WWE NXT Spotlight: 1/18/17 by Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to another installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. We have just two episodes left before we head to San Antonio for the latest Takeover event. With all title matches now established for the card, the focus will now turn to see what will fill out the undercard of the show and of course we have a contract signing for the main event between Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Roode. Let’s get to the action this week!

Nikki Cross (w/Sanity) vs. Kennedy Lewis

I love Cross so much. I can’t explain it, but her character is fantastic. She goes right after Lewis as the match starts and rips and claws at her opponent. Lewis manages to fight out of the corner but Cross comes back with a Thesz Press and then continues the onslaught. Cross hooks Lewis in a Fisherman’s spinning neckbreaker and that’s the match already.

Winner: Nikki Cross

It is official for Takeover, Asuka will defend her women’s title against Cross, Billie Kay, & Peyton Royce in a Fatal 4-Way. I absolutely cannot wait to see that live.

No Way Jose is backstage and is asked about keeping his momentum going in 2017. He says he’s just going to keep having fun and having a fiesta with his friends. Kona Reeves comes out and talks about how Jose knows nothing about friendship. When he was jumped by Sanity in Toronto, Jose saved Rich Swann but not him. Reeves thought they were friends, but clearly they weren’t. Jose says this is awkward. He says if Reeves wants a piece of Jose, they can go to the ring and they can either have fun, or they can fight.

Now we go to The Revival, who are asked where they go from here now that they couldn’t capture their tag team titles back. Dash says that 2016 was their year and 2017 will be no different. Dawson says that the match at Takeover: San Antonio should be a triple threat match and they should be added. TM61 interrupts and Nick Miller says they have to be like everyone else and fight to the top like everyone else does. Dash says they don’t do what everyone else does because they’re already the top guys. Dawson calls them the bottom feeders of NXT, but if they want a fight tonight, they’ll get one. Tonight they will cripple TM61, Top Guys Out.

Roderick Strong vs. Steve Cutler

Pretty sure Roddy got new theme music for those that are interested. Roddy stays on a wristlock early to start the match. Cutler shoots Roddy off the ropes and they have an awkward exchange but Roddy manages to hit one of his dropkicks. They fight in the corner and Roddy ends up charging Cutler, but Cutler picks him up and drops him with a Stun Gun over the top rope. Cutler now works over Roddy and sends him sternum first into the turnbuckles. Cutler comes with a running stomp and then goes for a pin but Roddy kicks out. Cutler now goes for a sleeper hold but Roddy fights out and then hits an Angle Slam. He hits a couple kicks and forearms on Cutler and then comes with a running lariat. He drops Cutler face first with a gourdbuster and then hits another modified suplex that drops Cutler face first. Roddy goes off the ropes and drills Cutler with the Sick Kick to get the win.

Winner: Roderick Strong

Roddy is asked at ringside about Andrade Almas saying last week that he was coming after Strong. Roddy says he doesn’t care what Almas said because he’s going after one thing that he’s said since he debuted and that’s the NXT Title.

We go backstage to Ember Moon who is asked about where she stands in the women’s division now that she’s out of the picture in the fatal four way at Takeover. She says after the dust settles in that match, she’ll create her own destiny. Liv Morgan interrupts and says that Ember was there for her and understands where she was coming from, but she also wants the same thing that Ember wants. So they should do battle and see who really deserves the opportunity. Ember says she’s on, and when she gets eclipsed, Ember will go on to the NXT Women’s Title.

The Perfect 10’s Next Move

Tye Dillinger comes to the ring to speak to the fans to talk about what’s next for his career. Dillinger thanks the fans for their support but says that he ended 2016 with a huge question mark. So what’s next for him? He doesn’t know. The fans guess is as good as his. He was that close in the fatal four way match to become number one contender. He says there’s only so many times that you can let down the people that supported him for 15 years. He doesn’t know if he has it anymore. Does he belong in NXT anymore and is he still a perfect 10? William Regal and all the fans believed in him. He was that close in the fatal four way…

Sanity’s music now hits and interrupts Dillinger. Eric Young says Dillinger doesn’t have it. He could though. He could have everything. He just needs some guidance and make the right choices. Pick the right path and pick the right friends. EY hands what was Sawyer Fulton’s jacket to Alexander Wolfe, who offers it to Dillinger to join the group. Dillinger grabs it, but then promptly drops it on the floor, thus declining their offer. EY says he gets it. The right decision can sometimes feel wrong. The right choice can be unclear and he’s been in that spot. 2016 was supposed to be his year too. He tried to do it everyone else’s way but now he’s gonna do it his way and do it Sanity’s way. Dillinger can do that too. 2017 can be everything that he wants, he’s just gotta choose to make it perfect. EY offers the jacket one more time and Dillinger is battling himself with the decision. EY says he wants to make it clear to Dillinger, he’s not asking Dillinger. Dillinger discards the jacket once more and starts to fight EY and Wolfe. He hits a back body drop on EY and then goes for the Tye-Breaker but Big Damo comes in and drills Dillinger with a Spear. He then gets Dillinger up in an electric chair and then brings him crashing down with a Michinoku Driver. Impressive move. EY laughs as as he now hands the jacket to Damo, who accepts it. He is now a member of Sanity as they all celebrate over the body of Dillinger.

It was announced after a quick commercial that at Takeover, it will now be Eric Young vs. Tye Dillinger. That didn’t take long, and I for one am excited for that match.

TM61 vs. The Revival

All four men braw to start the match. Dash and Miller go to the outside, where Miller gets sent into the steel steps. Meanwhile in the ring, Dawson chop blocks Thorne and it’s now time for The Revival to work over that knee. Dash tags in and they do a double team legdrop, Dash goes for a pin but Thorne kicks out. Dawson back in quickly and puts the boots to Thorne. Dawson clobbers Thorne repeatedly. Thorne finally fights back and gets Dawson in a back slide but Dawson kicks out. There’s two blind tags and as The Revival drop Thorne with the Shatter Machine, they don’t realize Miller is the legal man now. He cleans house until his is caught in a textbook spinebuster by Dash. Dawson tags back in and he goes for a submission on Miller but Miller turns it into a small package, and Thorne grabs Dash by the legs so he can’t break up the pin. Miller gets the three!

Winners: TM61

Post match, The Revival immediately attack Miller and then drop him with the Shatter Machine. Thorne now crawls back in the ring and they hit him with the Demolition Decapitator. Dawson then hooks Thorne’s legs and Dash comes off the turnbuckles with a huge stomp right into the knee of Thorne. Trainers come to check on Thorne as The Revival look proud of what they’ve done.

It’s now also official for Takeover: San Antonio, Roderick Strong will take on Andrade “Cien” Almas.

Takeover Main Event Contract Signing

Bobby Roode makes his GLORIOUS entrance first, followed by the champion. Regal goes to start the proceedings but Roode interupts him from the get go. Roode says this contract signing won’t go like most go. There won’t be any fighting. He sees the look in Regal’s eyes. Roode vs. Nakamura, Takeover: San Antonio. The biggest money match in NXT history. Roode says that he wants to let Nakamura know he’s familiar with him, even though they’ve never had a conversation before. He’s always felt that Nakamura wasn’t worth his time. Roode brings up the Takeover: Dallas ticket that he gave to Nakamura. It was the night that the Nakamura era started. He gave Roode goosebumps with his entrance and the match that night. Nakamura, since that night, has defeated Finn Balor and Samoa Joe and is a two time NXT Champ. He calls himself the King of Strong Style, but really Nakamura has no style. He’s got half a haircut, he looks like he’s in the Thriller movie with Michael Jackson, he does this weird dance (which Roode hilariously mocks) and wonders what that even is.

Nakamura grabs the mic and says he knew their paths would cross. He liked Roode because he looks like “shebaenu”. It’s a Japanese dog. I probably spelled that wrong, but it was still funny. Nakamura says Roode will never change NXT as long as he’s champion. Roode says everyone fears change. We’re not in Japan anymore, we’re not in the land of zero talent. He’s now in the ring with the number one draw and the biggest star in sports entertainment. Nakamura is just a joke. Roode had an agenda when he debuted. He sees the changes he’s started. Wrestlers are trading in t-shirts and flip flops for suits. The fans are trading their pathetic lives to try and be a little more like Roode. The final step will be at Takeover: San Antonio when he silences all of Nakamura’a fans and becomes the new NXT Champion. With that, he signs the contract. He then tells Nakamura that when he wins the NXT Championship, it will finally be GLO…. Nakamura puts his hand in Roode’s face to cut him off. He tells Roode that he looks great and he’s one of the best in the world. At Takeover though, he’s not taking the NXT Title. Nakamura now signs the contract. He tells Roode that in San Antonio, he’s going to kick Roode’s head off. It will be….. GLORIOUS. Both men get face to face and stare down each other. That ends our show.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

• So we have five matches officially announced for Takeover: San Antonio, which is always the number they go with. I think Strong vs. Almas is a little bit weak to be on Takeover, but I like the other four matches a lot. I could see them adding something else to the show, not necessarily a match, which I will present these ideas on my podcast this coming Monday. (Cheap Plug!)
• I’ve heard online that Shane Thorne’s knee was/is legitimately hurt, but nothing during the match with The Revival showed when that might’ve taken place. So I don’t know if that was a previous injury and they’ve now written them off. Time will tell.

Next week will be the last show before Takeover and they announced Ember Moon vs. Liv Morgan. I’m sure the show will be mostly a preview show for Takeover so expect a special version of the Spotlight next week with predictions from me for Takeover. Until next time, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do but if you do, name it after me.