WWE NXT Recap, June 7: Roderick Strong challenges Bobby Roode

If you were watching Kevin Durant and Co. putting a hurting on the Cavs, you missed Bobby Roode getting challenged, Heavy Machinery dominating, and Peyton Royce’s stock rising on this week’s NXT.

“Do You Want Heavy!?!?”

Victor Andrews thought he had the right idea when he chose Lars Sullivan to be his tag team partner to face Heavy Machinery with him. You can’t blame his logic; Sullivan is large, crazy, and large, which would seem to be a good foundation for a formula on how to stop these human wrecking balls. Unfortunately, Sullivan has a history of beating the breakfast out of his partners after a loss, so let’s hope Andrews and Sullivan can pull thi … oh, the match is over.

Heavy Machinery pinned Andrews following their finishing move, which they call the Compacter. As odd as it sounds, the Compacter may have been the least painful moment of Andrews’ night, as Sullivan lived up to his reputation, leaving Andrews in a pile of pancakes and scrambled eggs.

Roddy’s Resurgence

After knocking off Hideo Itami at Takeover: Chicago, it’s been a guessing game to figure out who would be next to receive the honor of stepping into a ring with the NXT Champion Bobby Roode. Would it be Kassius Ohno? Would Itami get his rematch? Would Triple H lose his mind and give Danny Burch or Andrade Almas a shot? Respectively, no, no, and hell no.

Roderick Strong had a chance to fight Roode at Takeover: Chicago, but lost the qualifying match to Itami. Instead of fighting for the NXT Championship, Strong spent his night in Chicago defeating Eric Young of SAnitY. It was a cute idea for Roddy to put his manhood on the table, and ask for a title shot. Even Roode thought so, as he came out to face Strong while wiping fake tears from his eyes. We all loved Roddy’s story as we learned about it last month, but was that, parlayed with a win over Young, really enough to warrant a chance at the title? Roode didn’t think so, but I have a feeling Strong will put “change Roode’s mind” on top of his to-do list.

Royce Makes a Statement

Next week, Asuka will defend her NXT Women’s Championship in a Triple Threat Elimination match against Nikki Cross, who was shown in the rafters screaming her crazy head off, and Ruby Riot. This match should be next week’s main event, but this week, Peyton Royce was the one who sent rumblings through the division with a dominating win over Sarah Logan. We recently learned that Ember Moon was cleared by WWE’s medical team to compete again, so Royce (and her bestie Billie Kay) shouldn’t spend too long celebrating this win, as many consider Moon to be the rightful heir to the number one contender spot.

It’s tough to predict where the road leads for Royce and Kay, but I’d thoroughly enjoy Ember Moon leapfrogging both of them up the rankings, with the two of them having some sort of a fallout. Billie Kay vs. Peyton Royce would be a great introduction to having two women’s matches at a Takeover more often.

Hideo the Heel?

At first, it seemed like Oney Lorcan could actually win this exhibition against Hideo Itami; his slaps resonated around the entire city of Orlando, and his bursts of energy were reminiscent of Enzo Amore’s. The feel-good story didn’t last very long after once Itami hit not one, not two, but three (!!!!) Go To Sleeps before Itami’s conscience of late, a.k.a. Kassius Ohno, came out to stop him from committing a crime where jail time may be justifiable.

This wasn’t the first time Ohno has attempted to stop Itami from having a temper tantrum, except last time it was a table of cups Itami took his frustrations out on, not an actual man. Itami shoved Ohno, Ohno shoved Itami, and we we have our next B-level feud.

Don’t Mess With Dain

Maybe if No Way Jose had prolonged his injury rehabilitation, or avoided contact with Killian Dain altogether (by not coming to the aid Roderick Strong & Kassius Ohno last week), he’d still be able to walk. Since the Beast of Belfast made an appearance during this year’s Andre the Giant Battle Royal, he’s has had people (okay, maybe just me) clamoring at the thought of when we’d (I’d) see his freakish abilities more often, whether it’s on the main roster or in more matches on NXT. 

Next: 30 pro wrestling must-follows on Twitter

This week, we got another entree-sized appetizer of what Dain can offer, as he defeated No Way Jose with his finisher (which is called Ulster Plantation, so that’s cool). It’s going to be fun to fantasy book Dain in heavyweight matches going forward: Dain vs. Ohno, Dain vs. Bray Wyatt, Dain vs. Kane. (See? This is fun!)

Whatever’s next for Dain, let’s hope there’s no music playing in the arena — I don’t think Jose will be dancing for at least a few weeks.