WWE NXT results: Shinsuke Nakamura returns
The Big News: Mr. William Regal announced that Shinsuke Nakamura would challenge for the NXT Championship at TakeOver: Orlando against whoever is the champion after next week’s Bobby Roode vs. Kassius Ohno match.
The Medium News: Shinsuke Nakamura returned and defeated TJ Perkins in the main event.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Asuka vs. Ember Moon was also booked for TakeOver.
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This is the first week of the tapings at the University of Central Florida arena. They were last here right after the 2016 Royal Rumble.
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Tye Dillinger vs. Eric Young never got started
We kicked things off with the Perfect 10, who was still over at UCF, going one-on-one with the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion.
EY sent SAnitY to the back at the start of the match, but they returned before the bell rang and brought with them a beaten Roderick Strong. Dillinger forgot about the match to tend to his friend and was soon joined by No Way Jose. Young stood in the ring and screamed that Dillinger did this.
As referees helped Strong out, Dillinger and Jose hit the ring and took out all of SAnitY until the numbers game finally did them in. Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe laid out Jose with their double team move and Young laid out Dillinger with the wheelbarrow neckbreaker.
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Billie Kay and Peyton Royce did a video earlier today where they looked for the perfect place to put their award for Breakout Star of the Year. They walked by the trophy for the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and stated they needed some sort of display that was similar.
They came upon Ember Moon working out while they were doing this. They talked trash through a window until Moon tried to go after them.
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A video package aired for a debuting wrestler, which was Aleister Black (the former Tommy End). He was surrounded by candles and his final line was “fade to black.”
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Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated HoHo Lun
HoHo Lun is back and is facing the only man on NXT with pyro — Andrade “Cien” Almas. Almas was distracted by the fans chanting for Lun and almost got rolled up for the pin in 10 seconds. This match was all Almas other than that and he won with the hammerlock DDT.
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Ember Moon defeated Billie Kay
This match was set up during Kay and Royce’s shenanigans documented earlier and will allegedly go a long way in naming a new top contender to Asuka.
Moon was on fire early and probably would have won quickly, but Royce ran a distraction, which allowed Kay to take over. Kay hit Eat Defeat, but Moon kicked out. Moon made her comeback and not even Royce could stop her as she hit The Eclipse for the dominant win. Royce had climbed onto the apron, but got back down when Moon threatened to punch her in the face.
Royce pouted after the match. Kay sold a neck injury and needed help to go to the back. The fans gave her an ovation as she left the ring.
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TJ Perkins said he goes where the competition is and he’s looking forward to facing Shinsuke Nakamura tonight, mentioning that they trained together in Japan.
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The match between The Revival and The Ealy Brothers never got started
The Revival interfered in the tag team title match between DIY and The Authors of Pain last week, laying out both teams.
This is the second appearance of Gabriel and Uriel Ealy. It would have been their second match, except The Authors of Pain ran out and beat them down. The Revival ran away as AOP gave one of the Ealys the Last Chapter.
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Backstage, William Regal informed Ember Moon that we will finally get Asuka vs. Ember Moon for the Women’s Championship at NXT TakeOver: Orlando.
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Next week, Bobby Roode defends the NXT Championship against Kassius Ohno. To prepare us for that encounter, we got pre-taped promos from both men.
Ohno talked about how weird and how different it is being back after four years. The promo was taped at the Performance Center and he noted when he was here before this was just a giant warehouse. Ohno mentioned that wrestling was the first thing he was good at and the first thing he excelled at. The Performance Center was the first place he ever had doubt.
He’s never been NXT Champion and the doubt will never be put to rest until he wins the title. He said it would be sweet to win the title and defend it at TakeOver: Orlando.
Bobby Roode’s promo was cut via satellite from his home. He said that he didn’t care about Kassius Ohno. He said he was going to mold NXT into his own vision, but Ohno is trying to ruin that.
Roode wants to shape NXT into the way he sees fit and doesn’t want the NXT Champion to be a long haired hippy hobo from the 70s. The future of NXT is on Roode’s shoulders and he’ll be damned if Ohno comes in and ruins it.
Both men put over how important it would be to go into TakeOver: Orlando, the biggest TakeOver of the year, as champion.
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Shinsuke Nakamura defeated TJ Perkins
It was then time for the main event. TJ Perkins was last in NXT during the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and this is Nakamura’s return to the ring after his storyline knee injury at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio.
This was a very good, very fun match. Perkins worked as more of a heel, but this was a babyface match. Nakamura was on a roll seven minutes into the match until he appeared to reinjure his knee. The fans didn’t seem to get it, but it was alright because Nakamura shook it off and continued.
Perkins looked good here, using both a springboard dropkick over the top rope and a springboard DDT, which led to a two count. Nakamura went for an armbar, but Perkins fought it, so the former NXT champ turned it into a triangle choke, which Perkins rolled over the top to get a near fall.
A small group of fans cheered for TJP, which led to a louder group chanting for Nakamura. Perkins used a top rope dropkick to the knee and a dragon screw leg whip. A series of reversals led to Perkins slapping on a sharpshooter, but Nakamura got out of it. Perkins locked on his kneebar, but Nakamura made it to the ropes.
Nakamura made his comeback, and used the exploder and a Kinshasa to pick up the win in another really good NXT main event.
So that does it for this week. Thank you all for reading, and until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.