It has already been an eventful night at Full Sail University.
Two matches have been made official for the next NXT TakeOver at the tapings tonight in Orlando. As expected, the show on August 20th at the Barclays Center will be headlined by Samoa Joe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka vs. Bayley.
Joe and Nakamura have already worked house shows in singles and tags on the road and from a star power standpoint is the biggest match currently possible for NXT, clearly the top heel against clearly the top babyface.
Asuka and Bayley will be the first televised rematch since Asuka won the title in Dallas. They were holding off the rematch until Brooklyn to create the same dynamic as last summer of going into the Barclays Center with Bayley in the role of the challenger for the NXT women’s championship.
More matches are likely to be official before the end of the tapings.
Former TNA world heavyweight champion Bobby Roode also made his debut in front of the crowd at Full Sail. Roode’s debut has been teased at the last two TakeOver specials and he has wrestled on several live events, including NXT’s tour of the United Kingdom in June.
Former IWGP junior heavyweight champion Kota Ibushi also wrestled on the tapings earlier in the night.
We will have a full report from our NXT reporter JJ Williams later in the night.