapped it into his persona by saying they cheer Owens unless he’s beating up the good guys. He then called the crowd the John Cena of wrestling fans because nothing genuine comes out of their mouths. He called them hypocrites for chanting NXT, but then when it grows and moves onto bigger things they boo because they can’t have it for themselves. To his credit, he is right. He then tied it into his match, saying he will love beating Finn Balor in front of deserving fans, which got great heat. Owens called Balor’s win in Japan a fluke, and told him that the things he has done to Sami Zayn and Neville won’t compare to what he has in store for him. Kevin climbed the ladder and proclaimed that while he reaches for the belt, Finn will be lying on the ground with a doctor. At that point, the lights went out and Finn Balor’s music played. A spotlight shone on the turnbuckle, revealing Finn sitting there. He raised his arms while Owens climbed down. They rushed each other and started throwing punches, ending with a Pele kick from Finn, who then charged Kevin with the ladder. The crowd chanted “Run Owens run” while Balor scaled the ladder, telling Owens that he would kick his ass and shut him up for good.
The Future Five
5. Tyler Breeze: Tyler is not interested in getting paid by the hour. He made that abundantly clear in his match this week, taking out his opponent with a total of two moves. What made Tyler stand out this week was his lack of respect for his legendary opponent on Saturday. Tyler came to the ring carrying Jushin Thunder Liger’s famous mask at the end of his selfie stick, then placed it over the head of his opponent before hitting him with the Beauty Shot and counting his own imaginary pin. From there, Tyler took the mask and threw it on the ground, stepping on it literally, and the career of Liger symbolically. Whether or not you agree with his actions, you have to admit, to do that takes the kind of guts most don’t have. Not what you would expect from Full Sail University’s resident male model.
4. Blake, Murphy, and Alexa Bliss: Some would reason that this trio doesn’t deserve to be on this list because they beat the team of Angelo Dawkins and Sawyer Fulton. To be fair, Sawyer and Fulton do not have a great win/loss record. In their defense however, they did show some impressive skills against the tag team champions, and were definitely over with the crowd, making their loss more emotional, and giving fans another reason to hate the trio. Outside of the ring, Alexa continued to build tremendous heat by interrupting the Vaudevillians and slapping them so hard it made the crowd react in a very loud and real way. They picked up a win and emasculated their challengers, sounds like a good week if you ask me.
3. Baron Corbin: Similarly to what occurred with Samoa Joe last week, Corbin interrupted Joe after his match and sent a big message. The brawling into the crowd did make their encounter from last week seem a little different, but the big contrast was how things ended. Last week, Baron was choked out by Joe and left lying in the middle of the ring. It was impressive because we hadn’t seen someone manhandle Corbin like that before. This week the script was flipped when Balor impressively trapped Joe in the End of Days, swinging his massive frame like it was that of a cruiserweight. That feat of strength alone would be enough to land him a spot here, but it was the look on his face afterwards. He looked like he had been driven mad, and it built great heat for Saturday.
2. Bayley/Sasha Banks: Unlike the Kevin Owens and Finn Balor encounter at the end of the night, this was more of a collaborative effort. Bayley played to the crowd’s sympathies and Banks tried to quiet any fans cheering for her. Sasha played her role of bully perfectly while Bayley looked heart broken. You felt bad for Bayley while Banks was every mean girl stereotype played just over the top enough to make you want to see her get what’s coming to her. If they had left the segment with Bayley doubting herself, it might have killed their momentum heading into Brooklyn, but with Bayley fighting back it made her look like a courageous hero standing up to her bully, and it gave the fans another reason to cheer her and boo Sasha.
1. Kevin Owens: Once again Owens proves that he is arguably the best heel in NXT today with a promo that blends just enough realism with his character to get under the skin of everyone in the crowd. When he came out, half the crowd was chanting “Fight Owens Fight”. By the end of it, they were yelling “Run Owens Run”. While you could make the argument that they were cheering for Balor, to turn around so quickly on someone was the work of a brilliant heel. Owens painted a picture with his words and shut down any attempt to cheer him. He was determined to do two things this night. Build excitement for the event on Saturday, and make everyone in the crowd hate his guts. He accomplished both in under ten minutes.
Final Thoughts
This was a good go home show for NXT Takeover Brooklyn. Every segment on the show gave me a reason to be excited for either Saturday, or the matches that would be taped on Saturday and aired on next week’s episode. Although there was no main event contest to get fans hyped this week, everything we saw was fun or served a purpose. It was a solid hour of entertainment that was all focused on building towards Saturday’s show. Everyone did well, so I say bring on Brooklyn!
