NXT kept rolling along upon a post-TakeOver: Toronto wave of momentum Wednesday, putting on display a more consistently compelling television program than any other WWE brand going at the moment.
This week's episode featured a quick turnaround in the Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe championship saga, as Nakamura got his NXT championship rematch in Osaka, Japan just 14 days after Joe beat Nakamura and began his second reign in Toronto. There were other matters at hand Wednesday, including the state of the NXT tag team championship, but more than half of this hour-long edition of NXT was dedicated to this historic showdown.
It came as little surprise to those who follow the WWE on social media, as they revealed the result in the immediate aftermath of the match on Saturday, but the match was well worth the wait as Nakamura defeated Joe and joined him as the only two-time NXT champion in the title's four-plus years of existence.
Osaka in particular holds a special place in Nakamura's heart. Almost 13 years to the day in the same location, one of the biggest Japanese superstars of this era took home his first of three IWGP heavyweight championships -- becoming the youngest champion in the title's history in the process.
The face of NXT continued to build upon his already illustrious name, as his four-month long battle with Samoa Joe has become one of WWE's most intense rivalries. The most recent chapter was a tale of counter wrestling, with both men trading the upper hand back-and-forth. It was a captivating affair well in line with its predecessors, highlighting each combatant's exhaustion (including potential jetlag) and their will to win.
With a main roster call-up for Samoa Joe potentially on the horizon, once a steel cage rematch with Nakamura next week from Melbourne, Australia is said and done -- NXT truly belongs to Shinsuke Nakamura. It won't take long to figure out where things will go after that match, as a No. 1 contender qualifying tournament is set to kick off next week as well, but one thing's for certain -- even if Joe is on his way out, the brand is in very capable hands.
Samoa Joe barely got the chance to enjoy his second reign as champion, and Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa could find themselves in a similar spot. #DIY finally got a chance to celebrate their tag team title win in Toronto, but before the new champs could get a single word in on the mic, the Authors of Pain -- the undefeated recent winners of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic -- came to stake their claims as No. 1 contenders.
As much as we might love to watch #DIY take on The Revival for the tag team championships until the end of time, as their two TakeOver encounters were nothing short of epic, Rezar, Akam and Paul Ellering brought an immediacy and a seriousness to the situation, and they should keep things feeling fresh as things move forward. The Revival, who also came out to lay down a challenge, got a rude awakening as they were quickly dispatched by the Authors of Pain.
We didn't have to wait long to see how the immediate future of the NXT tag team division will play out either, as general manager William Regal made an announcement that The Revival will get their rematch with #DIY; the winner of that match will then face off against the Authors of Pain at NXT: San Antonio next month -- the night before the Royal Rumble.
Hits & Misses
Is there a more creepy and mysterious, yet oddly appealing act in the WWE than SAnitY? The stable appears to have made a change as, prior to their match with No Way Jose and Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann, Eric Young took an absent Sawyer Fulton's jacket, stomped on it and threw it out of the ring. An unexpected run-in by 6-foot-4, 320-plus pound Irishman Damo on SAnitY's behalf leads us to believe the group won't wait long to bolster its ranks -- and Damo is certainly an asset.
We've seen quite a bit of the hot potato-ing of championships of late, whether it's the Raw women's championship, or the NXT Championship. While that method does promote the notion that "anything can happen in the WWE," lengthy title reigns are more memorable -- and hopefully we'll get some more stability for a stretch going forward.
The atmosphere for WWE events in Japan has been undeniable. The crowds at both last year's Beast in the East event in Tokyo, featuring Finn Balor's NXT championship victory, and tonight's main event taping in Osaka, were superb.
Ember Moon continues to look like a star. Tonight offered the smallest of sample sizes, but the future is very bright for the ultra-athletic superstar. It's only a matter of time until we witness what's the most intriguing potential NXT women's matchup between Ember Moon and Asuka. In the meantime, we got a big tease that the talented Nikki Cross, who's been wreaking havoc on all comers as part of SanitY, will get a shot of her own with a brief, but intense stare-down with Asuka backstage.
I hope this Tye Dillinger retirement-teasing angle is going somewhere. He is far too talented to be squandered as a stepping-stone for others. If a main event push and a shot at the title is on deck, great, but if not, perhaps it's time for Dillinger to be featured on RAW or SmackDown Live. His gimmick is extremely over with the crowd, he's an excellent worker and he's put in his time at NXT (and then some).
Welcome back "Showtime" Percy Watson. The flashy, energetic personality who participated in the second season of NXT in 2010 has been brought back to NXT as the third member of the commentary team. I look forward to some entertaining banter between him and Corey Graves, who has a knack of building chemistry with whomever he's paired up with.