WWE NXT
This was kind of a different episode of WWE NXT. There was only about ten minutes of actual wrestling action on the show but it was still able to move storylines along in a nice way.
Nikki Cross picked up a squash win to open the show and her crazy was on full display heading into the Fatal 4-Way at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio.
The promo fun started with No Way Jose and Kona Reeves in the back having a weird discussion about friendship and such which will likely lead to a match between the two at some point.
The Revival are up next in the interview room and discuss how 2016 was their year and that 2017 would be no different. They say that they should be in the tag team title match at TakeOver but are interrupted by TM61, who says that they have to fight just like everybody else to get back to that point. They’ll do battle later in the night.
Roderick Strong is out next to do battle with Steve Cutler. This was a decent match that really showed Cutler’s inexperience. It’s not that he’s bad but it just proved that he’s nowhere near Strong’s level yet but that’s why this is developmental. Strong picked up the win in about four minutes. Strong then cut a quick promo on the ramp about how he didn’t care about Andrade Almas and that he’s only there to be champ.
Ember Moon and Liv Morgan tease a match backstage that we’ll get next week. Okay.
Tye Dillinger is next up on the promo train but I really dug this one. He’s having a Dolph Ziggler-like crisis and has no idea what to do next. The live crowd wants him to come in at number 10 at the Royal Rumble, which would actually be pretty sweet but he’s soon interrupted by Sanity (not complaining about a second entrance) and he’s offered a spot in the group with some great mic work from Eric Young. Dillinger turns it down –twice– before he’s taken out by Damo, who ends up joining the group, which I think is a good way to get him some more TV time. Excellent work all around here and we’re now set for Young vs. Dillinger at TakeOver, which I’m more than okay with.
The Revival and TM61 didn’t get a ton of time in their match but there was a reason for that. The whole reason for this was a way to write Shane Thorne off of television as he needs knee surgery and they accomplished that. TM61 got a surprise win but The Revival beat them down afterwards, and assuming The Revival is still at NXT when Thorne returns, this could set up a nice program between the two teams.
The contract signing between Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura was about what I expected it to see — minus the violence anyway. Roode was confident and arrogant, and my favorite line was right there at the start when he said that the champ really wasn’t even worth his time. Nakamura was his typical weird self but I think it matched up perfectly with Roode’s persona. Their match at TakeOver should be … glorious.
Even without much wrestling on this episode, I think it still worked. It progressed some storylines a bit and the Dillinger/Sanity promo was the highlight of the night.
And there you have it, your WWE Week in Review. What was your favorite show and/or segment of the week?