WWE NXT Takeover Toronto Main Event: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe for NXT Title

The main event for WWE NXT Takeover Toronto on Saturday, November 19 will see Shinsuke Nakamura defend the NXT Title against Samoa Joe. It was announced by NXT GM William Regal in a video posted on WWE.com and Youtube.

In case you haven’t seen NXT, here’s a WWE.com recap of their story and then my thoughts underneath it.

There is no love lost between champion and challenger, especially since TakeOver: Brooklyn II, where The King of Strong Style not only dethroned Joe, but left him with a dislocated jaw. The Samoan submission specialist, not content to let that be the lasting image of their rivalry, brutally attacked Nakamura several weeks later, sending him out of Full Sail University in an ambulance.

Samoa Joe later obtained the medical diagnosis of the NXT Champion, revealing that The King of Strong Style would be out of action for 6-12 weeks. Not wanting to wait for his title opportunity, Joe gave NXT General Manager William Regal an ultimatum: “Bring me Nakamura, or hand me my title!” The brute then made good on a promise to destroy the NXT roster until Regal rendered a decision, bulldozing through the Ealy twins and ruining the debut of Dan Matha. After he prematurely ended a match between Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake in ruthless fashion, Joe re-stated his demands and got an answer, but not the one he was looking for.

Nakamura returned, carrying the NXT Championship and sporting a neck brace. However, The King of Strong Style quickly showed that he was ready to fight, ripping off the brace and charging right at his rival. The two fought through a swarm of security guards, raining blows down on each other. In the end, it was Nakamura who made the ultimate statement, leaving Joe knocked out cold in the middle of the ring with a devastating Kinshasa. After the carnage cleared, Regal made this huge rematch official for Toronto.

Here’s a clip of Nakamura’s segment with Joe from NXT this week.

You should really read about it in detail in Kurt Zamora’s NXT recap as well.

Analysis: This was the expected main event for NXT Takeover since they did the title change in August and champions get rematches in WWE. Based on their physical altercations with Nakamura doing the stretcher job and then the brawl this week, they should probably add a stipulation to the match.

I think Nakamura will keep the title and it wouldn’t shock me if Joe moves on to Raw or Smackdown soon after. It would be like Bayley going up to Raw after she lost her rematch against Asuka in August.

I’m going to be at NXT Takeover Toronto, so I’m pretty pumped about seeing Nakamura live for the first time in the main event.

The next set of NXT tapings takes place tonight, which should set up matches for the rest of the card.