WWE NXT Spotlight: 4/4/18 By Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to a huge installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. We are just 3 days away from what some are calling the biggest Takeover event in NXT History. Four title matches with the newly revealed North American Title, and then the ultimate grudge match between Ciampa and Gargano to fill out the card. Before we get there though, we need to find some opponents for Undisputed Era. This should be a big show, so let’s get to it!

We get a recap of the DRTTC from Charly Caruso in the control center. She confirms the news that came out earlier this week, but was known for a couple weeks now, Bobby Fish has a torn ACL and will obviously be out of action for quite awhile. How this will affect the title match is yet to be determined.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals
Authors of Pain (w/Paul Ellering) vs. Pete Dunne & Roderick Strong

The crowd is all the way live for this match. Before the match, one of the loudest Full Sail crowds I’ve heard in quite awhile. Akam and Strong get started right away as Akam toess Strong into his corner and tags in Rezar. Strong avoids an attack off the ropes, crawls to his corner and gets Dunne in the match. Dunne and Rezar all over each other as we go to commercial.

We come back with Akam tagging in and AOP double team Dunne. Akam just hammering Dunne on the mat. Rezar eventually tags in back in and continues the assault. Nothing pretty but effective. Rezar with a knee straight to the face and then Akam right back in the match. AOP lands thier double team stomp/sidewalk slam, but Dunne kicks out. Dunne finally grabs a hand of Akam and pulls apart the fingers, managers to get some sort of offense going. Strong gets the hot tag and he is all over AOP. Akam to the floor with a big knee. Strong with forearm strikes off the ropes on Rezar. He lands a dropkick and Rezar to a knee. Big knee strike and then an Olympic slam but Rezar manages to kick out. This crowd is incredible! What did they give them before this match? Dunne back in the match and lands a step up enziguri in the corner. Coup De Grace double stomp off the top but Rezar kicks out. Dunne now tries to lock on a triangle choke, but Rezar powers Dunne up, Akam gets a blind tag and they end up hitting a double team neckbreaker/sitout powerbomb. Pin by Akam but Strong breaks it up. Strong low bridges Rezar over the top rope. Strong gets a blind tag on Dunne and then they hit their combo Bitter End that got them the win last week, but Rezar stops the count. Dunne and Strong with kick/knee combos to both members of AOP but they go for one too many and AOP drops them with big boots. Tremendous sequence by these four. All four men are down and here comes Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly! They attack everyone. AOP is dumped to the floor and Dunne/Strong are left laying in the ring. The ref has ruled this a double disqualification.

Winners: No Contest

William Regal’s music hits and he comes out to complement Undisputed Era for being smart in thinking that if they stopped this match from having a finish, they wouldn’t have to defend the titles at Takeover. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t smart enough. Because at Takeover, it’s now a Triple Threat match for the tag titles and the winner of that match will also be crowned the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners.

K-Tank’s Take: That was an entirely different NXT crowd in Full Sail for this match. If they can be like that moving forward, with this talent, this is going to be a special brand to watch again. That buzz will be back stronger than ever. I don’t necessarily like the final result of the tag title match for Takeover, but I’m going to save that for our preview piece.

An absolutely fantastic video package is shown highlighting the 6 man ladder match for the North American Title. Some especially great shots showcasing EC3.

That’s followed up by an even more fantastic video package for Ciampa vs. Gargano. Comments from both men are filtered throughout the package. Those two packages deserve MAJOR props from whoever put them together. I’ve attached both to the bottom of this recap.

Kairi Sane vs. Vanessa Bourne

Vanessa’s name plate says it’s spelled Borne, the video board on the stage says it’s Bourne. I’m assuming whoever got that wrong did not have anything to do with the great video packages. I’m gonna put a U in it. Bourne with a go behind takedown to start. She then stomps the foot of Sane and gets a wristlock but Sane escapes. She sends Bourne into the corner and then ends up going for a series of quick pin attempts but Bourne kicks out of them all. Sane comes off the ropes and Bourne drops her with a flapjack. Bourne ends up curb stomping Sane into the bottom turnbuckle but Sane kicks out of a pin. Sane gets up and comes off the ropes with a spear. Bourne struggles to the corner and Sane comes charging with her sliding elbow strike. Sane to the top rope and lands a forearm strike. Bourne kicks out. Sane to the top rope again but Bourne cuts her off. Sane blocks a superplex and ends up getting Bourne hanging from the top rope so she can land a double foot stomp. Now Sane can finally set up for the Insane Elbow Drop and that gets the win.

Winner: Kairi Sane

K-Tank’s Take: Kairi’s unfortunate timing of injury seems to really have derailed her. I would like to believe they wanted her against Ember at this event but Baszler got hot at the right moment and Kairi will have to wait for another day.

We go backstage where Lacey Evans is meeting with the media. She says she can’t accomplish anything in NXT until William Regal stops allowing sociatal trash to walk around here. She’s done nothing but show what a strong woman is. Opportunities keep going to psychopaths like Nikki Cross, who couldn’t sit down for an interview if her life depended on it. Ember Moon hasn’t made a difference in forever. Dakota Kai isn’t worth her time and Kairi Sane is a pathetic princess pirate. Lacey will continue to keep showing she can make a difference in NXT.

Now we go outside the arena where Undisputed Era find William Regal. Adam Cole yells at Regal for thinking Cole is going to have to wrestle twice. Regal says they actually have three choices, Cole can pull double duty, O’Reilly can go solo, or Cole can pull out of the ladder match and focus on the tag titles. Regal says the Undisputed Era is smart and they’ll figure it out.

We now get a video package for the NXT Title Match between Aleister Black and Andrade Almas.

We get a recap of last week’s altercation inside the Performance Center between Shayna Baszler and Ember Moon. We then go to comments from Ember Moon. She says she’s sorry for nothing that happened at the PC. Shayna thinks she owns the place and should be handed things on a silver platter. That’s not how a champ acts. Ember represents the company inside and out. Shayna started the war and in New Orleans, Ember is going to finish it.

Next week on NXT it’ll be Lacey Evans vs. Kairi Sane

Lars Sullivan vs. Killian Dain

I’m watching this live and we’re only 10 minutes away from the top of the hour, so I can’t imagine this is lasting long at all. Strong tie ups with no one getting the advantage to start. Both men trade straight right hands. Sullivan with forearm smashes and Dain right back with a big boot. Both men to the floor as we go to commercial.

We return with Sullivan in control in the ring. Sullivan tries for the Freak Accident, but Dain fights out. Dain gets Sullivan up on his shoulders and lands Wasteland. Running senton splash and then tries for a Vader bomb but Sullivan gets the knees up. Sullivan with a clothesline and then goes to the top rope. Dain cuts him off though. Both men now on the outside, perched on the second rope. Dain with a massive headbutt and both men crash hard to the floor. The Velveteen Dream shows up now and he goes to the top rope, but before he can do anything, Adam Cole shows up. He and Dream face off and now here comes EC3. Dain and Sullivan both on their feet now and all 5 men are in the ring. Music we haven’t heard before hits, and that can only mean Ricochet!! The crowd comes unglued for him as he gets in the middle of everyone in the ring. He makes eye contact with everyone as the show comes to an end.

Winner: No Contest

K-Tank’s Take: Who would’ve thought even 6 months ago that we’d see these six men in the same ring, under a WWE banner? It’s surreal. As you’ll see in the preview piece coming out for Takeover, I just had to take a wild guess on who will win this ladder match because I have no idea. But that makes the match that much better.

That’s it for this week. I will be back later this week with the Takeover preview with John Canton, then I’ll be helping contribute to the WrestleMania preview with John and the boys, and then to finish it all off, I’ll be here live to cover the huge Takeover event on Saturday evening. I can’t wait to cover it for all of you reading so until next time… don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, but if you do, name it after me!