Approximately 300 people were in attendance as NXT came to Daytona last night.
– Raul Mendoza won a battle royal
Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega cut a promo and made a championship match against Mendoza for Saturday’s show in Orlando.
– The Street Profits defeated The Ealy Brothers
– Dakota Kai defeated Reina Gonzalez
– No Way Jose defeated Buddy Murphy
– Big Boa defeated Chad Lail
– Killian Dain defeated Babatunde Aiyegbusi
– Shayna Baszler defeated Rhea Ripley
– NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Heavy Machinery
Adam Cole caused a distraction to allow The Undisputed Era to get the win. They attacked Heavy Machinery after the match until Johnny Gargano comes out to help Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovic.
A six-man tag with Cole, Fish & O’Reilly vs. Gargano & Heavy Machinery is set for Saturday.
The Big News: Thanks almost entirely to Killian Dain, SAnitY defeated The Undisputed Era in a tornado tag team main event.
The Medium News: Johnny Gargano offered to put his NXT career on the line to once again challenge Andrade “Cien” Almas for the NXT Championship.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss may be breaking up. If you look up “little news” in the dictionary, this would be listed.
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Nigel McGuinness was back from his flu. Just want to point out that Percy Watson announced a five-star match and McGuinness has not.
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The Undisputed Era came out for the opener, in which they would defend the NXT Tag Team Championship. However, as all three members were preening to the camera, SAnitY (their opponents) assaulted them from behind. Security ran out to break everything up as Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly snuck away as Killian Dain laid out multiple security guards.
Mr. William Regal came out next and announced that all six men would take part in a tornado tag match in the main event. So for the second time in a month, SAnitY will not be getting their title match.
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Heavy Machinery defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
SAnitY and Undisputed Era went to the back, so instead we got the next chapter in the ongoing rivalry between Heavy Machinery and Sabbatelli & Moss.
Moss got the heat on Tucker Knight by grabbing his tights from behind and using a lariat to the back of the head. Sabbatelli was greeted with “Tino sucks” chants, which surprised pretty much everyone since the heel duo is used to no reaction.
For some reason, Sabbatelli and Moss tagged each other exceptionally hard. Sabbatelli tried to use a roll-up with his feet on the ropes (which won them their last match), but the referee caught it and he got pinned by Knight after The Compactor.
After the match, Moss walked out on Sabbatelli. Someone should show these guys video tapes of Blake & Murphy and track what happened to that team in the ensuing two years after their break up. Meanwhile, their manager at the time, Alexa Bliss, has won four Women’s Championships on the main roster.
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Out came Johnny Gargano for the first time since his bout at TakeOver: Philadelphia where he came up short in his quest to conquer Andrade “Cien” Almas for the NXT Championship.
Gargano said he went into Philly more confident than ever. He saw himself winning and coming back here as champion. Unfortunately it didn’t happen, which sucks, but getting this overwhelming positive reaction from the fans and the respect it shows means more. It gave him the inspiration to pick himself back up and continue being Johnny Gargano.
He’ll never forget TakeOver, but will also never forget Tommaso Ciampa hitting him in the back with a crutch. He is coming for Ciampa and was in the middle of challenging him to come out when we were joined by Almas.
Zelina Vega asked him who cares if Gargano won everyone’s respect. There should be a parade with confetti for the champion. Gargano proved nothing — except that he is a loser. Almas has beaten him again and again and again. He is not Johnny Gargano, he is Johnny Loser. The fans began chanting for Candice LeRae, so Gargano mentioned his second favorite part of TakeOver was his wife beating the hell out of her.
Vega got up in Gargano’s face, so LeRae ran out and shoved her down. Almas bailed and the husband-wife duo was left standing tall.
Vega got on the stage and said they’ve beaten him three times. Gargano wants another title shot, and Vega said that if Gargano loses he must leave NXT. Gargano agreed to the challenge.
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Shayna Baszler said she is the most feared woman in NXT. There will not be a rematch with Ember Moon because Moon is scared. Baszler dared the press to go tell Moon she said that.
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Tyler Bate wasn’t happy that he didn’t beat Roderick Strong last week, but he said he’ll be watching when Strong challenges Pete Dunne next Wednesday. He also said he was happy to win Match of the Year last year and can’t wait to have more Match of the Years with everyone in NXT.
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Bianca Belair defeated Jessica Hill
Hill was trained by Dory Funk Jr and went one-on-one with The EST of NXT this week. Belair hit a Burning Hammer and a fallaway powerbomb, called the Alley-Oop, for the win in 30 seconds.
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A video package for Kairi Sane aired. She’s back to being the Pirate Princess, so I guess her enthusiasm for yachts has lessened in the last two weeks.
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Next week:
Aleister Black in action
Ember Moon vs. Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship
Pete Dunne vs. Roderick Strong for the WWE United Kingdom Championship
Mauro Ranallo encouraged us to set our DVR for the UK title match. I’m not sure if he understands that the WWE Network isn’t on normal television.
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SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) in a tornado tag team match
I’m not sure the order any of this was taped, but the fans were a lot more enthusiastic for these six guys at the start of the show than they were early on in this match. The match began with a wild six-way brawl, and the fans finally woke up five minutes in when Young pulled out the plunder.
As Dain mopped up the ringside area with Fish, Cole and O’Reilly separated Young and Wolfe from the pack and fought them through the backstage area. Fish did hit a beautiful moonsault to Dain. Unfortunately for Fish, his advantage didn’t last long and he began running away to get away from Dain. At this point, the other four returned from the backstage area, so Dain heaved Fish off the stage and onto everyone else.
As the match continued, Undisputed Era had no problem throwing around Wolfe and Young, but spent more time than not in flight when Dain got his hands on them. Cole discovered the best offense against Dain was to move out of the way, which was proven right when Dain went crashing through a table that Cole, seconds earlier, was propped against.
Back in the ring, Wolfe held his own for a second, but got superkicked and laid out with Total Elimination. Young was in with his kendo stick, but he got superkicked and laid out with a brainbuster on Cole’s knee. Dain got back in the ring and single-handedly destroyed all of Undisputed Era, pinning Fish with the Ulster Plantation.
So, that does it for this week. Will SAnitY ever get their title match? Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
NXT returns to Center Stage in Atlanta for television tapings tonight and tomorrow, and two matches have been announced for next week’s TV.
Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly will defend their Tag Team Championship against Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe, with Adam Cole set to face Killian Dain. The storyline for the Tag Team title match is that SAnitY hasn’t challenged for the titles since losing them to Fish & O’Reilly in November. In a backstage angle last month, The Undisputed Era attacked SAnitY before they were scheduled to get their rematch.
SAnitY also got involved in Cole’s extreme rules match with Aleister Black at TakeOver: Philadelphia and helped even the odds against The Undisputed Era.
This week’s tapings will feature the follow-up to TakeOver: Philadelphia and some of the build to WrestleMania weekend. NXT will be back at Full Sail University on March 7th for the final tapings before TakeOver: New Orleans.
Last night’s estimated attendance in Fort Pierce was 400 people.
– Raul Mendoza defeated Adrian Jaoude
– Dan Matha defeated Jason
– Shayna Baszler defeated Aliyah
– Kassius Ohno defeated Fabian Aichner
– Johnny Gargano defeated Riddick Moss
– No Way Jose defeated Chad Lail
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Sage Beckett
– NXT Tag Team Champions Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) defeated The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
The Street Profits earned this tag title shot when they won a fatal four-way number one contender’s elimination match against Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler, Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss, and Heavy Machinery in Winter Haven the previous night.
The Big News: After Adam Cole laid out Aleister Black, William Regal booked them in an extreme rules match at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia.
The Medium News: Before that, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly retained the NXT Tag Team titles by defeating their replacement opponents, Roderick Strong & Aleister Black.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Shayna Baszler stomped the elbow and forearm of Dakota Kai to win her NXT debut.
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The Undisputed Era started the show with a pre-taped promo welcoming us to 2018. Kyle O’Reilly said they will take out SAnitY tonight, while Adam Cole said that he will take out anyone who stands in the way of him becoming the NXT Champion.
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WCW Saturday Night has broken out as we have invaded Center Stage in Atlanta for the next few weeks!
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Shayna Baszler defeated Dakota Kai via referee stoppage
We saw video of Baszler bullying people at the Performance Center last week. One of the women trainees was being taught how to do a rear naked choke, so Baszler volunteered to put it on her but didn’t let go after she tapped. Kai found this appalling and made the challenge for this match.
The crowd, which popped for Kai, didn’t think she stood a chance, chanting “Shayna’s gonna kill you.” Baszler used a double wrist lock and wrenched the hand and fingers of Kai. She stomped Kai’s forearm and elbow, which caused the referee to stop the match.
After the match, Baszler slapped the rear naked choke on Kai, which the referee could not break up. Finally, Ember Moon ran in and Baszler let go. Moon challenged Baszler, but she laughed and walked away.
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Akam and Rezar cut their own promo, only partly in English, saying they are going to beat both SAnitY and Undisputed Era. Paul Ellering finished by saying they will win the Tag Team titles.
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Christy St. Cloud attempted to interview Baszler, but they were interrupted by Mr. William Regal. Regal said that he sees through whatever games she is playing. Baszler just walked away, completely disrespecting the GM.
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Kassius Ohno defeated Raul Mendoza
Mendoza looked good here, but Ohno may not have been the best opponent to showcase his offense as he went over slowly a few times for his smaller, quicker foe. Ohno used a reverse Gory Special, but Mendoza sat up and used a victory roll for a two count.
Ohno ended up picking up the win with a high tension elbow strike.
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Zelina Vega told the press that Andrade “Cien” Almas would defeat Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia. Vega said Gargano is not a fighter, but an opportunist. Three people beat the crap out of each other and Gargano picked up a win over the right guy at the right time.
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St. Cloud interviewed Gargano about his upcoming title match. Gargano said a lot of people didn’t think he had a chance. Before he could continue, he was interrupted by Velveteen Dream. Dream demanded Gargano thank him, since Dream’s injury let Gargano into the tournament. Dream said Gargano doesn’t deserve his spot — Dream does — and told him to remember that.
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Lars Sullivan destroyed Lio Rush
Rush’s best offense was a good defense, and that defense was running away and not getting hit. That was a great idea for about 30 seconds. 31 seconds into the match, Sullivan caught him and it was over. Sullivan took his head off with a clothesline and then pinned him with the Freak Accident.
Sullivan cut a post-match promo saying all his opponents have fallen by his hands. He met a force he’s never faced before two weeks ago, but now he wants to destroy this force. He finished by saying he’s talking about Killian Dain. That should be a heck of a match.
Sullivan sent a message to Dain by giving Rush a Freak Accident from the middle rope.
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We were magically whisked away to the backstage area and were shown that Undisputed Era had laid out all three members of SAnitY.
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Next week: The Authors of Pain face The Street Profits.
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Undisputed Era came out, theoretically for the main event, as Fish & O’Reilly were scheduled to defend against SAnitY, but the trio seemed to have put a stop to that.
They mockingly searched the crowd for SAnitY, asking if maybe they forgot. Cole began bragging that they “kicked the chaos” out of SAnitY when Nikki Cross exploded from backstage. They needed two referees to drag her away.
Regal finally came out to confront the Tag Team Champions. He said they will be defending the belts tonight, which brought out Roderick Strong and Aleister Black! They stormed the ring and we had a fight.
Black and Strong cleared the ring and the referee rang the bell, so it was on.
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NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Roderick Strong & Aleister Black to retain their titles
Black and Strong ran wild on both men for several minutes until Fish dropkicked Black on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring, to take the advantage. Undisputed Era chopped down Black and worked on his leg.
Mauro Ranallo mentioned that when Fish and O’Reilly debuted Black defeated them both in singles matches. Strong finally got the hot tag and made his foes wish they were wrestling SAnitY instead. Black recovered long enough to boot Fish into the ring steps.
Cole ran in from out of nowhere to punch Black, so Black stalked Cole into the stands. With Black far away from the ring, O’Reilly and Fish laid out Strong with Total Elimination, picking up the win.
Black ran back to the ring and went on the attack, but Cole wasn’t far behind. The tag champs held Black as Cole delivered elbow strike after elbow strike, and Black was then the victim of Total Elimination. O’Reilly put a chair in the ring and Cole gave Black an AA onto the chair.
Undisputed Era celebrated up the ramp until Regal came out and informed Cole that his match with Aleister Black at TakeOver: Philadelphia would be an extreme rules match.
That does it for the first NXT of 2018. What will happen next week? Until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The Big News: Pete Dunne retained his WWE United Kingdom Championship by pinning Tyler Bate in the main event
The Medium News: Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly won the NXT Tag Team Championship by defeating SAnitY.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Lars Sullivan advanced to the fatal four-way number one contender’s next week over Roderick Strong.
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Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Eric Young & Killian Dain to win the NXT Tag Team Championship
What better way to kick off the show than with a battle for the Tag Team titles? Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe ended the 14-month undefeated streak of The Authors of Pain back at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn to take the titles. Due to the Freebird Rule, Killian Dain is filling in for an injured Wolfe for this title match.
The challengers had their hands full at the start of the match, with Dain running over both men. They continued to be Dain’s playthings until Young tagged in. The former reDRagon worked over EY’s shoulder during the heat. Young, at one point, got close to making a tag, but O’Reilly punched Dain, which led to Dain trying to get in the ring. That distracted the referee and kept EY from making it.
Dain finally got the hot tag, to the approval of the crowd, and he ran over his much smaller foes. Dain tagged back out, which really has been a bad idea the whole match and it turned out to be a bad idea here. Young went to the top rope, but Adam Cole appeared from out of nowhere to trip him up. Cole celebrated until Nikki Cross appeared and took him out to the biggest pop of the match.
Cross got dragged out by referees, chaos broke out with all five men at ringside, and in the confusion Fish and O’Reilly hit Young with the high-low for the pin. We have new champions! The former ROH Tag Team Champions and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions have hit the trifecta. The 13th and new NXT Tag Team Champions are The Undisputed Era.
The kings are dead, long live the new kings.
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Heavy Machinery were outside and saw Riddick Moss and Tino Sabbatelli’s Maserati and tried to move it out of the way. Moss and Sabbatelli mocked them for not being able to afford a car like this. This led to a South Park-esque argument where they called each other buddy and pal. It appeared to set up a future match.
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Sonya Deville stated that she will defeat Ember Moon next week. She said Moon never beat her and they have unfinished business, which confused the guy interviewing her.
It was then announced that their match next week would be for the NXT Women’s Championship.
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Lars Sullivan defeated Roderick Strong to advance to the fatal four-way number one contender’s match
The winner of this will join Johnny Gargano, Killian Dain, and Aleister Black in a fatal four-way match to determine a new number one contender for Andrade “Cien” Almas at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia.
Strong came out fast at the bell, but Sullivan quickly knocked him down and smashed him, throwing Strong all over the ring. Strong had to fight out of a bear hug at one point. He managed to catch Sullivan in the ropes and hit running clotheslines to both sides of Sullivan, then Sullivan freed himself. Sullivan went up top, but he got caught and hit with a superplex. Strong went for the cover, but Sullivan kicked out hard at one.
Strong kept going but never came close as he got pinned with The Freak Accident.
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The Street Profits had another edition of Street Talk. Like last time, they bribed fans with free Solo cups to say how great they were.
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WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defeated Tyler Bate to retain his title
This is the third time they are wrestling for the title this year, with the series split at one. Their second match in Chicago was an instant classic and is my personal pick for Match of the Year. They teased giving us a short match as this didn’t start until 8:46 p.m., but the show went almost 15 minutes after the top of the hour.
This was not as good as Chicago, but it was better than their first bout. It was a brutal back-and-forth match between two guys who know each other so well. For the third time, we saw a legitimate athletic competition between two stars. Not future stars, but stars.
A beautiful, fluid wrestling sequence started the match. Dunne, who was in control, decided to unleash his inner villain by fishhooking Bate even though he really didn’t need to. Bate used a punch to the face, which Dunne was angered by, so the champ punched him in the face inside and outside the ring. Dunne tried to stomp on Bate’s fingers on the steps, but Bate turned it around and stomped on Dunne’s fingers. Dunne shook it off and took back over with a suplex off the steps onto the pretty black mats on the floor.
Dunne continued to work on the hand and fingers of Bate, at one point bending his arm down onto the mat and stomping on the elbow, which drove his hand into the mat. Bate started his comeback, including hitting the rolling kick. He went for the Tyler Driver ’97, but Dunne turned it into a triangle, however Bate was able to powerbomb Dunne from that position. Unfortunately he was still in the Triangle, so he somehow lifted Dunne up, carried him to the ropes, and necked him.
Bate broke out the airplane spin, going in each direction and the third spin was the fastest of all of them. He used an exploder suplex from the top rope, then a battle of kicks broke out until before Dunne used The Bitter End for a near fall. Twenty minutes into the match they had more energy than the opening bell. From their knees they began punching each other right in the face, and they both stood up still swinging with their punches getting weaker as they kept going.
Bate used a rolling koppo kick on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring, but he got dropped with an Ex-Plex in the ring for a two count. A minute later, we got a Tyler Driver, but Dunne kicked out of that! Finally Bate went for a German suplex from the top rope, but Dunne over rotated, landed on his feet, and hit The Bitter End for the bitter end. Dunne retained in another amazing bout!
It took 25 minutes, but Pete Dunne is going to end the year as United Kingdom Champion! That does it for this week. Merry Christmas and I’ll talk to you again in seven days!
Approximately 300 people attended last night’s house show on the Florida loop.
– Raul Mendoza defeated Fabian Aichner
– Dan Matha defeated Lio Rush
– Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville defeated Ruby Riott & Dakota Kai
Following the match, Riott hit Kai with an up-kick.
– Heavy Machinery came out for a promo but were interrupted by Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss.
– Brennan Williams defeated Chad Lail
– The Street Profits defeated TM61
– Kassius Ohno defeated Christopher Dijak
– Ember Moon defeated Lacey Evans
– Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated The Authors of Pain
Fish got busted open above his left eye during the match. Referee Drake Wuertz called for the doctors, with the finish being improvised as O’Reilly rolled up Rezar after it was determined that Fish couldn’t finish the match.
Approximately 350 people were in attendance as NXT came to Orlando last night.
– No Way Jose defeated Marcel Barthel
Jose won with his pop-up punch.
– Sonya Deville defeated Sarah Logan
Deville got the submission with an armbar.
– Buddy Murphy defeated Babatunde Aiyegbusi
Murphy was able to slam his much larger opponent and pin him.
– Lio Rush defeated Fabian Aichner
One of Rush’s kicks put Aichner away.
– The Street Profits defeated Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler
Montez Ford got the pin with a frog splash.
– Nikki Cross defeated Sage Beckett
Cross used a crossbody off the top to get the victory.
– Oney Lorcan defeated Jason
A roll-up by Lorcan ended this one.
– Liv Morgan defeated Bianca Belair and Mandy Rose in a triple threat match
Belair took the pin here.
– The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) defeated NXT Champion Drew McIntyre, Johnny Gargano & Kassius Ohno
Fish scored the pin on Ohno, but then all hell broke loose. Andrade “Cien” Almas showed up to attack McIntyre and Lars Sullivan came out to attack Ohno in a wild brawl.
Image: @JonZai1. Report submitted by reader Noah Torriecella.
– The Street Profits defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
The Street Profits were extremely over. Most of the match was the heels working on Montez Ford, who just oozes charisma. Angelo Dawkins got the hot tag and the Profits won with a spinebuster and frog splash.
– Marcel Barthel (the former Axel Dieter Jr. in wXw and PROGRESS) came out for an in-ring promo. He said that he came to America to make it better and that no one can do what he does on the mat. Oney Lorcan then interrupted him and challenged him to a match, but Barthel refused and said he has the perfect opponent for Lorcan.
– Lars Sullivan defeated Oney Lorcan
This was similar to the match they had that recently aired on NXT TV. Sullivan won with a diving headbutt.
– Ruby Riot defeated Sonya Deville
Most of the match was Deville working on Riot’s knee, but Riot won with a diving senton.
– Heavy Machinery defeated Steve Cutler & Wesley Blake
This was a fun comedy match and Heavy Machinery got a good reaction. They won with their double team strongest slam.
The Undisputed Era attacked Heavy Machinery after the match, leaving them laying and cutting a promo. Adam Cole said that we would see that they are untouchable and undisputed later in the night.
– Velveteen Dream defeated Roderick Strong
They had a very entertaining match with lots of back-and-forth action. Velveteen Dream countered Strong’s slam with an arm drag first and then a poke to the eye. Dream ended up winning with the Purple Rainmaker.
– No Way Jose defeated Kona Reeves
Jose went into the crowd for his entrance. Reeves spent time outside the ring mocking Jose during the match, but Jose won with his pop-up punch. Jose briefly danced with referee Jessika Carr after the match.
– Ember Moon defeated Mandy Rose
This was short but entertaining, with Moon hitting a superkick for the win.
– The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) defeated NXT Champion Drew McIntyre, Kassius Ohno & Johnny Gargano
The main event was the match of the night by far. Gargano also got the best reaction of the night.
The Undisputed Era cheated throughout the match. Gargano made the hot tag to McIntyre at one point, with Cole and McIntyre having a quick staredown before Cole tagged out. McIntyre then ran through Fish and O’Reilly.
Things began to break down with the faces delivering stereo chops to The Undisputed Era on the outside. For the finish, Fish made a blind tag in, Gargano hit O’Reilly with a slingshot spear, Cole took out Gargano and McIntyre took out Cole, and Fish rolled up Ohno and got the pin with a handful of tights.
As Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly were celebrating, Heavy Machinery returned to join in on sending The Undisputed Era packing to close the show.
– The Street Profits defeated Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli
The crowd was pretty into the Street Profits here. They were a good opening act, going into the crowd after an getting a kid celebrating her birthday to do their dance. Angelo Dawkins didn’t do much, but Montez Ford seems to be a good worker.
– Lars Sullivan defeated Oney Lorcan
People were super into Lorcan and didn’t really know Sullivan. By the end, they were impressed with Sullivan and his power. There was one point in the match where Lorcan went for a dive outside, but Sullivan caught him and threw him into the ring post. Sullivan won with a slam variation.
– Kairi Sane & Dakota Kai defeated Peyton Royce & Billie Kay
Sane was treated like a star. She hit her elbow drop for the win, which was cool to see live.
– Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Roderick Strong
The crowd was really into this and the near falls it had. It was an excellent match, with Almas winning with his finisher.
– The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) and SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) went to a no contest
Undisputed Era got a huge pop, especially for Adam Cole. He came across as a mega star and got multiple “Adam Cole Bay-Bay!” chants. SAnitY also had the crowd behind them at times.
– Johnny Gargano defeated Raul Mendoza
Gargano got a huge pop and won with the Gargano Escape. People had no clue who Mendoza was, but he won them over with some impressive offense.
– Sonya Deville defeated Liv Morgan
There wasn’t much to this, though Deville has upside as a wrestler.
– NXT Champion Drew McIntyre defeated Hideo Itami to retain his title
McIntyre retained with the Claymore. The match was really good and went about 16-17 minutes. Itami hit the GTS at one point, but McIntyre ended up on the outside.
Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly came down to lay waste to McIntyre, which brought out Gargano, Lorcan, and the Street Profits. Undisputed Era got the better of them until SAnitY came down and helped the faces clean house, with McIntyre hitting the Claymore on Cole. The crowd was hot for this.
The Big News: Drew McIntyre and SAnitY finally got the upper hand on Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly, standing tall at the end of the night.
The Medium News: A few minutes before, however, Fish & O’Reilly got their first win, defeating the Moustache Mountain duo of Tyler Bate & Trent Seven
The Little Beaver Sized News: Drew McIntyre will defend his NXT Championship against Roderick Strong on the episode that airs in two weeks.
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Johnny Gargano defeated Tino Sabbatelli
Last week, Gargano beat Sabbatelli’s partner Riddick Moss. Can he make it two in a row as we kick off another week of NXT? In a WWE.com promo last week, Sabbatelli and Moss said Gargano won’t get lucky again if they wrestle.
Sabbatelli started the match by pushing Gargano back into the corner and pie-facing him. Gargano let his foe do it a couple times before rebounding off the ropes with a chop so loud that it’s still being heard in parts of the country.
Sabbatelli got his heat from there. Gargano made a brief comeback but got cut off when he went for a slingshot dive over the top rope. Sabbatelli caught him and dropped him with a powerslam.
The story of the match was that Sabbatelli may have had it won, but he decided to badmouth Gargano. Johnny Wrestling tagged him with a superkick and tapped him out with the Gargano Escape. Moss was at ringside, but he never got involved.
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Mr. Regal was backstage telling a story when Roderick Strong walked in and asked for an opportunity at Drew McIntyre’s NXT Championship. Regal agreed and made the title match for October 4th.
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Sonya Deville cut a promo and said she never wrestled Asuka because Asuka knew that Deville would have broken her undefeated streak. Deville laid claim to the championship.
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Bianca Belair defeated Lacey Evans
Both Belair and Evans are straight out of the Mae Young Classic. This seemed like it could have been a good hard-hitting match, but Evans was content to be a punching bag for the most part.
Belair was laying in palm strikes and forearms until near the end when Evans got tired of it and fired back with a few good shots of her own. However, Belair whipped Evans with her hair (which was more violent than it sounds) and pinned her with a backwards falling powerbomb.
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Six months after debuting, Aleister Black finally had something to say. Black came to the ring wearing a suit for his first promo segment. I don’t know what I expected him to wear, but it takes something from him to just see him wearing a nice suit. He must have heard me because he came to the ring, removed his suit jacket, and rolled up his sleeves.
He started a journey 15 years ago that led him here to NXT. In those 15 years, he traveled the world and experienced a lot. He put all those experiences on his skin in the form of his scars. He did this to not forget, noting the heart tattoo on his throat and the devil tattoo on his back. He said he now knows what he needs to do.
Before he could state whatever that is, Velveteen Dream lived up to his threat from a few weeks ago. Dream said Black has been blinded by the light that is our Velveteen Dream. He got in the ring and asked Black where his scars are.
Dream said he sees a man who is hurt and in pain. However, Black’s biggest problem is fear. Black looks afraid to Dream. He’s afraid to show emotion and afraid of the light. Dream knows Black has a heart, but it’s in the wrong place.
Black, who stared a hole through his head, gave the former Patrick Clark a Black Mass to the hand. Black sat down in the ring, challenging Dream to do something. Dream knelt down and leaned in close to Black before slithering away.
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Dakota Kai said she wants to be NXT Women’s Champion.
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Lars Sullivan defeated No Way Jose
This match is the conclusion to the angle between Jose and Sullivan. A month ago in Brooklyn, Sullivan destroyed Jose as he tried to fiesta before his match. Then Sullivan manhandled three men in a handicap match two weeks ago, which was followed by Jose, the babyface, attacking Sullivan. Unfortunately for Jose, he got his butt kicked one more time. So since Jose can’t just stay away, we have arrived here!
Jose’s strategy for this match was to attack at the bell. That didn’t work. It’s possible he changed his strategy mid-match to tire Sullivan out by allowing the big man to beat him and throw him all over the ring. That didn’t work either. Jose then figured if he punched Sullivan in the face that would get him the advantage. It also didn’t work.
Sullivan finished Jose off with a diving headbutt and a slam.
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Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Moustache Mountain
Last week, Bate and Seven ran in to check on Wolfgang after Wolfie was laid out by a three-on-one beatdown by Adam Cole, Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly.
Seven had the early advantage on Fish, but when he went for some sort of move, O’Reilly distracted him just long enough for Fish to cut him off. Seven battled back and chopped away at Fish, but Fish thought he would outsmart Seven by ducking, but Seven was on top of his game and dropped Fish with a DDT.
Cole got up on the apron to have a discussion with the referee, while Fish speared Seven right into the metal barricade on the other side of the arena. Bate eventually got the hot tag and ran wild on the three-time ROH Tag Team Champions. Seven got back in the game for a four-way brawl and he finally took Fish out with a suicide dive.
Bate went for the Tyler Driver ’97, but O’Reilly locked on a guillotine. Bate fought and fought and eventually got out of it. He hoisted O’Reilly up for a suplex, but Fish kicked his leg outta his leg. Fish and O’Reilly hit Chasing the Dragon, but Bate got his big toe on the bottom rope to break the pin up.
It was hard to keep track of who was legal, but Cole interfered to drop Bate, and finally Fish and O’Reilly pinned Seven after Total Elimination.
McIntyre decided that now was the best time to hit the ring, and I guess he had a point, as his presence caused Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly to scurry away. Well, they attempted to scurry away. SAnitY appeared behind them and got their revenge for the attacks at TakeOver and a few weeks later on NXT.
McIntyre joined in on the four-on-three beatdown and eventually the heel trio sulked away a lot less cocky than they were a few minutes earlier.
So. that does it for this week. What happens next week? Only one way to find out, so until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The Big News: No one is safe from The Undisputed Era! The show once again ended with Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly standing tall over a beaten foe, this time laying out Wolfgang.
The Medium News: Minutes before that, Wolfgang came up short in his shot at dethroning Pete Dunne as WWE United Kingdom Champion.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Nikki Cross turned babyface as she teamed with Ruby Riot to defeat The Iconic Duo.
Mr. Regal told Riot last week to get a tag team partner because he wouldn’t sanction a handicap match, but Riot didn’t get one, so this began as a handicap match anyway.
A minute into the match, with Kay and Royce having the advantage, Cross crept out from the backstage area to observe things. Kay accidentally hit Royce with a punch to the face, which led to Riot’s comeback. As Riot began fighting, Cross jumped onto the ring apron and tagged herself in, which apparently is perfectly legal.
The fans loved this as Cross destroyed both Kay and Royce, laying Kay out with a twisting fisherman’s suplex. Cross tagged out to Riot and left the ringside area before Riot pinned Kay with a top rope senton.
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We got a recap of Johnny Gargano’s altercation with Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss in the Performance Center from last week. This led to the announcement of a match later tonight.
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Backstage, No Way Jose called Lars Sullivan a freak. Jose was just trying to fiesta with the fans in Brooklyn when Sullivan attacked him. He also brought up Sullivan laying him out last week and challenged him to a match next week.
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Johnny Gargano defeated Riddick Moss
Moss was the one to accept the challenge, and he had Sabbatelli in his corner. These three and Tommaso Ciampa had a tag team match back in May, which was DIY’s last match on television before breaking up.
Moss spent the first few minutes ragdolling Gargano, then Johnny Wrestling tried to get something going before running face-first into Moss’ massive elbow. Moss beat on him for close to five minutes until he made the mistake to bellow that Gargano is nothing without DIY, which spurned Gargano’s comeback.
Sabbatelli tried interfering, but it was to no avail as Gargano managed to lock on the Gargano Escape. Moss powered his way to the ropes, which befuddled Gargano. Gargano pulled himself together and won with a slingshot spear.
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The Street Profits defeated The Ealy Brothers
I hope the importance of Montez Ford’s Solo Cup is explained one day. Their opponents this week were the returning Ealy Brothers: Gabriel & Uriel. The Ealys are not only winless on TV, but they also once upon a time got destroyed by a rampaging Samoa Joe.
Uriel started with the biggest heat you can imagine: he stole Angelo Dawkins’ headband! That fiend. After that — it was on. They gave both Ealys the Midnight Express leapfrog on the ropes, but they got a brief heat segment on Ford before Dawkins tagged back in. The Profits then won with their combination spinebuster/frog splash before celebrating in the crowd.
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Up next was a video package looking at the entire two year run of the undefeated, undisputed, all-time record holder NXT Women’s Champion: Asuka.
This led to Mr. Regal stating that he has a lot of things to think over, but he will let us know in the next few weeks what will happen in regards to the title
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Aleister Black will do a promo next week.
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Christy St. Cloud interviewed Wolfgang, who said he’s never been more ready for a match in his life. He beat Tyler Bate a few weeks ago and tonight will take the UK title from Pete Dunne.
Dunne refused a promo a few minutes later.
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WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defeated Wolfgang to retain his title
Dunne and Wolfgang teamed together to defeat Moustache Mountain last month. Before that match, Wolfgang had told Dunne that he wanted a title shot — so here we go. I know I say this every time he wrestles, but Dunne is a star. It cannot be said enough how much that Chicago match with Tyler Bate made him a bigger star to the US crowd.
Wolfgang was content with trying to outwrestle the champion, but Dunne decided to battle back with punches and a DDT on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring. Back in the ring, Dunne slapped on a double wristlock, but Wolfgang powered out of it and turned it into his own suplex.
Wolfgang moved like a cruiserweight as he used a tope and a lionsault, but Dunne fought back with an Ex Plex. Wolfgang came back and went for a Swanton, but Dunne got his knees up and turned it into an armbar. Finally, Dunne finished off his foe with the Bitter End. This was probably the worst of the UK title matches, but it was still really good.
Just when you thought the show was over, out ran The Undisputed Era! Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly confronted Dunne. Dunne got in one punch before being beaten by all three men. Wolfgang ran in for the save, but he got overwhelmed as well.
Dunne, who was saved by his former partner…turned around and walked away. He teased returning to the ring, but it was only for his championship belt. Cole finished off Wolfgang with a superkick before leaving through the crowd. Tyler Bate and Trent Seven ran down to check on Wolfgang as the show went off the air.
Mr. Regal informed Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly last week that there would be no more out-of-the-ring attacks, so they followed his orders and still caused chaos in the process.
So, that does it for another fun week at Full Sail. Until next Wednesday, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
