A new week, another episode of NXT. You know after last week when we saw Nakamura vs Joe for what feels like the 30th time, it was still a good match. Maybe this one was even better? So let’s kick off This Week on NXT with a positive attitude. (Since NXT Melbourne just happened, take a look at this recap done by our very own Erin Dick. Click here for more.)
The first match of the night was a recording of Nakamura vs Joe in a steel cage, I feel like I need to repeat myself. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs SAMOA JOE for the NXT TITLE in a STEEL CAGE was presented FIRST on this episode. Why didn’t they present it as the last match of the night? give it the main event treatment? I know that some people will argue for this saying “Well the #1 contender qualifying matches would be bad to have before as we wouldn’t have known who won between the champ and the challenger”.
Well, for one thing, this was already stated as the last match between these two, so having multiple sets of match’s to decide the new #1 contender is perfectly reasonable. Then again the WWE said we wouldn’t see Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn fight each other again, and they did that recently. So you know, take everything you hear from WWE with a pinch of salt. The match itself was more of the standard stuff you’ve seen with these guys, the ending stood out as Nakamura Kinshasa’d the heck out of Joe. Nakamura even had a chance to escape but he locked himself back in to make sure Joe stays down. Nakamura is still champ and now hopefully we can see Joe making a move for the main roster.
We got a backstage interview with Billie Kay & Peyton Royce who blamed their previous loss on Daria Berenato, Daria then appeared saying she wants to beat up either Billie or Peyton and that they should decide amongst themselves who that’ll be.
The second match went by quite quickly with Tye Dillinger vs Eric Young. Tye dominated but then won via DQ after Nikki Cross interfered in the match. Tye managed to get all the members of Sanity on the outside. However, he was suddenly blindsided by Big Damo. Damo really wants to be in this club so it’s just a matter of time before they accept him in. Although this could’ve done with an evenly matched fight to make Tye look strong.
Next up was Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas vs No Way Jose, or as I like to call it… Battle of the Showman. These guys love to perform and try and out do each other setting it up as an even fight. This reached a breaking point for Almas as he resorted to more aggressive tactics by pressing his neck on the ropes. Almas got the win and proceeded to bask in his glory. I do like what they are doing with Almas at the moment and slowly building his heel style, maybe soon we’ll get to see how far he’ll go tom succeed.
The next match was Elias Samson vs Rodrick Strong. I looked forward to this match just to see more of what Rodrick Strong can do in NXT. Also as a side note, Elias Samson seems to be building himself as a poser who can’t sing to save his life, at least I hope that’s the angle he’s going for. The fight went back and forth but Strong came out on top after a barrage of strikes. Well deserved and look forward to seeing him in the fatal 4 way next week.
The “Main event” of the night I guess is between Oney Lorcan vs Bobby Roode and according to the crowd and everyone on the internet, Roode is still indeed “Glorious”. To best describe Lorcan is like a rabid honey badger, his energy is so high it’s fun just to see him run around and go all in on his moves. Roode managed to overcome this new challenge, even using the ring apron to his advantage and holding his head down with it. Roode beats Lorcan proceeds to the fatal 4 way.
This was a slightly disappointing episode this week, putting what should be the main event at the start of the show weakened the value of the fight between these two wrestlers, and the other fights felt like they were trying to rush through them just so they can get to next week quicker. Hopefully next week with the fatal 4 way we get some time to let the wrestlers have some fun and maybe build Tye Dillinger back up for glory.