The stars were aligned for NXT’s return to Orlando at the University of Central Florida for an incredible night of action.
Kimber Lee was in the building to kick off the night against Ruby Riot. These two women are great additions to NXT. If you’re not familiar with them, Riot used to wrestle as Heidi Lovelace in Chikara and Shine Wrestling and Kimber Lee has been in too many independent promotions to list without sounding verbose.
This is an incredible get for NXT, that’s all we’re saying.
Ember Moon took on Peyton Royce in what was said to be a very good contest. Moon won with her awesome corkscrew stunner finishing move. That move is so pretty.
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Kassius Ohno took on The Drifter, Elias Samson and things didn’t turn out too well for Samson or his guitar. This was a “Loser Leaves NXT” match as well so it very well might be the last time that we’re going to be seeing Samson in his Drifter gimmick.
We will miss you Drifter and all of your basic guitar level songs.
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Tye Dillinger and No Way Jose decided they wanted to try their luck against Sanity.
Things didn’t work out too well for Jose and The Perfect 10. A match was scheduled for later on in the night.
Andrade “Cien” Almas faced off against Oney Lorcan and this was said to be an exquisite match displaying impressive skill. The former La Sambra went over in this contest and some said it was the match of the night.
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Another top indie female talent debuted at this event as Angel Rose debuted under her new WWE name, Priscilla Zuniga. Yeah, her indie name was much better.
She lost to Asuka. The Empress of Tomorrow wasn’t too kind to the newcomer at all.
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Identical Twins, Gabriel and Uriel Ealy are known as The Fallen Ones. That’s all well and good until they came down to call out The Authors of Pain. AOP didn’t take the challenge too kindly and dispatched with them rather quickly.
Team DIY and The Revival came out afterwards to bring it to AOP. This was one lucky crowd. William Regal came out and made it a triple threat elimination tag match for the NXT Tag Titles at Takeover: Orlando.
WE GO HARD (again) #Nxtucf pic.twitter.com/M9RFR1PRbY
— Andy (@andytaylor6) February 23, 2017
AoP vs Revival vs DIY in a Tag Team Elimination match at TakeOver Orlando! #WWENXT #NXTUCF
— C ❌ Ross (@C_Ross22_) February 23, 2017
Heidi Lovelace aka Ruby Riot came down to even up the odds for Dillinger and No Way Jose and Sanity.
NXT version of the Super Friends #nxtucf pic.twitter.com/sRNDTbXino
— Andy (@andytaylor6) February 23, 2017
It was time for the NXT Championship match between Bobby Roode and Kassius Ohno. This crowd was more than pumped to see these two bulls lock horns.
Your NXT Champion @REALBobbyRoode is here and it's #GLORIOUS #NXTUCF #NXTOrlando pic.twitter.com/RN5d2wKnOm
— Will Henderson (@willh94) February 23, 2017
Kassius Ohno brought the fight to Bobby Roode, but the Glorious One would prevail in the end with a DDT for a clean win. Fans in attendance all said that this was a fantastic and hard hitting match-up.
https://twitter.com/FLWrestlingFan/status/834599371362680833
Roode retains in a thriller. #WWENXT #NXTUCF
— C ❌ Ross (@C_Ross22_) February 23, 2017
Ppl are leaving after title match apparently don't know Finn is supposed to appear #nxtucf
— Andy (@andytaylor6) February 23, 2017
TJ Perkins came down and surprised the crowd, but the really exciting part came when his opponent, Shinsuke Nakamura’s music struck. TJP put up as much fight as he could, but The King of Strong Style came out on top in this one.
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Nakamura did find the time to do a little dab before he proceeded to shut down the former Cruiserweight Champion.
@ShinsukeN just dabbed and now my life is complete #nxtucf #NXT
— Merlot (@DJTraveeTrav) February 23, 2017
After Shinsuke won with a Kinshasa, Bobby Roode came out to talk a little smack to Nakamura. Things got physical and Roode got the upper hand.
Then Finn Balor’s music hit and The Demon came down to take Bobby Roode out. He performed a couple actual wrestling moves including the Slingblade and his beautiful corner dropkick on The Glorious One.
Nakamura and Balor were left alone in the ring as the live crowd chanted “WrestleMania.”
FINN AINT JUST SAYING HELLO, Y'all #nxtucf pic.twitter.com/J1fkgmat2A
— Andy (@andytaylor6) February 23, 2017
The return of @FinnBalor #nxtucf pic.twitter.com/sPSa9nd5m0
— jrat bsky (@pizzaxyz) February 23, 2017
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