** SPOILERS ** WWE NXT Tapings For April
Thanks to Will Henderson (@willh94) for texting us the following WWE NXT TV spoilers from tonight's tapings at Full Sail University:
April 12th Episode:
* The show opens with a "Takeover: Orlando" recap. There's also a new intro video and theme song
* Aleister Black defeated Corey Hollis. Black kept his cool entrance from Takeover. Hollis runs at him but Aleister just nails him with the Black Mass for the instant win. Black is over huge
* Backstage promo with Tye Dillinger. Kayla Braxton congratulates him on debuting for SmackDown. Tye says next week he finishes his business with Eric Young inside a steel cage
* Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa defeated Dylan Miley and an unknown talent. Miley and his partner dominate early until Gargano turns the tide. DIY hits the Meet in the Middle for the win. This was a quick match. Miley destroys his partner after
* Ruby Riot defeated Kimberly Frankele, formerly known as Kimber Lee. Ruby controls the match until Nikki Cross comes out from the crowd. Kimberly tries to take advantage of the distraction but Ruby bounces right back. Nikki looks on smiling as Ruby picks up the win
* Andrade "Cien" Almas defeated Danny Burch. Burch got some solid offense in but Andrade picks up the win in another quick match with the hammerlock DDT, possibly called El Idolo now
* Drew McIntyre comes out for his return. He has new music with a bagpipe entrance
* Drew McIntyre defeated Oney Lorcan. Drew got a huge pop and "welcome back" chants. This was a stiff, competitive match. Drew picked up the win with huge running boot that busted Oney open. Dasha Fuentes interviewed Drew post-match. Drew said he's worked hard to develop a reputation but he's here because he wants to be. He's got all the RAW talent, can lay the SmackDown on anyone, but NXT is where he wants to be. He's here for the NXT Title, and he'll whip anyone's ass he has to to get it
* Shinsuke Nakamura came out for a promo. He came to NXT one year ago and already had experience but he wanted to challenge himself against the best in the world. He said NXT is its own brand that creates something new and different. He quickly discovered that the NXT Universe is crazy. He commented on their singing and chanting and ended his promo by saying he will always be NXT because... "We Are NXT!" The entire roster came to the stage and applauded him. Nakamura walked to the stage and was met by Triple H and Finn Balor. He ran around the arena filming with his phone before bowing to everyone and making his exit
April 19th Episode:
* NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defeated Kassius Ohno and Roderick Strong in a good match. Kassius and Strong had control until The Authors caught Roderick doing his through-the-ropes dropkick and slammed him into the LED board on the apron. The Authors hit The Last Chapter on Ohno for the win
* Jeet Rama defeated John Skyler. This may or may not be a dark match, as neither guy had a tron video for their entrance, but commentary was being done. This was an okay match, a showcase for Jeet. The crowd got behind him chanting his name. Jeet wins with a suplex into a side slam
* NXT Champion Bobby Roode out for a promo. He said for the 2nd year in a row, he made WrestleMania weekend glorious, as he single-handedly sold out the Amway Center and allowed them all to bear witness to the biggest box office star in the business today. Roode said he snuffed out the last flame of the old NXT and that he now controls NXT. He had to watch Shinsuke last week walk to his ring and watch as every star in NXT came and celebrated him. Roode said he wasn't on that stage because he wasn't going to listen to the crap that comes out of Shinsuke's mouth. Roode said Nakamura didn't leave, Roode ran him out of NXT embarrassed after Takeover. Roode said it made him sick to listen to everyone cheer and chant while he stands here as the champ. Nobody in this arena, nobody on the stage last week belongs in Roode's NXT. Says you can either be a part of his NXT or you can hit the bricks. Hideo Itami interrupted him. Hideo and Roode go face to face and Hideo slaps Roode. Roode jawjacks at Hideo and takes his jacket off and starts yelling at Hideo, but Hideo nails the GTS and walks away. Hideo walks back into the ring and picks the belt up before tossing it at Bobby's feet. Below is video of the angle, courtesy of Wrestling Inc. reader Omar Enrique.
* WWE UK Champion Tyler Bate retained over Jack Gallagher. Trent Seven, Pete Dunne, Mark Andrews, and Wolfgang were at ringside for this match. This was a really good, fun match with nice chain wrestling to start. Good back and forth action. There was a fun sequence of monkey flips with both guys still holding hands that ends with a double two count with both guys down. Bate went for a suicide dive, but Gallagher jumped up and nailed him with a headbutt at the ropes. Gallagher landed another headbutt for a near fall. Tyler then hit his rolling kick off the ropes and then the Tyler Driver 97 for the win
* Liv Morgan and Aliyah defeated Peyton Royce and Billie Kay in a sloppy match. Aliyah got the win for her team with a roll up
April 26th Episode:
* Nikki Cross came to the ring during the opening NXT chant. She got out of the ring and knelt down by Dasha Fuentes and called out Ruby Riot on the mic. Nikki told Ruby to come out and play. Ruby came down and they brawled around ringside. Nikki threw Ruby into the stairs as referees ran down to break it up. Nikki jumped off the stairs onto Ruby and security. Refs got them separated as a "let them fight" chant breaks out
* Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade "Cien" Almas in a stiff match. Drew threw Andrade into the ropes, and Andrade did his tranquilo spot but Drew kicked him out of the ring. They traded some viciously hard slaps. Drew won with the running kick
* Aleister Black defeated Kona Reeves. Reeves went on the attack early but Black killed him with kicks. After laying him out, Black lifted Almas up using just his foot and nailed Black Mass for the win
* Ruby Riot came out for a match but Nikki Cross attacked her during her entrance. They brawled around ringside again. Refs and security try to separate them but Ruby jumped off the stage onto Nikki. Refs carried Nikki away to stop the brawl
* This was apparently taped for the April 19th episode and some other matches may have been taped out of order. Tye Dillinger defeated Eric Young in a Steel Cage match. Tye went for the TyeBreaker early, but Young clawed his eyes and threw him into the cage. Eric launched Tye into the cage again and pressed Tye against the cage with his boot. Both ended up crotched on the top rope and Tye slammed Eric into the cage, before tossing him into each side of it. They ended up brawling on the top of the cage, and Young hit an elbow drop off the top of the cage for a near fall. EY was busted open. Tye reversed an attempt at the wheelbarrow neck breaker into a TyeBreaker. SAnitY ran down to stop Tye from escaping but Kassius Ohno, Roderick Strong, and Ruby Riot ran down. Killian Dain ended up in the cage and Tye did a cross body off the cage onto Dain and Young. Tye scrambled out of the door as Alexander Wolfe climbed the cage to win. Tye celebrated with Ohno and Strong on the ramp as "Thank You Tye" chants broke out. Tye cuts a promo saying he's even with SAnitY now. Tye thanked the fans and said this isn't his first go round with WWE, and he almost lost this shot until he showed us the Perfect 10 and we took him to heights nobody saw coming. He put over NXT talent as the future and asked the audience to show them the same love, because... "We Are NXT!"