This week is NXT’s last chance to get the fans excited for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III this Saturday (August 19). There is a contract signing for the Women’s Championship match, another match for Street Profits, Ruby Riot facing Billie Kay, and Roderick Strong battling Drew McIntyre.
Contract Signing (NXT Women’s Championship)
This Saturday, NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III could be a historic night to remember. Asuka has held the NXT Women’s Championship for over 500 days and has been undefeated, but now she takes on Ember Moon. As Moon acknowledges, throughout the entire title reign, Asuka has only taken shortcuts with her. When they fought for the title previously, Asuka had to shove a referee to get an unfair advantage, then when Moon was scheduled for another title match, Asuka injured her so she couldn’t compete.
Like most high-profile feuds, there is a contract signing before the big match. Moon cuts a promo mentioning how Asuka’s shortcuts made her stronger before signing the contract. At first, Asuka doesn’t respond outside of just signing the contract, but she then grabs a microphone and yells at Moon in Japanese. She got big cheers from the crowd for this, but when Jinder Mahal speaks Punjabi, he gets booed. Also, why was the contract just being signed now? The match was announced weeks ago.
Street Profits vs. Lars Sullivan & Chris Silvio
Earlier today, Lars Sullivan approached General Manager William Regal asking (almost begging) for a tag team match with a new partner. At first, Regal refuses dues to Sullivan’s recent actions. His partners would end up eating the pinfall, and Sullivan would beat them up because they cost him the loss.
The Street Profits just recently had their first match and they showed tons of personality and potential. The latest version of Angelo Dawkins and the incredibly impressive Montez Ford showed good tag team wrestling with the connection with the crowd to get to the top of NXT.
Chris Silvio starts the match and he never gets the chance to tag Sullivan in. Dawkins hits Silvio with a spinebuster which is followed up by a Frog Splash from Ford to give Street Profits the second consecutive victory. Winners: Street Profits
It seems like Sullivan is going to destroy Silvio, but instead, he just carries him to the back. It turns out that he was just carrying him to outside of the arena so he wasn’t attacking him “in the ring” like he promised William Regal.
Ruby Riot vs. Billie Kay (w/Peyton Royce)
Last week, Billie Kay and Peyton Royce were filming a makeup tutorial (you read that right) when Ruby Riot was ruining the shot by being in the background. The Iconic Duo would then trash talk Riot behind her back, leading to this match.
Kay tries take advantage of Riot being distracted by Royce, but it backfires. Riot hits a Pele Kick of sorts while Kay talks trash, keeping Kay down for the three count. While Riot celebrates, Royce grabs a microphone and says that all Riot proves is that “lightning strikes once.” Winner: Ruby Riot
Roderick Strong vs. Drew McIntyre
Most Superstars would try to take it easy three days before a big championship match, but Drew McIntyre willingly accepted the match against Roderick Strong. In a bit of a surprise, this match was all Bobby Roode’s idea. Strong desperately wants to fight Roode because of how the NXT Champion has disrespected him and his family. Roode suggested a match where Strong takes on McIntyre and if Strong wins, he will get a match against Roode after TakeOver: Brooklyn III regardless of whether or not roode is still the titleholder. This was clearly a way for Roode to get both men to wail on each other to make his job easier.
When Strong and McIntyre are fighting in the corner, Bobby Roode interferes and assaults his TakeOver opponent. Unfortunately for him, he did attack Strong first, so as long as NXT doesn’t call this a “no contest,” Strong should get his rematch against the NXT Champion. Roode hits McIntyre with the Glorious DDT, standing tall as the show closes. Winner (via disqualification): Roderick Strong
