It hasnt exactly been a banner year for the world wide leader in sports entertainment. With the whole CM Punk fiasco, The delay of the Network launch in the UK, being well under the subscription goals for the Network in North America, and top money making stars missing substantial amount of time due to injury, WWE just wants 2014 to end. There has been a shining light through all of this and that is NXT, especially the NXT specials and we get another one on December 11th. From Arrival in February until now each NXT special had the wrestling world buzzing in a good way, I dont expect this one to be different. REvolution is headlined by the NXT Title match between Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn, Neville has headlined every NXT special so far. Also on the card will be the Womens title match between Sasha Banks and champion Charlotte, the tag team title match between Vaudevillains and champions Lucha Dragons, and the grudge match between Finn Balor/Hideo Itami and Ascension. Time to jump right in on it all.
NXT Championship Match Adrian Neville (c) vs Sami Zayn, If Zayn loses hes gone from NXT
Sami Zayn is in the same boat as the WWE when it comes to 2014. Sami has built a reputation this year of not being able to win the big one, as a matter of fact he hasn’t won a match on a NXT special yet. Sami lost a classic to Cesaro at Arrival, Sami lost to Tyler Breeze at Takeover, and he didn’t win the fatal 4 way at Takeover 2. The thing that makes these matches interesting is they were the Match of the Night on each of those cards. Sami puts on a show for Full Sail every time that’s why he is clearly the crowd favorite against everyone but the WWE has to realize that Sami has to start winning some of these matches or the crowd is going to stop caring.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Adrian Neville. If I were Neville I wouldn’t want 2014 to end. Adrian has not lost a match on a NXT special yet and like mentioned before, he’s headlined them all. Adrian won the title at Arrival in a ladder match against Bo Dallas, successfully defended it against Tyson Kidd at Takeover and then successfully defended it again at Takeover 2 against Tyson, Tyler and Sami. Adrian is in the running for hottest superstar in WWE, not just in NXT, but because of the constant Neville winning, the NXT Universe has gotten bored, they are chomping at the bit to see a new champ. Neville doesn’t have the mic skills to keep them interested.
So how is this match going to go with such an interesting matchup? I think it’s going to be a last minute entry into Match of the Year candidacy. They’ve had matches before but I think they were being handcuffed by WWE due them not being on a NXT special. Zayn needs to win, WWE needs Zayn to win to make us believe him as a legitimate threat to anything. Neville is the longest reigning champion in history so he’s going to bring it. I see Zayn walking away with the NXT Championship and turning heel in the process. Maybe this is where Zayns real life close friend Kevin Owens makes his debut, helping Sami?
NXT Womens Championship Charlotte (c) vs Sasha Banks
It’s usually sad when best friends have a falling out, then make it their mission to ruin each other but not in Professional Wrestling! When it happens in Pro Wrestling we get rivalry gold and that’s what this has been. This thing between former BFF’s Charlotte and Sasha has worked well for both. Sasha has shown she can talk with the best females in the business and has the heel role down to a science. Sasha promos and actions when dealing with Charlotte is helping Charlotte come off as the great champion that may not be able to be beat straight up, and transitioned her into a full fledged face. I can’t say enough good things about Sasha performances lately, she has a few small things to work on in the ring but she has the It factor that gets thrown around a lot. This is going to be the first title match of many between these 2 over their careers in the WWE. I have Charlotte retaining but Sasha is the MVP of this rivalry so far.
NXT Tag Team Championship Lucha Dragons (c) vs Vaudevillains
The tag team division in NXT has come a long way in a calendar year. We’ve gone from Ascension destroying Jobbers weekly because there was no other teams to one of the deepest tag divisions in the business. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 8 legitimate tag teams, that is more than the main roster has. WWE has done a great job of transitioning the Ascension away from the title picture so they can smoothly call them up to main roster. In their place is Vaudevillains. Aiden English and Simon Gotch have picked up the heel ball and ran with it. After weeks of videos mocking Lucha Dragons with midget wrestlers and no response from the Dragons, Vaudevillains get their title shot. Kalisto seems to be the chosen one to take over for Rey Mysterio as the big Lucha wrestler in WWE, so I don’t see him losing the tag titles just yet. Lucha Dragons retain in what is most likely the opener to the show.
Hideo Itami/Finn Balor vs The Ascension
Hideo made his much anticipated debut at the last NXT special, Ascension welcomed him quite rudely. The battle has been on ever since, with the Ascension beating down Hideo most of the time, until Hideo finally brought in a friend. In an even more anticipated debut for me Hideo brought in Finn Balor, the Irish sensation who can do it all. Ever since then Hideo and Finn have been destroying the Ascensions world. I don’t see that stopping in this match. The Ascesnion are on their way to the main roster and this will be their NXT Swan Song. Hideo and Finn win this one.
The Debut of Kevin Owens
Also being advertised is the debut of Kevin Owens aka Kevin Steen. Owens is the last of the big summer signings for the WWE to debut. The question is in what capacity does Owens debut? They could put him in a squash but with Corbin and Bull doing that every week it loses its awe factor. They could introduce him like they did Hideo but that would be a little too boring and safe. They can debut him by getting involved in a match, which I think they should do. I think they will do that, its going to be either the NXT Championship match or the Hideo/Finn vs Ascension battle. Sami and Owens are both from Montreal, came up through the Indy’s together, had a classic rivalry in ROH and have a very close friendship. I say Owens interfares on behalf of Zayn, gets him the win because hes tired of seeing his friend fail in the big matches. Zayn down the road takes exception with it, setting up a match at the next NXT special. Thats how I would and how I think Owens will debut tonight.
I don’t have anything left for you to read to get ready for the show, so go sit back and enjoy the show. For those of you that can’t, look for the review of the show after. Ill have all the fall out for you.
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