WWE NXT Spotlight: 9/26/18 By Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to the last installment in September of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. There has been a lot going on, the majority focused on who attacked Aleister Black. We’re not any closer to finding out who did it, but it’s been intriguing to follow along with, nonetheless. War Games isn’t until November, so until then, we just keep moving forward. Let’s see what the Yellow & Black have in store for us tonight.

The Investigation Continues

We start this week with William Regal making his way to the ring. He says he has personally investigated the Aleister Black situation for the last month and feels he’s getting closer… The Undisputed Era’s music cuts him off before he can say anymore. Adam Cole says its the same thing every week, pretends he’s Sherlock Holmes and doesn’t do his job. Aleister has been out for weeks and that’s on Regal. Instead of worrying about that situation, he should worry about ensuring that it doesn’t happen aain. Roddy asks when is Regal going to do something about the War Raiders. They shouldn’t have to worry about some cosplay Vikings. O’Reilly says they feel unsafe. Regal mocks the fact that he’s out there to talk about Black’s attacker and the Era are the ones that interrupt. Cole gets in Regal’s face and asks what he’s insinuating. Regal should be worrying about punishing Ricochet. Ricochet has been ducking Cole’s rematch. Pete Dunne gets one before him? He wants his rematch and he wants it right now. Regal says Cole never asked for a rematch. He wanted Dunne to soften up Ricochet before getting that shot. Cole cuts off Regal once again and warns him. Regal says Cole can’t get one by Regal just because of the Black investigation. Cole isn’t getting his title shot because it just wouldn’t be fair. In two weeks though, Cole will face Ricochet AND Pete Dunne in a Triple Threat match for the North American Title. As for O’Reilly and Strong, they really have nothing to worry about. Because in 3 weeks, they will take on the War Raiders for the Tag Titles. Needless to say, The Undisputed Era is not happy with this news.

K-Tank’s Take: No advancement in the Black situation, but it makes a lot of sense to set up these title matches for TV coming up. Takeover: War Games will more than likely not have either of these titles on the line, due to the champions more than likely being in War Games, so it’s smart to build up to big title defense on TV. That triple threat match should be spectacular.

We go to a Johnny Gargano interview outside Full Sail. He has a match against Tony Nese next week, so how does he feel about that? He says he’s actually excited about something finally, and he feels good about that match. He’s asked about why he said he was sorry after losing to Velveteen Dream. That was his way to apologize to the fans. He didn’t like where he was going, so he had to get his head right. He finally feels clear. He’s sick of whining and complaining cause that’s not who he is. Next week, he becomes the man he’s meant to be. He can’t be Johnny Wrestling sitting on the couch. Johnny pairs up with his wife, Candice LaRae, but then they run into Lacey Evans. Lacey insinuates that Candice doesn’t support her husband. Candice shoves Lacey and Lacey walks away satisfied with her words as Johnny tries to calm down his wife.

We get a Lars Sullivan vignette, who is in action next.

We go to a Velveteen Dream photo shoot. Dream doesn’t want to talk. He doesn’t want to talk about Johnny Failure or a man who’s not here right now. He’s also not going to talk about the man who took out the man that’s not here right now. The NXT champion. He walks away as it’s put together that he’s implying Ciampa did it. Dream comes back and says he’s not a snitch. The writing is on the wall.

Lars Sullivan vs. Victor Orchant

Lars starts with a clothesline and then clubbing blows in the corner. Pop-up powerslam off the ropes by Lars. Big splash in the corner and then tosses Orchant across the ring multiple times. The last one tosses Orchant to the floor. EC3 shows up in his dress attire and attacks Lars. He sends Lars to the floor and Lars tries to fight back to the apron, but EC3 knocks him off once more.

Winner: No contest (Lars by DQ?)

K-Tank’s Take: The crowd was solidly behind EC3, so that’s a good sign for him. I think it ended up hurting him a bit to have a feud with Velveteen Dream, so it’s good to see the crowd still invested on him and not turning against him.

We catch up with Regal outside his office and is asked about the Black investigation. Nikki Cross emerges from his office and tells Regal she needs to play with Bianca again and wants a rematch. Regal says he will take it under consideration. Nikki repeats to Regal that “she knows”. She walks off and Regal says that “no one knows what Nikki knows.”

The Street Profits vs. The Mighty

The Mighty mock the Profits since they are in possession of their chains and drink cup. Dawkins knocks out Thorne right away and then he and Miller become the legal men as the bell rings. Dawkins is all over Miller and hits his 360 splash in the corner. Miller fights back and is able to tag in Thorne. Dawkins ducks a double team and hits a double bulldog as Ford gets a blind tag. Ford does a HUUUUGE somersault dive over the top rope to the floor on Thorne and then does an impressive high jump to the apron to avoid Miller, who runs into the steel steps. Thorne gets put back in the ring and the Profits work him over. Hot shot over the top rope on Thorne, but Miller distracts Dawkins, which allows Thorne to regroup and attack from behind. Now, The Might work Dawkins over in their corner. Back suplex by Miller gets a two count. Dawkins fights his way out of the corner and tags in Ford. Ford with clotheslines to both opponents. He flips over Miller, lands on his feet and clotheslines Thorne over the top rope. Then a spinning heel kick to Miller. Ford to the apron, where he ends up getting rammed into the turnpost. Ford then falls with his leg caught between the post and steel steps, where Thorne then dropkicks the stairs into Ford’s leg.

The Mighty now work over that injured left leg. Double Russian Leg Sweep, followed by a kick to the spine and then a running seated clothesline. Miller now locks on a version of the Figure 4. Ford fights out but before he can make a tag, he gets chop blocked. Ford avoids Thorne charging him in the corner and then low bridges Miller. Thorne preventing him from making a tag and then ends up doing a double clothesline with Ford, so both men are down. Miller is trying to prevent Dawkins from being tagged, and Ford escapes a back suplex but lands badly on that leg. Thorne wraps up the legs of Ford and doubles him over for a pin and gets the three down while Dawkins is being held back by Miller.

Winners: The Mighty

K-Tank’s Take: Montez Ford once again steals the spotlight. He had a handful of outstanding moments in this match and every time he is on TV, he entertains me. I love so much of what he does and I think he will be a huge star. I’m sure this rivalry will continue, which is fine since the tag champions are a little busy.

Non-Title Match
Kairi Sane vs. Vanessa Borne

As the bell rings, Borne grabs Kairi’s hat and ends up throwing it down and kicking it out of the ring. Kairi isn’t happy and both women shove each other. Kairi with a single leg takedown and then an ax kick to the spine. Kairi tries for a leaping DDT, but Borne avoids it and then lands a twisting suplex that gets a two count. Borne stomps away on Kairi in the ropes. Kairi avoids Borne charging her in the corner and this time is able to land her leaping DDT. Double ax handles by Kairi, followed by a spear. Kairi walks the plank and lands her running elbow smash in the middle of the ring. She goes to the top rope for the InSane elbow drop and that gets the win.

Winner: Kairi Sane

Post match, as Kairi is celebrating with the fans, Shayna Baszler’s music hits. Shayna makes her way to the ring with a mic. Shayna tells Kairi to celebrate with the title while she can because the clock is about to run out. Kairi may have won in Brooklyn, and she admits that hurt. She’s not going to take that out on Kairi right now though because she is envoking her rematch clause. She’s going to drown Kairi, drop anchor on this title reign, and take back her title. Kairi grabs a mic and says Shayna can have her rematch at WWE Evolution. Shayna is good with this and goes to leave. Kairi tells her that she’s going to beat Shayna again.

K-Tank’s Take: You almost forget Evolution is happening since all the talk is either Super Show-Down or Crown Jewel. They haven’t built the show up that well, which is really disappointing. Ticket sales speak to that. This rematch should be solid though and it’s cool to see the NXT women get a spot on that show.

We catch up with Keith Lee in the hallways. He’s asked what’s next after his impressive start in NXT. It’s clear what anyone wants when they’re undefeated, Gold. NXT Championship Gold so that he can be what he says he is, Limitless. Keith walks into a dressing room, where Kona Reeves is working on something. Kona says he doesn’t want to be bothered and acts like he doesn’t know Keith. He tells Keith to wait his turn. Keith says speaking of turns, he’s turning everyone’s head, while Kona is piling up NXT’s finest losses. Keith gives Kona a challenge to Bask in His Glory before walking off.

The Forgotten Sons will be in action next week, along with Lars Sullivan vs. EC3.

Non-Title Match
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Otis Dozovic

If you’re wondering why this is a main event, Otis had implied previously that Ciampa attacked Aliester Black and this match came of it. So there’s that. About 10 minutes left in the show. They go to tie up and Otis face plants Ciampa. Otis shows off his power advantage with a couple shoulder tackles and then throws Ciampa out of the ring. Ciampa comes back in and goes to the second rope, but gets caught in midair and then bodyslammed. Otis is playing to the crowd, so Ciampa slides to the outside. Otis follows him out there and hammers Ciampa’s chest with forearm smashes. Ciampa goes to the ring and tries to do his draping DDT, but Otis just tosses him right back over the top rope. Otis does the worm as Ciampa wants a timeout. Ciampa tries to grab Otis’ leg and trip him, but Otis isn’t moving and just pulls Ciampa end. He stands on Ciampa’s back until Ciampa finally squirms back to the outside. Otis goes for a bodyslam on the outside but Ciampa slides out and pulls Otis back onto the ramp. Ciampa stops a 10 count and lays in the forearms to the back of Otis’ neck. Otis ends up on the apron and Ciampa hits a running knee lift. That gets a two count in the ring. Ciampa hits a second running knee lift in the ring, but again only a two count. Neckbreaker by Ciampa. Ciampa mounts Otis and tries a sleeper. Otis breaks it once in the corner, Ciampa goes for it again, so Otis just falls backwards with all his weight falling on Ciampa.

Otis starts tossing Ciampa around. Ciampa comes back with a knee but Otis spins and connects with a clothesline for a two count. Ciampa grabs his belt and is done with this, but Tucker Knight shows up and stops Ciampa. Otis lands a clothesline on the rampway and then tosses Ciampa back in. Big suplex throws by Otis. Ciampa is trying to run away. He tries the draping DDT once more but Otis blocks it and then does another suplex throw on the floor. Jumping elbow drop in the ring by Otis, but another two count. Otis wants a powerbomb but Ciampa slides out and hides behind the ref. The ref moves and Ciampa gouges the eye of Otis. Ciampa tries the Fairy Tale Ending, but of course that doesn’t work. Otis comes back with a pop-up sit-out powerbomb, but again a two count. Otis wants a Vader Bomb but Ciampa slides to the apron. It’s there where Ciampa finally can hit his DDT through the ropes and Otis lands hard on the apron. They switch sides of the ropes and Ciampa lands another draping DDT, this time in the ring, and that’s enough to get the three count.

Winner: Tommaso Ciampa

K-Tank’s Take: Well that was more fun than I expected. Nice showcase for Otis in a singles role, and Ciampa was selling and bumping like a champion should. This match won’t blow you away, but it was old school simplicity in its storytelling and I really enjoyed it. Ciampa doesn’t have a bonafied contender set up right now, so perhaps it’s Gargano part 4, or maybe Velveteen Dream gets an opportunity. Who do you want to see Ciampa face at Takeover: War Games? Sound off in the comments!

That’s it for this week! Until next time, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do… but if you do, name it after me!