WWE NXT Spotlight: 10/5/16 By Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to the latest edition of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. As we look forward to Takeover: Toronto, we now have the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic to take up a lot of the time between now and then. The tournament looks absolutely stacked and if you haven’t seen the full bracket, we have you covered at This Link Here. I will have my full thoughts on the bracket on next week’s episode of The Match Beyond podcast (cheap plug), so for now let’s get to the action and get it all kicked off!

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match
The Authors of Pain (w/Paul Ellering) vs. The Bollywood Boyz

Call it a hunch, but I don’t like The Bollywood Boys’ chances. Harv and Rezar start the match and Harv to his credit, comes out swinging. It doesn’t work and Rezar plants Harv on his top turnbuckle so that Akam can join in the beating. He officially tags in but gets caught in a jaw jacker. Gurv comes in now but gets decleated by Akam. Rezar back in now and they double team Gurv with a massive double gutbuster. Rezar takes Harv off the apron and then avalanche splashes Gurv. Now it’s the Russian Leg Sweep/Lariat combo, which finally has a name of “The Last Chapter”, and thanks for coming Bollywood Boyz.

Winners: The Authors of Pain

A vignette for the debut of Dan Matha tonight is shown.

Rich Swann vs. Patrick Clark

Clark has apparently gone through a complete makeover as instead of Mr. USA, now he looks like a knockoff of Dave Chappelle’s knockoff of Prince. Rich Swann’s facial expressions were hilarious. Clark starts with a headlock and then a shoulder tackle that he bows after. Both men counter attacks off the ropes until Swann drops Clark with a dropkick. Clark ducks a second rope attack by Swann and then drops him with a Ron Simmons style Spinebuster. Clark ends up running into a boot in the corner and then misses with a splash. Swann hits a kick to the gut and then a kick to the face. He hits what looked like a spinning superkick, then follows that up with a handspring moonsault and that gets the win.

Winner: Rich Swann

Quick Plug: Be sure to check out this week’s episode of The Match Beyond podcast with my very special guest, Ring of Honor star, “Limitless” Keith Lee. This is a great conversation talking about his rise through the indies and his time in ROH so far. We talk about his goals for the future and a lot more. This is a great conversation that you’ll enjoy!

We get a recap of Cedric Alexander vs. Andrade Almas from two weeks ago. Tonight they will team up against The Revival in a first round matchup.

We then get a recap of the obliteration of Liv Morgan by Asuka last week. It still makes me smile. We now go to a video from last week after the show where Liv is getting checked out by the trainers. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay come by and mock her.

Peyton Royce (w/Billie Kay) vs. Danielle Kamela

Apparently Kamela was a former cheerleader for the Arizona Cardinals. Royce starts with a back elbow and bodyslam but then gets caught in a schoolboy rollup for two. Kamela gets sent to the ropes and hits a cross body block. She gets caught with a spinning heel kick though, but manages to kick out. Royce now ties up Kamela in the ropes and does a modified Tarantula submission. Royce continues to work over Kamela with a headlock that lasts forever. Kamela eventually gets out and hits Royce with a back handspring elbow in the corner. She goes for a suplex but Royce gets out and then hits a running knee to the side of the head. Royce sets up Kamela for a Fisherman’s Suplex and gets the win.

Winner: Peyton Royce

Bobby Roode and Tye Dillinger are now backstage and asked about how their training is going as partners for the Tag Team Classic. Roode says that Dillinger takes his next big step next week by teaming with Roode. Dillinger says that Dusty meant a lot to him… and then gets distracted by Roode embracing the GLORIOUS. He asks Dillinger if he can feel it. They are then asked about their opponents next week, Sanity. Roode says he doesn’t care about Sanity when they’re The Glorious 10. Roode then ushers Dillinger out as they need to leave to continue to prepare.

A Debut Ruined

Dan Matha makes his way to the ring and this is a big dude. 6’8 and 290 pounds announced. He’s got Snitsky level back acne though, my god. Samoa Joe comes out though and even though Matha towers over him, Joe assaults him and destroys him in the ring. Joe grabs a mic and calls out Regal again. He says he just took out Regal’s golden boy and he will continue to do so until Regal does what he tells him to. Bring him Nakamura or bring him his championship. Joe tells the camera as he leaves that Regal has one more week or he will escalate this.

No Way Jose and Rich Swann are backstage now and are asked how they came to be tag team partners for the Tag Team Classic. Jose says he picked Swann because the fans called for it. Swann knows what it’s like to go through hard times. he’s a fighter. Swann says he loves Jose’s style and people forget he’s 6’6 with the hair and had that Mexican fire in him. Can you handle this? No Way Jose.

A vignette for Sanity is shown, they debut next week.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match
The Revival vs. Cedric Alexander and Andrade Almas

Alexander and Almas not off to a good start as Alexander goes for a handshake and Almas goes for the fist bump. Alexander and Dash start but Dawson makes a very quick tag in. Almas comes in to even the odds and we’re at a stalemate. Match restarts now with Dawson and Alexander. Alexander gets dropped with a couple shoulder tackles but then leapfrogs Dawson, takes him down with a handstand headscissors and then an armdrag. Dash comes in and gets an armdrag himself. Dash tries to get Almas in the ring but Almas takes both of The Revival out and they both end up on the floor. Almas tags in officially and they do a double hiptoss and seated dropkick to Dawson. Dawson kicks out of a pin and Almas goes to work on the arm. The Revival find an opening and start to work over Almas with quick tags. Almas fights out and Alexander makes a blind tag. They double back body drop Dawson and then Dash gets dumped to the floor as well. Alexander and Almas tease a dive to the floor and then finally Alexander does a beautiful front flip dive to the floor over Almas who is in his Spiderman pose in the ring. Almas becomes the legal man again and goes back to the arm of Dawson. Dash makes a blind tag though and goes straight for the left arm of Almas. Dash sends Almas to the turnbuckle as we go to commercial.

We come back to Dawson hitting Almas with a Northern Lights Suplex but Almas kicks out. Dash tags back in and they continue the assault on the left arm. Dawson tags in and they hit a drop toe hold with elbow drop combo. Dawson with a pin but Almas kicks out again. Almas fights his way out of The Revival’s corner and gets Dawson in a small package, but Dash has the ref distracted. Dash now tags in officially and goes to the second rope but Almas gets his boot up. Dash actually catches himself and brings Almas up to his feet, but Almas drops him with an enziguri. Both men now looking for the tag to their partners and they get them. Dawson and Alexander in the ring. Alexander clothesines Dawson and gives a high knee to Dash. Alexander comes off the ropes with a handspring enziguri and Dash has to save his partner. The Revival go for a double suplex but Almas saves his partner. Alexander goes for a sunset flip with a bridge, but Dawson kicks out at the last moment. Alexander wants a tag but Almas get dropped to the apron by Dash. Alexander has to fight off both members of The Revival on his own and eventually the odds get to him as he runs right into The Shatter Machine and the champs advance.

Winners: The Revival

Post match, the crowd gives their approval for Almas and Alexander, but that doesn’t last long as Almas snaps and turns on his partner. Almas destroys Alexander on the outside, getting him up in a fireman’s carry and then dropping him face first straight into the steel steps. Almas walks away, proud of himself, as the show comes to an end.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

• Thankfully that main event was quite good, because the rest of the show was forgettable. This tends to happen when there’s a lot of downtime between Takeover events.
• Check out the Bobby Roode/Tye Dillinger promo if you can find it. (It wasn’t on WWE.com at time of publishing.) It was so much gold, I couldn’t do it justice.
• I think there’s potential in the Peyton Royce/Billie Kay partnership, I just need to see more of it.
• Sanity debuts next week as noted above and if you’ve heard who composes the group, this should be VERY interesting to see play out. My interest is quite peaked.

I’ll be back next week for more action from the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and any other fallout that happens. So until next time, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. If you do though, name it after me.