WWE has confirmed Nikki Cross as Alexa Bliss’ replacement for Money in the Bank.
After announcing that Bliss had been pulled from Sunday’s women’s Money in the Bank ladder match due to injury, WWE posted a video where Cathy Kelley confirmed that Cross will be taking Bliss’ spot. Naomi, Natalya, Dana Brooke, Bayley, Mandy Rose, Ember Moon, and Carmella are the other wrestlers in the ladder match.
Dave Meltzer reported earlier today that Cross would be Bliss’ replacement and that Cross defeating Raw’s other women’s Money in the Bank participants in a fatal four-way match on television this week was done in the event Bliss wasn’t going to get cleared and to set up a logical reason for Cross to be added.
WWE began a storyline this week where Cross was calm during a backstage segment with Bliss but was back to her usual character while in the ring.
The XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut is hosting Money in the Bank on Sunday. Here’s the updated card:
Universal Champion Seth Rollins defending against AJ Styles
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Kevin Owens
Raw & SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending the SmackDown title against Charlotte Flair
Raw & SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending the Raw title against Lacey Evans
Men’s Money in the Bank ladder match (Ricochet, Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn, Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor, Ali, Andrade, Randy Orton)
Women’s Money in the Bank ladder match (Naomi, Natalya, Dana Brooke, Nikki Cross, Bayley, Mandy Rose, Ember Moon, Carmella)
Roman Reigns vs. Elias
The Miz vs. Shane McMahon in a steel cage match
United States Champion Samoa Joe defending against Rey Mysterio
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese defending against Ariya Daivari
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Rowan vs. The Usos (pre-show)
The Big Takeaway: EC3 lost again, this week to Cedric Alexander. The IIconics were on the show for the second week in a row, but only Peyton Royce was in action, defeating Nikki Cross on Cross’ show debut.
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A few changes this week. There was no third man in the announce booth and no third match on the show. Last week had seen the addition of David Otunga, but this week we returned to Byron Saxton and Renee Young on commentary in the usual two-match plus Raw recap format.
Cedric Alexander defeated EC3 (5:23)
Alexander has made a few appearances over the last couple of years on Main Event. He returned last week to beat Cesaro, which was Alexander’s first match on this show in a year.
Alexander and EC3 were good together here, if not a little sluggish towards the end. The match was essentially built around Alexander being the plucky babyface who had too much pace and speed for EC3 to deal with.
Other than Alexander slapping his thigh for literally every move he does, they finished well. After EC3 had gone close, Alexander got the heat and laid him out with a back handspring into an enzuigiri followed by the Lumbar Check.
Fans seem to have largely accepted that EC3 is where he is at the moment, but EC3 has been strangely quiet on Twitter for around a month now. You have to wonder what he makes of his position right now.
Well, they certainly gave Cross plenty in her Main Event debut match here. She looked like she might have even won it until the last few moments.
It was interesting that they gave Cross an appearance here, but if they do the same and beat her in London on Monday, it won’t go down well.
Kay was the obnoxious cheerleader throughout all of this, but Cross did herself no harm at all here. Interestingly, Young noted on commentary that Cross was still “struggling to find where she fits in in the dressing room.” I think that’s WWE-speak for they have no idea what to do with her yet.
The finish was a lot of back and forth with both women frustrated at not being able to best the other. Cross dodged a knee strike and rolled up Royce for two and then Royce connected with a forearm, spin kick, and the fisherman suplex for the win.
WWE aired the next of their Worlds Collide specials from WrestleMania Axxess on Wednesday night. This show featured wrestlers from the NXT, NXT UK, and SmackDown women’s divisions. Vic Joseph and Aiden English were on commentary and were joined by special guest, Mia Yim.
Candice LeRae (NXT) defeated Kay Lee Ray (NXT UK)
The show opened with a few shots of the crowd chanting “Worlds Collide” to the rhythm of the New Day’s eponymous chant. Thankfully, the rest of the show wasn’t as forced and puke-worthy as this cold open.
This match itself was good but short. Both wrestlers received friendly but relatively tepid reactions upon their entrances. KLR took the upper hand at the beginning of the match and used a variety of wristlocks and a scissors hold in an attempt to ground LeRae, who soon returned with some offense of her own. She used a crucifix bomb and later a modified octopus hold on KLR.
When the match spilled outside, KLR did a cool spinning roundhouse punch while LeRae’s head hung off the apron. LeRae again countered with three tope suicidas and a diving double stomp inside the ring for a two count. The crowd was entirely awake from this point on.
The match slowed after LeRae landed an enzuigiri kick to the back of KLR’s head. The referee counted to nine, but both were up before the 10 count. LeRae did a killer springboard German suplex moments later, using both feet to bounce off the bottom rope while KLR stood atop the ropes with her back to the ring.
LeRae used a quebrada to win this short match. I think if they were given 10 more minutes it’d probably have been an even better match.
This was even shorter than the first match. Niven dwarfed Vega, which was the story of this match.
The crowd was polite but mostly quiet at the start. Vega hit a tornado DDT early on, which got reactions and looked great. Niven landed a big running senton and a seated crossbody block to Vega for two.
Vega used Andrade’s running knees in the corner, but the crowd sort of stopped reacting at this point. It was awkward at times and not the fault of the wrestlers. In the end, Niven used a Fire-Thunder driver on Vega for the win.
This felt like it was a vessel for getting Deville over on TV more than anything, and it didn’t really work.
People perked up for both wrestlers. There were scattered chants for both Shirai and Deville, but Shirai was obviously over. “Io” is also extremely easy to chant, so that helps, I’m sure.
Deville bullied Shirai for a good amount of time in this. She used open hand strikes and knees in addition to a number of submissions on the mat. Since the action was slower in this, I kept getting distracted by Aiden English’s voice because it sounds exactly like Shawn Michaels’. Really weird.
Shirai finally began a counterattack. She landed a big missile dropkick from the top for two. Later, she went for her patented moonsault, but Deville moved out of the way. Shirai rolled through but was dazed, and here was when Deville took advantage to finish Shirai off with a massive, brutal, devastating… double-leg takedown.
The announcers tried so hard to get the move over — but yeah, I have no idea which person thought that was a good idea for a finish. If the idea is to try to get Deville over as a legitimate fighter, why not have her use something more, I don’t know, advanced? I digress, excuse me.
NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm (NXT UK) defeated Nikki Cross (listed as representing SmackDown) and Bianca Belair (NXT) in a triple threat match to retain her title
This match had a proper main event feel to it. The crowd chanted a lot before the match even started, and the fans were all very much into each wrestler.
Cross was knocked out of the ring quickly so that Storm and Belair could face off one-on-one at first. Storm offered a handshake, but Belair responded by smacking her rear-end.
Cross would periodically attack her opponents before getting knocked out of the ring for more Storm vs. Belair action. At one point, when Cross was back in the ring, Storm did running hip attacks to both Cross and Belair in the bottom corners. This fired up both the crowd and Storm in the ring.
Belair used the KOD on Storm for two. Cross disappeared from the ring again and we had even more Storm vs. Belair action. It felt like they were testing out a program between these two.
Cross reappeared once again and landed a falling inverted DDT but missed a flying crossbody from the top. She then went on to eat a Storm Zero from Storm, the winner and still NXT Women’s Champion.
Final thoughts —
This was a showcase for some of the up-and-comers in WWE’s women’s divisions and not much else. While it was never bad, it wasn’t must-see wrestling. The matches this week ranged from fine to pretty good, but the nature of the special itself — content for the sake of it — doesn’t allow for much more than mediocrity.
Raw’s final team for the Women’s Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber match will be confirmed next week.
WWE has announced that Sasha Banks & Bayley will face Alicia Fox & Nikki Cross in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match on next Monday’s Raw. The winners will join Nia Jax & Tamina and Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan in the Elimination Chamber match to decide WWE’s Women’s Tag Team Champions.
There will be three teams from Raw and three teams from SmackDown in the Women’s Tag Team title match. Jax & Tamina and Morgan & Logan won qualifying matches on tonight’s Raw, with Jax & Tamina defeating Alexa Bliss & Mickie James and Morgan & Logan defeating Natalya & Dana Brooke.
Bayley answered an open challenge that was issued by Ronda Rousey tonight, with Rousey retaining her Raw Women’s Championship by submitting Bayley with an armbar. Becky Lynch then made an appearance and announced that she’ll be challenging for Rousey’s Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 35.
The Toyota Center in Houston, Texas will host Elimination Chamber 2019 on February 17.
Cross and Dain were both members of SAnitY in NXT. Dain, Eric Young, and Alexander Wolfe were called up to the main roster without Cross as part of last year’s Superstar Shakeup, but they appeared with her when she faced Becky Lynch on an episode of SmackDown last November.
On this Monday’s Raw, Cross made an appearance and teamed with Bayley & Natalya in a six-woman tag match where they defeated The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan). Cross is part of the latest group of NXT call-ups, but WWE noted that the wrestlers from that group have yet to be assigned to brands despite appearing on TV.
Several new WWE talents made their first main roster appearances tonight during Raw.
Nikki Cross made her televised in-ring debut, teaming with Bayley and Natalya in a six person tag match defeating the Riott Squad. It was noted during Cross’s entrance that all of the NXT stars coming to the main roster will be free agents in the coming weeks until they are signed to a brand.
EC3 made a silent appearance during a segment that had Dasha Fuentes question a number of stars about being a potential replacement for Braun Strowman in the Royal Rumble Universal title match. Lacey Evans also appeared, talking to other talent backstage as Finn Balor as walking to the ring for his match against Jinder Mahal.
Heavy Machinery made their debut during the Moment of Bliss talk show segment. Otis Dozovic interrupted the interview between Alexa Bliss and Paul Heyman and eventually had to be escorted away by tag team partner Tucker Knight.
Lars Sullivan did not make an appearance. According to last week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Sullivan flew himself home before last week’s SmackDown tapings due to what is being reported as an anxiety attack that took place before Raw last Monday.
With a promise to change things up, WWE announced tonight that five NXT superstars are being called up to the main roster in the near future.
During Raw, it was announced that the following five wrestlers would be called up. What brand or when exactly they’ll debut isn’t known:
Lacey Evans, who has feuded with Kairi Sane in the past on NXT television and had recently been scoring wins against the likes of Candice LeRae and Dakota Kai.
Heavy Machinery, the team of Tucker Knight and Otis Dozovich who have been wrestling together as a unit since 2016. They’ve wrestled against the likes of War Raiders, Authors of Pain, TM-61 and the Undisputed Era.
Nikki Cross, who used to be affiliated with Sanity before they were called up to SmackDown earlier this year. She is coming off a feud against Bianca Belair.
EC3, who has competed for the NXT North American title in the past and is coming off a feud against Lars Sullivan. He was formerly known as Derrick Bateman during his last run with the WWE that ended in 2013.
These call-ups are in addition to Lars Sullivan, whose vignettes have been airing since Survivor Series.
SmackDown’s men’s and women’s division teams for Survivor Series took shape on this week’s episode.
Daniel Bryan and The Miz were made co-captains of the men’s team, with Miz picking Shane McMahon to join them and Bryan agreeing with it. Bryan picked Rey Mysterio for the fourth spot, but Miz said he had to impress against Andrade “Cien” Almas. Bryan and Miz then chose wrestlers to face off in the main event. Bryan selected Jeff Hardy and Miz picked Samoa Joe.
Following Joe’s win, the episode closed with dissension between Team SmackDown after Joe got in Bryan’s face and Bryan attacked him.
Charlotte Flair, Asuka, Naomi, Carmella, and Sonya Deville were chosen for the women’s team, which led to an angle where Mandy Rose came out instead of Charlotte and wanted to know why she wasn’t picked.
Five tag teams from Raw will also face five tag teams from SmackDown in a traditional Survivor Series elimination match. The Usos will captain the SmackDown team after defeating The New Day last night, and they picked New Day to team with them at the pay-per-view.
Becky Lynch responded to Ronda Rousey’s comments from Raw. She issued an open challenge, which was answered by NXT’s Nikki Cross.
A surprise return with a cliffhanger ending highlighted a show billed as having a double main event on episode #473 of NXT. Aleister Black returned wanting answers from Nikki Cross in an angle that closed the show.
Cross for weeks was ranting that she knew a secret. Her return match with Bianca Belair ended in a no contest when Black made his surprising return.
In the other half of a double main event, Undisputed Era defended their NXT Tag Team Championship against The War Raiders. Bobby Fish returned to action doing a run-in for a disqualification. The tag team title match opened the show.
War Raiders (Hanson & Rowe) defeated NXT Tag Team Champions Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) via disqualification
Bobby Fish ran in swinging a chair at War Raiders for the DQ. War Raiders were dominating in the story of the match despite sleek teamwork by Undisputed Era. They tried to double-team Hanson at the outset. He made his own comeback and sent Undisputed Era scrambling. Rinse and repeat in a similarly effective formula throughout the match.
Undisputed Era targeted Rowe’s knee and worked him over. The tag champs proverbially cut the ring in half — which has become a staple of their offensive strategy. Despite the efforts of Undisputed Era in trying to block a tag, Hanson was able to make a switch as he tagged in to clean house. Hanson proceeded to mow down Undisputed Era before getting a near fall.
O’Reilly twice saved Strong from Hanson making pinning attempts. Rowe jumped back into the fracas as War Raiders began showcasing double-team power moves. Rowe assisted Hanson in delivering a springboard lariat. Adam Cole out of nowhere ran down to presumably cause a DQ and save the titles. Hanson blocked a punch and decked Cole to neutralize the interference. The referee let the match continue.
The slight distraction allowed for O’Reilly to execute Ax and Smash for a two count. Rowe fought back only to get trapped in a heel hook applied by O’Reilly. Hanson suplexed Strong onto O’Reilly to break up the submission hold. War Raiders launched into tandem offense heading into the finish. Hanson dispatched both Strong and Cole with a tope suicida. Rowe then assisted Hanson in dropping a guillotine legdrop on O’Reilly. Bobby Fish then ran in to attack War Raiders for a DQ.
Fish doing a run-in saved the titles for Undisputed Era. While Fish was present for promos and other appearances, he has been out of action recovering from surgery; him running in marks his return to active competition. War Raiders fed their backs as Fish waffled them with a chair shots. Undisputed Era afterwards posed standing over the wreckage.
Shayna Baszler defeated Britt Baker
Baszler won in seconds via referee stoppage. Baszler quickly took Baker down to the mat and tied up an arm. Baszler stomped on the arm to injury the appendage. Baker sold big as she screamed in agony. The ref stepped in to stop the match. He raised the hand of a smirking Baszler — but she was not yet finished. Baszler sadistically rushed in to deliver a leaping knee strike that laid out Baker. Baszler flashed a sadistic smile before leaving.
William Regal was pacing in his office when a reporter peppered him with a question about what Nikki Cross might know. Regal was unsure what Cross knows about the attack on Aleister Black, but Regal was sure that Black was returning soon. Regal said he needed answers so he plans to talk to with Cross after her match later on.
Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch defeated Tian Bing & Rocky
Lorcan pinned Rocky after a double-team implant DDT. Bing at the start was able to out-maneuver Lorcan. Lorcan soon found himself trapped by Rocky in a full nelson. Lorcan escaped to tag out. Burch was a house of fire before making a quick tag. He assisted Lorcan in setting up an implant DDT — and Lorcan then scored the pinfall.
Nikki Cross vs. Bianca Belair ended in a no-contest
The surprise return of Aleister Black caused the match to end without a finish. This was a rematch of a previous meeting that also ended in a similar non-finish. The match itself between Cross and Belair was intense in building anticipation for a return match — hopefully with an actual finish the next time. The angle with Black as a plot twist was significant enough to compensate for the match not having a finish.
Cross and Belair rushed in at the start and a brawl ensued. The fight spilled out of the ring. Cross sent Belair colliding into the ring steps. The melee continued back in the ring. Belair stomped on Cross, and then she grounded her with a neck vise. Belair displayed her mean streak to counter the manicial character of Cross. Belair had on a lot of body glitter. Soon everything else in the ring was also covered in glitter as the match progressed.
Belair did a forward flip into a standing moonsault for a two count. Cross fought back with forearm shivers. Belair applied a double chicken wing, but Cross countered into a victory roll near fall. Cross trapped Belair in the tree-of-woe. After a running bulldog on Belair, a crazed Cross climbed the turnbuckles for a flying crossbody. Belair kicked out at two.
Belair answered back with a forearm shiver that dropped Cross. Belair then speared Cross for a near fall. Belair kept trying for pin covers and Cross continued to kick out. Belair executed a deadlift powerbomb. She was in disbelief when Cross still kicked out.
An enraged Belair shoved Cross and yelled at her to stay down. Cross answered with a smirk. Belair slapped her and Cross sneered. Belair lifted Cross into a military press. Cross escaped to give Cross a reverse DDT for a near fall. Cross again climbed the turnbuckles and leapt off the top rope. Belair whipped Cross in mid-air with her braid. The fighting continued as they set up Cross giving Belair a superplex.
Both were down selling when the lights went out. Ominous music began playing as darkness engulfed the ring. The lights came on and Black was sitting crossed-legged in the ring. The crowd gasp. Belair seemingly disappeared from the ring. Black was face-to-face with Cross. A “holy s***” chant gave way to the crowd chanting “Nikki’s got a secret.”
Black wanted Cross to tell him what she knows. Cross whispered something into Black’s ear. Black bowed his head for a moment. His seething then turned to rage as the show faded to black.
NXT star Nikki Cross made her first main roster appearance tonight at a house show in Augusta, Maine.
Teaming with Becky Lynch, the duo defeated Billie Kay and Peyton Royce tonight after Lynch got the submission win with the disarmer. The two celebrated after the match. Despite competing on tonight’s show, PWInsider reports that she is not scheduled for SmackDown tomorrow.
Cross has been associated with SAnitY since the group was formed back in 2016. However, she was not called up with Killian Dain, Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe when they were brought up to the SmackDown roster as part of the SuperStar Shakeup following WrestleMania 34.
Since the split from SAnitY, Cross has continued to work down in NXT, even scoring a title match against Shayna Baszler at NXT TakeOver: Chicago last month. Baszler retained the title, submitting Cross with the kirifuda choke.
Cross was signed by WWE in 2016. Before that, as Nikki Storm, she wrestled for several promotions including ICW, Pro Wrestling EVE, JWP and SHIMMER.
There were 350 people in attendance at last night’s house show.
– The Street Profits defeated The Ealy Brothers
– Liv Morgan defeated Bianca Belair
– Kassius Ohno defeated Babatunde Aiyegbusi
– Roderick Strong defeated Buddy Murphy
– Peyton Royce (w/ Billie Kay) defeated Ember Moon, Nikki Cross, and Kairi Sane in a fatal four-way match
These are the same four wrestlers who will be involved in the fatal four-way for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver: War Games later this month.
– Johnny Gargano defeated Fabian Aichner
– Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler defeated Heavy Machinery
The Big News: Andrade “Cien” Almas moved one step closer to a showdown with Drew McIntyre at TakeOver: War Games by beating Roderick Strong in the main event.
The Medium News: Roderick Strong was invited to join The Undisputed Era.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Nikki Cross is the last participant in the fatal four-way match for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver.
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Mr. Regal began the show by announcing that due to the shenanigans that happened in her qualifying match, Nikki Cross has been entered into the battle royal for the final spot in the TakeOver Women’s title match. If you recall, The Undisputed Era sent Taynara Conti to the ring to attack Cross and take her out of that match.
Also next week is SAnitY vs. The Authors of Pain for the Tag Team titles, and whichever member of SAnitY isn’t in the match is barred from ringside.
Burch and Lorcan individually have two of the worst televised win-loss records in NXT history. Perhaps forming a tag team will lead to the success they couldn’t get on their own? Anyway, Sabbatelli & Moss brought their largeness and their matching gear to this match.
Moss caught Lorcan with a good shot early on, so Lorcan propelled himself off the ropes with a dropkick to the face. Everyone calmed down as Burch tagged in and the heels got the heat. Sabbatelli hit Burch with a dropkick and he stared at Lorcan — almost telling him how to not kick someone right in the face during said move.
Anyway, Lorcan got the hot tag and chopped down his larger foes. However, he got cut off and shockingly pinned with a combination Gory Special/bulldog. Somehow it’s shocking when a team is formed of two guys that never win and then they lose.
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Nikki Cross won a battle royal to earn the final spot in the NXT Women’s Championship match at TakeOver: War Games
Vanessa Borne, Bianca Belair, Sage Beckett, Mercedes Martinez, Candice LeRae, Billie Kay, and Cross were the only women to get televised entrances. Actually, only the last three got their own theme music, as everyone else came out to the NXT theme song.
Cross went right after Conti at the bell and eliminated her first. After being eliminated, Conti pulled Cross under the bottom rope and threw her into the barricade. Peyton Royce, who was at ringside, got in on the fun and pushed Cross into the ring steps.
Rhea Ripley was eliminated when Belair picked Zeda up for a body slam and threw her legs into Ripley, who was on the apron.
Most of this match was everyone trying to eliminate everyone else. The problem with doing much of anything else was that there was a lot of bad attempted offense. Cross finally got back in and dove onto about 10 people and she then eliminated Borne, Beckett, Santana Garrett, and Abbey Laith in quick succession.
I don’t want to imply that pro wrestling may not be on the up and up, but Lacey Evans sure looked like she dove over the top rope when it was time for her elimination. Belair showed her strength by heaving the tiniest person in the match (Candice LeRae) over the top rope onto the others who were milling about.
Belair then tried to eliminate Kay, but Kay grabbed her by her long ponytail and held on, avoiding being eliminated.
Martinez looked good and seemed at times to be the most competent grappler in the ring. The finish saw Martinez and Belair go over the top and fight on the apron (which is the hardest part of the ring) and Cross ran up and knocked them off, then Kay ran up to try to toss Cross over and began celebrating like she just won the WrestleMania main event. However, Cross did not drop, got back in the ring, and gave Kay the heave-ho for the win.
Nikki Cross is going to TakeOver. After the match, William Regal got in the ring to congratulate Cross, but Peyton Royce began screaming at her. Ember Moon came down to get involved in the argument, so Kairi Sane strolled to the ring to remind everyone that she was also in that match.
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Earlier this week, Drew McIntyre was trying to leave the Performance Center when he got harassed by people with microphones and cameras. Thankfully, someone was there to film it because Zelina Vega decided now was the best time to come and demand a title shot for Andrade “Cien” Almas.
McIntyre told her the same thing he said last week — and that was for Almas to come ask him himself.
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TakeOver: War Games may not officially have a main event yet (the worst kept secret ever), but it does already have an official theme song. “Play” by Marmozets is the answer to the question no one asked.
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As Aleister Black was coming to the ring to beat up some unsuspecting jobber, he was suddenly attacked by Velveteen Dream! Dream threw Black into the unforgiving steel steps. Dream threw Black into the ring and tied him in the ropes. Dream slapped Black and screamed at him to say his name.
Black kicked him out of the way and went for Black Mass, but Dream was able to run the other way. Dream became the first person to ever avoid Black Mass.
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We only have one official TakeOver match, but we have two official theme songs. “Executioner’s Tax” by Power Trip was announced as the other theme on the other side of the commercial break.
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Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Roderick Strong
Before the match, Zelina Vega said she is a very patient woman. She has waited an entire week for a contract for a title match against McIntyre and is now still waiting. Vega vowed that McIntyre will fail as NXT Champion the same way he failed the last time he was in WWE.
This was a very good back-and-forth match with strong storytelling by both men. Almas was trying to prove he’s worthy of his first NXT title match, while Strong was trying to get some momentum to get back in the title picture.
Strong used a backbreaker on the apron, which, again, is the hardest part of the ring, but Almas got back into it and hit a tornado DDT for a near fall. They exchanged hard strikes that each blocked with their face. Strong pieced together five or six big moves in a row and they ended up outside the ring.
Almas rolled back in and distracted the referee as Vega came off the apron with a hurricanrana to Strong! Strong crashed into the ring steps, which is the third time tonight that same set of steps got abused. Back in the ring, Almas picked up the big win with a hammerlock DDT.
After the match, Vega and Almas went to the announce table, stole Mauro Ranallo’s headset, and challenged McIntyre to meet them face-to-face next week.
Strong pulled himself to his feet when suddenly we were joined by The Undisputed Era. Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O’Reilly hit the ring. Cole told Strong he is not a loser and that he needs to join Undisputed Era. Cole handed Strong his armband, which Strong took, but didn’t put on as the show ended with Undisputed Era walking away.
So, that does it for this week. But before signing off, I wanted to say that I will be going to Australia on vacation and thus won’t be around for the next two episodes of NXT. But we do have a replacement who will be filling in for the next two weeks. Until then, thank you for reading and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
The Big News: Andrade “Cien” Almas improved to 2-0 against Johnny Gargano as he pinned him once again in the main event.
The Medium News: Peyton Royce advanced to Houston and the fatal four-way match for the NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Nikki Cross was assaulted by Taynara Conti at the request of The Undisputed Era, which cost Cross her chance to get into the Women’s title match at TakeOver.
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Peyton Royce defeated Nikki Cross and Liv Morgan to earn a spot in the NXT Women’s Championship match at TakeOver: War Games
The winner of this match will join Kairi Sane in the fatal four-way match to determine the new NXT Women’s Champion at TakeOver: War Games next month.
The match started with Cross screaming at Royce, and this led to Cross grabbing Morgan’s arm and using a double clothesline to send Royce out of the ring. We settled down into a normal three-way from there. The crowd didn’t care for this at all, making very little noise for the most part. Royce used a reverse Octopus on Morgan that Cross broke up and caused Royce to almost land on her head.
They did a stacked-up superplex where Morgan got the worst of it. Suddenly, The Undisputed Era sent Mae Young Classic competitor Taynara Conti down to the ring and she interfered and ultimately cost Cross the match. Royce pinned Cross with a fisherman’s suplex.
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Velveteen Dream defeated Lio Rush
This was Rush’s real NXT debut. He attempted to debut last week against Aleister Black, but Velveteen Dream attacked him from out of nowhere, which brought us to this match.
Rush used his small size to his advantage as he dodged, ducked, dipped, dove, and dodged around Dream during the early part of the match. Unfortunately he didn’t dodge quick enough for long enough as Dream knocked him down and took over. Rush showed just enough to impress people who didn’t know him, but he went down for the count to a Purple Rainmaker.
After the match, Dream looked into the camera and mouthed a message to Aleister Black to say his name.
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Lars Sullivan defeated Danny Burch
This match was set up two weeks ago when Sullivan defeated Oney Lorcan and Burch ran in for the save from a post-match attack. Sullivan took almost all the offense and, again, was never taken off his feet by any offensive move given to him. Sullivan won with his side spinebuster.
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There will be an exclusive interview with NXT Champion Drew McIntyre on next week’s episode.
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The Street Profits defeated Damien Smith & Markos Espada
The Profits are easily one of the most over acts on NXT and this match was over as quickly as it began. We had a lot of shenanigans and non-action before Smith was a victim of the combo spinebuster/frog splash. I don’t believe Espada ever tagged in.
The Street Profits celebrated their win in the audience.
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Next week:
Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville vs. Ember Moon in a Women’s title qualifying match
SAnitY vs. The Undisputed Era
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Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Johnny Gargano
These two men wrestled at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, with Almas winning that match after Zelina Vega threw a DIY T-shirt into the ring to distract Gargano.
This was a good match and these two men have excellent chemistry together. Almas got the heat when he dropped Gargano with Christian’s reverse DDT, but on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring. Gargano was on top of his game here as even when Almas would do something like counter Gargano’s slingshot spear, Johnny Wrestling would backdrop him over the top rope.
Gargano kicked out of several big moves, which frustrated Almas. Gargano was so tired that after hitting a superkick he collapsed onto Almas for a two count. Almas went for a top rope hammerlock DDT, but Gargano blocked it and then Almas blocked the sunset flip powerbomb. However, Gargano got on the Gargano Escape.
Vega freaked out and took off her leather jacket — to reveal a DIY T-shirt. Gargano didn’t fall for it, but Almas did get the ropes. They exchanged roll-ups until Almas was able to send him into the bottom turnbuckles. Two running knees to the back of the head was more than enough, but Almas still finished him off with a hammerlock DDT.
So, that does it for this week. We are one week closer to Houston, but what will happen next week? Until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
