WWE NXT Review - December 7, 2016

Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura square off.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​The Authors of Pain and The Revival Interrupted NXT Tag Team Champions #DIY

As much as I would have loved to hear from Johnny Gargano and Tomoasso Ciampa for the first time since they won the titles in Toronto, at least they received that awesome moment where they were able to celebrate with the crowd. They wasted no time in establishing the champions' next few challengers, and it was later announced The Revival will be getting their title rematch on the January 11th episode of NXT TV before The Authors of Pain challenge for the championship at TakeOver: San Antonio.


SAnitY def. No Way Jose and WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann

I know Swann is pretty much a permanent fixture on the main roster now that he's WWE Cruiserweight Champion, but I love his alliance with No Way Jose. Their fun-loving gimmicks mesh perfectly and it's an excellent use of Jose right now. Also, I'm not exactly sure what led to Sawyer Fulton's apparent departure from SAnitY because it wasn't like they were teasing any tension between him and the other members prior to this point, but it looks like they want the debuting Damo to take his spot. He should be an improvement considering he is known to be a great worker. As for this match, it was very well-wrestled and Jose and Swann definitely made it more fun than it had any right to be.

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Damo makes his intimidating presence felt.

Ember Moon def. Kimber Lee

Moon has been competing in the same squash matches for months, so this wasn't anything new. However, I can't complain because she has such a versatile moveset and she is always a treat to watch in the ring, in addition to finisher being fantastic. It was teased earlier in the evening that Asuka vs. Nikki Cross will be the next feud for the NXT Women's Championship, which I'm in full favor of because I think Asuka vs. Moon is a match better saved for the WrestleMania weekend TakeOver.


Shinsuke Nakamura def. Samoa Joe to Win the NXT Championship

It's hard to say where this ranks among their past battles in Brooklyn and Toronto, and while I enjoyed those matches more, Nakamura and Joe once again produced a very solid match here. It was a nice change in environment with the anticipated rematch taking place in Nakamura's native Japan, so for him to win it back there was cool. They'll face off one more time in Austrailia this month, and beyond that, I assume Joe is main roster bound. Or at least he should be.


​Overall Show

Nakamura regaining the gold made it a newsworthy main event, even though the result was revealed this past weekend and the match wasn't on the same level as their initial encounters. However, the rest of the show was filled out nicely with a standard squash match from Moon and intriguing storyline progession in the tag team and women's scenes. The pending No. 1 Contender's tournament should give us a few good matchups as well.

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