The match itself was nothing special, but it was a fun opener to hype up the crowd.
– Bianca Belair defeated Candice LeRae
Belair showcasing her impressive strength was the highlight of the match.
– EC3 defeated Kassius Ohno
EC3 cut a cliche promo before this started where he dissed the city of Bethlehem. He’s very good at promos, but his in-ring work was just okay. Ohno carried the match and put EC3 over.
– The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) defeated The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler)
Both teams looked great, but Ford came off especially well. His athleticism and ability to entertain the crowd stole the match.
Sane’s elbow drop was the best part of what was a pretty forgettable bout, but Cross also brought a lot of excitement. Evans took most of the bumps and was pinned. She has a great look and character and could be a star when she gets more experienced in the ring.
– Tommaso Ciampa defeated Oney Lorcan
Ciampa came out to Johnny Gargano’s music, which pissed everyone off. He then cut an excellent heel promo.
This was the match of the night by far. Ciampa looked like he almost killed Lorcan with a ring apron spot. Gargano attacked Ciampa and got the better of him following the match.
Ricochet received a lot of chants as people knew who he was and were excited to see him. This was a solid opener and both wrestlers looked great.
– Killian Dain defeated Marcel Barthel
Barthel tried to get easy heat by mentioning how superior the German Olympic hockey team was compared to the Canadian team. His pre-match mic work went a bit long.
The match was okay, but the two of them didn’t seem to click.
– Roderick Strong defeated Fabian Aichner
Strong carried this to a solid match and Aichner kept up with him.
– SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) defeated The Authors of Pain
They did lots of brawling. The match was solid and what you’d expect from these teams.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Nikki Cross and Aliyah in a triple threat match to retain her title
Moon hit a double Eclipse before pinning Aliyah. The fans were really into Cross.
After debuting at the most recent set of television tapings, Ricochet was wrestling at his first NXT house show here. He won with the 630.
– Nikki Cross defeated Aliyah
Cross hit the fisherman’s neckbreaker to win.
– Killian Dain defeated Marcel Barthel
Dain pinned him after hitting a corner slingshot splash.
– Roderick Strong defeated Fabian Aichner
Strong won by submission with the Strong Hold.
– SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) defeated The Authors of Pain
Wolfe and Young hit a suplex/diving neckbreaker combo to pick up the win.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Bianca Belair to retain her title
The ending to this match didn’t go as planned. Belair was grabbing her neck throughout and then took The Eclipse strangely. She kicked out at two when she wasn’t supposed to, but the referee called for the bell anyway despite it being obvious to the crowd that she kicked out.
Belair was escorted to the back by a couple of people after the match.
While the storyline is that Gargano’s NXT career is over after losing the title vs. career match against Almas, WWE explained him still wrestling on the house shows in a video where William Regal said he would have to fulfill his prior commitments like appearances and live events.
Gargano and LeRae got the win with stereo Gargano Escapes.
The Big News: Tommaso Ciampa’s crutch ended the NXT career of Johnny Gargano as his interference led to Gargano losing a title vs. career match to Andrade “Cien” Almas.
The Medium News: In two weeks, it is the return of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic
The Little Beaver-sized News: NXT’s favorite wacky gimmick defeated NXT’s former favorite wacky gimmick as Velveteen Dream beat No Way Jose
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The show began with a video of Andrade “Cien” Almas. It started from his NXT debut, went to his gimmick where he was concentrating on partying instead of wrestling, and brought him all the way back to the NXT Championship.
The video continued with a preview of his title defense against Johnny Gargano tonight.
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Velveteen Dream defeated No Way Jose
Velveteen Dream was here to kick off the in-ring action as he went one-on-one with the King of the Fiesta, No Way Jose. Once upon a time, Jose was in a feud with SAnitY that was scheduled to culminate at a TakeOver. Instead, he was taken out before the show, got replaced by Kassius Ohno, and has done nothing of note since. Unfortunately for him, Velveteen Dream has replaced him as NXT’s favorite wacky gimmick.
Jose looked good here and actually got most of the offense — to the point that Dream got babyface sympathy. Dream countered the pop-up punch with a dropkick before picking up the win with the Purple Rainmaker.
Jose controlled 4:30 of a 5:00 match, but the last 30 seconds were his downfall.
After the match, Dream cut a promo calling himself the NXT Male Competitor of the Year and the Overall Competitor of the Year, even though it was Aleister Black. He said no one cares about Black, Asuka, or Tyler Bate, and since his name is on the tip of everyone’s tongue, he doesn’t care if anyone can’t see that.
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Almas was getting ready in his dressing room while listening to his own theme music. Hey, whatever works for him.
They later did the same thing with Gargano.
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Mr. William Regal announced the return of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. It begins in two weeks and the winners will face the NXT Tag Team Champions at TakeOver: New Orleans.
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Nikki Cross defeated Vanessa Borne
Borne was a dancer for both the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Cardinals and also took part in the Mae Young Classic. Cross exploded at the bell and threw her body into the attack. Borne got more offense than Velveteen Dream did, but she didn’t achieve the same results.
Cross, who by far was the crowd favorite, picked up the win with The Purge.
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Up next was a recap of last week where Aleister Black said he wanted to be NXT Champion but was confronted by Killian Dain, who also wanted a title shot.
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A recap of the Shayna Baszler-Ember Moon-Kairi Sane situation from last week aired next. It was then announced that Baszler will face Sane next week.
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NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) defeated Johnny Gargano (w/ Candice LeRae) to retain his title in a title vs. career match
The fireworks with the seconds started early as Gargano went for a suicide dive and Vega pulled Almas out of the way. LeRae then did her own suicide dive to Vega and beat her to the backstage area. That’s the last we saw of either of them during the match.
Almas worked on Gargano’s arm, including an armbar where he hung over the ropes. Gargano sold his arm pretty well and got his first near fall with a slingshot spear. Almas used a schoolboy and lifted Gargano up with one arm and ran him into the corner with a buckle bomb.
Almas tried using both the hammerlock DDT and the double knees against the ring post, but Gargano got away both times. Gargano didn’t have any better luck as he went for a slingshot move, but Almas reversed it into an armbar that Gargano had to fight to get out of.
At one point, Almas went up top for a draping double foot stomp, but Gargano shoved him off the top rope and Almas slammed his back off the ring apron before falling to the floor. Gargano used a suicide dive into a tornado DDT outside the ring and a slingshot DDT for the closest of near falls back in the ring. At this point, Almas accidentally back elbowed the referee and Gargano locked on the Gargano Escape!
However, Tommaso Ciampa ran out and slammed his crutch into Gargano’s back. The referee got up just in time to see Almas hit the hammerlock DDT for the pin! Almas retains the title and Johnny Gargano’s NXT career has come to an end.
Gargano ended the show by receiving a standing ovation and a hug from his wife. The fans booed the announcement that Gargano must now leave NXT. After they finally went backstage, Ciampa reappeared in the crowd to wave goodbye to his former teammate and best friend.
That does it from Center Stage. Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
Baszler forced Kai to tap out. The audience was very into Cross and seemed to like Baszler as well.
– Roderick Strong defeated Kassius Ohno
This was the match of the night. The crowd was white hot for the stiff strikes and a great finish, with Strong submitting Ohno with the Strong Hold.
– SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly)
Young got the pin on O’Reilly and did a promo after talking about how much he loves Nashville and the fans.
– Aleister Black defeated Velveteen Dream
Before the match, Dream got on the mic and said he was under the weather. He talked about the last time he was in Nashville and the bad reaction he got. He took off his jacket to show that he was wearing a Tom Brady jersey.
Black won with the Black Mass.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Bianca Belair to retain her title
Belair was very impressive despite losing.
– Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae defeated NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega in a mixed tag match
Both LeRae and Vega were making their post-signing in-ring debuts. The crowd chanted “Johnny Wrestling” and “Candice Wrestling” before and after the match. They were super over with the crowd.
At one point, LeRae hit a hurricanrana on Almas as she jumped from the top rope onto him. Almas and Vega also did simultaneous double knees to the corner. Gargano and LeRae won with a double submission as they both had the Gargano Escape locked in.
Gargano got on the mic after the match and put over LeRae and the crowd.
Ohno hit a diving elbow to the back of the head to win.
– The Authors of Pain defeated NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly in a non-title match
They had a good match, with the Authors working babyface. Fish and O’Reilly tried to walk out at one point, but AOP caught them, gave them a beatdown, and brought them back.
Fish and O’Reilly worked over the leg of one of the Authors, the other got a hot tag, and AOP won with the Last Chapter.
Moon pinned Evans with The Eclipse. The match was pretty standard, but it was enjoyable. Baszler and Evans worked over Sane’s arm, then Moon got the hot tag and it led to the finish.
There were several staredowns between Moon and Baszler throughout.
– Aleister Black defeated Adam Cole
Both were super over. They had a great match, getting a few “this is awesome” chants. The finish saw Cole bring a chair into the ring, but the referee grabbed it out of his hands just as he was about to hit Black.
Cole and the ref began to argue, and Cole turned around straight into the Black Mass.
Dream was the most over guy on the entire show. This followed a similar tag formula as the others on the card, but it was so awesome that it was still great and the best match on the show.
Almas and Dream worked over Gargano for a while until Strong came in. Gargano got back in and submitted Dream with the Gargano Escape.
Submitted by reader Austin Chlapecka from NXT’s house show in Memphis, Tennessee on Friday night
– Heavy Machinery defeated Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler
This was a fun match with lots of crowd interaction, including Heavy Machinery laying it on thick with the comedy.
– Bianca BelAir defeated Aliyah
Aliyah probably got the least offense of anyone all night.
– Kassius Ohno cut a promo about Memphis wrestling history and said he wants to make history by becoming champion tonight. Zelina Vega rejected the idea, but Vic Joseph announced that fans can vote to decide on Twitter.
– Buddy Murphy defeated Brennan Williams
Murphy won, but Williams showed a lot of athleticism.
– Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated The Street Profits
Both teams were very over with the crowd. Ford is an electric performer — he has unlimited potential with his charisma and athleticism. This was a solid match, and the Undisputed Era won by grabbing Ford’s tights while pinning him.
– Aleister Black defeated Kona Reeves
Reeves actually got in a decent amount of offense, but Black won this one.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Vanessa Borne to retain her title
Borne held her own relatively well despite the experience gap. Following the match, BelAir came down and called out Moon for a title match in Little Rock.
– NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) defeated Kassius Ohno to retain his title
They had the match of the night. It was hard hitting and told a good story. Almas retained when Ohno was distracted by Vega accidentally dropping flour that she planned to throw at Ohno on the apron.
Ohno closed out the night by thanking the fans for showing up.
Submitted by reader Chris Murray from NXT’s show in Little Rock, Arkansas on Saturday
– Heavy Machinery defeated Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake
– Aliyah defeated Vanessa Borne
– Ohno cut a promo, saying he’s disappointed with himself recently and vowing to compete for the NXT title. Vega answered the challenge. She said Ohno hasn’t earned a title shot, but he can have a non-title match tonight.
– Kona Reeves defeated Brennan Williams
– Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated The Street Profits
– Aleister Black defeated Buddy Murphy
This was the best match of the night.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Bianca BelAir to retain her title
Following the match, Aliyah made the save for Moon after Borne attacked her.
– Kassius Ohno defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) in a non-title match
Ohno winning led to an impromptu title match.
– NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) defeated Kassius Ohno to retain his title
Vega hit a flying head scissors and Almas connected with the hammerlock DDT to retain.
Reports submitted by readers Joe Kazmer and Matt Carlins
– The Street Profits defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
The Profits came out wearing Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys. Before the match, Sabbatelli cut the only promo of the show and had the crowd hating him. Ford got the pin on Moss after hitting a frog splash.
– Lars Sullivan defeated No Way Jose
Sullivan won with his Freak Accident slam.
– Ruby Riott defeated Bianca Belair
Riott hit a kick to win it after Belair had used her hair for offense throughout the match.
– NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Eric Young & Killian Dain to retain their titles
Fish pinned Young with a roll-up while holding his trunks.
– Aleister Black defeated Chad Lail
This wasn’t a total squash. Black ended it with the Black Mass spin kick.
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Sonya Deville to retain her title
They had a pretty basic match, ending when Moon retained with The Eclipse.
– NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) defeated Roderick Strong and Adam Cole to retain his title
Almas and Cole teamed up on Strong early, but it eventually became every man for himself. Cole was the most over wrestler on the show. While the referee was distracted, Vega hit a hurricanrana on Strong and Almas then followed it up with the hammerlock DDT to retain.
After a new number one contender was decided at this week’s NXT television tapings, WWE officially announced the series of matches that will lead to the next challenger for Andrade “Cien” Almas’ NXT Championship.
One thing of note from WWE’s announcement was that the eventual winner wasn’t included. Four matches took place at the tapings to determine who would advance to a fatal four-way number one contender’s match, with Johnny Gargano defeating Kassius Ohno and going on to win the four-way. An angle should take place over the next few weeks to have Gargano replace Velveteen Dream against Ohno and end up challenging Almas at TakeOver: Philadelphia next month.
WWE released a video with William Regal saying Drew McIntyre won’t be able to get his rematch against Almas due to the bicep injury McIntyre suffered at TakeOver: War Games. The matches he announced were Ohno vs. Velveteen Dream, Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole, Killian Dain vs. Trent Seven, and Roderick Strong vs. Lars Sullivan. Black, Dain, and Sullivan advanced to the fatal four-way along with Gargano.
Velveteen Dream wasn’t featured on Wednesday’s tapings. In something that could play into the angle with Gargano, who has been on a storyline losing streak, taking his place, Regal called the eight wrestlers he announced people whose body of work over the past year has proved their worth.
Seven “earned” his way into the qualifiers by winning a battle royal at last night’s NXT house show in Lakeland, which took place after he lost to Dain on Wednesday. Gargano wrestled Pete Dunne in the main event of that show.
Almas vs. Gargano for the NXT title was the only match confirmed for TakeOver: Philadelphia at the tapings. The special will take place at the Wells Fargo Center on January 27th as part of Royal Rumble weekend, with NXT having one more taping before that date to further build up the event.
The Big News: Andrade “Cien” Almas laid out Drew McIntyre in the closing segment, possibly injuring the champ’s knee going into their title match.
The Medium News: In a match that will be filmed before TakeOver, Johnny Gargano will challenge for Pete Dunne’s WWE United Kingdom Championship on next week’s episode.
The Little Beaver-sized News: The Street Profits continued their undefeated streak, ending Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss’ winning streak at one.
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I am back from Australia! The trip was amazing and I wish I didn’t have to come home. I want to thank Paul Fontaine and Dave Bath for the excellent job they both did at filling in for me the last two weeks. Let’s see if I remember how to do this.
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The Street Profits defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
It was Solo Cup time as The Street Profits kicked things off this week. Their foes this week are Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss. While I was away, these four men had a confrontation in front of Sabbatelli & Moss’ Maserati, so that leads to this bout.
This was The Street Profits’ first non-squash match since their push began, and they were running wild until Moss distracted Montez Ford, giving the heels the advantage. Angelo Dawkins got the hot tag, which woke the crowd back up momentarily until he missed a corner splash, but Dawkins hit a forearm out of nowhere to pick up the win with a pin on Moss.
I don’t know if this match was heavily edited, but that finish really did come out of nowhere.
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We had a video package for the upcoming Aleister Black-Velveteen Dream match.
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Lars Sullivan defeated Raul Mendoza
This Saturday at NXT TakeOver: War Games, Kassius Ohno has a death wish as he goes one-on-one with the undefeated (in singles competition) Lars Sullivan. Mendoza cut a really good promo two months ago and has yet to be given promo time (or a win) since.
Mendoza lit Sullivan up with kicks early on and came off the top rope with a move, but Sullivan used the Vladimir Kozlov headbutt to the chest to cut him off. Sullivan squashed Mendoza with two corner splashes and then hit a powerslam before finishing him off with The Freak Accident.
Not only does the winning streak continue, but so does Sullivan’s streak of not being taken off his feet by his opponent.
After the match, Sullivan grabbed Mendoza for more punishment, but Ohno jogged to the ring. Sullivan laughed at Ohno and walked away.
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William Regal was making jokes with the cameraman when Johnny Gargano came into his office and said to not give up on him. Mr. Regal told him that he’ll challenge Pete Dunne for the UK title next week.
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The video package for War Games aired next.
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Ember Moon defeated Mercedes Martinez
Two weeks ago, Martinez declared that Moon would not win the Women’s title at TakeOver. Not sure how she arrived at this conclusion, but Moon took offense and here we are.
This was a more competitive match than perhaps you would expect since Moon is three days away from challenging for the title. Martinez caved in Moon’s chest with a chop that reverberated from Orlando to Ontario and then broke out a combo Eddie Guerrero/Davey Boy Smith tribute with a Three Amigos where the last suplex was a delayed vertical.
Moon made her comeback, hitting a beautiful suicide dive outside the ring, but Martinez cut her off when she went for The Eclipse and hit a running Diamond Cutter from the top rope. A minute later, Moon fought back and finally hit The Eclipse for the win.
Nikki Cross, Peyton Royce, and Kairi Sane all came out to stare at each other after the match.
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Live on the WWE Network this Saturday night, it is NXT TakeOver: War Games, featuring:
The Undisputed Era vs. SAnitY vs. Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain in the first-ever WWE War Games match
Kairi Sane vs. Peyton Royce vs. Ember Moon vs. Nikki Cross for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship
NXT Champion Drew McIntyre defending against Andrade “Cien” Almas
Aleister Black vs. Velveteen Dream
Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan
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Also, next week on NXT:
WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defending against Johnny Gargano
Sonya Deville vs. Ruby Riot
At least five lengthy video packages recapping every single moment of TakeOver, along with post-match interviews
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The main event segment of the show saw NXT Champion Drew McIntyre come out for a promo building up his title match this Saturday night. McIntyre gave Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega credit for Vega’s plan working, but now they’re in trouble because reality is setting in that Almas has to face him.
Vega has been rambling on about success and about mountains, but Almas will find out soon enough that McIntyre is the bloody mountain. McIntyre invited Almas out to face him like a man to prove something, not to McIntyre or Vega, but to himself. He dared Almas to come out and face him like a man…unless Vega isn’t going to let him off the leash.
Out came Almas and it…was…on! McIntyre got the best of him until Vega dove off the top rope. McIntyre caught Vega and looked befuddled before Almas clipped his knee from behind. Almas stomped away at McIntyre’s knee as Vega dropped the championship onto McIntyre’s prone body.
Is Andrade “Cien” Almas our next NXT Champion? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to check out NXT TakeOver: War Games this Saturday night. Until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
They had a very short match with Strong dominating throughout.
– Ember Moon defeated Vanessa Borne
– Killian Dain defeated Fabian Aichner
– Lars Sullivan defeated Kassius Ohno
The crowd loved Ohno. Sullivan was impressive here as well.
– NXT Tag Team Champion SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) defeated The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) by countout
There was a lot of back and forth and great spots from everyone here, with the crowd getting really involved for the hot tag spot. It was a really good match, but the crowd was not thrilled with the finish.
– Kairi Sane defeated Bianca Belair
Sane’s flying elbow drop is truly amazing. Belair didn’t use her hair in the match.
– Aleister Black defeated Velveteen Dream
The crowd was hot for this match and Black was really over. There was a great staredown where Black would get closer and keep staring when Dream moved away. Dream got a lot of heat for yelling at the crowd to say his name and interacting with them throughout. Black eventually won with Black Mass.
– NXT Champion Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) and Adam Cole in a triple threat match to retain his title
Almas came out first, with Vega not allowing the ring announcer to do the introduction and Vega doing it herself. Both Cole and McIntyre got a tremendous reaction. They had the best match of the night and all three looked great as they took turns doing their moves.
There was a brief alliance between Almas and Cole to gang up on McIntyre, but it dissolved quickly. There was a great spot with a Tower of Doom where all three men fell to the mat from the corner off the ropes.
A lot of near falls took place near the end, including Vega breaking up one pin and attacking McIntyre at one point. McIntyre made a strong comeback at the end and won with the Claymore.
Almas and Vega left the ring after the match, then Undisputed Era ran out for the beatdown on McIntyre. SAnitY made the save, with a short battle in the ring taking place until the heels retreated. McIntyre cut a brief promo thanking everyone for coming and he stayed ringside to pose for a lot of pictures and autographs.
For the finish, Strong picked up Aichner like he was going for a side suplex and then flipped him out so Aichner landed on his front side.
– Kairi Sane defeated Vanessa Borne
Sane won after hitting her elbow drop.
– Killian Dain defeated Brennan Williams
Williams was taller than Dain but lost after Dain hit a Vader Bomb.
– Lars Sullivan defeated Kassius Ohno
Ohno looked good and had the crowd on his side. Sullivan impressed as he was able to throw Ohno around. There was a great final sequence where Ohno hit multiple bicycle kicks and elbows, but Sullivan ducked the last one and hit the side spinebuster for the win.
– NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) defeated Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly by countout
They had a good match, which ended when Fish and O’Reilly decided they’ve had enough and took a countout loss. The crowd popped for SAnitY and required Wolfe to spin one of the tag titles over his head repeatedly before and after the match.
– Ember Moon defeated Bianca Belair
Belair controlled most of the match, showing some real athleticism. She had a great torture rack spot at one point. Moon eventually won with The Eclipse, with Belair bumping like a champ and flipping from the impact of the move.
– Aleister Black defeated Velveteen Dream
This was one of the matches of the night. They have great chemistry and played off each other well here. Early in the match, Black dodged a move and sat down — so Dream sat down and mocked him. Black leaned forward to get in Dream’s face and posed like he does, then both got back to their feet and went at it.
There was lots of crowd interaction in the match. Dream would scream at Black to “say my name” (and would tell the referee to ask Black to say his name when Black was in a submission) and the crowd would chant “Patrick” at him.
Black won after dodging a move and connecting with the Black Mass. After it was over, Dream had the only promo of the night when he said Black was no different than these “Iowa hicks” and they’d all learn to say his name.
– NXT Champion Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas and Adam Cole in a triple threat match to retain his title
Great main event. They had good chemistry and they all delivered some stiff shots. Cole started the match by rolling out of the ring and telling the other two to fight. Almas shouted that Cole took his idea, then Almas got blasted by McIntyre. Almas and Cole ended up on the outside yelling about who should go in and fight until they both went in and got doubled teamed by McIntyre.
There were lots of good spots. At one point, all three men got laid out after a powerbomb/suplex tower spot in the corner before they rose to their knees and began trading shots as they slowly came back to their feet.
After McIntyre retained with the Claymore Kick, Fish and O’Reilly laid out the champion. SAnitY’s music then hit and The Undisputed Era looked to the stage, but SAnitY came through the crowd and laid them out.
Wolfe and Dain held Cole so Young could attack him, but Young saw McIntyre stirring in the background and SAnitY left. Cole bragged, yelling at them for running off. He yelled “Adam Cole Bay-Bay!” before turning around into a Claymore from McIntyre. McIntyre ended the night with the title held high.
The Big News: Andrade “Cien” Almas moved one step closer to a showdown with Drew McIntyre at TakeOver: War Games by beating Roderick Strong in the main event.
The Medium News: Roderick Strong was invited to join The Undisputed Era.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Nikki Cross is the last participant in the fatal four-way match for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver.
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Mr. Regal began the show by announcing that due to the shenanigans that happened in her qualifying match, Nikki Cross has been entered into the battle royal for the final spot in the TakeOver Women’s title match. If you recall, The Undisputed Era sent Taynara Conti to the ring to attack Cross and take her out of that match.
Also next week is SAnitY vs. The Authors of Pain for the Tag Team titles, and whichever member of SAnitY isn’t in the match is barred from ringside.
Burch and Lorcan individually have two of the worst televised win-loss records in NXT history. Perhaps forming a tag team will lead to the success they couldn’t get on their own? Anyway, Sabbatelli & Moss brought their largeness and their matching gear to this match.
Moss caught Lorcan with a good shot early on, so Lorcan propelled himself off the ropes with a dropkick to the face. Everyone calmed down as Burch tagged in and the heels got the heat. Sabbatelli hit Burch with a dropkick and he stared at Lorcan — almost telling him how to not kick someone right in the face during said move.
Anyway, Lorcan got the hot tag and chopped down his larger foes. However, he got cut off and shockingly pinned with a combination Gory Special/bulldog. Somehow it’s shocking when a team is formed of two guys that never win and then they lose.
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Nikki Cross won a battle royal to earn the final spot in the NXT Women’s Championship match at TakeOver: War Games
Vanessa Borne, Bianca Belair, Sage Beckett, Mercedes Martinez, Candice LeRae, Billie Kay, and Cross were the only women to get televised entrances. Actually, only the last three got their own theme music, as everyone else came out to the NXT theme song.
Cross went right after Conti at the bell and eliminated her first. After being eliminated, Conti pulled Cross under the bottom rope and threw her into the barricade. Peyton Royce, who was at ringside, got in on the fun and pushed Cross into the ring steps.
Rhea Ripley was eliminated when Belair picked Zeda up for a body slam and threw her legs into Ripley, who was on the apron.
Most of this match was everyone trying to eliminate everyone else. The problem with doing much of anything else was that there was a lot of bad attempted offense. Cross finally got back in and dove onto about 10 people and she then eliminated Borne, Beckett, Santana Garrett, and Abbey Laith in quick succession.
I don’t want to imply that pro wrestling may not be on the up and up, but Lacey Evans sure looked like she dove over the top rope when it was time for her elimination. Belair showed her strength by heaving the tiniest person in the match (Candice LeRae) over the top rope onto the others who were milling about.
Belair then tried to eliminate Kay, but Kay grabbed her by her long ponytail and held on, avoiding being eliminated.
Martinez looked good and seemed at times to be the most competent grappler in the ring. The finish saw Martinez and Belair go over the top and fight on the apron (which is the hardest part of the ring) and Cross ran up and knocked them off, then Kay ran up to try to toss Cross over and began celebrating like she just won the WrestleMania main event. However, Cross did not drop, got back in the ring, and gave Kay the heave-ho for the win.
Nikki Cross is going to TakeOver. After the match, William Regal got in the ring to congratulate Cross, but Peyton Royce began screaming at her. Ember Moon came down to get involved in the argument, so Kairi Sane strolled to the ring to remind everyone that she was also in that match.
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Earlier this week, Drew McIntyre was trying to leave the Performance Center when he got harassed by people with microphones and cameras. Thankfully, someone was there to film it because Zelina Vega decided now was the best time to come and demand a title shot for Andrade “Cien” Almas.
McIntyre told her the same thing he said last week — and that was for Almas to come ask him himself.
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TakeOver: War Games may not officially have a main event yet (the worst kept secret ever), but it does already have an official theme song. “Play” by Marmozets is the answer to the question no one asked.
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As Aleister Black was coming to the ring to beat up some unsuspecting jobber, he was suddenly attacked by Velveteen Dream! Dream threw Black into the unforgiving steel steps. Dream threw Black into the ring and tied him in the ropes. Dream slapped Black and screamed at him to say his name.
Black kicked him out of the way and went for Black Mass, but Dream was able to run the other way. Dream became the first person to ever avoid Black Mass.
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We only have one official TakeOver match, but we have two official theme songs. “Executioner’s Tax” by Power Trip was announced as the other theme on the other side of the commercial break.
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Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Roderick Strong
Before the match, Zelina Vega said she is a very patient woman. She has waited an entire week for a contract for a title match against McIntyre and is now still waiting. Vega vowed that McIntyre will fail as NXT Champion the same way he failed the last time he was in WWE.
This was a very good back-and-forth match with strong storytelling by both men. Almas was trying to prove he’s worthy of his first NXT title match, while Strong was trying to get some momentum to get back in the title picture.
Strong used a backbreaker on the apron, which, again, is the hardest part of the ring, but Almas got back into it and hit a tornado DDT for a near fall. They exchanged hard strikes that each blocked with their face. Strong pieced together five or six big moves in a row and they ended up outside the ring.
Almas rolled back in and distracted the referee as Vega came off the apron with a hurricanrana to Strong! Strong crashed into the ring steps, which is the third time tonight that same set of steps got abused. Back in the ring, Almas picked up the big win with a hammerlock DDT.
After the match, Vega and Almas went to the announce table, stole Mauro Ranallo’s headset, and challenged McIntyre to meet them face-to-face next week.
Strong pulled himself to his feet when suddenly we were joined by The Undisputed Era. Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly hit the ring. Cole told Strong he is not a loser and that he needs to join Undisputed Era. Cole handed Strong his armband, which Strong took, but didn’t put on as the show ended with Undisputed Era walking away.
So, that does it for this week. But before signing off, I wanted to say that I will be going to Australia on vacation and thus won’t be around for the next two episodes of NXT. But we do have a replacement who will be filling in for the next two weeks. Until then, thank you for reading and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
No Way Jose is basically the epitome of an opening match in the best way possible. He got the crowd going by dancing through the floor seats and interacting directly with as many people as he could. Aichner had little impression on the fans and the match was very basic. Half of it was Aichner using a rest hold, then Jose got the win with his pop-up punch.
– Sarah Logan & Lacey Evans defeated Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose
Deville and Rose have both clearly improved, but this was still very basic with the traditional formula of the heel team beating up the faces and then the faces getting a hot tag to pick up the win. Deville and Rose didn’t use very many heel antics and the crowd didn’t have much to react to.
The hot tag ended up getting a good response after the heels worked on Logan. Evans pretty much won the match herself from there, pinning Rose with her reverse piledriver finisher.
– Johnny Gargano defeated Dan Matha
The crowd reacted to Gargano like a star, but they didn’t know who Matha was. They had a David vs. Goliath match that worked very well, with Matha doing power moves and getting heat from the fans. Matha blocked the Gargano Escape by being too powerful for Gargano to take him down, but Gargano hit three superkicks in quick succession (the last one was the kneeling down variant) for the victory.
– Christy St. Cloud was the hostess for the show and would interact with the crowd between matches, but she was interrupted by Zelina Vega here in a continuation from this week’s episode of NXT. Vega reminded us that Drew McIntyre had agreed to defend his title against Andrade “Cien” Almas at any time or place.
Vega mentioned Adam Cole getting a title shot at a house show in San Antonio the night before TakeOver: War Games, saying Almas is not going to wait in line and setting up a McIntyre vs. Almas match for this show’s main event.
– Roderick Strong defeated Hideo Itami
This was surprisingly short, though they packed a lot of action into the match. Itami was still demanding that everyone show him respect and being a heel, with the crowd very clearly wanting to cheer for him. That made for a strange dynamic at times. Strong ended up winning clean with the End of Heartache.
– The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) defeated SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain)
A good portion of the crowd weren’t invested in The Undisputed Era at the start and didn’t seem to know much about them. SAnitY were more over and the crowd was chanting for Young early and often.
The match was pretty good. Fish rolled up Alexander Wolfe while pulling his tights after a chaotic sequence of events. The crowd loved it, and the fans who didn’t know the Undisputed Era had a good idea of who they were after this.
– Velveteen Dream defeated Kassius Ohno
Ohno got a good reaction, but Velveteen Dream got a great one. Dream is fantastic with his character work. Ohno did some clever arm work, and Dream did some quality selling by remembering that his arm was hampering him the entire match. Dream hit the flying elbow (using the other arm) to win.
– Nikki Cross defeated Sage Beckett
It felt like the crowd would rather boo Cross than cheer her here, which was strange considering how they reacted to the rest of SAnitY. Beckett got close to no reaction. Cross won by hitting her fisherman neckbreaker.
– NXT Champion Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas to retain his title
A tweet from William Regal sanctioning the match was shown. Along with the presence of a camera, that made it easy to believe that there could have possibly been a surprise title change. Cole also interrupted the introductions to cut a promo, saying the result of the match wasn’t going to matter. Cole hyped his title match in San Antonio.
McIntyre and Almas wrestled a worthy main event, with Almas actually climbing the lighting rig at one point to launch an attack on McIntyre. The fans were into it after about the five minute mark and the match built to some dramatic moments, making an upset seem possible. However, McIntyre retained with the Claymore Kick.
McIntyre’s music played very briefly until Cole stepped back out to the ramp and cut a promo about facing him in San Antonio. McIntyre then challenged Cole to a title match right then and there,
despite barely being able to stand after the main event. Cole came to the ring, a referee entered to make it official, and Cole walked off despite the favorable circumstances.
After McIntyre launched some insults and got the crowd chanting, Cole was angry enough to come back and fight. The referee rang the bell to start a title match, but Fish and O’Reilly immediately ran in to put an end to things.
They beat down McIntyre until No Way Jose’s music hit and he flew down for the save, but they beat down Jose instead. Gargano followed and the faces made a brief comeback until The Undisputed Era regained the upper hand. Nikki Cross emerged on the ramp and headed down to make the save, which was a diversion for the rest of SAnitY to sneak in.
A wild brawl with SAnitY ensued, with them running off Fish and O’Reilly. Everyone then hit their finisher on Cole and the faces stood tall to close the show.
