A nod to WWE star Shinsuke Nakamura is featured on the latest album by rapper Lil Uzi Vert.
Lil Uzi Vert’s highly anticipated album “Pink Tapes” was released on Friday and includes a song titled “Nakamura.” In the song, Lil Uzi Vert samples Nakamura’s “The Rising Sun” theme music and raps over it. The song can be heard below:
“The Rising Sun” debuted as Nakamura’s theme music when he signed with WWE in 2016.
At WrestleMania 39 earlier this year, Lil Uzi Vert performed his song “Just Wanna Rock” as part of The Usos’ entrance.
The release of “Pink Tapes” comes just one day before Nakamura competes in Money in the Bank. Nakamura will be part of the men’s ladder match at Saturday’s pay-per-view in London, England. Nakamura, Ricochet, Damian Priest, Santos Escobar, LA Knight, Butch, and Logan Paul are the ladder match participants.
Leading into Money in the Bank, Nakamura has been involved in a feud with Ricochet and Bronson Reed. Nakamura defeated Reed last month to qualify for the ladder match.
Ricochet defeated Nakamura on Raw this past Monday.
Shinsuke Nakamura will face off against Rusev in a United States title defense. Rusev pinned Nakamura in a tag match last week that also had Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe. This week, both men mocked one another, with Rusev comparing Nakamura to Sonic the Hedgehog due to his new blue attire. Nakamura countered later in the show, showing unflattering clips of Rusev on Total Divas.
Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe will go one-on-one as well. Joe interrupted Jeff Hardy’s 20 year WWE celebration a few weeks ago, bringing up his “demons” from the past. This week, Hardy and Joe got into an altercation that Hardy got the better of, sending Joe reeling.
Also announced for next week is Miz TV with Shane McMahon serving as guest. Miz has been trying to recruit him as a tag team partner ever since McMahon won the World Cup trophy at Crown Jewel.
These segments will be taped tonight in Fresno as WWE will be off the road until 12/26.
Shinsuke Nakamura will be out for a couple of more weeks.
In an interview with Nikkan Sports, Nakamura said that it would possibly be two more weeks before he could return to the ring. He will continue to be evaluated over the next few weeks until a timetable for a return is more clear.
He was injured last Monday after a police dog, who was doing a sweep before a SmackDown house show in Bakersfield, California for explosives, bit Nakamura during the inspection. His originally scheduled match against Jeff Hardy for the United States title was canceled the following day and he hasn’t been able to wrestle since.
Nakamura did not wrestle on this weekend’s house show events in Asia, but did appear in front of crowds on crutches explaining that he couldn’t wrestle. Two times, Samoa Joe came out and the two got into it before AJ Styles made the save.
Results & image c/o @Tarratastic who estimated 250 in attendance.
– Kassius Ohno defeated Kishan Raftaar
Ohno puts Raftaar down with the Death By Elbow.
– Lana defeated Aliyah
Lana hit the Fiisherman’s spinebuster for the win.
– Heavy Machinery defeated The Ealy Brothers
Otis and Tucker sandwiched one of the twins before Otis slammed him to the mat for the pin.
– Tony Nese defeated Mustafa Ali
Nese won with a running knee in what was said to be a great match.
– Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Riddick Moss
The Kinshasa knee got the win for the former NXT champion.
– Aleister Black defeated Kona Reeves
Black put Reeves down with a series of kicks.
– We got an in-ring promo by Patrick Clark about himself and the Patrick Clark Experience
– SAnitY (Nikki Cross, Eric Young, and Killian Dain) w/ Wolfe defeated Liv Morgan, Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins
,Cross hit her fisherman’s neckbreaker on Morgan for the pin in an action packed match.
– NXT Champion Bobby Roode defeated Buddy Murphy
Bobby hit a low blow and his DDT for the win. Post-match, Shinsuke ran down to confront Roode, hit a Kinshasa and helped Murphy up to send everyone home happy.
Submitted by readers Gregory Dennis & Shawn Dunagan
– Before the show, ring announcer Andrea D’Marco updated the crowd that The Drifter recently lost to Kassius Ohno in a “Loser Leaves NXT” match and would not be here tonight.
– No Way Jose def. Kona Reeves
No Way Jose worked his tail off to get the crowd into it, but it was an uphill battle. About a third of the crowd responded to Jose out of appreciation for the effort. The rest of the crowd was flat. Jose won clean with his finisher and by the end, he had about half of the crowd warmed up.
– Liv Morgan def. Macey Estrella
This devolved into a clunky comedy match. After a few back-and-forth submission holds, Morgan won clean after a bulldog.
– Kassius Ohno def. Patrick Clark
Clark looks like a cross between Prince and Bootsy Collins. Ohno is originally from Dayton, Ohio (about 60 miles away) so he got a big pop and a “Welcome Back” chant. At Ohio State sporting events, it’s common for someone to yell “O-H” while the crowd follows with “I-O.” Here the someone would yell “O-H” and the crowd would respond with “Oh-No.” Unfortunately, this was the highlight of the match. Ohno won with an elbow to the side/back of the
neck.
– DIY had a promo video discussing the “O-H”, “I-O” chants.
– Despite being told earlier that The Drifter would not be there, out he came wearing an ill-fitting mask. Nobody cared. When he got to the ring, he asked, “Who wants to walk with..The Rambler?” He started singing a song about how Columbus sucks and the crowd should shut up. This did generate some heat from the crowd. Aleister Black’s music hit and the former Tommy End walked out to cut a pretty good promo. A beatdown ensued which turned into…
– Aleister Black def. The Rambler
Short match. Black had most of the offense and finished with a superkick and a pin. I’m not sure if this was intentional, but the super kick spun Sampson’s mask sideways, which was a nice touch. Black looked very good.
The crowd chanted “one more song,” so Sampson continued his ditty about how Columbus sucks and the crowd should shut up before drifting off to the back.
This was a very fun match, and noticably better level of wrestling than we’d seen up to this point. Young plays the role of the crazed lunatic exceptionally well. Ciampa & Gargano did suicide dives and flying knees to the outside despite very close quarters between the ring and a concrete wall. At one point, Ciampa actually botched a spot, but transitioned it immediately into a cool spot like a true vet. This was just an very entertaining pro wrestling match.
At one point, the referee ejected Wolfe from ringside for interfering. Shortly thereafter, Gargano got caught in SAnitY’s corner when Nikki Cross emerged from under the ring and holds Gargano’s arms in the corner while Dain recovered. Dain hit Gargano with a big crossbody into the pin.
As SAnitY celebrated in the ring, Cross demanded microphone and calls out Asuka. Asuka’s music hits and she comes out for what is announced as a title match.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka def. Nikki Cross to retain
Young and Big Dain stayed out and stalked ringside. This was a very good match as Asuka was so quick with her movements and athleticism. At one point, she hit Cross with a dropkick from the top. Cross did get in some offense and did a great job selling. Asuka got Cross in a rear naked choke and Cross tapped, but Young distracted the ref and didn’t see the tap. Asuka released Cross thinking she won. Young & Damo threatened to enter the ring when DIY raced out to clean house. Asuka hit Cross with a kick and pinned her in a very fun match.
After the match, Young and Asuka had a staredown in the ring. DIY distracted Young and with his back turned, Asuka fired up behind him. Young turned into a superkick from Asuka which Young sold brilliantly.
– Tye Dillinger & Shinsuke Nakamura def. NXT Champion Bobby Roode and Andrade Cien Almas
Almas came out to zero fan reaction, but when “Glorious” hit, the crowd came alive. The crowd ate up Roode’s slow entrance. Dillinger came out to a chorus of “ten” chants. Nakamura’s music hit and the place went nuts.
The match started with Almas vs. Dillinger and a lot of chain wrestling. Dillinger tagged Nakamura who immediately went on the offensive. As Almas was selling, Nakamura tried to goad Roode into the ring. Roode teased the crowd and then eventually tagged in. Roode & Nakamura circled the ring and then Roode tagged out without touching one another. Roode then laughed at the crowd, drawing heat.
Dillinger tagged back in and proceeded to get the hell beat out of him for a good 8-10 minutes. Roode and Almas traded off working on Dillinger’s left knee. Eventually, Dillinger escaped. Nakamura got the hot tag. After several near falls, Nakamura hit Almas with his finisher and got the pin.
Overall, it was a good show, but not great. The first half was clearly developmental and the second half was high quality.
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– Venue is a bar that hosts mid-level music acts. NXT has been here on a few occasions including its first show outside of Florida 3 years ago.
Place was sold out and a great venue for wrestling as the old Hollywood theater vibe of the Riverside Municipal Auditorium (built in 1927) and intimate seating arrangement made for a great setting for the night.
– No Way Jose def. Riddick Moss
Big pop for Jose and lots of chants. Moss got a lot of heat with his point at his name on his vest gimmick and got chants of “We Don’t Know You”. Good action and great choice of opener with Jose getting the win.
– Liv Morgan def. Aliyah in an ok match
Not a lot of reaction to this one as the crowd wasn’t very familiar with either girl and they didn’t really draw them in. Got a good pop for doing a couple of rolling pin spots early on but the crowd died a little after that.Some slow spots and rough spots but Aaliyah got some applause after some athletic moves. Big reaction for Aaliyah using Lance Storm’s rolling Maple Leaf single-leg crab near the finish. Morgan got the pin and the girls hugged in the ring afterwards.
– Patrick Clark def. Tino Sabbatelli via superkick. Chants included “Delete”, “Purple rain” and “Obsolete”.
Sabatelli has the look Vince loves and got great heat before the match so if his work can catch up he could be a big star. Clark wasn’t over much in the beginning as the crowd didn’t know what to make of him but he won them over. Super athletic moves from Clark and Sabatelli got a ton of boos doing the old Scott Steiner pushup gimmick a couple of times during the match. Clark picked up the win with a superkick and as his music played out came Wesley Blake.
Blake cut a promo calling Riverside garbage and then called out individual fans calling them either trash or garbage. Tons of heat with the crowd chanting “Murphy’s Better”, We Want Murphy” and more until settling on a very, very long “Blake Is Garbage” chant. He did his gimmick with the streamers coming out of his jacket and challenged Clark, leading to…
– Patrick Clark def. Wesley Blake in a short match.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka def. Ember Moon via submission in a very good match.
Asuka got the first “big star” pop for the night and the biggest reaction since No Way Jose in the opener. Great back and forth match with Moon winning the crowd over after a fairly quiet entrance. Lots of stand-off spots early and then lots of Moon holding the advantage with Asuka selling. Asuka got the pin after about ten minutes and they also hugged after the match, as if Moon won Asuka’s respect desite losing. Post-match Asuka celebrated with the belt as we headed into intermission.
Intermission
– NXT Tag Team Champions DIY def. The Revival via double submission.
Great, great match. Revival out first to a pretty big “appreciation” pop before the crowd got into booing them. Huge pop for DIY, including some PWG chants. All the usual tremendous spots with Revival getting heat on Ciampa with their old-school heel tactics before the hot tag to Gargano. Tons of dueling “Johnny Wrestling”/ “Psycho Killer” chants through this part of the match.
Great dives from Gargano and a flying knee off the apron by Ciampa to Dash near the end. Lots of heat on all of the near-falls and the crowd was buying into them big time towards the end. Finish had Gargano lock on the Garga-no Escape on Dash for the tap while Ciampa prevented Dawson from making the save. Fantastic match. Post-match had DIY celebrating in the ring before The Revival slid back in and feigned an attack. They offered a handshake (very loud “NO” chants) before pretending to walk away and trying to attack DIY. Stereo superkicks send Dash and Dawson to the floor and more celebrating from DIY.
– Elias Sampson def. Oney Lorcan with his feet on the ropes.
Massive, massive heat for The Drifter. No one in my section could hear him singing because the booing was too loud. Lorcan cut a short promo before the match and beat up Drifter for most of it. Great spot where Drifter took the advantage partway through the match and then rolled out to sit on the apron and play guitar. He called over the ring announcer to hold the mic and sang again and the crowd just lost it. Loud, LOUD boos for that one until Lorcan cut him off. Lorcan then took Drifter’s guitar into the ring and threatened him with the El Kabong, but threw it into the air and rolled up Drifter for a great near-fall as Drifter tried to catch it. Drifter got the pin with his feet on the ropes for even more boos.
– Samoa Joe came out and got a babyface reaction with “Welcome back” chants. He talked about being from SoCal to get the crowd on his side and then trashed Riverside so they turned on him. He says the GM of NXT did not clear him to wrestle, so he will watch the main event match from ringside.
Basic back and forth match with heat on Dillinger for a few minutes and heat on Nakamura for a few minutes. Joe tripped Dillinger from his seat at ringside early in the match and then dragged Nakamura off the apron and beat him up to break up a hot tag. Referee threw Joe out of the ringside area and they went another couple of minutes before a hot finish with Nakamura running wild on Almas and hitting the running knee for pin.
Crowd celebrated with 10 chants and singing Nakamura’s theme and Dillinger did the “we’re not worthy” bow to Nakamura and presented him with his belt before they celebrated a little more and the show ended.
Submitted by reader Kyle Dmoch (Thanks to Joshua Weir for also submitting a report)
– Akira Tozawa d. Andrade Almas
Match was roughly 9 mins in a solid opener. Crowd was interested but reserved throughout the match. However, the Towaza scream was very over with the crowd.
– Peyton Royce & Billie Kay d. Aliyah and Liv Morgan
Match was about 8:30 and was poor, very similar to what was recently seen on television just longer. The Australian girls came out to a reasonable babyface pop and turned heel on the live crowd promptly in a pre-match promo bashing their hometown. The crowd amused themselves with 10 chants and singing the national anthem.
– Oney Lorcan d. Wesley Blake
Match was about 7 mins and died in front of the live crowd. Crowd was ironically chanting ‘This is awesome’ and ‘holy sh*t’ throughout.
– Oney Lorcan def. Patrick Clark
Clark came out and elicited some reasonably heat from the crowd by calling them wankers. Clark showboats for several mins after the bell rings and subsequently loses to a flipping neckbreaker in about 3 mins.
– NXT Tag Team Champions DIY d. The Revival
Match was roughly 19 mins. It was a solid back and forth match with good near falls at the end and easily the second best match of the show. The crowd reacted huge to both teams before and after the match.
Intermission
– TM61 d. Riddick Moss and Tino Sabatelli
TM61 got a decent home country reaction while Moss and Sabatelli got a minimal response. Very basic, fundamental, developmental match that you would see on television. Moss and Sabatelli elicited decent heat in the closing stretches from the crowd but the hometown boys were clearly the stars, carrying the majority the match.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka d. Ember Moon
This was the clear match of the night in roughly 12-13 mins. Asuka got a superstar reaction, the best of the night to that point. Very solid, technically sound match. Many near falls had the crowd possibly bought on a title change. Overall very fun affair where Moon definitely came off for the better.
– NXT Champion Nakamura/Tye Dillinger/Buddy Murphy d. Bobby Roode/Samoa Joe/Elias Samson
A 4 way was advertised for weeks with Nakamura, Roode, Dillinger and Samoa Joe. However, the ring annoucer annouced that the main event was a 6 man tag which received thunderous boos.
Samson came out to boos and did a 5 min promo. Everyone reacted strongly to all the participants especially Dillinger and Nakamura. Once the match commenced, Roode, Samson and Murphy did the majority of the work much to the chagrin of the crowd. Murphy did a prolonged heat spot with the heels and then tagged in Nakamura, who did his trademark spots and promptly finished the match.
Most of the crowd left immediately after the final bell, and there was an overwhelming sense of dissatisfaction and bitterness after the end of the show.
Great match to start the night. The crowd popped at the right spots. He worked as a face and now when he screams, the crowd screams back which he fed on to get him over. Almas hit the double knees in the corner but only got a near fall. Tozawa then hit him with his German Suplex finisher for the pin.
– Billie Kay and Peyton Royce defeated Liv Morgan and Aliyah
The first Australians on the card came out and cut a promo saying that they want to be billed from Orlando, Florida, and not Australia, especially the Gold Coast. The fans kind of popped for Morgan but were dead whenever Aliyah had offence. Fans were cheering and booing all over the place, then Kay and Royce got the pin after double team knee to the face of Morgan So, the hometown women who turned on the crowd to get heat ended up winning.
– Patrick Clark defeated Oney Lorcan
These guys did a great job considering they were relatively unknown to the crowd. This was a classic 80s style match where the heel Clark was over the top as he came to the ring. The crowd chanted ‘You look stupid’ (with an Australian accent which was wacky) in reference to Clark’s ring attire. Clark yelled at the crowd ‘Shut up, you wankers’, starting the crowd going into business for itself with “You’re the wanker” chants and “You’re still a wanker” when he got offence. The crowd chanted “You’re a tosser” and then back to “You’re a wanker”. It was fine for this match, but continued on throughout the night.
– Buddy Murphy defeated Elias Sampson
Sampson started cutting a promo and the “What” chants began. Sampson started repeating himself everytime the crowd said “What” which made it worse. Then, he started singing a song about how he hated the Gold Coast and everyone got their phones flashlights out and due to the small size of the arena, it was almost like the house lights were on. During his song, Murphy’s music cut him off. Finish came when Sampson went for his guitar but the ref took it off him and Murphy rolled him up for the pin.
– NXT Tag Team Champions DIY defeated Tino Sabatelli and Riddick Moss to retain
Initially, the main event would going to be DIY and Nakamura vs. The Revival and Samoa Joe. Instead, we got a pretty average match where Tino and Moss were slow and plodding on offence. Crowd chanted ‘Go back to football’ at Tino, and this prompted DIY to do an American football snap in the middle of the ring where Gargano threw an imaginary ball to Ciampa for a touchdown. Match was pretty basic with the heels getting heat on Ciampa until the hot tag to Gargano. Match ended with the DIY knee/superkick finish to Moss.
– Bobby Roode defeated Tye Dillinger
Crowd went completely nuts for Roode, but they cheered as if both were faces. Fun match with both playing to the crowd. Dillinger was about to hit the Tye Breaker when The Revival ran in for interference and Roode got a roll up using the middle ropes with The Revival holding his legs. The heels ran off and Dillinger got up and just walked out.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Ember Moon to retain
Crowd had become pretty restless and were just trying to start whatever chants they could to get themselves over. At a few different points, there were chants for James Ellsworth. The match was actually really good, but early on, it was ruined by the crowd until a few great spots which started the only “This is awesome’ chant of the night. Asuka got Moon in a few submission holds, an armbar and a kimura lock, which Moon escaped before tapping out to the Asuka lock.
After the match, Moon extended her hand for a handshake on the ramp. Asuka hesitated then shook her hand and the two hugged.
– TM61, Tye Dillinger and NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated The Revival, Bobby Roode and Samoa Joe
The original match was just going to be a 6-man sans Dillinger and Roode. After the heels came out, TM61 had a nice homecoming entrance but was spoiled by the heels beating them down. Crowd chanted for Nakamura but instead Dillinger came to even the numbers. Then Roode came down and they threw the babyfaces out of the ring.
Nakamura’s entrance hit and the crowd went insane. When he got into the ring, the heels scattered, making Nakamura look really strong. The match was then announced as an 8-man.
There was lots of comedy in the match, some so cheesy and over the top it could only be done on a live show. Joe didn’t work much and just threw a few punches. The finish came when Dillinger hit a surprise super kick on Roode, followed by a Kinshasa by Nakamura.
Results courtesy of Dylan Kaplan who estimates a crowd of 350
– Uriel Eary (w/ Gabriel Ealy) defeated Adrian Jaoude
The big guys used twin magic with Gabriel hit a side slam for the win.
– Mandy Rose defeated Aliyah
– Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight) defeated Angelo Dawkins and Kenneth Crawford
Otis did a monkey flip in to Tucker who caught Dawkins in a scoop slam for the finish.
– Roderick Strong defeated Steve Cutler
– Lince Dorado defeated Buddy Murphy
Finish was a hurricanrana pinning combination for the win.
– Oney Lorcan defeated Elias Samson
The Drifter went for a superplex but Oney rolled through for the pin.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka and Liv Morgan defeated Peyton Royce and Billie Kay
Pre-match, Royce and Kay were bad mouthing LIv, calling her gutless which brought her out to get beat down before Asuka made the save. Finish was an Asuka lock on Royce.
– NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, Cedric Alexander and Patrick Clark defeated SAnitY (Eric Young, Sawyer Fulton, and Alexander Wolfe) w/ Nikki Cross
Finish was Nakamura hitting the Kinshasa on Wolfe to send everyone home happy.
Submitted by reader Steven Cash from the Rabobank Theater
– Roderick Strong beat Patrick Clark and Oney Lorcan when Strong pinned Clark following the Sick Kick
All three worked hard in a strong opening bout that included a Tower of Doom spot and a dive from Lorcan. Strong looked far and above the best en route to victory.
– Daria Berenato & Aliyah beat Billie Kay & Peyton Royce when Daria pinned Royce following a spinebuster
Kay and Royce spent most of the match working over the smaller Aliyah while she played babyface in peril. Daria cleaned house after a hot tag and pinned Royce with a modified spinebuster slam.
– Tye Dillinger beat Buddy Murphy with the Tye-Breaker
Murphy cut a promo before the match claiming to be the better man between he and his former tag team partner Wesley Blake. A lot of “10!” spots and chants.
– William Regal appeared following intermission to thank the crowd and put over the talent. Austin Aries came out and cut a promo on Bakersfield, calling it a “B Town.” He compared the town to No Way Jose, which led to…
– Samoa Joe beat No Way Jose via submission with the Kokina Clutch
Short, but solid match.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka beat Mandy Rose with a Terry Funk rolling cradle into the Asuka Lock to retain
Outside of some minor offense, this was largely a showcase for Asuka.
– NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura def. Bobby Roode with the Kinshasa
This was originally advertised to be a six-man tag between TM61/Shinsuke and The Authors of Pain/Joe. There was a 50/50 split cheers-wise between Roode and Nakamura for their entrances. Shinsuke won with a second rope Kinshasa followed by a second Kinshasa. Joe attacked Shinsuke after the match which brought out Dillinger for the save.
After he and Shinsuke cleared Joe and Roode from the ring, the two shared in Shinsuke’s traditional match-ending pose to close the show.
This was set up like a television taping. Some of this will air on NXT but it wasn’t clear how much will. The crowd was having a good time, and if they weren’t into a match, they had fun with chants. Any match that they weren’t into led to pretty loud “Delete” chants. It was kind of amazing how over the Matt Hardy character was at a WWE/NXT live event.
– Oney Lorcan beat Patrick Clark with a half crab
The crowd was into both men and were chanting “Purple Rain” at Clark.
– Shane Thorne def. Roderick Strong in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament match
Aries was there but couldn’t wrestle due to the eye injury he suffered the night before. He made a joke saying he had a broken eye hole. he said they could postpone the match until he was ready and that would be better for them than being embarrassed by Strong beating both at the same time.
William Regal came out and said that Aries would be ready in one week, but that Dusty was about competition, so in the spirit of Dusty he was ordering Strong to face one of TM61 in a tournament match which turned out to be Shane Thorne.
They had the best match on the show. TM61 wasn’t over at all. Aries threw down Nick Miller outside the ring and in the confusion, Thorne pinned Strong with an inside cradle. Strong took most of the match and worked at a different pace from everyone else, but Thorne hung with him.
– Wesley “Body Beautiful” Blake beat Buddy Murphy
Murphy came out and did a heel promo with the idea that Blake is now a babyface. Murphy’s heel promo was that he was tired of all the fans chanting “Blake is better” except nobody chanted it.
“Body Beautiful” is an attempt for Blake to be Jesse Ventura. This was nowhere near as good as their TV match. Blake just doesn’t work as a babyface, and Murphy is also the much better of the two. Fans chanted “Where’s Alexa”, “Let’s Go Jobbers”, “Fight Forever” and a lot of “Delete” chants until Blake did the Superman string and hit a frog splash for the pin.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka beat Daria Berenato to retain
The first few minutes saw them try to work it almost like a shoot which got over with “This is wrestling” chants. Berenato is good given her level of experience. Asuka did a ton of comedy like shaking her butt which got a reaction but felt out of character, especially for the kind of match they were working.
Then they got serious in the last minute or two which was very good, trading submissions. Asuka won with a flying Asuka lock. When it was over, they hugged, the crowd gave them a big ovation and they left together.
– Authors of Pain beat No Way Jose & Rich Swann in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament match
Not that this match was good, but it was the best AOP match ever, largely due to Swann. The finish saw AOP do their double team leg sweep clothesline combo on Jose. Paul Ellering was there and even interfered once. Given the level of their push, AOP wasn’t over, but Swann and Jose were.
– Ember Moon pinned Billie Kay
Peyton Royce was at ringside, and interfered some. This was an okay match with Moon’s stunner off the top looking great.
– NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & Tye Dillinger beat Samoa Joe & Bobby Roode
All four were very over like babyfaces. The match served its purpose as they entertained the people, and everything looked good enough. It lacked main event intensity but all the personalities kept the crowd into it. Nakamura pinned Roode with the Kinshasa. He was clearly the star of the show and after the show. People were singing his and Roode’s music when they came out, during the match, after the show, in the parking lot, and on the campus.
The fans reacted to Patrick like he was a star. The match didn’t have much to it and Patrick picked up the win, working as a face despite how he came off on the last NXT TV show.
This was the worst match on the show, and the crowd didn’t react to them very much. Peyton and Billie were announced as “best friends”. Aliyah had good energy and picked up the win after hitting Trish Status’ finisher. She was announced as being from Toronto, Canada,
– Roderick Strong def. Oney Lorcan
This was the best in-ring match on the show by leaps and bounds. Most of the fans didn’t seem to know who Strong was. They worked a stiff, balanced and competitive match that went a good 15 minutes. They held the crowd’s interest and Roderick picked up the win with his Death by Roderick.
– Tye Dillinger def. Wesley Blake
Tye was very over with the crowd and they did a lot of comedy throughout the match. The crowd got on Blake throughout including chants of “do some sit-ups”. Tye made a comeback and hit the Tye-Breaker for the win. Fans loved him.
Intermission
– Bobby Roode def. No Way Jose
Fans absolutely loved both men, dancing for No Way and soaking up the “Glorious” theme for Bobby. Roode took the mic and had his theme played a 2nd time to the fans’ delight. They asked for one more time to which he grabbed the mic and said no. Most of the match was comedy, Roode and the ref dancing, Jose mocked Bobby and took most of the match before Roode eventually hit the spinbuster and DDT combo for the win. Not an excellent in-ring match, but definitely the most fun of the night.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka def Mandy Rose to retain
Asuka took her time with Rose, and did some comedy centered around Rose not wanting to get hit in the face, so, of course, Asuka focused on her face. Eventually, they did a variety of rolls at the end on the ground that transitioned to the chicken-wing for the submission.
– Samoa Joe & The Authors of Pain (w/Paul Ellering) def. NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & TM61
To no surprise, Nakamura was the biggest star with Joe also getting a big reaction. There was little reaction to both TM61 and the AOP. The bulk of the match was the tag teams doing the work. Whenever Joe or Nakamura was in, the crowd lit up and they were excellent. The finish came when the ref got distracted by Ellering, Joe gave a low blow to a TM61 member, locked in the Clutch and got the tap, much to the crowd’s surprise.
The heels tried to take out Shinsuke, which led to him making a 1 on 3 comeback and hitting the Kinshasa to send everyone home happy.
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Austin Aries was scheduled to be on the card, but was pulled due to his injury from Wednesday night.
The big news on the show is the main event was cut short when Austin Ares was injured. The ref called for the X, and then doctors came out and tended to him for a few minutes. He left on his own two feet with doctor assistance.
– Oney Lorcan submitted Patrick Clark
– Ember Moon & Daria def. Mandy Rose & Aliyah
– Buddy Murphy def. Wesley “The Beautiful Body” Blake
Blake gave a promo at the onset to let us know that he was feuding with Murphy. Blake’s new gimmick is sort of like a create-a-wrestler video game character gone bad. Murphy played face and did pretty well with the highlight being a plancha onto Blake outside the ring. Murphy won by pinfall.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka def. Peyton Royce
Crowd was wild for Asuka but the match was very meh. There was so much booty-based offense that it was practically a Naomi match. Peyton took most of the match when not being attacked by Asuka’s butt, but Asuka won by submission in the, well, end.
– William Regal came out after intermission and thanked the fans for making NXT what it is today.
– Authors of Pain def. TM61
TM61 got a lot of early offense but the Authors of Pain cut them off and murdered them with power moves. Even after a hot tag and running wild, the Authors of Pain won by dismemberment and pin.
– We got a serious Tye Dillinger video promo from backstage.
– Bobby Roode def. Tye Dillinger
Great entrances. The crowd loved both guys to the point that whoever was on offense got all the cheers no matter who was winning. This was a terrific matc — best of the night in my opinion — where Roode won by pin after hitting his finisher.
– No Way Jose & NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura def. Austin Aries & Samoa Joe
Crowd was wild for everyone in this match’s entrance, but Nakamura most of all, Lots of comedy spots at the onset that really worked well. Joe and Nakamura prepared to face off, but Joe bugged out and tagged Ares in. We got some comedy after that with Joe refusing to tag in and ordering Aries in.
Match continued with some back and forth until Nakamura squared off with Areis and gave him a stiff front leg kick. The ref intervened with an “X” and the bell rang. Aries was tended to by doctors who used gloves, but I didn’t personally see any blood. After a few minutes, Areis got to his feet with assistance and left. He gave a thumbs up from the aisle and the crowd cheered for him.
Submitted by Jared Walsh from the Hy-Vee Hall. Thanks to David Anderson for his report and main image.
Estimated attendance: 1000
– Rich Swann def. Tino Sabbatelli via pinfall
Short, fun opener. Swann definitely had some momentum after the Cruiserweight Classic and was quite over with the fans.
– Daria Berenato def. Peyton Royce via pinfall
– Tye Dillinger def. Riddick Moss via pinfall
The people approved of the Perfect 10 in a big way.
– Hideo Itami defeated Austin Aries via pinfall. Crowd made a lot of noise after Itami hit the GTS to pick up the victory.
– NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival def. TM61 to retain
Lots of near falls, great back and forth action, and wonderfully entertaining heel tactics from the Revival. Dash and Dawson draw real hatred from the crowd — a rarity today.
– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka def. Ember Moon by submission
Fans were relatively into this match. The women embraced afterwards as the crowd cheered for what was a pretty good match.
– NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura & No Way Jose defeated Bobby Roode & Samoa Joe
The crowd was a big fan of all four men, and much of the match built around each man’s particular pose. Some great action towards the end sent the fans home in high spirits as this match certainly received the biggest cheers of the evening. Post-match, Nakamura thanked the Iowa fans for coming out, and he received a massive ovation as he posed and made his way out.
WWE will return to Des Moines with the SmackDown roster on October 23.
