WWE NXT Spotlight: 4/19/17 By Kurt Zamora (Dillinger vs. Young in a Steel Cage Match)

Welcome one and all to the latest installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. After a very strong episode last week, we’re following that up with a huge main event tonight. Tye Dillinger, in his NXT swan song, will try once and for all to put Sanity behind him as he takes on Eric Young inside a Steel Cage. This is only the third Steel Cage match in NXT history, so it’s a big deal. (As long as you ignore the fact that those three matches have taken place all in the last 10 months.) Let’s get to the action!

For the record, I don’t like the new theme song but the new opening video package is well done.

The Champion Goes to Sleep

We open this show right away with Bobby Roode making his entrance. He grabs a mic in the ring and proceeds to let us know that for the second year in a row, he made WrestleMania week, GLORIOUS. He single handedly sold out the Amway Center with 15,000 people hanging from the rafters just to see him. He gave those 15,000 a treat as they got to witness the biggest box office star in the business today. He also snuffed out the last ember of star of the “old NXT”. Now the future and the brand is in his control. The transformation of Bobby Roode’s NXT is now complete. Last week he had to watch Nakamura get into his ring and one by one, every NXT superstar came out to pay homage to Nakamura. All the fans sang the song and chanted his name. It was pathetic. You know who you didn’t see on the stage? You didn’t see Bobby Roode. And why wasn’t he standing there like a moron? Because he didnt want to stand there and hear the crap Nakamura was gonna say. Nakamura didn’t just leave NXT. Roode beat him for the second time to retain the NXT Title and he had no choice but to tuck tail and leave NXT. It made Roode physically sick to hear the fans chant for Nakamura when he’s the one that’s the actual champ. So none of the fans deserve to be in Bobby Roode’s NXT. No one on that stage last week deserves it either. From now on, they have two choices. They can jump aboard Bobby Roode’s NXT or they can hit the bricks like Nakamura did.

Cue some music we haven’t heard in a LONG time and it’s Hideo Itami coming out to confront Bobby Roode! He gets in the ring and stares down Roode, who mockingly laughs at him. Roode gets in his face and promptly gets slapped. Roode starts to yell at Itami about messing with the champ and put his belt down and takes off his suit jacket. He rolls up his sleeves as he tells Itami that things have changed here. Roode then walks straight into a GTS which gets a huge pop. Itami grabs the belt and looks at it before placing it near the feet of Roode and then leaving.

We now go backstage where we find out Tyler Bate will defend his UK Title against Jack Gallagher next week on NXT. Both men act very gentlemanly towards each other, complementing each other’s work and talking about how they look forward to competing against each other next week.

We then go back to ringside where Bobby Roode is still laid out as he’s getting checked out by medical staff. He manages to get to his feet but is stumbling around.

Now we go to footage from the Performance Center “earlier today” where Heavy Machinery is working out. We then see Andrade Almas confronting Drew McIntyre while McIntyre is working out and says that he will see McIntyre next week.

Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Danny Burch

Burch shoves Almas into the ropes, who ends up doing his Spiderman pose. Almas comes back with a hammerlock but Burch reverses it into a release Northern Lights suplex. Almas sends Burch to the ropes and tries to leapfrog him but Burch grabs his leg and pulls him to the mat roughly. Burch comes off the ropes again but this time Almas catches him with a clothesline and now goes on the offense. He does a double foot stomp in the corner on Burch. Both men trade strong blows but Almas ends up with the upper hand and then drops Burch with a big boot. He sets up Burch for the double knees in the corner and connects. This leads to the Hammerlock DDT and that’s the match.

Winner: Andrade “Cien” Almas

We go to a video package highlighting how Asuka defeated Ember Moon at Takeover. Then as the video package continues, we get comments from a handful of women in NXT and they talk about what Asuka has done to NXT and how tough she is. The point is made that Asuka has started to get a little too confident as of late. All the women state that they will be the next NXT Women’s Champion. Peyton and Billie, Ember Moon, Liv Morgan, Ruby Riot, & Daria were the ones used for the video for those curious. No Nikki Cross or Aliyah.

We then go to a video package highlighing the Sanity vs. Tye Dillinger feud.

Liv Morgan & Aliyah vs. Billie Kay & Peyton Royce

I cannot overexaggerate the lack of response either woman gets on the babyface side. Rumor and Innuendo would have you believe I’ve fallen in love with Peyton Royce. I cannot confirm or deny that at this time. Liv and Billie start the match. Billie shoulder tackles Liv down and then hiptosses her. Liv does a Matrix move to avoid a clothesline and then does a spin-a-rama, which leads to a couple pin attempts. I really didn’t know a better way to describe that. Aliyah tags in and comes off the second rope with a legdrop. Billie comes back with a right hand though and then tags in Peyton. Peyton goes for a bodyslam but Aliyah reverses it and gives Peyton a headscissors. Peyton gets up though and connects with her spinning heel kick. She kicks out at two as Peyton gets distracted by Liv potentially breaking up the pin. Aliyah gets up and goes for a sunset flip but Peyton grabs Billie to prevent from going over. Liv comes in the ring and dropkicks Billie, which leads to Aliyah getting Peyton over and scoring the 1-2-3 with it. Billie and Peyton throw a temper tantrum as Liv and Aliyah celebrate. The crowd goes mild.

Winners: Liv Morgan & Aliyah

Next week we’ll have Aleister Black back in action, Drew McIntyre vs. Andrade Almas, and the UK Title Match mentioned earlier in the show. Sounds like another loaded episode.

Steel Cage Match
Eric Young (w/Sanity) vs. Tye Dillinger

EY sends Sanity back to the back before he makes his way to the ring. There’s 15 minutes left in the show as EY enters the cage. Dillinger smacks him as soong as he gets in and he proceeds to lock the door behind them himself. Both men trade blows back and forth to start. Dillinger sends EY up in a back body drop out of the corner and then goes for the Tye Breaker. EY gouges the eyes though and then proceeds to send Dillinger into the cage face first. EY goes on the attack as we go to commercial.

We come back to EY sending Dillinger into the cage once again. He then climbs on the top rope and grinds his boot into the face of Dillinger, which of course grinds against the steel as well. EY goes for the door to leave but Dillinger half heartedly is able to stop him so EY comes back in the ring and continues his attack. He gets in the corner and hooks Dillinger in his hanging dragon sleeper. Then he comes off the second rope with an elbow to the back of the head. Dillinger kicks out of a pin attempt as the crowd starts to rally behind him. Dillinger goes for a superkick but EY blocks it and goes to catapult him into the turnbuckles. Dillinger lands on the ropes and starts to climb the cage. EY manages to stop him. EY goes for a powerbomb out of the corner and lands it in a sitout position but Dillinger kicks out again. EY goes to leave again but Dillinger still manages to stop him. EY stomps him away and then goes to climb out. Dillinger gets up and grabs EY in a gorilla press and sends him halfway across the ring. We go to another commercial for some reason.

We come back to Dillinger sending EY into the steel repeatedly. Dillinger stomps a mudhole in EY as he’s laid up against the cage. EY barely gets to his feet and Dillinger superkicks him back down. EY is bleeding from the forehead. Not a lot but a decent amount. Both men are now on the top rope after Dillinger tried climbing out. EY ends up seated on the top of the cage and rams Dillinger’s head into the cage. Dillinger falls to the mat, but instead of winning the match, EY jumps off the top of the cage with his elbow drop! EY crawls over to Dillinger and makes a pin attempt but Dillinger just barely kicks out. EY gets up and looks down at Dillinger who can barely crawl and laughs at him. He goes to pick Dillinger up and out of nowhere, Dillinger connects with the Tye Breaker! Dillinger slowly crawls toward the door but here comes back Sanity and they lock the door while laughing at Dillinger. Roddy Strong, Kassius Ohno and Ruby Riot come out though to even the sides. Killian Dain runs over Strong and Ohno and then tries to climb the cage but Dillinger manages to stop him. Dillinger sends EY to the other side of the steal to knock off Wolfe, who was trying to climb himself. Dain gets in the ring now as Dillinger is on top of the cage and he proceeds to come off the top himself with a cross body block! Dain and EY are wiped out and Wolfe is trying again to come back in over the top, so Dillinger in a last gasp hurrily gets to the door and falls out for the win! He locks the door behind him as his partners and fans celebrate the win with him.

Winner: Tye Dillinger by escaping the cage

Post match, Ohno and Strong put Dillinger on their shoulders as Sanity look on in anger in the ring. The crowd chants “Thank you Tye” as our show comes to an end.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

* Great to see Hideo Itami back and in a big storyline. He’s clearly been dealt a bad hand with injuries but is still a top name and talent. After Roode’s classics with Nakamura, I expect more of the same with Itami.

* There’s probably a reason why they kept Nikki Cross out of the video package revolving around Asuka, and it’s probably a good one, but I was still bothered by the fact she was left out considering everyone was discussing that they would be the one to beat Asuka for the title.

* I thought two commercial breaks hurt the cage match, but after the second break, the match was a ton of fun. I’m going to guess EY was busted open hard way, but during some shots at the end of the match, it sure looked like he may have bladed just a little bit right down the middle of his forehead. Regardless of how it happened, it really added to the match. I’ve always said a cage match or Hell in a Cell without blood just makes the match look ridiculous. So it was good to see.

* This works for both men in the match as Dillinger moves on to Smackdown obviously and now Sanity has something to avenge. I’m interested to see if they continue with Strong and Ohno and find another babyface to plug into Dillinger’s role.

* WWE.com uploaded Dillinger’s off air farewell promo to the Full Sail crowd. You can watch that below:

As stated earlier, next week’s episode looks to be another loaded show so I’ll be here for all the action. Until then, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do but if you do, name it after me.