NXT – September 6, 2017: Depends on the Version

There’s a lot going on around NXT at the moment but the big story is the status of Asuka and the NXT Women’s Title. While still undefeated, Asuka has suffered a broken collar bone, which would keep her on the shelf for a long time, though she’ll be here tonight. Other than that we have Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly as the ROHNWO. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Hideo Itami losing at Takeover: Chicago and turning heel as a result. Kassius Ohno had been trying to calm him down for months but it eventually turned violent. Tonight they’re squaring off in a No DQ match.

Opening sequence.

Andrade Cien Almas vs. Cezar Bononi

Zelina Vega is on commentary and says she’s known Almas for seven years. Their relationship seems to be business only at the moment. Bononi drives him into the corner, only to have Almas light him up with a chop. Vega takes credit for the aggression as Bononi comes back with a clothesline and dropkick. Not bad athleticism for someone his size. Almas gets in a knee to the back in the corner and the hammerlock DDT ends Bononi at 2:53.

We look back at Cole and company attacking Drew McIntyre last week and William Regal chasing them off.

Regal says the trio knows this can’t happen again and all fighting will take place in the ring.

An interviewer is standing outside Asuka’s door when the Velveteen Dream comes up to say that he’ll speak soon about someone who caught his eye in Brooklyn.

Lars Sullivan vs. ???/???/???

Sullivan doesn’t want tagging and tosses all three of them around like they’re something that is tossed around with ease. Two of them are thrown into each other in the corner for a splash and it’s three straight standing Boss Man Slams for the pin at 1:18.

Post match No Way Jose comes out to say Sullivan messed up the conga line in Brooklyn and it’s payback time. Sullivan beats him down too.

There’s something odd here. On the live stream version of the show, this aired normally. On the on demand version though, about forty seconds into the match, we cut away to the clip that would follow the match. There’s no mention of the end of the match or Jose’s involvement and it just picks up like nothing happened. I’ve never seen that before.

Johnny Gargano says Brooklyn was amazing and the DIY shirt didn’t change anything. He just lost focus. Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli come in to say they broke up DIY at Full Sail. Gargano laughs it off and offers to fight one of them next week.

Video on Sonya DeVille.

We go to a clip of Sanity being laid out in the parking lot.

Sanity doesn’t care about who these three are or think they are. The only thing that matters is chaos.

Zeda vs. Sonya DeVille

Zeda is from the Mae Young Classic. Sonya gets rolled up for an early one before easily taking her down. A slam sends Zeda bailing to the floor and a kick to the chest drops her back inside. That’s enough for Sonya as a triangle choke ends Zeda at 1:42.

Earlier today, Regal was watching an in-ring workout at the Performance Center when Ruby Riot came in to ask for a handicap match against Billie Kay and Peyton Royce. Regal won’t do that but if Ruby can find a partner, she can have a tag match.

Kassius Ohno vs. Hideo Itami

No DQ due to Itami hitting him low to break up their previous match. Ohno wastes no time in slamming him down and dropping a leg before kicking Itami in the head. Itami pops back up and backdrops him to the apron, followed by a ram into the post. Back in and Itami nails a running hesitation dropkick in the corner. It’s already chair time with Itami holding it up to block the rolling elbow as we take a break.

Back with Itami slowly kicking him in the face and telling Ohno to bring it. Ohno kicks him in the face a bit harder, followed by a Shining Wizard. They’re certainly liking the head strikes so far. The GTS doesn’t work so Ohno BLASTS him with the elbow to knock Itami outside. Another forearm (Ohno: “HOW MUCH DOES THIS HURT???”) sends Itami up the ramp but he suplexes Ohno right back down.

Itami hits another hesitation dropkick into the chair into Ohno’s face for a near fall. The kickout makes Itami demand respect (From the chair perhaps?) but the GTS still won’t work. Instead Ohno hits a heck of a low blow, followed by another rolling elbow for the pin at 12:21.

Rating: B-. This needed some more time and the ending really surprised me (not a bad thing). Ohno hasn’t really gotten a big win in months now so this should revitalize him for a good while. They didn’t do much with the stipulation until the ending, but that’s what the story called for here. It was good, but certainly nothing great or with a big feeling.

Next week: RubyRiot/??? vs. Billie Kay/Peyton Royce and Pete Dunne defends the UK Title against Wolfgang.

Regal brings out Asuka for the big update. The fans cut her off with a THANK YOU ASUKA chant before she talks about all the great superstars she’s fought around here. She’s grown so much around here and is grateful for NXT. Regal praises her for her efforts in NXT but says people have started to recognize her lack of competition. She is now in negotiations with both Raw and Smackdown, which draws a heck of a YES chant.

However, that means she’s stepping down as Women’s Champion. The locker room comes out to the stage to applaud her (Riot claps weirdly) and Asuka says NXT comes with her everywhere. Ember Moon comes to the ring for a big hug and here’s HHH, flanked by a guy carrying flowers. He can carry Great Khali but not a bouquet?

They trade the title for the flowers and HHH announces her as the undefeated NXT Women’s Champion at 523 days to end the show. I’m not sure what needs to be added here. She’s dominated NXT and is going to be a big deal on the main roster too. I’m not wild on vacating titles but she deserves this and the injury was a perfect way out.

Overall Rating: B. Odd edit in the Sullivan match aside, this was a rather good show. The Asuka part was especially good and the main event was a nice brawl. I could have gone for another trio appearance but it’s never been NXT’s style to have the same acts week to week. Good show here and we’ll get back to the big stuff later on.

Results

Andrade Cien Almas b. Cezar Bononi – Hammerlock DDT

Lars Sullivan b. ???/???/??? – Side Slam

Sonya DeVille b. Zeda – Triangle choke

Kassius Ohno b. Hideo Itami – Rolling elbow

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