As the strong working relationship between the two companies continues, another WWE-contracted wrestler will be appearing for ICW next weekend.
ICW announced today that Kassius Ohno will be challenging Joe Coffey for their World Heavyweight Championship at the O2 Academy in Newcastle on September 17th. The cameo in ICW will be the first time the former Chris Hero has wrestled outside of a WWE ring since returning to NXT earlier this year.
Ohno tweeted about facing Coffey again: “Finally. Two years in the making, it’s the Knockout Artist vs. the Iron Man, round #3. Elbow? Or Lariat? See you on the 17th, @Joe_Coffey”
There will be representation from some of WWE’s UK talent on the show as well, with the British Strong Style team of Tyler Bate & Trent Seven challenging The Marauders for their tag titles and Wolfgang facing Kid Fite.
Noam Dar previously appeared for ICW in July as he returned to the promotion to team with Sha Samuels against Coffey & Bram. Pete Dunne also defended his WWE United Kingdom Championship on that show, defeating Trent Seven, Wolfgang, and BT Gunn in a four-way match.
Gargano was super over as a babyface. Dream was booed initially, but the crowd turned around on him as they had a great match. Gargano sold for a while before making his comeback. There was some quick back and forth that ended with Velveteen Dream missing his top rope elbow drop and Gargano putting him in the Gargano Escape for the win.
– Ruby Riot defeated Mandy Rose
Rose was pretty over here despite not getting TV time, but the crowd loved Riot. Rose has seemed to improve a lot and they did some good back and forth. Rose started trash talking and saying that Riot would never look like her, then the finish came out of nowhere as Riot hit her up-kick for the victory.
– Roderick Strong defeated Hideo Itami
They had an awesome match, doing hard-hitting chops, kicks, forearms, and elbows. The audience was really into Strong, though Itami didn’t get much of a heel response. Itami went for the GTS, then Strong got out of it and hit the End of Heartache for the win.
– Aleister Black & Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas & Cezar Bononi
Black and McIntyre got huge reactions. Almas got a bit of a reaction and Bononi didn’t get much. The heel team acted as reluctant tag partners and refused to tag the other in.
The match started slow, but the crowd was into it by the end. Almas and Bononi agreed to work together and got the heat on Black, which led to him making a comeback and getting the hot tag to McIntyre. McIntyre backdropped Black to the top so that he could hit his moonsault to the floor on Almas, with McIntyre hitting the Claymore Kick on Bononi for the win.
Black and McIntyre celebrated as McIntyre got huge babyface love from the crowd.
– McIntyre talked to Kassius Ohno about beating Bobby Roode in their upcoming match during a backstage segment after intermission.
– Ember Moon defeated Sonya Deville
Deville seemed to still be really green. Moon hit The Eclipse to win.
– SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) defeated Heavy Machinery
Heavy Machinery were super over, with Otis Dozovic wearing a Reggie White Packers jersey. Him and Tucker Knight put their opponents in bear hugs early on as each one got a bigger pop. That led to chants of “Bear Hug City.”
This was a fun match. The heels got the heat on Dozovic until Knight got a hot tag. Killian Dain took off a top turnbuckle pad during the match, which played into the finish. Dozovic was going for a Vader Bomb on Wolfe when Young yanked his foot and his head hit the exposed buckle. Wolfe then rolled him up for the win.
– NXT Champion Bobby Roode defeated Kassius Ohno to retain his title
Both guys were over and they had a great back-and-forth match. It started with mat wrestling early on as Ohno got the best of it. Roode tried to take the belt and leave, but Ohno went after him.
Ohno went for his hurricane kick at one point, but Roode moved out of the way and Ohno hit the ref. Ohno hit the rolling elbow for a visual three count, then Roode kicked out at two as a second ref came in. The second ref went to check on the first one, allowing Roode to low blow Ohno and hit the Glorious DDT for the win.
Ohno cut a promo after the match saying that he was fired three years ago, but he never gave up on himself. He noted that he beat Roode in a tag match the previous night in Milwaukee and almost beat him at this show. He said that he will never quit until he’s NXT Champion.
The crowd was strongly behind Strong throughout the match and chanted his name multiple times. Velveteen Dream wore a Chicago Cubs shirt to the ring to draw heat. The crowd was very engaged, with this being a good way to start the card. There was a quick pace to the match and both wrestlers were very crisp.
– Ruby Riot & Liv Morgan defeated Sonya Deville & Bianca Belair
There wasn’t much of a response for Deville or Belair, though Morgan got a decent pop and Riot was the clear crowd favorite. They had a standard tag match, with the heels cornering Morgan until she made a hot tag to Riot. Riot pinned Belair to get the victory.
– Johnny Gargano defeated Killian Dain
Gargano was obviously hugely over, with the crowd chanting “Johnny Wrestling” for him on multiple occasions. Dain didn’t draw much heat but did well in playing the part of the intimidating heel. They had a good match, though the crowd was desperate for Gargano to pull off more high-risk moves.
– Aleister Black defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
Black got a huge pop during his entrance. The match had a lot of hard striking from Black and Almas playing his arrogant heel persona. The audience was quieter for this than the first two singles matches, but they popped hard for Black doing his moonsault from the middle rope. He eventually hit Black Mass to win.
– SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) defeated Heavy Machinery
Heavy Machinery were over with the crowd, getting chants of “we want bear hugs” quite often. SAnitY isolated Otis Dozovic for much of this one as Young drew a lot of heat from the crowd. Young pinned Tucker Knight for the finish, then Heavy Machinery got a large ovation as they made their exit.
– Ember Moon defeated Mandy Rose
Moon was extremely over here. The crowd chanted for her as soon as she entered the ring, though Rose didn’t get much of a reaction. Both performers put on a good match and got a fairly equal amount of offense. Moon won by submission.
Roode got the biggest pop of the night for his entrance, which wasn’t much of a surprise. The quality of the match exceeded everything else on the show as well. Itami got in tons of really stiff looking strikes on Ohno, with the crowd popping for them. McIntyre got the least time in the ring out of the four.
The crowd was super engaged from start to finish. While Itami was down outside of the ring, McIntyre made a quick tag to Ohno, who finished off Roode and got the pin. Roode grabbed the mic and called Ohno a fluke after the match, challenging him to a title match at their show in Green Bay on Friday.
Roode then made some disparaging comments about Milwaukee and left.
The Big News: Kassius Ohno took a hard kick to the groin, getting a disqualification win over Hideo Itami in the process.
The Medium News: After destroying former TNA Knockout Lei’D Tapa, Ember Moon was officially named number one contender and will face Asuka at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.
The Little Beaver-sized News: SAnitY confronted The Authors of Pain and got their butts kicked.
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Ember Moon defeated Lei’D Tapa
Lei’D Tapa becomes the most recent former TNA employee to appear on NXT television, as she went one-on-one with the woman who is arguably the top contender to the reigning, defending, undisputed NXT Women’s Champion, Asuka, Ember Moon.
Tapa came out strong and fast, but Moon quickly turned things into her advantage, using, among other things, a tornado vertical suplex, and she picked up the win in less than two minutes with The Eclipse. This match almost lasted as long as Tapa’s run in TNA.
Moon grabbed the mic after the match and declared that she wanted Asuka at TakeOver: Brooklyn. She announced that she is standing right here and will give Asuka all that she desires in regards to a worthy challenger and competition.
Moon said she is not afraid and she will defeat the undefeated Empress of Tomorrow, closing up by asking Asuka if she was ready for Ember Moon.
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Roderick Strong went to Twitter after he lost his title match and told Bobby Roode that that was not the last he’ll see of Strong.
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We got an Aleister Black video package.
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Up next, the undefeated, undisputed, NXT Tag Team Champions, The Authors of Pain were scheduled to destroy Timothy Bumpers & David Ramos. However, it never quite got that far.
Nikki Cross met AOP on the ramp and stood in front of them as Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain stormed to the ring through the crowd and destroyed AOP’s intended opponents. Akam and Rezar stomped to the ring and we had a brawl between the four men.
The SAnitY duo got a brief flurry, but ultimately the tag team champions stood tall, making Dain and Wolfe slink off. Wolfe did cackle at them from the ramp, but this is far from over.
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The Street Profits cut another Snapchat promo. For the first time we actually got names for them. If you read the NXT live event reports you already know this, but for those who don’t, they are Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. Dawkins used to be an NXT jobber and was best remembered as the guy who wore two headbands for some reason.
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Two months ago, Andrade “Cien” Almas lost to Cezar Bononi but did not care until last week. Thea Trinidad was given the name of Zelina Vega. Anyway, No Way Jose chased off Almas last week, which led to a confrontation between Jose and Vega earlier today when he was arriving at the arena.
Vega said she admired Jose, but unfortunately for him he got involved in her and Almas’ business and he cannot dance around the fire that he just set.
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Velveteen Dream defeated Cezar Bononi
Bononi won one match two months ago, lost a second match last week, and now has his own music and titantron. I guess losing to Jose is the equivalent of paying your dues?
Bononi looked really good here. He has great size, power, and is a heck of an athlete. Despite all that, he got dropped with a rolling Death Valley Driver and the Purple Rainmaker for the pin.
Kayla Braxton tried to interview Velveteen Dream after the match, but he refused to do so in front of the ugliness of the fans. If you recall, Dream wouldn’t cut promos previously because of the horrible ambiance of the backstage area. So the stage has terrific ambiance, if only they had better looking fans, I guess?
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William Regal was backstage and he made Asuka vs. Ember Moon official for NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn.
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We were then joined by Drew McIntyre, who is the number one contender and is headed to Brooklyn to challenge Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship in just a little over three weeks. McIntyre won last week against Killian Dain using the Claymore Kick.
McIntyre said he doesn’t go backwards and is not concentrating on his previous failures. He said it wasn’t until he was gone from WWE that he woke up and realized he needed to be the hardest worker in the entire world. He grew and became more successful. Every company he went to became bigger and better in part because of his hard work. That hard work brought him back to NXT.
He said everyone in NXT are equals and they walk side by side. Everyone…but one. And that one is Bobby Roode. When McIntyre looks in Roode’s eyes he sees the look of entitlement. This is not Bobby Roode’s NXT, this is all the fans’ NXT. McIntyre got the entire crowd on their feet and announced that Roode is not NXT, but we are NXT.
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Roode will reply to Drew McIntyre next week, plus Johnny Gargano will finally return to the ring as he faces off with Raul Mendoza. During the main event they also announced Asuka will finally return.
Speaking of Mendoza, he cut a promo saying he’s been training just as hard as Gargano and maybe next week is not so much about Johnny Gargano, but about Raul Mendoza.
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Kassius Ohno defeated Hideo Itami by DQ
After a night full of two minute matches and promos, it was nice to take a deep seat for the main event. These two have had differences dating back to Itami’s attitude change after losing to Roode at TakeOver: Chicago. Finally, Ohno got tired of listening to Itami’s griping and here we go.
They always say that you will hit your friends harder than you will hit people that you don’t like. With that in mind, these two must be the best of friends. Ohno and Itami did not appear to be pulling much as the sound of flesh on flesh echoed throughout the arena as Itami finally took over by knocking Ohno out of the ring and to the floor.
They chilled out afterwards as a wrestling match broke out. Itami got the heat until diving off the top rope and falling into a chop from Ohno. Ohno literally ran wild with a series of clotheslines and a cyclone boot to the jaw.
Itami battled back and hit a nice corner dropkick to Ohno. He went for a Go to Sleep, but Ohno got out and hit a big boot. Ohno went for a rolling elbow, but Itami…kicked a field goal with Ohno’s groin for the disqualification.
Itami snapped upon learning the decision and destroyed Ohno with kick after kick. Itami laid him out with two different GTS’, and I think their friendship is officially over. Itami dragged Ohno outside the ring and dropped him face-first on the ring steps.
What happened to the Hideo Itami we knew and loved? Maybe we’ll get our answers next week. Until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The Big News: Aleister Black pinned Kassius Ohno in a hard-hitting main event.
The Medium News: In two weeks, on NXT’s 400th episode, Roderick Strong will go for the gold as he challenges the “Glorious” NXT Champion Bobby Roode.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Ember Moon returned to the ring against Peyton Royce.
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Ember Moon defeated Peyton Royce
Moon was “forced” to watch TakeOver: Chicago, which she missed after she injured herself taking a bump on a suicide dive to the floor a few weeks earlier. This was her return from that.
This matchup kind of continues the feud between Moon and the Iconic Duo that got dropped back in March. They had begun a storyline to ban The Eclipse after Billie Kay was injured, but they never followed up on it.
Royce “played possum” and “did her homework” and did a thousand other cliches to stop Moon from squashing her. Ultimately, she distracted the referee just long enough to let Kay interfere on her behalf.
Royce worked on her shoulder through the commercial break. Moon made her comeback and went for The Eclipse, but Kay had seen enough and tried to drag Royce away.
Moon did a dive off the top rope to the floor on Kay, which gave Royce another spurt of offense that culminated in a Widow’s Peak, which got her a two count. Moon sent Royce face-first into the middle turnbuckle and won after The Eclipse.
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Kassius Ohno was stretching backstage when Hideo Itami came up and apologized for being a jerk. Ohno said he completely understood why Itami was frustrated and said they need to do things the right way. Itami agreed.
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Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe defeated Gabriel & Uriel Ealy
The Ealy Brothers are back. They both got destroyed by Samoa Joe in their first appearance and the second time saw them lose to The Authors of Pain. Can they turn things around tonight as they go two-on-two with SAnitY?
The answer was no. EY and Wolfe did that annoying thing where they tag in and out constantly for 30 or 40 seconds, with SAnitY later picking up the win in a boring match with an assisted neckbreaker.
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They aired a recap of the Asuka-Nikki Cross match from last week, which technically ended Asuka’s winning streak since she didn’t actually win the match.
Anyway, this leads to Asuka vs. Cross in a last woman standing match for the NXT Women’s Championship next week.
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A Sonya Deville highlight package aired. At least they aren’t pretending she is brand new, as they showed highlights of her prior matches, dating back almost a year.
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Resistance by Powerflo is the official theme song of NXT. Personally, I think it sounds like a rejected theme for The Ultimate Fighter, but that’s just me.
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Sonya Deville defeated Rachel Evers
If we can be serious for just a minute, Evers returned to be the first official victim to the MMA badass, Sonya Deville. Deville got in the ring and ran around it like she entered the Octagon. She allegedly has a 3-1 record in MMA. Not mentioned was her 0-27 record on TV so far.
Deville got a two count off of a double leg takedown. It helps that Evers appeared to slam her head on the mat on her way down. Evers made a comeback, so Deville took offense, took off her gloves, and won with a double wristlock submission.
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Bobby Roode was having pictures taken of him earlier today when Roderick Strong arrived at the arena with his wife and son. Roode taunted him and told Marina Shafir to be with a real man, so it broke down into a huge fight.
Roode was so mad that he gave Strong a title shot “any time, anywhere.” So in two weeks, on the 400th episode of NXT, it will be Roode vs Strong for the NXT title.
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Aleister Black defeated Kassius Ohno
Ohno was wearing gear inspired after my Chicago Bulls. Specifically, it was inspired by the late-80s Bulls jerseys, which were amazing in their simplicity.
This was the only match all night that had any reaction. Honestly, the crowd did not react to much this entire taping. Even the women’s match last week they didn’t really care until after the match was thrown out.
The match started with grappling and neither man getting the advantage. Finally, Ohno backed him into the corner and delivered a hard chop. Black kicked him in the ribs and the fight was on!
Ohno tried rolling out of the ring to slow Black down, but when he rolled back in he found himself being kicked in every available inch of his body. Ohno bounced off the ropes with a forearm to stop Black’s momentum as we went to commercial long enough to plug the WWE Network.
Back from commercial, Ohno was bruising Black with strikes and crushed him with a running senton. Ohno mocked his foe by meditating mid-match, so Black kicked his back out of his back. They kicked each other in the face quite a bit. If you enjoy watching two men kick each other, this is the match for you.
The finish saw Ohno make his final flurry of offense and wind up with the rolling elbow, but Black took his head off with a Black Mass when he turned around, giving Black the win.
So that does it for this week. Thank you all so much for reading, and we’ll see you next week for episode 399!
The Big News: No Way Jose returned and helped Kassius Ohno & Roderick Strong win the main event over SAnitY.
The Medium News: Tommaso Ciampa blamed the fans for replacing him after his pre-TakeOver injury when explaining why he betrayed Johnny Gargano.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Pete Dunne had an excellent match with Danny Burch.
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Remember the new NXT theme song they debuted two months ago? They already changed it.
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Tommaso Ciampa hobbled down to ringside on crutches to kick the show off. A couple fans chanted “Psycho Killer,” but the crowd mostly chanted “Why Tommaso Why?” When he finally got the mic, Ciampa called out Johnny Gargano before mockingly pointing out that Gargano wasn’t here tonight.
Ciampa said that he has learned more life lessons in the last two weeks than he did in the first 32 years of his life. He said he was injured two days before TakeOver and all he heard was questions about if he would wrestle. It took the fans one day to forget about him and replace him in DIY with all these dream tag team partners. Ciampa let it pass by and decided to fight with his best friend.
He said that during the ladder match he felt something pop and realized there was a problem with his knee. He laid there and decided to keep fighting for these people and for his best friend.
At the end of the night, he looked at his best friend and his brother and he realized that Gargano was just like all these people. Just like all the fans were ready to replace him, so was Gargano. Ciampa refused to let that happen, he refused to become an afterthought.
That’s when he made that decision. It’s not his fault. It’s the fans’ fault. It’s Johnny Gargano’s fault. They had something special and the fans ruined that. If Ciampa was going to go away for a long, long time, so was Gargano. TakeOver: Chicago was supposed to be DIY’s moment, but it wasn’t. Instead, TakeOver: Chicago was Tommaso Ciampa’s moment.
He said that he is a 32-year-old man and this wrestling ring is not replaceable and neither is Ciampa. You know what is replaceable? The fans. They were never necessary. They were replaceable. He promised that when he returns he will be the most dangerous son of a bitch in NXT history and said he is professional wrestling whether you like it or not.
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The announcers said Ciampa needed “major knee surgery” and Johnny Gargano has…something. We still do not have a medical report for him.
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Bobby Roode filmed a promo earlier today and said no one is invited to his Glorious Celebration, so he’s going to come back next week. Great. One thing was promoted for this show and it’s not going to happen.
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WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defeated Danny Burch
Dunne got a superstar reaction coming out, as that match with Bate made him a star. Dunne worked Burch’s fingers, so Burch kicked him right in the hand when he got the chance. Burch looked as good as you can expect for someone with no credibility in NXT.
Pete Dunne is just amazing. He gets near falls with a punch to the face and you believe that they may be the actual finish. We went to commercial and came back with Dunne twisting Burch’s head almost completely around. Burch got a near fall with a hard headbutt, but Dunne used a snap back suplex and hit an Ex-Plex, though Burch kicked out.
Burch turned Dunne outside-in with a clothesline and almost picked up the win with a draping DDT. However, the champ hit a German suplex into the corner and won with The Bitter End.
Dunne cut a promo after the match saying that he had to watch a boy hold a championship since January and it was his pleasure to take the title at TakeOver. He stated that the history of the WWE UK division will officially start with the Bruiserweight owning all of it.
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Kayla Braxton interviewed Velveteen Dream. Dream didn’t like the ambiance so he cut a promo about how he was refusing to cut a promo.
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We had a video package, narrated by Paul Ellering, about the last 365 days of The Authors of Pain and now the Book of Dominance has been opened.
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Cezar Bononi defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
Despite the constant negative press covfefe, Almas was here to wrestle Cezar Bononi. Percy Watson really has a problem with Almas going out clubbing after the matches. Again, NXT is at 8 p.m. and even if Almas drinks until 4 a.m., he has 16 hours to recover. How much is he drinking?
Almas beat the hell out of Bononi, chopping his chest raw and kicking his leg out of his leg. Bononi made, by comparison, a very weak comeback, which made the result even more ridiculous. Almas used a stiff slap to the face, but Bononi used a small package off a suplex for the upset win.
Almas got really mad for a minute, but then just said “whatever” and calmly walked away. I am sure he recognized that he beat an inferior athlete for five minutes and then lost when he slipped on a banana peel.
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Billie Kay and Peyton Royce have finally returned to NXT. Kay appears to have finally recovered from her neck injury from the time Ember Moon gave her The Eclipse. Anyway, they were very happy and made fun of Moon for being injured. Moon then just so happened to sign her medical release, which scared The Iconic Duo.
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In two weeks, the reigning, defending, undisputed NXT Women’s Champion Asuka will, once again, defend her championship against Ruby Riot and Nikki Cross, but this time it will be an elimination match.
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Hideo Itami was mad after TakeOver, so he threw some chairs around in the locker room. Kassius Ohno and Funaki tried to calm him down, but Itami swore at them and threw water around.
Fast forward two weeks and a WWE cameraman filmed the two of them shaking hands outside. I was convinced Ohno was about to get run over by a car in a “whodunnit?” angle, but we just cut away to the main event.
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Kassius Ohno & Roderick Strong defeated Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe
It was then time for the main event. The referee called for the bell in a way that it looked like he was sending Killian Dain to the back, but, sadly, Dain was still here.
The babyfaces ran wild until Dain tripped Ohno on the apron. Where was the referee you ask? After watching everything happen leading up to the trip, he decided to go talk to Roderick Strong for a few seconds.
Watson said Ohno is the kind of guy who will not stand by and let injustice happen. He will fight for what’s right. There was nothing notable about the heat. It was just a very good tag team match. Wolfe and EY are working well together and Ohno does a good job at being a babyface in peril.
Strong ran wild on the hot tag, including giving Young a back suplex on the ring apron (which is the hardest part of the ring). While Strong was running wild on Wolfe, Young blind tagged himself in.
He got ready to polish off Strong when No Way Jose finally returned and stopped Dain from interfering! Strong then pinned Young with a release suplex into a backbreaker, called End of Heartache. The fans were thrilled to see Jose return and SAnitY was in a state of shock.
So, that does it for an excellent episode of NXT. There were two very good matches, plus that excellent Ciampa interview. Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.
The Big News: Hideo Itami laid out Bobby Roode for the second time with a Go to Sleep, just three days before their title match at NXT TakeOver: Chicago.
The Medium News: Kassius Ohno beat Andrade “Cien” Almas in a match between two men who will not be on TakeOver.
The Little Beaver-sized News: This really was a poor build to TakeOver, huh?
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Bobby Roode arrived at Full Sail University earlier today and yelled at the man carrying his bags to go faster.
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Drew McIntyre defeated Sean Maluta
Last week McIntyre was confronted by Wesley Blake, which theoretically set up a match this week. However, in case you are confused, Maluta and Blake are two different people.
The fans recognized that Maluta had no chance in this match and did not care at all for his offense. He hit a Codebreaker off the middle rope and it barely got the fans to raise their eyebrows. McIntyre got a welt under his eye, perhaps from a punch, perhaps the Codebreaker, but won with a Sick Kick.
Kayla Braxton came out and asked McIntyre if he’s concerned about having the attention of Blake. Shockingly, McIntyre was not concerned, however he did challenge Blake to a match next week.
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We got exclusive footage from after NXT last week, where SAnitY attacked Roderick Strong after his match with Hideo Itami. Backstage, Strong told Mr. Regal he wanted SAnitY.
This led to an Eric Young promo where he called Strong crazy for challenging them to a fight at TakeOver. Young accepted the challenge, so we have a match for Saturday.
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We got a video feature for Itami, showing his debut at NXT TakeOver: Fatal Four-Way in September 2014 where he single-handedly beat up The Ascension. That was a bigger deal then since it was the same night they lost the tag titles after 364 days.
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We got a video package for Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne, showing clips of their match from the UK Championship tournament finals in January. Shockingly, they had new interviews with both men. I am so used to watching the same two video packages that I nearly had a heart attack.
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“The Velveteen Dream” Patrick Clark is still on his way. He has a long way to go to match Nia Jax’s record for the longest build up to their debut.
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Another Itami clip aired, this time showing him beating Tyler Breeze at the WrestleMania 31 weekend NXT show.
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Asuka was being driven to the arena earlier today and being asked stupid questions. She acknowledged they are stupid questions and kept saying “next question.” Asuka arrived at Full Sail and took a selfie with the fans. That was nice of her.
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Sonya Deville defeated Lacey Evans
Lacey Evans, who is a former military member, was here to face Sonya Deville, who used to be Daria Berenato of Tough Enough fame.
The fans were not into this match except to yell “sweeeeeeet” after every two count.
Deville used a takedown and locked on a body scissors. She just bullied around Evans, who is much bigger than her. Evans finally blocked a strike and hit a bad looking punch to take over. Deville came back and won with a step-up enzuigiri.
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We jumped forward to Itami returning to NXT last month and laying out Bobby Roode with a Go to Sleep.
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This Saturday at NXT TakeOver: Chicago:
NXT Champion Bobby Roode defends against Hideo Itami
WWE United Kingdom Champion Tyler Bate defends against Pete Dunne
NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defend against DIY in a ladder match
Roderick Strong faces Eric Young
NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defends against Nikki Cross and Ruby Riot in a triple threat match
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Kassius Ohno defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas
It was then time for the main event of the show. Ohno’s gear was based off the Orlando Magic’s jerseys from the early 1990s. Ohno ran wild for three or four minutes to kick off the match, but Almas got the heat when Ohno caught himself on a dive attempt when Almas moved, but Almas booted him right in the mouth.
Nigel McGuinness said you can call Almas “ingobernable,” which was a nice wink to the people who knew and for those who didn’t, he explained that meant “ungovernable.”
This was a good back-and-forth match. There is something still missing with Almas. He’s so much better as a heel, but there’s just something not there.
Almas hit the double knees in the corner, but instead of going for a cover, he picked Ohno up, which led to his undoing. Ohno fired up after an inverted DDT, hitting a pump kick and two rolling elbows to pick up the win.
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Itami had yet another video, this one looking at his match with Strong from last week.
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We were joined by the “Glorious” NXT Champion, Bobby Roode, to end the show this week. Roode did not take his time to walk to the ring, getting it done in only 40 seconds.
Roode said that he is a man and can admit that Itami knocked him out with a Go to Sleep a few weeks ago. Mind you, he told the story that he was in the ring minding his own business when Itami walked out and did it unprovoked.
Roode said that will never happen again, and this Saturday he won’t be standing in the middle of the ring in a custom-made suit, he’ll be in his gear and prepared to do what he’s done to everyone. That’s beat them, embarrass them, and make an example out of them.
He brought up Itami constantly getting injured and being out for a long time to the point where Roode didn’t even know he worked there anymore. Roode said Itami will have to go back to Japan and tell his wife and kids that he failed again. But this time he failed because of Bobby Roode.
Itami came out and was dressed like someone who just wrestled an hour ago. Mr. Regal and a bunch of security tried to convince him to leave, but Itami flew past them to get to the ring.
Itami beat on Roode until security pulled him off. Roode ran for cover as Itami laid out two of the security guards with a Go to Sleep. Roode rolled back in for the sneak attack, but Itami cut him off with a Go to Sleep!
That does it for this week. This Saturday is NXT TakeOver: Chicago, and until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
Approximately 300 people were in attendance at tonight’s show.
– Jeet Rama defeated Wesley Blake by DQ
Steve Cutler ran down to attack Rama.
– Lana (w/ Mary Kate) defeated Sarah Bridges
Mary Kate distracted Bridges, allowing Lana to hit a fisherman spinebuster-type slam.
– New Chinese recruit “Rocky” was interviewed in the ring. He said he loves Orlando, then Sawyer Fulton ran in and destroyed him.
– Babatunde Aiyegbusi defeated Brennan Williams
This was a powerful hoss match. Aiyegbusi kept control before Williams hit an amazing scoop slam on the giant for a double down. Aiyegbusi won with a butterfly side suplex.
– Oney Lorcan defeated Adrian Jaoude
Lorcan used a backslide to get the victory.
– Rama came out again and was still upset about Cutler and Blake attacking him earlier. They attempted to surround Rama until Buddy Murphy evened the odds. That led to the next match.
The Big News: Elias Samson must drift away after dropping a loser leaves NXT match to Kassius Ohno.
The Medium News: Dash Wilder won a triple threat match against Akam and Johnny Gargano.
The Little Beaver-sized News: We had three straight talking segments where three people in three different matches talked about fate.
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Dash Wilder defeated Akam and Johnny Gargano in a triple threat match
This week’s episode kicked off with a preview of the triple threat elimination match this Saturday for the NXT Tag Team Championship. All three men had their partners (and Paul Ellering for Akam) at ringside and, for the most part, they stood by and watched the match.
Wilder and Gargano teamed up on Akam early and sent the big man flying to the outside. Wilder then encouraged Gargano to do his big suicide dive, but Wilder could not be trusted. He booted Gargano and dropped him, ending all attempts at working together. After a few minutes, The Revival decided that it was better to rest and both men went to the back.
Even though a blind man could see what was going to happen, Akam and Gargano worked really well together and they did it just long enough to put a little doubt in your head about Wilder coming back.
However, the anticipated finish happened. Akam caught Gargano on a slingshot DDT and dropped him with a snake eyes and a powerbomb, but before Akam could make the cover, Scott Dawson ran in through the crowd and held Akam’s leg. While this was happening, Wilder ran down the aisle, flew into the ring, and pinned Gargano for the win.
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The last video package for Aleister Black aired.
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Heavy Machinery defeated Jonathan Ortagun & Mike Marshall
This was the re-debut of Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight. I mentioned that they would be a better version of The Authors of Pain when they last wrestled during the Dusty Classic. I stand by that claim. Knight picked up Ortagun for a bear hug and then threw him in the air and he was caught in another bear hug by Dozovic.
These men are heavy and they don’t mind using their weight, including running their stomachs into the head of Ortagun. Their finisher saw Dozovic pick Ortagun up in a body slam position and Knight ran into them. Dozovic then slammed Knight onto Ortagun for the pin.
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We got a backstage contract signing between Asuka and Ember Moon, because what does NXT love more than contract signings?
Moon said Asuka changed and let success get to her head. She said Asuka’s fate was to be the greatest champion in NXT history and Moon’s fate was to beat her.
Asuka said that Moon wasn’t ready, with Moon replying that she’s been ready for a long time. Asuka laughed and walked away.
William Regal wished Moon the best of luck.
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Next we got a video package for Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura. First we saw Roode obsessively watching back his match with Nakamura at TakeOver: San Antonio. He said he took NXT from an underground promotion to a worldwide phenomenon.
The video showed everything Roode has done as champion, which included him celebrating as champion both at home and at the NXT arena.
Nakamura said that Roode does not run NXT, the fans do. Fate has led both men here and Nakamura said he will win the title this Saturday night.
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Paul Ellering cut a promo on behalf of The Authors of Pain. He said DIY believe in fairy tale endings and welcomed them to their Yellow Brick Road to Hell. He said The Revival were dreamers if they think they can beat AOP. We got our third straight promo with a mention of “fate” as Ellering said it was their fate to win.
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This Saturday night at NXT TakeOver: Orlando:
Bobby Roode vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the NXT Championship
Asuka’s 364 day long Women’s title reign is on the line against Ember Moon
The Authors of Pain vs. DIY vs. The Revival in a triple threat elimination match for the tag titles
Aleister Black vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
SAnitY vs. Tye Dillinger, No Way Jose, Roderick Strong & Ruby Riot (Heidi Lovelace) in an eight-person tag
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Kassius Ohno defeated Elias Samson in a loser leaves NXT match
This was a good match, though it was nothing more than good. There have been way too many great matches the last six weeks on NXT to consider this anything more. Both men traded roll-ups early, teasing that the match would be over in 60 seconds. No one believed it, nor should they have.
The fans at UCF, who haven’t cared for much, didn’t care much for this either. They did chant “drift away” briefly, but went back to not caring.
Samson locked on the crossface and they rolled all over the ring before Ohno got the ropes. The fans did wake up for a cyclone boot by Ohno, which was impressive. Samson swept Ohno’s feet and put his feet on the ropes, but the ref caught him before three.
Samson hit his neckbreaker for another two count, but Ohno hit the rolling elbow out of nowhere for the win. The Drifter is gone!
Samson didn’t want to leave, so more referees came out to tell him to go. Security finally dragged him up the ramp. He begged for his guitar back, so Ohno broke it as Samson got dragged away. This wasn’t nearly as awesome as when Bo Dallas did the same thing a few years ago.
That does it for this week. Thank you all for reading this. Until Saturday, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
Tonight’s show was in front of a packed crowd of 400 people.
– Roderick Strong defeated Cezar Bononi
The crowd loved Strong. He hit a Sick Kick to win it.
– Patrick Clark defeated Dan Matha
Matha was actually the face here. He hit a huge Rock Bottom backbreaker, but Clark was able to survive and hit a famouser to win.
– Hideo Itami defeated Oney Lorcan
This was one of the better matches on the Florida loop this year, with hard-hitting chops and strikes. Itami looked great and Lorcan is always the most intense wrestler on the card. Itami won with the GTS.
– Daria Berenato defeated Aliyah
Berenato won with an enzuigiri after they had countered each other with a few near falls.
– Tye Dillinger assisted Kayla Braxton in naming who won the WrestleMania raffle that’s been going on this month down here. After they named the winner, we heard those guitar strings and The Straggler (The Drifter under a mask) taunted Dillinger and the crowd. Riddick Moss then joined The Straggler (or Straggs as he called him) and wanted to take on Dillinger as well. Dillinger then asked if anyone in the back wanted to team with him and that led to the next match.
This was the most exciting match in Florida so far this year. Nakamura tried to remove Straggler’s mask, but there was a second mask underneath, so Nakamura put the mask on himself and proceeded to do some excellent lucha with arm drags, rolls, and he even teased a dive. Moss snatched the mask off Nakamura and Nakamura was devastated. Solid action followed and a Kinshasa won it for the good guys.
– Montez Ford (w/ Angelo Dawkins) defeated Brennan Williams
Williams used nice looking power moves. Dawkins caused a distraction, which allowed Ford to steal a quick pin.
– Ember Moon defeated Kimber Lee
Moon won the match with a sit-out driver of some type.
– No Way Jose, Kassius Ohno & Ruby Riot defeated SAnitY (Killian Dain, Alexander Wolfe & Nikki Cross)
This had action all over the place. Riot hit a dive to the outside. Ohno and Dain had a slugfest. Jose took the hot tag and hit his wind-up punch on Wolfe to win and send the crowd home happy.
With NXT TakeOver’s big WrestleMania weekend fast approaching, WWE’s COO Paul “HHH” Levesque did his regular conference call with the wrestling media Thursday afternoon.
A few questions/topics he went into:
– A rundown of the next TakeOver show which features NXT Champion Bobby Roode vs. Nakamura, Aleister Black vs. Andrade Almas, NXT Women’s Champion Asuka vs. Ember Moon, and more.
– Clarification on his past comments on not being “happy” with NXT
– Could NXT eventually have facilities all over the world like MMA’s American Top Team?
– What led to the exit and eventual return of Kassius Ohno (aka Chris Hero)
– Discussion on whether the UK brand is going to be Network only or whether traditional TV is a goal
– The evolution of some of the younger talents they are developing (Patrick Clark, etc)
– The status of Kyle O’Reilly coming to WWE
Subscribers can listen to the nearly 40 minute call below:
The Big News: Bobby Roode pinned Kassius Ohno in the main event and will now defend against Shinsuke Nakamura at TakeOver: Orlando.
The Medium News: The Authors of Pain will defend the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Revival and DIY in a triple threat elimination match at TakeOver.
The Little Beaver-sized News: SAnitY laid out Tye Dillinger yet again.
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NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain defeated The Ealy Brothers
Gabriel and Uriel Ealy had a scheduled match with The Revival last week, however they were destroyed by the Authors of Pain beforehand. That led to a challenge being made and this beatdown ensued.
The Ealys got 30 seconds of offense until Rezar took Uriel’s head clean off with a clothesline. Next up was a Super Collider and The Last Chapter and just like that, the NXT Tag Team Champions slay another duo.
Paul Ellering cut a promo, saying The Revival is the next name in their book of destruction. They claim to be the best tag team in the world, but Ellering created the algorithm for greatness in tag team wrestling and the AOP would soon be a dynasty.
This brought out DIY. Neither of them knew the definition of algorithm, but they knew they could defeat the Authors of Pain. They demanded a fair championship rematch since The Revival ruined their last match.
In a moment that was even more shocking than the result of the AOP vs. Ealy Brothers match, this brought out The Revival. Dash Wilder brought up being left off NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, comparing it to Tom Brady or Michael Jordan being benched. Scott Dawson said that they were the greatest tag team of all time.
Then in the most shocking moment of the last 45 seconds, William Regal came out and announced a triple threat elimination match between the three teams at TakeOver: Orlando. The announcers did not point out that this gives the AOP a break since they won’t be in a situation where they can lose the titles without being beaten.
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Heavy Machinery (Tucker Knight & Otis Dozovic) are re-debuting with a push soon.
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Up next was a video package profiling the undefeated, undisputed, reigning, defending NXT Women’s Champion of the world: Asuka. Highlights of her kicking butt were interspersed with her sitting poolside, talking about her being the sun.
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Nikki Cross (w/ SAnitY) defeated Macey Estrella
Macey Estrella is the name of Nikki Cross’ victim this week. She came out in a fur coat and a skirt. She was a member of the military, and looking at the way she’s built, she would not be the first person I would mess with.
With that said, this was not a competitive match and featured the most unique hair-mare I have ever seen, where Cross grabbed Estrella’s hair and twisted it like she was doing an armbar before sending her flying.
Cross hit six twisting neckbreakers for the win. Sometimes five just isn’t enough.
No Way Jose and Tye Dillinger were polite enough to wait for Cross to give another woman six neckbreakers before hitting the ring to attack SAnitY. However, there are four members of SAnitY and only two of them, so they got beaten down.
Tye Dillinger was held while Eric Young laid out Jose with a wheelbarrow neckbreaker. Killian Dain hit a running senton as Young screamed that the blood is on Dillinger’s hands.
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Aleister Black is coming.
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NXT is going on a tour of Europe, which was written about in today’s Daily Update.
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Andrea D’Marco was at the Performance Center earlier this week to get an update on Billie Kay’s condition following her match with Ember Moon last week. However, Andrade “Cien” Almas was bullying HoHo Lun. Oney Lorcan made the save for Lun, which led to a promo where Lorcan challenged Almas to bully him. It will be Almas vs. Lorcan next week.
So….how about that update on Billie Kay? No one seems to care.
SAnitY will face Tye Dillinger, No Way Jose & Roderick Strong in a six-man tag next week.
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Both Bobby Roode and Kassius Ohno cut a 30-second promo on their way to the ring for the main event. Both said they would win.
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NXT Champion Bobby Roode defeated Kassius Ohno to retain his title
It was time for the main event. Ohno wore a basketball jersey during the match, which was a takeoff of the old USA Basketball jerseys.
I was planning on timing how long it took Roode to walk to the ring, but they rudely went to commercial break after 90 seconds and he was in the ring when the show came back.
Shinsuke Nakamura was watching a monitor backstage because he will challenge for the title in less than three weeks at TakeOver.
Ohno ran wild for almost a full four minutes to start the match, but we went to commercial and Roode took over with a boot to the face as soon as we came back. Ohno got brief comebacks, but Roode would immediately cut him off.
Roode shot Ohno into the corner and Ohno flip, flopped, and flew over the top rope and crashed down on the floor. Roode looked like he was going for the Glorious DDT, but he hesitated and Ohno hit a release suplex. Roode went for an open palm strike, but Ohno blocked it with an elbow strike.
Ohno hit a cyclone boot for a near fall, but Roode recovered and hit a back stabber for his own near fall. Roode went for a clothesline, but got kicked in the arm. We got a series of reversals until Ohno hit the rolling elbow, sending Roode flying outside the ring.
Ohno got Roode back in and hit a running senton for a two count. More reversals led to a Glorious DDT and Roode retained!
It is now official. In 17 nights at NXT TakeOver: Orlando, Bobby Roode will defend the NXT Championship against two-time former champion, Shinsuke Nakamura. Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
