WWE NXT Spotlight: 3/8/17 by Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to another installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. Tonight we have the return of the one and only Shinsuke Nakamura. Will this be one of the last times he competes at NXT? Time will only tell. Let’s get to the action.

Tye Dillinger vs. Eric Young

EY after his entrance sends the rest of Sanity to the back and tells Dillinger it will be one on one. These shows were taped at UCF instead of Full Sail, and if you haven’t heard, the attendance was really bad for this taping. So the crowd isn’t the greatest in terms of size or noise. The bell doesn’t even ring and here comes back the rest of Sanity and they’ve dragged out a very badly beaten Roderick Strong. Dillinger goes to check on him and here comes No Way Jose as well as Sanity migrates to the ring. EY tells Dillinger that he did this. Dillinger and Jose now decide to storm the ring and there’s a brawl in the ring. Sanity of course has the numbers game going for them and eventually beat down Dillinger and Jose. Dain and Wolfe hit a double team move on Jose and EY finishes it off with a Wheelbarrow neckbreaker on Dillinger.

Winner: No contest

We go to a WWE.com exclusive with Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. They’re looking for a spot in the Performance Center to hang their breakout star of the year award that they won. They come across Ember Moon, who is working out and doesn’t look that impressed. Ember runs them off eventually.

A very cool vignette is shown for Aliester Black (aka Tommy End). He’s not referenced by name, but it’s obviously him in the video. He says, “I’m not a saint, I’m not a sinner. I just am.” It’s about time he gets ready to debut.

HoHo Lun vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas

Lun was of course a participant in the CWC. Almas now gets pyro in his entrance for what that’s worth. Almas starts out with a chop that sounds like a shotgun blast. Almas basically toys with Lun throughout the match. He hits him with a sitting dropkick to the back of the neck. Lun manages to make a little bit of a comeback, even hitting a dropkick off the second rope, but Almas doesn’t even go off his feet. Almas eventually comes back with a lariat that lays out Lun. He then hooks on the Hammerlock DDT and that’s the match.

Winner: Andrade “Cien” Almas

Billie Kay vs. Ember Moon

Ember starts immediately with a dropkick that Billie didn’t see coming. She then springboards off the middle rope and hits a cross body. Billie goes to Peyton for help and Ember runs Peyton off, but that gives Billie the opening she needed. Billie catapults Ember into the middle rope and now has the advantage. Billie ends up connecting with Eat Da Feet, Gail Kim’s finisher in Impact Wrestling, but Ember kicks out at two. Billie continues to beat on Ember and Ember tries coming off the ropes but Billie catches her with a nasty forearm to the jaw. Ember manages to kick out again though. Billie starts trash talking Ember and that was a bad idea as Ember drops her with a couple kicks and an enziguri. Ember hits a high knee in the corner and now goes for the Total Eclipse. Peyton tries to stop her, but that’s not going to happen and Billie is done for.

Winner: Ember Moon

Post match, doctors come to check out on Billie Kay who is holding her neck. She tweeted after the show that she just tweaked her neck a bit and put over the Total Eclipse as no joke. I’m not sure if this was legit or just something to help put over that move from Ember even more strongly. The replays showed nothing out of the ordinary when Billie took that move.

Quick Plug: Be sure to tune in to this week’s episode of The Match Beyond podcast. We answer your questions and you gave us some great ones. I describe the shaky ground that NXT is currently on, we discuss future HOF inductees (perhaps even predicting Rick Rude’s induction), and talk about all the turnover at Impact Wrestling. This was a great episode so give it a listen and be sure to check out this coming Monday’s very special episode with the host of Something to Wrestle and What Happened When, Mr. Conrad Thompson. You do not want to miss that interview!

We go to TJ Perkins who is returning to NXT tonight to face Nakamura. He says he rolls where the competition takes him. There’s no bigger competition than Nakamura. They trained together and grew up together in Japan. Nakamura used to tease him for stealing his jumping armbar, but he doesn’t steal moves, he steals moments.

The Revival vs. The Ealy Brothers

The Ealy’s are twins and I feel like they’ve been on NXT before. Before they can even get in the ring though, here comes The Authors of Pain to take them out and go after The Revival. The Revival get out of dodge so AOP hits The Last Chapter on one of the Ealy’s.

Winner: No Contest

We now go to William Regal who is Ember Moon, and after talking to Asuka, he is here to announce that Ember Moon will challenge Asuka for the NXT Women’s Title at Takeover: Orlando. Ember grins and says that at Takeover, a new phase of NXT will begin.

Next week, Kassius Ohno will take on Bobby Roode for the NXT Title. We go to a pre-recorded interview with Tom Phillips and Ohno. Ohno is asked what it’s like to be back in NXT a little after four years. Ohno says it’s surreal. To see where it was when he was there, having to load in and out their own stuff, and now seeing what the Performance Center has become, it’s just surreal. Phillips asks him about next week’s match with Roode and what are his thoughts. Ohno says that wrestling was the first thing he was ever good at. He’s won championships everywhere, but here was the first place where he had doubt in his career. He’s never had the title and never had a chance to win it. He has to go through Bobby Roode to do it and if he doesn’t, then that doubt won’t be gone. He says he’s aiming to win that title and defend it at the biggest Takeover of the year during WrestleMania weekend.

Now we get to hear Roode’s rebuttal, he is via satillite in Toronto. Roode says he doesn’t care what Ohno says. This is his NXT. Once he made it his NXT, Ohno had to come in and put his stink on it. Roode has a responsibility to NXT, to mold it in his image. Would you rather have the champion look like him or like a long haired dirty hippy like Ohno? The Future is on his shoulders and he will be damned if someone like Ohno ruins it. Roode says he will walk out next week as champion and take his title to WrestleMania weekend. Most importantly, he will continue to make this company GLORIOUS. He then storms off.

TJ Perkins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

The first time the crowd makes any real noise is for Nakamura’s entrance. The announcers are making the point that Perkins is officially the first Cruiserweight to be able to compete outside that division. There are 13 minutes remaining on the show as the bell rings. Both men trade kicks and then counter each other until they end up on the ropes and we get a clean break. Perkins sweeps a kick at Nakamura’s face that doesn’t connect and now we restart. Nakamura gets Perkins on the mat but he doesn’t stay there long and another stalemate. Another tie up and another clean break in the ropes. Nakamura then tels Perkins to come on with it and it looks like we’re officially starting now. Perkins gets Nakamura down with a headscissors and leaves the legs wrapped around his neck, wearing him down on the mat. Perkins does not release the hold and dabs in Nakamura’s face, then mocking Nakamura telling him to bring it. Nakamura gets out and then dabs himself, which gets a big pop. Nakamura drops him with a shoulder tackle, a couple leapfrogs, then then Perkins sinces Nakamura to the outside with a hurricanrana. Perkins tries to go for a dropkick to the floor, but Nakamura gets out of the way and knees Perkins to get the advantage as we go to commercial.

We return to Nakamura working over Perkins’ neck, and then dropping him to hit him with a knee drop to the face. Now he goes to a headlock which Perkins fights out of and then he DDT’s the bad leg of Nakamura. He tries to keep attacking it but Nakamura hits an enziguri. Nakamura sends Perkins to the corner and its Good Vibrations time. Perkins avoids a rush by Nakamura and counters with a neckbreaker. The crowd is so quiet you can hear someone try to start a “Both these guys” chant and then gets boo’ed for it. Nakamura and Perkins trades shots but Perkins gets the advantage with a pendulum dropkick as Nakamura was draped on the second rope. Perkins goes for a pin but Nakamura kicks out. Nakamura reverses a move into an armbar attempt, but Perkins folds him up and turns it into a pin. Nakamura kicks out and then kicks Perkins down. Nakamura with a series of strikes and then puts Perkins up on the top rope for his high knee to the ribs, but Perkins moves. Perkins comes off the top rope and dropkicks Nakamura right in the knee. Perkins continues to work the knee but Nakamura turns it into a triangle choke. Perkins gets out and they both counter each other’s attempts at a Fujiwara armbar. Perkins hooks a submission on the knee of Nakamura. Nakamura turns it into a pin, but Perkins kicks out and now hooks on his kneebar. Nakamura manages to get to the ropes eventually though. Perkins comes with some kicks but Nakamura blocks it and comes with some strikes of his own. Nakamura slaps some life into his knee but then runs into a Perkins kick. Perkins goes to the top rope but Nakamura kicks him off. Nakamura then is able to hit his knee to the ribs. Nakamura wants KINSHASA but Perkins counters. Nakamura counters again with a backstabber. Now he hits his reverse exploder suplex and now it is time for KINSHASA! Nakamura with the hard fought win.

Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

Post match, we go back to William Regal who says that the winner of next week’s NXT Title Match will go on to Takeover: Orlando to defend the title against Nakamura. That ends our show.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

* I guess I haven’t really noticed until this episode, probably because the crowd was so quiet so I could hear more of the commentary, but Percy Watson is really bad. That really should just be Tom and Nigel.

* No surprises on either title match announced for Takeover: Orlando. As I stated at the beginning, are we coming to the end of Nakamura’s run in NXT? I think so.

* Main event was really good. It was nice to see TJP in a big match situation again where he can go.

So next week will be the huge NXT Title Match and I will be here to cover it all. Until next time, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. If you do though, name it after me.