WWE NXT Review: Kevin Owens Defends NXT Championship Against Finn Balor
By Mike Smith
WWE.com
Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor for the NXT Championship
Owens continued to play the role of old school heel, heading to the outside before there was even any contact in the match.
Owens started the match by just trying to wear Balor down, and keeping him grounded.
This didn’t last for long, as Balor was able to get the pace to pick up, and he then went on and tried to wear down Owens, possibly trying to take his power game out of the equation. He was on offense, until Owens ended up on the apron, and cameback by hitting Balor with a hangman across the top rope.
Back on offense, Owens was a bit more methodical this time, utilizing more strikes, and a little bit of cheap offense here and there.
As the match went to the outside, Owens went to powerbomb Balor on the apron, but Balor countered and looked to control the match as they returned to the ring, but Owens countered a crucifix pin attempt with a side slam.
Balor got the offense going, and hit the double-foot stomp on the doubled-over Owens, but he kicked out. Owens looked to comeback from that quickly, but a Pele kick from Balor quickly followed, as both men went to the mat.
Balor kept fighting, fending off Owens’ offense, as he hit Bloody Sunday, but again Owens kicked out.
After Owens side-stepped a dropkick in the corner, and Balor’s left knee rattled off the turnbuckle, Balor began to sell an injury to that knee, and Owens wasn’t shy in attacking it.
Despite Owens’ methodical offense, Balor pulled out a sudden double-foot stomp from the mat onto a lying Owens, resetting the match.
As the match continued, every time Balor got rolling on offense, Owens responded by attacking the injured knee.
Balor went to the top rope and hit the Coup de Grace, but tweaked the injured knee when he landed and couldn’t make the cover. By the time he made it back to his feet, Owens had as well, and Owens hit a pop-up powerbomb for the win.
Owens defeats Balor via pinfall.
3 out of 5 stars – This was very good, but it was too long. These two could easily pull off a 20-minute match, but in the WWE-style, there needs to be more story for a match like this to really connect and work.
They didn’t give me enough to get invested enough for this match to work as a 4+ star match, which is what was expected when these two stepped in the ring together.