NXT Recap: March 22, 2017

Recapping all the action that took place on the March 22 edition of NXT

Book of destruction

Despite Oney Lorcan risking life and limb to defeat Andrade “Cien” Almas in the opening match of the evening, it just wasn’t enough to get the win. It’s tough to decide what this win means for Almas. On one hand, he showed talent that could translate to the main roster, but on the other hand, that talent’s ceiling is ending up as one of the ten least important people in next year’s Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

Lorcan also has some solid athletic ability, but lacks charisma. To be fair, he hasn’t had much of a chance for mic work, so perhaps we will see the best he has to offer once the roster clears out a bit. It’s obvious that at least two out of #DIY, The Revival, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Asuka are heading to the main roster, so instead of losing camera time to people like Ho Ho Lun, we may get a chance to see why Triple H considers Almas one of the five superstars to feature on their live event banners.

Backstage tag team talkin’

Both teams that are fighting for The Authors of Pain’s NXT Tag Team Championships had some time on camera to make their case for winning the belts in Orlando. DIY mentioned how every other team is in it for the money, while they are in it for the love of them game. The Revival went the other way, saying nobody can match their résumé. While talking is fun, and a nice filler in between setting up the opening matches of Takeover: Orlando (which we still have no clue what matches it will consist of), it doesn’t mean as much as action. Thankfully for us as fans, we know that both of these teams can bring it. Ironically, the team that gives me the most doubt on their ability to “bring it” is the team that holds the gold.

WE WANT ASUKA (ON THE MAIN ROST-A)

Last week, we saw Nikki Cross defeat someone named Macey Astrella. This week, Asuka made that beating look like child’s play when she kicked the face off of Priscilla Zuniga. Zuniga did get in one good slap, but that was the last moment of her life, as Asuka threw her a hip to the mouth. Asuka even played games with the poor kid, lifting her shoulders up at two just to upgrade the can of whoopass from a liter to a gallon.

Eventually Zuniga tapped to the Asuka Lock, and she just may end Ember Moon the same way at Takeover: Orlando. Zuniga is no Moon, though, whose move arsenal is enough to be the only person Asuka has faced during her title reign with an actual chance to give her competition.

Numbers game

In the main event, the motley crew of Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong, and No Way José fought all three male members of SAnitY, though Nikki Cross, always the wildcard, accompanied them to the ring. Everyone got their shots in during this match, including Cross. The person in the ring one who didn’t get their shine on was the referee, who called the match a draw after losing control of all six of these men, plus one elegant woman. Speaking of Nikki Cross, at one point when she was biting Tye Dillinger’s ear off, some strange, angry woman came out and took care of Cross with a fury of fists, kicks, and slams. I’m sure we will find out more about who she is soon enough, but when it came down to the men’s feud at hand, SAnitY was finally left flat on their butts. None of these guys have a match lined up for Takeover, but since this six-man tag match ended in a false finish, and has lots of talent packed in that needs to be displayed at Takeover, I could see a rematch in the works.

Drifting towards absolution

Last week, I mentioned that my fantasy match for Takeover would be Kassius Ohno vs. Elias Samson, and since I’m almost never right, I will take this as a moment to gloat. Okay, so I wasn’t exactly right, as they will fight next week, and not at the pay-per-view. However, the fact that we will see the best wrestler in the world who happens to also be the best guitar player in the world face some guy with a beer gut named Ohno in a match at all, means we should all collectively play the Powerball, because we are the luckiest fans in the world. Oh, and the loser has to leave NXT, so there’s that.

With one week left until Takeover, we know the card will feature all three NXT titles (Men’s, Women’s, and Tag Team) being defended, and the debuting Aleister Black will face Andrade “Cien” Almas, but that’s as far as we know. There’s still room on the card to add one or two more matches, so perhaps we see the United Kingdom Championship defended, and maybe get a chance to see Elias Samson (who will no doubt retire Kassius Ohno next week) give his beautiful rendition of Nothing Else Matters. If that happens, nothing else will matter.