Skip to main content

My Thoughts on NXT (12/7/16): The Rising Sun

  • We kick off the show with the new NXT Tag Team Champions #DIY. They go into the crowd to celebrate as the crowd chants "YOU DESERVE IT!" Before they can speak, they're interrupted by the Authors of Pain. Paul Ellering says that the prophecy of the Authors of Pain has come true and that DIY's celebration is premature. He is interrupted by the Revival, who do not suck, as this video proves. They don't bother the Authors of Pain and walk around them. They say they are the only #1 Contenders and the only reason the Authors won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is because of the Revival. The Authors of Pain take offense to this and size them up. The shove them down before Ellering says that the next chapter will be written by the Authors of Pain, and it will read "NXT Tag Team Champions."
  • Tom Phillips & Corey Graves introduce the newest commentator on NXT...Percy Watson. You might remember Watson from Season 2 of NXT...or not. Alright, to be fair, Watson did have a lot of personality & charisma, so I can't imagine he'd be pretty good at this. And besides, the bar for former NXT competitors turned commentators has been set pretty low thanks to somebody...
    Byron Saxton is bad as well
  • No Way Jose & Rich Swann vs SAnitY-Noticeable by his absence, Sawyer Fulton doesn't come out with SAnitY. What does come out is his jacket, which Eric Young stomps on, spits on, and chucks it down the entrance ramp. So I guess that Fulton is out of the group. Jose & Wolfe start off by going back and forth before Jose flapjacks Wolfe. Swann tags in and he & Jose hit an assisted hurricanrana. Wolfe then blocks a headscissor takedown and tags in Young, who tosses Swann out of the ring before the commercial break. We come back to Young whipping Swann into the corner hard. Swann fights back with a dropkick, but Young prevents him from tagging out to Jose. Young goes to the corner and locks in a hanging dragon sleeper, which still looks great. SAnitY continues to beat down until Swann & Wolfe both go down off a double clothesline spot. Jose gets the hot tag and runs wild on Young, hitting a hip toss into a neckbreaker and a TKO, but Wolfe breaks up the pin. Swann takes out Wolfe with a Phoenix Splash to the outside as Young tosses Jose out of the ring. Young goes for a flying nothing off the ring apron, but Jose counters it with a punch to the gut. Wolfe throws Swann into the steps on the outside before Jose is rammed into the ring post by-
    BIG DAMO! The Beats of Belfast is in NXT! Damo's interference somehow doesn't cause a DQ, and Young hits the wheelbarrow suplex into a neckbreaker on Jose back in the ring for the win. Fine match, nothing special. After the match, Damo picks up Sawyer Fulton's jacket before throwing it to the ground.
  • William Regal gets interviewed. He says that the Revival will get their rematch for the NXT Tag Team Championships against #DIY on the January 11th episode of NXT. The winner of that match will go on to defend the titles against the Authors of Pain at Takeover: San Antonio. Tye Dillinger then walks up and brings up that he said that if he couldn't beat Samoa Joe last week, then he doesn't belong in NXT. Before he can probably quit, Regal reveals that he's booking a tournament, where the winners of four singles matches go onto a fatal 4-way match to determine the #1 contender to the NXT Championship, and he's putting Dillinger in it because he & the fans believe in him.
  • One of the backstage interviewers (they all look pretty much the same if we're being honest) tries to interview SAnitY, but they walk past her. Nikki Cross stops when she notices the NXT Women's Championship on top of a box. Asuka grabs the title, and the two stare eachother down.
  • Ember Moon vs Kimber Lee-OK, did WCPW just invade NXT or something? First Damo, now Kimber Lee. The two lock up before Moon monkey flips Lee before kicking her down. Lee comes back with a sidewalk slam for a near fall before locking in a modified surfboard. The two trade near falls before Moon hits a hurricanrana. Lee strikes Moon down for a near fall before Moon comes back and hits a dropkick. Moon hits the handspring corner forearm before going to the top rope and hitting the O-Face for the win. Good, quick little match.
  • We find out that next week, the qualifying matches for the fatal 4-way #1 contender match will begin next week. The qualifying matches are
    • Tye Dillinger vs Eric Young
    • Elias Samson vs Roderick Strong
    • Oney Lorcan vs Bobby Roode
    • Andrade "Cien" Almas vs No Way Jose
  • Samoa Joe (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura-NXT Championship-This week's main event is the NXT Championship match from Osaka, Japan that happened on Saturday. The two feel each other out to start for a long time before locking up, immediately fighting into the ropes. Nakamura takes control with knees before giving Joe Good Vibrations in the corner twice. Joe rolls out of the ring before hopping back up on the apron. Nakamura goes after him, but the referee gets in between them. This allows Joe to jam his thumb into Nakamura's eye before the commercial break. We come back to see Joe locking in an STF on Nakamura. Joe turns that into a crossface, but Nakamura breaks the hold by getting to the ropes. Nakamura blocks a suplex before countering it and going for the armbar, but Joe blocks it by keeping his hands locked. Joe tries to fight out, but Nakamura turns it into a triangle choke. Joe breaks the hold by getting his foot on the ropes and blocks a reverse exploder suplex, but Nakamura follows up with a German suplex. Nakamura goes for the Kinshasa, but Joe counters with a powerslam for a near fall. Joe sets up for the Muscle Buster, but Nakamura avoids it, only for Joe to lock in the Coquina Clutch. Nakamura nearly gets to the ropes, but Joe breaks the hold and hits a German suplex. Joe rolls through and goes for a dragon suplex, but Nakamura escapes and goes for a roll up. Joe blocks that and yanks Nakamura back up for another German suplex. Joe goes for a straight jacket suplex, but Nakamura blocks it, only for Joe to hit a head-and-arm suplex for a nearfall. Joe goes for the Muscle Buster, but Nakamura blocks that as well, only for Joe to hit an enziguri and sends Nakamura to the outside. Joe goes for the Uranage on the stairs, but Nakamura avoids and elbows Joe to death before kneeing him in the back of the head. Back in the ring, the two trade strikes before Nakamura hits a standing scissor kick followed by a knee to the head. Nakamura lifts Joe up, but he collapses under Joe, sending Joe out of the ring in the process. Nakamura brings Joe back in the ring and hits a top rope knee strike to the back of Joe's head before hitting the Kinshasa for the win. Fantastic match, probably my favorite Nakamura & Joe have put on together.
  • We close out the show with Charly Caruso, who announces that Shinsuke Nakamura will defend the NXT Championship against Samoa Joe in a Steel Cage match in Melbourne, Austrailia on December 8th...so it already happened.

Comments

More from The Wrestling Section

Worst in the World: The Gimmick Battle Royal-WrestleMania X-Seven

(Special thanks to Frost for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.) WrestleMania X-Seven. Heavily considered the not just the best WrestleMania, but the greatest wrestling show of all time, WrestleMania X-Seven took place during the hottest period in the WWF's history, and features just about every one of the hottest acts in wrestling at the time. An undercard featuring the likes of Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, William Regal, Kane, and the Big Show. One of the biggest female stars in the history of wrestling in Chyna. A killer TLC match between the Dudley Boyz, the Hardy Boyz, and Edge & Christian. A wild brawl between The Undertaker and Triple H. A massive main event between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Hell, even the father vs son Street Fight between Vince & Shane McMahon. It's a star-studded affair. However, there's one match that sticks out like

Worst in the World: The Last Rites Match-TNA Destination X 2007

(Special thanks to an anonymous user for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.) An often discussed aspect of professional wrestling is the backstage politicking of Hulk Hogan. Throughout his career as a major attraction in wrestling, Hogan's philosophy has always been to protect Hulk Hogan...OK, sometimes he'd help Ed Leslie, but most of the time it was to protect Hulk Hogan. Because of that philosophy and Hogan's influence as a top guy, there have been multiple instances where a company's booking and other wrestlers have suffered as a result. Would having Mr. Perfect win the 1990 Royal Rumble made sense and could have elevated a rising star and potentially created a new main event player? Yes, but that would require Hogan to not win, and that doesn't work for Hogan, so he wins the Rumble even though he doesn't need elevating. Would booking Randy Orton to beat Hogan at SummerSlam 20

Worst in the World: D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel

This match didn't need to happen. After Triple H and the Undertaker had one of the most brutally bad matches of 2018 at Super Show-Down not even a month earlier, nobody wanted to see them try to wrestle again. Also, nobody wanted to see Shawn Michaels come out of retirement after his fantastic sendoff in 2010, especially for a match like this. But here we are, Triple H & Shawn Michaels facing The Undertaker & Kane in 2018. The combined ages of these four at the time is 206. That's a number you'd expect to see from a match at Heroes of Wrestling. And anyone can come up with their own reason as to why this match is happening, but that would just be ignoring the actual reason. For those of you who don't know, Crown Jewel was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That might not seem like important information, but you can't really discuss this match without mentioning it. Despite the numerous reasons that running shows in Saudi Arabia is morally wrong (their abuse

Worst in the World: What is the Worst Wrestling Match of All Time?

  Note: This series is based off a YouTube series " The Search for the Worst " by I Hate Everything, where he reviews every movie on IMDB's Bottom 100. It's a great, funny series and I'd recommend checking it out. Have you ever just thought to yourself "What is the worst match of all time?"? I don't mean something like a boring John Cena-Randy Orton match, I mean a match where the wrestlers have zero chemistry, little wrestling ability, or literally no idea what they are actually doing. I've thought about this for a while, and I've decided to finally figure it out. So I'm going to watch any match that is: a) A winner of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Award for the Worst Worked Match of the Year. or:  b) Listed on the 100 worst rated wrestling matches of all time on the Internet Wrestling Database .   (Note: Some matches appear on awards that aren't on the list.) There are 115 (EDIT: Now 99)  matches on here. I pu

Worst in the World: Trash at the Beach

Click the link here to vote in the poll and help decide the next edition of the Worst in the World. Just over a month ago, I briefly covered the massive success the WWF was having in 1999. Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock are at the top of the card. Triple H is on the rise to the main event. Mankind is playing the ultimate likable & respected babyface. Names like the Undertaker, Kane, and the Big Show are all major players. The undercard is stacked with big names like D-Generation X, D'Lo Brown, and Ken Shamrock, rising stars like The Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian, and new signings like Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and the Dudley Boyz. The WWF was so red hot in 1999 that even an all-time bad WrestleMania in WrestleMania XV couldn't slow them down. But there was one other factor that made 1999 such a good year for the WWF; the fact that their main competitor, WCW, was beginning to crack. At the same time the WWF was reaching the highest heights they'd ever reache