Here's a place to check results and comment along with the latest airing of WWE NXT in its regular Wednesday night at 8PM Eastern time slot on WWE Network.
Announced last week as what sounded like a clip show, a preview posted to WWE.com on the day of its airing (Jan. 3) reveals there will be some new material to the double-sized episode.
We'll post match results here, along with significant videos or social media messages. In the meantime, and most importantly, this gives you Cagesiders a dedicated place to rave and/or bitch about whatever happens on WWE’s third brand - during its initial broadcast!
Enjoy the show!
- General Manager William Regal welcomes us to the show, then Kayla Braxton and Mike Rome start the show from an empty Full Sail. They promise breaking news about the Year-End Awards (which will be handed out Royal Rumble weekend) later on, and tease the house show title match referee-ed by Shawn Michaels from before WarGames, featuring Drew McIntyre defending against Adam Cole.
- They start the year in review with Bobby Roode’s NXT title win in January, and that leads to footage from the rematch in Orlando.
- McIntyre is shown in the crowd from that show, and we get a video package on The Celtic Colossus.
- Highlights of #DIY’s title defense against Authors of Pain from San Antonio
- Recap of McIntyre vs. Roode from Brooklyn, and that takes us to an Adam Cole/Undisputed ERA promo, more hype for tonight’s month old main event and Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly’s winning the tag titles from SAnitY
- Tag teams to watch in 2018 video includes Street Profits, Sabatelli and Moss, Heavy Machinery and the return of TM-61 (they’ll be back in two weeks)
- Recap of the awesome Aleister Black/Velveteen Dream feud and video from their San Antonio match
- The build to McIntyre vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas at TakeOver: San Antonio is summarized before Drew’s house show defense against Cole (with HBK as referee) is shown
- Drew McIntyre def. Adam Cole to retain his NXT championship on Friday, Nov. 17 in San Antonio. Shawn Michaels threw Fish and O’Reilly out (dramatically) in the early going, but some tension develops with McIntyre moments later when HBK tells Drew to break from stomping Cole in the corner and the champ pushes him away. Michaels calls it down the middle when Cole gets his foot on the ropes a minute later, but when he doesn’t get a three on a cover of his own, he yells at Shawn. They tease Sweet Chin Music, and Cole is the first to hit it... accidentally on the referee. HBK comes to start a count on Cole after a FutureShock DDT, but Fish and O’Reilly return to pull Michaels from the ring. Kyle eventually takes a superkick from the Hall of Famer, an in the aftermath the champ eventually hits another DDT and a Claymore to win it.
- Highlights from Almas’ win at TakeOver leads to Johnny Gargano becoming the #1 contender and the exclusive interview with the champ and Zelina Vega. They’re not concerned about Johnny Wrestling’s comeback story. Vega calls him a broken man, and Almas says he’s tranquilo about going 3 - 0 against Gargano in Philly.
- A look back at Asuka’s NXT run
- The list of women to watch in 2018 starts with The Iconic Duo, Lacey Evans, Kairi Sane, Bianca Belair, Vanessa Borne, Shayna Baszler and Nikki Cross
- Flashback to the scene between Sane and Baszler after Ember Moon’s win last week, and we learn Shayna will make her in-ring NXT debut next week
- November’s WarGames match gets the recap/highlight treatment
- A look back at Gargano’s year starts with Tommaso Ciampa explaining his turn in Chicago, flashing back to highlights of that TakeOver match (the emphasis on Ciampa - including Rome and Braxton talking about him after the package - won’t do anything to lessen speculation The Sicilian Psychopath might show up in Philly).
- Highlights of last week’s Fatal 4Way #1 contender’s match sets up the announcement of Cole vs. Black for TakeOver.
- Gargano talks about how he started 2017 on top of the world before “it all came crashing down”. He doesn’t want to revisit what happened in Chicago, so he decided to move on alone. He wanted to pay back the fans love, but he couldn’t and things got worse. The funny thing about NXT though, is that all you need is one opportunity. He plans to walk out of Philadelphia as NXT champ, on top of the world again. 2018 will be the best year of his life.
- Year-End Awards category are revealed, the six returning ones (male and female star, tag team, breakout, match and TakeOver) and new ones - future star, rivalry and overall competitor.
- An Ember Moon profile (an extended, much better one than the one which aired during the USA Network episode) is shown. It’s a familiar reality era story, but showing her as a childhood fan, her parents telling her not to be a wrestler, training with Booker T, being rejected by WWE and clawing her way back... but it’s the best job they’ve done yet of giving her some depth, and establish her as a babyface fighting for fans and her dreams against a world of challenges.