NXT Recap, April 19, 2017: Hideo Itami redemption tour begins
Recapping the April 19 NXT, where Hideo Itami more than made his title intentions clear
A challenger approaches
Did you people really think Bobby Roode wouldn’t be offended with the send off the WWE Universe gave to Shinsuke Nakamura last week? Of course he was! He is the glorious one, and the only one whose theme song we should be singing loudly. While Roode was going on about how he alone filled up the Amway Center — not that crazy of a proclamation — he was interrupted by a familiar face we haven’t seen in a while: Hideo Itami.
Itami not only slapped Roode in the face, but also gave him the GTS. For just a couple of minutes, you could have called the man on the ground Bobby Snooze. Itami has had an unfortunate string of injuries going back to 2015, where he was in the NXT Championship conversation before suffering a shoulder injury. Last year, at Takeover: Brooklyn II, Itami attacked Austin Aries following his match against No Way José, but he never got to face Aries in a match because his neck was injured. Itami has been teasing us with a championship run for the last couple of years, and I know I’m not the only one who hopes he stays healthy this time around. Itami is one of the only people on NXT who should be thrust into the title picture, if only because it’s been so long overdue.
UK title preview
In a backstage interview, we found out that Tyler Bate will be defending his United Kingdom Championship against Jack Gallagher next week on NXT. Between NXT and 205 Live, WWE has done a good job finding a role for most of its competitors from the United Kingdom Tournament. Bate has already defended the title once on NXT, Aleister Black (a.k.a. Tommy End) is becoming one of NXT’s featured acts, and that’s not counting the other men who invaded 205 Live just a few weeks ago.
As much fun as Bate was to watch during the tournament, I will be pulling for the Gentleman in this bout, because he’s had my heart ever since he Mary Poppins’d his way into it. Hopefully, this match will continue the momentum that the UK division has going, and it leads to the UK Championship being defended at the next Takeover.
Almas makes a statement
Andrade “Cien” Almas issued a challenge to Drew McIntyre for next week, but this week, Almas faced Danny Burch, who is having his first NXT match since his early departure in the United Kingdom Tournament. Poor Danny Burch can’t catch a break. He was eliminated via a highly controversial finish in the first round of the United Kingdom Tournament, and now he’s been made quick work of by a mid-carder who is a long way from being plucked from the developmental program.
As for Almas, he looked good against Burch, but will need to pick up more big wins against premiere talent if he’s ever going to be seriously considered as a contender. Who knows, maybe he can become UK Champion if they decide to expand on who exactly can compete for it. That may be Almas’ ultimate destiny, and I’d insert his catchphrase here but I don’t think I’ve ever heard him speak.
Can Asuka lose?
After a video package of every woman on the NXT roster claiming that, despite Asuka’s dominance in the past year, they would be the one to be the next NXT Women’s Champion, Billie Kay & Peyton Royce teamed up to fight Liv Morgan & Aliyah. Aliyah & Morgan picked up the win, after Aliyah rolled up Royce. Kay & Royce were throwing massive fits inside the ring, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they will eventually break up. There aren’t enough women on NXT to create a tag team division — maybe that’s the goal after the upcoming Women’s Tournament — so if both of these women are actually in this business to become a champion, there are no allies when you are on top.
Bye, Dillinger
The main event of NXT featured a steel cage match between Eric Young and Tye Dillinger. It was supposed to be in a steel cage to prevent Eric Young’s little family, SAnitY, from interfering. Naturally, this didn’t stop them. After Young was bleeding and Dillinger was crawling to make an escape out of the door, SAnitY appeared and locked the door, preventing the Perfect 10 from winning the match.
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Thankfully, Dillinger has friends too, as Roderick Strong and Kassius Ohno came out to take out the members of SAnitY who stayed outside the ring. Eventually, Killian Dane climbed the cage to get in the ring, but Dillinger took him and Young out by using them as a landing strip after jumping off the top of the cage. Dillinger eventually crawled out the door to victory, and was carried out of the arena on top of his teammate’s shoulders, while celebrating with the NXT Universe with final chants of “TEN!!!!!” It was an above-average sendoff for an average competitor.
Yeah, I said it.