Tag: Candice LeRae

WWE NXT results: Johnny Gargano returns to TV

Posted on by Arya Witner

The Big News: Tommaso Ciampa knocked Johnny Gargano off the apron, crashing into Candice LeRae, who sold it like grim death.

The Medium News: Velveteen Dream turned against Ricochet, allowing Ricochet to get beaten by Lars Sullivan.

The Little Beaver-sized News: Lacey Evans scored a big upset victory over Kairi Sane.

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TM61 defeated Heavy Machinery

This match was set up last week. TM61 wanted to go out and drink beers and eat steaks with Heavy Machinery. However, Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight refused to do that with cheaters.

Jonathan Coachman was shown sitting at ringside, for some reason.

Shane Thorne and Nick Miller were having a hard go of it, as they got thrown around by their heavier opponents. At one point they set up Miller in the corner like if Goldust was going to give him Shattered Dreams. Then they picked up Thorne and did a battering ram into Miller’s midsection. Finally, Thorne blind tagged himself in and used a really nice spinning European uppercut to Knight to cut him off.

Knight used a double suplex on Miller and Thorne before making the hot tag. Dozovic literally ran wild, ramming his hefty body into his foes. It broke down into a four-way, but Knight went flying over the corner post. Dozovic went for a Vader Bomb, but Thorne leapt up and kicked him in the head. Finally, Miller rolled up Dozovic and used Thorne holding his feet on the ropes for extra leverage for the pin.

Odds are they won’t go out for beers tonight either.

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A video package aired for Bianca Belair, which led to an announcement of a “Who is Bianca Belair?” video package series, starting next week. They have done these several times before, including with Finn Balor and Roderick Strong, and they have always been good.

If you wanted to be snarky, and not that I would ever be guilty of that, you could point out that they had a video package to promote that next week there will be a video package.

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EC3 will have his third match next week.

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Lacey Evans defeated Kairi Sane

Evans lost to Sane six weeks ago and was so upset by this she attacked Sane in a very unlady-like fashion, which led to this rematch. This was more of a hard-hitting match than you perhaps would expect when one of the competitors is Lacey Evans. She took over by stomping on the elbow of Sane. Not sure why that’s become the big move in NXT lately.

Sane made her comeback, starting with a dragon screw leg whip and then hitting all her set-up moves, culminating with the Interceptor and the Sliding D. Evans rolled outside the ring, but Sane followed her and threw her right back in. Sane went up top and came off with a move, but Evans caught her with The Woman’s Right for the upset win.

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Cathy Kelley was outside Full Sail University waiting for Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae, who just happened to show up now. Gargano was in a neck brace and said that, while he’s seen better days, he’s here. Him and LeRae made a decision as a team and he is going to go out to the ring to tell everyone.

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After winning a six-man tag over Undisputed Era last week, Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch said they wanted a title shot.

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Undisputed Era were hanging out backstage, mocking Lorcan, Burch, and Pete Dunne. Roderick Strong said there won’t be a title match with them, while Kyle O’Reilly said that it’s Dunne’s fault for giving hope to a couple losers.

Strong, despite just saying there wouldn’t be a match in Chicago, seemed to then say there would be a title match in Chicago and that he also wanted to wrestle “Daniel Burch.”

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Lars Sullivan defeated Ricochet & Velveteen Dream in a handicap match

Last week, Ricochet and Dream were attempting to have a match when they both got destroyed by an interfering Sullivan.

Very quickly, Ricochet and Dream began ignoring the tag team aspect of this match, as both, at different points, were illegally in the ring for over 20 seconds just to double team. I guess it’s okay since the referee really didn’t care. Neither could do anything on their own, so why not together? They managed to get Sullivan down for a double cover, which should have been illegal but, again, the referee did not care and they got a two count.

Sullivan grew tired of this cheating and sent Ricochet into space before ripping at Dream’s face. Sullivan just beat on Dream, hitting his diving headbutt, but Ricochet broke up the cover. Dream was able to make the hot tag to Ricochet, who used his speed to strike Sullivan and stay out of his grasp.

Suddenly, Velveteen Dream turned out to be the biggest turncoat since Benedict Arnold tried to surrender the plans to West Point to the British, as he laid out Ricochet with the rolling DVD. Dream ran away as Sullivan pinned Ricochet with a Freak Accident.

**********

Next week:

  • NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler defends against Dakota Kai
  • Aleister Black will cut a promo

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Kelley interviewed Kai about this. Kai has dreamed about being NXT Women’s Champion and it’s insane to her that she’s getting a title shot. However, it’s against Shayna Baszler, the biggest bully she’s ever met.

Baszler walked up smirking and mocked Kai, saying she doesn’t have a chance. Kai finally spoke to Baszler, saying “We’ll see about that.”

**********

The show ended with an appearance by Gargano and LeRae. Gargano talked about how the last time he was here he was getting ready for an NXT Championship match when he was assaulted by Tommaso Ciampa. Every morning when he wakes up, his neck brace reminds him of having his head smashed off an LED board and dropped off the side of a ramp and through a table.

He said that it was time to think about both of their futures. He needs to ask himself if this is worth it, which the fans vehemently agreed that it was. With the injuries adding up and the tolls it’s taking on everyone, is it worth it? Again, the fans vehemently agreed that it was.

Gargano finally ripped off the neck brace and yelled that it was worth it before challenging Ciampa to get out there and finish this right now. LeRae was begging him not to do this. Ciampa came out as LeRae ran away to the back and returned with three referees. The referees did a surprisingly adequate job at restraining Gargano as LeRae pleaded with her husband.

Gargano seemed to agree to go backstage when Ciampa goaded him on. Gargano ran to the ring, but Ciampa knocked him off the apron and Gargano fell into LeRae! She fell onto the ramp and played dead.

Now, there are positives and negatives to this. The positives are that this was a tremendous angle and everyone played their parts beautifully. They spent as much time as possible on paramedics checking on her.

The negative is LeRae is a trained pro wrestler and took a bump on the same ramp we see a hundred people fall on every week. Not saying it wasn’t well done, just that it was hard to take it too seriously.

That does it for this week. Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!

WWE NXT results: Candice LeRae vs. Zelina Vega

Posted on by Arya Witner

The Big News: Johnny Gargano will challenge for Aleister Black’s NXT Championship next week.

The Medium News: In her first official NXT TV match since being signed, Candice LeRae submitted Zelina Vega, who was wrestling in what might have been her last match in NXT.

The Little Beaver-sized News: Lars Sullivan sent Killian Dain to SmackDown with a loss in their no disqualification match.

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The show began with a graphic honoring the memory of Bruno Sammartino, a man who, in my opinion, is the greatest champion in WWE history. May he rest in peace.

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At Full Sail, the episode kicked off with Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae coming to the ring. This is Gargano’s first appearance since getting his job back by beating Tommaso Ciampa in a legit five-star match at TakeOver: New Orleans. The fans were thrilled to see him back, as Gargano got goose bumps from the reaction he received.

Going into TakeOver, he dreamt of returning to NXT. For too long he was defined by Tommaso Ciampa, his former best friend who broke his heart, cost him the NXT Championship, and stole his career. Gargano couldn’t say his name or get past him for the longest time, but after the most intense 37 minutes he’s ever spent in a professional wrestling ring, he has his life back and is back where he belongs.

He thanked the fans for always having his back and thanked LeRae for being with him these last few months. He said he loved her so much. He then announced that they have one last piece of unfinished business. LeRae took the mic and said she’ll be handling it tonight when she goes one-on-one with Zelina Vega. Gargano said if Andrade “Cien” Almas tries to get involved, he’ll drop Almas like his name was “Tommaso Ciampa.”

After they get past Almas & Vega tonight, Gargano said he will be Aleister Black’s first challenger, which the fans approved of.

This segment actually broke from tradition. Normally after an NXT title change, the next taped show opens with the new champion coming to the ring for a promo. The only exception was after Sami Zayn won the belt due to his storyline injury by Kevin Owens.

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Killian Dain did a backstage promo saying he’s going to take everything from Lars Sullivan. He’ll have no backup and will bring the chaos alone.

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Mauro Ranallo and Percy Watson gave a shoutout to Nigel McGuinness, who is home with his significant other and their newborn baby.

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Ricochet defeated Fabian Aichner

Ricochet had a neat laser light show for his entrance for his first official match on an episode of NXT TV. Aichner was compared to Bruno Sammartino, which was a weird coincidence since the commentary is pre-taped.

Aichner did look good here — and it wasn’t just because he was in with one of the best. He sells pretty well and his offense looks good. However, in spite of that, this match was all about Ricochet. He used a 619, a springboard European uppercut, and a standing Shooting Star Press that Aichner kicked out of.

The finish saw Aichner go for a superplex, but Ricochet knocked him off the top rope and hit the 630 for the pin.

Kayla Braxton asked Ricochet what it was like to debut here at Full Sail. He said it felt great to be in a place where a lot of WWE wrestlers made their names, referencing Bayley, Sami Zayn, and Seth Rollins. However, it is now his turn. He came to NXT to prove that there is one and only and that’s him.

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An EC3 video package aired.

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Lars Sullivan built up his no DQ match against Killian Dain tonight.

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War Raiders defeated KC & Chris

The former ROH and IWGP Tag Team Champions debuted last week by destroying both Heavy Machinery and Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli. KC & Chris are the 2018 version of Deuce & Domino. Bet you didn’t think you needed that, did you?

Anyway, the greasers stood no chance and their only offense (a chop) was completely no sold. Hanson did a cartwheel when one of them came off the ropes, which popped the crowd. One was hit with a double-team pop-up powerslam and the other was pinned after Fallout.

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Shayna Baszler arrived late at a woman’s team meeting earlier this week, declaring she is going to set the rules. She took it over, ripping down the tape over Ember Moon’s locker and taking it over. Dakota Kai walked out instead of listening to Baszler’s diatribe where she said this was now her locker room.

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Kona Reeves is re-debuting, this time with a push.

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Earlier today, Pete Dunne arrived at the Performance Center and said he would be back in a couple of weeks to rip Roderick Strong’s head off.

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Lars Sullivan defeated Killian Dain in a no DQ match

These two behemoths squared off in a match two weeks ago that ended when EC3, Ricochet, Adam Cole, and Velveteen Dream all just ran to the ring to stare at each other. Dusty Rhodes would have loved to commentate this match just to holler about the clubbering going on.

Dain went for a suicide dive and, before I could make a sarcastic comment about Sullivan catching him like he did to two of his much smaller foes at TakeOver, Sullivan caught him. Sullivan grabbed him out of mid-air and rammed him into the ring post. Sullivan further showed off his strength with a pair of suplexes, one, the normal kind, outside the ring and one, a German, inside the ring. Sullivan hit his diving headbutt for a two count. He smashed Dain’s nose, with Dain wearing the crimson…mustache.

Dain started his comeback when Sullivan was choking him with a chair. Dain hit the Wasteland, a senton, and a Vader Bomb, but was frustrated when Sullivan didn’t stay down. Sullivan came back and put a chair across Dain before flying off with a diving headbutt. Unfortunately Dain moved out of the way, so Sullivan crashed into the chair.

A table was set up in the corner and Dain went for The Divide twice. Sullivan caught him once and then it actually worked as they went through the table. Dain set Sullivan up for the Van Terminator at this point.

Stop and re-read that sentence. 350-ish pound Killian Dain went up top to attempt a Van Terminator. Unfortunately for everyone, Sullivan cut him off before he could attempt it and pinned the SmackDown-bound Dain with a Freak Accident on a chair.

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Undisputed Era were wandering around backstage and took photos with all their championship gold. They will be in Full Sail live next week.

Also, Adam Cole will defend the NXT North American Championship on TV for the first time ever against Oney Lorcan.

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Candice LeRae defeated Zelina Vega

This was the acknowledged in-ring NXT TV debut for both. However, both have done jobs in the past before being signed or pushed and have wrestled on house shows. The female referee, Jessika Carr, towered over both competitors.

Almas interfered 30 seconds into the match to distract LeRae, so Gargano ran down to glare at the former champion. This was short, but fine. Vega used the double knees in the corner, but LeRae got out of the hammerlock DDT and hit a missile dropkick for a near fall. LeRae locked on the Gargano Escape. Almas ran in, but Gargano cut him off and put Almas in the Gargano Escape. Both tapped and LeRae got the win.

After the match, Gargano officially challenged Black for the NXT Championship. Black came out on the stage and accepted the challenge for next week.

Next week, it’s Black vs. Gargano for the NXT Championship! Until then, thank you for reading and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.

NXT Citrus Springs, FL, live results: Sane & LeRae vs. The Iconic Duo

Posted on by JJ Williams

Last night’s estimated attendance in Citrus Springs was 150 people.

– Velveteen Dream defeated Wolfgang

– Dakota Kai defeated Reina Gonzalez

Shayna Baszler came out to beat up Kai after the match. After that was over, she said it’s exactly what will happen to Ember Moon at TakeOver: New Orleans.

– Chris Dijak, No Way Jose & Trent Seven defeated Wesley Blake, Steve Cutler & Chad Lail

– Ricochet defeated Raul Mendoza

– The Authors of Pain defeated TM61

– Buddy Murphy defeated Mark Andrews

– Candice LeRae & Kairi Sane defeated The Iconic Duo (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay)

This was the first in-ring action for Royce and Kay since November of last year.

– WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defeated Marcel Barthel to retain his title

NXT Cleveland live results: Johnny Gargano returns to his hometown

Posted on by F4W Staff

Submitted by reader Adam Scraga

– Heavy Machinery defeated Adrian Jaoude & Cezar Bononi

Heavy Machinery were very over, with Otis Dozovic getting lots of chants. They won with the Compactor.

– Shayna Baszler defeated Dakota Kai

Kai was cheered and Baszler received a mixture of cheers and boos. Baszler did her best to make it seem like she was trying to injure Kai by doing moves like stomping on her elbow and finger.

Kai came back with a flurry of kicks near the finish, but Baszler caught her in the rear naked choke for the submission win.

– Lars Sullivan defeated Kassius Ohno

The crowd was definitely behind Ohno here. The match was hard-hitting as you would expect, with Sullivan hitting the Freak Accident for the win.

– Aleister Black cut a promo on the video screen about facing Velveteen Dream later, referencing their TakeOver match and saying he’s going to make him Fade to Black.

– Adam Cole defeated Christopher Dijak

Cole got a huge pop and didn’t have Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly with him. Cole picked up the win after a really good back-and-forth match.

– NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated The Street Profits to retain their titles

Before this started, Vic Joseph announced that William Regal had just made it a Tag Team title match. The Street Profits got a lot of cheers for their entrance, but the crowd reaction for them kind of died out during the match except for their high spots.

Fish and O’Reilly retained after a distraction finish and a roll-up.

– Velveteen Dream responded to Black in a promo on the video screen, insulting Cleveland and calling the people low class. He said that made it the perfect place for him to defeat Black because he has no class either.

– Kairi Sane defeated Lacey Evans

Evans did a heel promo on the screen during intermission where she also insulted Cleveland and said the cold weather made her sick, but she was still going to win.

They had a good match. Sane got lots of crowd support and won with the Insane Elbow.

– Aleister Black defeated Velveteen Dream

This was the best match of the night. The crowd seemed split over who to support, but there were very loud chants for both wrestlers.

There was a great near fall where Dream hit a spike DDT, but Black kicked out and eventually connected with the Black Mass for the win.

– Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae defeated NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega

Almas and Vega entered first and Vega attempted to cut a promo, but the crowd chanted “Johnny Wrestling” for about seven minutes while she was trying to talk. It was so loud that you could barely hear Vega screaming on the mic for everyone to shut up. It was the loudest chant/crowd reaction I’ve ever heard at a wrestling show.

They eventually gave up on trying to cut the promo and left the ring, walking towards the entranceway and acting like they were about to leave. Gargano and LeRae then entered and LeRae did a short promo. LeRae rushed at Vega before she finished a sentence about beating her up but was cut off by Almas stepping in front of Vega to protect her.

They had a very good match, with Gargano and LeRae getting all of the love from the crowd that you would imagine. LeRae hit Almas with a top rope hurricanrana and later connected with a flurry of punches that drove him into the corner.

For the finish, Gargano and LeRae simultaneously locked on the Gargano Escape and Almas and Vega both tapped out at the same time.

Following the match, Gargano talked for about 15 minutes. He said he made sure to tag with LeRae in his last independent match at AIW in Cleveland because he didn’t know if he would be able to again, and now it’s a year and a half later and here they are.

He thanked his parents (who were in attendance) for waiting hours in line to buy him tickets to WWE shows when he was a kid, painting Shawn Michaels on his wall, and always supporting him. He thanked Josh Prohibition (who was also in attendance) as well for training him.

He also thanked John Thorne and Chandler Biggins of AIW. The crowd chanted for Biggins (who passed away last year), with Gargano saying he knows Biggins had the best seat in the house and is watching down and smiling right now.

Gargano concluded by saying he doesn’t know what the future holds, but he never could have gotten to this point without the love and support of all the fans here. He and LeRae walked around ringside signing autographs and taking pictures as the show ended.

NXT Barrie, ON, live results: Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae team up

Posted on by F4W Staff

Submitted by reader Ty from the Barrie Molson Centre

SAnItY (Alexander Wolfe and Eric Young) def. The Authors of Pain

This was a physical match that SAnitY won after hitting the combo backdrop/second rope neckbreaker. There were tons of “EY” chants and after the match which he acknowledged by thanking and bowing to the crowd. 

Marcel Barthel def. Fabian Aichner

Barthel got insane heat for a small crowd as there was a lot of anti-German hatred. Some of it was in good fun with silver medal chants (referencing Olympic hockey), but some went a little too far. Aichner got a decent reaction mainly just to shut up Barthel. The match featured chain wrestling and athleticism that grabbed the crowd quick. Barthel reversed a powerbomb position into a roll up with the tights for the win.

We got a quick video of Aliyah trash talking Barrie and talking up her love for Toronto to get heat.

Killian Dain def. Roderick Strong

Both guys were over big, but there no favorites, just lots of competing chants. Fans loved Strong superplexing Dain off the top. Dain got lots of “shave your back” chants, but they still loved him. Dain hit his finisher for the win.

Ricochet def. Buddy Murphy

There was a small section of the crowd popping big for Murphy. We even got dueling chants to begin the match and both guys had the fans compete to see who was loudest. This was a very athletic match with high energy and was nearly match of the night. Ricochet won with a fireman’s carry into a front driver similar to Dains finisher.

Intermission

NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon def. Aliyah and Nikki Cross in a three-way

The crowd chanted “705” (area code) at Aliyah, and Cross joined in. Cross was more over to this crowd than Ember was, playing crazy which the crowd loved. There wasn’t a lot of big spots in the match which ended when Ember scored the pin on Aliyah after hitting an eclipse on Nikki and Aliyah at the same time. Aliyah was the last one in the ring and got a “hey hey goodbye” chant from the crowd. 

Aleister Black def. Velveteen Dream

Dream came out with a hockey stick and threw it in the garbage. Even after this, he was over huge with the crowd and got the second largest pop of the night. He teased throwing his shirt to fans and then dropped it, and they still cheered. All the kids were chanting for Black and all the dudes were chanting for Dream. This was Aanother super competitive match like at TakeOver. Dream lifted Black with his foot, teasing hitting him with Black Mass, but just as he got to a standing position, Black hit Dream with Black Mass for the pin and win.

Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae def. NXT Champion Andrade Cien Almas and Zelina Vega

“Johnny Wrestling” was over huge as lots of fans from his indie days popped like crazy for him. When Candice was in the ring, she got the “Mrs. Wrestling” chants. This match was filled with high paced action. Gargano sold for a while and got Candice the hot tag. LeRae got the win as they both had their opponents in Gargano Locks. Both faces took a long time to take pics and talk with all the ringside fans after the show. 

Notes:

– 70% of the crowd were locals to the Barrie Wrestling shows, and tried to get their own stuff over in chants. There was lots of chants for Hornet (a ref) as he was inducted into the Barrie Wrestling HOF that day. Gargano gave the mic to Hornet for the final speech of the night before they ended the show which was a great move. 

– Fans were really kid friendly at this one. A 5 year old in a Finn Balor costume led a lot of chants and was pretty funny. 

– Jeremy Borash looked to be running the show as he was running all over the place dealing with all different crews. 

NXT Peterborough live results: Gargano & LeRae vs. Almas & Vega

Posted on by F4W Staff

Submitted by Grant Zwarych

– Ricochet defeated Buddy Murphy

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.

– Aleister Black defeated Velveteen Dream

This was a really good match and both were solid.

– Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae defeated NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega

This was fun. I would have preferred a Gargano vs. Almas singles match, but the fans were into the mixed tag.

NXT Mississauga live results: Gargano in action, Ricochet vs. Murphy

Posted on by F4W Staff

Submitted by reader Andrew Jordan

– Ricochet defeated Buddy Murphy

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.

– Aleister Black defeated Velveteen Dream

Black ended this with the Black Mass.

– Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae defeated NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega

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.

NXT Nashville, TN, live results: Gargano & LeRae vs. Almas & Vega

Posted on by F4W Staff

Submitted by reader Phillip McConnell

– No Way Jose defeated Cezar Bononi

Jose interacted with the crowd a lot prior to the match.

– Shayna Baszler & Lacey Evans defeated Nikki Cross & Dakota Kai

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.

Candice LeRae, War Machine officially sign with WWE

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Following the announcement of Ricochet officially reporting to the Performance Center, WWE has also confirmed that Candice LeRae and War Machine (Raymond Rowe & Hanson) have signed with the company.

LeRae’s final independent wrestling appearance will be against Joey Ryan, her longtime tag team partner, for Bar Wrestling on Thursday. Rowe will make his last appearance for AIW on Friday, and Hanson said farewell at Chaotic Wrestling this past week. War Machine had their last match for Ring of Honor in December and made their final appearance for New Japan Pro Wrestling at New Year’s Dash.

LeRae is one of two Mae Young Classic participants who are joining the Performance Center in this class, with Kavita Devi also reporting to Orlando.

Below is a list of other names who are part of this month’s Performance Center class:

  • Rinku Singh (one of the winners of India’s “Million Dollar Arm” reality series who went on to pitch in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization)
  • Shadia Bseiso (the first Arab woman to sign with WWE)
  • Nasser Alruwayeh (WWE’s first Kuwaiti signee)
  • Kacy Catanzaro (a gymnast who had success on “American Ninja Warrior”)
  • Nicolai Salchow (a former MMA fighter)
  • Saurav Gurjar (who has a background in acting and kickboxing in India)