WWE NXT Spotlight: 6/14/17 by Kurt Zamora
Welcome one and all to another installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. We still have about two months until we get to the next Takeover in Brooklyn but seeds are being planted for what we can expect already. Tonight we have a rematch from our last Takeover as Asuka defends her NXT Women’s Title in a Triple Threat Elimination match. Let’s get to the action.
Drew McIntyre vs. Rob Ryzin
Ryzin tries a wrist lock to start but McIntyre ends up back body dropping him instead. Ryzin shoves McIntyre and says he’s not scared of the big man and McIntyre plants his boot right in Ryzin’s face. Then when they’re in the corner, McIntyre delivers an overhead belly to belly throw. The ref tries to separate McIntyre from Ryzin, which gives Ryzin the chance to connect with a superkick but it’s only a one count. Somewhere the Young Bucks are crying. McIntyre is right back up and does a suplex throw on Ryzin. He hits a clothesline in the corner and then comes off the top rope with an ax handle smash. Ryzin slaps McIntyre in the face but that only angers McIntyre who lays a beating on him in the corner. He puts Ryzin on the top rope and then headbutts him down to the floor. He gets Ryzin back up and sets up for the Yakuza Kick and that’ll be that.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
K-Tank’s Take: Obviously not much to this one. They’ve actually kept Drew away from the squash matches for the most part, but this is pretty much the norm for NXT.
We go back to two weeks ago where Billie Kay and Peyton Royce found out that Ember Moon had been medically cleared to return to the ring. Next week it’ll be Ember’s official return as she takes on Peyton Royce.
We get a vignette for Aleister Black.
The Authors of Pain (w/Paul Ellering) vs. Anthony Dominguez & Wilmer Freyday
I had to get the opponents name from wwe.com cause the announcer’s definitely didn’t mention them. Not that it’s going to matter. Akam starts by destroying Dominguez and then attacking Freyday. Ellering is talking to Rezar on the floor about something so Akam is going this alone for now. He grabs Freyday and just tosses him over the top rop about halfway up the rampway. He grabs Dominguez and hits a pumphandle Death Valley Driver and that’s that.
Winners: The Authors of Pain
Post match, Rezar brings Freyday back in the ring and the AOP connect with the Super Collider. Ellering grabs a mic and says that Heavy Machinery is as foolish as they are large. AOP has been here a year and are still undefeated. They’ve beat American Alpha, TM-61, The Revival, & DIY. Now it’s time for the next chapter. Heavy Machinery won’t even make a footnote. They don’t match up with the AOP. Heavy Machinery’s music hits and they now make their way into the ring. They step right up to AOP but Ellering calls his men off.
K-Tank’s Take: I actually really like the fact that these are both home grown teams that have developed at the PC and don’t have any “indy darling” labels attached to them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just like how this has come together for both teams.
We go back to last week’s confrontation between Bobby Roode and Roderick Strong. They then show a tweet from Strong that says that Roode is an entitled champion and all he needs is one shot.
We get a vignette for the recently renamed Sonya Deville. She’ll be in action next week.
The Velveteen Dream vs. Raul Mendoza
TVD trips Mendoza to start and then steps right over him. He drops Mendoza with a shoulder tackle but Mendoza nips up and after some back and forth on the ropes, Mendoza drills TVD with a dropkick. He tries a springboard move off the second rope but TVD nails him in mid air with a big boot. He then connects with a back suplex. Percy Watson just delivered the gem, “Don’t let the purple fool you, he’ll beat you black and blue.” TVD goes for another back suplex but Mendoza lands on his feet and delivers a few shots. He tries to come off the ropes but TVD just pops him up and lets him fall hard to the mat face first. TVD then lands a cartwheel Death Valley Driver which looked pretty impressive. TVD goes to the top rope and there’s his top rope elbow drop for the win.
Winner: The Velveteen Dream
K-Tank’s Take: I would immediately switch from the elbow drop (which doesn’t look that good) to the cartwheel DVD as his finisher. It looks cool and hasn’t been done before. That would be my only “critique”.
We go back to last week’s attack by Hideo Itami on Oney Lorcan before Kassius Ohno came in to stop it. We now go to KO backstage and he’s asked about where his friendship stands with Itami. He says he doesn’t know. He wishes he hadn’t shoved Itami. He knows Itami is just frustrated. He says Itami just needs to build a bridge and get over it. He’s going to lead by example though and he’s asked William Regal for an opportunity and he’s received it. Next week he’s taking on Aleister Black.
We get a vignette hyping the return of Ember Moon next week.
NXT Women’s Title Match – Triple Threat Elimination
Asuka (c) vs. Nikki Cross vs. Ruby Riot
19 minutes left in the show as the introductions start, so this should be a fun match that gets a good amount of time. We get started with Nikki shoving Ruby into Asuka and then trying to attack Asuka. Ruby gets back up and cuts Nikki off. Now she trades kicks with Asuka and drops her with a dropkick. Nikki comes off the second rope and drops Ruby with a dropkick of her own. Asuka won’t be shown up and does the same thing to Nikki. Ruby and Nikki end up double teaming Asuka and they clothesline her over the top rope, although it was harder than it should’ve been. Ruby and Nikki immediately go after one another. Ruby nails Nikki into the turnbuckles with her headscissors pendulum. Nikki ends up on the floor along with Asuka and we go to commercial.
We return with Asuka and Ruby in the ring. Asuka wants a German suplex but Ruby keeps blocking it. Asuka changes her mind and hits the Rear View. Ruby goes to the corner and comes out of it with a hurricanrana on Asuka that sends her back outside. Nikki is back in and chokes Ruby from behind. Ruby comes back with a kick and goes for a pin but Asuka breaks it up. Ruby catches a kick from Asuka and then lays in multiple chops. Ruby comes off the ropes and I dunno what she wanted to do but Asuka just ended up hitting an awkward knee strike to the jaw. Nikki pulls Asuks out to the floor and Ruby follows them out there and takes them both out with a front dropkick from the apron. Ruby decides to throw Nikki in the ring and goes to the top rope but Nikki moves. Ruby lands on her feet and hits a shotgun dropkick. Ruby once again goes to the top but Asuka knocks her off to the floor. Asuka then goes to the top herself but Nikki moves and Asuka lands on her front side. Nikki follows up with a Fisherman’s Neckbreaker but Asuka rolls to the floor before she can get a pin. Ruby comes back with a high angle back suplex on Nikki. She can’t follow up as Asuka comes back in. She nails Asuka with a kick but that lets Nikki send her to the corner, she gets her up on the top rope and hits a swinging neckbreaker that is enough to eliminate Ruby. We go to commercial.
Ruby Riot Eliminated
We return with Asuka and Nikki face to face and trading blows back and forth. Asuka gets the advantage with two spinning back fists and then a spinning heel kick. She then connects with a dead weight German suplex that gets a two count. Asuka goes for more kicks but Nikki rakes the eyes. Nikki goes for the same neckbreaker she just hit on Ruby but Asuka gets out and as both women end up on the apron, Asuka kicks Nikki off. Then she jumps off the apron with the Rear View and lays Nikki out. They start brawling up the walkway and end up in the area between the crowd and the stage. Asuka sends Nikki into the stage and then both women end up brawling backstage, but the camera doesn’t follow them. All the sudden the ref calls for the bell even though the rules state there are no countouts or disqualifications in a Triple Threat match. The ref declares this a no contest because it’s “gotten out of hand” according to the announcers. That was a dumb ruling.
Winner: No Contest
After the ruling is made, we go outside the arena where Nikki and Asuka are still brawling. Asuka throws Nikki into what looks to be a stage prop fence. Then Nikki throws Asuka into the loading dock door. Asuka comes back and repeatedly slams Nikki’s head into the same door. Now they get back into the arena and end up in I guess catering and makeup area. There’s huge coolers full of ice and drinks and Nikki dunks Asuka’s head into one of them. Nikki now drags Asuka back to the ringside area and they end up by the announcer’s table. They pull hair and brawl and now have moved over to the sound board and lighting area. Nikki repeatedly beats on Asuka and might have the advantage finally. She slams Asuka face first into a steel crate and beats on Asuka more but Asuka fires up and returns the shots. They climb up on top of one of the sound board tables and Nikki decides she’s had enough and does a cross body on Asuka that sends them crashing down below into a couple tables that were set up below. It wasn’t much of a fall but definitely a cool spot. Refs and agents finally are able to check on both women as the show comes to an end.
K-Tank’s Take: The “no contest” ruling was completely unnecessary. They well selling the point that the match has to finish in the ring so since there are no countouts or DQ’s, then just let them do the brawling all over the arena and when they go through the tables, then and only then do you rule that the match had to be stopped. I didn’t see a need for that. However the brawling throughout the arena was really well done and I’m sure the story here will be that Nikki has taken Asuka to her limits like no one else has before. I really hope this leads to some sort of Falls Count Anywhere match between the two. That will be a lot of fun and a type of match we haven’t seen Asuka in yet.
That’s it for this week, next week’s show looks loaded already so I will be back then for all the action. Until next time, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do but if you do, name it after me!