Zim’s WWE NXT Review: Heavily in-ring episode features Jack Swagger vs. Sami Zayn, Rick Victor vs. Corey Graves, Mason Ryan vs. Alexander Rusev, and Bayley & Charlotte vs. Alicia Fox & Aksana

By Zack Zimmerman

WWE NXT
Aired September 4, 2013 on Hulu Plus
Taped August 22 at Full Sail University

The opening video played (now without Kassius Ohno)… Bayley made her entrance first for a tag team matchup, and was joined by Charlotte. Alicia Fox was out next, followed by Aksana. Tom Phillips and Alex Riley were on commentary.

1. Bayley and Charlotte vs. Alicia Fox and Aksana. The heels worked over Bayley in the opening minutes. At about the three minute mark, Bayley hit a hug-plex on Aksana and both ladies tagged in their fresh partners. A short time later, Bayley made an awkward blind tag into the ring, awkwardly rolled up Fox, and awkwardly scored the win.

Bayley and Charlotte beat Alicia Fox and Aksana in about 4:30.

The babyface team celebrated in the ring and A-Ry used the word “irregardless.” He needs to go away…

Backstage, Sylvester Lefort and Scott Dawson were standing with Alexander Rusev. They wanted revenge on Mason Ryan. Lefort offered to have Rusev’s back, and Rusev broke a board with “Mason” written on it. Lefort was excited about making money and Dawson was excited about going to Sizzler…

Scott Stanford hyped the main event, Sami Zayn vs. Jack Swagger… [C]

Zim’s Zag: What a mess.

Back from break, The Ascension made their entrance. Rick Victor was still in possession of Corey Graves’ tag title belt. A video recapped the beatdown The Ascension put on Corey Graves last week. Corey Graves made his entrance with taped ribs, accompanied by Adrian Neville.

2. Rick Victor (w/ Conor O’Brian) vs. Corey Graves (w/ Adrian Neville). Graves went right after Victor and spent the opening few minutes aggressively on offense. Graves’ ribs proved to be his weakness, allowing Victor took control and focus his attack on the mid-section. [C]

Back from break, Victor was still working over the ribs and continued to do so methodically. He hit a fireman’s carry gutbuster for a near-fall and Graves was in trouble. Victor toyed with Graves until Graves fought back at about the eight-minute mark. Neville wiped out Conor O’Brian with a dive to ringside, and Graves reversed another fireman’s carry gutbuster attempt into a small package for the win.

Corey Graves beat Rick Victor in about 9:45.

The Ascension fumed in the ring as the tag champs made their way back up the ramp in possession of both titles…

Backstage, Summer Rae continued to try and talk Sasha Banks over to the dark side. Sasha said next week’s match might be life-changing and Summer said that it might make Sasha relevant again. Summer suggested that Sasha give Paige the beatdown of her life and questioned if Sasha had the inner rage she needed…

Scott Stanford hyped the main event… [C]

Zim’s Zag: Competent but boring match. If they’re going over six or seven minutes, it’s nice to see them kick it into a second gear that this match just didn’t hit. Both Summer and Sasha are playing their roles really well.

Backstage, Renee Young introduced the NXT Women’s Champion, Paige. Paige said it didn’t matter what Summer was telling Sasha. She said she’s not there to be a cover girl, she’s there to cover girls for the win. She promised that she would be the most dominant Diva of all time and said that next week, she’d give Sasha the fight of her life…

Back in the arena, Sylvester Lefort introduced himself, Scott Dawson, and the newest member of his legion, Alexander Rusev. Rusev made his entrance and broke another piece of wood. Mason Ryan was out next.

3. Alexander Rusev (w/ Sylvester Lefort and Scott Dawson) vs. Mason Ryan. Both men worked power stuff and mixed in the occasional athletic maneuver. Decent action for a green big-man match. Rusev was in control until he missed a running corner splash. Ryan fought back but got distracted by Lefort and Rusev crushed him in the corner. Rusev locked in a camel clutch and Ryan tapped out quickly.

Alexander Rusev beat Mason Ryan in about 4:00

Lefort and Dawson celebrated with Rusev post-match…

Backstage, a camera man ran to the scene of Leo Kruger laughing manically, standing over a beat-down Xavier Woods. He continued to cackle until he said “Ta-ta, Woodsy,” and left…

Scott Stanford hyped the main event, coming up next… [C]

Zim’s Zag: Forgettable, but I was pleasantly surprised at the work-rate the two big guys incorporated into the four-minute match.

Back from break, Sami Zayn made his entrance to a very good reaction. Jack Swagger was out next, accompanied by Zeb Colter. A replay recapped last week’s in-ring segment between Zayn, Bo Dallas, and Zeb Colter, which led to Jack Swagger laying Zayn out.

4. Sami Zayn vs. Jack Swagger (w/ Zeb Colter). Zayn hit a big flapjack dropkick at about the two-minute mark and feigned a dive to the outside, but landed an Arabian press on his feet in the ring. The crowd popped big and broke out in a loud “ole” chant in support of Zayn. Colter provided a distraction at ringside, allowing Swagger to take the upper hand. [C]

Back from break, Swagger planted Zayn with a hard belly-to-belly for a two-count and stayed in control with a short-arm clothesline that turned Zayn inside-out. A short time later, Zayn dropped the tope rope and sent Swagger crashing to ringside. He followed up with a big flip dive and got a near-fall back in the ring with a diving crossbody.

Swagger attempted an Oklahoma stampede, but Zayn reversed it into a huge blue-thunder bomb for a good near-fall. Zayn managed to avoid the ankle lock, but Swagger hit the gutwrench powerbomb for a great near-fall. Swagger went back to the ankle lock, and the crowd was white-hot for Sami with loud “no!” chants. Zayn made it to the ropes, but he was heavily selling the leg.

Swagger went for the Swagger bomb out of the corner, but Zayn got both feet up and nailed Swagger with a great yakuza kick in the corner for another near-fall. The crowd chanted “Yes!” for every strike Sami connected with, and bought into a great false-finish after a sunset-flip powerbomb.

At about the thirteen-minute mark, Bo Dallas made his way to ringside. Zayn was distracted briefly, but it was enough to allow Swagger to hook in the Patriot Lock and force Zayn to submit.

Jack Swagger beat Sami Zayn in about 13:15.

A replay showed the serried of events leading to the finish as Swagger and Colter made their way to the back. The show closed with Dallas on the stage feigning disappointment in Zayn.

Zim’s Zag: Very good match. Zayn seems to have caught on like wildfire; comparable to Daniel Bryan on the main roster. Swagger played the cocky heel with the strength advantage, but sold his tail off for Zayn as well. Good stuff. I like the finish, as it keeps alive the issues between Zayn and the Americans, as well as the presumed program of Zayn and Dallas. I would highly recommend checking out the main event of this show, but the rest was entirely skippable.

Throw comments, questions, criticisms, or corrections @InVasionZim; always happy to discuss.