WWE NXT Spotlight: 3/1/17 By Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to a loaded installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. I will be your host as always, as we navigate not just one but two title defenses tonight. We have a Takeover: San Antonio rematch for the Tag Titles and Peyton Royce gets her one on one shot with Asuka for the Women’s Title. Let’s get to it!

Patrick Clark vs. Sean Maluta

Patrick Clark, from the last season of Tough Enough, is still working his quasi-Prince gimmick and Maluta comes from the CWC last year. Maluta goes for a handshake but Clark dismisses it. Maluta lays into Clark with some punches after that. He drives a knee into the midsection and then hits a front suplex. Maluta follows that up with a Shining Wizard and Clark is just able to kick out. Clark manages to change the momentum with some kicks and then starts a vicious attack with more kicks and punches. He comes at Maluta with some wild forearms and then tosses Maluta across the ring. Maluta kicks out of a pin attempt. Clark hits a vertical suplex and goes for a cover but Maluta kicks out immediately. Maluta fights back with a spinning kick and Clark avoids another shot and jumps up to catch Maluta in the Fameasser and even though he didn’t hit it cleanly, he picks up the win.

Winner: Patrick Clark

We go to Sanity who are outside standing somewhere in front of a burning trash can. Eric Young speaks and asks what kind of a man knows that he’s walking to his end and invites his friends? Tye Dillinger is drowning in his own choices and he wants to reach up and bring his friends with him. He’s a disease that needs to go away. EY wants to be the one to do that for him, to end him, one on one. Nikki Cross then says otherwise, it’ll be all of them.

NXT Women’s Title Match
Asuka (c) vs. Peyton Royce (w/Billie Kay)

Big match introductions for this match. Both women start out escaping a headlock hold and come to a stalemate. Peyton comes off the ropes with a shoulder tackle but Asuka doesn’t budge. Asuka with a hiptoss and goes for a Shining Wizard but Peyton ducks. They then exchange kicks but each is ducked by the other and we come to another stalemate. Asuka doesn’t waste much time though and comes at Peyton with a duo of the Rear End moves and the second one takes Peyton to the floor. Asuka stalks Peyton on the outside but Peyton grabs Asuka and sends her into the ringpost. Peyton brings her back in the ring and goes for a pin but Asuka kicks out as we go to commercial.

We come back to Peyton working over Asuka with a submission hold. Almost a cobra clutch. Peyton then starts to work over the arm that Asuka hit on the ringpost. Peyton starts to mock Asuka and that backfires quickly after a kick to the midsection and then a snap suplex by Asuka. Both women get up and start trading blows back and forth. Asuka ends up on the tuckbuckles and comes off with a dropkick. She then hits a modified GTS on Peyton, followed by some back handed strikes, and then she connects with the Shining Wizard. Peyton gets away after a jawbreaker. Peyton drops an elbow on the back of the beck of Asuka and goes for a pin but Asuka kicks out. Peyton wants the Perfect Plex but Asuka blocks it, so Peyton connects with a spinning heel kick instead. Asuka manages to kick out once more. Asuka out of nowhere though grabs Peyton in the Asuka Lock and Peyton has to tap out.

Winner: Still NXT Women’s Champion, Asuka

Post match, Billie Kay storms the ring and grabs Peyton to get up and start double teaming Asuka. They send Asuka into the ringpost again and start to work the arm. However, Ember Moon’s music hits and here she comes to even the sides. She single handedly takes out Billie and Peyton. She hits a couple impressive moves to knock them out and then ends up face to face with Asuka. Asuka just smiles at her and thinks about walking away but then comes back and throws the belt high in the air, right in Ember’s face.

We go to some exclusive footwage after Takeover: San Antonio where Kassius Ohno showed up to talk to Nakamura and give him some words of encouragement when he was dealing with his apparent knee injury. Then we turn to last week where Ohno confronted Bobby Roode after his post match attack on No Way Jose. Afterwards, we go to William Regal in his office, who announces that on March 15th, Bobby Roode will make his first official title defense against Ohno.

We then see a vignette for Wolfgang from the UK Tournament.

Quick Plug: Episode 19 of The Match Beyond podcast will be coming out this Monday and I NEED YOU for the episode. In the comments below or via Twitter (@KTankTMB), or via email (ktankrko@gmail.com), send me your questions to be answered on the air. Any era, any question. The more random, the better. The majority of the episode will be Q&A style so please send in your questions and then tune in to see if we answered them!

NXT Tag Team Title Match
Authors of Pain (c) (w/Paul Ellering) vs. DIY

Big Match introductions for this one as well and then we go to commercial. We come back to the bell ringing and Rezar and Ciampa start off. Rezar intimidates Ciampa in the corner and Ciampa fights back, but Rezar overpowers him. Gargano makes a blind tag and Ciampa goes to the apron and then both of them come through the ropes with a spear on Rezar. Akam comes in and he gets send back out to the floor. Ciampa becomes the legal man and knees Akam on the apron and then goes for a dive on Rezar but gets caught in a powerbomb and Rezar slams him back first on the ringpost. Rezar tosses him back in the ring and now both he and Akam work over the lower back of Ciampa. Akam gets caught with a boot in his corner but as Ciampa tries to run for a tag, Akam catches him in a sidewalk slam. Ciampa manages to kick out of a pin. Rezar is back in the ring and the attack continues. Ciampa throws some wild punches that have no effect. Ciampa now just straight slaps Rezar in the face but all it does is anger Rezar, who gets him up in a sidewalk slam and tags in Akam. They awkwardly hit a double team move and Ciampa kicks out once again as we go to commercial.

We come back with Rezar having Ciampa in a camel clutch type move. Ciampa escapes and then ducks a couple shots from Rezar and manages to tag in Gargano. Akam also tags in and Gargano tries to get him off his feet. He ends up getting Akam to the floor and then dives through the ropes to take him down. He then gets on the apron and hits a somersault splash on Rezar to take him out too. Akam gets back in the ring and Gargano comes in with a slingshot DDT, goes for a pin and Akam kicks out. Gargano and Ciampa end up double teaming Akam in the corner and Ciampa is now the legal man. He hooks his reverse armbar on Akam and Rezar is there to break it up. Rezar tosses Gargano out of the ring and then becomes the legal man for his team. He sets Ciampa up on the top turnbuckle and wants to go for a superplex. Ciampa blocks it and now wants a powerbomb out of the corner, but he can’t pull him off. Gargano superkicks Akam and then comes over to help his partner and they hit a double powerbomb. Rezar manages to kick out. Gargano tags in and they want go Meet in the Middle, but Akam takes out Ciampa and Rezar catches Gargano in a spinebuster. Ciampa is sent to the steel steps and now AOP go for the Super Collider, but DIY escapes and they grab stereo submissions on AOP! The champs may tap out, but here comes The Revival and they put the kibosh on that. They take out Gargano and then nail Ciampa with the Shatter Machine. Here comes the AOP though and they go for the Last Chapter on Dawson, but Dash is able to save him. Dash low bridges Rezar and then they manage to get Akam up for the Shatter Machine, which was as impressive as it sounds. The Revival stand tall at the end as our show comes to an end.

Match Result: No Contest

K-Tank Final Takes

• Good for Patrick Clark potentially getting a bit of a push. It’s still funny to me that almost always, it’s never the winner that goes on to the most success.
• A MUCH better performance out of Peyton Royce tonight. That was a very good match with Asuka with some nice sequences. That means I can rightfully pin last week’s awfulness on Liv Morgan.
• The main event wasn’t as good as their San Antonio match, but I don’t think anyone expected it to be. The Revival made a big impact tonight and I’m sure this guarantees a triple threat match for Takeover: Orlando, which I personally cannot wait to see.

That’s it for this week, and while nothing was announced for next week, I’ll be here for all the action. As I said earlier in the Spotlight, send in those questions for this week’s podcast and until next time… Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, but if you do, name it after me.