Tonight’s show finds us at Full Sail, for the third episode from a taping (spoilers from which are here) which starts the build out from TakeOver: Brooklyn III in earnest. Here's what to expect.
The Headliner(s)
Looks like we made the right call tracking Pete Dunne’s UK championship here, as he’ll again defend it in Florida while WWE figures out if they want to produce another weekly show. I’d kind of like it to be kept here as NXT’s secondary title a la the U.S. on SmackDown and the Intercontinental on Raw, but Triple H hasn’t asked me.
Anyway...
For a change, the Bruiserweight won’t be fighting one of British Strong Style stable mates, as this is the shot Wolfgang earned by teaming with the champ to defeat Tyler Bate and Trent Seven in a match from the pre-TakeOver festivities in Brooklyn.
Any chance we see a title change here? Almost certainly not. But Dunne is always worth a watch, and maybe we’ll get signs of how WWE plans to continues using their UK roster.
The Title Scene
Who will face Mae Young Classic winner Kairi Sane for the NXT Women’s championship in Houston? Unless spoiler reports from the last taping were really quiet about it, we’ll have to wait for Thursday’s filming to get a formal plan. But it’s possible General Manager William Regal will break some news from his office.
Last we saw NXT titleholder Drew McIntyre, he was taking a lot of kicks from Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly. He has a title defense with Roderick Strong coming up at some point, but the Celtic Colossus will probably want a word with Cole and company first. Of course, seeing as the GM warned the trio of Ring of Honor (ROH) exes off, I’m sure they’ll be on their best behavior.
Tag team champions SAnitY didn’t wait for Regal’s message to reDRagon and AC, they sent one of their own after getting jumped in Brooklyn and the Full Sail parking lot. Needless to say, Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain and Nikki Cross were not pleased, and we should probably expect something a little, well, crazy, in response.
Other stuff to keep an eye on:
- Our other announced match for this evening features Ruby Riot trying for revenge against The Iconic Duo of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. Regal told the Punk Rock Ragdoll to get a partner, but she didn’t seem too concerned about the numbers game. We’ll find out who, if anyone, gets Ruby’s back against the Aussies tonight.
- Velveteen Dream still doesn’t really want to talk to the NXT interviewing staff (the ambiance just isn’t right), but he did see someone at TakeOver he says needs “the Experience”. He’ll be speaking to that person soon.
- While in the midst of one of the self-pep talks he’s been giving himself in the wake of #DIY’s break-up and a loss to Andrade “Cien” Almas in Brooklyn, Johnny Gargano says he’s ready to face either Tino Sabatelli or Riddick Moss.
- We still haven’t seen Aleister Black since SummerSlam weekend, which isn’t truly evil, but it’s not really good, either. It’s definitely odd.
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See you tonight for NXT, Cagesiders!