Last week, Samoa Joe tried out his hand at being a referee. He would officiate the main event of NXT as Karrion Kross defended the NXT Championship against Johnny Gargano. Kross would win, and was angry at Joe for doing his job throughout the match. This led to Kross choking out Joe following the match. Tonight, Joe will respond to this attack, and if it means getting physical.
Karrion Kross Has A Samoa Joe Sized Problem
Joe hit the ring not dressed to be official tonight. Hands and wrists are taped, T-Shirt and loose pants on, and he wants Karrion Kross. William Regal would come out instead and say that this isn’t what he had in mind when he brought Joe out. Regal claims Joe can’t call out superstars, but he was more than just provoked. However, Regal claims that Kross attacked Joe the referee, not Joe the official.
Joe would claim that Kross is out of control, including his recent field trip to Monday Night RAW which saw Kross lose to Jeff Hardy in under two minutes. This is an issue for the NXT brand, and Joe wants to gain control of the situation. Kross is on his way to NXT, and Regal doesn’t want all hell to break loose. Joe just has a promise though, that being that someone is getting choked out tonight.
Diamond Mine Meet Fish & KUSHIDA
Last week, we saw Bobby Fish return to the ring once again in NXT. No longer having his buddies from The Undisputed Era to back him up, he’s actually at arms with Roderick Strong and his new group of Diamond Mine. Last week, Fish was distracted by Strong during his match with Rust, and almost beat down after the bell. KUSHIDA made the save, and tonight they will team up to take on Diamond Mine in tag team action.
Before Diamond Mine even hit the ring KUSHIDA & Fish hit from behind. Strong would be taken into the ring and taken down by his opponents before being thrown outside of the ring onto Rust. We’d go to a commercial break, as order was restored by the official. As we would get back to action, Fish & Strong would clash in the ring. KUSHIDA would tag in and hit a double kick with Fish before keeping Strong down.
The arm of Strong was tied up before KUSHIDA fell back to do some damage. Fish tagged in as Strong crawled for a tag to Rust. Rust was kicked down by Fish who hit a senton over the top rope, before KUSHIDA tagged in only to be taken into the Diamond Mine corner. Strong would counter a running armbreaker into a backbreaker, before Rust stomped him in the middle of the back.
KUSHIDA was isolated in the corner by Strong who showed his deadly chops, before applying a sleeper hold on the mat. KUSHIDA broke free and hit a handspring back elbow on both opponents before tagging Fish in. Fish would nail a sliding lariat on Rust for a two count, before taking his eyes off the ball and being hit from behind. Strong took him out with a suplex onto the apron, as we went to a commercial break.
Back live, Fish & Strong would be legal, and throughout the break the lower back of Fish was the target. An axe kick from Rust would get a two count, before he’d pick the leg of Fish and hit an ankle snap. Fish would have a hard time getting off the mat, and once he did Strong took him down and hit knee strikes to the spine.
Rust tagged in and applied an abdominal stretch, before Fish broke free and finally got KUSHIDA into the match. KUSHIDA was in hot, hitting the hip toss into the dropkick before rolling through a sunset flip from Strong with a buzzsaw kick. Strong tagged Rust in who nailed a gutwrench powerbomb before blocking a Hoverboard Lock and moving into an ankle lock.
KUSHIDA countered, before being dropped with a flipping neckbreaker, with Fish saving the match. Rust was slow up, and KUSHIDA hit a diving knee to the elbow. KUSHIDA applied Hoverboard Lock, and Rust instantly tapped out.
This match really showed how great Strong vs. KUSHIDA is going to be, and the moments between Fish & Strong had great intensity. Some smooth action, but you could tell Rust wasn’t at the same level as the others in the match on many occasions. A great TV tag team match. Match Rating: 3/5 (***)
Will KUSHIDA be able to beat Roderick Strong one on one? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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