411’s WWE NXT Report 7.8.15

Welcome to another NXT report.

A short video airs from the Beast in the East special. We get told that we’re gonna see the Finn Balor/Kevin Owens match tonight.

Sasha Banks needs to find a partner to face Dana Brooke and Emma tonight. Dana trash talks her for not having any friends. The crowd wants Blue Pants, but Sasha admits that she doesn’t need a partner. She calls Dana “little Ms. Piggy” and wants to do a handicap match. Charlotte’s theme hits. She comes out and takes a microphone, saying she’ll be Sasha’s partner, but Sasha will owe her one. Sasha agrees.

Dana Brooke and Emma vs. Sasha Banks and Charlotte

The former BFFs work together with a double chop. They then do the old BFFs taunt. Dana tags in Emma, who gets rolled up for two. Charlotte drops a knee on Emma, who then rolls outside for a timeout. The heels use a cheap shot to take control on Charlotte. A “Dana’s ratchet” chant starts as the heels work over Charlotte. Emma uses her odd body scissors move for a bit. Dana hits the Wasteland for two as somewhere, Wade Barrett cries. Sasha gets the mild tag and comes in hot. She seems to be working as a face.Emma breaks a pin after double knees from Sasha. Dana goes for her finisher but Sasha slips out and applies the Bank Statement. Charlotte takes down Emma and applies the Figure Eight.

Winners: Charlotte and Sasha Banks in 4:38

Solid little tag team match here. Charlotte and Sasha are phenomenal together and always a treat to watch together. **1/2

Post match, Sasha and Charlotte do the BFF shake again. Charlotte takes the microphone and says that for being Sasha’s partner, she wants a title shot next week. Sasha accepts.

We see a video of Bayley this past weekend at a live event. She says that she can’t do what she loves because Emma broke her hand. She wants to be like Triple H and Stone Cold by coming back from injury and winning a title.

A video package airs to hype the NXT Title match from this past Saturday.

NXT Championship: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Finn Balor

I’ve seen this match already, but it was great so I don’t mind again. It gets the big fight feel with Balor getting streamers  and it just being presented as a big deal. Hideo Itami is in the front row. Balor attacks with a dropkick instantly. He goes up top for his finisher but Owens rolls outside, so Balor takes him out. Back inside, Balor hits a forearm and sends Owens back out. He follows with a baseball slide, before nailing another dropkick with Owens seated outside. They go to commercial here, which they didn’t do on the live airing. Returning, they must have skipped ahead because Finn’s paint is mostly gone. They go up top where Owens blocks a superplex. He hoists Balor onto his shoulders and front flips off the second rope with him. However, that’s only enough for a near fall. Owens tries for a swanton bomb but Balr gets the knees up. He hits Bloody Sunday for a very close near fall. Owens screams “YOU CAN’T BEAT ME” as he gets in some offense. Balor comes back with a clothesline and hits the corner dropkick. He follows that with a second before going up for the double stomp. He hits it and we have a new champion.

Winner and New NXT Champion: Finn Balor in 6:51 of shown footage

I won’t rate it based off of the footage seen here. THe whole match just falls outside of my top ten matches of the year. Great stuff. The big fight feel, the atmosphere, the ring work and everything worked well. ****1/4

Kevin Owens refuses to talk after the loss.

Devin Taylor interviews Chad Gable about Jason Jordan declining his offer to be a team. Gable says that it seems like Jordan doesn’t want to win and wants to stay at the bottom. Jordan shows up and reluctantly agrees to the team next week. Gable shakes his hand with the GABLE towel on his forearm.

Solomon Crowe talks backstage about being in the “Crowe’s Nest”. He says that he’s the resident little monster and is back, meaner than ever.

Marcus Louis vs. Solomon Crowe

Marcus Louis still looks like someone shrunk Kane. Solomon Crowe knocks down Louis with some early shots before applying an interesting submission. Crowe tries to springboard in but Louis knocks him down. He delivers some vicious looking knee strikes before going to an abdominal stretch. He talks to his own hand while using it for extra leverage. Crowe gets free and reels off some more unique offense. He hits a big running kick and a dropkick to the leg. Stretch Muffler is applied and Louis submits.

Winner: Solomon Crowe in 3:21

An extended squash. Not the most entertaining of matches but it got the point across of trying to get Crowe more over. He needs more to the character for that though. *

The Vaudevillains cut a promo about their upcoming match.

We see some wwe.com footage of John Cena congratulating Finn Balor on winning the NXT Title. Then he cuts a short promo about his dream coming true.

Number One Contender’s Match: Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady w/ Carmella vs. The Vaudevillains

Enzo Amore and Simon Gotch start, leading to a Gotch near fall. Corey Graves straight up says neither team is a threat to Blake and Murphy and would make awful champions. Enzo and Cass knock the Vaudevillains outside and do their S-A-W-F-T stuff heading into commercial. Returning, Cass throws Enzo in Aiden before hitting a sidewalk slam for two. Enzo gets tagged and reels off a series of punches but runs into a pair of boots from Aiden. Gotch gets tagged and works over Enzo for a bit. They do a pretty nice double team but Enzo breaks the pin by being under the bottom rope. Cass gets the hot tag eventually and cleans house as you would expect. He hits a corner splash and slams English. English ends up rolling him up for two but runs into a big boot. Bossman slam on Gotch as Cass is rolling. He calls for Enzo to go up top but Gotch breaks it up. Enzo hits English with a cross body, but Aiden rolls through to win.

Winners: The Vaudefillains in 7:48

The tag team division in NXT has always been a bit of a struggle. This was a solid match but nothing spectacular, which seems to be a theme. I do appreciate this closing the episode, as it makes the belts look somewhat important. **1/2