It appears as though Kassius Ohno is amongst those recently cut by WWE. It is not clear whether Ohno has been furloughed or if he has been released outright, however. An employee who has been furloughed is still able to receive their benefits and could potentially be brought back in the future. WWE talent are being outright released while employees of the company are being furloughed, though this does not include all producers.
According to a report from the Wrestling Observer, Ohno is part of the recent cuts. The 40-year-old had been with the company since returning in late-2016. Ohno had previously been with NXT from the summer of 2012 until the fall of 2013 as well. His last appearance in WWE was at the NXT UK tapings from Coventry in early March. Ohno also performed for the NXT UK brand on its January tapings as well.
Kassius Ohno in NXT
Real name Chris Spradlin, he has wrestled primarily under the name Chris Hero on the independent scene when outside of WWE. Amongst his accomplishments in wrestling include being a 2x ROH tag team champion along with Cesaro. The team was also awarded the Tag Team of the Year award in 2010 by the voters of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Ohno is also a former PWG World Champion and EVOLVE Champion.
Adam Cole of The Undisputed Era and Kassius Ohno will be in action at EVOLVE events on May 10th in Livonia, MI and May 11th in Indianapolis, IN.
The two NXT stars have received their opponents at these shows. Cole will take on EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory in a non-title match that will serve as the main event of EVOLVE 127.
Also on tap for this show is AR Fox & Leon Ruff with Ayla & The Skulk vs. Ohno & Harlem Bravado. The following night at EVOLVE 128, Cole will team up with AR Fox to battle Ayla & The Skulk while Ohno will take on Josh Briggs.
Ohno will additionally be on hand as a special guest trainer at the WWN Seminar/Tryout in Indianapolis. The seminar is open to all wrestlers, referees and managers who have completed a training course.
Tickets for EVOLVE 127 and 128 are available now at WWNLive.com.
Updated Cards
EVOLVE 127 – Friday, May 10 at Monaghan Knights of Columbus Hall in Livonia, Mich.
EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory vs. Adam Cole – Non-Title Match
AR Fox & Leon Ruff with Ayla & The Skulk vs. Kassius Ohno & Harlem Bravado – Tag Team Challenge
EVOLVE 128 – Saturday, May 11 at Southside Turners in Indianapolis
Adam Cole vs. AR Fox with Ayla & The Skulk – Main Event
The working relationship between WWE and EVOLVE continues.
On Friday, it was announced in the latest newsletter issued by WWNLive, which is the parent company of EVOLVE, that two NXT stars would be working upcoming events.
Adam Cole of The Undisputed Era and Kassius Ohno will be in action at EVOLVE on May 10th in Livonia, MI and May 11th in Indianapolis, IN. It was added that their opponents would be announced next week.
The promotion returns this weekend with the EVOLVE 126 event on Saturday, April 13, at The Orpheum in Ybor City, Fla. In the main event, Austin Theory will attempt to prove his status as EVOLVE Champion when NXT star Raul Mendoza has risen to challenge him for the strap. Here is the updated card:
EVOLVE Champion Austin Theory vs. Raul Mendoza – Main Event
WWN Champion JD Drake vs. Shane Strickland
Falls Count Anywhere Match
Angelo Dawkins of The Street Profits vs. Eddie Kingston of The Unwanted
Royal Rumble takes place this coming Sunday, but the night before will see the NXT roster attempt to steal the show once again. At NXT TakeOver: Phoenix, the knockout artist, Kassius Ohno is looking to settle the score against NXT newcomer, and ‘King of Bros,’ Matt Riddle.
The two have faced off twice already, with Matt Riddle emerging victorious both times. Their first encounter saw Riddle claim the win in just 6 seconds. Their second encounter was a much more competitive affair but ended after Riddle locked in the Bro-mission. Ohno would then assault Riddle post-match, continuing their feud towards this Saturday’s TakeOver.
“I’m Going To Hurt Him”
In a video uploaded to WWE’s YouTube page, Kassius Ohno addresses his opponent, claiming that he’s “not just gonna beat him [Riddle] up, I‘m gonna hurt him.” He also stated that by the end of the night, he will have knocked Riddle out.
“I just want to make sure everybody saw NXT TV last week because that was some must-see TV. I know, personally, I had to run it back 6 or 7 times.
It was almost like something out of Baywatch. You see Matt Riddle cascading his way down the NXT entranceway, in those lemon-lime flip-flops, to make the save on his unlimited BFF. You see, Matt Riddle was mad because I caught Keith Lee slipping. Matt Riddle was real mad. And all that everybody wants to talk to me about is Takeover in Los Angeles,” he said.
“’Kassius, you lost in 6 seconds!’ Well, come Takeover in Phoenix, Matt Riddle is going to wish this match was 6 seconds because I’m going to beat him. I’m not just gonna beat him, I’m gonna beat him up. And I’m not just gonna beat him up, I’m gonna hurt him. And when that bell rings, you know what they’re going to say in the crowd? He’s going to look to his buddy and he’s gonna say, ‘Oh no, Kassius KO’d the Br…’ No, the bum. Kassius KO’d the bum.”
Who do you think will come out on top between these two? Will Kassius knock out Riddle, or will the King Of Bros walk out the victor?
WWE will present a 2-hour NXT tonight featuring the best moments from 2018 as well as a big main event featuring Matt Riddle once again taking on Kassius Ohno. On 205 Live, qualifying matches for the Royal Rumble fatal 4-way cruiserweight title match will take place.
NXT 1/2 Preview
Matt Riddle vs Kassius Ohno
Matt Riddle defeated Kassius Ohno at Takeover with just one clean shot. Ohno got some revenge on Riddle, however, by attacking him after he defeated Punishment Martinez in December. Tonight, Riddle and Ohno will go one-on-one once again.
NXT 2018 Award Nominees Announced
WWE is advertising that the 2018 NXT award nominees will be announced tonight. Those nominated and not nominated could lead to some future storylines as well.
2018 Re-Visited
Other than the announcing of the 2018 award nominees and the rematch between Ohno and Riddle, the rest of tonight’s special two-hour episode will feature the best NXT had to offer over the last calendar year.
205 Live 1/2 Preview
Royal Rumble Fatal 4-Way Qualifier: Drew Gulak vs The Brian Kendrick
Two cruiserweight matches will take place on 205 live tonight. Both will serve as qualifiers for the fatal four-way cruiserweight championship match scheduled for the Royal Rumble. In the first qualifying match tonight, former allies turned rivals will clash when Drew Gulak meets the Brian Kendrick.
Royal Rumble Fatal 4-Way Qualifier: Lio Rush vs Kalisto
Lio Rush could be someone WWE has their eye on. He is regularly featured on Monday Night Raw as the hype man for Bobby Lashley. It’s possible WWE sees him as a potential star in the making on 205 Live as well. Rush can book his ticket to the Royal Rumble with a win over former cruiserweight champion, Kalisto, tonight.
Kassius Ohno recently took to Twitter to deny rumors of his alleged upcoming release from NXT. BodySlam.net reported that Ohno was “rumored to have told multiple independent wrestling promoters he may soon be available for independent bookings and appearances.”
Ohno sent out a message saying that “You couldn’t be more wrong. Get better sources! First time I’m hearing of @BodyslamNet & I presume it will be the last.” Kassius has been performing for several independent promotions whilst under his NXT contract. These include some of the bigger indies such as PROGRESS, ICW and EVOLVE.
In other Ohno news: EVOLVE Wrestling has announced the opponents for Kassius Ohno at two upcoming events. Ohno will wrestle EVOLVE Champion Fabian Aichner at EVOLVE 115 while he’ll take on Shane Strickland at EVOLVE 116.
EVOLVE 115 goes down on December 15th in Queens, NY while EVOLVE 116 takes place on December 16th in Deer Park, NY. The promotion sent out the announcement on Twitter by writing the following, JUST SIGNED: NXT star and ex-EVOLVE Champ Kassius Ohno will challenge EVOLVE Champion Fabian Aichner at EVOLVE 115 on Nov. 9th in the Detroit area! JUST SIGNED: Kassius Ohno vs. Shane Strickland at EVOLVE 116 on Nov. 10th in the Chicago area! http://Ticketfly.com for info.”
EVOLVE Wrestling has announced the opponents for Kassius Ohno at two upcoming events. Ohno will wrestle EVOLVE Champion Fabian Aichner at EVOLVE 115 while he’ll take on Shane Strickland EVOLVE 116.
EVOLVE 115 goes down on December 15th in Queens, NY while EVOLVE 116 takes place on December 16th in Deer Park, NY. The promotion sent out the announcement on Twitter by writing the following, JUST SIGNED: NXT star and ex-EVOLVE Champ Kassius Ohno will challenge EVOLVE Champion Fabian Aichner at EVOLVE 115 on Nov. 9th in the Detroit area! JUST SIGNED: Kassius Ohno vs. Shane Strickland at EVOLVE 116 on Nov. 10th in the Chicago area! http://Ticketfly.com for info.”
JUST SIGNED: NXT star and ex-EVOLVE Champ Kassius Ohno will challenge EVOLVE Champion Fabian Aichner at EVOLVE 115 on Nov. 9th in the Detroit area!
JUST SIGNED: Kassius Ohno vs. Shane Strickland at EVOLVE 116 on Nov. 10th in the Chicago area!https://t.co/XDdoejWqDZ for info
Two WWE superstars are headed to EVOLVE – Mustafa Ali and Kassius Ohno.
First up is the 205 Live star. Last week, it was announced that EVOLVE would return to Livonia, MI on Nov. 9th for EVOLVE 115 and Chicago, IL on Nov. 10th for EVOLVE 116 for shows that will feature Ali in action. WWE announced on Wednesday that he would battle DJZ at EVOLVE 115 while he’ll take on Darby Allin the following the night.
Ali, AR Fox, The Skulk, Austin Theory with Priscilla Kelly, Anthony Henry, JD Drake, Josh Briggs are advertised for both events while DJ Z is only booked for the 11/9 show and Darby Allin and EVOLVE Champion Shane Strickland are booked for the 11/10 show.
WWE also announced that Kassius Ohno will return to EVOLVE in December at EVOLVE 117 on Saturday, Dec. 15, in Queens, N.Y., and at EVOLVE 118 on Sunday, Dec. 16, in Deer Park, N.Y. As of this writing, his opponents have yet to be revealed.
He will be a special guest trainer at a World Wrestling Network Seminar/Tryout on Sunday, Dec. 16, on Long Island.
For those who don’t know, WWE and EVOLVE have had a working relationship in place for a few years now. EVOLVE’s booker, Gabe Sapolsky, also works as a producer for Triple H in NXT.
Cesaro and Chris Hero used to collectively be known as “the Kings of Wrestling.” Last night, Cesaro showed up at an NXT house show and the team reunited if only for a moment.
Kassius Ohno was wrestling Adam Cole when the Undisputed Era ran in. Cesaro showed up to help his old tag-team partner against the faction.
NXT’s house show last night was in Casselberry, Florida
Cesaro & Kassius Ohno – The Kings of Wrestling
Kassius Ohno and Cesaro were a tag-team from 2005-2011. They are 2x former Ring of Honor Tag Team Champions, former CZW tag champs, Chikara tag champs, and JCW tag-team champs. Additionally, Cesaro won the PWG Championship while a member of the team.
The team briefly reunited when they were both in NXT together in 2012.
NXT House Show
September 28th, 2018
Engelwood Neighborhood Center
Jessie Elaban won an NXT UK Women’s #1 Contender Battle Royal
Tony Nese defeated Stacey Ervin Jr.
Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan defeated Rinku Singh and Saurav Gurjar
Cezar Bononi defeated Boa
Lars Sullivan defeated Keith Lee
The Street Profits defeated The Forgotten Sons
NXT UK Women’s Championship
Rhea Ripley (c) defeated Jessie Elaban
PROGRESS Wrestling has announced that current NXT Superstar Kassius Ohno will be taking part in the upcoming Super Strong Style 16 tournament. Taking place May 5th, 6th and 7th the annual tournament brings some of the best wrestlers from Europe, Mexico, Japan and the United States to Alexandra Palace in North London.
This will be the second time that Kassius Ohno has entered the SSS16 event, the first coming in 2016 where he had arguably the greatest match in PROGRESS history against 205 Live Superstar Mark Andrews (who is also appearing this year…).
Ohno is the 15th confirmed star for the tournament, he now joins the following names for the all star lineup in May:
WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne
Keith Lee
Zack Sabre Jr
Doug Williams
Angelico
Mark Andrews
‘Flash’ Morgan Webster
Chuck Mambo
Chris Brookes
Jordan Devlin
TK Cooper
David Starr
Tyler Bate
PROGRESS will likely be naming the final competitor in the coming week, we’ll keep you updated as news becomes available.
Triple H recently held a media conference call, promoting this Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia event and revealed that a match between Kassius Ohno and The Velveteen Dream has been added to the show. After the announcement below is the updated match card for the event:
NXT Championship Match
Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
NXT Women’s Championship Match
Shayna Baszler vs. Ember Moon
NXT Tag Team Championship Match
The Authors of Pain vs. Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish
Extreme Rules Match
Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black
Kassius Ohno vs. The Velveteen Dream
On a related note, it has also been announced that Samoa Joe will be joining Renee Young, Corey Graves, Sam Roberts and Charly Caruso for the one-hour pre-show of the upcoming event starting at 7 pm EST.
– Below is a new video with an inside look at the WWE NXT “Takeover: WarGames” main event for this Saturday night in Houston at the Toyota Center. As noted, the match will feature The Undisputed Era’s Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly vs. The Authors of Pain (Akam, Rezar) & Roderick Strong vs. SAnitY’s Killian Dain with NXT Tag Team Champions Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe.
– As noted, WWE recently announced that Johnny Gargano vs. WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne would take place before Takeover at the Toyota Center. NXT General Manager William Regal announced on tonight’s show that Gargano vs. Dunne will air on next Wednesday’s NXT episode. Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville will also be taped before Takeover to air next Wednesday.
– Lars Sullivan remains undefeated after his match with Raul Mendoza on tonight’s NXT episode, going into his match with Kassius Ohno at Takeover on Saturday night. Below is a post-match segment with Lars and Ohno from tonight:
Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan is now official for WWE NXT “Takeover: WarGames” during WWE Survivor Series weekend.
Below is the updated card for Takeover, which takes place on Saturday, November 18th from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas:
WarGames
The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish) vs. The Authors of Pain (Akam, Rezar) & Roderick Strong vs. NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain)
NXT Title Match
Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Drew McIntyre
Fatal 4 Way for the Vacant NXT Women’s Title
Kairi Sane vs. Ember Moon vs. Peyton Royce vs. Nikki Cross
Ab Contest
Shawn Michaels vs. Johnny Gargano
The Velveteen Dream vs. Aleister Black
Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan
Pre-Show Dark Match for the WWE UK Title
Johnny Gargano vs. Pete Dunne
ICW recently announced that their World Champion Joe Coffey would be facing NXT superstar Kassius Ohno with his prestigious gold on the line. This was huge news for fans of the UK scene as a contracted NXT star challenging for a belt outside of WWE is obviously not considered normal practice.
The bout took place this past Sunday and WWE.com has shared footage from the aftermath of the titanic fight, check it out below:
Insane Championship Wrestling has just announced a huge bout for their ‘Infamous’ event on September 17th.
NXT superstar Kassius Ohno will be competing against Joe Coffey for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship. ICW and WWE have had a very intriguing business relationship, with Finn Balor, Mick Foley and Noam Dar all having appeared for the company whilst under contract to WWE. This match seems a little more intriguing however, as Ohno is one of NXT’s most prestigious former ‘indie’ guys and he has a history within the UK scene, expect this to be a hard hitting affair.
NXT this week was taped from Full Sail University, and featured an NXT championship match between Roderick Strong and Bobby Roode. Additionally, the show featured Kassius Ohno and Hideo Itami teaming up to take on members of Sanity.
At one point it appeared Roderick Strong had become the new NXT champion, but that is not how the night would finish.
1. Kassius Ohno & Hideo Itami vs. Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe (Sanity)
Both Ohno and Itami have been on losing streaks recently. Ohno lost to Aleister Black and Itami lost to Bobby Roode in an NXT championship match.
Things didn’t go well for the pair in their first tag match together either.
Ohno could be heard calling for a tag frequently, but Itami wasn’t able to get to his corner.
Sanity on the other hand, worked as a well-oiled machine.
Dain hit Itami with a running cross-body for the pin. Another loss for both Itami and Ohno.
Winners: Sanity
In the back Ruby Riot told Ember Moon it was her time to get a shot at Asuka’s title.
Drew McIntyre got a video package and was interviewed in the back. He basically just said he’s coming for the NXT title.
They aired a video package on Ciampa and Gargano, and it was announced that Gargano will return from injury next week.
The Iconic Duo were being interviewed when cameras caught Andrade “Cien” Almas arguing with Thea Trinidad in the background.
Highlights of Bianca Blair defeating Aliyah in a Mae Young Classic qualifying match were shown.
2. NXT Championship Match Bobby Roode vs. Roderick Strong
The story of this match was Roderick Strong having his whole family in the front row, watching as he attempts to achieve his dream.
Roode worked Strong’s knee for most of the match.
Strong kicked out of the Glorious DDT!
After battling back, Strong hit the “Strong Breaker” and looked as though he got the pin.
The ref’s hand counted 3 and everyone celebrated as though Strong had won, only Roode had one leg under the bottom rope.
Strong and his wife (Marina “the SuperNova from Moldova” Shafir) hugged and celebrated like he was champ, but the ref finally told him the match was still on.
Roode knocked Strong into the barricade right in front of his family. With Marina calling him a cheater, he gave Strong a DDT on the floor, then another in the ring and pinned him.
For the 3rd straight WWE show this week a women’s division is featured in the main event. On NXT, the longtime dominant champion, Asuka, will defend her NXT championship against Nikki Cross.
As a result of the brawl the two had throughout Full Sail University recently, NXT GM William Regal has elected to make this a Last Woman Standing match.
NXT Tonight
While no other matches have been officially announced for the show, Kassius Ohno and Hideo Itami are expected to continue their angle.
Ohno and Itami have been teasing a feud ever since Itami lost his NXT title match to Bobby Roode. Itami began throwing things backstage when he was confronted by Ohno. Similar incidents have taken place in the weeks since.
NXT tonight will be main event’ed by two of the brand’s up and coming stars, Aleister Black and Kassius Ohno. Tonight’s episode was taped at Full Sail University, and the promotion has announced 3 matches which will air on tonight’s broadcast.
Ember Moon will also return to action tonight, as she takes on 1/2 of the Iconic Duo, Peyton Royce. Sonya Deville, who Royce and Billie Kay have used as muscle before, also returns to action against an opponent TBA.
After NXT Takeover: Chicago concluded, unsuccessful NXT title challenger, Hideo Itami, was quite distraught in the back. The normally mild-mannered Itami was confronted by Kassius Ohno, who also lost an NXT title match to Bobby Roode earlier this year.
Ohno attempted to calm down Itami, but may have put himself in his crosshairs instead. The 36-year old Itami has been frustrated with his run in NXT since signing with the company in 2014. Injuries, and now his loss to Roode, have prevented him from playing a larger role in NXT, or get called-up to the main roster.
As for Kassius Ohno, the 37 year-old was released from WWE developmental in 2013, but resigned last year. He lost an NXT title shot to Bobby Roode not long after re-debuting in NXT. Ohno most recently defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas in NXT’s main event last week.
1. Drew Mcintyre vs. Sean Maluta (no highlights available)
Things have really turned out fine for the former members of 3MB. Jinder Mahal is challenging for the WWE championship this weekend, Mcintyre is positioned to be a top guy in NXT, and Heath Slater had a run as tag champ.
Sean Maluta is a member of the legendary Anoai family. He was trained by his Uncle, WWE Hall-of-Famer Afa Anoai. Although he has competed on NXT & 205 Live, he is not signed full time to WWE.
Maluta did get in some offence here, including a codebreaker from the 2nd rope. Mcintyre came back, and landed a hard headbutt which set up the Yakuza kick for the win.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
After the match McIntyre is interviewed. He challenged Wesley Blake to a match, since he had been bad mouthing him.
A highlight video package of Sanity attacking Roderick Strong after his match last week. Young and Strong will now meet at NXT Takeover: Chicago on Saturday.
2. Sonya Deville vs. Lacey Evans
Lacey Evans has an interesting gimmick. She comes out dressed up as though she is going to a fancy tea party. Conversely, Deville’s gimmick is that she is a trained MMA fighter, or something along those lines. One wrestlers looks like an athlete, the other a fashion model.
Surprisingly, these two ended up having a rather unique feeling match, with a heavy MMA influence on it. Deville used MMA style striking and takedown moves, but then so did Lacey a little!
A turning point in the match came when Evans hit a solid right hand punch that dropped Deville. This allowed Lacey to go on offence a bit, until Deville just kicked her in the stomach and then hit a running step-up kick for the win.
Winner: Sonya Deville
3. Kassius Ohno vs. Andrade (Cien) Almas
Both guys recently lost in big matches. Almas lost at the last Takeover to Aleister Black, and then recently to Drew McIntyre. Kassius Ohno lost an NXT title match not longer after debuting, but then defeated the Drifter in a loser-leaves-NXT match. The Drifter is still just hanging around Raw.
Almas got most of the offence early, but Ohno made a comeback with a series of kicks, and a neck breaker. He missed a moonsault from the top which allowed Almas to get back into it however. Almas hit a running double knee in the corner, but was countered when he went for his DDT finish. Ohno got back on offence and hit a discus punch and got the 3-count.
Winner: Kassius Ohno
Bobby Roode came out to cut a promo on Hideo Itami. He told Itami he would fail in his quest for the title.
This brought out Itami, and despite the best efforts of security, he got in the ring and took out Roode. Itami then gave members of the security team the GTS while Roode watched. Then Roode got in the ring and got a GTS himself to close the show.
This triple threat singles match was a preview for the DIY vs. AOP vs. Revival match at Takeover. After the Revival appeared to leave ringside it looked as though Akam had the match won after power-bombing Gargano. The Revival returned to the ring area however and Dawson grabbed Akam’s leg from the outside, allowing Wilder to pin Gargano. Winner: Dash Wilder (pinned Gargano)
2. Heavy Machinery vs. Jonathan Ortagun and Mike Marshall
Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight make up the husky tag-team of Heavy Machinery. The first time we saw this team was in the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Classic, when they lost to Austin Aries and Roderick Strong in the first round. They would also lose to the Revival on NXT television in early January. They picked up their first televised win here however, with a squash match victory over Ortagun and Marshall. Winners: Heavy Machinery
We got another vignette from Aleister Black, this time he gives an ominous preview of his match with Andrade “Cien” Almas at Takeover. Almas has been on quite a win streak, but he’ll be in tough against the debuting Dutch kick-boxer in Orlando.
3. Loser Leaves NXT Match
Kassius Ohno vs. Elias Samson
This match seemingly came out of nowhere. Samson made fun of Ohno for not defeating Bobby Roode for the championship a coupe weeks ago, and things escalated right to a loser-leaves-town match. Samson had apparently got the better of Ohno during a commercial break (it always baffles me they will go to commercial mid-match during a show on the Network..), but Ohno battled back. The finish of the match came when Samson was attempting his dragon sleeper into a neck breaker but Ohno countered with a discuss forearm (just like Aries has been using as his finish) and pinned him for the win.
After the match Samson was refusing to leave, but then asked if he could just get his guitar. Ohno motioned as though he was going to give the guitar back but instead just stepped on it. Winner: Kassius Ohno (Samson gone from NXT)
Following his unsuccessful NXT championship match against Bobby Roode this week, Kassius Ohno was confronted by Elias “the Drifter” Samson backstage. This led to a Ohno challenging Samson to a “Loser Leaves NXT” match for next week.
On the surface a loser leaves NXT match could lead to a main roster debut for either superstar. It seems unlikely the 37-year old Ohno would debt on the main roster anytime soon, having just debuted on NXT television. Stranger things have happened however.
As for Samson, two possibilities exist. If he loses to Ohno next week he could find himself on the main roster, where it is doubtful he would be placed in a high profile role. Samson could undergo a gimmick change and stay in NXT as well however. After WrestleMania is a common time for new wrestlers to debut on the main roster, so it is more likely than not the loser of this match next week ends up on Raw or Smackdown after WrestleMania.
NXT taped TV episodes for February and early March last night at Full Sail University. Below are full spoilers:
2/8 episode:
– SAnitY’s Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe defeated The Bollywood Boyz. After the match, Eric Young cut a promo on Tye Dillinger while Nikki Cross called Asuka out.
– Liv Morgan beat Billie Kay.
– SAnitY attacks Tye Dillinger backstage after he refuses to join them. They brawl to the ring, and Roderick Strong makes the save for Tye with No Way Jose.
– The Revival beat Heavy Machinery. After the match, Revival challenged The Authors of Pain to a NXT Tag Team Championship match at TakeOver. The AoP come out and Paul Ellering takes the mic but Revival attacks from behind after leaving.
– Bobby Roode has his NXT Championship celebration in the ring. He declares that it’s no longer “#WeAreNXT” but “#MyNXT” as in Bobby Roode’s NXT.
– SAnitY defeated Tye Dillinger, No Way Jose and Roderick Strong.
2/15 episode:
– The Authors of Pain defeated local jobbers.
– Billie Kay and Peyton Royce beat Ember Moon and Liv Morgan.
– DIY is out to address their championship loss at TakeOver last weekend. They start talking about theri rematch when Ellering and The AoP interrupt. The rematch will take place in two weeks. The Revival comes in from the crowd and attacks DIY from behind.
– Tyler Bate beat Trent Seven to retain the WWE United Kingdom Championship.
2/22 episode:
– #1 contenders match: Peyton Royce beat Liv Morgan and Ember Moon in a three-way
– Pete Dunne beat Mark Andrews.
– Bobby Roode beat No Way Jose in a non-title match. Roode attacked after the match but Kassius Ohno ran out for the save, leading to Roode granting Ohno a match. Ohno is taking his jacket off when Roode attacks first. Ohno makes the comeback and clears the ring.
3/1 episode:
– Patrick Clark beat Sean Maluta.
– Kassius Ohno comes out and tells Bobby Roode to get to the ring because it’s not over between them. Roode comes from behind and attacks him.
– Asuka retained the NXT Women’s Championship over Peyton Royce. Peyton & Billie double teamed her after the match until Ember Moon made the save and they cleared the ring. Asuka and Ember had a face off.
– The Authors of Pain retained the NXT Tag Team Championships over DIY by DQ after The Revival interfered
– During a recent appearance on The Kevin Gill Show, Kassius Ohno (Chris Hero) gave his thoughts about longtime friend Kevin Owens holding the top title on the RAW brand, the WWE Universal Championship.
“I was happy for him and the journey that he’s been on,” he said. “But also I was happy for wrestling. I was happy because it’s different and it’s a new direction. I think everybody’s sick of the same old. Sometime you’ve just got to go in a different direction and they did.”
– SmackDown star James Ellsworth is pushing for a spot in th eRoyal Rumble and is encouraging fans to use the hashtag #EllsworthRumble to show support. Ellsworth is currently involved in a romantic storyline with Carmella.
The Wrestling Observer has revealed which NXT Superstars are in the “Terry Taylor Class” at the WWE Performance Center, which is the class that grooms wrestlers currently being considered for somewhat imminent call-ups to the main roster.
The main class features NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Tag Team Champions DIY, Kassius Ohno, the injured Hideo Itami, TM-61, Tye Dillinger, Elias Samson, Alexander Wolfe and Andrade Almas.
The second group, which aren’t considered for near imminent call-ups but will be moved to the next class when top talents get called up, are Oney Lorcan, Roderick Strong, The Revival, The Authors of Pain, Riddick Moss, Tino Sabbatelli, Wesley Blake, Buddy Murphy, Dan Matha, Aleister Black and Killian Dain.
The Observer notes that Bobby Roode has a different contract and does not train at the WWE PC, which means he would not be in the class. This also likely applies for Samoa Joe, Austin Aries and Eric Young.