In another sign of the growth of the NXT brand, the show moved from Full Sail University to the much bigger CFE Arena on the campus of Central Florida University.
One of the biggest strengths of NXT that brought us to this bigger arena has been the woman’s division – so it only makes sense that the first show is centered around the girls! The championship match between Baymella BFFs Bayley and Carmella was perfect for a couple reasons.
First, the match itself. This was the first big time singles match in Carmella’s career and she met the challenge with flying colors. The two best friends showed that their chemistry outside of the ring easily translated to chemistry inside the ring.
Not only that, but we also got our first real look at the next generation in NXT women’s wrestling. After another successful title defense by Bayley, Carmella left the ring to give her friend the moment in the spotlight she deserved. On her way back though, Eva Marie and Nia Jax came down to take out Carmella. From there, they set their sights on the champion.
Before any real damage could be done, down comes Asuka to help Bayley out. Here we get yet another tease of what could be an amazing matchup with a Asuka/Nia Jax staredown. Eva Marie pulls her apparent bodyguard out of the ring and we are left with just the tease. It will happen someday – and when it does it could be amazing!
However Asuka quickly turns her attention to the current champion and let it be known that she was coming for the title. WrestleMania isn’t the only big show in Dallas the first weekend of April. NXT will be there as well just as they were for SummerSlam weekend in Brooklyn. The card is already rumored to be stacked with matches like Sami Zayn vs Shinsuke Nakamura.
In Brooklyn though, the show was stolen by the woman’s title match with Bayley defeating Sasha Banks. Will we see the same? What will be the matchup? Obviously it will include Bayley – but against who? Asuka? Jax? Eva? Carmella? All of them? It should be a fun few weeks leading up to the big event.
After losing to NXT Champion Finn Balor last week, Apollo Crews was backstage to let us know how he was feeling. Crews started giving us the “even though I lost the big match, I am going to let everyone know that I tried my best and I’m happy even though I lost … puppy dogs rainbow sunshine … yada yada yada.”
It hit me at this point; Crews could to take a lesson from The Rock. Let me rephrase that…Crews could take a lesson from Rocky Maivia. The whole “happy-go-lucky” persona doesn’t work in sports entertainment. Rock realized this, called us all pieces of trash, and became one of the most popular stars in WWE history! Crews did end the interview with “next time you see me, you’ll see a different Apollo Crews.” So maybe the change is coming.
Takeover : Dallas will be here before you know it. It should be interesting to see how the card takes shape!
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FIRST UCF SHOW? WHO WILL CHALLENGE BAYLEY IN DALLAS? DOES APOLLO CREWS NEED A CHANGE IN CHARACTER? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @FROM_THETOPROPE AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!
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