Results, Recap, Review of WWE NXT: San Antonio 2017
Tonight NXT took over San Antonio and as always NXT Takeover usually have the habit of setting the bar for the weekend. During the pre-show Corey Graves announced that would no longer be the commentator for NXT. His duties include Raw, 205 Live and hosting various specials on the WWE Network. Graves will be replaced by former ROH legend Nigel McGuiness who recently signed with WWE and did the play by play for the WWE UK Championship Tournament. Before WWE I begin with my thoughts here are the results of tonights show.
-Eric Young defeated Tye Dillinger
-Roderick Strong defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
-Authors of Pain defeated Johnny Gargano/Tommaso Ciampa to win the NXT Tag Team Title
-Asuka defeated Nikki Cross, Peyton Royce and Billie Kaye to retain the NXT Women’s Title
-Bobby Roode defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the NXT Title.
The opening match of the night was longtime NXT veteran Tye Dillnger against Sanity’s Eric Young. Tye Dillinger is such a great performer. He makes whoever he faces look so much better. Tonight he made Sanity look really great. I think it’s time for Tye to move up to the main roster. He’s done everything there is to do in NXT so it’s time for him to go to Raw and Smackdown. Andrade “Cien” Almas and Roderick Strong are two veterans who are going to help the brand in a lot of ways if they are used the right way. Strong and Almas had a great match and showed why they are in NXT. With performances like that they can bring a lot to the brand and teach something to younger talent.
Since their arrival in NXT Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano have been two of the best performers in the company. From their match at the Cruiserweight Classic to their rise in the tag team division they have been absolutely fun to watch. The tag team division is very interesting right now. TM-61 is out with an injury and the Revival should moved up to the main roster. Other then The Authors of Pain there is really no one left in NXT Tag Team Division. With the Authors of Pain winning the titles I will be really curious to see who dethrones them because as I said there is really no tag teams left. The women’s division is in a place where the tag team division is and that is the depth is not where it should be. The WWE Draft really hurt NXT’s depth but they are slowly rebounding with Peyton Royce, Billie Kaye and Nikki Cross. You also have Ember Moon and Liv Morgan who are not to far from behind. Asuka continues her undefeated streak and I think it will be awhile before she’s dethroned.
In the Main Event, NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defended the title against Bobby Roode. Both men deserve to be on the main roster. I personally did not care Bobby Roode’s entrance. It was a complete rip off of what Ric Flair in the late 80’s. I think they could have done better with both entrances. This match up was intriguing because the styles and personalities are so different. Unfortunately for NXT stanards this was not the greatest NXT Title match that they have ever had. The match started off really slow but got more intense as time went on. I really felt like this main event along with the rest of the show was really toned down. A friend that I watch with said he thinks Vince is telling Triple H to tone it down so the main roster doesn’t look bad on the big pay-per-views. I am going to give NXT Takeover San Antonio a 7 out of 10. It was a solid show but not the typical quality of a standard NXT show. Hopefully they can rebound for Wrestlemania weekend.
