WWE NXT Spotlight: 2/8/2017 by Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to another installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. We are back to our regularly scheduled programming and as we come off the heels of Takeover: San Antonio and begin NXT’s own Road to WrestleMania, we still have some unfinished business from the Lone Star State. Along with that, Bobby Roode promises a GLORIOUS celebration tonight as he returns to Full Sail as the NXT Champion for the first time. Let’s get to it!

Nigel McGuinness has officially taken over for Corey Graves. I loved his work in ROH, so hopefully he fits right in.

Sanity vs. The Bollywood Boyz

Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe will go for Sanity. Dane and Harv start off for their respective teams. Dain starts things off with a short arm clothesline and just tosses Harv to his partner Gurv to tag in. Gurv tries some shots but they dont work and he gets manhandled by Dain. Dain has more hair than Prince Albert did back in the day, which is ironic since Albert, aka Matt Bloom, is the head trainer at NXT now. The Bollywood Boyz end up trying to double team Dain but he drops them instead with a double clothesline. Dain drops Gurv with a Wasteland and then running senton. He picks up Harv and powerbombs him onto Gurv. He then piles them on top of each other and hits an elbow drop. Harv is picked up and is drilled with the Electric Chair into the Michinoku Driver, which Nigel says is being called the Ulster Plantation apparently. Very impressive move and Wolfe saw it all from the apron.

Winners: Sanity

Post match, Sanity has something to say, but Nikki Cross just starts screaming for Asuka. EY says that everyone has a place and if not, then Sanity will put them in their place. He humbled Tye Dillinger at Takeover. He doesn’t ask, he tells. He’s telling him now that he belongs with Sanity.

Liv Morgan vs. Billie Kay (w/Peyton Royce)

I don’t need to tell you guys who i’m cheering for here. Liv ducks a shot from Billie and then goes for a side headlock. Billie shoots her off and tries a drop down but Liv just ends up standing on her back and mocking Billie. Liv ends up rolling around with Billie, and finally landing in a pin attempt that gets a two count. Liv charges Billie and gets a Stun Gun over the top rope for her troubles. Billie then hit’s Gail Kim’s old finisher, Eat Defeat. Billie works her over in the corner but Liv surprises her with a roll up and gets a two count. They both get up and Billie lays her out with a lariat. She goes for a pin but Liv kicks out. Billie hits a gutwrench suplex but Liv kicks out again. Billie wrenches on the neck of Liv and then sends her to the corner but Liv ends up headscissoring Billie. Billie grabs the rope and then Peyton Royce to try and avoid Liv’s attack, but Liv ends up shoving Billie into Peyton and then gets a pinning attempt on Billie and steals a victory. Well damn.

Winner: Liv Morgan

Quick Plug: Be sure to check out the latest episode of The Match Beyond podcast with Hank and Mark McAllen joining me. We discuss Kenny Omega’s future, and have a spirited discussion about where a lot of things are headed for WWE as we gear towards WrestleMania. I also have a personal commentary at the end of the podcast about a tweet Sasha Banks shot at me. It’s a great episode so I hope you’ll give it a listen and let me know what you think!

Tye Dillinger is backstage now and is asked about what Eric Young said earlier. He says Takeover was just a numbers game. Sanity hasn’t humbled him. Let’s talk about The Royal Rumble! Before he can, Sanity come and attack Dillinger. All three guys beat on Dillinger through the backstage area into the ringside area. They pile into the ring and try to take him out, but here comes Roderick Strong and No Way Jose to even the sides! Sanity is finally disposed of to the outside and have to regroup.

Now we go to William Regal in his office who announces that next week Tyler Bate will defend the UK Title on NXT against Trent Seven. Billie Kay and Peyton Royce storm the office and demand another match with Liv Morgan. Regal says they actually have a great idea and they will face Liv and a partner of her choice next week. Billie and Peyton laugh it off because Liv has no friends.

Heavy Machinery vs. The Revival

Dare I say it, a babyface pop for The Revival? Sure sounded like it. Dash is a big Panthers fan, so they’re aces in my book. Dash and Tucker Knight start the match. Dash gets shot off into the ropes and tries to come at Knight with a series of shoulder tackles and they all fail. Then he ends up getting powerslammed and then bearhugged. Tucker tags in his partner Otis Dozovich, who gets Dash up in his own bearhug. Dawson makes a blind tag and Dash sends Otis head first into Dawson’s knee. Dawson with a few shots and tags back in Dash, which they do a double team legdrop. Now a series of quick tags as they work over the big man. Otis finally drops Dawson with a back suplex and both teams make tags. Tucker is back in and drills Dash with a splash in the corner and then hits a dropkick on Dawson. He hiptosses Dash, but Dawson made the blind tag. Doesn’t matter as Tucker drops him with a Thesz Press. Dawson kicks out and Otis is taken off the apron by Dash. Tucker chases after Dash, who ends up leading him right into a Dawson DDT and that’s the match.

Winners: The Revival

Post match, The Revival get a mic and Dash says it seems people have forgotten how great they are. Luckily everyone isn’t an idiot though as they were named NXT Tag Team of the Year. Dawson says DIY should’ve never been the tag champions and the proof is they got demolished by Authors of Pain in San Antonio. So it’s time to introduce AOP to The Revival. They’ve carried the tag team division on their back, around the world, so at Takeover: Orlando, the AOP is going to be a footnote to The Revival. Top Guys Out. Maybe not quite yet as the Authors of Pain music hits and here comes the champs with Paul Ellering. They charge the ring and The Revival powder out as they apparently want no trouble. The AOP leave now back up the walkway and pose with their belts and now here comes The Revival from the other side of the building and cheap shot the champs from behind. They get their shots in and run away.

We get a video package hyping Tyler Bate’s UK Title defense next week.

A Glorious Celebration

Roode says he’s totally the guy to tell everyone he told you so. From the moment he came to NXT, he told everyone that he was on a totally different level. He’s proved that night after night, Takeover after Takeover. Nakamura ran roughshod over everyone in Japan and then in a year in NXT, ran over the likes of Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, and Samoa Joe. He beat everyone except Bobby Roode. Nakamura hit him with everything he had, he said he was going to kick Roode’s head off and yet it’s still attached. He hit his Kinshasa and it still didn’t get the job done. So as Roode held the title over his head after he embarrassed Nakamura, it was the single greatest moment in NXT history because we all have a real champion now. He looks like a champion, he walks like a champion, he talks like a champion, he is THE champion. Every ad, billboard, city and country they go to it’s always been “we are NXT”. It’s no longer that, because now its HIS NXT. This NXT is going to be simply GLORIOUS!

We now get a video package for Trent Seven as he challenges Tyler Bate next week.

Tye Dillinger/Roderick Strong/No Way Jose vs. Sanity

This is obviously on the heels of the actions earlier in the episode. The babyfaces leave the ring during Sanity’s entrance and bring the fight to them before the bell rings. There ends up being a standoff as we go to commercial.

We come back to Dillinger in the ring and he takes out Wolfe and then slingshots EY into the ring. both men leave the ring and Sanity regroups on the outside. Wolfe ends up getting back in the ring and Jose tags in for their team. Wolfe shoots him into the ropes but he gets a boot to the face and then a couple hiptosses, followed by a flapjack. Jose goes for the pin but Wolfe kicks out. Wolfe manages to get a hold of Jose enough to tag in EY. Jose gets the advantage back though and gets some shots in the corner and then hits a back body drop. EY kicks out of a pin and now Roddy Strong tags in. EY manages to charge Roddy into his corner and now Wolfe is back in the match. Roddy hits a jumping heel kick and Wolfe kicks out. Dillinger tags in and goes for the 10-count punches in the corner. He doesn’t get all the way through as EY comes in for the distraction. This allows Wolfe to tag in Dane who stomps a mudhole in Dillinger. Dain drops some clubbing blows on Dillinger and then tags in Wolfe, who double team Dillinger in the corner. Wolfe goes for a pin but Dillinger kicks out. Dillinger manages to hit a back suplex. He tags in Roddy who takes out Dain on the apron with a running knee. He then goes back after Wolfe, who gets a blind tag from EY. Roddy hits a backbreaker on Wolfe and here comes EY. Ey is caught though with a dropkick and then a high running knee. Roddy drops EY face first with a slam and Wolfe comes in to break up a pin. Jose takes care of Wolfe though. Dane trips Roddy from the outside. Dillinger meanwhile hits the Tye-Breaker on EY but Nikki Cross comes in and hits a top rope hurricanrana on Dillinger that takes him out. The ref gets rid of her but Dain comes in and hits a running cross body block on Roddy that wipes him out and EY scrambles for the pin as the legal man and that ends it.

Winners: Sanity

K-Tank’s Final Takes

• They were really trying to make the UK Title match a big deal for next week. Two video packages and two commercials hyping it up. I didn’t watch the tournament so i’m not as familiar with both guys, so I’ll do my best next week to do the match justice.
• Banner night for Sanity. Killian Dain looks like a monster and is the perfect fit for that group. I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
• For those wondering, Nigel was fantastic on commentary. I really enjoyed his work.

We’ll be back next week with all the action, so until then… don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, but if you do, name it after me.