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411’s WWE NXT Report 8.31.16
Hello and welcome to another weekly NXT Report.
The show opens with a medic talking to William Regal and Samoa Joe earlier today. He says that Joe has an injured jaw and had some other undisclosed injuries. Due to all of that, he can’t clear him to compete.
Buddy Murphy vs. Tye Dillinger
Tye Dillinger remains one of the most over guys in all of NXT. Tye beat Wesley Blake last week and now faces Blake’s old partner. The crowd chants “1” at Murphy followed by “you’re a zero”. They exchange some early holds until Tye gets out of a headlock and takes a shoulder block. Murphy snapmares him and throws up the “TEN”. Tye works a headlock of his own and snapmaes Buddy onto his knee, followed by a very over ten post and chant. He does it again after jumping over a sweep attempt. Tye sends Buddy onto the apron but he reaches in and slams Tye to the mat. He follows with a forearm for a near fall. Buddy uses Tye’s momentum to send him over and out. Back in, Buddy nails a double knee drop from the top for two. Buddy is still in control after a break but ends up jumping off the top into a right hand to the gut. Tye starts firing up and stomps on Murphy. He does some corner stomps, which all get a “ten” chant. The knee pad is down and he turns Buddy inside out with a clothesline. Tyebreaker connects and that’s all she wrote.
Winner: Tye Dillinger in 6:16
Decent stuff here. Tye is starting to rack up wins, which I like. Murphy is considerably better than Blake at this point. **
A recap video airs of the incredible NXT Tag Team Title match from TakeOver. This was followed by footage of Johnny Gargano’s loss in the Cruiserweight CLassic to TJ Perkins. Charlie interview Tommaso Ciampa in the back to a pop. She asks for the latest update on Gargano. Ciampa says that Johnny is all heart but the Revival show up to interrupt. Knowing he’s screwed as they surround him, Ciampa elbows Dash and the fight is on. The Revival take him to the arena and beat him up on the commentary booth and towards the ring. They bring him in the ring and Dash holds him while Dawson lays in the punches. Dawson steps on his head as they push him out of the ring where officials check on him. They cut a promo but my sound messed up during this segment (I’ll be using a different TV next week) so I didn’t get to hear it. Ciampa, ever the fighter, gets back in the ring, only to get hit with the Shatter Machine.
Kenneth Crawford vs. Steve Cutler
Steve Cutler has been on the roster forever. He actually gets an insert promo about not caring if you like him or hate him. Crawford gets a generic entrance. Dueling wristlocks to start until Crawford tries to flip over Cutler but can’t stick the landing. He goes into an arm wrench that Cutler gets out of with a big forearm. Cutler seems like he’s a no bullshit guy, similar to the Revival. He chokes Crawford on the middle rope and delivers a right hand. Crawford starts coming back with knees, a jumping spin punch and clotheslines. He busts out a sweet dropkick and a running shooting star press for two. He charges into the corner but Cutler just stomps on him. He hits a fisherman Michinoku driver for the win.
Winner: Steve Cutler in 3:30
Mostly an enhancement match. Unfortunately, I was more impressed by Crawford.
Hideo Itami is interviewed in the back on what he did to Austin Aries. Itami straight up says “I kicked him in the head with my sockless loafers.” He calls Aries a baby and says that if he doesn’t want to feel pain, get out of his ring or he’ll make Aries go to sleep again.
Highlights are shown from the Sami Zayn/Shinsuke Nakamura match from TakeOver: Dallas.
The Sanity vignette is shown again.
A video package for TM61 airs.
No Way Jose vs. Angelo Dawkins
Dawkins is like Cutler and  has been signed forever. Jose dances to the crowd’s liking. They lock up and Dawkins goes to a headlock. Jose gets out and they do a bunch of leap frogs over each other until Jose shoulder blocks him. He pulls Dawkins into a headlock, hops over him and hits an arm drag. Dawkins just clubs away at Jose. Jose fires up and hits the big fastball punch. Full nelson slam ends it.
Winner: No Way Jose in 2:41
Fun little squash. Jose is just a blast.
Andrade Almas is interviewed about his loss in Brooklyn. He says he’s not happy but Austin Aries interrupts. He says he is a star but someone always steals his spotlight. “Sockless loafer boy” did it and ruptured his eardrum. Aries is here to steal Almas’ spotlight. Almas says some stuff in Spanish so Aries wants him to clear it up. Almas says he wants him in the ring next week.
Now we get highlights of Shinsuke Nakamura’s win over Finn Balor on 7/13.
Aliyah vs. Liv Morgan
Aliyah gets in a quick shot and elbows Liv to the ground. Aliyah sends her into teh corner ut Liv head scissors her over. Drop toe hold and rollup for two. Aggressive knee from Aliyah and then she delivers some forearms and a jawbreaker on the second rope. Aliyah then applies a very interesting submission. It’s like she has an armbar on but also a headscissors and kicks away at Liv’s head. It’s impressive. Liv gets free and fires up, hitting strange looking kick to win.
Winner: Liv Morgan in 3:26
Not really good. Like the Cutler match, I was more impressed by the loser.
No Way Jose is interviewed about his win over Dawkins. He says life tried to tell him no in Brooklyn but he told life “NO WAY JOSE”. He says his fiesta will go straight to the top. Bobby Roode walks in, looks unimpressed with Jose and says “nice head” before leaving.
Highlights air of Shinsuke Nakamura winning the NXT Title in Brooklyn.
Asuka returns to NXT next week for a sit down interview.
Our brand new NXT Champion, Shinsuke Nakamura, comes out with the title for the first time. “You deserve it” chants. Nakamura says that he accomplished what he wanted to when he left Japan. He came to NXT because it has the best competition in the world. He challenged himself to see how good he was and he faced Sami Zayn, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe to prove himself. He says he’s still hurt, but through the pain, he became champion. He has held many titles in the past, but this championship means the most. Shinsuke says he has great respect for Samoa Joe but the Joe era is over. Now is the era of strong style.
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