The four winners of last week’s qualifying matches squared off this week, with an NXT Championship opportunity at TakeOver: San Antonio hanging in the balance. The action was red-hot from the beginning, as Roderick Strong and Andrade Almas engaged in a battle to see who could hit the other the hardest.
With the opportunity of a lifetime on the line, all four competitors threw caution to the wind, like Strong, who took out his three opponents with a twisting dive over the ropes to the arena floor. The NXT newcomer went on a tear after that, culminating with Strong eliminating Almas after a devastating Sick Kick.
But Strong’s hot streak came to a crashing halt when he collided with The Perfect 10. Tye Dillinger stopped Strong dead in his tracks with the Tye-Breaker and pinned him, thinning the field down to just him and Bobby Roode.
Dillinger looked to be on fire, showing no signs of the confidence issues that plagued him over the past few weeks. However, The Glorious One survived the Tye-Breaker and picked his spots perfectly, catching Dillinger with a simply glorious DDT to win the No. 1 contendership and a showdown with NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura in San Antonio!