On Wednesday night, we got our first real peek into the direction that NXT is headed in as we inch closer to NXT TakeOver: Orlando.
Nearly two months after a surprise appearance following an NXT dark match featuring Shinsuke Nakamura that didn't air as part of the weekly show, Kassius Ohno finally reappeared on NXT TV. It was his first NXT TV appearance, outside of a brief cameo after the TakeOver: San Antonio show, in over three years.
After a solid match that saw NXT Champion Bobby Roode defeat No Way Jose using his Glorious DDT, Roode continued assaulting Jose, targeting his knee in a similar way to the way he took out Nakamura in San Antonio. This prompted Ohno to charge the ring and put an end to the onslaught, causing Roode to flee.
An angry Roode grabbed the mic asking, "Who in the hell do you think you are coming down to my ring and interrupting the champion?"
"Who am I?" Ohno replied. "I think they (the crowd) know who I am. And Bobby, I know that you know who I am. I am Kassius Ohno, and I ain't nothing to mess with."
Ohno made it clear that his first order of business is the NXT Championship.
Roode teased an impromptu match, but ended up attacking Ohno from behind and once again targeting his opponent's knee. Ohno recovered with a series of vicious elbows, getting the better of Roode on this night. Where Hero, and Nakamura, for that matter, fits into the NXT championship picture on the road to Orlando remains to be seen. They've certainly set the stage for an interesting journey that should keep us guessing as things shake out over the next month.
Peyton Royce next up on the Asuka chopping block
The next challenger for Asuka's NXT women's championship became clear as well, as Peyton Royce earned herself the next shot at the title next week with her victory in Wednesday's triple threat match against Ember Moon and Liv Morgan.
These three women produced a great match, with Royce taking advantage of the psychological edge of having Billie Kay by her side, which predictably proved to be the deciding factor. Kay interjected herself enough to distract Moon, allowing Royce to grab a pinfall victory over Morgan via a fisherman's suplex.
Royce will seemingly serve as a bit of an intermission feud before the presumptive NXT TakeOver: Orlando championship match between Asuka and Moon, with the crumbs for that match already being laid down over the last few weeks.
U.K. talent continues to impress
Over the past few weeks, several of the incredible talents featured in WWE's United Kingdom tournament have been featured on NXT TV and, as this week's showdown between Pete Dunne and Mark Andrews showed, each and every match this far has been top-notch.
In a rematch of one of, if not the best match-up that took place in the U.K. tournament, Dunne and his "bruiserweight" approach clashed with the aerial acrobatics of Andrews. The bout was impeccably timed, technically sound and exciting.
To say that these two have chemistry would be a major understatement. One again, they performed at an extraordinarily high level. Andrews was quick and electrifying while Dunne was ruthless and relentless. Ruthless and relentless won as Dunne finished off Andrews with his impressive Bitter End maneuver, a unique combination of a pump handle slam and a flatliner. It's one of the coolest looking moves you'll see.
If given the opportunity, Dunne has the potential to be a star. He has all the tools and possesses uncanny intensity, and at the young age of 24, he can put on a clinic in the ring as well.
I said it last week and I'll say it again: integrating the U.K. tournament combatants into NXT TV is a wonderful idea. A more permanent home for these athletes in NXT will improve the overall product, but I truly hope that, for the time being, a U.K. Championship match will make it on the TakeOver: Orlando card on April 1. Who wouldn't want to see champion Tyler Bate and Dunne tear the house down the way they did in the final match of the U.K. tournament last month?
What's next?
The highly anticipated NXT tag team championship rematch between #DIY and The Authors of Pain highlights a packed edition of NXT TV next week. Regardless of their opponents, every #DIY match has become must-see, and their title rematch will be no different. If both teams put forth the same type of effort we saw in their NXT TakeOver: San Antonio match, we should be in store for a hell of a show, especially with two title matches on tap.
SAnitY's war with Tye Dillinger has been missing the past couple weeks. It's tough to fit every program into a one hour weekly show, but we need a little more than the brief Dillinger interview that we saw this week. I trust that this will be handled in the weeks to come.