WWE NXT Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for December 7

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:21 a.m. ET

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WWE NXT, Source: WWE.com

On this week’s episode of WWE NXT, the NXT Championship match from Osaka between Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura will be shown. Who’s the NXT Champion after Japan?

Previously on WWE NXT, the seemingly never-ending tour of Canada came to an end. In the main event, Tye Dillinger went toe to toe with NXT Champion Samoa Joe. It’s clear that Dillinger is a huge fan favorite. However, his popularity was not enough to overcome the Coquina Clutch. The Perfect Ten passed out as Joe was victorious.

In addition, NXT Women’s Champion Asuka made short work of Nicole Matthews. After defeating Mickie James at TakeOver: Toronto, Asuka has once again declared that no one is ready to challenge her. Is she right?

And SAnitY made their presence felt in a big way, as Eric Young defeated No Way Jose. The dancing man put up a valiant effort, but the numbers game was too much to overcome. Following the match, Nikki Cross made sure to get one last shot in to continue the post-match beatdown.

This week, NXT returns home to Full Sail University… right after a quick stopover in Japan. Last weekend, Samoa Joe defended the NXT Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura in Osaka. It’s the third match between the two, following TakeOver in Brooklyn and Toronto. Was Joe able to retain in front of Nakamura’s countrymen? Or did the King of Strong Style become the second two-time NXT Champion?

Please continue reading to find out everything that happened on the December 7 episode of WWE NXT.

Source: WWE.com

DIY Address The Crowd

This segment did one thing exceedingly well: It highlighted the strength of NXT’s tag team division. The Revival are likely on their way to greener pastures – well, redder or bluer pastures, at least. But with Dash and Dawson, Gargano and Ciampa, the Authors of Pain, TM61, even SAnitY, it’s a great time to be a tag team in Orlando.

And, yeah, this whole segment is just a big series of interruptions. Until The Revival are officially on the main roster, though, these are the top three teams on Wednesday nights. You have the reigning Tag Team Champions, the former (and two-time) champs who are possibly the best team on the planet, and the undefeated monsters who won the annual tag team tournament.

DIY as the hunted is a good call. They spent more than a year grinding it out to become champions. Now that they’re at the top, having two very different obstacles in front of them is a great way to start off their reign. It will allow them a chance to show their versatility, and how good of a team they truly are.

I just want to point out how Paul Ellering is probably the only man on the planet who can spit out ’80s cliches on a regular basis without sounding ridiculous. Being a Hall of Famer helps, I guess. So does being in the nurturing environment of Full Sail University.

Percy Watson Joins The Announce Team

Oh, dear. Everyone needed that reminder of the old NXT game show, I guess.

At least the video package reminding us that Watson existed was good. We’ll go with the “cautious optimism” approach to how he’ll fit in on commentary. It’s a little disappointing that the curse of the three-man broadcast team has now plagued NXT. But it is what it is.

No Way Jose & Rich Swann vs. SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe, w/ Nikki Cross)

Result: SAnitY defeated No Way Jose & Rich Swann via pinfall

Rating: 2.3 out of 5 stars

Conspicuous by his absence is Sawyer Fulton. When I first heard he was absent from the recent television tapings, I figured there would be some kind of a backstage segment to explain his absence. Maybe (Big) Damo jumped him backstage and “injured” him. Or maybe No Way Jose locked him in a closet somewhere, I don’t know.

But nothing. And with Eric Young throwing down what was identified as Fulton’s jacket, it seems he’s getting an unceremonious dumping from the group.

The match is the pretty standard fare for non-DIY/Revival tag matches in NXT. Gotta love Swann flipping his rear end off to pop some life into the match. And kudos to Young, who bumped like a rag doll and made Jose look like a million bucks here.

The appearance of (Big) Damo seemed to catch SAnitY by surprise. It looked like they knew who he was at the very least. I don’t know what history there is between them, but I am all for it. Damo is a beast with a capital B, and getting him in there with the lunacy of SAnitY is very much welcomed.

William Regal Backstage

Man, Regal is the best. In less than two minutes, he lays out two different tag team championship matches, talks Tye Dillinger out of quitting NXT, sets up a number one contenders tournament, and loving caresses his prized brass knuckles. How great is that?

Compare that to an authority figure on Raw or SmackDown. Better yet, don’t, because I’ll miss the rest of the show tonight trying to sum up that kind of twenty-five-minute segment that says absolutely nothing.

Ember Moon vs. Kimber Lee

Result: Ember Moon defeated Kimber Lee via pinfall

Rating: 2.3 out of 5 stars

I don’t have enough heart emoji on my keyboard to properly convey my excitement over Kimber Lee being in NXT. Even if it’s just a one-time thing, it’s great to see her getting inside the yellow ropes here. For the uninitiated, Kimber Lee is a standout from places like SHIMMER and Chikara, where she won the Grand Championship just about a year ago. Oh, and she was trained by Drew Gulak, so there’s that.

But my marking out aside, Ember Moon is the real attraction right now. I’m glad she’s not being portrayed as invincible. She takes a beating, but comes back for more.

So Kimber Lee gets some good offense in, but Ember Moon is really just one big move away from a victory all the time. And it’s so nice that Percy Watson did some research before jumping into the broadcast booth. How many times did he say something like, “What was THAT?!?!?!” during the night?

And speaking of the women’s division in NXT…

Nikki Cross Spies a Prize

…whoa.

I know all signs are pointing to Ember Moon dethroning Asuka for the NXT Women’s Championship. But how insane is a match between Asuka and lunatic Nikki Cross going to be? Save Ember for TakeOver: Orlando over WrestleMania weekend (mainly because I’ll be there and I’m super selfish) and throw Cross against Asuka in San Antonio in January.

It looks like the NXT Women’s Division is doing okay after losing the Four Horsewomen, no?

No. 1 Contenders Tournament Bracket

Look, I loved Biff Busick like most people, but Oney Lorcan in the tournament? At least The Drifter in there keeps Lorcan from being “Least Likely to Have A Snowball’s Chance in Hell to Win” in this one.

NXT Championship Match: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Result: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Samoa Joe via pinfall to win the NXT Championship

Rating: 2.3 out of 5 stars

This was the Return of the Jedi in the trio of matches between Nakamura and Joe. It had its moments, but it couldn’t quite live up to the previous installments in the series.

In all seriousness, this match was kinda sloppy. The finishing sequence had been online since the weekend, and I was willing to chalk the messiness up to fatigue. When Nakamura lifted Joe and just dropped him, I figured it was “Joe’s a big dude, Nak’s not, and after a long match you can’t do that.” I stand by that for the most part, but early on things looked a little rough around the edges, too.

One thing I am very surprised about was the crowd seemed a little muted for this one. You would think that a guy who made such a name for himself throughout Japan for so long would have made the crowd just a wee bit more excited. But unless the production team drastically cut the volume on the crowd mics, this was like a Raw crowd during a cruiserweight match.

Anyway, Nakamura gets the title back, which means that we’ve now got two consecutive two-time NXT Champions. And Nakamura’s first defense will be against…

…well, that didn’t take long.

Hopefully, the cage match stipulation gives Joe a vicious send-off to Raw, where he can beat the tar out of Roman Reigns after he wins the Universal Title because of course he will. Seriously, though, this should be Joe’s swan song in NXT – make Nakamura look good one last time (not that he needs it) on the way out the door.

What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE NXT?

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