My WWE NXT Overview (December 6, 2017)

Opening Backstage Segment

Featuring NXT General Manager, William Regal in his office breaking down the plan to crown a new #1 contender to challenge the new NXT Champion, Andrade "Cien" Almas at TakeOver. There's going to be a Fatal 4-Way match to crown the next #1 Contender. Wrestlers will be facing off in qualifying matches to enter that 4-way. Tonight, Kassius Ohno faces a mystery opponent where the winner will be entered in that #1 Contender's Fatal Four-Way Match. Didn't they say somewhere last week that Johnny Gargano was supposed to face Kassius Ohno this week or did I dream that?

Opening In-Ring Segment

The new NXT Champion, Andrade "Cien" Almas makes his entrance with Zelina Vega in tow. The brag and boast about Almas winning the NXT Championship and sarcastically apologize for injuring Drew McIntyre. Almas' English is still a bit iffy which is why Zelina is crucial to this act. This is a guy who had great matches with Shinsuke Nakamura in NJPW and even went on to defeat Nakamura to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. You couldn't even fathom that tidbit by just watching his NXT run. as far as his mic skills go, he doesn't even need to talk much. If he continues to carry himself like a Tetsuya Naito-esque character then I think he can be (and is) something truly special. Hopefully, the 'What' chants from the lame Full Sail crowd don't hinder him much. 

Press Interview

Lars Sullivan is asked about Roderick Strong and gives him credit but basically says that he's going to get his hands on Strong so he can go to TakeOver: Philly to win the NXT Championship. He is then asked what winning the NXT Championship would mean to him. Lars says that it would mean that he would show the world that he's the kind of Superstar that he always knew that he was. At NXT Philly, the NXT Championship will be in his hands.

Match #1

#1 Contender Fatal 4-Way Qualifying Match

Normal Match

Killian Dain vs Trent Seven

So the WWE UK guys are starting to compete for the NXT Championship rather than just the WWE United Kingdom Championship. Maybe they should do the same for the cruiserweights. At one point in the match, Dain flattens Seven with a cross body called "The Divide" (I think "The Great Divide" is a better name). Seven strikes back with a seven-star lariat for a near-fall. Dain finishes him off with the combo of  a fireman's carry forward slam, senton and the Vader Bomb.

Winner by pinfall: Killian Dain (Vader Bomb)

Dain is officially entered into the #1 Contender Fatal 4-Way Match.

A commercial airs for WWE 2K18. Usually around December, the novelty starts to wear off for WWE 2K commercials but this Snoop ad just never gets old for me. I can't explain why but I love the "Like Dean" part where he just shrugs like it's going along with the music. Tremendous job as always from 2K. Take notes, WWE!

Backstage Promo

w/The Undisputed Era

The Undisputed Era put over their big win at NXT War Games. Adam Cole then addresses his upcoming match against Aleister Black next week on NXT. He says that Black isn't on his level and although Aleister has beaten everyone on NXT, none of them have been named 'Adam Cole'. Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly then talk about how they're going to beat Sanity in two weeks and become the NXT Tag Team Champions. They finish by saying that at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn they shocked the system, at War Games they took the system over and now they rule the system.

Match #2

No Holds Barred Match

Ruby Riott vs Sonya Deville

I think this match achieved a little bit of what it was supposed to do and that was to make Sonya look like strong threat against the already established Ruby. It's all about aura in professional wrestling (See Brock Lesnar and Minoru Suzuki) and if they continue down this route with Sonya then it's possible that she could be viewed as someone who could tap you out or take you out at will. I'm assuming her run in NXT is coming to an end and with her role on RAW in the Absolution faction with Paige and Mandy Rose, I don't get the feeling that they'll take as much care of Sonya as NXT did. They certainly may though and I hope they do. The finish here sees Ruby pass out from a triangle choke applied over the bottom rope.

Winner by submission: Sonya Deville (Triangle Choke)

Press Interview

with NXT Women's Champion, Ember Moon

Ember is asked about her thoughts on becoming the NXT Women's Champion at NXT War Games. She cuts the most scripted promo of all time (hyperbole) about how she is going to be the greatest NXT Women's Champion in NXT history. When she finishes her answer she continues to look at the interviewer with a smirky confidence that only a promo filled with WWE buzzwords can give. The national treasures of NXT, The Iconic Duo, interrupt and commandeer the interview. Billie flippantly says that they're from "The Iconic Times" which was such a great line that got me laughing. They make a claim for a NXT Women's Championship match since it was Nikki Cross that was pinned at NXT War Games and not Peyton. The Iconic Duo have a little bit of indecision over which one of them will challenge Ember as the champ jokingly points out that they have an "iconic problem". A joke that nobody there (or here) laughed at. Billie and Peyton start chatting amongst themselves as one of the press guys sheepishly asks for his mic back which turn the delight-filled smiles of Billie and Peyton to absolute disdain.

Vignette

Featuring....???

A vignette featuring a man (I'm assuming it's a man) called s-spade-spade-n. Okay, bad joke. I love these cryptic 'coming soon' vignettes. Especially the ones that are tougher to figure out. Like this one for example, at I type this, I don't have the slightest clue who this is. I suppose I could cue up the WWE roster page on Wikipedia but why ruin the surprise. Sometimes the vignettes are the best part of the character they're being used for. Remember the ones for Razor Ramon, Carlito, Simon Dean, Muhammad Hassan and every Chris Jericho return vignette?

Match #3

#1 Contender Fatal 4-Way Qualifying Match

Normal Match

Johnny Gargano vs Kassius Ohno

Winner by submission: Johnny Gargano (Gargano Escape)

My Take: This was a fantastic match. Ohno and Gargano are just incredible performers. This was probably my favorite WWE I've seen recently. With next week's match between Adam Cole and Aleister Black followed by Sanity and O'Reilly and Fish, NXT isn't fucking around and is reaching 2014 levels of NXT awesomeness. 

Overview: As far as wrestling goes, this was probably the best show of the week. RAW has the tremendous WOKEN Matt Hardy debut which was the most excited I have been in a while for anything wrestling-related but this NXT show took the cake for best wrestling this week. Great stuff.