NXT Report 12-18-14

Special shoutout to my sister before we start as it was her birthday yesterday. Yes, she shares a birthday with Rob Van Dam, Trish Stratus and Steve Austin. Anyway, onto NXT, which opened with Adrian Neville cutting a promo. He looked a lot more comfortable on the microphone than I expected and is nowhere near as bad on the stick as some people make him out to be. He discussed how proud he was of his match with Sami Zayn at R Evolution, but that Sami couldn't be out there tonight because of Kevin Owens. This brings out Owens who claims that he doesn't care at all about what he did and challenges Neville to a fight. It is not announced instantly, but William Regal makes it the main event for later in the night.

The opening contest features some of NXT's great female workers. After attacking Bayley on the R Evolution Pre-Show, Becky Lynch was set to face her here. Bayley played up her knee injury well and sported a knee brace. She came out of the blocks aggressively, which was a nice touch as it's different for Bayley. Becky went after the knee like a rabid dog, but Bayley fought tough. It turned out to not be enough though as Becky won with her Four Leg Clover, which is an interesting submission. Yes, another NXT girl with a submission move. Good opener. Also, a rematch from R Evolution is signed as Charlotte defends her title against Sasha Banks again next week! That should be awesome.

William Regal is shown in his office when The Vaudevillains show up. Yes, the screen goes black and white. They show Regal footage on a tablet that indicates that Simon Gotch was not the legal man when he was pinned at R Evolution, so they also get a NXT Tag Team Title rematch. We move into dual squashes as Bull Dempsey wins in just over a minute and Baron Corbin follows with a 12 second win. Bull stands on the ramp and watches Baron's entire match, which is easy considering the length. He gets into a staredown with Baron as he exits and shoves him, but before Baron can retaliate, 

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, along with Carmella, come out for a match against the Ascension. At least it has some continuity as the Ascension did attack them a few weeks ago in their rage against Hideo Itami and Finn Balor. Now, we just had two squashes, so I wasn't a fan of the fact that this went less than a minute. Enzo tagged himself in, got distracted by Carmella talking to fans, ate a clothesline and this was over. The Ascension then cut a promo, saying that the war with Balor and Itami was far from over. I guess we'll get a rematch of that as well.

So, talk about a big time main event. Kevin Owens has been shoved right into the spotlight, main eventing his first episode of NXT against the longest reigning NXT Champion of all-time, Adrian Neville. I was wondering how this would be done since Neville can't just get pinned after dominating NXT for so long. What we got was a great match, with plenty of false finishes, but not too many. It ended after Neville dove outside onto Owens, only to be sent into the ring post. The referee counted to ten and we got a double countout finish that made sense. Kept both guys strong and ended a fine match. Owens wasn't pleased with this and he gave Neville the powerbomb on the apron! The stretcher is out as it looks like they're building that move as being devastating.

Another damn good episode of NXT. The only negative was how quickly Enzo and Big Cass lost. The other two squashes made sense as they're very quick and are leading to the eventual Corbin/Dempsey brawl. The opener was a solid women's match and the main event was a fantastic effort from both guys. Again, it made me want to tune in again next week. 7.5/10. Also, you should check out Superstars tonight. I won't post a review, but Tyson Kidd and Cesaro take on Los Matadores in a great match, as well as a fun Emma/Summer Rae bout.