WWE NXT Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for February 15

WWE NXT, WWE.com

Follow along with our review of Wednesday night’s episode of WWE NXT.

On Wednesday night, the latest episode of WWE NXT would take place. This is the second-to-last show of the Full Sail University taping from last month. February 22 will see the final dose of this taping, before the crew heads to the University of Central Florida to film until NXT TakeOver: Orlando.

The hyped match for Wednesday’s show was Tyler Bate vs. Trent Seven in a WWE United Kingdom Championship bout. This is Bate’s first title defense since winning the belt at the UK Tournament in January. He already competed in NXT during the post-TakeOver show, getting a chance to show off before going straight into Full Sail. This is also Seven’s first appearance since losing in the quarterfinals.

Liv Morgan’s mystery tag team partner had been part of the build for the show, as well. This would be for a match against Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. Could the Icons be taken down?

MORE FROM DAILY DDT:

• Potential ‘Replacements’ for Randy Orton at WrestleMania 33
• Trish Stratus Sends Message to Bayley
• 8 WWE Stars That May Not Get Proper Spot at WrestleMania 33

In the midst of this, the NXT Women’s Championship direction became clear, at least for the next few weeks. Who is getting an opportunity to face Asuka?

Must Read: WrestleMania 33 Card Projections 7.0; Post-Elimination Chamber

The Authors of Pain showed up twice during this episode of WWE NXT. They opened the show and returned for Paul Ellering to say a few words to DIY. What would go down?

This episode of WWE NXT pushed us forward, so let’s see what happened on the show:

WWE.com

The Authors of Pain vs. Garrison Spears and Lance Anoa’i

Result: The Authors of Pain defeated Garrison Spears and Lance Anoa’i via pinfall.

The Authors of Pain dominated these two enhancements talents, so let’s talk about other things here.

First, if Lance Anoa’i sounds familiar, his grandfather is Afa, one half of the Wild Samoans. His father, Samula, was one half of the Headshrinkers too. Anoa’i appeared in a few WWE segments as an extra or enhancement talent over the past few years.

Akam and Rezar have one of the best theme songs in not just WWE NXT, but the whole company. It’s hardcore music with the sound of that guitar, representing how ferocious this duo is. Given everything they’ve done during their nine months on TV, it fits them all too well.

We still don’t know who is definitely face the Authors yet at NXT TakeOver: Orlando on April 1, as this match didn’t tease anything here. However, the Revival and DIY could be decent bets to both join a potential bout in a triple threat. This probably won’t become official until the taping at the University of Central Florida, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 22.

Tyler Bate Vignette

We get a video hyping up WWE United Kingdom champion Tyler Bate. He’s set to face Trent Seven for the belt on Wednesday night’s show. The clip made Bate look like a star, which is what the tournament made him into in January.

Shinsuke Nakamura Injury Update

The commentary team gave an update on Shinsuke Nakamura’s left leg injury he suffered at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio. This saw him lose the NXT Championship to Bobby Roode.

It’s still a kayfabe injury, so don’t get discouraged by this.

WWE.com

Billie Kay and Peyton Royce vs. Liv Morgan and Ember Moon

Result: Billie Kay and Peyton Royce defeated Liv Morgan and Ember Moon via pinfall.

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

WWE NXT had teased that Liv Morgan would get a mystery partner here. It wasn’t going to be Asuka, so that left the obvious and logical choice — Ember Moon.

Interesting here that Moon took most of the offense, at least early on. They gave Morgan the hot tag, someone who has yet to really connect with the crowd. The fans didn’t give much of a reaction to her getting offense on Peyton Royce either, as well as the initial tag. Morgan also too took the fall here.

Liv’s babyface character isn’t much right now and seems like it’s missing a fire or energy. She could be better off in a heel role to show off some of her sassiness, which it looks like she has but can’t use it. The moves in her face arsenal aren’t really there either, at the moment, and could go for a more grounded heel attack.

The Icons get a win here after taking pinfalls at TakeOver: San Antonio and Full Sail. They’re out of the NXT Women’s Championship hunt, so we’ll see what, if anything, gets done with them for Orlando.

Roderick Strong and No Way Jose Interview

Strong says SAnitY is trying to bully Tye Dillinger, which isn’t fair. He says that’s why he stepped in. Jose calls Dillinger “possibly the hottest thing going in sports entertainment right now”. Strong agreed.

Nothing out of the ordinary here, but it seems like Jose and Strong aren’t done with SAnitY yet. The Perfect 10 needed help at some point. However, they already had a six-man tag match, so what’s on the horizon here?

WWE.com

DIY Promo

Tommaso Ciampa talked about their TakeOver: Toronto match receiving Match of the Year. Johnny Gargano plays up the Authors of Pain and the loss at TakeOver: San Antonio. Gargano says they saw “doubt” in the eyes of the Authors and DIY is far from broken. He then proclaims their desire for a rematch.

Paul Ellering comes out with the Authors and says they will get their rematch in two weeks. Ellering tells them to make peace beforehand. Then the Revival attack from behind and take out Gargano and Ciampa. AoP runs in and chases Dash and Dawson away.

The dynamic between these three teams is starting to iron out. While it looked like the Revival’s promo from last Wednesday had babyface hints, it seems that they’re going to play the middle man role here. This is while the Authors of Pain are the bad guys and DIY are the fan favorite. So everything is clear here, something that needed to be established.

The one issue here was Gargano’s promo. It didn’t come off incredibly well and the crowd seemed confused by it. Johnny Wrestling isn’t great on the microphone, to begin with, but he’s better than what he showe dhere.

Kassius Ohno Vignette

We get a vignette for Kassius Ohno, who returned to WWE NXT for the first time in three years. He talked about how dangerous of a man he is.

WWE already promoted Ohno’s NXT Championship match with Bobby Roode for the upcoming Orlando taping, so he’ll be here soon. With seven weeks until Orlando, it could be a little while until the bout happens.

With NXT struggling for star power, Ohno may be relied on from the start. He was terrific on the independent scene after being released by WWE in 2013, but is he enough of an attraction to sell out seats in the main event?

William Regal in Office

Regal makes a triple threat match between Peyton Royce, Ember Moon, and Liv Morgan to become the new No. 1 Contender to the NXT Women’s Championship.

Woah. That came out of nowhere. No Nikki Cross here is interesting, but I think they may be saving that for a late date — likely TakeOver: Orlando. She could also make her way in here in some way.

Not sure about the logic of putting Morgan and Royce in the mix, however. Both haven’t been made to look particularly strong in recent weeks, and the former hasn’t been sharp either. Would have rather seen Billie Kay replace Morgan and give the Icons a chance to redo the double team offense they did in San Antonio.

Moon is by far the favorite here, however. Royce has already taken a pinfall from Asuka and Morgan barely lasted with the champion. That sets up the former Athena to step in and have the match fans have anticipated for her since arriving last August.

WWE.com

WWE United Kingdom Championship Match
Tyler Bate (c) vs. Trent Seven

Result: Tyler Bate defeated Trent Seven via pinfall to retain the WWE United Kingdom Championship.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Bate and Seven are tag team partners in PROGRESS Wrestling, something that Tom Phillips properly brought up. There’s history between these two, and the in-ring work made it look like it.

The first chop that Seven hit on Bate was BRUTAL. The champ cringed, something that looked plenty like real pain and not selling. The mark on his chest even showed it.

The days of the Full Sail crowd freaking out over almost every matches are long gone with the current state of NXT. TV matches haven’t been made to be important in months, with the big contests saved for the live specials. So it was nice to see this bout get a “this is awesome” chant after Seven connected with a devastating clothesline, that flipped Bate. These two also connected well, which goes back to working together in the United Kingdom for the past few years.

Next: WWE SmackDown Review, February 14

Bate and Seven put on a terrific performance here and should be back on NXT soon. The future is still unknown for them in WWE, though, with no UK show having been announced. More appearances like this may be in the cards before we get there.