As seems to be the pattern nowadays, it didn’t take long for NXT Champion Bobby Roode to say something incendiary during a brief backstage interview.

Though The Glorious One’s proposal to meet Drew McIntyre face-to-face next week ahead of their showdown at Takeover: Brooklyn III was more newsworthy than controversial, his swipe at Roderick Strong — claiming to be a “better man” than The Messiah of the Backbreaker — was the handiwork of a master instigator.

No sooner than Roode unclipped his lavalier microphone did Strong storm the set, only to be held back by other Superstars. NXT General Manager William Regal tried to intervene and calm down Strong, but Regal’s admission that his hands are tied and that Roode’s dance card is full did little to comfort Strong.