Smark Out Moment

The WWE NXT TakeOver: Orlando pay-per-view will take place on April 1, 2017 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Follow along here for spoilers and information on the event's card, lineup of matches and news regarding the pay-per-view.

Here are my predictions for the 2017 WWE NXT TakeOver: Orlando PPV. Check back for NXT TakeOver: Orlando results and review coverage here.

WWE NXT TakeOver: Orlando 2017 Spoilers and Predictions

NXT Championship Match: Bobby Roode (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Roode will be successful in retaining his title here and Nakamura will either go to a different feud afterward or he'll just come up to Raw or SmackDown the night after WrestleMania, if not at WrestleMania itself (but I'm leaning more toward a post-Mania debut). There's not much left for Nakamura to do in NXT outside of a match with Kassius Ohno and maybe a feud with Andrade Almas and/or Eric Young. That stuff can be sacrificed in favor of the great matches he could have with the main roster folk like AJ Styles, John Cena, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, Roman Reigns Seth Rollins and so forth.

PREDICTION: Bobby Roode wins.


NXT Tag Team Championship Match: The Authors of Pain (c) vs. The Revival vs. #DIY

This makes perfect sense. To do another match between AoP and DIY would be redundant, but to have The Revival face AoP on their own would be kind of odd as it would be heels against each other. This way, Akam and Rezar can be the true heels, Dash and Dawson can be the tweeners in a way as the crowd still likes them despite being heels, and Gargano and Ciampa are the babyfaces. I'm fully expecting the champions to retain the titles and I wouldn't be shocked at all if this is the last we see of The Revival in NXT before they're called up to the main roster and put on either Raw or SmackDown.

PREDICTION: The Authors of Pain win.


NXT Women's Championship Match: Asuka (c) vs. Ember Moon

I've been saying for months that Asuka versus Ember Moon would happen in Orlando, and yet despite this being the case, I can't help but feel like WWE hasn't done enough to properly set it up. Right now, I still think Moon is the best suited to dethrone Asuka, but I don't feel like the momentum is there like I had anticipated. They never gave Moon a proper feud to allow fans to get behind her enough. Nikki Cross will probably feud with Moon after Asuka moves up to the main roster during the SmackDown Women's Championship match, as that is being purposely vague about the number of participants for a reason. The only real question is whether or not Asuka drops the title to win SmackDown's belt or if they have her go into it still undefeated somehow.

PREDICTION: A new champion is crowned.

Eight-Person Mixed Tag Team Match: SAnitY vs. Tye Dillinger, Roderick Strong, No Way Jose and Ruby Riot

A similar match happened already on a regular episode, but with the addition of Ruby Riot to the feud, it will introduce a new element to justify having a relative repeat. It gets a lot of names on the card and it could be interesting.

PREDICTION: SAnitY loses.

Aleister Black vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas

It wouldn't make any sense for Aleister Black to make his debut and to come up short, particularly as he's the babyface, so I'm definitely expecting him to win. This feud doesn't have anything going for it yet as it is just a randomly announced match, so I'm not particularly excited, but I'm at least interested to see what Black has to offer.

PREDICTION: Black is victorious.


I don't expect any more matches to be announced based off what the tapings have indicated, although there's a chance one more might be added, which could potentially be something involving Hideo Itami or Kassius Ohno.

Missing names still available to pick from not mentioned above = Buddy Murphy, Elias Samson, Hideo Itami, Kassius Ohno, Nick Miller, Oney Lorcan, Patrick Clark, Wesley Blake and other miscellaneous talent such as HoHo Lun and the stars from the United Kingdom side of the roster