It’s been an incredible week for WWE thus far. Backlash was a solid show, where A.J. Styles was crowned champion. Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns had a classic encounter on Raw. Smackdown and the CWC Grand Finale did not let us down either. Which brings us to today’s episode of NXT. After weeks of ‘okay but nothing special’ shows, NXT delivered a fantastic episode today.
Right from the word go, the action was explosive. The X-Factor which had been missing from the previous episodes was back in full force at Full Sail University. We’ve identified 6 points to discuss in our piece. Let’s go straight to them now.
6. The NXT Women’s Division finally has a challenger
Asuka famously said last week that the NXT Women’s Division had no legitimate challengers for her. Of course, it was a borderline shoot statement as there is nobody (except maybe Ember Moon) who belongs in the same ring as her.
But it looks like NXT is building Liv Morgan as someone who’s going to take the fight to Asuka. We can’t see it being anything but a squash match. But it's still nice to see some competition in this paper-thin division.
5: The Sanity promo continues to air on screen
At NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II, we first saw a vignette that merely said 'Sanity’. The same promo continues to air on NXT television. The internet thinks that the vignette is probably about Eric Young, who made an appearance on NXT earlier on in the year to confront Samoa Joe. Other internet rumors include names such as Crazy Mary Dobson and Tommy End from the independents.
We can’t wait to find out. NXT is always signing new stars, and whoever it is, we are sure we’ll mark out.
4: Hideo Itami continues to impress
Hideo Itami took on Drew Gulak in a solid match, and he looks like a legitimate big time star in the NXT championship picture. We don’t know if he'll be the one to challenge Nakamura after his Austin Aries feud is done. But whether or not that is the case, we're glad to see Itami return in such great form since his injury.
Of course, nothing gets a louder pop than the ‘Go to Sleep' finisher (which had first been used by Itami, long before C.M. Punk).
3: The Authors of Pain seem simply unstoppable
Led by WWE Hall of Famer Paul Ellering, The Authors of Pain continue to vanquish all competition in their path. The two of them have been booked much like Braun Strowman and Nia Jax have in the main roster (totally unstoppable monsters), and much like those two, we have only one question...where do the two of them go next?
The Tag Team Champions are heels and we don’t see them square off any time soon. So a feud with Ciampa and Gargano then? The next few episodes of NXT should be very interesting.
2: Samoa Joe showed his true colors again and it was awesome
Samoa Joe had been behaving strange ever since his loss to Shinsuke Nakamura at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II. One might even say that he was showing babyface tendencies. Corey Graves kept saying how Joe wasn’t behaving like himself through last week’s episode, and even at the start of today's show. In the explosive opening segment, Joe invited Nakamura to the middle of the ring. Samoa Joe also challenged Shinsuke Nakamura to a rematch and when Nakamura accepted, Joe offered to shake his hand.
All seemed well till Joe attacked Nakamura as he was leaving and completely obliterated him. This is the Samoa Joe we know and love to hate. Everyone’s beloved babyface Shinsuke Nakamura was wheeled out by medical personnel. William Regal seemed visibly disturbed and would go to the backstage area to confront Joe, only to see him drive away.
This is compelling storytelling and more engaging that anything we've seen on NXT television in a while. Full marks to announcers Corey Graves and Tom Phillips for dialing down their commentary and pretending that they were shocked at what happened, through the course of the remaining matches as well.
1: Bobby Roode’s Full Sail debut was 'glorious’
Bobby Roode is probably the biggest NXT signee this year. And with his immaculately attired suit and tie look, he is carrying the brand into the future. His debut against No Way Jose today was a decent match (thankfully with a new finisher), but we’re here to talk about his entrance theme. We love it as much as Full Sail University did.
We won’t give in...we won’t give in. Yes so glorious, we will defend...we will defend. Okay, bye.
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