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| This here what you call redemption Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Coming up Thursday at 9 pm EST on Stamford New Classics, the Sami Zayn Redemption.
As opaque as things have been between himself and hisfriendfrenemy friend for now at least Adrian Neville in the past few weeks, Zayn's promo after Baron Corbin beat some guy so fast time may have reversed was not. (It should also be noted that Alex Riley of all people calling Sami Zayn a choker is like a Raiders fan...well, like a Raiders fan saying anything this year that isn't "Dear God, what I have done?") He didn't dodge the loss that happened in last week's main to Titus O'Neil, and said he was sick and tired of it. His eyes were still set on the prize, and as the crowd was applauding him yet again a wild Tyson Kidd emerged with an InZayn shirt on to ruin the feel-good moment. Zayn was never going to win the Big X (a bit disappointing that Sami didn't have a rejoinder to that, since Kidd is currently on the outside looking in by edict of his last lost to the Man That Gravity Forgot), and how dare he lie to the NXT Universe, the people behind TK All Day? While Zayn got a You Got Served chant going by asking if Kidd had Nattie's permission to appear, he hit right back with saying he'd rather be on Total Divas than a total loser. Eventually, it sussed out they'd renew hostilities in the main event.
In case you were very new to the programming or your closed captioning was on the fritz, even before the match proper began Kidd threw the shirt at Zayn, landing on his shoulder and on the ropes next to him. Zayn then left the ring and threw it into the Full Sail crowd, making sure to point out the brief "Where is Nattie?" chant that started before they engaged in some chain wrestling that split pretty much down the middle with Zayn getting the final upper hand in the earliest part and adding insult to injury by whipping Kidd's coat at him and actually hitting him in the face. While it's cool that occurred, it wouldn't be a surprise for any viewer with a few weeks of viewing under their belt to suspect Zayn may've not done this pre-Fatal 4 Way. Everyone's favorite Syrian-Canadian managed to stop laughing long enough at the Tyson's Chicken chants to fire off his trademark armdrag chain and even his bananas Arabian moonsault into Mutumbo finger wag feint.
Had there been no such thing as commercial breaks the Zayn offensive might've rolled on unabated, but Tyson got in a nasty running kick from the apron. In the second act, both men's desperation showed clearly. Zayn was clearly motivated to not end up in the slot behind the 8-ball that Kidd finds himself currently in, so through the double jump flying bodypresses, snap-back Blue Thunder bombs and snap fisherman's neckbreakers every kick out by one man seemed to send the other one closer to a breaking point. In the end Zayn survived a Sharpshooter but Kidd didn't the Helluva Kick, and so the subquestion orbiting around the main question is this: can this road to redemption get Zayn the belt he deserves and needs while keeping him on the side of the white hats?
In terms of making their minutes count, nobody has done it any better in Florida than Enzo Amore, Big Cass, and their new friend Carmella. The NYC Triad carried the middle of the show on their respective backs, and caused the Legionnaires to implode in the process. Cass starting whaling on Sylvester Lefort, who tagged in Marcus Louis but accidentally took the Angle tribute headpiece on his stagger out of the ring. This is the point at which Louis broke, since Lefort is the reason he's running around looking like Uncle Fester. As Cass and Amore stared in happy shock, Louis beat his partner around the ring to Daniel-Bryan styled Oui! chants. So with that match a non-event, they decided to bring out a fetching and popular independent lass who'd immediately get shorthanded as a name to Blue Pants for her attire choice as Cass riffed a bit with the Price is Right music to bring her to the ring since obviously she wouldn't have a song yet. (Lest we forget, Cass has been across the ring with Aiden English showing off his pipes and at least held his own.) Carmella then came up to a Fancy ripoff and gave Cass a smooch on both cheeks and Amore the Heisman yet again before she put on her submission in short order. The Let's Go Blue Pants chants failed to help her opponent. 'Mella's dropkick and finisher look fine but she's barely gotten her toes into the NXT women's division pool; we'll see how this showcase looks down the road.
In that pool, the shark du jour is Charlotte, who again showed off a ridiculous amount of skill and was met in kind even though she managed to best Becky Lynch again with the Rude Awakening ^ Natural Selection combo platter. They traded some chain wrestling and arm work to start, and if it wasn't Zayn/Kidd level it wasn't that far off. It's always fun to see a Championship-holding Flair getting armdragged around the ring and getting increasingly frustrated, you know? It's a part of childhood like Fun Dip and staying out on summer days until it got dark and your mom yelled at you to get inside the house from down the way. Once the momentum got in her side of the ledger the Champion did her signature wear-down figure four headlock and then shrugged off a lighting legdrop chain before uncorking an overhead suplex that bore at least a passing similarity to certain awesome current GMs.
The women's match may again have been the best one on offer for the show; at the very least it stole it. And backstage things continued to get interesting, as Lynch went up to Sasha who was preening in a mirror and rebuked her for jumping Bayley. But it was her saying she hoped the Boss got what was coming to her that made the Bostonian respond the only thing that'd be would be the belt; of course, Lynch couldn't ever hope to get there since she's lost to Charlotte twice. Where's being nice ever going to get or Bayley, for that matter? Doesn't she know what it'll take for her to get to the top? Sasha left, having pretty solidly played the Summer Rae to Lynch's...Sasha Banks. Either that, or that mirror is made out of the same stuff that got inside the Army tank with a Ferrari engine way back when. Pro wrestling might be fake, but Oculus is real.
With Mojo Rawley possibly dying on the way back to his home planet, the Lucha Dragons putting together their first W of their post-Ascension era, and Viktor and Konnor cackling about what they did to Funaki and Hideo last week while almost virtually promising No Possible Comeuppance Ever, it was a packed show that flew by in maybe a third of the time you might expect. But it still ended with a smile on Sami Zayn's face.
We'll see how long he gets to keep it.
As opaque as things have been between himself and his
In case you were very new to the programming or your closed captioning was on the fritz, even before the match proper began Kidd threw the shirt at Zayn, landing on his shoulder and on the ropes next to him. Zayn then left the ring and threw it into the Full Sail crowd, making sure to point out the brief "Where is Nattie?" chant that started before they engaged in some chain wrestling that split pretty much down the middle with Zayn getting the final upper hand in the earliest part and adding insult to injury by whipping Kidd's coat at him and actually hitting him in the face. While it's cool that occurred, it wouldn't be a surprise for any viewer with a few weeks of viewing under their belt to suspect Zayn may've not done this pre-Fatal 4 Way. Everyone's favorite Syrian-Canadian managed to stop laughing long enough at the Tyson's Chicken chants to fire off his trademark armdrag chain and even his bananas Arabian moonsault into Mutumbo finger wag feint.
Had there been no such thing as commercial breaks the Zayn offensive might've rolled on unabated, but Tyson got in a nasty running kick from the apron. In the second act, both men's desperation showed clearly. Zayn was clearly motivated to not end up in the slot behind the 8-ball that Kidd finds himself currently in, so through the double jump flying bodypresses, snap-back Blue Thunder bombs and snap fisherman's neckbreakers every kick out by one man seemed to send the other one closer to a breaking point. In the end Zayn survived a Sharpshooter but Kidd didn't the Helluva Kick, and so the subquestion orbiting around the main question is this: can this road to redemption get Zayn the belt he deserves and needs while keeping him on the side of the white hats?
In terms of making their minutes count, nobody has done it any better in Florida than Enzo Amore, Big Cass, and their new friend Carmella. The NYC Triad carried the middle of the show on their respective backs, and caused the Legionnaires to implode in the process. Cass starting whaling on Sylvester Lefort, who tagged in Marcus Louis but accidentally took the Angle tribute headpiece on his stagger out of the ring. This is the point at which Louis broke, since Lefort is the reason he's running around looking like Uncle Fester. As Cass and Amore stared in happy shock, Louis beat his partner around the ring to Daniel-Bryan styled Oui! chants. So with that match a non-event, they decided to bring out a fetching and popular independent lass who'd immediately get shorthanded as a name to Blue Pants for her attire choice as Cass riffed a bit with the Price is Right music to bring her to the ring since obviously she wouldn't have a song yet. (Lest we forget, Cass has been across the ring with Aiden English showing off his pipes and at least held his own.) Carmella then came up to a Fancy ripoff and gave Cass a smooch on both cheeks and Amore the Heisman yet again before she put on her submission in short order. The Let's Go Blue Pants chants failed to help her opponent. 'Mella's dropkick and finisher look fine but she's barely gotten her toes into the NXT women's division pool; we'll see how this showcase looks down the road.
In that pool, the shark du jour is Charlotte, who again showed off a ridiculous amount of skill and was met in kind even though she managed to best Becky Lynch again with the Rude Awakening ^ Natural Selection combo platter. They traded some chain wrestling and arm work to start, and if it wasn't Zayn/Kidd level it wasn't that far off. It's always fun to see a Championship-holding Flair getting armdragged around the ring and getting increasingly frustrated, you know? It's a part of childhood like Fun Dip and staying out on summer days until it got dark and your mom yelled at you to get inside the house from down the way. Once the momentum got in her side of the ledger the Champion did her signature wear-down figure four headlock and then shrugged off a lighting legdrop chain before uncorking an overhead suplex that bore at least a passing similarity to certain awesome current GMs.
The women's match may again have been the best one on offer for the show; at the very least it stole it. And backstage things continued to get interesting, as Lynch went up to Sasha who was preening in a mirror and rebuked her for jumping Bayley. But it was her saying she hoped the Boss got what was coming to her that made the Bostonian respond the only thing that'd be would be the belt; of course, Lynch couldn't ever hope to get there since she's lost to Charlotte twice. Where's being nice ever going to get or Bayley, for that matter? Doesn't she know what it'll take for her to get to the top? Sasha left, having pretty solidly played the Summer Rae to Lynch's...Sasha Banks. Either that, or that mirror is made out of the same stuff that got inside the Army tank with a Ferrari engine way back when. Pro wrestling might be fake, but Oculus is real.
With Mojo Rawley possibly dying on the way back to his home planet, the Lucha Dragons putting together their first W of their post-Ascension era, and Viktor and Konnor cackling about what they did to Funaki and Hideo last week while almost virtually promising No Possible Comeuppance Ever, it was a packed show that flew by in maybe a third of the time you might expect. But it still ended with a smile on Sami Zayn's face.
We'll see how long he gets to keep it.