Shinsuke Nakamura might have been celebrating his 37th birthday, but even the King of Strong Style doesn’t get a day off when NXT takes over Miami on a Friday night.
Related: NXT Spoilers: Loser Leaves NXT Match, Finn Balor Gets Physical, Kassius Ohno Gets A Title Shot
Yes, we reported earlier this week that during their television taping in Orlando Elias Samson is no longer The Drifter because he lost a “Loser Leaves NXT” match against Kassius Ohno. Well, as it turns out Elias Samson really is no more… in theory.
Whoever that masked man is he lost the opening match to Buddy Murphy.
https://twitter.com/BeeKayPotter/status/835300140256792576
This is a good look for Murphy, we’re guessing his fiance is proud of her man’s new threads. Buddy is engaged to Smackdown Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, in case you missed the rumor mill in January.
Buddy Murphy has a new look @REALGoingInRaw #NXTMiami pic.twitter.com/LeLitxxxiA
— Beekay Potter (@BLASTAMUS) February 25, 2017
Asuka and Nikki Cross tore the house down in an NXT Women’s Championship match. Asuka came out on top, but Cross certainly put up a fight.
https://twitter.com/SliceWrestling/status/835330696789000192
The main event of the night was an NXT Championship match between Bobby Roode and Tye Dillinger. The Perfect 10 was very over with this crowd, but Roode still pulled off a hard-fought victory thanks, in part to Eric Young.
https://twitter.com/embersmoon/status/835324916119502848
Eric Young started an assault against Tye Dillinger after the main event concluded, because that’s how you make friends. Although Shinsuke Nakamura successfully competed earlier in the evening tagging with Kassius Ohno against Sanity, he still had enough energy to come out and make the save for The Perfect 10.
https://twitter.com/embersmoon/status/835325718221504514
After the bad guys were taken care of, mostly thanks to Nakamura, there was a birthday celebration for The King of Strong Style. The faces on the roster came down with a birthday cake and the entire crowd sang Happy Birthday to Shinsuke.
Singing happy birthday to Shinsuke. #NXTMiami pic.twitter.com/cqJR82VCeV
— They Call Me “Scuba” (@Steve_Ronda) February 25, 2017
Oh yeah, and this happened. We weren’t even there and still marked out so hard when we saw this.
Enjoy.
https://twitter.com/EcuadorWWEFans/status/835347125282172928
There were a few more tweets that were pretty epic, but we couldn’t figure out where to put them in the article above. So, just sit back and relax because like always, we do the hard work for you.
Because you’re awesome.
https://twitter.com/theiri/status/835307071180529665
https://twitter.com/moninamarie/status/835354425879367681
Thank you #NXTMiami pic.twitter.com/l6R5VEeKyR
— ASUKA / 明日華 (@WWEAsuka) February 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/MySuperBliss/status/835326583703482369
I’m glad to tNa surviving and thriving with the wWe. And Nakamura had the best birthday ever.
[…] reported yesterday that it was Shinsuke Nakamura’s birthday and there was an epic celebration at NXT’s house show in Miami last night in his honor. Well, yesterday was also Corey Graves’ day of birth and the […]
[…] Even though WWE taped this episode of NXT one month ago today, it will still be a show worth watching. Two big title matches are planned and neither of them will disappoint. Shinsuke Nakamura is still recovering from his tweaked knee on the televised storyline even though he’s been showing up at NXT live events and received one of the coolest birthday celebrations we’ve ever seen at a live show. […]