It’s a new era, a new episode, a new dawn, it’s a new day! Now I’ve got that song stuck in your head as well as mine so now we are ready to get our collective asses in front of the screen to recap NXT together. We actually started off the show with a new intro, combined with new graphics and even a different NXT theme song. Honestly, I’m going to miss the old theme. But hey, that’s what Spotify is for. So I’ll be constantly replaying the song over and over until I start talking the song into normal conversations. With that out of the way, let’s recap what happened This Week on NXT.
Match 1: Aleister Black vs Corey Hollis
Aleister Balck stood patiently waiting for Corey to make the first move. As soon as Corey went for an attack, Aleister kicked him square on the jaw and picked up the win with a pinfall. First of all, I like the patient conniving style that Aleister is going for here, it gave him an intimidating edge and builds him up as this intelligent fighter and is less likely to react on impulse emotions. Secondly, he’s almost more of a viper than Randy Orton claims to be.
WHAT WAS RECAPPED THIS WEEK?
– We got shown Tye Dillinger being drafted to Smackdown Live, he was interviewed afterwards where he said;
“Couldn’t be happier that he’s landed on Smackdown Live”
He also said he’s still got to finish business with Eric Young, so he talked to William Regal and announced that next week they will face each other in a steel cage match. The rest of Sanity won’t be able to interfere… Who’s got money that Killian Dane will just break the cage door open with his teeth and just use the cage to turn Dillinger into grated cheese?
– They also recapped Ember moon vs Asuka at NXT takeover, Ember looked over the empty arena in Orlando and lamented over her loss. she stated that she WILL be the next women’s champion, giving us a fire in her (get it? Ember? Ha) that will lead to more of an emotional attachment to their encounter.
Match 2: #DIY vs Dylan Miley and Michael Blaz (Blaze? Blais? Oh it’s Blais, Thanks, Tom Phillips)
Now, Dylan is what we professionals call in the wrestling industry as a “Humongous Harry”, a “Big Boy”, Vince’s perfect big dude basically. He ran through an attempt at a clothesline and knocked Ciampa to the ground. Even holding up Gargano in the air mid-suplex, which felt like we were going to see Gargano’s eyes roll into the back of his head. Ultimately Miley and Blake lost due to the fact of them not being DIY. Blake was hit with their kick combo and DIY picked up the win.
Dylan Miley didn’t take too kindly to his loss and threw Blaze around to take out his anger. It’s safe to say he was a little ticked off.
Match 3: Ruby Riot vs Kimberly Frankele
As the match got under way, Nikki cross made herself known to Ruby and stood at ringside to watch the match. Ruby manned to fight out the corner and take control of the match. After a lined up Pele kick, ruby won the bout. Nikki cackled and proceeded to leave the room, never breaking eye contact with Ruby.
We transition to a backstage segment with Billie Kay and Peyton Royce as they walked around acting like they already own the place. They entered a room and started teasing Liv Morgan and Aliyah calling them losers, not calling them nerds though. That’s Luke Gallows thing. Never forget that. Billie ended up getting pushed into an ice bath, I could almost hear the Wah Wah sound effect.
Match 4: Drew McIntyre vs Oney Lorcan
Oney had to get his bearings at the start to measure McIntyre, but soon he leapt all other the place and felt in control. That all changed when McIntyre actually caught Oney mid-flight and slammed him on the ring apron. Heavy strikes and slaps gave this a particularly strong fight feel. Drew then turned Lorcan inside out with a flying kick and picked up the win. With Drew McIntyre, it was a great start to his return and showed that he’s not going to hold anything back.
Drew was then interviewed afterwards saying that he’s built up a reputation in the wrestling world, and could’ve signed up to any promotion in the world. but he doesn’t want to be anywhere else besides NXT. A nice touch to paint him in the best light.
We now move on to the final segment of the show, the farewell of Shinsuke Nakamura. He stood in the middle of the ring and called NXT his home. He tells the crowd that he’s learned a lot in his time here with the coaches, co-workers and even the fans. The NXT universe was praised for being crazy and loving for their passion for this product. He finished up his speech by saying he will always be NXT because We are NXT…
The locker room then came out to bid him a final farewell to Nakamura. Shinsuke shook William regal’s hand and stood with everyone, even Finn Balor was there to say goodbye. This definitely felt like a sincere end to Nakamura’s NXT career. But now we can await possible matches in the future with the likes of AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and who knows what else they could do with him now. The possibilities seem positive overall, so I wish the best of luck to Nakamura and I look forward to seeing him kicking ass on Smackdown Live.