WWE NXT results: Samoa Joe fumes at Shinsuke Nakamura
The Big News: Samoa Joe continued to talk sense, telling Shinsuke Nakamura that he will beat respect into him at TakeOver.
The Medium News: Literally the second biggest piece of news on the show was still pictures of Bobby Roode’s early days in TNA (with no mention of TNA or the logo itself).
The Little Beaver Sized News: Nobody on this show was suspended 30 days for violating the WWE wellness policy.
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Hideo Itami defeated Mustafa Ali
The final show before TakeOver kicks off with the King of Kick, Hideo Itami, going one-on-one with Cruiserweight Classic competitor Mustafa Ali. Itami is just going through CWC participants, as his return match was against Sean Maluta.
The story of Itami’s matches since his return has been just to reintroduce him to the WWE Universe since he’s been gone for so long. Itami did a baseball slide, and when Ali landed outside the ring, he slammed his hand on the mat. Itami made his comeback after Ali slapped him. And Itami won with the running knee strike.
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Up next was a Bobby Roode video package. Ironically, they showed several TNA still pictures, specifically of him in Team Canada. It’s funny to see Scott D’Amore flying the Canadian flag on a hockey stick on WWE programming.
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We got an “exclusive preview” of Asuka vs. Bayley. This was a very good video package, showing the downswing of Bayley post-Dallas and how cocky Asuka has become in the same time.
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We got a music video to build up Bobby Roode vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas, The Revival vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa, and Austin Aries vs No Way Jose. It seemed they were more content to build up how special New York City is.
This episode is shaping up to be almost as useless as the one the week after Dallas where they showed highlights of all the TakeOver matches, then the dark match from Dallas.
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William Regal was talking to the camera about how great NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II will be when Billie Kay walked in and demanded a match. Mr. Regal put her in a match with Ember Moon at TakeOver. She seemed to approve of this.
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Carmella, Liv Morgan, & Nikki Glencross defeated Alexa Bliss, Mandy Rose, & Daria Berenato
Carmella submitted Mandy Rose with the legscissors in what wasn’t a very good match. Nikki Glencross is the former Nikki Storm, while Rose and Daria Berenato were on Tough Enough. I feel the need to point out Sara Lee, the winner, is not on NXT television yet.
Berenato came to the ring dressed like an MMA fighter, complete with gloves, but as soon as she tagged in she pulled them off and threw them outside the ring. They actually went to commercial with Berenato and Glencross threatening to lock up, then came back with Morgan holding Berenato in a chinlock.
Corey Graves did the over-the-top screaming about Rose that he usually reserves for Eva Marie.
Berenato and Morgan sat in a chinlock for a very long time. Watching Carmella and the heel team really made me appreciate the skills of Morgan, who did a more than adequate job of being a punching bag.
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Regal was in a room and told Samoa Joe he did not want the main event interview segment to break down into a brawl.
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This Saturday at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II:
- NXT Champion Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in a championship match
- NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Bayley in a championship match
- NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival vs. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa in a championship match
- Bobby Roode vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
- Austin Aries vs. No Way Jose
- Ember Moon vs. Billie Kay
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Another video package aired, this one for the debuting Ember Moon. The prophecy says she’s debuting Saturday night.
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We ended the show with an “exclusive” interview where Byron Saxton sat down with Joe and Nakamura.
Joe brought up Regal’s disrespect of him as champion. Joe was even the first person other than me to mention that when Bayley asked for a title shot, Regal went and asked Asuka if it was okay, even though he threatened to strip Joe of his belt.
Joe did most of the talking with Nakamura almost mocking everything Joe said. Finally, Joe flipped out and said he is going to beat respect into Nakamura as security pulled Joe away.
That does it for the show. It took them 45 minutes to do something that got me excited for Saturday, but they pulled it off in the last three minutes. So until Saturday, thank you for reading and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.