WWE NXT Spotlight: 10/19/16 by Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to another installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. I am your host as always, and as we get into the meat of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, we also have Takeover: Toronto now just a month away. Things are starting to heat up, so let’s get to the action this week.

We start this week’s show with a video recap of the last few weeks with Samoa Joe’s hunt for Nakamura and his title, leading to Nakamura’s return last week.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match
No Way Jose & Rich Swann vs. Tony Nese & Drew Gulak

Swann and Jose are almost too perfect as a team. This has some real potential and that’s just from the entrances alone. Swann and Gulak start the match. They stalemate early with shoulder tackles and leapfrogs. Swann shows off some incredible athleticism and hits Gulak with a dropkick. Jose now tags in. Gulak escapes a wristlock from Jose and tags in Nese. Jose snapmares him with flare and then a bodyslam. He then drops Nese with a flapjack and gets a two count. Nese shows off his ability, dodging a Jose attack and then drops him with a series of knees and kicks. Jose stays down for a count of one. Nese powers Jose up into a suplex, but Jose reverses it and drops Nese with a delayed vertical suplex. Jose gets Nese up in a bodyslam and tags in Swann. Jose assists Swan with a splash onto Nese. Swann gets caught though and gets sent to the outside. Swann has to deal with Gulak out there, but lays him out. However he runs right into a Nese superkick as we go to commercial.

We return with Gulak being the legal man and has a headlock on Swann. Swann fights out and ends up doing a double clothesline with Gulak, leaving both men down. Hot tags are made and Jose takes out both of his opponents. Nese misses a splash in the corner and turns around into a Jose lariat. Jose with a pin but Nese kicks out. Nese and Gulak go for a double suplex but it doesn’t work and Nese gets sent to the floor. Jose and Gulak battle in the ring and Jose drops Gulak with a pop-up right hand. Nese manages to break up the pin though. Swann comes in and takes out Nese to the floor. Swann goes up toe the turnbuckles and comes off with a flip onto Nese on the rampway that takes him out. Meanwhile, in the ring, Jose drops Gulak with his Full Nelson Slam and gets the win for his team.

Winners: No Way Jose & Rich Swann

Post match, Swann and Jose grab microphones and celebrate their win. They call out Authors of Pain as they are their second round opponents.

Quick Plug: If you haven’t already checked out this week’s episode of The Match Beyond podcast, go do so immediately. I have Charlie Haas as my guest this week and we have an incredible conversation that covers his entire career and his thoughts about coming back to WWE. You do not want to miss this one.

We get a recap of Bobby Roode ditching Tye Dillinger in their match against Sanity. We then go to a video of Dillinger getting checked out by the trainers. He’s asked about what happened last week. Dillinger says his issue isn’t with Sanity, it’s with Bobby Roode. Roode gave him his word and he left him behind. So Roode might not be a man of his word but he knows William Regal will be a man of his. So he’s asking for a Takeover: Toronto match against Roode. We find out after the video that Regal has already approved that match.

We go backstage to Austin Aries who is asked about his mystery partner for the Tag Team Classic. He says no. He says the Tag Team Classic isn’t for everyone, like Hideo Itami. The man that questioned Aries’ toughness and heart, pulled out because of a sore neck. Actually it’s more than a sore neck, they found out he has no spine. He found the perfect partner though because only the strongest and toughest survive in the Tag Team Classic.

Bobby Roode vs. Sean Maluta

According to Corey Graves, Roode is wearing a $30,000 robe. Which is GLORIOUS! Roode declares himself GLORIOUS! to Maluta after the bell rings. Then he snapmares Maluta down and declares that GLORIOUS! as well. Maluta then drops him with a dropkick and a headscissors. Maluta goes for a rollup but Roode kicks out. Roode hits a back suplex and changes the tide. Roode chops the hell out of Maluta in the corner and then slingshots him into the opposite corner. Maluta starts to fight back and hits a forearm in the corner. He comes off the ropes though and is caught in a GLORIOUS! Spinebuster. Simply picture perfect. Roode then sets up Maluta for his GLORIOUS! Impaler DDT and that’s the match.

Winner: Bobby Roode

Post match, Roode grabs a mic and says that in five weeks, the brightest star in NXT goes international as he takes over Toronto. His opponent, Tye Dillinger, has been whining and complaining every day on social media and he doesn’t understand why. Dillinger begged Roode to be his partner and he felt bad for Dillinger, so he was being a good man and tried to pull Dillinger out of his mediocre life and bring him to Roode’s level. A level that is simply GLORIOUS! He doesn’t have a beef with Dillinger but when you live the life Roode does, you eliminate the losers… Dillinger now storms the ring and goes to attack Roode. Roode cuts him off and now both men brawl in the ring. Dillinger gets Roode with a back body drop and then clotheslines him over the top rope. Roode finally retreats as Dillinger wants to get his hands on him again.

We go backstage to Liv Morgan because apparently I can’t go a week without having to see her, and is asked about Billie Kay and Peyton Royce tormenting her. We go back to last week where she lost to Billie due to interference from Peyton. Liv starts to talk about the two of the, but they come from behind and beat her up again. Billie drops her with the big boot and then both of them drag her out to the rampway. Billie and Peyton get a mic and tells everyone that the women’s division has been put on notice, and that includes Asuka. The division belongs to them.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match
Tucker Knight & Otis Dozovic vs. Team Aries

This is Dozovic’s debut. He is a massive man, on the short side, but genuinely one of the strongest guys probably in the entire company. There have been social media videos posted of him from Performance Center. Aries comes out by himself and then his partner is revealed to be the one and only Roderick Strong! Aries and Strong obviously have a ton of history together. Aries and Dozovic start the match and trade blows early. He catches Aries in midair and tags in Knight. Knight comes off the ropes and splashes Aries while still in Dozovic’s grips. Aries manages to escape Knight so that he can tag in Roddy. Roddy and Knight trade chops but then Roddy runs right into a Knight dropkick. Dozovic tags back in and they give Roddy a double headbutt. Aries runs in the ring and gets hit with a double headbutt of his own. Dozovic and Knight end up belly bumping Roddy right in the head. Dozovic goes to the second rope but Aries distracts him enough for Roddy to kick him right in the knee to get him off the ropes. Roddy hits a dropkick but Dozovic kicks out at one. Aries tags in now and comes off the top rope with a shot on Dozovic. Roddy tags back in but Dozovic manages to fight them both off. Roddy goes for a sunset flip but Dozovic blocks it. Aries ends up hitting Dozovic down onto Roddy’s knees and Aries slingshots in with an elbow drop. They go for a double suplex on Dozovic, but he reverses it and suplexes them both instead. Knight gets a hot tag and cleans house. He hits a nice double underhook suplex on Roddy. He goes for an avalanche splash on Aries but Aries moves and Knight goes to the floor. Aries comes right after him with his low bridge suicide dive. Roddy is the legal man now and Knight is sent back in the ring so Roddy can deliver a running high knee in the corner. Roddy gets Knight up in a fireman’s carry, Aries comes with a Roaring Elbow that leads to Death by Roderick and then Roddy follows that up with a Sick Kick for the win.

Winners: Roderick Strong and Austin Aries

We get a recap of The Revival advancing in the Tag Team Classic two weeks ago along with Almas attacking Alexander after the match. Almas is interviewed in a pre-recorded interview, who has a translator. It’s one of the normal backstage interviewers but I can’t keep up with all of them now. According to the translator, Almas says that in order to be a part of NXT, he had to take off his mask. Unfortunately, that respect hasnt be reciprocated. He’s worked an entire lifetime to get that respect, but has gotten zero even though he knows he deserves it. He doesn’t worry about respect anymore though, he only cares about Andrade “Cien” Almas.

Nikki Cross (w/Sanity) vs. Danielle Kamela

I love everything about Sanity. Their entrance and presentation is incredible. Corey Graves put it perfectly, “Part of me is fascinated by it, part of me is terrified by it.” Nikki just acts like a madman (madwoman?) in the ring as she destroys Kamela. She actually bites and gnaws on her own arm as well as hits herself in the face. Classy lady for sure. She hits Kamela with a Fisherman’s Neckbreaker and that’ll do it.

Winner: Nikki Cross

Post match, Nikki continues to destory Kamela until Eric Young pulls her off. Nikki ends up hitting EY with a forearm shot, which he enjoyed, and then she continues to beat on Kamela. Sawyer Fulton pulls her off again but the ref changes his mind and changes the ruling on the decision and says that Danielle Kamela has won by disqualification now. This was something else to see, wow.

Next week it’s Team #DIY vs. Ho Ho Lun and Tian Bing and Kota Ibushi & TJ Perkins vs. Lince Dorado & Mustafa Ali in Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round matches.

A Champion’s Address

Shinsuke Nakamura comes to the ring with a message. He tells Samoa Joe that he’s not done with him. Joe wants his title at Takeover? Come get it. Do whatever you want Joe, cheat, dirty tricks, he doesn’t care. He’ll just beat Joe with no mercy. At that point, Patrick Clark’s music hits. I guess he’s going all the way with this Prince type gimmick. Clark challenges Nakamura to a match against, “The Velveteen Dream”, The Patrick Clark Experience. If Nakamura doesn’t know what that his, he can show him better than he can tell him. Clark gets in Nakamura’s face and in the blink of en eye, Nakamura drops him with a couple of kicks. Samoa Joe shows up on the rampway now but just stares down Nakamura. Nakamura lays out Clark with KINSHASA!! That ends our show.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

• It’s really great to see Roderick Strong be the latest addition to NXT. He will be a huge player for the brand. He was always my favorite in Ring of Honor. He doesn’t take a night off and never has a bad match. He’s incredible to watch, and if you haven’t seen any of his work, just find anything from his string of matches with Jay Lethal in the past year.
• Despite being eliminated, I think there’s some potential in Dozovic and Knight as a team. Two big, hoss looking guys who fit well together. They have some personality too and I think there’s something there.
• Can’t say enough of the Sanity segment. There’s a saying, “maximize your minutes”. Nikki Cross did just that on this episode.

That’s it for this week, but we’ll be back next week with more from the Tag Team Classic and more towards the build for Takeover: Toronto. Until then… Don’t do anything I wouldnt do, but if you do, name it after me.