New NXT Champion Samoa Joe.

[Navi]

News just in from WWE.com says that Samoa Joe beat Finn Balor tonight to capture the NXT Championship at a live show in Mass.

Reports are that Balor may have rolled his ankle and suffered an injury. But that might be a work. Looks like Balor is coming up sooner rather than later. I guess here comes the Bullet Club.

 

[Harthan]

Fairly incredible. As if it were possible for an NXT show to be any more unmissable, now they go and do this. I would venture a guess that some combination of the following things occurred:

1) They wanted to move a belt on a house show to boost future ticket sales. Presumably it's the kind of thing they can translate into more demand, higher prices, and maybe bigger buildings. Something like this will get everyone buzzing and looking for tickets.

2) Booking plans changed rapidly. From my understanding the next NXT tapings are on May 19, which was perhaps too late for them to wait for whatever it is they wanted to do next. It seems clear that whatever it is they intend to do, it involves Samoa Joe as champion heading into those tapings. The obvious thing is that it releases Finn's only real commitment to NXT which, with the heating up the Bullet Club is going through on the main roster, might mean big things. More interestingly it might mean big things happened very quickly, since they had a chance to do this at Takeover just a few weeks ago. The only exception to this portion is....

3) They intend to give it back to Finn. There have been a few occasions in house show history I can recall where a belt changed hands one night, only to go back a few nights later. This possibility probably shouldn't be ignored as there as still several live events planned.

Overall it's very exciting and it does give a lot of interesting ideas for the main roster now that Finn is free, but personally I'm hedging my bets just a little bit that they might be giving it back to Finn in the near future, before the 19th. But if they go into those tapings with Joe as champion, well, it's probably the dawn of a new era for NXT. Assuming Finn either leaves or loses a rematch, things are wide open for Joe. There's Aries (who dethroned him as ROH Champion many moons ago), there's the possibility of building up someone new very rapidly or going to a new signing (Bobby Roode could quickly make an impact) or the most obvious and most exciting course is to match up Joe and Nakamura. They would probably do amazingly well against each other in a stiff match and they're the two hottest acts in NXT right now. It's the perfect thing to sell a Takeover, maybe even one in Japan, as has been rumored.

All around very exciting and it seems the landscape of NXT has been turned on its head. Looking forward to more house show results and the next tapings.

 

[GOOZEKING]

Now the question is does anyone want to see a heel balor. I mean there was a reason why he was face in NXT. Plus I am sorry but I can't boo the guy especially when he will be on the main roster.

 

[Punk_Aries_Daniels_Bryan]

For people wondering why the NXT championship title change just occurred in a live event, as opposed to a recorded weekly episode or pay-per-view, here is the reason:

This is a direct connection to the main event picture in WWE right now. Finn Balor is a former member of the Bullet Club, with other members in WWE being AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. Balor will have some involvement in the WWE World Heavyweight championship match at WWE Payback, or the RAW the night after Payback.

The question remains on what his involvement will be. Bullet Club will now be named either BulletProof Club or Balor Club, and will most likely be a heel faction based on the type of booking Anderson and Gallows have had. Whether AJ Styles remains babyface or turns heel is the big question.

As per earlier posts regarding placing the title back on Balor, I say WHY? Let Joe take the lead as a fantastic heel NXT Champion. I understand the draw factor in Japan for the NXT PPV would be a reason, but then again, other matches can be set up to fill the seats. My personal opinion of how the NXT Japan PPV card should look like:

Finn Balor (heel) vs Hideo Itami (face) - Turns out Balor is the one who injured Itami, and this turns into a match to see who the better competitor is.
Nakamura (face) vs Samoa Joe (heel champion) - title match that should end in a double count out. This will not hurt either wrestler's momentum.
Austin Aries or Alex Riley vs Jushin Liger - Huge match and draw. Alex Riley needs to get more spotlight because he has been working his ass off. I have Liger putting on an amazing performance as expected, but taking the loss to either of these wrestlers.
Bayley vs Asuka vs Nia Jax - title match, Asuka retains.
The rest of card can fit itself with matches.

 

[Navi]

Now the question is does anyone want to see a heel balor. I mean there was a reason why he was face in NXT. Plus I am sorry but I can't boo the guy especially when he will be on the main roster.

I'll have a problem booing him as well. The only problem I have with tonight's title change, is not the fact that it happened at a house show. It's the fact that there is a PPV in two weeks, and this pretty much assures us that Balor will somehow be involved in the main event.

He could still have been involved, make it a huge surprise and drop the title to Samoa Joe a week or two later. That could have been the tease, is he on the main roster or is he clearing himself a path to the main event scene.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

That's great news! I just watched NXT where Joe made Crews tap out. It was kind of surprising considering Crews has arrived on the main roster and this tap out really slowed his momentum. But I see why they gave the big win to Joe now, to get him his win off camera and call Finn up to the main roster.

I wish somebody else won it though. Samoa Joe is too good for NXT IMO and he should've been on the main roster a long time ago. Joe and Finn call ups would be way better and let somebody like Austin A. capture the belt.

 

[Rhodes2TheFuture3313]

I love this. Fans are getting played. Balor is definitely coming up to the main roster at Payback. This "injury" is a good way to make people forget about Balor. The question is Will WWE pull the trigger on AJ Styles and the Bullet Club? I'm thinking we'll be left w/some sort of DQ finish with Reigns & AJ down as well as the Bullet Club standing tall. I would also think that HHH returns at the Raw after Payback. Heck they can even drag it out til the Raw after Extreme rules as the Mastermind behind the Bullet Club.

 

[dsotm5150]

Only a matter of time till Balor moves up to the main roster now. Joe deserves a title run before he gets called up.

 

[@smarkmouth]

This is pretty cool. Considering house shows are generally paint-by-numbers, this title change has legitimized these events.

I'd love to see house shows do away with championship matches entirely, with the occasional exception given a soft promotion. Even a simple remark by commentary along the lines of "New Day will be defending their tag team titles against Rowan and Strowman in Ottawa this week" would do wonders.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

I'll have a problem booing him as well. The only problem I have with tonight's title change, is not the fact that it happened at a house show. It's the fact that there is a PPV in two weeks, and this pretty much assures us that Balor will somehow be involved in the main event.

He could still have been involved, make it a huge surprise and drop the title to Samoa Joe a week or two later. That could have been the tease, is he on the main roster or is he clearing himself a path to the main event scene.

Unfortunately that is one thing that will be lost because of the success of NXT: if Balor held the title when he got called up (like Owens, Sasha Banks and I think even Big E.) then we would know that he would lose the title in his next big defence; with this route, it is *likely* that he will be called up, but at least it leaves a little unpredictability, though in all likelihood you are correct and it guarantees his imminent promotion

 

[ShinChan]

I am very happy for Samoa Joe becoming the new NxT Champion. I was surprised by Balor retaining at NxT TakeOver Dallas. Maybe WWE wanted to make Balor the longest reigning champion. Also I read somehere that Triple H wants Demon to be undefeated.

And winning a title at a house show is an unique thing to happen.

I don't see Balor regaining the title in future.

At Payback, It maybe Balor's time to initiate his inevitable Club. I am hoping that he has AJ alongside him.

 

[ShinChan]

That's great news! I just watched NXT where Joe made Crews tap out. It was kind of surprising considering Crews has arrived on the main roster and this tap out really slowed his momentum. But I see why they gave the big win to Joe now, to get him his win off camera and call Finn up to the main roster.

The main roster call-ups always tend to lose their matches at NxT. Like Sami Zayn lost to Shinsuke Nakamura, Enzo/Cass and Vaudevillainm lost to American Alpha etc. This way the wrestlers can easily get a rub off the main roster call-ups.

The latter don't need a win anymore and a win could add validity and credibility to the former. Even if Joe didn't become the Champion, He still should have gone over Apollo Crews.