WWE NXT Review - June 7, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Heavy Machinery def. Lars Sullivan and Victor Andrews

Sullivan is the former Dylan Miley, who has competed on only one other occasion on NXT TV prior to this point. His unique appearance alone intrigued me, so I was surprised it took this long for NXT to follow up on the angle where he attacked his tag team partner afterward. He did the same here as well, but the match itself was a nice showcase for Heavy Machinery as they prepare to challenge Authors of Pain for the NXT Tag Team Championship sooner rather than later.

NXT Champion Bobby Roode Interrupted Roderick Strong

Strong has never been known to be the greatest mic worker, but this was easily his best promo since coming to NXT, talking about his family and desire to become NXT Champion. Roode's response was perfect as he heeled it up, pretended to be choked up by what he was saying, and basically said he wasn't worthy of challenging for his championship. Strong not firing back and instead just walking off without a retort was weird, but otherwise this was a strong segment.

Peyton Royce def. Sarah Logan

In addition to Sullivan, Sarah Dobson recently underwent a name change as well and is now known simply as Sarah Logan. That might be a better name to be quite honest, but maybe that's just me thinking about the awesomeness that was the Logan film earlier this year. At any rate, this was far from a standard squash for Royce as Logan was able to showcase her skills and show some promise. Royce is already well on her way to super stardom, but keep an eye out for Logan as a future top prospect.

Hideo Itami vs. Oney Lorcan Ended in a No Contest

You had to know this was going to be an extremely entertaining, hard-hitting affair given who was involved and it did not disappoint in being a blast. Lorcan's offense is so damn exciting and it gelled well with a much more aggressive Itami than we've seen in the past. I'm digging this apparent heel turn from Itami and having him hit the GTS on Lorcan three straight times was an effective way to drive home how he doesn't care. This pending program with Kassius Ohno should also be an excellent use of both men.

Killian Dain def. No Way jose

Dain is an impressive athlete for a guy his size, and as fun as Jose can be from time to time, his matches are largely nothing special. This was a decent match, but I'm not sure it needed to be the main event or last as long as it did. Nevertheless, I'm not disappointed Jose lost decisively here one week removed from his return because Dain is obviously a much bigger priority. However, with Ohno and Strong moving on to different feuds, does this leave Jose to fight SAnitY alone going forward?

Overall Show

The Dain vs. Jose main event was hardly above average, but the rest of the show gets two thumbs up from me. Lorcan vs. Itami was the highlight of the night in my opinion as Itami continues to slip more into madness, while Strong and Roode had an enjoyable exchange on the mic. The tag team and women's divisions are gradually growing and next week's main event will see a rematch from TakeOver: Chicago as Asuka defends her NXT Women's Championship against Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot in a Triple Threat Elimination match. All in all, I'd say NXT is in a pretty good place at the moment.