NXT Takeover Brooklyn Predictions: Asuka VS Bayley
This weekend, live on the WWE Network Asuka will defend her NXT Women's women's championship against Bayley as two of NXT's most talented and popular women collide at NXT Takeover Brooklyn. In today's blog post we are going to be taking an in depth look at the history between these two incredible women and making our final bold predictions ahead of this huge match up.
Last year at NXT Takeover Brooklyn Bayley competed in one of the greatest women's matches (if not the greatest women's match) in WWE history. Taking on Sasha Banks Bayley looked to finally capture the most prestigious prize in the NXT women's division and after a heartfelt battle and years of working hard the leader of the hug nation was able to pin the Boss at one of the biggest stages NXT has graced to become the fourth NXT women's champion in history. That iconic match was the start of something truly phenomenal not only for Bayley but for the entire women's division both in NXT and over on the main roster. For years Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and of course Bayley had been working their back sides off to change the way women's wrestling is perceived and and they did just that and more. Every single match these women competed in contributed to the change in opinions on women's wrestling and at Brooklyn this time last year Bayley and Sasha Banks tore the house down competing in the match of the night and the match that would change everything. A couple of months later the two girls became the first women to main event a WWE live special while also competing in the first ever female Iron man match all a result of what they had delivered at Brooklyn. A whole, twelve months later Bayley finds herself on the same stage again looking to capture the NXT women's championship.
Before we get talking about Asuka we have to mention Bayley's championship reign. I've been following NXT pretty much right from the very start and I have seen every single women who has held onto that championship go on to achieve great things. Now, you guys know that Sasha Banks is my current favourite female competitor both in and outside of the WWE and her championship reign really was something special. However, I think it's pretty difficult to disagree on the fact that Bayley may just have had the great NXT Women's Championship reign so far. Taking on every single women that stood in her way and regularly defending her title she took on the likes of Nia Jax, Sasha Banks, Carmella, Eva Marie and more before eventually dropping her title to Asuka at NXT Takeover Dallas during Wrestlemania week. Her reign was truly special and one that years from now wrestling fans will still be talking. What we really got to see happen during this title reign was how much Bayley grew. It was as if every single match changed Bayley just that little bit more. It made her stronger, faster, more popular and more skillful. She stands today as one of the most over female talents in all of professional wrestling she's also at her strongest and walks into this match full of momentum.
Here is what I had to say about Asuka's last championship match at NXT Takeover: the end:
After last night there really is no denying my love Nia Jax. I honestly think I have officially declared myself the biggest Nia Jax fan on the planet! For the past month she really has been the dominate force in the women's division. Over the past three weeks we have seen Nia close NXT as the last women standing looking stronger than ever and last night all her hard work was about to pay off as she was set to take on Asuka for the NXT Women's Championship. I mentioned on twitter last night that I was very interested in how this match was going to play out. These are two very dominate women who have made such a big big impact since arriving on the scene and while they have many similarities their tactics in the ring are very different and so seeing how they were going to fair against one another really was interesting for me and I couldn't wait to see what was going to go down between them. Now, I do have to say that I wanted this match to be a tad longer. To be fair the length was enough for both women to make an impact and put on a solid match but I do really believe that we could have gotten more out of both superstars (Nia in particular) if the match was say ten minuets longer. However, I do have to mention that this was by far the best performance we have seen from both these women since their arrival in NXT. They both were such a strong challenge for one another with neither of these women facing one like the other. It was an interesting match that showed both women's strength. They both had equal control of the match and Asuka very easily showed that she was capable of delivering a fantastic match against someone like Nia and that really was a showcase of her experience. We have seen women in the past really struggle to deliver when facing Nia but Asuka was fantastic last night. She used her speed and agility perfectly and in a way that we haven't seen any other women do when taking on Jax. And then we have Nia who without a doubt had her best performance to date. She moved with ease and looked so strong and dominate. She fitted in a couple of very aggressive, dominate moves that Asuka sold really well. I said it last night and I will say it again, this was the perfect match in showing just how far Nia Jax has come since her last championship match and while she may not have left as champion both these women did so so well and I actually enjoyed this match more than Asuka VS Bayley at the last NXT Takeover show.
Asuka. Now I have to be completely honest, I have no enjoyed Asuka's reign as champion. I completely understand that she has been busy working the Japan tour and many other public appearances and shows with the main roster but my biggest problem has been her lack of TV appearances and title defences. You literally can count on one hand how many times she has defend her championship on TV and if there is anything I dislike it's a lack of title defences. Since capturing the championship we have actually seen far more of Nia Jax who has been a huge stand out and of course Bayley who has had her own story being told much stronger than Asuka. We have needed much more from Asuka and in my personal opinion it just doesn't feel like we have had enough from her. Of course when she has been on TV and she has competed she has been nothing short of dominate. Her title match against Nia Jax was a stand of the women's division this year. We was able to see her prove that she can fair against a competitor who has several advantages and we got to see how she was able to change things up in the ring to work to her advantage and allow her to retain the championship. I just wish we that got to see more of her and we had more of a story being told for her and her title reign altogether.
To the tell the truth I wasn't very high on the previous match up between Asuka and Bayley. They were scheduled to compete right after Sami Zayn VS Shinsuke Nakamura and so naturally the match wasn't going to feel very strong. Every was still on a high from that epic match and nothing throughout the rest of the night was going to be able to top that. When I wrote my predictions for their first match I hyped it up massively. Here we have two of the greatest women in the WWE today. Two very popular and very talented women, we were bound to get something special. Of course this was a great match but it just did not live up to the expectations and I was disappointed. This time round I find myself much much more excited. The build up has been much stronger than the previous and there is a much bigger story. I do think this time is is much more about Bayley. Ever since loosing the title we have been taken on a huge journey with her. It's been part three of Bayley's NXT story and again we are seeing huge similarities with her journey and Sami Zayn's journey witch is
Bayley really has been on fire recently. Her most recent matches have seen a whole new side of her and she has showed off so much more of her move set changing things up and showing she is capable of so much more. Something I love about Bayley is her ability to change things up and adapt her in ring style to help her gain the upper hand in her matches and this another case of that. She was annihilated by Asuka in their previous match and it's clear she doesn't want history to repeat itself. She looks stronger and more determined than ever before heading into this match, she's ready for Asuka. Now, it's perfectly clear that Asuka is retaining at Takeover. There is a huge change up coming in the NXT women's division and new faces are making their way up. I do think however this is gonna be a brilliant match and a true stand out of the night. I cannot wait to see how much Bayley has improved from her last match against Asuka and I cannot wait to see how things play out!
As always you can let me know what your predictions are for this match and every other match on the card by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria.
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