NXT NOVEMBER 8TH 2017

Heavy Machinery vs. Chris Pain and Sean Maluta
All you need to know here is Dozovic did the Worm. Rather than tone down the wackiness, or refine it, it seems they’ve decided to turn it up to ten and on a philosophical level, I can’t fault them for that. They of course won with the Compactor on Pain, onto Maluta.

Christie interviewed Ember about Mercedes Martinez claiming she couldn’t win the big one last week. Ember said she’d meet Mercedes in the ring next week and show her why she’s the biggest threat in the NXT women’s division.

Kairi Sane vs. Billie Kay w/Peyton Royce
Billie took a good chunk of the match after Sane got distracted by Peyton’s presence on the apron. Another Peyton distraction almost cost Sane, but after taking her out, a spinning backfist and the elbow off the top put Billie away. I’m not sure the NXT crowd are fully with Sane yet, it’s certainly not a Pete Dunne situation, but they’re not against her either.

Regal was on the phone in his office, talking about some graphics that had been cleared with legal ready for Takeover. Ohno came in, wearing a retro Cesaro t-shirt that I’m confident nobody else on Earth is wearing anymore, if ever, wanting to be in the NXT Championship conversation again. He requested a match with Lars Sullivan for Takeover to prove himself and Regal agreed.

They aired a video to hype the War Games match, with clips from past matches, old promos and comments from Dustin Rhodes, Arn Anderson and Booker T.

Almas and Zelina had a sitdown interview on the match with Drew at Takeover. Zelina said the only person who was going to know her strategy was the only man who mattered, Andrade. Andrade was asked what their relationship, with Zelina butting in to say he didn’t have to answer that, stating they’d known each other for seven years and she knew the real Andrade and while people could claim wins over the old Andrade, but the new Andrade had no peers. Andrade said he’d be the next champion in ten days.

Velveteen Dream vs. Cezar Bononi
Dream seemed in a more serious mood than usual, both during his entrance and during the match. Bononi got a few shots in on Dream, but was mostly overwhelmed and Dream won with the rolling DVD in pretty short order. After the match, Dream addressed Black and claimed he’d get what he wanted at Takeover, when Black’s lips said his name.

They focused on the Womens Title qualifying match from three weeks ago which Ember won, where Sonya damaged Ruby’s ankle with an ankle lock. Footage was shown from earlier in the day with Ruby getting her ankle checked on, with Ruby being told she needed a couple more weeks to rest. Sonya showed up and said this could have been avoided if she’d just tapped out, claiming she took the coward’s way out and it’s her fault she wasn’t in the Women’s Title match. Ruby challenged her to a match when she was healed up and Sonya accepted, telling Ruby to heal fast so she could break it next time. I do like that the Performance Center is a regular set-piece now. They’ve been getting some good use out of it over the past few months and it makes sense that if all these people are using the Center, they’d cross paths and interact.

Street Profits cut a promo of sorts backstage, where they gave an employee one of their plastic cups to ‘swagify’ him, or something to that effect. This was all just a set-up for them to bump into a guy trying to deliver a suit to Tino Sabbatelli. On the face of it, Tino getting his clothes delivered to Full Sail during NXT seems rather convenient, but it saves him having to wait in at home all day. Smart guy. Anyway, Montez claimed he was Tino and the delivery guy believed him, despite Angelo doing his very best to give the game away. If I were that delivery guy, I’d have been suspicious, put it that way. Tino and Moss showed up, telling them they couldn’t afford a suit like that and warned them again to stop touching their stuff. Angelo challenged them to a match next week and they agreed.

Adam Cole vs. Roderick Strong
I was a little concerned for Roddy at the start of the match, because the crowd were clearly more behind Cole. But, as the match wore on, thankfully the crowd got behind Strong a little more. Given that he’s lost title matches against Roode and Drew recently, Strong probably needs a little time to rebuild some momentum and evidently they’re not planning on turning him any time soon if he just turned down Undisputed Era. After a pretty quick start, Cole eventually got on top and worked Strong over. Strong picked things up making a comeback and we got a back and forth finish to the match. Cole took a nasty looking landing on a backbreaker on the top turnbuckle, but Fish and O’Reilly pulled Strong out of the ring before he could make the pin.

The Authors Of Pain came out post match and Sanity appeared through the crowd, setting up a brawl between the three teams to close out the show. Wolfe took a few guys out with a dive, before Strong hit a superplex to the floor on Cole onto the pile to end things. I’m not sure about ending the show with everybody down and I’m not feeling the heat for this feud particularly, but we’ll see.

 

RECOMMENDED VIEWING: This was mostly a set-up show for Takeover, as well as a couple of future feuds that won’t be on Takeover, with some decent build, but nothing really standing out on it’s own merits. Strong versus Cole was perfectly good, but that was a setup for the brawl at the end as well.

NXT WEEK: Street Profits versus Sabbatelli and Moss, Ember Moon versus Mercedes Martinez and a face to face between McIntyre and Almas.

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