NXT is back this week featuring some new stars, new developments, and some more new wrestling. The show was headlined by a triple threat rematch from Takeover last month with Asuka, Ruby Riot, and Nikki Cross fighting for the NXT Women’s Championship. Hey, it was much better than this week’s Raw.
Drew McIntyre vs. Rob Ryzin – 
  They always advertise Drew and Aleister Black for different editions of NXT, and neither appear on multiple shows in a row. The two of them are never on the same show, but that’s a match that would be fun to see if they ever do cross paths.

  Anyway, this wasn’t much different from the other matches that McIntyre has had since returning to WWE. A quick match to build Drew up as a top contender for the title. Yes, unlike some other 3MB members, there is actually a way to build to the big title win and erase the 3MB shtick from the minds of fans. The announcers mentioned that Drew is bigger, stronger, and more devastating since his last run with WWE. Drew chops Ryzin for most of this, occasionally the latter will chop him back, but it is usually met with McIntyre getting angry, and punishing Ryzin in the corner. Drew won eventually with the kick in the corner, and the announcers made it clear that Drew wants to win the NXT Championship.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
  They reaired the entire segment from the Performance Center from a few weeks ago when Ember Moon informs Peyton Royce and Billie Kay that she has been medically cleared to return. Ember returns to action against Royce next week.
The Authors of Pain vs. Anthony Dominguez & Wilmer Freyday – 

  Surprise! Anthony and Wilmer didn’t win here. I mean, come on, his name is Wilmer. Throughout the match, Rezar stays ringside with Paul Ellering who appeared to write a note at one point. Akam destroyed both men by himself and won with a Death Valley Driver. I noticed that one of the AOP members may have had a black eye, perhaps that’s why one of them never wrestled. Rezar did come in to help deliver a Super Collider to the opposing team after the match.
Winners: The Authors of Pain
  Paul Ellering took the mic after the match and called out Heavy Machinery. He said that they were fools to challenge his Authors of Pain. Ellering reminds us that they have been around for over a year and are undefeated. They have beaten and sent away American Alpha, The Revival, and #DIY, thus Heavy Machinery doesn’t stand a chance against them. The two big boys then came down to the ring and had a staredown with Akam and Rezar. Unfortunately, AOP backed down and walked to the back. Tucker and Otis posed in the ring afterwards. Looks like the four big men will be fighting each other soon. It could be fun, but they sure do need to get some more tag teams down in NXT.

  After recapping last week’s segment where Bobby Roode told Roderick Strong not to play his lottery, Roddy sent out a tweet stating that all he needed was one chance to defeat Roode and win the title.
  We were shown a vignette for Sonya Deville. They made her out to be a tough woman who achieved all of these impressive accolades in wrestling and MMA, this despite the fact that we’ve seen her plenty of times and she’s lost rather decisively most of the time. She returns to NXT next week.
Raul Mendoza vs. The Velveteen Dream – 
 The announcers here all acted like we’ve only just seen the Velveteen Dream (formerly Patrick Clark) since Chicago. Raul Mendoza competed in last summer’s Cruiserweight Classic who was allegedly signed by WWE a few weeks ago. Fine by me, he was flying around at the speed of light in there against the Dream. Mendoza was noticeably smaller than ol’ Velvey, but the dude could run and bounce like you wouldn’t believe. Clark mainly only used a few basic punches and such, but he kicked Raul in mid-air after he tried bouncing off the middle rope. Dream hit him with his headband repeatedly at one point before Mendoza gained some momentum again. Dream hit an impressive move that Nigel McGuinness referred to as a “cartwheel death valley driver”. Velveteen Dream then hit a top rope elbow for the win.
Winner: The Velveteen Dream
  Kassius Ohno is interviewed backstage, and he admitted that he regrets shoving Hideo Itami to the floor last week. He swears that Itami isn’t a bad guy, but that he sunk down to his level once he pushed him down. Ohno will face Aleister Black next week, which I’d almost rather see at Takeover, but what can you do?
  They aired a brief video package for Ember Moon’s return next week. The announcers quickly put over her Eclipse finisher yet again, and she will fight Peyton Royce in her return match next week.
Nikki Cross vs. Asuka vs. Ruby Riot – 
  Nikki Cross suddenly crawled into the ring with no music or announcement, and then Ruby and Asuka came down to the ring for their championship rematch. Huh, alright then. 
  Asuka pretty easily handles both women at first, and appears to be rather overconfident in doing so. After screaming loudly (and I do mean loudly) about how she’s the champion, the two rivals work together to beat down the undefeated Asuka. They toss her out of the ring before going to work on each other. This was an elimination match, and they nearly went for the finish where Asuka pins both women, but they did not go in that direction. Nikki scored the first elimination when she eliminated Asuka with an airplane spin. Just kidding! She got rid of Ruby with a spinning neckbreaker from the top turnbuckle of course.
  From there, Asuka pretty much just mopped the floor with her competition. She punched, pounded, kicked, and battered the SAnitY member for several minutes. Finally, they both brawled to the back of the locker room, and the referee just… called the match off. 
Winner: No Contest
  Regardless of the outcome, the two ladies fought all around the backstage area of Full Sail University. They fought as referees tried to stop them, but it was no use. Once they made their way back to the stage, they brawled for a long time until Cross splashed into the champion and sent herself and Asuka crashing through a table. The show went off the air without any proper conclusion.
  Well, the streak is still alive. That’s something isn’t it. Although with Ember Moon coming back, who knows how much longer that streak will be around for? NXT will have some work to do with new stars like The Velveteen Dream and Sonya Deville next week, but we do have a Kassius Ohno vs. Aleister Black match next week. Alright NXT, I’ll forgive you for this main event if the next one turns out to be great, but not too much. See you NXT time!