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NXT returned to Full Sail University last night as the tapings for May got underway with a bang. After the recent call-ups as part of the Superstar Shake-up, there were a number of debutants who needed to make their presence known as well as storylines that needed to be wrapped up so that superstars could move up to the main roster with no pushback from developmental.
Whilst there were a number of interesting moments on last night's NXT show on the WWE Network, since Kushida made his debut against Kassius Ohno, over at Full Sail University the build up to NXT Takeover, which will now take place on June 1st, reached fever pitch as two matches were officially announced for the show whilst a number of others have been heavily hinted.
#5. New Face On Commentary
Beth Phoenix has been a present face on WWE's main roster over the past few months having wrestled for the Women's Tag Team Championships back at WrestleMania in a losing effort when she teamed back up with Natalya to reform The Divas of Doom for the first time in more than seven years.
There have been rumors that Phoenix was looking to continue her in-ring work, but it appears that instead WWE have decided that the WWE Hall of Famer will now be doing her work from the commentary booth on NXT since it was announced at last night's tapings that The Glamazon would be replacing Percy Watson behind the desk moving forward.
Phoenix becomes the first woman to commentate on NXT since Renee Young back in 2013 and will now join Nigel McGuiness and Mauro Ranallo on a regular basis, calling the shots as part of the developmental brand.
#4. NXT Debutants
The Superstar Shakeup on the main roster over the past few weeks has seen a number of NXT faces make their way up to the main roster including The Viking Raiders and Kairi Sane, whilst the likes of Aleister Black, Ricochet, Lars Sullivan, Nikki Cross and Lacey Evans have all made themselves comfortable on Raw and SmackDown Live.
The fact that NXT has lost so many faces recently has meant that a number of new names have been brought in as a the conveyor belt continues, so here are the fresh faces that debuted in NXT as part of last night's tapings.
Shane Strickland:
Trevor Lee:
Shane Strickland and Trevor Lee faced off with Lee coming out on top in both men's first televised matches for the company.
Team 3.0:
Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel spoiled the party for the debuting Team 3.0 as they suffered their first defeat on their debut.
#3. Johnny Gargano vs Adam Cole take two
Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole put on a fantastic match back at NXT Takeover as part of WrestleMania weekend, so much so that WWE has decided that it's a match that the WWE Universe deserves to see again.
The past few month has seen the cracks form in The Undisputed Era as Cole has seemingly blamed Roderick Strong for the fact that he was unable to lift the NXT Championship almost a month ago in New York. Cole and Gargano have remained at the top level of NXT and even though The Undisputed Era has spent the past few weeks attacking Gargano from behind, Johnny Wrestling looks to be the one on top heading into Takeover since the mind games between the two teams continue.
Will it be second time lucky for Adam Cole on June 1st?
#2. Tyler Breeze returns to NXT
Tyler Breeze was one of NXT's most popular stars a few years ago, but his callup to the main roster has definitely not gone to plan. Over the past few years Breeze has worked as an enhancement talent up until he was aligned with Fandango and the two stars became the Fashion Police.
Sadly, this was another team that failed to work out and now Breeze has been sent back to NXT full time. The former star has been appearing at recent live events and even faced off against Velveteen Dream for the North American Championship a few weeks ago, but now he looks like he's back to stay.
Last night he came out and was welcomed back to NXT by Velveteen Dream, before Breeze attacked the North American Champion and seemingly set up a title match for himself next month.
#1. NXT Tag Team Championship match made official for Takeover
The Viking Raiders were promoted to the main roster as part of the Superstar Shakeup but took the Tag Team Championships up to the Raw roster with them. This meant that last night Ivor and Erik were forced to return to NXT and after their match against The Street Profits became a brawl, they relinquished the titles and headed to the main roster undefeated.
The titles will now be decided in a fatal four way match at Takeover on June 1st where The Undisputed Era take on The Forgotten Son, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan and The Street Profits. Given the way the build of this match has gone, it's likely that it will be announced as a ladder match at the next set of tapings at the end of May.
