WWE NXT on USA Network: Live Results, Highlights, and Grades for Sept. 18

A Brave New World

Kushida was supposed to be in action against Denzel Dejournette, but before Kushida could come down to the ring, Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel, and Fabian Aichner surrounded the ring and demolished Dejournette.

With 3/4s of Imperium in the ring, the crowd wanted the final piece — WALTER, the riegning NXT UK Champion. And to the wonderful strains of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, out came the man. After a brief promo announcing an intention to restore professional wrestling to the glory it deserves, Kushida finally came out to the ring.

Claiming that it was “his time,” Kushida did what may seem unthinkable — he challenged WALTER to a match. And with that sentence, thousands of wrestling fans immediately became incredibly excited and hopeful for such an encounter.

Please please please, Mr. Regal, make this happen.

But that wasn’t all — Kushida actually made it to the ring apron, and fought off the four invaders from NXT UK. A few things are apparent here, so let’s break them down:

First, it’s clear that with the two hour time slot, NXT and NXT UK are more one unit than ever before. It was smart to allow the Imperium appearance to happen in hour two on the WWE Network, because people unfamiliar with their act would immediately think they were Nazis, and that would be awful. Ease them in, like they’re doing.

Second, 205 Live is likely getting absorbed into the WWE NXT brand, as rumored. Between Kushida and the following match, it seems like just a matter of time before that news becomes official.