NXT Takeover: R-Evolution
December 11, 2014
Full Sail University
NXT Takeover: R-Evolution is the most anticipated WWE special event of the week. Sure, there’s a Tables, Ladders, Chairs…and Stairs show on Sunday but ask any truly hardcore fan and most of the readers of this site what they are looking for to and it’s this. It’s for good reason, the previous NXT specials have been fantastic displays of in-ring performance, solid/stable/logical booking and plain old fun. The worst of the NXT specials bordered on good, meaning if you sit down and invest two hours of your life this Thursday, chances are you’re going to see something great. R-Evolution won’t buck that trend as the card rates out as one of their deepest yet with a number of new talents taking center stage (Finn Balor, Hideo Itami and the rumored debut of Kevin Owens) and some veteran NXTers in Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville in one of the best built title matches of the year. On the women’s side, the incumbent Charlotte and Sasha Banks have had a long-winding, invested feud that is sure to result in a great match. Lucha Dragons vs. Vaudevillains, it’ll probably just be there but hey, how bad can it be? NXT Takeover: R-Evolution should be a fantastic show and you can tell from our preview, we’re ready for Thursday!
Finn Balor & Hideo Itami vs. The Ascension
Rich Kraetsch: Can this please be the end of The Ascension? Please? Anyway, I’m looking forward to this being a solid showcase for Balor and Itami. The problem is, I’m not sure how good of a showcase it can be when they are opposed by two stiffs. I’m reserving judgement and tempering expectations for now. With any hope, Balor and Itami win this one and begin moving onto bigger and better things within NXT.
Prediction: Hideo Itami and Finn Balor
Bryan Rose: Hmm. Dunno what to make of this match. It could be pretty good, since both Itami and Balor aren’t bad at all. But The Ascension aren’t all that great. I can’t gauge if this will be good or bad, in other words. Maybe in the middle. The Ascension look to be on their way out of NXT soon (I HOPE) so giving the win to pushed guys like Balor and Itami make a lot of sense.
Prediction: Hideo Itami and Finn Balor
Fujiwara Armbar: If you had the chance to listen to Paul ‘HHH’ Levesque’s NXT-hyping conference call, you’ll have heard him struggle to put The Ascension over whatsoever but say that Balor and Itami are ‘going to do some stuff you’ve never seen before…especially Balor’. The disparity in terms of talent between one team and another is the widest I can recall in a major promotion. They’ve banded Itami/Zayn/Neville/Balor and the debuting Kevin Owens together, so it makes excellent sense to rubber-stamp that with a big W for Itami and Balor.
Prediction: Hideo Itami and Finn Balor
NXT Tag Team Championships
Lucha Dragons © vs. The Vaudevillains
Rich Kraetsch: Here’s what I stand with both of these teams — I enjoy the Lucha Dragons a lot, mostly because I think Kalisto is going to be a huge star for the main roster. I’ve said that from the moment I first saw him work a Chicago independent show. The mask, the way he conducts himself, his charisma, it’s all there for him to be a big deal. Sin Cara is just there. On the flip side, I enjoy The Vaudevillains for what they are but readily admit that I’m enjoying them ONLY in the context of NXT and have no confidence in their long-term viability. What does that mean for this match? Well, nothing, I just wanted to say it. This match should be fun albeit not very good and I fully expect a title change here. If not, it’s not a huge deal but it seems we’re going in that direction.
Prediction: The Vaudevillains
Bryan Rose: I have heartily enjoyed the Vaudevillains mini silent movies leading to this match. But beyond that, there’s not much to write home about here I think. The Vaudevillains are ok, and the Lucha Dragons are ok. I don’t know if these two will end up having a memorable match, but I guess we’ll see. At least we got a lot of really fun stuff beforehand! I see the Lucha Dragons retaining as they just won the championships, but we could see a change too, who knows. But I’ll stick with the champs.
Prediction: Lucha Dragons
Fujiwara Armbar: Dissention in the VOW ranks here. I really like Lucha Dragons as much as one can like a team who doesn’t often get to have the kind of ‘work rate’ matches I generally approve of. The effort that’s gone into presenting The Vaudevillians i. outstrips the effort that goes into half of the main roster teams and ii. makes me want to see them, despite their limitations. I’m taking the Dragons in a routine-but-fun defense where their reputation is solidified whilst the audience laughs along at the team staring at the lights.
Prediction: Lucha Dragons
NXT Women’s Championship
Charlotte © vs. Sasha Banks
Rich Kraetsch: If it weren’t for the strong late build from Zayn/Neville this would be my most anticipated match on the card. A feud with a lot going into it: former stablemates, jealousy, friendship, face turns, heel turns… it’s all there. Regardless of what’s going into it, what’s coming out is a great match between two of the best competitors (regardless of gender) in NXT. Charlotte has stalled in her progress through the latter half of this year but where he left off, Sasha seemed to pick up. Banks has been on another planet as of late and is far and away the most impressive bell-to-bell woman in the company. This should be great.
Prediction: Sasha Banks
Bryan Rose: This could be pretty good. The difference between the divas roster here and on the WWE’s roster is that here they’re given time to actually have a pretty good match, and most of the time they do just that. I was gonna say that Charlotte might be losing here to go to the main roster, but after that incredible display of…whatever you call what happened on Raw, I’ll just say she retains for my sanity’s sake.
Prediction: Charlotte
Fujiwara Armbar: Given all the shenanigans that has been taking place with the two competitors’ seconds (Bayley and Becky Lynch), I have a feeling that we’ll get to see some stuff from more than just the billed wrestlers. Banks is among the most rounded personalities in NXT, you can believe that the personality she portrays has a basis in reality and in her ability to take the story thread anywhere. Charlotte is a tremendous performer, no doubt about that, and this ‘tweener-fest probably represents one of WWE’s most successful bits of storytelling regarding their female performers (if you ignore the travesty of the recent episode of Raw). Going for an upset here.
Prediction: Sasha Banks
NXT Championship
Adrian Neville © vs. Sami Zayn
Rich Kraetsch: Zayn’s gotta win this one, you guys. He just can’t lose again. Worse yet, if he does lose, he’s done in NXT and nobody wants to see him on the main roster just yet. The story just makes too much sense for Zayn to triumph and then have something else negative thrown at him (perhaps the debuting Kevin Owens as we eluded to on last night’s VoW podcast?). This feud has been built up great, Zayn is starting to show a ton of fire and Neville’s slow burn into a chickenshit heel has been a lot of fun. Zayn winning here, to cap off the event, could be a monumental NXT moment. Neville has left a lot to be desired with his work on previous NXT specials so I’ll look for him to step up here. Zayn is Zayn and he’ll be great, so I’m not worried. I can’t wait for this.
Prediction: Sami Zayn
Bryan Rose: I would like to believe that here in NXT stipulations are followed, but after the last special where the French Stallion in fact did not get shaved bald, I guess I’m wrong. But this is one I think has to be followed. Zayn has come close tons of times in the last few months and he gets one final opportunity here on Thursday. The lead up to this has been great and I expect nothing but a fantastic match between these two, because out of all the guys on the roster these two can can have the best match possible. Zayn has to win it here because no other finish makes sense, and call me crazy but I actually trust (!) NXT has a direction in mind once this show is over. Please don’t let me down NXT. I just keep watching this past Monday’s Raw in my mind over and over and over…
Prediction: Sami Zayn
Fujiwara Armbar: Bryan is right: the lead-in to this match has been great. Not just in what we’ve seen on NXT, but the subtle ways that maybe only 10-20% of the audience, the tastemakers and the hardcore, will have seen – in particular working this match on house shows with the main roster and appearing as chummy tour buddies on Talk Is Jericho. Unlike Bryan, I disagree regarding this match needing a particular winner to fulfil logic. Zayn’s NXT career could ‘end’ and be resurrected in the Royal Rumble in that kind of hokey kid-makes-good storyline they like to pull from time to time. I don’t even care who wins. It’d be great for Neville’s burgeoning heel status and his story as the eternal one-upper – and it’d be a great feel good moment for the Floridian fans if Zayn can grab the (Little) Big One. The match quality will be a lock; that’s literally the one thing we can count on WWE for at the moment.
Prediction: Sami Zayn
