The show ended with the contract signing for Bobby Roode vs Shinsuke Nakamura for the NXT Championship at NXT Takeover: San Antonio. As Bobby Roode promised when he first got on the mic, this signing did not involve the traditional fight you usually see at a setting like this. It involved mic work. Lots of it. Bobby Roode carried the segment and for the most part, did a wonderful job.

The problem with the segment was Shinsuke. When he moved to America last April, one part of his performance he’s been working on is his English. While he is getting better and will eventually get to a point where this is not a problem, as of now, I could barely understand him on the mic. For the amount of time they gave him to talk, the results we saw on the latest episode of NXT were disastrous. His work in the ring will definitely turn heads when he gets to the main roster. The guy just oozes charisma. But unlike a real sport that can do a simple interview with subtitles with an athlete that doesn’t speak English, a large portion of  of the vocal work in wrestling will occur live in front of an audience. They need to do a better job of hiding this weakness until he’s ready. As of now, he has a long way to go.

The show was pretty good. I’d definitely give it a watch on the WWE Network since a bad episode of NXT is better than most wrestling programs today. Yet I do feel there were some wasted opportunities to build up the NXT Takeover: San Antonio event that they failed to capitalize on. This show is not feeling as big as other Takeover events and that’s sad. One thing I did take note of was that long time NXT mainstay Samoa Joe was nowhere to be seen. Could this mean that at long last we’re going to see a Samoa Joe debut at the Royal Rumble? The WWE website has been planting some seeds lately with a recent article detailing the history Samoa Joe and John Cena have, starting their careers at the same wrestling school.