Did The King of Strong Style unseat Bobby Roode to capture his third NXT Title?
At NXT TakeOver, NXT Champion Bobby Roode battled Shinsuke Nakamura, NXT Women’s Champion Asuka went one-on-one with Ember Moon and NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain took on #DIY and The Revival in a Triple Threat Elimination Match.
Kassius Ohno, Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong & Ruby Riot clash with SAnitY: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
ORLANDO, FLA. — NXT TakeOver: Orlando may be a homecoming of sorts, but SAnitY made sure to ruin Tye Dillinger’s return.
The Perfect 10 was felled again in his ongoing struggle against the fearsome faction in an 8-Person Mixed Tag Team Match, despite being backed up by Ruby Riot, Roderick Strong and Kassius Ohno, who was pinch-hitting for No Way Jose after SAnitY bum-rushed him at WrestleMania Axxess.
Following an early burst by Ruby Riot, Ohno helped spur his team to an early advantage, knocking Alexnder Wolfe out with a forearm to the head. Strong followed suit with a spurt of his own, but Killian Dain’s arrival turned the tide firmly in SAnitY’s favor … at least until the furious Dillinger entered the fray.
Hellbent on avenging his recent beatdowns at the hands of SAnitY, The Perfect 10 fought like a house on fire with some key assists from his teammates. Chaos quickly broke out, and Dillinger clawed his way to the cusp of victory, even setting Dain up for the Tye-Breaker. Wolfe, however, provided a key assist, booting Dillinger in the face and allowing The Beast of Belfast to administer the Ulster Plantation for the win.
With No Way Jose injured, Kassius Ohno takes his place to team with Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong & Ruby Riot to battle SAnitY in a huge 8-Person Tag Team Match: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
Say hello to Aleister Black. He’s mean, he’s hungry and he has beaten the cockiness right out of Andrade “Cien” Almas in his NXT debut at TakeOver: Orlando.
To his credit, Almas was patient and wary around his mysterious foe, taking care to weaken Black with a series of armbars. For all his arrogance, El Ídolo clearly had Black well-scouted: Not only did Almas shake off most of Black's offense, he seemed to have the match in hand after hitting his signature running knees in the corner.
Black, however, roared back in decisive fashion, administering a series of boots that brought Almas to his knees. Black then slowly, deliberately, used the toe of his boot to pick Almas up by the chin before administering his signature spinning kick, Black Mass.
NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defend their titles against #DIY and The Revival: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
New NXT Tag Team Championships, same NXT Tag Team Champions.
After William Regal unveiled the revamped NXT Tag Team Titles, The Authors of Pain went ahead and retained the right to hold them, knocking off #DIY and The Revival in a savage Triple Threat Elimination Match that signified a new era of dominance for Paul Ellering’s twin goliaths.
#DIY and The Revival quickly realized their best shot was to join forces against AOP, and while the alliance was tenuous at first, they quickly got on the same page to take AOP out of the game: After Johnny Gargano and Scott Dawson joined forces for a combo of the Gargano Escape and a reverse Figure-Four Leglock, they administered #DIY’s double kick to the face, while Tommaso Ciampa and Dash Wilder linked up for a Shatter Machine.
Of course, such an alliance was too good to last, and after Dawson superplexed Ciampa onto the assembled Superstars at ringside, Rezar tagged back in to dispatch Ciampa with the Last Chapter.
Now alone with the champions, The Revival administered every tag team maneuver they could think of, even trying some of the chicanery that made them the first-ever two-time NXT Tag Team Champions. It wasn’t enough. AOP muscled their way back to the advantage and hit The Revival with the Super Collider for the win. The Book of Pain continues …
Paul Ellering celebrates The Authors of Pain beating the odds against #DIY and The Revival to defend the NXT Tag Team Titles at NXT TakeOver: Orlando.
Asuka’s reign of dominance over the NXT’s Women’s locker room continued in a stunning defeat of Ember Moon, who many had pegged as the strongest candidate to snap The Empress of Tomorrow’s seemingly unstoppable reign thanks to her ironclad Eclipse maneuver, which has yet to be kicked out of.
Alas, Ember didn’t even get to hit the maneuver, though the circumstances were somewhat controversial. Moon realized early that he best way to hit the Eclipse was to leave Asuka out on her feet, and after breaking free of the Asuka Lock and administering an exploder suplex to the champion, it seemed as though Moon had The Empress of Tomorrow finally in her sights for the Eclipse … so Asuka shoved the official into the ropes, knocking Moon off the turnbuckle.
Perhaps it was intentional. Perhaps, as Nigel McGuinness suggested on commentary, Asuka was still loopy from Moon's offense and didn’t have full control of her body. But while the referee, Moon and the NXT Universe all struggled to comprehend what had just happened, Asuka moved fast: The champion quickly uncorked a kick to her challenger’s head, and it was goodnight, Moon.
NXT Champion Bobby Roode defends his title against Shinsuke Nakamura: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
The era of Gloriousness continues: In a battle for the very soul of NXT, Bobby Roode denied Shinsuke Nakamura’s bid for the new-look NXT Championship, ensuring that The Glorious One does indeed (for now) hold the future of the yellow ropes in his hands.
Roode quickly went back to Nakamura’s knee, an injury to which allowed Roode to claim the title in the first place. This tactic proved unsuccessful until he dodged a Kinshasa and chop-blocked Nakamura’s knee, bringing the challenger to the ground, but Nakamura brought Roode down with him and mangled him with an armbar, trying to take away the Glorious DDT in return.
An adrenalized Nakamura somehow got to his feet and unleashed a barrage of kicks on Roode’s battered arm, even mustering the energy to kick out of a Glorious DDT. Roode, frustrated, flat-out tried to get himself disqualified by grabbing hold of the ring bell, but all that did was give Nakamura even more time to recover while Roode squabbled with the ref.
Unfortunately, Nakamura’s knee was too banged-up to take one more hit, and that’s what Roode administered — specifically, a running shoulder block that all but sent Nakamura end-over-end and allowed the champion to administer a tornado Glorious DDT off the second rope. In other words: New NXT Championship, same NXT Champion. And the fate of NXT itself? Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?
