NXT spent this evening (April 19) taping television leading into its next WWE Network special, Takeover: Chicago, which is scheduled for the night before Backlash - Sat., May 20, 2017, at the Allstate Arena. With just a month to go before that event, we figured matches would made at this taping - and we were right.
All three title bouts were booked, and the direction for a few more looked clear... even if we’re not yet quite sure how some of these rivalries will be presented in Rosemont, Illinois.
Here are the ones we know for sure, based on spoilers (get them in full here):
- Hideo Itami vs. Bobby Roode (c) for the NXT championship
The build for this actually started with a GTS to the champ on WWE Network tonight, but it was finalized at the taping when Itami defeated Roderick Strong in a #1 contenders match.
- Asuka (c) vs. Ember Moon vs. Nikki Cross vs. Ruby Riot in a Fatal 4Way for the Women’s title
After Orlando (and even before), the story has been everyone gunning for the uber-confident undefeated champion. Her ego led her to wipe out these three ladies when they were the last women standing in a battle royal to determine her next challenger, so General Manager William Regal did his thing and booked the second 4Way of the last three TakeOvers.
- Authors of Pain (c) vs. #DIY in a ladder match for the tag team championship
Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano correctly pointed out they’d yet to get a clean, one-on-one rematch from last November’s San Antonio show. After they took care of their match tonight, Regal agreed, and added the stip. Paul Ellering said Akam & Rezar aren’t scared, and vowed to end #DIY’s careers in the Windy City.
Then there are several matches it looks like they put together, but for which no official announcements have been made:
- Roderick Strong vs. one or more members of SAnitY (Eric Young, Killian Dain, Alexander Wolfe & Nikki Cross)
Roddy’s got history going back to the Tye Dillinger program against EY’s crew, and he caught a beating from them after losing to Itami at the taping.
- Drew McIntyre vs. Wesley Blake
Hey, don’t laugh. This was set for “next week” at the taping and didn’t happen, and there’s been talk of a repackage/push for Blake - a well-liked and respected hand - for a while. Still, seems more likely for the dark match which airs the week after TakeOver as they keep Drew out of the title picture until they’re ready to put him over.
This still leaves a lot of major names - including Aleister Black, Kassius Ohno, Andrade “Cien” Almas... and that’s just the men’s side - off the card, so we’ll see what gets added or finalized via backstage or online segments over the next couple weeks.
What do you think of this (potential) line-up? What else do you think gets added?