NXT Recap (9/20/17): In-SAnitY Breaks Loose

Welcome to this week’s edition of Ringside Intel’s NXT Recap! Every Thursday I’ll bring you a rundown of what happened on NXT the night before, with a bit of my own insights and commentary thrown in. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

This week’s episode of NXT featured a must-see tag team main event and the debut of a Mae Young Classic standout. But the action kicked right off with Johnny Wrestling making good on a challenge from last week.

Johnny Gargano def. Tino Sabatelli (w/ Riddick Moss)

Unlike when he took on Riddick Moss on last week’s episode, Johnny Gargano’s head was 100% in the game when he took on Tino Sabatelli this week – and Sabatelli might only have himself to blame. He was in a position to win the match until he decided to trash talk Gargano by calling him “the weak link of DIY,” which fired Gargano up enough to lock in the Gargano Escape and get the win.

I’m not sure what’s next for Gargano from here, but WWE continues to reference his shocking split from DIY tag team partner Tommaso Ciampa.

Unfortunately, Ciampa isn’t expected to return from injury until March 2018, so Gargano might be relegated to throwaway feuds in the meantime.

Roddy Gets a Title Shot

The tweet above says it all: William Regal agreed that Roderick Strong has indeed proven himself and granted him a title match against NXT Champion Drew McIntyre in two weeks’ time.

This segment barely lasted a minute, but it has serious implications for the weeks to come. McIntyre is currently being hounded by Adam Cole and the rest The Undisputed Era, and Strong has ties to that group via their days in Ring of Honor. Will Strong and Cole work together against McIntyre? Time will tell.

The Women Want a Title Shot

Regal may have granted Strong his title match, but he still hasn’t given us any more clues about the plan for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship. This, of course, means the floor is open for the women of NXT to state their cases, and the pitches began in earnest last night with Sonya Deville and Dakota Kai.

Deville was a contestant on the 2015 season of “Tough Enough” and signed a developmental contract with WWE that same year, but she has yet to do much within the company. She debuted in August 2016 under her real name, Daria Berenato, only to disappear in December; she returned in May 2017 with the new ring name. She’s currently on a four-match winning streak, but I’ll have to see more of her before I can make any judgment calls.

As for Dakota Kai, she was one of the standouts for me in the Mae Young Classic and I’m super excited to see more of her in WWE. Plus I like the funny way she pronounces “know” in her New Zealander accent.