WWE NXT preview (Oct. 4, 2017): New blood

Tonight’s show finds us at Full Sail, for the second episode from a taping (spoilers from which are here) which continues the build toward November’s TakeOver: Houston. Here's what to expect.

The Headliner(s)

Since the birth of his son, or at least the series of videos chronicling his backstory which ended with him talking about how that event changed his perspective on everything, Roderick Strong’s been focused on climbing to the top of the NXT mountain. For a while, that meant run-ins with Bobby Roode. But Roode lost the NXT title to Drew McIntyre in Brooklyn, and now Roddy has a new challenge.

It won’t be the first time Strong and McIntyre have squared off at Full Sail, but there’s more than one difference this time. The belt being on the line is obviously one of them, but another is that Roode won’t be around to run-in and prevent us from getting a clear winner.

Will anyone else? Drew’s had several run-ins with some guys Roddy used to work with in Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly... including one where everyone noticed Strong didn’t move a muscle to get involved one way or the other. Could he have The Undisputed ready to come to his aid to win the title, or for retribution in case he can’t?

The Title Scene

The other faction warring against the start of The Undisputed Era is SAnitY, the current tag champs. Aside from one surprise attack, their battles against the new guys haven’t gone well - including Eric Young’s loss to Cole last Wednesday. Will EY, Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe be better prepared when they eventually face Fish and O’Reilly for the belts? And will Authors of Pain ever re-emerge for their contractual rematch?

We finally learned how the next NXT Women’s champion will be determined, but we’re still going to have to wait a little longer for the qualifying matches to determine what three wrestlers will challenger Kairi Sane in Houston. We don’t have to wait for the NXT debut of the Mae Young Classic winner, though. She’ll be in action this week.

Seems Pete Dunne and the whole UK championship crew is back on the shelf. Oh well, it was nice seeing them.

Other stuff to keep an eye on:

- He still hasn’t taken a loss, and he’s starting to talk more. We have Velveteen Dream’s sexy mind games to thank for Aleister Black’s latest comments. Now we’ll see if the debuting Lio Rush can be the first man to defeat Black... and where the 22 year old high flier fits in the crowded NXT landscape.

- Even though she’s made it clear she doesn’t want Nikki Cross’ help, it looks like the SAnitY standout will again partner with Ruby Riot for another tag match against Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. The rivals worked effectively (if aggressively) against The Iconic Duo the first time around... will they be able to replicate their success without killing each other in tonight’s rematch?

- What do we want? Lars Sullivan vs. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch! When do we want it? Now!

- In his quest to establish himself as a singles wrestler in the wake of #DIY’s break-up, Johnny Gargano asked General Manager William Regal for a chance to avenge his loss in Brooklyn to Andrade “Cien” Almas. He’ll get the chance next week.

NOTE: Spoilers are out there for these pre-taped broadcasts (including here), but many Cagesiders don't partake. If you are going to post or discuss spoilers for this show before they happen, or results of future shows, please use the spoiler bar in your comment.

See you tonight for NXT, Cagesiders!