Clever character development and some strong in-ring performances? It’s that time once again guys, time to check out the best WWE Network show… No, not Wrestlemania Rewind! Let’s check out what happened This Week on NXT!
A quick bit of news before we start. At the recent house tapings for NXT, William Regal revealed that there will be a new championship added to the show. The title will be named the “NXT North American Championship”. The news was broadcasted thanks to @WWENXT via there Twitter page;
BREAKING NEWS: NXT to debut a new championship at #NXTTakeOver: New
Orleans. (CAUTION: SPOILER) https://t.co/EWYi0yFjcz pic.twitter.com/noNpBF1vwr— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 8, 2018
According to WWE, the title will be awarded to the winner of a 6-man ladder match featuring Adam Cole, Velveteen Dream, Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan and new NXT signees Ricochet and EC3. How this will all go down is anyones guess. But, NXT Takeover is looking to tear the roof off yet again. Anyways, on with the show!
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC: ROUND ONE
Authors of Pain w/ Paul Ellering vs TM61
As the commentary team will have drilled into your head by now. This is indeed a rematch of sorts of the last tournament where AOP beat TM61 to take home the trophy. TM61 got off to a decent start by teaming up to keep Akam and Rezar down. Of course, the AOP would turn the tide back by using their power to overwhelm Miller and Thorne. The motivational power to succeed on the side of TM61 kept them going, even giving Thorne the strength to lift Rezar into the air with a suplex.
But, this couldn’t match the destructive power of the AOP as they brutalised TM61. Left in a motionless heap, AOP took the victory and move on to the next round. I’ll be honest, I thought TM61 was surely going to go further in this. The build-up they’ve been receiving for those return surely can’t be a waste of time? If there is something on the horizon, it has to be a better outcome than getting a shot at the tag team championships. I’m just not sure what it could be.
MEANWHILE…
– Pete Dunne, Rodrick Strong and Adam Cole walk into a bar, er, an interview segment where they all seem to be interested in who’s next for the WWE UK Championship.
– Lacey Evans calls Dakota Kai a classless and poor excuse of a women. Now she fully intends on seeing how far that arm of hers as healed. Shayna Baszler steps in to criticise Ember Moon for a lack of response to her challenge.
Bianca Belair vs Jobber
Oh goody, a squash match. Totally not over these right now. Bianca Belair won with an alley-oop… what? Did you expect more? There’s not much to say, she did three moves and left. Guess that’s more than you can say about Goldberg’s match with Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. I will say, one guy in the audience was seriously invested in getting Bianca to use her hair as a weapon. “Whip her! Whip her!” Was heard clear as day. I’m glad someone was more invested than me.
Finally, Ciampa Speaks…
Tommaso Ciampa, the man that betrayed his friend at every chance he got, slowly walked down to the ring to address the NXT crowd. Boos echoed around the room, not letting Ciampa start to speak his mind. It seemed the fan disapproval had finally got to him as he tossed the mic down and began to leave. Just to add more heat, he took a sign from the crowd and tore it clean in half.
Ciampa doesn’t even need to say ANYTHING. He’s become the most hated man in NXT and all he had to do in this promo was get the crowd to hate him more. It worked, now I’m eager to see what they’re doing next with him.
Aleister Black vs Killian Dane
Both men were looking to carve their own path to the NXT Championship, but there can only be one. Dane went immediacy on the offence with a drop kick into the corner. Black had to scramble to get back into the fight, but we were back to even ground once again.
Dane dominated in the second half of the match, leaving Black trying to overcome the unceasing damage being dealt by the beast of Belfast. Black started to fight back and keep Dane down. With this newfound momentum, Black went all in with high-risk moves. A clothesline by Dane put a stop to this momentum and it looked like it was all over. But Black was able to kick out of the Vader Bomb. How could he be put away?!
Black successfully managed to get the win with a sudden Black Mass to Dane. Black now has nothing in his way for Andrade’s championship.
