Welcome back to This Week on NXT and we’re starting off the new year with hell of an episode. The WWE network has been advertising the rematch of #DIY vs The Revival for the NXT Tag Team Titles. These guys have been putting brilliant match after brilliant match, some even calling their last outing the best match of 2016 (I thought so anyway). So there was a lot of expectations for this episode to be good. How did it hold up? Let’s recap.
We kick off the show with Asuka was ambushed by Billie Kay & Peyton Royce. Later on, we got a match with Billie & Peyton vs Macie Evans & Sarah Bridges, the crowd got behind Sarah who did very well counter-acting the barrage of attacks from the wannabe ‘Mean Girls’. Dirty tactics and strong teamwork won the battle for Kay and Royce in this squash match which presented their strength, teamwork very effectively. This also highlighted the possibility that they need to be divided in order to beat both of them. Asuka then came out battered and bruised with eyeliner running down her face (safe to say that she’s a little pissed off). 2 against 1 however caught up to Asuka and then out of nowhere Nikki Cross comes in and sent Peyton Royce and Billie Kay running for the hills. The carnage seemed to have died down but then from the second rope, Nikki dropkicks Asuka leaving her motionless on the mat.
In a backstage segment, Nikki made a statement saying she is going to Take the NXT women’s championship. We know she means it because she says ‘take’ loads of times to the point the word seems weird to me now. Oh, and Big Damo just waiting around the corner waiting to be accepted into the edgy only club. I’ll be honest I chuckled a little bit as I just want him to be like the cool kids, they seem to fit in, just want him to be like the cool kids, like the cool kids.
Elias Samson vs Johnathan Cruz was up next and Cruz gets mangled, although he tried to fight back he wasn’t able to beat the overall strength of Samson who secured the win. Not entirely sure what they’re planning to do next with Samson, so far they’re trying to make him look powerful with these squash matches but I’m just waiting until they have a story line for him.
Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas vs Oney Lorcan have a rematch after Almas lost to Oney in Japan. Oney is the fan favourite in this and I have to agree, he has a lot of enthusiasm and it’s fun to see him run around the place and throwing people around. Cien continued to taunt and show off until a focused Lorcan and brings him back to reality through various violent means. However, Almas won with a hammer lock DDT after taking advantage of distracting the referee. On the scoreboard, it’s a 1-1 situation and the only rivalry these guys to be trying to resolve is that Almas lost to Oney once. It’s not the most creative story I’ve ever heard but they do put on good matches together so I’ll let it slide for now.
During a pre-recorded Interview, Nakamura stated;
“Bobby Roode I like him, he one of the best wrestlers in the world, good looking, well dressed, he is not strong, he will not be NXT champion”
He was then handed an NXT takeover Dallas ticket from Bobby Roode, which is believed to be Roode’s ticket when Nakamura debuted on NXT. What does this all mean? Well, we’ll have to find out next week at the Contract signing between Roode & Nakamura.
The last match of the show was #DIY vs The Revival for the tag team titles. These two teams always put in 110% so if this is the last we see them fight together then I’m more than happy to see this. The Revival focused on disassembling Gargano with his weak knee and dictated a large amount of the match. Gargano and Ciampa basically threw themselves about so much that you think they’re trying to kill themselves. The match was so close between these two that it could have gone either way. The match ended with Ciampa and Gargano finishing off The Revival and pinning them both to secure the win. They basked in their victory until it was cut short by The Authors of Pain who power slammed them and sent a message that they are coming for the titles.
William Regal announced that at NXT Takeover: San Antonio, DIY will take on AOP to defend their titles. But, As this announcement was happening Asuka bursts in and demands to take on Nikki Cross, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce for the women’s championship. A fired up Asuka is not something to take lightly.
Great start to 2017 with this episode of NXT. Perfectly sets up matches for the PPV and the matches that we did get were entertaining and worth viewing.