This was a nothing match in a non-offensive kind of way. It wasn’t good or bad; it just happened.
Williams and Raaj went back and forth for a while before Williams used a scoop slam to take the lead. Williams tried submitting Raaj with a standing stretch, but Raaj endured. Once escaping Williams’s submission attempt, Raaj launched a short rally, but a quick spinning kick from Williams cut him off. A swinging neck breaker brought this match to an end.
Ivy Nile defeated Brooklyn Barlow
I am quite the Nile fan, but this match didn’t come together at all. Barlow’s offence was less than stellar throughout this match, and her control sequences were not convincing.
Nile opened the match with a pair of leg kicks and a massive takedown. Barlow answered with a hip toss takedown into arm control. Nile took her time before escaping but turned things around on a dime with a quick strike. Nile then led an extended offensive sequence, complete with a suplex and some strikes.
Barlow fought back into the match with a swift sequence. A sneaky pin almost scored her a win, but Nile kicked out. Then, almost as quickly as it started, Nile cut off Barlow with a punch to the midsection and kick to the head. Nile then locked in a dragon sleeper, resulting in the submission victory.
James Drake and Zack Gibson (Grizzled Young Veterans) defeated Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen
This was not great.
Gibson took control early but fell to double team offence. Drake helped Gibson retake control with some GYV tandem work.
Drake couldn’t keep control while facing down Briggs, but a sneaky tag let Gibson take the lead. GYV then singled out Jensen in classic tag-team fashion. Jenson grew progressively more desperate after multiple failed tag attempts; once Briggs actually tagged in, he ran through GYV, scoring a near fall after a backbreaker.
GYV retook control after Gibson jumped Briggs while he was occupied with Drake. GYV hit a combination dropkick/facebuster, resulting in a near fall. The pair then taunted Briggs, buying him enough time to dodge a dropkick and tag out.
Jensen tried to start a rally, but he was distracted by a woman in the crowd. Drake kneed Jensen in the head then covered him while Gibson held his feet, leading to a GYV victory.
After the match, Fallon Henley confronted GYV as they were walking up the ramp. Briggs and Jensen then came in and beat down Gibson. Commentary said it looked like “a bar fight in Alabama” and a “good ‘ole country ho-down”. Good lord. The show ended with Brooks & Jensen standing tall.
Grizzled Young Veterans and The Creed Brothers will square off on Tuesday’s WWE NXT.
Following an angle on the December 7 NXT where Grizzled Young Veterans Zack Gibson and James Drake caused a Creed Brothers defeat to Briggs and Jensen, Brutus Creed and Julius Creed used a distraction to allow Jacket Time to beat Gibson and Drake on the December 14 episode. As a result, the two teams will settle it in the ring on the December 21 episode.
Creed Brothers vs. Grizzled Young Veterans joins a lineup that includes several grudge matches on this week’s NXT episode. Raquel Gonzalez will face Dakota Kai in a street fight, Pete Dunne will take on Tony D’Angelo, plus Dexter Lumis will face Trick Williams. Von Wagner will also be in action on the show.
Seeing the cruiserweight champion on the cruiserweight show is a lovely, if rare, sight. The match was nothing much.
Strong tried to open the match by gaining control of the arm, but Feng’s size allowed him to run through the champion. Even against the larger Feng, Strong utilised his wrestling aptitude (and some underhanded tactics) to stay on equal footing. This basic trope made up the meat of the match.
The ending sequence was over almost as soon as it started. A strike rally from Feng resulted in a near fall. From the ground, Strong landed a few kicks, creating separation. The extra space allowed Strong to land the jumping knee, leading to the pin.
Valentina Feroz defeated Erica Yan
This was an enjoyable watch. While not perfect, the match benefited greatly from compelling mat work.
Feroz took the debuting Yan to the mat with arm control immediately following the opening bell. Yan survived, gaining a sustained headlock. Feroz turned the headlock into a throw, taking the match to the mat once more.
Yan avoided an elbow drop; she capitalised by connecting with a series of shoulder tackles. Feroz was able to survive the offence by regaining arm control and securing another takedown. Feroz locked in a leg scissor choke, leading to the submission.
James Drake and Zack Gibson (Grizzled Young Veterans) defeated Ikemen Jiro and Kushida
In another 205 Live oddity, this match featured a storyline. It was a fun outing and a nice change from the typically uneventful main events.
After an animated opening sequence, Jiro and Kushida left their opponents frustrated. Only after a sneaky tag did GYV gain control over their opponents. Gibson and Drake resolved their early frustrations by isolating Jiro, slowly picking him apart.
After a prolonged control segment, Jiro reversed a suplex, allowing him to finally secure the tag, a sequence that left Jiro without a jacket. A four-way brawl broke out in the following moments, a scuffle that left the babyfaces with an advantage. Just as the end was in sight, the music of Diamond Mine and the presence of Creed brothers provided a distraction for GYV. GYV hit ticket to mayhem, leading to the win.
One week before their NXT Championship match at Halloween Havoc, Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker teamed together in the main event of last night’s NXT.
Ciampa & Breakker defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans when Breakker pinned James Drake after hitting a powerslam. Despite getting the win, there were moments of dissension between Ciampa and Breakker during the match.
Ciampa slapped Breakker to tag him in after Breakker was fighting with Zack Gibson on the floor and not available for a tag when Ciampa was going for it. Breakker then seemed like he may have been trying to hit Ciampa, but Ciampa moved out of the way and he hit Drake instead.
The show ended with Ciampa and Breakker going face-to-face after their win.
It was revealed last night that the triple threat NXT Women’s Tag Team title match at Halloween Havoc will be a “Scareway to Hell ladder match.” Io Shirai spun the wheel to determine the stipulation for the match after defeating Persia Pirotta and Jacy Jayne. Jayne was taken out of last night’s triple threat match after suffering an injury.
Another Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match was announced for Halloween Havoc last night, with MSK set to defend their NXT Tag Team titles against Imperium’s Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner next Tuesday. Plus, LA Knight defeated Grayson Waller to be confirmed as the host for Halloween Havoc.
The final episode of NXT before Halloween Havoc takes place tonight.
Ahead of their NXT Championship match next Tuesday, Tommaso Ciampa will team up with Bron Breakker against The Grizzled Young Veterans. The match was set up in a backstage segment on last week’s show. After The Grizzled Young Veterans confronted Ciampa, Breakker challenged them to a match. Breakker said he’ll stand by Ciampa’s side until Halloween Havoc because he wants to beat Ciampa at his best.
Io Shirai & Zoey Stark, Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta, and Toxic Attraction’s Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne will face off in a Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match for the NXT Women’s Tag Team titles at Halloween Havoc. Tonight, one member of each team will take part in a triple threat match. The winner will spin the wheel to determine the stipulation for the tag title match at Halloween Havoc.
Raquel Gonzalez vs. Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship at Halloween Havoc will also be a Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal match. WWE will finish building to that match tonight.
A host for Halloween Havoc will be determined as Grayson Waller faces LA Knight tonight. Plus, Odyssey Jones vs. Andre Chase, Cora Jade vs. Elektra Lopez, The Creed Brothers vs. Imperium, and Tony D’Angelo in action are set for the show.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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The show opens with the new NXT North American Champion, Carmelo Hayes. He is joined by Trick Williams, who tonight is playing the role of Hayes hype man. Williams introduces Hayes to the audience.
Hayes talks about pulling a swerve on Swerve himself, referring to Hayes cashing in his contract last week en route to winning the title. Hayes says the North American title should be referred to as the “A” championship by everyone.
Out comes Johnny Gargano to interrupt Hayes’ monologue. Gargano sarcastically congratulates Hayes. Gargano has been busy with other things lately, but Austin Theory is on Raw, Indi Hartwell is married, and Candice LeRae is at home pregnant. Gargano says he lost his “Way,” and he’s trying to figure out what is next. He thinks wrestling Hayes is what is next for Gargano.
Gargano challenges Hayes to a match. Williams chimes in to tell Gargano he needs to worry about his “daughter” (meaning Indi Hartwell). Williams claims Hartwell has been “shooting in ‘Melo’s DM’s all week.” Gargano played along, and Hayes implies Gargano should be more upset since that is his “daughter.” Gargano says he is right, and here is his “son-in-law.”
Dexter Lumis appeared behind the two heels after sneaking up on them. Lumis grabs Williams in a choke, but Hayes drags Williams out of the ring as the heels powder. This surely sets up a tag team match, and it also sets up for a singles title match down the road.
Odyssey Jones defeated Andre Chase
Jones pinned Chase clean in a short and basic match.
Dean Douglas may have been a better teacher gimmick than Chase, and Dean Douglas was pretty lame. In this match, Chase cuts off Jones early on, but Jones hulked up moments later. Jones showed off his power and strength. Jones bounces off the ropes and splashes Chase before hooking a leg for a pinfall.
Malcolm Bivens is backstage leading Diamond Mine to the ring. Bivens says he see how things are done in NXT. Diamond Mine will no longer ask for an opportunity, they will instead just take it.
Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) defeated Creed Brother (Julius and Brutus Creed with Diamond Mine)
Barthel rolled up Brutus to pin him after a interference by Ikemen Jiro and Kushida.
Not sure Imperium fits in the revamped NXT, but they still are really good at wrestling. They were doing well in this match until NXT Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong jumped on the apron to interfere. That allowed the Creed Brothers to gain the underhanded advantage on Barthel.
Hot tag to Aichner, and he cleans house. Aichner did a cool spot where he used a rolling fireman’s carry slam on Julius, leading to a near fall that was broken up by Brutus. He counters Barthel to deliver a gutwrench powerbomb. Aichner jumps in to break up the count.
Ikemen Jiro and Kushida run down to ringside, and they begin brawling Diamond Mine. Brutus is distracted by the brawl at ringside, allowing Barthel to pin Brutus with an O’Connor Roll.
NXT Tag Team Champions MSK run in after the match to attack Imperium. They clean house on Imperium, and challenge them to a tag title match at Halloween Havoc.
O’Reilly and Wagner train in the woods
In a pre-taped skit, Kyle O’Reilly and Von Wagner train in the forest. O’Reilly on his bicycle meets Wagner at the edge of the woods. Wagner arrives in a pickup truck, and Wagner was wearing camo. He tells O’Reilly where they are going they won’t need a bike.
Off to the woods they go, where they train with a fallen log. They carry it around, and they also do other exercises with the log. They swing an ax into a tree. By a campfire at night, Wagner does some twelve ounce curls with a longneck beer bottle. He gives O’Reilly a beer, and they cheers to kicking ass together.
A vignette highlights Cora Jade before her match that is up next. Before that comes a Joe Gacy skit, which at first seems like him cutting a promo. It was more than that as Harlan is apparently under Gacy’s spell. Looks like he is putting together a cult.
Cora Jade defeated Elektra Lopez (with Legado del Fantasma)
Jade sold most of the way until she pinned Lopez with a small package. On commentary the announcers during the match plugged the Queen’s Crown final this Thursday. Turns out that was ironic since this match was shorter than most of the Queen’s Crown tournament matches, which were all mostly very short.
NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa was together with Bron Breakker for a backstage interview. They teased not getting along in their tag match later on. What a novel concept on a WWE television show.
Grayson Waller and LA Knight wrestle later on to decide who is the host of Halloween Havoc.
Io Shirai defeated Persia Pirotta and Jacy Jayne in a triple threat match to decide who spins the wheel
Shirai pinned Pirotta after the match turned into a singles bout. Jayne left the match due to medical concerns. Shirai in winning got to Spin the Wheel and Make the Deal.
The match went through a commercial break. Before the break came a scary spot. Jayne went for a tope, but her feet hit the ropes and she wiped out on the floor. She basically spiked herself into the floor. She was okay enough to help catch Shirai on an Asai moonsault a moment later, but Jayne never returned to the match after the commercial break. Jayne was apparently pulled from the match by medical staff.
A triple threat turned into a singles match where Pirotta got heat on Shirai. Pirotta worked over Shirai, and Pirotta got some near falls. Shirai fought from underneath, and Shirai eventually made a comeback. Shirai with her signature offense, albeit with a nearly botched springboard.
Shirai was applying a crossface when Pirotta powered out. Shirai counters with a suplex, and Shirai follows with a moonsault press. Shirai then covered Pirotta for a pinfall.
Shirai spins the wheel and it lands on “Scareway to Hell” ladder match, which is a play on the “Stairway to Hell ” stipulation in the original ECW. So the NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship is a triple threat tag team ladder match.
Solo Sikoa has a street fighter gimmick and he debuts next week at Halloween Havoc.Ku
Ikemen Jiro and Kushida do a comedy skit in a restroom. Jiro pulls out the Marty McFly vest, and he tells Kushida it is time to go back to the future.
Tony D’Angelo defeated Ru Feng
D’Angelo pinned Feng in a short squash match. D’Angelo broke out a Northern Lights suplex followed by a twisting fisherman’s buster, and then he scored a pinfall.
Samantha Irvin interviewed D’Angelo in the ring after the match. She asks him about the disappearance of Lash Legend’s producer, Mark. D’Angelo swears on his grandfather grave that he does not know nothing about nothing. He slipped Irvin some cash, and told her to go buy something nice and “fugetaboutit.”
Duke Hudson in a vignette was playing poker because that is what poker players do I guess. This just makes me nostalgic. Might watch some Gambler squash matches after this show.
Legado del Fantasma jumps Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen in a backstage sneak attack.
Legado del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) defeated Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen
Mendoza pinned Jensen after a double team finisher. The match was joined in progress with Legado del Fantasma solidly in control. Santos Escobar interfered during the match.
Jensen runs wild after a hot tag. Escobar interfered again, only to get clocked with a right hand from Jensen. Finish came after a tilt-a-whirl by Wilde, and Mendoza flew in with a leg lariat for a combo. Mendoza then covered Jensen for a pinfall.
A great video package hyped the title match for next Tuesday with Raquel Gonzalez defending her NXT Women’s Championship against Mandy Rose.
Carmelo Hayes was missing his North American title belt. He and Trick Williams were looking for it when they found a note inviting them to a haunted house hosted by Dexter Lumis.
The spooky and mysterious figure from the graveyard was burying a bunch of gimmicks in a cemetery.
LA Knight defeated Grayson Waller to become the host of Halloween Havoc
Knight pinned Waller after using the BFT (Blunt Force Trauma) finisher . Waller was making a comeback when Knight cut him off at the finish. It was an Knight match if you like that sort of thing.
Knight in winning becomes the official host of Halloween Havoc. I doubt there is hardly any way Knight is a better host than Shotzi Blackheart was last year, but we shall see.
Bron Breakker & NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson)
Breakker pinned Drake to win the match. Despite winning, Ciampa and Breakker had trouble getting along together. They meet in the main event of Halloween Havoc in a title match for the NXT Championship.
Breakker started the match with Drake, and Breakker showcased his power moves. Drake got Steinerized. Ciampa was a house of fire when he tagged into the match. Ciampa and Breakker were teasing dissension before the show cut to a commercial break.
Grizzled Young Veterans with heat on Ciampa during the break, but Ciampa created separation. However, Gibson baited Breakker so that he would chase Gibson. That left no one in the corner to tag Ciampa when Ciampa was finally able to create the separation.
The heels double team Ciampa as they cut the ring in half. Ciampa fought back. Gibson ran around the ring to get clotheslined by Breakker, but that meant that Breakker again left his corner. Ciampa was left with no one to tag.
When Breakker got back onto the apron, Ciampa slapped him. Ciampa yelled at Breakker, asking where he was for the tag. Since Ciampa had slapped Breakker, that counted as a legal tag. So Breakker gets into the ring running roughshod.
Breakker pulls down the straps on his singlet, and he applies a Steiner Recliner on Drake. Gibson booted Breakker in the face to break the hold, and Breakker throws Gibson out of the ring. Breakker lifted Drake into a gorilla press, and Breakker dropped him into a powerslam. Breakker then covered Drake for a three count.
Ciampa and Breakker have a staredown as the show closes.
WWE’s Extreme Rules show on 9/26 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH was decent. Most of the matches were good, but there was nothing blow away.
The show was built around two bouts, Roman Reigns vs. Demon Finn Balor for the Universal title and Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair for the women’s title. Both had gimmicked finishes.
The Demon match ended with Demon ont the top rope when the top rope suddenly collapsed and he fell into the ring injured, and got pinned by a spear. The bout had been the most exciting on the show, but at one point the idea was that Demon had died. Then his music played and he acted as though he was resurrected, and in fact, that was the verbiage used, and he made a comeback until the rope broke.
In the Smackdown women’s title match, Belair powered out of the disarmer and set up the KOD when Sasha Banks ran into attack Belair for the DQ. Banks also laid out Lynch after the match to set up a three-way program.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
The eight-man tag match that was previously planned for tonight’s NXT is now off. Instead, a four-way tag team match between MSK, Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams, Grizzled Young Veterans, and Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen will take place. Mei Ying vs. Indi Hartwell has also been added.
A number of wrestlers were not drafted following the conclusion of the 2021 WWE Draft last night on Raw. Those wrestlers include Asuka, Bayley, Elias, Eva Marie, Gran Metalik, Lacey Evans, Lince Dorado, Shane Thorne, Titus O’Neil, John Cena, and Shane McMahon. Per the rules of the draft, they are now free agents and can sign with the brand of their choosing.
Dana Brooke commented on the reaction to Corey Graves’ comments regarding her on Raw. Writing on Instagram: “You cannot entertain everything regardless if its INDIRECT or DIRECT! Let people do what they do best. TALK. Ya’ll act like ya’ll gone die because somebody said something about you. IT IS NOT THAT DEEP! You cannot stop and throw stones at every dog that barks. ONCE you entertain a clown, you BECOME ONE.
Matches taped for WWE Main Event include Karrion Kross vs. Ricochet and T-Bar & Mace against The Viking Raiders.
Escape the Undertaker, an interactive WWE film featuring Undertaker and The New Day, is now available for streaming on Netflix.
Big E talked to ComicBook about filming the new movie, while also talking about becoming the WWE Champion. When asked if he has had the chance to take in the moment, Big E replied “A little bit. I’m not sure it’s entirely sunken in yet. It’s still very cool. As much as I think I’m ready for this, and I feel very confident in that in many ways, and I keep saying this but, in many ways, I still harken back to being a failed former football player who took this job on a whim. I’m just a guy who likes being obnoxious, doing splits in rings and making people laugh. For some reason, they took me seriously enough to put me in this position. That is pretty cool. But yeah, it’s only been a couple weeks, maybe a little over a couple weeks, but it’s been, I think it’s been a good start. Like you said, man, already, in these few weeks, we’ve done stuff. We’ve had a tag match, a dream match with The Bloodline, a triple threat that you could also, that’s a WrestleMania caliber match with Roman (Reigns) and Bobby (Lashley) and, like you said, the cage match with Bobby.I feel like I’ve had four months’ worth of programs and pay-per-view caliber matches in a few weeks, but I’ve had a lot of fun doing it. It’s been a lot of work, as they tell you, with interviews and media, but it’s been fun, man, and everyone’s been so kind. I’m trying my best not to squirm and bristle and deflect with the compliments. I’m trying to do a better job accepting my flowers. So, it’s been really cool to have so many people be so kind, and it’s been a good start so far.”
AEW’s Road to Dynamite for this week, focusing on the Sammy Guevara vs. Bobby Fish TNT title match and Hikaru Shida looking for her 50th AEW win.
GCW owner Brett Lauderdale on Twitter: “I try not to be that guy but sometimes there are exceptions. I will be making a major announcement, the biggest announcement in GCW history, on Saturday in Atlantic City at #MOXvsGAGE.”
ABC 6 in Philadelphia has a story on Bryan Danielson prior to Dynamite heading to the area on Wednesday. He talked about the differences between AEW and WWE. I mean there’s a litany of differences. But I think this is one of the things that drew me to AEW and why I kind of wanted to come to AEW: It’s that AEW is a wrestling-first company; it’s a wrestling company for wrestling fans. Sometimes WWE is more just based on general entertainment where they want to reach as many casual viewers as possible, where I think AEW is like ‘hey, if you love wrestling, here’s this.’ But also even if you’re not a wrestling fan, we’re putting on wrestling, and the wrestling itself is going to bring you in. If you were to do a comparison just watching the shows, you’ll see that there’s a lot more wrestling in the two hours of Dynamite than there is even in a three-hour WWE Raw. Sometimes there’s more wrestling on an AEW Dynamite show than there is in RAW and SmackDown combined. So that’s one of the things that drew me to it because as a fan, when I was in high school everybody loved the Rock and (‘Stone Cold’) Steve Austin. They were my least favorite people because all they did was talk.
Britt Baker was a guest on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette. Baker said that Adam Cole had told her that WWE was interested in her. “It’s no secret because he’s [Adam Cole] already said it by now so cat’s out of the bag, I’m not gonna get in trouble — that WWE was definitely poking the bear a little bit through him recently, when I was still signed with AEW,” she said (h/t Post Wrestling). You know, ‘Let Britt know we’re really interested in her.’ Without teetering the lines of contract tampering, they definitely let me know they had interest in me but, wasn’t a mutual thing. I’m very happy at AEW and very content and thankful for all the opportunities I’ve had there and this is where I wanna stay.”
A tornado tag match is set to take place on next week’s episode of NXT.
Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher will face off with The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) in a tornado tag match on NXT next Tuesday. The match was announced after a challenge that was issued by The Grizzled Young Veterans on tonight’s NXT.
The Grizzled Young Veterans were in action on NXT tonight, facing August Grey & Ikemen Jiro. During the match, Ciampa and Thatcher came out to ringside and watched on from steel chairs. The Grizzled Young Veterans were momentarily distracted but still got the win.
After the match, The Grizzled Young Veterans reiterated that they’re done with Ciampa & Thatcher and are focused on MSK’s NXT Tag Team titles. Ciampa said The Grizzled Young Veterans won’t be getting a title shot unless they go through Ciampa & Thatcher first. Ciampa and Thatcher threw their chairs toward Gibson & Drake.
The Grizzled Young Veterans then challenged Ciampa & Thatcher to a tornado tag match for next week. Ciampa & Thatcher accepted the challenge and went to go after The Grizzled Young Veterans, but Gibson and Drake bailed out of the ring.
Ciampa & Thatcher defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans when they faced off on NXT last month. Two weeks later, interference by The Grizzled Young Veterans led to Ciampa & Thatcher losing a match against Legado del Fantasma’s Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde.
Next Tuesday’s NXT will be the post-TakeOver: In Your House edition of the show. TakeOver: In Your House is taking place this Sunday.
A new match has been added to the lineup for this week’s NXT.
WWE has announced that Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher will face The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) on NXT this Tuesday night. Both teams have stated that they want to challenge MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) for the NXT Tag Team titles.
On NXT last week, The Grizzled Young Veterans cut a promo calling themselves the leaders that the NXT tag team division needs. Gibson said they’re soon to be recognized as the next NXT Tag Team Champions. Ciampa & Thatcher then interrupted The Grizzled Young Veterans. Ciampa & Thatcher also wanted to challenge MSK for the NXT Tag Team titles. The segment ended with Ciampa & Thatcher attacking Gibson & Drake.
The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Ciampa & Thatcher when they faced off in the men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic semifinals earlier this year. MSK defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans in the finals of the tournament.
Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch had to relinquish the NXT Tag Team titles this March due to Burch suffering a separated shoulder. MSK then defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans and Legado del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde) in a triple threat match at NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver last month to win the titles.
Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Mendoza & Wilde) defeated Kushida & MSK in the main event of last week’s NXT. Mendoza pinned MSK’s Carter to get the win.
Here’s the updated lineup for this Tuesday’s episode:
Finn Balor returns for the first time since losing the NXT Championship to Karrion Kross at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver
Street fight: NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon defend against Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell
Falls count anywhere match: Leon Ruff vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans
A pair of former Rascalz are the winners of the men’s 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
In the finals of the men’s Dusty Classic, MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) defeated The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day tonight. As the men’s Dusty Classic winners, MSK will get a future shot at Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch’s NXT Tag Team titles.
MSK debuted for NXT in this year’s Dusty Classic. They defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott & Jake Atlas in the first round, Drake Maverick & Killian Dain in the quarterfinals, Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde) in the semifinals, and The Grizzled Young Veterans in the finals.
It was announced in December that MSK (former Rascalz Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) had signed with WWE. Their farewell match for Impact Wrestling aired in November.
MSK are the sixth team to win the men’s Dusty Classic since it was first introduced in 2015. Finn Balor & Samoa Joe, The Authors of Pain, Undisputed Era’s Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly, Aleister Black & Ricochet, and Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne won the tournament in previous years.
The finals of the first-ever women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic also took place at TakeOver: Vengeance Day tonight. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez defeated Shotzi Blackheart & Ember Moon in the finals and will get a future shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles, which are currently held by Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler.
The first two teams have advanced to the semifinals of the 2021 men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
The quarterfinals of the tournament kicked off with The Grizzled Young Veterans defeating Kushida & Leon Ruff and MSK defeating Drake Maverick & Killian Dain on this week’s NXT. The Grizzled Young Veterans will face either Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Roderick Strong) or Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher in the semifinals. MSK will face either Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado or Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde).
The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Ever-Rise in the first round of the men’s Dusty Classic.
MSK made their WWE debut by defeating Isaiah “Swerve” Scott & Jake Atlas in the first round of the tournament. The former Rascalz members (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz) are now using the names Wes Lee & Nash Carter.
The quarterfinals of the men’s Dusty Classic will conclude with Cole & Strong vs. Ciampa & Thatcher and Metalik & Dorado vs. Mendoza & Wilde both taking place on NXT next Wednesday.
The Team that wins the men’s Dusty Classic will receive the Dusty Cup and a shot at Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch’s NXT Tag Team titles.
WWE has announced the first two matches for the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
This year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will begin with Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & Roderick Strong) vs. Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) and The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) vs. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker & Matt Martel) taking place on NXT next Wednesday (January 13).
WWE has yet to reveal the full list of teams and the bracket for this year’s Dusty Classic. On tonight’s New Year’s Evil episode of NXT, it was announced that Curt Stallion & August Grey, Killian Dain & Drake Maverick, Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner), Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde), and Johnny Gargano & Austin Theory will also be taking part in the tournament.
The team that wins the tournament will receive the Dusty Cup and a shot at the NXT Tag Team titles. Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch are the current NXT Tag Team Champions.
The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic first took place in 2015. With the exception of 2017, the tournament has been held every year since then. It was announced on New Year’s Evil that the first-ever women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will be taking place soon.
Finn Balor & Samoa Joe, The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar), Undisputed Era’s Cole & Kyle O’Reilly, Aleister Black & Ricochet, and Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne are the teams that have previously won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
WWE has added three matches to the lineup for the final NXT episode of 2020.
After returning to NXT television last week and attacking NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai, Mercedes Martinez will return to action on NXT tonight. Her opponent for the show hasn’t been announced.
Bronson Reed vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott will kick off NXT tonight. Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) has also been added to the episode.
Reed returned to the ring on NXT last week and quickly defeated Ashante “Thee” Adonis. Scott was also victorious last Wednesday, defeating Jake Atlas in what was a rematch after Atlas had defeated him earlier this month. Scott used a headbutt during the match and then hit the Confidence Boost to get the win. Scott — who had declined a handshake from Atlas after their previous match — then offered Atlas a handshake. Atlas left the ring and didn’t accept the handshake.
WWE has also announced that tonight’s NXT will feature a special look at the history between Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez ahead of their Last Woman Standing match at New Year’s Evil next Wednesday. Here’s the updated card for tonight’s show:
NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano defends against Leon Ruff
Roderick Strong vs. Pete Dunne
Mercedes Martinez returns to action
Breezango vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans
A special look at the history between Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez
The announcement of the 2020 NXT year-end award winners
Bronson Reed vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (will kick off tonight’s show)
Former NXT UK Tag Team Champions The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) made their return to WWE television on Wednesday night.
As Ever-Rise (Chase Parker & Matt Martel) were in the ring for a match on this week’s episode of NXT, Gibson and Drake attacked them from behind. Gibson then cut a promo and announced that The Grizzled Young Veterans are back in NXT. Gibson declared that they’re soon to be recognized as NXT’s number one.
Gibson and Drake continued their attack by laying out Parker after Gibson’s promo. Martel had already been thrown out of the ring.
This was Gibson & Drake’s first appearance on WWE TV since March. They had already made their way to NXT US and said they were coming after the NXT Tag Team titles before plans were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gibson & Drake made it to the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic earlier this year before being defeated by tournament winners Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne.
Gibson & Drake were the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions, winning the titles in January 2019 and losing them in August of that year.
The winners of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will be crowned on tonight’s episode of NXT.
Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne will take on The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) in the Dusty Classic finals. In addition to winning the Dusty Cup, the team that wins tonight’s finals will challenge Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish for the NXT Tag Team titles at TakeOver: Portland on February 16.
Riddle & Dunne defeated Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster and Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) in the first two rounds of the tournament, while The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Alex Shelley & Kushida and O’Reilly & Fish.
A grudge match between Tegan Nox and Dakota Kai is also advertised for tonight, WWE is hyping that NXT Champion Adam Cole’s challenger for TakeOver: Portland will be revealed, and Robert Stone has said that Chelsea Green will be in action.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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The show opened with a video recap of Worlds Collide in Houston from this past weekend. Mauro Ranallo, Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuiness are the announcers for tonight’s show. Beth Phoenix spoke briefly about Edge’s return at the Royal Rumble on Sunday.
Finn Balor defeated Trent Seven
They showed a clip of an angle shot last night at Raw. As Seven was getting into his car, Balor snuck up on Seven and threatened him for “sticking his nose” in Balor’s business.
Before Seven could get to the ring, Balor took Seven out with a baseball slide dropkick before the bell. Once the match started, Balor continued pummeling Seven in and out of the ring for a bit.
Seven countered after a few minutes with an inside cradle for two, Balor put him back on the mat with a Slingblade. It was around here where NXT cut to a commerical while the match continued in the left inset screen.
Balor looked to take most of the offense during the break, but Seven was back by the time we were back. He laid in some nasty chops that left Balor with a bright red chest, then landed the Acid Rainmaker for two. When Seven went to the top turnbuckle, Balor clipped his knee and knocked him to the mat. Balor used the Coup de Grace diving double-stomp and followed up with 1916 for the win. Good match that builds Balor’s angle for Takeover in Portland in a few weeks. Balor has been excellent in his heel role recently.
The Broserweights were interviewed by Cathy Kelley next. Dunne said he was going to break Gibson, and Riddle mentioned he’d show why Dunne is the “life of the party,” which got laughs.
Next was a quick preview video of Dakota Kai vs. Tegan Nox’s bout for later on in the evening.
Shotzi Blackheart defeated Deonna Purazzo
Short match. Blackheart came out in a small tank and a battle helmet type thing. When Purazzo came out, she waved off the tank, now parked atop the entrance.
Purazzo worked over Blackheart’s left arm early on. When Blackheart went for a flying armdrag, Purazzo blocked it and continued targeting Blackheart’s arm. There were a number of chants for Shotzi in this. She landed a Question Mark Kick (Arisa Hoshiki’s Brazilian Kick), then went to the top and landed a diving senton for the win. It was short but OK, and Blackheart sounds to be popular with the Full Sail crowd.
Next up was another video package of from NXT vs. NXT UK from Worlds Collide last Saturday.
Keith Lee walked to the ring for a promo next. The crowd sang and chanted for him as the announce team explained how he “stopped” Brock Lesnar at the Rumble this weekend. The crowd chanted “you deserve it” at Lee for winning the NXT North American title. Lee has a great voice and should be on the mic as much as possible.
Before Lee could announce his next challenger for the title, Punishment Martinez’s music hit. Inside the ring, he held the mic upside, for some reason, and talked about how he gets what he wants, which is the North American title. He said all he needed to know is how Lee was going to give the belt to him. On cue, Dominic Dijakovic’s music hit. Dijakovic got in the ring and implied that because of the past between he and Lee, referring to the PWG matches back in 2017, that he deserves the first shot at the title, not the ” bootleg Marilyn Manson,” referring to Martinez. As Lee left the ring, Martinez and Dijokovic got into it, and within moments a ref was in the ring and we had a match.
Dominic Dijakovic defeated Damian Priest
Dijakovic landed a springboard splash from the middle of the second rope moments after the bell, but Priest recovered and used a Razor’s Edge onto the apron to take Dijakovic out before the next commercial break.
After commercials, we saw Dijokovic use a release vertical suplex on Priest. He used a chokeslam into a Liger Bomb for two, then an Asai moonsault to the floor. Priest did a flip dive to the floor. They landed simultaneous high kicks and were out for a few. Priest used an avalanche reverse frankensteiner off the top rope. He’s 6’5″, Dijokovic is 6’7″, in case you’re wondering. Dijakovic kicked out of that and ultimately used his modified GTS to put Priest away.
The crowd really enjoyed this but what it was, at its core, were two huge, athletic guys doing crazy moves. Not much selling, plus the audience at home couldn’t see half the match. But again, the crowd sounded to enjoy it.
After cutting to a brief segment with the Grizzled Young Veterans ahead of the Dusty Rhodes Classic match later on.
Tomasso Ciampa told Cathey Kelly that “Goldie’s coming home,” referring to the NXT Championship. When NXT returned from commercials, we saw most members of the Undisputed Era laid out backstage with Ciampa standing over them. People chanted “Daddy’s home.” Ciampa brought a table with him and brought it into the ring and spraypainted a yellow X onto it.
Adam Cole found his unit laid out and then ran out to the ring to confront Ciampa. Cole asked Ciampa if he was supposed to feel sorry because he was injured. Ciampa said Cole’s belt belong’s to him, “Daddy.” Ciampa then said he was going to take back the title, and his life, in Portland at Takeover. He also said he was going to power bomb Cole through the X he made on the table in the ring.
William Regal came out and said that while Ciampa was taking out the Undisputed Era backstage, he was with Cole signing a contract for Takeover, and Cole didn’t care who his opponent was. Cole went into the ring after this to confront Ciampa, who tried taking Cole out ate a shot to the head with a microphone, which looked to have busted the top of Ciampa’s head open. Ciampa then power bombed Cole through the table, then noticed the blood on his head and smeared it down Cole’s NXT title contract. Great visual.
They plugged Bianca Blair’s Women’s Rumble appearance over the weekend, where she was the number two entry. She’ll have a segment with Rhea Ripley on next week’s TV.
New NXT Cruiserweight champion Jordan Devlin will also be in attendance next week, and they showed a few clips of his title win from Worlds Collide this past weekend in his fatal four-way against Angel Garza, Isaiah Scott and Travis Banks.
Tegan Nox defeated Dakota Kai
Kai had the video footage of her turning on Nox in November at Takeover. Nox went after Kai with her kneebrace right at the bell and the two began brawling around ringside early on, setting a nice grudge match feel from the top. Kai took Nox out with a huge Yakuza kick and then grabbed a chair but wasn’t able to use it, ultimately; before Kai went to smash Nox with said chair, Candace LeRae came out and took the chair from her. Kai, now flustered, got back into the ring and ate another kneebrace shot, followed by her finish, the Shiniest Wizard, for the win. This was great for what it was, but it was way too short. It felt like this was a teaser for a rematch over the next few weeks. All said, though, it was a good, quick brawl.
A mysterious vignette aired for something happening on 2/5/20.
Kayden Carter defeated Chelsea Green (w/ Robert Stone)
I’m positive Kayden Carter was announced as being from Florida not long ago. She’s from the Phillippines now. Ranallo mentioned on commentary that she was trained by Lance Storm and mentioned her working overseas before arriving in NXT.
This was basically Green working over Carter until she lost focus for a split second, which is when Carter scored the upset win over Green with an inside cradle. This was Carter’s first win in NXT, announcers claimed.
I like the idea of this angle, both for Green’s and Carter’s trajectories , but the one glaring takeway here was how inexperienced Carter was. None of what she did looked too practiced. Robert Stone played little to no role in this, either. Green could probably get over on her own.
Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (Zach Gibson & James Drake) to win the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic finals
Respect to Nigel McGuiness for his usage of “ad hoc” on an American pro wrestling television broadcast. I think that was a first. You could hear one fan shouted “GRIZZLED YOUNG A**HOLES” before they got started. All four rotated in and out early in this. Dunne did a moonsault off the apron onto Gibson, but just a moment later Gibson had Dunne up in a tombstone piledriver when Drake came down with a pescado, assissting with the piledriver, spiking him. They whipped Dunne into the ringpost when the show cut to advertisements.
We saw Dunne using an X-plex on Drake the show came back. Dunne tagged out to Riddle who went through a series of impressive spots. The crowd often chanted “Riddle’s gonna smoke you” while he was in the ring. Dunne and Riddle used a power bomb w/ knee strike combo on Drake for a two-count. Riddle tried a double kneestrike on both Vets, though he definitely whiffed in trying to make contact with Drake.
Gibson and Riddle jawjacked and exchanged hard palm strikes. After Drake kicked out of Riddle Final Flash knee strike, all four were laid out. Gibson and Dunne later mixed it up with hard palm strikes. The action slowed a bit as NXT readied for another commercial.
During the break, it looked like GYV was again getting the better of Dunne. Gibson hoisted Dunne onto his shoulders, and when Drake went for a flying attack from the top, Dunne blocked it with an elbow, then used a victory roll for two. Drake dove to the floor and took Riddle out; Gibson landed a nasty-looking backcracker and then put him in his Shankly Gates submission until Riddle broke things up, launching Drake into Gibson.
There were tons of insane spots over the last ten minutes of this, and it really culminated when they did a Doomsday Device on the floor, with Drake diving through the ropes to take Riddle out. Drake hit a 450 for two. The Broserweights did a double dive, with Dunne to the floor and Riddle into the ring with his Floating Bro twisting senton. They finished Drake off with a super GTS to put GYV out, finally. Your 2020 Dusty Cup winners are Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne: The Broserweights.
Final thoughts
There’s no doubt that the main event was the match of the night, hands down. One of the best matches of the month so far, I’d argue. They went quite long, about 20–25 minutes, at least, but the commercial breaks often disrupted the flow of the match. That’s TV, though. Gibson and Drake were outstanding in this, as were Dunne and Riddle.
The rest of show was good. The balance between action and promo time felt right. It’s notable there was no overrun tonight and the show ended right at 10 P.M. ET, likely to do with latest episode of Miz & Mrs that aired on USA next.
Taped on April 19 at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow, Scotland.
Quick results —
A number of qualifying matches for a fatal four-way were announced, with the eventual winner getting the next shot at WALTER’s WWE United Kingdom Championship. Joe Coffey pinned Flash Morgan Webster in the first qualifier.
Moustache Mountain defeated The Hunt in a fun opener, and Nina Samuels quickly beat Kasey Owens. In the main event, The Grizzled Young Veterans successfully defended the NXT UK Tag Team titles against Kenny Williams and his surprise partner, Noam Dar, who replaced an injured Amir Jordan.
We never saw who injured Jordan, but it was strongly hinted it might have been the tag champs. We also got a glimpse at Pete Dunne training for his title rematch against WALTER, which will air in two weeks.
Full rundown —
The show opened with Sid Scala announcing a four-way match in four weeks to determine the next contender for the WWE UK Championship, which will either still be held by WALTER, or his challenger, former champion Pete Dunne.
Vic Joseph also said that the WALTER vs. Dunne rematch would air in two weeks.
Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) defeated The Hunt (Primate & Wild Boar) in 7:23
Primate ran wild early on Seven, but he managed to come back, throw Primate to the outside, and follow up with a dive on both members of The Hunt. Primate, none the worse for wear, went for a middle rope exploder on Seven right away once he was back inside.
The Hunt worked Seven over until he managed the hot tag to Bate. Bate hit a number of European uppercuts, an overhead belly-to-back suplex, and a running Shooting Star Press, then followed up with the airplane spin, eventually even throwing Wild Boar onto Primate.
Seven was back in and took over, but the Burning Hammer/flying knee combo was thwarted, resulting in The Hunt taking over once more. But a small mistake was all Moustache Mountain needed to hit a combined dragon suplex/springboard lariat for the win.
– Cameras went backstage for some breaking news, showing Kenny Williams helping an obviously injured Amir Jordan to the trainer’s room
Qualifying match for number one contender’s fatal four-way: Joe Coffey pinned Flash Morgan Webster in 6:05
Since they were in Glasgow, Coffey was super over with the crowd, who chanted “Let’s Go, Coffey!”
Coffey started out strong, sending Webster to the mat, then locking in a tight headlock. Webster actually got some boos when he got on a headlock of his own.
Webster took over with a springboard dropkick on Coffey while he was on the apron, then hit a standing somersault senton. Coffey smashed Webster into the corner a few times, then did his butterfly swing into a butterfly suplex. They went back and forth and Webster hit an impressive running body block onto Coffey, who was in the ropes and both men tumbled to the outside.
After another dive and the Rude Boy Block, Webster hit a knee strike for a near fall. Coffey hit a running pounce into the corner, then followed up with Best for the Bells for the win.
After the match, Gallus came out and did an in-ring promo, talking about how this was their kingdom. They said they ran this city, just as they run NXT UK. Wolfgang called out Dave Mastiff for next week, but the rest of the team held him back and told him to calm down and said they should focus on the fatal four-way instead.
– A video of Dunne training at the UK Performance Center for his rematch against WALTER aired.
– A video hyped the debut of Ilja Dragunov for next week.
Nina Samuels pinned Kasey Owens in 2:47
Samuels started beating Owens up right away and punished her with some submission attempts. Owens briefly came back with some striking offense and even scored a near fall. Samuels quickly came back with a tilt-a-whirl-backbreaker, doing further damage to Owens’ lower back. She followed up with the Nina Goroshi for the win.
Radzi Chinyanganya interviewed Samuels in the ring after the match. She cut an insincere promo about how Toni Storm deserves to live her dream, then talked about how Storm abandoned her struggling single mother and her baby sister, just so she could live her rock and roll lifestyle.
– Dave Mastiff talked with some media representatives. He said that he would destroy Gallus’ kingdom next week when he takes on Wolfgang. As he was wrapping up, Kay Lee Ray walked up and vowed no one in NXT UK would forget the name Kay Lee Ray ever again.
– A highlight video for next week’s Ligero vs. Jordan Devlin and Dave Mastiff vs. Wolfgang qualifying matches aired.
NXT UK Tag Team Champions Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) defeated Kenny Williams & Noam Dar in 13:28 to retain their titles
Before the match, Gibson cut a promo, claiming he heard that Amir Jordan was injured. So unfortunately, there would be no Tag Team title match tonight and he was very disappointed. He told the fans to get their shoes back on and head home.
As Gibson kept talking, Williams’ entrance music started and he came out. He also had a mic in hand and confirmed that Jordan was injured. He said there still would be a title match tonight. This brought out Noam Dar as Williams’ partner — and the fans cheered for their countryman.
Dar and Williams stormed the ring and attacked the Veterans, sending them scurrying to ringside. The two teams brawled around ringside. Dar and Gibson ended up back in the ring and Dar hit a dropkick, then followed with a Northern Lights suplex for a near fall, while Williams and Drake still fought on the outside.
The champs then took over, singling out Dar and focusing on his previously injured knee. Drake caught Dar from leaping off to a hot tag, then locked in another kneebar.
Dar finally managed the hot tag and Williams ran wild, hitting a springboard reverse body press on Drake, then drove his head into the turnbuckle. He thwarted an attack by Gibson, hit his wrecking ball dropkick on Gibson on the outside, then skinned the cat back inside. Drake caught him on that, but Williams was able to turn it into a DDT. Williams then hit an impressive springboard Pepsi Plunge to the outside on both members of the Grizzled Young veterans. He hit a top rope elbow on Drake for a close two count.
Dar and Gibson both tagged back in. Dar tripped Gibson and locked in a kneebar, but Gibson managed to tag out to Drake. They went to double team Dar, but Williams pulled Gibson to the outside and Dar locked in another kneebar while Williams had Gibson in an ankle lock.
Gibson finally managed to escape and free Drake as well. An enzuigiri by Dar later, all four men were down again. Dar managed to cradle Drake for another near fall, but Drake kicked out and locked in a single-leg Boston crab. Dar was about to tap out, but Williams caught his hand and — seconds later — kicked Drake, forcing him to release the hold.
Gibson and Williams traded offense and Dar sacrificed himself to take a codebreaker by Gibson off the second rope. Williams rolled through on Gibson for another close near fall.
As Dar was looking to finish the match, Drake pulled him to the outside and slammed his knee into the ring post. Drake blind-tagged in and hit a running dropkick onto Williams as Gibson held him in the corner. Gibson then hit Helter Skelter, followed by a 450 by Drake for the win.
Next week —
Two fatal four-way qualifiers take place, as Dave Mastiff faces Wolfgang and Jordan Devlin meets Ligero. Also, the debut of Ilja Dragunov on NXT UK TV.
