Mustafa Ali will get the NXT North American Championship match at NXT No Mercy later this month.
Ali defeated Dragon Lee in a match that was set to determine the number one contender to Dominik Mysterio’s title. The finish had Mysterio, who was the special guest referee for the match, fast counted Lee when Ali rolled him up.
After the match, Ali seemed happy to have won at first, but then laid out Dominik Mysterio with a punch, not wanting to have won that way. He and Lee then left the ring as Mysterio recovered.
Mysterio last month successfully defended the North American title against Lee on an episode of NXT. However, Lee and Lyra Valkyria picked up a mixed tag team win over Mysterio and Rhea Ripley later in August. Ali later confronted Lee, saying Lee had his shot and now he wanted to be the next person to challenge Mysterio.
In a video, Ripley and Mysterio said that they would let the two battle it out to determine the next challenger, with Mysterio serving as a special guest referee.
Here is the updated card for NXT No Mercy on September 30:
NXT Championship: Carmelo Hayes defends against either Ilja Dragunov or Wes Lee
NXT North American Championship: Dominik Mysterio defends against Mustafa Ali
NXT Heritage Cup: Noam Dar defends against Global Heritage Invitational Tournament winner
A three-way match for the North American title has been set for NXT’s Great American Bash event this Sunday.
Dominik Mysterio will defend the title against former champion Wes Lee and Mustafa Ali in a three-way match. Mysterio opened NXT on Tuesday bragging about his title win last week when Lee came out and demanded a rematch. Ali then came out and said he had the match for the Great American Bash against Lee, saying that Lee ruined everything. Lee argued with Ali as Rhea Ripley and Mysterio agreed to a three-way match for Sunday.
Additionally, a pre-show match has been added pitting members of Meta-Four (Noam Dar, Oro Mensah, Lash Legend, and Jakara Jackson) against Nathan Fraszer, Dragon Lee, Yulisa Leon, and Valentina Feroz.
It was also confirmed that Blair Davenport and Roxanne Perez will meet in a weapons wild match. Footage was shown on Tuesday’s NXT showing the two brawling in a convenience store.
Here is the updated lineup for Sunday’s Great American Bash:
NXT Championship: Carmelo Hayes defends against Ilja Dragunov
NXT North American Championship: Dominik Mysterio defends against Mustafa Ali and Wes Lee
NXT Tag Team titles: Gallus defends against Tony D’Angelo and Stacks
NXT Women’s Championship: Tiffany Stratton defends against Thea Hail
Gable Steveson vs. Baron Corbin
Weapons wild match: Roxanne Perez vs. Blair Davenport
Pre-show: Nathan Frazer, Dragon Lee, Yulisa Leon, and Valentina Feroz vs. Noam Dar, Oro Mensah, Lash Legend, and Jakara Jackson
The NXT North American Championship has been vacated, and a new champion will be crowned in a ladder match at Halloween Havoc.
Tuesday’s show opened with Solo Sikoa and Carmelo Hayes appearing in Shawn Micheals’ office. Michaels said that although Sikoa won the title, he was not a choice in the fan voting and was not a potential opponent, and therefore had to vacate the title. Sikoa relinquished the title. However, when Hayes asked for the title back, Micheals rejected him, saying that Hayes had “played the system” and got burned as a result. Micheals then made a match “in six weeks” at Halloween Havoc, where Hayes will face four other people in a ladder match to determine the new champion.
Micheals additionally said qualifying matches will take place over the next few weeks on NXT to determine who will enter the ladder match.
Sikoa, who made his main roster debut at Clash at the Castle earlier this month, made a surprise appearance on last week’s NXT, challenging Hayes after Hayes and Trick Williams laid out his original opponent, Wes Lee. An impromptu match was held, with Sikoa picking up the win. On last Friday’s SmackDown, Sikoa defended the title successfully against Madcap Moss.
It was reported back on August 31 that a Halloween Havoc Saturday event was being planned for October 22.
A shocking title change opened tonight’s episode of NXT.
Leon Ruff defeated Johnny Gargano on tonight’s show to win the NXT North American Championship. Ruff got help from Gargano being distracted by Damian Priest.
In storyline, Gargano was looking to break his curse of never being able to successfully defend a title. He had promised that he would be facing a “worthy opponent” tonight. Gargano opened the show in the ring with the “Wheel of Challengers.” It had Ruff’s name written over one of the spots and was made so it would land on Ruff’s name.
Gargano was distracted by Priest appearing in the crowd during the match. That allowed Ruff to hit a crucifix bomb and pin Gargano to win the title.
As Gargano looked on in disbelief, Priest celebrated with Ruff on the stage. Priest put the North American title around Ruff’s waist, but it fell off due to Ruff being too small.
There was a segment after the match where Ruff was being interviewed backstage. Priest told Ruff that Gargano is going to be pissed and try to kick his ass, so Priest told Ruff to take the black Challenger that was outside. Gargano then came looking for Ruff. Gargano shoved Priest and had to be stopped by officials. Gargano asked whose stupid idea tonight’s title match was — and Priest pointed out that it was Gargano’s.
Gargano became NXT North American Champion by winning the title from Priest in a Devil’s Playground match at Halloween Havoc two weeks ago. The stipulation was determined by Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal. Gargano won after getting help via interference from someone wearing a Scream costume. The person in the costume was presumably Indi Hartwell.
Ruff is a former EVOLVE Tag Team Champion and was officially introduced as a WWE signee when last month’s Performance Center class was unveiled. Ruff has made several appearances on WWE television since March.
Keith Lee has won his first championship title in WWE.
In the main event of tonight’s episode of NXT, Lee defeated Roderick Strong to become the NXT North American Champion. The finish of the match saw Lee overcome interference by all of Strong’s Undisputed Era stablemates before hitting a fireman’s carry jackhammer on Strong to win the title.
Lee celebrated on the stage after becoming champion. A brawl between Imperium and Undisputed Era then closed the show as WWE finished building to their eight-man tag match at Worlds Collide this Saturday night.
Lee joins Strong, Velveteen Dream, Johnny Gargano, Ricochet, and Adam Cole as wrestlers who have held the NXT North American title.
Strong’s reign as champion lasted four months. He had won the title from Velveteen Dream on NXT’s USA Network premiere on September 18.
Strong is now the only member of Undisputed Era who doesn’t hold a title. Cole is the NXT Champion and Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish are the NXT Tag Team Champions.
WWE has announced when Velveteen Dream will be getting his North American title rematch.
North American Champion Roderick Strong will defend his title against Dream on the October 23 episode of NXT. This will be Strong’s first title defense since defeating Dream to win the championship in the main event of NXT’s USA Network premiere on September 18.
On tonight’s show, Strong defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott in a non-title match. After the match, Dream appeared and interrupted a promo by the Undisputed Era. He mocked Strong and said he’ll be getting his rematch in two weeks.
Every member of Undisputed Era currently holds a title. Adam Cole is the NXT Champion, Strong is the NXT North American Champion, and Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish are the NXT Tag Team Champions.
This is the first match that’s been announced for the October 23 episode of NXT.
Three matches have been confirmed for next week’s show: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Angel Garza, Keith Lee vs. Dominik Dijakovic, and Pete Dunne vs. Damian Priest. Tegan Nox will also be in action on next Wednesday’s episode.
After a few weeks of speculation, NXT tonight confirmed that Velveteen Dream is officially the new NXT North American champion.
The NXT tapings back on January 30 had Velveteen Dream pin Johnny Gargano to win the championship. However, Gargano attacked Dream after the match and made him tap out to the Gargano Escape, which led to confusion regarding who exactly was the champion.
The match ended up airing tonight as NXT’s main event, showing the Dream title victory but not the post-match beatdown. That would make Gargano’s run with the title a four day reign, though he will likely be recognized as champion for 25 days.
Gargano had held the title since January 26, defeating Ricochet at NXT TakeOver: Phoenix. He, along with Tomasso Ciampa, Aleister Black and Ricochet were called up this past week to be part of the main roster going forward. Despite that, they will continue to work NXT dates.
Ahead of TakeOver: New Orleans, WWE has unveiled the title belt for the NXT North American Championship.
Triple H debuted the title in a video that WWE put out today, with it featuring a red strap, a gold center plate with the countries of North America, and gold side plates with the NXT logo.
The inaugural NXT North American Champion will be decided in a ladder match at TakeOver: New Orleans on Saturday night. Ricochet, EC3, Adam Cole, Velveteen Dream, Killian Dain, and Lars Sullivan will be the six wrestlers vying for the title.
Whoever becomes champion will have their first defense at WrestleMania Axxess the morning after TakeOver. They’ll be facing the winner of an invitational tournament that’s scheduled for the first three days of Axxess.
Though there have been other North American Championships in the past, Triple H said on last week’s pre-TakeOver conference call that he doesn’t see this title as continuing any of those lineages.
Click play below to watch the title being unveiled:
The Big News: The NXT North American Championship will debut at TakeOver: New Orleans in a six-way ladder match with EC3, Adam Cole, Velveteen Dream, Lars Sullivan, Killian Dain, and Ricochet.
The Medium News: Johnny Gargano will return at TakeOver, as he goes one-on-one with Tommaso Ciampa in an unsanctioned match.
The Little Beaver-sized News: The Authors of Pain will meet Pete Dunne & Roderick Strong next week in the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
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Earlier today, Tommaso Ciampa showed up at Full Sail for tonight’s event and confronted William Regal about Johnny Gargano assaulting him at his physical therapist and his home. Mr. Regal agreed that was crazy and booked Ciampa vs. Gargano in an unsanctioned match at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans. If Gargano wins, he gets his job back. But if Ciampa wins, then Gargano’s banished forever.
So if Gargano loses, what’s stopping him from showing up at Ciampa’s physical therapist or at his house at 3 a.m.?
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On the other side of the opening credits, we were joined inside the arena by Mr. Regal. He announced that we will crown our first-ever NXT North American Champion at TakeOver: New Orleans. Before he could go on, we were joined by the re-debuting EC3. He debuted a new theme bragging about him being in the top one percent.
He thanked Regal for rolling out the red carpet for him, including giving him a lucrative contract and a wonderful theme song, but he couldn’t believe Regal would create a brand new championship and give it to him on his very first day. He stated that North America is the best region in the world and he is a literal money-printing machine.
Regal cut him off and said he’s not being handed the North American title. He is one of the best, however, and because of that he will be in the North American title match. It will be him and five other men in a ladder match to determine the first champion. The fans were much happier than he was about this.
EC3 did state that no matter how many men he has to go through, he will be North American Champion and prove that he is in the top one percent of this industry.
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We were magically whisked away to the NXT Control Center, where Charly Caruso talked about the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. We are down to the semifinals, which will occur tonight.
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Earlier today, TM61 were at the Performance Center and were disappointed about losing in the Dusty Classic. They said they need a change in attitude to beat some of these better teams.
Meanwhile, Ember Moon and Shayna Baszler got into a fight behind them, which the cameraman, rightfully, felt was more important. A bunch of people ran in to break it up while the cameraman bumped for them.
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The Authors of Pain defeated The Street Profits in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic semifinal match
The incredibly popular Street Profits were here to kick off the in-ring action tonight. They had a hard road to the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic ahead of them as they went two-on-two with the reigning tournament winners, The Authors of Pain.
Montez Ford talked trash to Rezar, so Rezar shoved him and yelled back at him. Ford showed his intelligence by immediately tagging out. Dawkins came in and became a punching bag for a little bit, but soon ran wild on both Akam and Rezar. This caused Ford to run around dancing outside the ring before offering Paul Ellering whatever was in his solo cup. Ellering threw it to the ground and threatened Ford.
Ford stalked Ellering up the ramp and didn’t even notice that Akam and Rezar took back over on Dawkins, pinning him after the Last Chapter. Montez Ford is the biggest idiot of the week.
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Cathy Kelley interviewed Mr. Regal backstage. He said Adam Cole will be the second competitor in the North American title ladder match. Velveteen Dream walked up and said Regal looked well and then was miffed when Regal didn’t return the compliment. Anyway, Dream wanted to be in the ladder match as well. Regal agreed and made him the third entrant.
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Aleister Black has promised to be here tonight, but 30 minutes in he had yet to arrive. To be fair, he may have forgotten this show was at Full Sail and instead flew to Center Stage.
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Lars Sullivan defeated John Silver
Sullivan hasn’t been seen in almost three months. To welcome him back they found the smallest and skinniest man in Orlando, put him in tights, and told him to go get killed. If it helps, Silver did do a great job getting killed as Sullivan flung him all over the ring before hitting a military press powerslam and a diving headbutt, of all things.
Sullivan picked up the win with the Freak Accident.
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Again, Kelley was wandering backstage and, again, ran into Mr. Regal and, again, asked him who else would be in the North American title match. Regal ran into Lars Sullivan and put him into the ladder match. Sullivan promised to destroy people with a ladder, but he wanted Killian Dain as well.
Regal then put Dain in the ladder match too. Sullivan continued to glare at him, so Regal made Sullivan vs. Dain for next week on NXT.
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Dakota Kai was out for the next match when we suddenly went backstage due to a commotion!
Aleister Black had finally arrived at the arena and was brutally attacked by the NXT Champion. Andrade “Cien” Almas laid the boots into his challenger — before trying to drown him in ice water. Almas showed a heart by stopping the drowning, but he dragged Black into the arena and into the ringside area.
Almas threw him into the ring and laid him out with a steel chair. Almas screamed that Black needs to respect both Almas and Zelina Vega before leaving.
Jeez, if I was Aleister Black I would have wished I didn’t show up at all. Oh and Kai’s match has been rescheduled.
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Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne defeated SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe) in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic semifinal match
Strong and Dunne became allies due to a common foe in the Undisputed Era. They got into the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic due to an injury by Tyler Bate. They somehow won their first round match, but now they must defeat the former NXT Tag Team Champions in Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe of SAnitY.
Strong started the match and Dunne was not going to allow SAnitY to use sneaky underhanded tactics to gain an advantage. Especially since Dunne has his own sneaky underhanded tactics. Dunne worked over the arm of Young, but EY got out of a double wristlock and turned it into a suplex.
Strong and Wolfe tagged in and woke the crowd up with a hockey fight spot. Wolfe used a German suplex and an Attitude Adjustment on Strong, but he kicked out. Young used his wheelbarrow suplex, but Dunne broke it up.
A four-way brawl broke out, which ended with Young using his diving elbow on Strong, but he kicked out of that as well. Strong ran wild, Dunne tagged in, and he pinned Young after a double team pop-up into a flapjack.
Strong and Dunne have defeated one duo of former NXT Tag Team Champions and now are in the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic against another team of former champions. It is Strong & Dunne vs. The Authors of Pain in the finals next week.
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For Pete’s sake, Kelley was once again outside of Mr. Regal’s office. She, again, asked who would be in the North American title match. Again, Regal said she was in luck and he had the sixth contestant in his office. Regal went into his office and out walked the sixth and final contestant — Ricochet. The show went off the air with the fans in the arena chanting for Ricochet as Kelley look stunned.
So, that does it for this week. It is the go home show for TakeOver next Wednesday! Until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
