By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 8/19/15)

No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn

– The opening video focused on last week when NXT Champion Finn Balor soundly defeated Marcus Louis, only to be ambushed from behind by Kevin Owens, who got the last laugh with a Pop-Up Powerbomb despite some fight from Balor. Bayley defeating Becky Lynch for the right to face NXT Women’s Champion Sasha Banks at TakeOver: Brooklyn was also featured.

– The NXT Women’s Championship match contract signing segment with Bayley, Banks and General Manager William Regal was a good follow-up from last week’s conclusion. Bayley put over the match being her biggest yet against someone the caliber of Banks despite having had Title shots before. Banks was fantastic on the mic as a heel, drawing easy heat with the crowd, just by bragging that Brooklyn would get TakeOver this time. The back-and-forth was entertaining, as Bayley wanted to fight while Banks shot it down with some harsh vocal shots (not referring to her as a threat, not on the main roster, a loser who was not good enough, etc.) and Bayley gained back some momentum by attacking Banks on the ramp, needing to be held back by officials. Good segment that gave this match/feud the last bit of “oomph” necessary.

– The Apollo Crews hype video was much like the past few weeks but with his in-ring debut set for TakeOver: Brooklyn, it made sense to show it again.

– The Tyler Breeze-Ryzin match had an added visual effect of Breeze carrying a replica Liger mask to the ring under his selfie stick to send a message to the Japanese legend. The commentary team never bothered to mention Ryzin by name, but we caught it on the back of his tights, so we’ll go with that. Basic squash. Also liked that he put the Liger mask on the fallen wrestler, cutting a promo about looking forward to facing him, then laying him out once again. Classic heel stuff.

– The eight-man tag match between The Hype Bros./Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady (w/Carmella) and Jesse Sorenson/Aaron Solow/Two Other Unnamed Guys match was your basic squash to make the faces look good, to get them on the show we can guess. Ultimately, it was to build the four against a “tougher” team next week in Dash Wilder/Scott Dawson/Jason Jordan/Chad Gable.

– The Wilder/Dawson/Jordan/Gable backstage promo saw them rip apart the last match and say why they’d all win next week. Liked they were all still reluctant to all say “Gable.” Will probably be a fun match in the Brooklyn environment, that we imagine will be quite receptive to Team SAWFT.

– The Samoa Joe-Steve Cutler match was anther obvious squash to make Joe look good on his way to the encounter against Baron Cornin at TakeOver: Brooklyn, winning with the Kojita Clutch yet again. On that note, Corbin’s post-match attack was effective, culminating in a swift End Of Days.

– Oh god, the “new and improved” Bull Dempsey strikes next week. That should be real fun.

– The Blake/Murphy-Sawyer Fulton/Angelo Dawkins match was another squash to build up the Tag Champions for their match at TakeOver: Brooklyn against The Vaudevillains. Despite some excitable hot tag-esque offense from Fulton, it was all to put over the Champs in the end. The “Come On Barbie, Let’s Go Party” chants were funny. The post-match stuff with Vaudevillains trying to say what would happen at TakeOver: Brooklyn only to get slapped twice by Bliss was an okay way to go about it, stretching it out until the actual show.

– Hyped for next week also was a fatal four-way divas match – Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Emma vs. Dana Brooke and then Carmella vs Eva Marie. At least one of those matches should have quality Divas wrestling. Hint: it won’t be the second one.

– The last “Owens’ Final Declaration” segment was about as good as you can get for an Owens segment, as he tore down the Full Sail University crowd for booing TakeOver being in Brooklyn, calling the crowd hypocritical for saying they want NXT to grow but not liking it when they sell out a 13,000-seat arena. Genius way to grab “real” heat among a “smarter crowd.” Him addressing Balor was also good, while climbing the ladder in a segment we all know too well. When Balor came and appeared perched on the turnbuckle with the lights back on leading to a quick minute of fighting was also great. Did they really need the segment to put the match over? Probably not, but it was a good way to make both men look equal, and it’s always fun to hear Owens rip on the crowd.

Quick Results

• Tyler Breeze def. Ryzin via pinfall
• Eight-Man Tag – The Hype Bros./Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady (w/Carmella) def. Jesse Sorenson/Aaron Solow/Two Unnamed Talent via pinfall
• Samoa Joe def. Steve Cutler via submission
• Blake/Murphy (w/Alexa Bliss) def. Sawyer Fulton/Angelo Dawkins via pinfall