WWE NXT Spotlight: Joe vs. Nakamura 3 – 12/7/16 by Kurt Zamora

Welcome one and all to a huge installment of the NXT Spotlight here at TJRWrestling. In the latest chapter of one of NXT’s greatest rivalries, Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura had their third battle against each other for the NXT Title. It was Joe defending against Nakamura this time, but Nakamura this time has the home-field advantage as the match is taking place in Osaka, Japan. We have that and a lot more tonight so let’s get to the action!

The Next Chapter

The show kicks off with a celebration for the new NXT Tag Team Champions, Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. The crowd gives them a hero’s welcome and the champs decide to return the favor by celebrating in the crowd. It’s a really cool scene for these two as they certainly do deserve it. Before they can start talking though, The Authors of Pain with Paul Ellering come out to ruin things. Ellering says the prophecy for his team has come true. They are the winners of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They feel this celebration is a bit premature. As far as their reign goes… Now, The Revival’s music hits and here comes the former champs. They avoid getting in the way of AOP and tell everyone that as far as they see it, there’s only one #1 contender and it’s The Revival. Dawson says the only reason AOP won the Classic anyways is because of them. Now the AOP start to stalk The Revival and get in their face. The Revival is shoved to the ground. Ellering says the next chapter is only going to be written by The Authors of Pain and that chapter will say, NEW NXT Champions.

We go to Tom Phillips and Corey Graves who talk about how everything is changing in NXT and Corey says that he’s gotten them some help at the announce booth to continue that change and now the third man in the booth is former NXT star, Showtime Percy Watson. If this doesn’t lead to a “Winner gets to keep the Showtime nickname” between him and Eric Young, this will be a failure. That’s a good wrestling joke.

Rich Swann and No Way Jose vs. Sanity

Speaking of Eric Young… Sanity is down a member as Sawyer Fulton is not with the group for some reason. It looks like EY is carrying Fulton’s jacket with him. They get in the ring and EY raises the jacket high in the air but then throws it on the ground and stomps and spits on it. Then he tosses it out of the ring onto the rampway.

So EY & Alexander Wolfe will compete in this match. Wolfe and Jose start. They trade blows in the corner until Jose drops Wolfe with a flapjack. Swann tags in and they do a double team move that ends up with Swann giving Wolfe a hurricanrana that sends him to the outside. Wolfe comes back in and Swann stays on the advantage until he goes for another hurricanrana, but Wolfe holds onto him this time and tags in EY. EY promptly sends Swann to the outside with a hard fall. EY follows him out there as we go to commercial.

We return to EY still in control over Swann. EY gets momentarily distracted by Jose, which allows Swann to dropkick him, but Swann is not able to make a tag. EY goes to the corner and hooks on the hanging Dragon Sleeper. The ref makes him break it before five, but that is such an impressive looking move. Wolfe tags back in now and continues the assault in the corner. Wolfe uses some unconventional offense on Swann and stays on top. Swann mounts a small comeback and both men end up clotheslining each other. We have tags on both sides now and Jose comes in and clears the ring. He drops EY with a hiptoss suplex combo and then a big clothesline. EY gets hit with the TKO from Jose and Jose goes for a pin but Wolfe breaks it up. Swann comes into the ring and dumps Wolfe to the floor. He follows him out there with an impresive dive off the turnbuckle. Now Jose and EY start fighting on the outside until a huge man comes in and rams Jose into the turnpost. It’s none other than Big Damo. He eyeballs Wolfe as EY picks up the pieces and gives Jose the Wheelbarrow Neckbreaker for the win.

Winners: Sanity

Post match, Damo grabs Fulton’s jacket that was left on the ramp, stares at Sanity, and then slams it back down on the ground.

Quick Plug: Be sure to check out The Match Beyond Podcast this Monday as we have a very special episode with “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin as my guest. This was such a great interview where Elgin has no problem opening up about everything in his career. Hear about what happened to his eye that took him out of action a couple of months ago and how he’s doing now. Also here his VERY candid thoughts about how he felt when he finally won the ROH World Championship. I really enjoyed this interview, and you will too.

We then go to William Regal with Dasha backstage in his office. He says that The Revival will get their Tag Title rematch against DIY on the January 11th episode of NXT. The winner of that match will go on to face The Authors of Pain at NXT Takeover: San Antonio. Now, Tye Dillinger comes into the office and talks about how he said if he lost to Joe last week, then maybe he didn’t belong here. So that’s why he’s here. Regal cuts him off and says he wanted to let Dillinger know that next week there will be a tournament with four singles matches. The winners of those four matches will then go onto a Fatal 4-Way match and the winner of that match will become the new #1 contender for the NXT Title. Does Dillinger want a spot in that? Dillinger says absolutely and tells Regal not to worry about what he originally came into the office for.

Sanity is now walking backstage and won’t say anything about what just took place. For some reason, the NXT Women’s Title is just hanging out backstage and Nikki Cross stops to look at it. Asuka comes from behind and grabs her title while both women stare at each other.

Ember Moon vs. Kimber Lee

Lee wants a test of strength to start, which Ember obliges. Lee sends Ember to the mat, but Ember ends up monkey flipping her over. Ember with quick strikes after that, but gets caught in a sidewalk slam. Lee goes for a pin and Ember kicks out at two. Lee now goes for a scissor submission. Ember gets out and chops the hell out of Lee. Lee gets Ember up for a powerbomb but Ember manages to counter it into a Frankensteiner. Lee manages to stay on the offense after that and pummels Ember on the mat. Ember with a quick roll up but Lee kicks out. Ember follows up with a dropkick and then give Lee a forearm shiver in the corner. She goes up top for the Total Eclipse and Lee is drilled almost out of her boots and Ember Moon with the win.

Winner: Ember Moon

The four qualifying matches for next week’s show will be Tye Dillinger vs. Eric Young, Elias Samson vs. Roddy Strong, Oney Lorcan vs. Bobby Roode, & Andrade Almas vs. No Way Jose

NXT Title Match
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

As stated at the beginning, this match took place this past weekend in Osaka, Japan. Nakamura of course gets a humongous ovation as he comes out. Red streamers come from everywhere as Nakamura is announced as the challenger. Not quite the visual as Finn Balor from last year, but still cool nonetheless. Both men feel each other out to start. Some short kicks to the thighs of each other. Both men come into each other in the ropes and the ref wants a clean break. He doesn’t exactly get it as Nakamura rubs his head into Joe’s chest. Nakamura gets the early advantage and gives Joe a double dose of Good Vibrations in the corner. Joe goes to the outside to regroup. Joe stalls to get in the ring, but as the ref tries to separate Nakamura from going outside. Joe uses his positioning to rake Nakamura in the eyes. We go to commercial.

We come back to Joe hooking on the STF on Nakamura, who is far away from the ropes. Joe transitions to the Crossface. Nakamura is able to shift his body and use his legs to get to the ropes. Joe wants to go for a suplex but Nakamura blocks it and somehow turns it into a armbar attempt. Joe locks his hands though and turns it into a pin. Nakamura gets his shoulder up and then turns it into a Triangle Choke attempt. Joe gets to the ropes quickly though. Nakamura wants the reverse Exploder Suplex but Joe blocks it. He can’t block the follow up attempt at the German Suplex though. Nakamura wants the Kinshasa, but Joe turns it into a snap powerslam. Nakamura kicks out at two. Joe now sets up for the Muscle Buster but Nakamura gets out and goes for another Kinshasa. Joe moves out of the way and now hooks on the Coquina Clutch. He can’t get Nakamura to the ground though, so he turns it to a German Suplex of his own. Now both men counter each other but Joe ends up hitting a second German. Then he hits a T-Bone Suplex and goes for a cover but Nakamura kicks out. Joe goes for the Muscle Buster once more, Nakamura fights off but Joe ends up giving Nakamura an enziguri that knocks him to the floor. Joe follows him out there and now wants to use the steel steps like in the past. Nakamura fights out and just drills Joe with a flurry of elbow strikes. Then he comes from behind with a knee to the back of the head, that ends up making Joe fall face first into the steel steps.

Nakamura sends Joe back to the inside and both men are slow to their feet. They start trading shots but Nakamura drops Joe with a scissors kick to the back of the head. Nakamura gets Joe up on his shoulders but can’t keep him up thee and Joe ends up rolling to the floor. Nakamura follows him out there and gets him back in the ring. Nakamura goes to the top rope and comes off with another knee strike to the back of the head. Nakamura goes for it a third time and… KINSHASA!!! We have a new NXT Champion!

Winner: New NXT Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura

Post match, the crowd goes crazy for their hometown hero winning the title, as expected. They really popped for that Kinshasa. Nakamura celebrates with his title as our show comes to an end.

K-Tank’s Final Takes

• It was announced online immediately following the show, that Joe will now get his rematch and the 4th battle in this rivalry, inside a steel cage in Melbourne, Australia. That match will take place December 8th, which in Australian time, may have already taken place by the time you read this.
• I feel bad for Sawyer Fulton, who looks to have been discarded for Damo, who has more of a name value. It kind of sets a bad example for what NXT is truly at it’s core, but that’s what happens sometimes. Sanity is golden either way, and maybe this will be some elaborate storyline that will keep Fulton involved.
• We have our first match already signed for Takeover in January during Royal Rumble weekend. I would fully expect DIY to retain on January 11th to lead to the match with Authors of Pain. We never got to see The Rock N Roll Express vs. The Road Warriors back in the day, so the modern day version of that should be a lot of fun to watch.

That’s it for this week. We’ll be back next week for that huge 8-Man tournament to determine a new #1 contender for the NXT Title. So until then, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, but if you do, name it after me.