Tag: nxt takeover results

NXT TakeOver Stand & Deliver night one live results: Shirai vs. Gonzalez

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Chris Aiken

NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver kicks off tonight with night one airing live on the USA Network and Peacock in the United States, and the WWE Network internationally.

In the main event, Io Shirai will put her NXT Women’s Championship on the line against Raquel Gonzalez. Shirai, who has been NXT Women’s Champion for more than 300 days, was last pinned by Gonzalez in WarGames this past December.

The NXT United Kingdom Championship will also be up for grabs as WALTER defends against Tommaso Ciampa tonight. WALTER’s reign as champion recently reached the two-year mark.

New NXT Tag Team Champions will be crowned as MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter), The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zach Gibson & James Drake), and Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde) face off in a triple threat match. The NXT Tag Team titles were declared vacant last month after Danny Burch suffered a separated shoulder.

A Gauntlet Eliminator match on tonight’s show will decide NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano’s challenger for TakeOver: Stand & Deliver night two. The Gauntlet Eliminator participants and their order of entry were decided by a battle royal last week. Leon Ruff will enter first, followed by Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes, Dexter Lumis, and LA Knight.

The Gauntlet Eliminator will begin with Ruff and Scott in the ring, then a new entrant will be added every three minutes. Eliminations can occur via pinfall or submission.

Pete Dunne vs. Kushida in a match to prove who’s the superior technical wrestler rounds out the main card. On the pre-show, Toni Storm will face Zoey Stark. The pre-show begins at 7 p.m. Eastern time and will air on Peacock in the U.S. and the WWE Network elsewhere, along with WWE’s social media platforms.

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Media personality Sam Roberts and MMA commentator Jimmy Smith welcomes viewers to the pre-show. Smith reportedly had a recent audition with WWE. Now he is hosting the pre-show alongside Roberts.

Sports media journalist Arash Markazi joined the show via a virtual link. He offered his thoughts on the show.

The pre-show so far has separate sit-down interviews conducted by Samoa Joe with both WALTER and Tommaso Ciampa. LA Knight cut a promo during a backstage interview with McKenzie Mitchell. Lots of hard sell too, of course.

Mickie James and Vic Joseph are on commentary for the pre-show match that is up next.

Zoey Stark defeated Toni Storm

Stark upset Storm via pinfall in a good match. This was not your average WWE pre-show match. They worked really hard, and the live crowd in the CWC helped to make it more dramatic.

They started with grappling where they traded headlocks. Stark on offense and Storm was reeling, until she cut off Stark. Storm grounded Stark, and Strorm began working her over. Stark was able to superplex Storm, and the tide began to turn.

Trading strikes, and they trade counters. Stark with a suplex and a running knee for a near fall. Storm answered back with a sit-out facebuster for a two count. Stark countered Storm’s finisher, and she leveled Storm with a kick.

Storm with German suplexes, and she went for Storm Zero. Stark then countered into an inside cradle, and she pinned Storm for the upset.

Samoa Joe did interviews with Raquel Gonzalez and NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai ahead of their title match later on.

By the way, there is ramp leading to the ring like Clash of the Champions back in the day.

The main card opened with Nita Strauss playing an instrumental version of the “Star Spangled Banner” on electric guitar.

Pete Dunne defeated Kushida

Dunne pinned Kushida in a great opener. This was quite possibly Kushida’s best match in NXT. More matches between these two, please.

They started by each trying to catch the other in a submission hold. The grappling continued as they fought for control. Dunne with joint manipulation, and he tripped up Kushida on an attempted handspring. Dunne gave Kushda the X-plex on the apron.

A slugfest developed, and the fight spilled onto the ramp. Great sequences as they went back-and-forth. Dunne snapped Kushida’s fingers, but Kushida answered back with a fisherman’s buster into a small package. On USA the show went to a picture-in-picture commercial break, but Peacock stayed on full screen with the match.

They both went for cross-armbreakers, and they traded lots of strikes. Awesome stuff so far, and it was only getting better. They fought on the turnbuckles, and Kushida with a flip off the top into a Hoverboard Lock. Dunne escaped, but Kushida tied up Dunne in another hold.

Kushida with a flying knee drop on Dunne’s elbow. Back to the Hoverbaord Lock. Dunne escaped again, and he targeted the fingers. Kushida went for his big punch, but he sold his own hand. Dunne a moment later executed the Bitter End, and he covered Kushida for a pinfall.

Bronson Reed won the Gauntlet Eliminator

Reed with the win earned a title shot at NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano. The match overall was good and action-packed.

Leon Ruff during his entrance crawled onto the ramp. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott was close behind, and he had apparently attacked Ruff before the match. Ruff fired up and they brawled around ringside before getting into the ring. All of this took place during a commercial break on USA, but it aired live on Peacock. After the break, the match began in the ring.

Scott with heat on Ruff, but Ruff came back by springing off the announce desk into a cutter on the floor. Scott soon cut off Ruff. They fought on the turnbuckles, and Ruff sent Scott flying with a Super Frankensteiner.

Bronson Reed entered the match. Ruff went for a flying crossbody on Reed, but Reed caught him. Reed then flung him into the ring. Reed proceeded to clean house. Power moves by Reed, and then he sat on Ruff. Triple German spot with Reed suplexing Scott while Scott also suplexed Ruff.

Cameron Grimes strolled down the ramp as the next entrant. Grimes moonsaulted into the ring, landing on Reed. After Reed was sent outside, Grimes bribed Scott with a fistfull of cash money. Scott then teamed up to help Grimes.

Ruff was taking all kinds of big bumps, including an exploder into a corner. Good grief. He was also the first eliminated.

Dexter Lumis joined the match as the next entrant. Lumis cleared the ring, and then he faced off with Reed. Everybody was sent out of the ring just before the newest entrant.

LA Knight came out cutting a promo. He kicked a downed Reed on his way to the ring. Reed interrupted Knight’s promo to begin kicking his butt. Reed made a comeback on everybody.

Lumis was eliminated when Knight cradled him for a pinfall. Reed then eliminated Knight via pinfall. Lumis grabbed Knight, and he put him to sleep. Great three-way dance develolped between Reed, Grimes and Scott.

Scott eliminated Grimes after reversing an O’Connor roll with a handfull of tights. That left Scott and Reed as the final two.

Reed took a Death Valley Driver on the apron. It looked very painful. Scott with a 450 splash for a near fall. Reed kicked out after another two count moments later.

Reed powerbombed Scott, and he also planted Scott with a Air Raid Crash. Reed finished the match with the Tsunami off the top to score the deciding pinfall.

NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER defeated Tommaso Ciampa to retain his title

WALTER pinned Ciampa to retain in a slobberknocker. Great bout. Highly recommend. They beat the heck out of each other.

Ciampa was notably back in trunks instead of his more recent gear. He has also shaved his head again.

Just when Ciampa thought he was in control, the monster inside WALTER awoke. WALTER struck down Ciampa, and WALTER pummeled him at ringside. Ciampa ducked a chop, and WALTER almsot chopped the anounce desk in half. That is no exaggeration.

Ciampa in the ring blocked another chop, but he could not lift WALTER. Ciampa targeted a hand, but WALTER mowed him down with a big boot to the face.

WALTER grounded Ciampa on the mat, and WALTER again booted him the face. WALTER punished Ciampa, but WALTER kept selling his hand. Ciampa fought back with lariats, yet he was unable to knock WALTER off his feet. Ciampa kept hitting WALTER countless times with lariats before finally knocking WALTER off his feet. Ciampa followed with an Air Raid Crash for a near fall.

WALTER with a backdrop for a two count, but Ciampa answered back with Devil’s Wings for another near fall. WALTER caught Ciampa in a sleeper, and Ciampa used the injured hand to break the hold. Suplex by WALTER, and the he hit Ciampa with a lariat from hell. Ciampa somehow kicked out.

Ciampa countered WALTER to apply a Fujiwara armbar. WALTER looked to be in trouble as Ciampa stomped on him. WALTER with a counter, and he clubbed Ciampa with his good hand. They fought on the top turnbuckle, and Ciampa gave WALTER an avalanche Air Raid Crash.

They traded vicious chops. WALTER targeted the neck, and twice powerbombed Ciampa. Nonetheless, Ciampa managed to kick out. Sleep suplex by WALTER, and he followed with a hard knife edge chop before covering Ciampa with a pinfall.

MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson) and Legado del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza) in a triple threat match to win the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship

MSK won the three-way to become the new champs. This was pretty dang good. Sometimes there was so much action it was hard to keep up with it all, but everybody worked extremely hard.

So three wrestlers are legal at a time, and their partners can tag in from the apron. Lots of action at the start, and too much to name. The Vets slowed things down, but MSK fired up into a flying comeback. Wilde himself also did a dive to the outside. Legado del Fantasma with stereo coast-to-coast flying dropkicks.

Legado del Fantasma in control throughout a commercial break with heat on Carter. Hot tag to Lee, and he ran wild with high flying offense. Lot of action with everybody involved.

The Vets smashed Lee’s hand in a turnbuckle, and Lee was trapped in an arm bar by Gibson. Carter went to make a save, but he was put to sleep by Drake. Legado del Fantasma rushed into the ring to hit several double team moves.

MSK takes out Legado del Fantasma with double team moves. The match comes down to MSK against the Vets. They all four face off heading into the finish. Carter with a double cutter on the Vers. MSK then execute a Doomsday Blockbuster, and Gibson took the pinfall.

Raquel Gonzalez defeated NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai to win the title

Gonzalez pinned Shirai to win the championship. They match was really good, and it felt like a special match. Maybe not the best match on the show, but it was still good nonetheless. Gonzalez looked like a powerhouse, and Shirai looked tough as nails.

Shirai used quickness to outwit Gonzalez during the early portion of the match. Shiari eventually flew trough the ropes with a dive to the outside.

Dakota Kai was in the corner of Gonzalez, but Kai was ejected from ringside mere minutes into the match. Kai interfered, and the referee ejected her. The distraction did allow Gonzalez to cut off Shirai. Gonzalez with power moves, but Shirai kept kicking out at two.

Gonzalez worked over Shirai, and Gonzalez applied a modified Gory Special. Shirai escaped to mount a comeback. Shirai came back with a Tiger Feint Kick and a springboard missile dropkick, which led to a near fall.

Shirai countered a power move to catch Gonzalez in a crossface. Shirai off the top turnbuckle with a moonsault on the ramp, and she followed that by hitting Gonzalez with double running knee strikes. There was a huge skull on the ramp as part of the set, and Shirai climbed on top of it. Shirai leapt off the skull into super plancha on the ramp. She did it better than when Sabu jumped off the “R” on Raw back in the day. It was impressive like an Aerostar dive.

Shirai with her signature moonsault press, but Gonzalez kicked out. Gonzalex soon cut off Shirai’s momentum, and she talked trash to Shirai. That fired up Shirai for one final flurry, but Gonzalez was too powerful. She lifted Shirai with a one-arm powerbomb, and then Gonzalez covered Shirai for a pinfall.

WWE NXT TakeOver 31 live results: Finn Balor vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Justin Knipper

The WWE Performance Center’s newly remodeled television set makes its debut as NXT TakeOver 31 takes place at the Capitol Wrestling Center tonight.

Kyle O’Reilly will be going for singles gold as he challenges Finn Balor for the NXT Championship. O’Reilly became the number one contender to Balor’s title by defeating Cameron Grimes, Timothy Thatcher, Bronson Reed, and Kushida in a gauntlet eliminator match.

Candice LeRae and her husband Johnny Gargano are both set to challenge for titles tonight. The NXT Women’s Championship will be on the line as Io Shirai defends her title against LeRae, who won a number one contender’s battle royal to get the title shot. Damian Priest will also defend the NXT North American Championship against Gargano.

Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, who is the only person to pin Santos Escobar in WWE, will challenge for Escobar’s NXT Cruiserweight Championship tonight. Plus, Kushida will take on Velveteen Dream.

Tonight’s pre-show will begin at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time and will include an appearance by Rhea Ripley. TakeOver will then begin at 7 p.m. Eastern.

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The show opened with a montage featuring tons of old footage and stock photos of Capitol Wrestling. The promo showed a quote from Vince McMahon in 1977 putting over the quality of the WWWF product at the time. Once the vignette finished, a logo appeared onscreen for the CWC, or “Capitol Wrestling Center,” or what they’ve decided to call the venue. The CWC logo looks almost identical to the Cruiserweight Classic logo.

Damian Priest defeated Johnny Gargano to retain the NXT North American title

Gargano ran at Priest as the bell rang but stopped short before attacking. He looked scared. Priest through a spinkick and chased Gargano out of the ring. Gargano snuck back in and put a few boots to Priest until the North American champ responded with a spinning roundhouse kick. Impressive athleticism from Priest off the bat.

Gargano used an armdrag to whip Priest from the apron onto the floor; Priest did a front-flip and bumped hard onto the floor. It looked great. Gargano landed a tope suicida next, then worked Priest over more inside the ring.

Priest launched a comeback when he planted Gargano with a big modified flatliner. He later went for a Razor’s Edge, but Gargano reversed on the way down into a sunset bomb. Priest stuck a big superman punch, then missed a spinkick, which allowed Gargano to lariat Priest to the floor. Priest then used his high spinkick to knock Gargano from the apron. He topped it off with a Razor’s Edge onto the apron, then rolled Gargano back into the ring for two. The crowd outside started making lots of noise right here.

They traded high spots and nearfalls toward the end of this. Lots of instant replays. Gargano used Sliced Bread and a running lariat to the back of Priest’s head for another two. Gargano taunted Priest and shot an imaginary arrow at him before Priest was able to again shift momentum and land a beautiful-looking sitout chokeslam for two.

When Priest climbed to the top for the finish, Gargano rolled to the floor. Priest decided to do a tope con hiro over the corner, but Gargano dragged security into the line of fire, which led to Priest taking out two guards instead of Gargano. Gargano landed a low blow in the commotion, then slapped on Garga-no-escape until Priest stuck his ankle on the bottom rope for a break.

Gargano tried knocking Priest from the apron onto the steel steps, similar to the bump Priest took on one of the last TakeOvers, but Priest reversed it and kicked Gargano in the face instead. He then spiked Gargano with The Reckoning for the pin. Priest retains his title.

KUSHIDA defeated Velveteen Dream via submission

KUSHIDA went after Dream before the bell and went to town. This was KUSHIDA’s first match on an NXT TakeOver according to the announce team. He dominated the first few minutes of this and looked great. Dream landed a cheap shot early and shifted the pace, moving the match back to the floor. He used a Randy Savage-esque axhandle from the top to the floor, then rolled KUSHIDA into the ring or a two-count. Dream dyed his hair gray tonight and it looks reminiscent of Don King’s. He did a bronco buster to KUSHIDA next, then screamed “Boo me now!”

KUSHIDA did a really good job at making this feel like a fight. We saw some of his flashy offense, but most of what he did here was simply brawl and shout. Awesome. He did the same move he used a few weeks ago to Dream, where he dragged Dream’s arm into the ringpost. He did it so hard that Dream’s glove flew off the first time.

Dream caught KUSHIDA with a sharp superkick to the face next, but KUSHIDA responded with an armbar. Dream slid to the floor and escaped, then used a power bomb for two, but KUSHIDA transitioned into the same armbar from here. Dream used strikes to break the pressure, then used the Dream Valley Driver and Purple Rainmaker from the top rope, but Dream couldn’t make it to KUSHIDA soon enough for a pin; his hesitation cost him the three here. Dream climbed to the top again, but KUSHIDA dashed to the top and launched dream with an avalanche Hoverboard Lock but still couldn’t get the tap. Dream went for another Dream Valley Driver and landed it, but this time KUSHIDA heldonto the hoverboard lock/kimura and tapped Dream immediately from here. KUSHIDA wins.

After the match, KUSHIDA didn’t let up on Dream and kept striking him. He laid in hard palm strikes and elbows, then kept locking on arm submissions. This KUSHIDA is so much more interesting than who we saw in NJPW. Really good match all around.

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NXT aired a commercial for Halloween Havoc, which will air for the first time under the NXT banner on October 28. Check out the front page for more details on that.

Santos Escobar defeated Isaiah Scott to retain the NXT Cruiserweight title

All action from the get-go. Swerve landed a moonsault off the apron, then a corkscrew senton from the turnbuckle, then a Fosbury flop onto Escobar near the entrance. This was just a minute or two into the match, too. Swerevtastic, indeed.

Escobar was back in the match soon after and used a cool-looking tope through the ropes and crashed into the barricade and cage barrier set up at ringside.

Scott mounted his comeback after a few more minutes of punishment. After blocking a headbutt, Swerve unloaded, throwing body shots and a few kicks before he went on a string of high impact moves, including a rolling thunder flatliner.

Escobar returned the attack and did some sort of botched powerslam that was called a shoulderbreaker and got a two-count. Escobar’s stablemates ran down to the ring to distract Swerve but Ashante Adonis came out and made the save, landing a twisting asai moonsault from the bottom rope to the floor, taking the rest out of the match.

Escobar landed a Phantom Driver for two, but again Swerve picked up the momentum and ramped up the pace again. There were tons of false finishes towards the end of this in Swerve’s favor, the most noticeable after Swerve landed a 450 splash for two.

Before the finish, there was a spot where Escobar and Swerve fell onto the apron and Swerve hit his head against the ringpost. He sold like he was knocked silly. Escobar then landed a double-underhook GTS, slamming Swerve’s face into his knee, and scored the win. Isaiah Scott looked awesome here.

Io Shirai defeated Candace LeRae to retain the NXT Women’s championship

These two complement each other so well. From the bell, these two were exchanging everything from holds to aerial maneuvers, and all within the first couple minutes. Both did dives to the floor only minutes in. No hesitation from either of these two, either; they were working from the trenches all the way through this.

LeRae slowed the pace midway through and worked the champion over with a few submissions and hard stomps. Awesome heel work from LeRae, really mean and hard-hitting in the ring.

After a few minutes more of this, Shirai came back after LeRae missed a senton which allowed Shirai to keep LeRae down with a double-stomp.

LeRae later intercepted Shirai from the rope and power bombed her, but Shirai no-sold it and stuffed LeRae with meteora in the corner. Lots of back and forth from here. LeRae landed a Lionsault in the ring for two. Shirai locked on a LeBell Lock, but LeRae reversed it into the Garga-no-escape submission until Shirai broke the hold. LeRae broke the hold and accidentally took out the ref here. While he sold, Shirai landed an air raid crash, then went for a moonsault. LeRae blocked it with her knees, which Shirai ate. Shirai then bowled over the ref, who was still selling, and knocked him to the floor.

LeRae used a curbstomp and pinned Shirai next, but the ref was still selling on the floor. Johnny Gargano then ran out with a ref’s shirt and tried counting a fast three, but still Shirai kicked out. Gargano then rushed to the floor and grabbed the title belt. “It’s hers!” he shouted, pointing at his wife, LeRae. While he argued with the ref inside the ring–the ref had been revived by now–he slipped the championship belt to LeRae, who decked Shirai with the belt. LeRae pinned Shirai but, again, she kicked out. Moments later, Shirai was able to land a picture-perfect avalanche Spanish Fly, then landed moonsault for the win. Great stuff from both here, and match of the night so far.

Toni Storm appeared on the monitors next, where she said she’s back: “It always has, and always will be, Toni Time,” effectively calling Shirai out.

While Shirai was still in the ring, we saw another vignette on the screen. Someone drove to the Capitol Wrestling Center on a motorcycle, then came onto the entrance ramp. Former NXT Women’s champion, Ember Moon, made her return, looking slightly more Mad Max: Fury Road than before, with a new haircut and makeup. She didn’t say anything though she didn’t have to. Nice double surprise after this one.

We cut to a quick promo with Ashante Adonis talking about his “rich-ual” before the main event.

NXT Championship match: Finn Balor vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Compared with the rest of tonight’s card, this started off much slower. It was a deliberate choice and it instantly made this feel a little more special, a bit more of a “main event” feel from the beginning.

Balor controlled much of the earlier part of this match. He used a stiff basement dropkick on O’Reilly early. Later, Balor blasted him with chops in the corner until O’Reilly found an opening and unloaded strikes onto Balor, hard kicks and elbows, then used two rolling butterfly suplexes and a double-arm DDT to even the out odds.

Balor slowed things down again midway through this, once using a modified camel clutch and then a few hard kicks to O’Reilly’s body. O’Reilly as de facto babyface in this worked well.

O’Reilly bled from the mouth late in this. He took some very hard shots. Balor locked O’Reilly in a sharpshooter at one point and O’Reilly just barely made it to the ropes for a break.

After Balor landed a Pele kick, O’Reilly unleashed a desperation flurry of strikes and laid Balor out with a running lariat. He then locked out a realistic-looking guillotine choke, then eventually moved to an armlock, which Balor stomped his way out of. Really good tension from here.

Balor landed 1916 next, but O’Reilly kicked out after a two-count. When Balor went to the top for a diving double stomp, O’Reilly knocked him from the ropes and started using Dragon Screw legwhips on Balor, ripping his knees across the middle rope. Next, he transitioned from an achilles’ lock to a modified heel hook, then to another achilles’ lock. Very authentic grappling from O’Reilly here and it really added drama to this. Balor sold like his ACL or hamstrings were torn after he broke the hold.

Balor started acting like he couldn’t stand up, but he was faking, then took O’Reilly down with a quick takedown and a double stomp. After more quick back-and-forth, which saw O’Reilly use a brutal flying kneedrop, Balor was able to land one more double stomp, a huge one, and then put O’Reilly away with Coup de Grace from the top for the emphatic win.

NXT production caught a great shot of Balor after the match, his mouth now bloodier than O’Reilly’s. One of the best main event matches I’ve seen all year from any company. Awesome, hard-hitting pro wrestling, nothing more or less.

As Balor and O’Reilly celebrated in the ring together, Ridge Holland appeared in the crowd with Adam Cole draped over his shoulder. He stared at O’Reilly and the rest of Undisputed Era, who were ringside by now, then tossed Cole over the barrier onto the floor. Cole sold like he’d just been in a car wreck or something. Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish started yelling for people to come out and help Cole. Balor looked along from the ring, concerned, although he denied knowing what happened while Fish and Strong were yelling. The TakeOver broadcast ended here, the program fading to black before we found out anymore details.

Final thoughts:

This was one of the best TakeOver’s of the year so far, and felt closest to a “normal” TakeOver in 2020 than the others have in terms of quality and overall feel. The last two matches were the highlights, for sure, and it’d be wise if you’re a fan of the product to watch those two immediately if you haven’t done so already. Though that’s not to say the rest of the card was a bust. Everything was above-average on the undercard in some way, though KUSHIDA vs. Velveteen Dream was exceptional. “NEW-SHIDA” was really fun to watch, and I look forward to seeing more of what they do with his character going forward.

WWE NXT TakeOver XXX live results: Title matches, Cole-McAfee

Posted on August 22, 2020 by Justin Knipper

WWE presents its 30th TakeOver special as NXT TakeOver XXX takes place tonight.

The show will feature three title matches, the in-ring debut of former All-Pro punter Pat McAfee, and more.

NXT Champion Keith Lee will put his title on the line against Karrion Kross. It will be the first time Lee has appeared since the angle where he was hit in the face with a fireball two weeks ago. For Kross, this will be his second TakeOver match. He defeated Tommaso Ciampa at TakeOver: In Your House this June.

Io Shirai won the NXT Women’s Championship at TakeOver: In Your House and will defend against Dakota Kai tonight. Due to interference by the Robert Stone Brand’s Mercedes Martinez, Kai defeated Rhea Ripley two weeks ago to become the number one contender to Shirai’s title. Raquel Gonzalez then made her return last week and laid out Shirai.

A new North American Champion will be crowned as Bronson Reed, Damian Priest, Cameron Grimes, Johnny Gargano, and Velveteen Dream face off in a ladder match. The North American Championship was vacated by Lee after he defeated Adam Cole in their winner-take-all title vs. title match at Great American Bash night two last month.

McAfee will debut against Cole and Finn Balor will take on Timothy Thatcher. There will also be a pre-show number one contender’s triple threat tag match with Legado del Fantasma’s Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde facing Breezango and Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch.

The pre-show begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. The main card will then start at 7 p.m. Eastern.

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NXT TakeOver XXX pre-show

Triple threat number one contender’s tag match: Breezango defeated Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch and Legado del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde)

This was all action once the bell sounded. Fandango power bombed Wilde to the floor onto all the wrestlers early on. He and Oney Lorcan got into it back in the ring. Mendoza did a wild-looking springboard tornillo to the floor moments later.

WIlde landed a 450 splash for a close two-count on Tyler Breeze but both teams broke up the count. He took out Lorcan with a superkick next for the sudden win. They’ve now earned a shot at Imperium for the NXT tag titles.

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Finn Balor defeated Timothy Thatcher

Balor stormed at Thatcher just as the bell rang. The two traded strikes and traded holds in the center of the mat. Thatcher laid in some stiff forearms, then took Balor down with a single-leg and started working over Balor’s left foot and ankle. Thatcher would sometimes cover Balor’s nose or face while he held him in submission holds; this is a real catch technique used to cause discomfort and cause the opponent to give up his position. This technique is widely considered “dirty” in modern grappling.

Thatcher transitioned to a double-wrist lock submisson before again moving to a front chancery. Balor was able to slip away from Thatcher and put him down with a basement dropkick. Once Balor landed a Pelé kick, both sold their exhaustion for a minute.

Balor planted Thatcher with a reverse U-crusher for two. He then missed Coup de Grace off the top rope and sold his injured knee, the same one Thatcher worked over for much of this match. Thatcher noticed and locked on a single-leg crab before Balor grabbed the bottom rope. Thatcher followed up with an Inoki-style gamengiri kick and a German suplex. Balor rallied back and cinched in a stepover facelock, but Thatcher reversed it into an ankle lock. Balor rolled out of the hold and landed a standing double-stomp, then finally landed Coup de Grace followed by 1916 for the clean win. This was Balor’s twelfth win in NXT. Great match.

Damian Priest beat Bronson Reed, Damian Priest, Cameron Grimes, Johnny Gargano and Velveteen Dream Ladder to win the vacant NXT North American Championship

This was a car crash match with all action and crazy spots. Priest attacked Dream at bell. Bronson Reed wore Bam Bam Bigelow-inspired ring gear with flames.

Cameron Grimes did the Jean Claude Van Damme split across two ladders at one point before falling to the mat.

Priest later did a springboard kick that tripped Dream off ladder, which was pretty creative. Grimes did Spanish fly to Gargano on the floor. Big Bronson Reed did tope suicida.

Candace LeRae interfered late in the match on behalf of her husband, Gargano. She grabbed Grimes off a ladder, then beat on him a bit before Gargano took him out with a ladder. LeRae then grabbed Gargao’s hand and then climbed to the top rop and frankensteiner’d Grimes onto the floor.

When LeRae interfered again, Bronson splashed Gargano with LeRae on his back. Very GIF-able moment.

Grimes later got his hand on the belt but Dream knocked him off the ladder. Dream did his pose on the ladder, grazed the belt, realized the belt was right above him, then tried to grab it. Priest knocked Dream off, then chokeslammed Reed off the ladder. Gargano and Grimes did a modified version of the 1999 Jerry Lynn vs RVD sunset flip power bomb spot, but here they did it onto a ladder from atop another ladder. Looked brutal.

Reed knocked Dream off a ladder and he flew into the crowd and went through two tables. It looked cool but it was so obviously a planned spot. He disappeared from the match after this.

As Gargano went to grab the North American title, Damian Priest reappeared and took Gargano out and grabbed the belt for himself, winning the match.

Adam Cole defeated Pat McAfee

McAfee cut a good promo before the match. His football player buds accompanied him to the ring.

Cole locked on a side headlock early on. McAfee did a good job as a hee herel. He didn’t look like a natural in the ring, but he definitely wasn’t bad, either.

McAfee rolled to the floor and said he was a better human than Cole. Him and the football dudes taunted Cole. Undisputed Era showed up and the eight or nine guys jaw-jacked at each other while McAfee ran to the top rope and did a flip dive onto everyone.

Cole sold like Ricky Morton for McAfee as the NFL player worked Cole over mid-ring for a few minutes. It’s weird when commentary mentions that Cole’s been wrestling for 18 years, and then gets leveled up by a football player in his first match.

McAfee did a perfect-looking backflip off the top rope, landed on his feet, then ran up the ropes and superplex’d Cole.

McAfee went to kick a prone Cole in the head, but Cole moved and McAfee, the NFL punter, kicked the steel steps instead. Cole went after McAfee’s leg next and locked on a figure-four until McAfee grabbed the ropes for a break. McAfee then used a kick low blow behind the ref’s back, which allowed him to “punt” Cole in the head; Cole sold it brilliantly. Very close two-count on this one.

McAfee dove off the top rope but Cole caught him flush with a superkick, then landed the Panama Sunrise for the win.

Io Shirai deafeted Dakota Kai (w/ Reina Gonzalez) to retain the NXT Women’s title

Shirai tackled Kai at the bell and started pummeling her. She tried a handspring elbow early on but looked to slip and land on her head, a slight botch, but she no-sold it and kept moving.

Gonzalez distracted Shirai early and allowed Kai to gain some leverage. She locked in an armbar as Shirai was entangled in the ropes on the apron.

Shirai came back with a hard jumping palm strike. After some mean-looking stomps, Kai, came back and went for her running yakuza kick in the corner, but Shirai slipped away. Kai countered with a school boy pin that planted Shirai into the bottom turnbuckle.

Kai accidentally took the referee out with her running yakuza kick in the corner, knocking him out. Shirai capitalized and threw Kai over with a German suplex, then stuck a picture-perfect moonsault, but no referee. Reina Gonzalez came into the ring and took Shirai out and draped her over Shirai, then woke the ref up, but again, another close call.

Shirai used a beautiful triangle moonsault to the floor to take both Kai and Gonzalez, then used another moonsault inside the ring to put Kai away clean and retain the NXT women’s title.

Gonzalez flattened Shirai after the bell, but before she do much damage, Rhea Ripley ran to the ring. Her and Gonzalez had a staredown, which probably would have gotten a good reaction with a live crowd. Rpley hung around on the entrance ramp and stared daggers at Shirai while the champ celebrated inside the ring.

NXT Championship match: Keith Lee (c) vs. Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett Bourdeaux)

This match also started without a tieup; Lee bulldozed Kross with a sudden shoulderblock out of the corner. This had a great feel to it. Kross and Lee complement each other surprisingly well, but once you see them in the ring together it makes total sense. Kross’ offense looks authentic and painful, even with the massive Lee. He worked over Lee’s arm and wrist with a variety of joint locks. Kross looks natural when he transitions from hold to hold, which made his work feel more realistic.

Lee tried mounting a comeback, but Kross rolled him back into a cross armlock. Lee held him off and was able to cradle Kross into a school boy pin for two. Kross didn’t let go of the armlock, so Lee deadlifted Kross, then power bombed him.

Lee made a comeback and floored Kross with a forearm. Lee’s punches looked really ginger in this compared with Kross.

Kross landed a high roundhouse kick and DDT for two. Lee fought back and used a vertical suplex on Kross for a two-count of his own.

Towards the end, of the match, they traded big lariats, with Lee and Kross both going down for a few moments before final throes. Kross spiked Lee with a backdrop driver suplex and Lee went up in the air like he was 190 lbs.

Kross locked in the Kross Jacket submission next but Lee survived, and again made it to the ropes.

Lee used the Spirit Bomb for two, but Kross was finally able to put Lee away with an avalanche backdrop suplex from the second rope for the clean win.

Karrion Kross is your new NXT Champion. Scarlett Bourdeux jumped in the ring and celebrated the win with Kross. They posed with the belt before TakeOver XXX faded to black.

Final thoughts:
Balor vs. Thatcher and the main event were the show’s highlights, though all of tonight’s bouts were better than average. Like in June, this edition of TakeOver would have been so much better in front of a live audience.

NXT TakeOver In Your House live results: Three title matches

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Justin Knipper

For the first time in more than 20 years, In Your House makes its return tonight in the form of an NXT TakeOver special.

Three title matches are set for the show. The NXT Championship will be up for grabs as Adam Cole puts his title on the line against Velveteen Dream in a Backlot Brawl. If Dream loses, he can’t challenge for the NXT title again as long as Cole is champion.

The NXT Women’s Championship will be on the line in a triple threat match between Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley, and Io Shirai. Charlotte has been champion since winning the title from Ripley at WrestleMania 36.

NXT North American Champion Keith Lee is also defending his title against Johnny Gargano. On NXT last week, Candice LeRae & Gargano defeated Mia Yim & Lee after Gargano stabbed Lee in the eye with his car keys.

Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett) will make his TakeOver debut against Tommaso Ciampa, Finn Balor is taking on Damian Priest, and Yim, Tegan Nox & Shotzi Blackheart will face LeRae, Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez in a six-woman tag match.

The event starts at 7 p.m. Eastern time. There will also be a 30-minute pre-show prior to that.

**********

NXT TakeOver: In Your House pre-show:

Former WWE announcer Todd Pettengil appeared the pre-show. He hosted many of the original In Your House pay-per-views in the mid-’90s.

Scott Stanford, Sam Roberts and Pat McAffee hyped up the show early on. McAffee was off-set, sitting at his own desk.

Before they started, Sam Roberts explained that right now is the “golden era” for NXT and then compared the current scene to the idea of social darwinism. Yikes. Not the best term to use on television around these days.

The announce team continued running down tonight’s card. They showed a short clip of Tomasso Ciampa walking outside the venue.

Pat McAffee talked about the Keith Lee vs. Johnny Gargano match later on. He Gargano a scumbag and made fun of his clothes and his recent heel-ish behavior of late.

A promo montage aired for Adam Cole vs. Velveteen Dream. They aired clips from the angle lead-up and included the segment where commissioner William Regal explained the stipulations to Cole over Skype. Dream vowed to capture the belt in tonight’s Backlot Brawl.

Sam Roberts said that Bret Hart vs. Hakushi from the first In Your House was his all-time favorite match of the series.

A package of Johnny Gargano and Candace LeRae aired next, followed up with more clips from NXT TV forwarding the current angle between Gargano and Keith Lee, or Gargano/LeRae vs. Lee/Mia Yim.

Stanford explained how Lee was still angry over Gargano using his car keys on Lee’s eyes. Roberts explained that this would be the first time we’ve seen Garagno “like this,” as a heel, and that his recent mean-streak would help him beat Lee tonight. Announcers then went over the women’s trios match of LeRae’s team vs. Mia Yim’s team.

A package for Finn Balor vs. Damian Priest was next. “Attack the guy, get the push,” Balor explained. Roberts said that this might the “low-key most important match tonight.”

The final montage on the pre-show focused on Charlotte Flair vs. Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s title tonight. In the voiceover narration, it was explained to the audience that this was a “battle for valor.”

NXT TakeOver: In Your House

Todd Pettengil reappeared. He did the voiceovers for tonight’s show and sounds exactly the same. I feel like I’m watching an episode of WWF Mania.

Code Orange performed next.

NXT TakeOver: In Your House

*****

Six-woman tag team match: Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart & Tegan Nox defeated Candace LeRae, Dakota Kai, & Raquel Gonzalez

The venue was designed to look like an In Your House event in the ‘90s. It worked in a setting like this.

There was a “this is awesome’ chant before the match by staff behind the plexiglas in the crowd. Forcing chants here isn’t necessary.

Yim and LeRae were the first in, though LeRae tagged out before the two even touched. Reina Gonzalez was in next.

Nox and Kai were really good together in this. Kai clearly relishes the heel role she’s in these days.

Shotzi Blackheart did a dive to the floor but Gonzalez caught and ragdoll’d her. Yim followed up with a dive, then LeRae did a springboard plancha. Nox did a somersault senton from the top onto all wrestlers.

Employees in the crowd chanted “N-X-T!” once this part of the match wrapped.

Kai, and later Gonzalez, worked over Blackheart back in the ring.

Blackheart finally tagged out to Yim after taking a beating for a few minutes. Yim pinned LeRae with a bridging dragon suplex for two. LeRae responded with a release German suplex and the two were out for a few moments.

After Gonzalez used a falling power bomb on Nox, LeRae and Yim ended up brawling on the floor and into the backstage area. This allowed Blackheart and Nox to take out Gonzalez; Nox then pinned Kai clean with the Shiniest Wizard running knee-strike.

Finn Balor defeated Damian Priest

Balor jumped Priest before the bell and landed a shotgun dropkick that sent Priest to the floor. The bell rang soon after, and Priest was able to shift the momentum early. Early on, he started throwing the steel steps around ringside, as though he had a plan for them. He sidewalk-slammed Balor onto the apron from one of those steps next. Balor going above and beyond for Priest in this match.

Priest taunted Balor while he used a half-nelson facelock on him. Balor countered out of it with a jawbreaker. He landed a perfect flying forearm next, then brought the match back out to the floor. Balor went nuts with stomps on Priest, who was prone against the crowd barricade.

Priest used a gigantic Broken Arrow (aka Falcon Arrow) on Balor. Balor rallied back with a standing double stomp and the two were both out.

Priest did a box jump onto the apron towards the end of this. He then grabbed Balor and did a Razor’s Edge onto the edge of the apron.

Balor made another comeback late and took Priest out with a Slingblade. Priest countered with a few high roundhouse kicks. Balor came back at Priest with another shotgun dropkick, but when he went for the Coup de Grace off the top, Priest grabbed him by the throat, climbed to the ropes, then did a huge flying sit-out chokeslam … for two.

The employees chanted a lot while both sold for a minute after the nearfall. The final spot saw Priest try using another Razor’s Edge on Balor, this time to the floor on the aforementioned steel steps, but Balor escaped and kicked him, which knocked Priest to the floor. I think the idea here was for Priest to land flat onto the steel step, but because it was in a horizontal position, Priest landed on the middle and lower part of his back. It made a loud thud when he hit the steel and it looked rough, more like something you’d see on MTV Jackass.

Balor took care of Priest back in the ring, and finally put him away with the Coup de Grace diving double-stomp for the win. Balor stared Priest down after the match.

NXT U.S. Championship match: Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Garganno

Before Gargano got to the ring, we saw him inside the In Your House set, designed like the interior of an actual house. There was a framed picture of Dok Hendrix hanging inside the place, which Gargano shot a thumbs-up gesture to before heading to the ring.

The backside of Keith Lee’s tights read “BLACK LIVES MATTER” in pink and black letters.

Keith Lee threw some high roundhouse kicks early on in the match but missed. Since Gargano couldn’t get an early advantage on Lee, he rolled to the floor. Lee went after him, which is where Gargano got a few sneaky licks in. When he tried kicking Lee’s head off but missed, he kicked the steel steps. Him and Lee then had a funny staredown, Gargano in the role of chickensh*t heel.

Gargano ran away and tried going back into the house, which was apparently locked. Lee krept up on him and we saw the scene from the “security cam” point of view, in black and white, as if we were also inside the house. Cool idea here.

Garganno did a great job making Lee feel invincible. He chipped away at Lee back in the ring by climbing on top of him in the corner and laying in punches, then tried wearing Lee down to the mat with a cobra clutch.

When Gargano went for a slingshot spear, Lee stepped to the side and dropped a knee on Gargano in response.

The two lots traded forearms next. Lee went for a pop-up power bomb, but Gargano held on and turned the hold into an armbar. Lee used a Rampage Bomb to break the hold. He took Gargano’s head off with a standing lariat for a close two.

Lee went for Bg Bang Catasrophe but Gargano countered it into a sunset flip pin. Lee landed what Tom Phillips called a “one-armed spinebuster” which is also known as a chokeslam.

Gargano finally spiked Lee headfirst on the floor with a flying tornado DDT, but he had trouble getting Lee back into the ring because he was too big, so Gargano rolled back into the ring and broke the count, which the ref scolded him for.

Gargano went back to the floor to get Lee back into the ring, but Lee was back up. He used a pounce that sent Gargano flying through the plexiglass near the audience area.

Candace LeRae came out to distract Lee, but Mia Yim followed her out. When those two started fighting, Gargano gouged Lee’s eyes again with keys. Two-count. Before Lee could get up, Gargano superkicked Lee in the head. Two-count.

After landing a Spirit Bomb, then a power bomb into Big Bang Catasrophe for the emphatic win.

Backlot Brawl for the NXT championship: Adam Cole (c) defeated Velveteen Dream

Adam Cole came to the match in a giant truck with a slick Undisputed Era design painted on the sides. He cut a short promo on top of the truck until Velveteen Dream rolled up in a yellow Lamborghini. He dressed like Negan from The Walking Dead and carried with him a baseball bat not unlike Negan’s “Lucille.” Dream also had a picture of Hulk Hogan airbrushed on his jacket.

This was a part wrestling, cinematch. HD cameras were in use. It looked kind of cool, honestly.

The black NXT ring was in the center of a circle of parked cars. Each of the car’s lights were turned on, lighting up the ring. There were also spotlights shining down from the “neighborhood” set they filmed on. It’s an interesting arrangement, much better seen than read about.

Cole went to smash Dream with his belt before the match, but Dream rolled him up for two.

Cole then shouted “I’m leaving!” and rolled out of the ring with his belt and into a car. Dream started hitting the car with his bat until Cole got out.

The two were brawling in the lot when an SUV rolled into the scene.

“Did anyone order an Uber?” A female voice came from inside the vehicle. Dream tried throwing Cole into the Uber, but they ended up on the ground soon. Uber was gone after this.

The two walked and brawled around the set until Cole escaped from the lot. Dream shouted “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” like he was in Cape Fear.

Cole doused Dream with a fire extinguisher when he jumped out from behind a door. He was hiding. Cole yelled at Dream and called him stupid.

Dream rallied back and landed a double ax-handle off the apron to the ground. We could see a lot of extra production staff around ringside trying to keep things lit.

Dream brought out a ladder planned on jumping off it until the rest of Undisputed Era showed up in a sedan. They honked their horn then went after Dream, who was still on the ladder. Then, Cole’s three teammates started tossing him folding chairs to use on Dream.

“Tortured Artist” Dexter Loomis then appeared from nowhere and took care UE, scaring them to the back after pounding on them for a bit.

Cole’s arm was scarred, bleeding and filled with glass by the end of this. When he went for the Panama Sunrise back in the ring, Dream countered it into the Dream Driver.

Next, Dream landed the Purple Rainmaker flying elbowdrop onto Cole, who was sitting on a chair. Two-count.

Cole landed a low blow on Dream while Dream trash-talked him, then used the Panama Sunrise onto a pile of steel chairs for the win. Cars honked their horns, then Cole celebrated on top of his Undisputed Era truck. “Nobody can beat me for this! Nobody!” It wasn’t perfect, but it felt fresh, if anything.

Todd Pettengil spoofed his old 1-900-WWE-SHOP segments from back in the day; it was actually an ad for WWE Shop online. DX then appeared and pretended like they didn’t know how to use a computer, joking around that they’re old. It was hokey but so were the original events. It was clever.

Karrion Kross (w/ Scarlett Bordeaux) defeated Tomasso Ciampa

Ciampa landed elbows early on, but Kross no-sold them, then landed a hard standing front kick into Ciampa’s face in the corner. Kross then launched him from the corner with a uranage-stype suplex.

On the floor, Kross picked Ciampa up with two hands and slammed him back-first against the apron. Kross tossed Ciampa twice more with his overheard arm-clutch suplex, then washed Ciampa’s face with his knee in the corner. Mauro Ranallo made a UWFi in reference to Kross’ style.

Ciampa tried chopping his way out of harm’s way, and after a bit of effort, he was able to plant a running knee into Kross’ face, then tried pinning him after a draping DDT for two.

Kross returned Ciampa’s attack, first spinning him into the air with an inverted F-5, then forced Ciampa to pass out in the Kross Jacket, a modified neck crank submission. The referee called for the bell once Ciampa was out.

“Karrion Kross just routed Tomasso Ciampa!” Great call from Tom Phillips after the match.

This was probably the best match on of the night, or at least the most effective, and Kross truly came across like a monster. IMPACT really should have let him use more of his shoot-style offense, because in 2020, that’s the kind of stuff that will help guys get over inside the ring, not just the size.

Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair (c) and Rhea Ripley in a Triple Threat match to become NXT Women’s champion

Flair rolled to the floor and insisted that Shirai and Ripley start the match off. Ripley went after Flair on the floor, so Shirai went after Ripley. From here, the match was underway.

Flair took over early on, chopping both her opponents and talking trash at them until they both fought out. No alliance here, though, as Shirai and Ripley went right back after each other.

Ripley went for a somersault senton off the apron but missed when Flair side-stepped out of the way. Flair then smashed Ripley into the barricades ringside.

Shirai shot back with a frankensteiner off the apron to the floor on Flair.

Flair had a Boston crab on Shirai for a while. Ripley finally returned to the match and took out Flair. Shirai landed a 619 to Flair next; Ripley had been knocked to the floor again.

Flair took Ripley and Shirai out with a double spear for two separate two-counts. She then went for a double moonsault but took too long: Ripey moved and Shirai got her knees up while Flair was on her way down.

The three then exchanged high spots and submissions. Shirai landed a big springboard dropkick on Ripley, then landed the Bullet Train knees attack. As Shirai celebrated, Flair caught her with Natural Selection, then locked Shirai into the figure eight until Ripley dragged Flair to the floor.

Shirai then landed an absolutely perfect plancha onto Ripley.

Flair took Shirai and threw her into the event monitors on set. Ripley smashed a plant on Flair.

Shirai then did a goregeous-looking cross body block from the top of the In Your House doorway. She got great hangtime.

Shirai tried a top-rope Frankensteiner but Ripley blocked it; Flair then ran over and booted Ripley in the face. Ripley fought back and landed the Riptide to Flair from off the ropes. Shirai broke up the close two-count.

Ripley caught Shirai in the Prism Lock, but Flair broke it up when she brought a kendo stick into the ring and whacked both Ripley and Shirai with it. She then put Ripley into the Figure Eight leglock, but before Ripley could tap, Shirai landed a moonsault off the top onto Ripley and pinned her. Since Flair was still entangled inside the Figure Eight, she couldn’t break the pinfall attempt. Shirai “didn’t quite get all of it” with regard to that final moonsault, but it’s negligible, as much of this match was really good.

Final thoughts:

No show today will come close to perfect due to world’s condition right now; real fans aren’t even allowed to attend yet.

But if you’ve been jonesing for a solid night of modern wrestling, this was a pretty much a success.

It wasn’t the greatest night of pro wrestling ever, but it did the trick. And there weren’t any bad matches, which is still par for the course for TakeOver shows.

I imagine the most-talked about match might be the Backlot Brawl. As mentioned earlier, it wasn’t a perfect match, but it felt and looked fresh, which is what every company needs right now the plan is to continue running empty venues. The match itself wasn’t great, but was creative enough to keep me distracted from Dream’s wrestling.

The main event triple threat was really good, but of course would have been that much better with a crowd. Flair was outstanding in this. Shirai was perfect aside from the weird landing on the moonsault finish. Ripley felt like a natural in this, which is impressive since three-way matches never feel smooth. It was well put-together.

Overall, it was a solid supercard from the NXT crew, with Io Shirai’s title win as the only real surprise of the night.

NXT TakeOver Portland live results: Adam Cole vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Posted on February 16, 2020 by Chris Aiken

Preview by Joseph Currier

Tommaso Ciampa will challenge for the title that he never lost as NXT TakeOver: Portland takes place at the Moda Center tonight.

Adam Cole will defend his NXT Championship against Ciampa at the show. Ciampa was forced to vacate the title after undergoing neck surgery last March, and he’s been focused on Cole since returning in October.

Three other title matches are also set for tonight. Bianca Belair will challenge Rhea Ripley for the NXT Women’s Championship. The winner of that match will potentially have a title defense against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36.

After winning the title from Roderick Strong last month, Keith Lee will put his NXT North American Championship on the line against Dominik Dijakovic. Dusty Classic winners Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne will also challenge Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish for the NXT Tag Team titles.

Two grudge matches round out tonight’s card. Johnny Gargano will take on Finn Balor, and Tegan Nox faces Dakota Kai in a street fight.

Tonight’s pre-show begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time. The main card starts a half hour later.

**********

The pre-show opened with the panel of hosts welcoming us to the show. Charly Caruso was joined by Sam Roberts and Mansoor on the panel. Roberts immediately heeled on the town as he insulted the fans of Portland. Mansoor and Roberts would go on to bicker with each other as they ran down the card.

The live crowd booed Roberts any time her began to speak, and they cheered Mansoor upon his retort.

Recording artist Poppy — and what was described as her zombie band — arrived to the building in black SUVs. Poppy wore her gear to the building so she is ready. Always bring your gear. That’s a veteran move. She and her band are performing a song on the show later on.

Doing things a little different than most WWE telecasts, the introductions of the commentary team was shown on the air just minutes before the main card was set to begin.

The show opened with a canned intro, and then Poppy performed “Fill the Crown” from her new studio album titled I Disagree.

The opener is a hoss match.

NXT North American Champion Keith Lee defeated Dominik Dijakovic to retain his title

Lee pinned Dijakovic after the Big Bang Catastrophe. This was a fantastic opener. The bar is set very high from the start.

Dijakovic wore to the ring a hooded sweatshirt with a tribute to Kobe and Gigi Bryant. Nigel McGuinness got in a reference to legendary late Portland promoter Don Owen saying he would have loved this match.

The crowd seemed hot from the start. They marveled at the spots early on as the big bulls locked horns. Lee with a hurricanrana popped the crowd first, and then they ran through a series of spots that popped them even more.

Dijakovic went for a dive, but Lee caught him to attempt a powerbomb. Dijakovic escaped and a moment later he suplexed Lee on the apron. Lee went on to sell as Dijakovic worked him over in the ring.

Lee powered out of an attempted suplex. He struck down Dijakovic and got a two count on a release German suplex.

Dijakovic fought back with a cyclone kick and a corkscrew moonsault. They continued to trade strikes in a fighting spirit exchange. They threw a ton of lariats at each other. Both went down to a knee, and both rose back to their feet still locked in combat.

Dijakovic with an avalanche Death Valley Driver off the top rope, and the crowd came unglued. Lee with a pounce sent Dijakovic flying into a corner, which looked to turn the tide.

They were brawling near the announce desks. The crowd was chanting “we want tables” when Lee shushed them. They arena went silent so that Lee’s chops on Dijakovic could echo through the building.

Dijakovic with a superkick sent Lee into a seated announce chair. Dijakovic then did a springboard senton off the top rope onto Lee in the chair at ringside. Dijakovic looked to finish Lee, but Lee would fight back.

Lee took a chokeslam, and got up. Dijakovic twice took a Spirit Bomb, and kicked out both times.

Dijakovic with a Spanish Fly off the top for a close near fall. He went for his finisher, but his back gave out. Lee then executed his finisher — which is a fireman’s carry into a jackhammer that is now called the Big Bang Catastrophe.

Not sure if this was a blow off to their feud, but it sure seemed like it. Great way to go out, and they shook hands in a show of respect after the match.

Dakota Kai defeated Tegan Nox in a street fight

Kai pinned Nox after interference from Raquel Gonzalez. This was a wild brawl from the start and stiff as hell. Great weapons brawl that would fit on any ECW card in the 1990s.

Kai in a sneak attack jumped Nox during her enrtance. They brawled to the ring and the weapons came out early on from underneath the ring. Trash cans, lids, tables, chairs, a cricket bat, and more would be used as they fought in and out of the ring.

They took some crazy bumps in this match. Kai took a German suplex onto a trash can that looked particularly nasty.

Nox with a chokeslam off the top in honor of Kane, and then she did a Molly Go Round in honor of Molly Holly.

Kai fired up on Nox, and she kicked a chair in the face of Nox. Kai duck taped Nox to the ring post, and then measured her for several kicks. Nox blocked one attempt, and then targeted the knee brace on Kai. She hit her in the leg with a lap top.

Nox then got chain from underneath the ring, and used it on the knee. Nox took a chair and Pillmanized the leg. She delivered a Shining Wizard, and then Nox set up a table in the ring.

Nox laid Kai on the table and put her neck in a chair, and she teased jumping off the top on to the table. Suddenly, Raquel Gonzalez ran in to attack Nox. Gonzalez threw Nox backwards off the top on to the table — which didn’t break. Kai rolled over to cover Nox for the pinfall.

Finn Balor defeated Johnny Gargano

Balor pinned Gargano in one helluva great match. Balor won clean and looked like a contender in doing so. Gargano is such a great babyface. Probably the best in NXT history no less.

The crowd was electric for this from start. The grappled in the early moments doing some great exchanges as Balor heeled and taunted Gargano. Balor displayed a great mean streak.

Balor began to work over Gargano as he shined me up for a comeback where Gargano speared Balor on the apron. Later on Gargano would take a sling blade on the floor.

Balor soon cut off Gargano and grounded him again. Gargano got trapped on the top rope where Balor executed a dragon screw. Balor then targeted the leg of Gargano.

As Balor continued to work the leg and knee, Gargano created some distance at one point for a hope spot with a small package. Balor went back to working the leg as he tied Gargano in a leglock.

Gargano fought back with step-up enzuigiri, a roundhouse kick and a lariat. Gargano went for a tope through the ropes, but Balor caught him. Balor teased going for the 1916 on the floor — which previously injured Gargano months ago.

Gargano with a somersault senton off the apron.

Gargano sent Balor into the ring steps to block the move. Gargano with a slingshot spear as he began a comeback. Balor soon cut him off — but not for long. They traded big moves down the stretch.

There was a double down after a DDT. They were trading strikes when both hit the same high kick. Gargano then avoided a double stomp to deliver a slingshot DDT for a near fall.

There was stand-off before they launched into a closing minutes. Gargano was measuring Balor for a superkick, and Balor hit him with a sling blade. Superkick by Gargano and another sling blade by Balor.

Balor went for his double stomp finisher, but Gargano rolled away and then went for his submission finsiher. Balor escaped, but Gargano applied it seconds later. Balor got a rope break.

In callback to their brawl from months ago, Gargano measured Balor with pistol guns and then hit him with a shotgun dropkick into the barricade for a recepit.

Balor gave Gargano a gourdbuster on an announce desk. Balor then ran down annouce desks to give Gargano a shotgun dropkick to the floor.

Balor with the Coup de Grace, and then he delivered the 1916 DDT befoer pinning Gargano clean as a sheet in the middle of the ring.

Cathy Kelley was backstage interviewing Undisputed Era when Roderick Strong cut an impassioned promo, and then Adam Cole told Kelley to leave.

NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Bianca Belair to retain her title

Ripley pinned Belair clean with the Rip Tide finisher. Charlotte Flair ran in after the match to attack Ripley. Charlotte also said she agrees to face Ripley in a match at WrestleMania.

Belair’s gear honored Black History Month. She looked great in the match, and was not hurt in losing.

Belair was aggressive from the start, and Ripley soon fired up too. Ripley hit Belair with a series of chops. Belair herself returned fire and looked to punish Ripley.

Belair with a standing moonsault. They appeared to twice try a vertical suplex of some sort — maybe delayed. Belair turned it into a brainbuster and the match went on.

Ripley with a sit-out facebuster for a two count. Ripley then applied her standing leglock submission hold, but Belair escaped to get a roll-up for two. A spingbuster netted Belair another two.

They traded hard slaps, and Belair hit Ripley with her hair braid. Belair with a gorilla press slam, and then she did a handspring into a moonsaullt. Ripley got her knees up. and Ripley blocked a KOD.

After a double down, they traded strikes and kicks. Belair with a high backdrop sent Ripley over the ropes to the floor. Belair followed with a running flip dive to the outside.

Ripley at ringside sent Belair into the steps. They were fighting on the turnbuckles when Ripley was able to execute Rip Tide to score the pinfall.

Flair with sneak attack jumped Ripley after the match. Charlotte got a microphone and said she accepted Ripley’s challenge to a match at WrestleMania. Flair grabbed the NXT title belt and posed with it before leaving the ring.

On her way out Flair also attacked Belair, and she sent her into the ring steps. Maybe Belair will remain involved in this angle in some way, but Flair vs. Ripley nonetheless looks all but official for WrestleMania.

Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne defeated Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish to win the NXT Tag Team Championship

The Broserweights earned the title shot after winning the Dusty Classic. Riddle & Dunne rode out in their tricked out golf cart. Riddle led the crowd in singing his jingle about Bobby Fish frying fish.

Undisputed Era grew increasingly more angry before they ran out of the ring to attack Riddle & Dunne in the aisle. A melee erupted before the bell could even sound.

The match eventually moved to the ring. Undisputed Era proverbially cut the ring in half as they began working over Dunne.

Riddle cleaned house after a hot tag. He ran wild on Undisputed Era looking like a true superstar. Dunne and Riddle both climbed the turnbuckles. Dunne with a moonsault to the floor, and Riddle with a Floating Bro in the ring.

O’Reilly and Riddle with a fantastic series of exchanges and both fell in a heap. Fish tagged in and chop blocked the knee of Riddle. Undisputed Era with double team moves, but Riddle was able to tag in Dunne.

Dunne targeted the joints. Both Riddle & Dunne both applied ankles locks at the same time on their foes.

Everybody went down in a spot, and that also served to hype the crowd even more.

Dunne & Riddle were going for a Doomsday Device when they got tripped up.

Riddle got trapped in a leg bar, but Dunne leapt off the ropes to make a save.

Dunne inadvertently knocked Riddle off the apron. Moments later Riddle tried to make a save, but that backfired.

Chasing the Dragon let to a near fall for Undisputed Era.

They fought on and suddenly the Broserweights were executing their tandem finisher. Stereo jumping knee strikes out of a fireman’s carry led to the pinfall and the title change. Broserweights are the new NXT Tag Team Champions.

NXT Champion Adam Cole defeated Tommaso Ciampa to retain his title

Cole pinned Ciampa after Gargano turned heel where he interfered in the match.

Gargano hit Ciampa with a belt shot in the finish of a long match that was great up until a referee bump.

They started slow building to a fever pitch later on. This felt like an updated version of the early stages in an old school NWA title match from back in the day. Then it got even better from there.

Ciampa showed fire and aggression as Cole tried to counter the onslaught of Ciampa. The fight spilled outside the ring, and Ciampa fired up on Cole when Cole started taunting him.

Cole was begging off, and Ciampa kept laying in the offense. Cole was reeling as Ciampa manhandled him around the ring and at ringside.

Ciampa on the floor with a leg lariat on Cole would pop the crowd.

As they fought by the announce desk, Cole with a wheelbarrow suplex sent Ciampa into the table neck first. That was crazy.

A lungblower got Cole a near fall, and Cole went back to work on working over Ciampa.

Ciampa countered and fought on to block a Panama Sunrise.

Ciampa exploded with a series of lariats and a German suplex. A Torture Rack bomb by Ciampa led to a near fall.

Cole cut off Ciampa to deliver an ushigoroshi.

Ciampa with an avalanche Air Raid Crash for a very close near fall and a callback to earlier in the feud.

Ciampa powerbombed Cole on an announce desk, and then he did it again. The table broke on the second attempt.

Cole threw a superkic, but he ate a lariat from Ciampa. Cole took Project Ciampa and somehow kicked out.

They traded strikes in the center of the ring, and Ciampa took some kicks that sent him out of the ring. Cole for the first time in NXT — as noted by Mauro Ranallo — went for a tope. Ciampa with a knee lift made Cole crash and burn.

Cole seconds later used another ushigoroshi for another near fall.

Cole hit the Last Shot, but Ciampa rolled over to get in the ropes — thus blocking any pin attempt.

They teased a Canadian Destroyer on the apron, but Ciampa instead gave Cole an Air Raid Crash on the apron.’

Not to be out done, Cole jumped off a table for a Panama Sunrise pn the floor.

Ciampa miraculously hulked up for the best near fall of the night.

They traded crossfaces, until Ciampa had it locked in deep. Cole crawled over to get a rope break.

Roderick Strong ran in to cause a distraction. O’Reilly & Fish ran in to jump Ciampa. Cole covered Ciampa as Undisputed Era looked on. Ciampa kicked out, and he would soon run wild. He flew through the ropes with a dive.

Cole cut him yet again and Ciampa kicked out again.

O’Reilly threw the title in the ring. They bumped the referee, and he went flying out of the ring. Ciampa with a Jay Driller but no ref to count.

Johnny Gargano caem to ringside, and he grabbed the title belt away from Ciampa. He was seemingly in the corner of Ciampa…or was he? Gargano hit Ciampa with a belt shot to turn on him.

Cole covered Ciampa for the pinfall as the crowd showered Gargano in jeers. The announcers played it up like the loss to Balor earlier on had flipped a switch on Gargano.

Cole retained the title, and the rivalry between Gargano and Ciampa is born again.

Thus ened a fantastic card from top to bottom. This was a really great show from start to finish.

NXT TakeOver WarGames live results: Two WarGames matches

Posted on November 23, 2019 by Justin Knipper

The third annual NXT TakeOver: WarGames event takes place tonight as part of Survivor Series weekend.

There will be two WarGames matches on tonight’s show. In the first-ever women’s WarGames match, Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley, Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae & Mia Yim) will take on Team Baszler (Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair & Kay Lee Ray)

The men’s WarGames match will see Team Ciampa (Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and a partner) face The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish). The final member of Team Ciampa is being kept as a surprise heading into tonight.

Both heel teams will have the WarGames advantage after Shirai and Cole’s respective ladder match wins over Yim and Dijakovic.

Matt Riddle was originally announced for Team Ciampa but will face Finn Balor tonight instead. Balor was supposed to wrestle Johnny Gargano, who is out with an injury. There will also be a triple threat match with Survivor Series implications. Pete Dunne, Damian Priest, and Killian Dain will face off, with the winner challenging for Cole’s NXT Championship on Sunday.

Isaiah “Swerve” Scott vs. Angel Garza is set for tonight’s pre-show. The pre-show begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, with the main card starting a half hour later.

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Pre-show:

Charly Caruso, Pat McAfee (in shorts) and Sam Roberts opened and discussed the show on the ramp. They showed a clip of Mia Yim in Bull Nakano-inspired makeup and sitting on the floor. She’d been attacked by someone backstage. Rhea Ripley and Candace LeRae were upset by the attack. McAfee accidentally called Ripley “Rhea Shipley” so some fans started booing him.

Angel Garza defeated Isaiah Scott

Scott did a handstand somersault onto the apron to the floor, then landed a frankensteiner on Garza onto the floor early on. Scott dominated much of this until Garza reversed a crossbody attempt from “Swerve.” This was flubbed a bit but they recovered. Garza lifted Taichi’s “whp off my pants to reveal short trunks” spot and then superkicked Scott. The crowd reacted to it but I’m not sure if they were all cheering for that, necessarily. The referee here yelled “Stay down!” and mumbled something about a replay, because on TV they then showed a replay of the Taichi spot. Later, Garza used a cool reverse slingshot suplex.

When Scott locked on a half-nelson onto Garza the referee shouted “hard cam!” Garza got a nearfall after a modified slingshot Liger Bomb, like if Bandido’s 21 Plex was reversed, sort of. “Stay down!” shouted the ref. Scott planted Garza hard onto the apron with a Death Valley Bomb, then a diving stomp off the apron while Garza was on the floor. Scott landed a close nearfall after a low angle jumpkick. The crowd finally started getting it into here. Scott blocked a low blow attempt from Garza, who then Garza landed one of the most nonsensical moves I’ve seen this year, a double-armed jumping … thing. He just jumped up in the air and did a sitout while lifting Swerve up with him. This had a flat finish, with the win going to Garza, the weaker looking wrestler of the two, oddly enough. Scott did what he could. The referee sounded like he was directing the match based on how many times we heard him during this one.

Next up more from Pat McAfee, Sam Roberts and Charly Caruso. They had Roberts act like he seriously doubted Matt Riddle in his match against Finn Balor later tonight. McAfee disagreed in kayfabe and snuck in a plug for WWE’s new podcast with Corey Graves.

They cut back to an injured Mia Yim heading into an ambulance. Rhea Ripley then convinced a dubious Dakota Kai to replace Yim in the War Games match. Sam Roberts called this a “bottom of the barrell pick.” McAfee defended while Caruso mediated.

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As Pat McAfee ran through the crowd during the show introduction, he explained that they audience themselves might steal the show tonight and prove that NXT is the best brand, exactly what wrestling fans have been clamoring for.

Rhea Ripley, Candace LeRae, Dakota Kai, & Tegan Knox defeated Bianca Belair, Kay Lee Ray, Io Shirai, & Shayna Baszler in a WarGames match

Dakota Kai was sold on commentary as the breakout star before the match, this being her big chance to redeem herself against her past losses against Baszler, but the crowd had made up their choice on who the star of this match really was: Io Shirai, who got the biggest reaction of everyone during the pre-match entrances.

Shirai and LeRae were in first and had a quick, fiery brawl. Pockets of the crowd were behind LeRae. Shirai used two 619s between the two rings. She later walked from one top rope to the other top rope in the other ring and did a missile dropkick. The “Let’s go Io!” chants were really loud, but chants for LeRae were still there scattered among the audience. Shirai used her knee to smash LeRae’s face into the mesh of the cage before the next competitor was up to join this first-ever women’s WarGames match—but no one came out. The crowd started chanting “Fix the clock!” Finally, Bianca Belair made her way, somehow, into the ring. She did a standing shooting star press early on in her time in the cage. LeRae mustered up some power and fought both back with open palm strikes, but Belair brutalized her with three consectuive power bombs, the last one into the cage wall. The crowd ate that spot up. Shirai ran the ropes at full-speed about seven times before landing a basement dropkick into LeRae’s face before Rhea Ripley could get into the match. The crowd lost it, then lost it some more when Ripley went under the ring before entering the match to grab “trucculent toys,” as Mauro Ranallo put it. She grabbed pretty much every Wrestling Weapon except tables; or what the crowd was chanting for loudly. They chanted “Rhea’s gonna kill you” after Ripley spiked Belair onto a trash can. Kay Lee Ray was in next and grabbed a couple chairs of her own from under the ring. She teased grabbing a table but opted not to, to the disappointment of the crowd. Nice heel move.

They did a Tower of Doom spot onto chairs, which elicited “N-X-T” chants. Dakota Kai was in next. As her tag partner, Tegan Nox, cheered her on, Kai’s facial expression changed and she ran at Nox, inside the cage, and blasted her with a running kenka kick. The crowd chanted “holy sh*t.” Steven Regal came out and she shoved him. She started smashing Nox’s injured leg into the birdcage holding her team. Kai went completely ballistic and came off great.

Baszler was cracking up in her birdcage before she was let into the ring next. She checked out Nox being looked over by officials as she strutted to the ring. “This match is over,” announcer Nigel McGuiness proclaimed. This worked really well.

Back in the ring, LeRae and Ripley were beat on for a while by the heel team but eventually made a Hail Mary comeback with trash lids. Belair press slammed LeRae out of one ring and into the other onto Ripley, then Kay Lee Ray hit her Gory Bomb finish and Shirai landed a moonsault. Ripley broke up the very close two-count. Belair started whipping Ripley with her ponytail, so LeRae saved Ripley and tok Belair out with a kendo stick. Belair’s sell of this was great. Shirai went to the top of the cage and LeRae chased after her, whom Ray then chased after. LeRae landed a Super Reverse Frankensteiner off the top to Ray for two. Pretty crazy looking. This left Shirai alone atop the cage, where she then stuck a 10/10 moonsault onto both LeRae and Belair. Ranallo made one of his best calls of the year here: “MAMA F’N MIA! COME ON!” The crowd who was on board with Io Shirai even before she was in the ring tonight had just landed what’ll probably be the one of the highlights of the weekend. The crowd lost it, but they chanted “N-X-T.” Only a few of the girls in the match were NXT school trainees.

Later, Ray tried diving onto Ripley, hopping from one ring to the other, but Ripley caught her with a garbage can shot. Baszley saw her chance and sunk in the Kirafuda Clutch. It was pretty much there until Ripley handcuffed herself to Baszley, knee’d her in the face, then used Riptide through two unfolded chairs for the emphatic pin. Excellent match, and up there with one of the best WarGames matches in a long time. Everyone played a role and shined in it. The rest of the card has to bring their A-game after this one.

Pete Dunne defeated Damian Priest and Killian Dane in a three-way match

Dane, arguably the most impressive of this match, did a huge running cross-body block, then a Michinoku Driver II to Dunne right onto, or into, Priest’s face. “The Great Dane” did a combo fall-away slam/Samoan drop to both Priest and Dunne on the floor.

Dunne fired the crowd up midway through when he ran through a sequence that saw him take out each Dane and Priest one by one. The latter two used Dunne’s attack to form a very brief alliance, and the two began teeing off on each other until Dunne came back again. The Chicago crowd was very into Pete Dunne tonight; Ranallo noted earlier that it was actually where he won the WWE NXT UK title from Tyler Bate two years ago.

On the floor is where Priest lifted Dunne up and Razor’s Edge’d him onto (note: not through) the Spanish announce table. Killian Dane followed up with a tope suicida into Priest on the floor, then dove into Priest with a rolling senton, both crashing through the NXT barricade near ringside. The crowd chanted “holy sh*t” for that.

Back in the ring, Priest lifted Dane into a walking Razor’s Edge that was broken up by Dunne, who’d recovered from his own Razor’s Edge. The roar Priest let out before this spot was so loud it popped the crowd. Dunne made another comeback after breaking up the pin. At one point, he whipped Priest into a corner but the billed-as 6’7″ Priest did a dive over the corner onto Dane. Pete Dunne followed with an Orihara moonsault from the second rope to the floor. The crowd clapped but didn’t react like they did to Io Shirai’s moonsault in the match prior.

Dunne flipped himself into the cross-arm breaker, this time on Priest, who tried breaking the submission with a rope break. The ref mumbled something about “minutes” that we couldn’t fully make out. The match lost a ton of air during the final stretch, and the crowd would clap and chant for Dunne every few minutes. There was another peak toward the end that saw Priest go on a tear and land two spinning roundhouse kicks to both guys. Dunne cracked both Dane’s and Priest’s fingers on the top rope, then he superplexed Dane. Dunne landed the Bitter End on Priest for two. When Dunne put Dane in a sleeper, Dane used a Samoan drop-type of move to shake Dunne off, but since Dane landed on Priest, Dunn shoved Dane out of the way and pinned Priest for the win. Pete Dunne gets his title shot at Survivor Series. The crowd reacted positively to the finish, but the last few minutes were a slog because of how quick the pace was at the top. Even still, it was good, but not great.

Finn Balor defeated Matt Riddle

Fans did the parody Goldberg chants, “Riiii-ddle, Riiii-ddle.” They took their time at the top and went hold for hold on the mat. It felt like a much-needed breath of air after the first two matches.

Balor controlled much of the pace in the beginning of this. A few minutes in, he used a running dropkick through the ropes and blasted Riddle in the face with one foot, it looked brutal on the replay. Colt Cabana calls that the “spicy dropkick” spot. They kicked up the tempo when Riddle made a comeback, a series of signature kicks and forearms. Balor countered with a flying forearm on Riddle. They went back and forth; Riddle returned with a V-Trigger and German suplex for two. The crowd was loud behind Riddle. He used a ripcord V-Trigger and went for a power bomb that Balor reveresed with a double stomp and a picture-perfect slingblade. Riddle returned Balor’s next attack with a spear, then used a Jackhammer for two. He put out Balor after the Bro 2 Sleep, but too much time passed as Riddle set Balor up for the Floating Bro; Balor got his knees up, landed a running shotgun dropkick at Riddle in the corner. Balor went for the diving double stomp from the top but Riddle rolled out of the way, then locked on the Bro-mission. Balor rolled backwards on the mat, slipping out of Riddle’s 10th Planet-inspired submission, then broke out of the hold and spiked Riddle with the 1916 DDT to win this tremendous match. Balor hasn’t looked better in a long time. Not the best of the night but very good stuff here.

Dominik Dijakovic, Keith Lee, Tomasso Ciampa and Kevin Owens defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) in a WarGames match

Tomasso Ciampa came out in some sort of Casey Jones-inspired mask, the vigilante character from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He had some war paint on especially for tonight’s match. He and Roderick Stong were the first two in for their teams. Ciampa was fired up and cursed a lot, not at anyone in particular, just in amp-ment ahead of the match. The two brawled for the first five minutes. Kyle O’Reilly was in next and started using Muay Thai kicks on Ciampa. Anyone who watched ROH in 2012 were having deja vu at this point. Dijakovic was in next and cleaned house. He took Strong out with a kenka kick, then just went back and forth taking out O’Reilly and Strong until Bobby Fish came into the match. Fish and Dijakovic went at it for a while. Fish helped the Undisputed Era gain their leverage back in the match. At one point Strong mocked Dijakovic and said “Feast your eyes, dork!” on camera. Keith Lee was in next and took out Fish and O’Reilly with a leapfrog-dropdown-cross-body combination, like Don Leo Jonathan for the new age. Roderick Strong took Lee out rather quickly with a running dropkick. Ciampa rescued Lee but ended up pummeled by UE, giving Lee recoervy time. Adam Cole was last in for his team. Before he went in, he pulled some tables out under the ring, slid one inside the cage, one upright against, plunder abounded, etc. and so on. Was it Cole who got the pop, or just the table itself, the idea of table usage? The crowd loved it. Ciampa shoved Cole from the ring steps as Cole was entering the ring and Cole went through the aforementioned table. It looked violent. When everyone was back in the ring, the four UE members begged off as Ciampa, Lee and Dijakovic stalked them until all members got into a donnybrook. The crowd chanted “N-X-T.” Fish landed a low blow on Lee before he could do a move. There was a countdown next but no one came out for about 20–30 seconds until Kevin Owens came out. “Holy bleep, holy bleep!” Ranallo shouted., verbatim. Having ROH circa early 2000s deja vu again over here. He spiked every member but Cole with a suplex or a power bomb of some kind. He saved a “suck it” for Cole and gave him a stunner for a two-count. Dijakovic and Lee tried throwing Strong into the second ring but they sort of dropped him, but Strong somehow landed through the ropes into the other ring anyway. Owens shook the cage because he was really, really excited. I think it’s easy to tell when Owens likes or dislikes an angle, since when he likes an angle he goes full throttle, like this. Everyone set up tables in both rings. Lee did a cross-body onto everyone in the ring and for some reason I thought it felt really flat. The way the show was being shot, from atop the cage, made it more obvious to see the guys all migating to one spot together at the same time to catch him. Everyone cycled through their high spots next, aerial move after aerial move after finisher after high spot, that sort of rhythm. Roddy Strong did an Olympic Slam from the top rope to Lee which looked great. Lee and O’Reilly smashed Lee with knee strikes. Owens and Cole fought in between the two rings on that long plate of steel, and the spot finished with Cole struggling to reverse a back body drop into a Panama Sunrise on the steel plate. “Holy sh*t” chant for that one. Owens looked liked he landed on top of his head. Ciampa ran wild with running knees and blasted Redragon first, with Cole next up for some knee action from NXT’s “Daddy.” A few minutes later, Dijakovic put Fish through a table with a chokeslam. He tried doing the same to O’Reilly who reversed it with a triangle choke until Owens frog-splashed him through a table. Lee then power bombed Owens from the top rope and took him out of the match.

Earlier, I implied that Io Shirai’s moonsault off the cage would be the highlight of the weekend clip of the weekend. That’s wrong. The finish to this match saw Cole and Ciampa struggle on top of the cage until Ciampa, balancing himself with the chains holding the structure upright, wrestled Cole onto his back like a sack of potatoes and landed a Kryptonite Krunch from the heavens. It looked great. They landed flush through two tables, and Ciampa pinned Cole for the win. Production almost immediately cut to a shocked Britt Baker. The NXT members celebrated in the ring together as Ciampa’s music played before the broadcast closed.

Final thoughts:

This was a good show that exploded for the first hour or so and lost momentum as it went on. It’s hard to keep up on car-crash style shows like this, especially when the all of the car-crash style matches are good, even great. The women’s WarGames match was the most exciting of the night. It had the most interesting and relevatory drama of the night, maybe aside from Kevin Owens return, plus it was the only match that truly had a grudge match spirit. Some could argue that the Dakota Kai heel turn was predictable, but this was the good kind, and with another wrestler this might not have possiby worked, but Kai killed it on her part. That part of the match worked really well in a variety of ways. Io Shirai sounded like the most popular wrestler in the match, and one of the most popular in the company. She shined tonight. Baszler is a superstar heel. Rhea Ripley is right in there as well. Bianca Belair and Candace LeRae, they were equally stellar. You could feel that everyone involved in the match wanted to knock it out of the park.

Almost equally as good was Finn Balor vs. Matt Riddle. This probably should have gone on second, actually. I’d argue that this was both Balor’s and Riddle’s best WWE match up to this point. Balor was phenomenal and Riddle needed someone with the same level of talent but with a touch more of experience to produce such a perfectly balanced match.

Kevin Owens was a big surprise in the main event and changed the tone of the match from decent cage brawl to something a little more special, and made that way because of how hyped the crowd got for him. He, Cole and Ciampa, especially Ciampa, were the stand-outs. Everyone in the match was very good but Ciampa is on another level, but Cole, too, with all of the exposure he’s gotten lately from WWE’s main brand shows.

NXT TakeOver Phoenix live results: Four title matches

Posted on January 27, 2019 by Arya Witner

Royal Rumble weekend begins tonight as the Talking Stick Resort Arena hosts NXT TakeOver: Phoenix.

Tommaso Ciampa will defend his NXT Championship against Aleister Black, while Johnny Gargano is set to challenge for Ricochet’s North American title. On the go-home show for TakeOver, Ciampa and Gargano laid out their respective TakeOver opponents. Ciampa then offered Gargano a handshake, but Candice LeRae ran out to stop him from accepting.

The NXT Women’s Championship will be on the line as Bianca Belair challenges Shayna Baszler. NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) defend their titles against War Raiders.

In the only non-title match on the show, Matt Riddle and Kassius Ohno face off for the second straight time on a TakeOver special. Riddle defeated Ohno in six seconds during their matchup over Survivor Series weekend.

There will be a one-hour pre-show starting at 6 p.m. Eastern time. It will feature the unveiling of the winners of the 2018 NXT year-end awards.

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Here are the NXT Awards, announced during the Kickoff show.

Overall Competitor of the Year – Kairi Sane
Rivalry of the Year – Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Male Competitor of the Year – Tommaso Ciampa
Breakout Star of the Year – Ricochet
Female Competitor of the Year – Kairi Sane
Match of the Year – Andrade vs. Johnny Gargano – NXT Championship Match (TakeOver: Philadelphia)
Tag Team of the Year – The Undisputed ERA
Future Star of NXT – Io Shirai
TakeOver of the Year – TakeOver: New Orleans

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Undisputed Era vs War Raiders for the NXT Tag Team Titles opens the show

War Raiders got a fancy, medeival-style entrance coming out. War Raiders won the titles with the Fallout on Kyle O’Reilly in an excellent opener. The story of this match was War Raiders used their superior strength, which Strong & O’Reilly had to use their wrestling skill to combat.

War Raiders ran wild early, with the highlight being Rowe bodyslamming Hanson off the ring apron and onto Strong and O’Reilly on the floor. Rowe picked up O’Reilly in a gutwrench and power bombed him into Strong. Hanson went for a Suicide Dive, but Strong & O’Reilly moved out of the way, sending him crashing to the floor. That led to the champs getting the heat on Rowe, since he had no one to tag. When Hanson finally got to the apron, Strong & O’Reilly used every old school tag team heel trick to prevent the tag.

O’Reilly and Rowe stood mid-ring and exchanged kicks, which Hanson eventually got the best of with a knee strike, which allowed Rowe the chance to make the hot tag. Hanson got the crowd jumping when he did a cartwheel to avoid a strike by O’Reilly. A mis-direction spot saw O’Reilly give a running corner kick to Strong on accident. A 4-way brawl broke out, with War Raiders getting the best of it, laying O’Reilly out with a Pop-Up Running Powerslam and Strong got knocked to the outside. Hanson later kicked out of a combination superplex/top rope knee drop, which everyone bought as the finish. Hanson also kicked out of a High/Low, becoming the first person to do it.

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Pete Dunne and Toni Storm were shown at ringside.

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Matt Riddle vs Kassius Ohno

Well it lasted longer than their first match. Riddle won this one by tap out due to elbows. The story was Ohno had not only lost the first two matches to Riddle, but had also lost all 4 TakeOver matches he’s had, so he was pulling out all the stops. A step down from the opener, but a good match in it’s own rights.

Riddle exploded at the bell, with Ohno running around and trying to avoid him, but Riddle followed and continued beating on him. Riddle went for a sunset flip power bomb to the outside, but Ohno blocked it, covered his face with the ring apron and stomped down on it. Ohno “accidentally” hit Riddle with a back elbow at one point and almost won. Riddle briefly fired back when Ohno yelled that he was a bum, but that didn’t last long. Ohno sent Riddle crashing into the ring post and steps, harkening back to an angle on NXT in December.

Riddle went for a German Suplex, but Ohno was too heavy for him and Ohno stomped his foot. Riddle summoned that power seconds later as he hit the German on the second attempt. Ohno blocked a kick and began biting Riddle’s toes before hitting a Liger Bomb for a near fall. Riddle kicked out of an Ohno Moonsault and got on the Bro-mission, but Ohno got the ropes. Ohno asked Riddle for a fist bump near the finish, but Riddle didn’t fall for it.

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Ricochet vs Johnny Gargano for the North American Championship

This was a must-see 20+ minute classic. A series of innovative and creative spots, unbelievable athleticism and story telling that can’t be duplicated by many in WWE. Gargano became the third North American Champion with a Slingshot DDT, which followed a brainbuster on the exposed floor.

An impressive series of moves and reversals and counters opened the match, leading to a stand off and a chant of “NXT”. Ricochet asked Gargano which Johnny we were going to get, so Gargano used a cheap shot. They fought to the outside where Ricochet stepped from the apron to the middle rope and hit a moonsault to the floor in one fluid motion. In the ring Ricochet went for a top rope Hurricarana, but he played to the ground and Gargano was able to slip out and drop Ricochet on the top rope.

Gargano used an laying down Abdominal Stretch and a chop to the throat, which just looked nasty. Ricochet side-stepped a Slingshot Spear and used a moonsault to the kneeling Gargano. Minutes later Gargano went for a Slingshot Suplex, but Ricochet caught him and threw him out of the ring and Gargano crashed rib-first onto the ring apron. Richochet broke out the Fosbury Flop outside the ring and a second rope Moonsault inside the ring for a near fall.

Gargano went for his own top-rope Hurricarana, but Ricochet landed on his feet. Gargano hit a Superkick, but Ricochet hit a Pele and went for a Handspring Move, but Gargano ducked it and locked on the Gargano Escape. Ricochet stood up and threw Gargano over his head, crashing into the turnbuckles. Ricochet went for the 630, but Gargano rolled to the other side of the ring and out of it. Ricochet saw that…and did a running tope over the ring post to the floor. Gargano got his knees up on a Shooting Star Press and used an Inside Cradle for a 2 count.

Ricochet literally caught Gargano on a Suicide Dive, but Gargano turned that into a reverse Hurricarana. He immediately hit a Slingshot DDT in the ring for the nearest of near falls. Gargano nearly snapped and went to do a Draping DDT onto the exposed concrete floor, but had a change of conscience, which the fans booed, but they immediately got back into the match. Ricochet locked on his own version of the Gargano Escape, but Gargano got the ropes. They ended up on the apron and Gargano shoved Ricochet into the ring post, which led to the finish.

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Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair for the NXT Women’s Championship

It should be noted that during the Kickoff Show, Sam Roberts openly questioned why this match was happening, stating Bianca Belair had no chance and didn’t deserve to be wrestling on TakeOver.

Baszler retained the title with the Kirifuda Clutch after rolling out of the way of a 450 Splash. Belair fought it and got to her feet, but couldn’t get out of the Clutch and finally passed out. The match was better than expected, but it was insanely difficult after following the previous match.

A super creative spot early on, as they fought outside, Baszler threw Belair around the ring post, but kept hold of Belair’s long braid and yanked her into the ring post. Belair crowed that she was undefeated and Baszler fired back, calling her overrated. Baszler stomped down on Belair’s elbow in a similar fashion that she did to Dakota Kai in early-2018. Baszler used a series of armbars until Belair started her comeback with a huge slap to the face. Belair did a good job of selling her shoulder even when on offense, so that’s already a step up on a lot of people. Belair kept going for punches, but missed by several feet, so finally she used her hair to whip Shayna, which actually caused a cut on Baszler’s ribs. Belair got sent into the referee, knocking her out and then she got a visual pinfall on Baszler after the KOD.

Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke ran in, but Belair got the best of both of them. Belair got out of the Kirifuda Clutch on the first attempt, but not the second.

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Velveteen Dream was shown sitting at ringside watching the main event.

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Tommaso Ciampa vs Aleister Black for the NXT Championship

Ciampa retained after 4 Fairy Tale Endings. Black got out of the third one and went for Black Mass, but his knee, which was worked on the entire match, gave out. This was a very good main event and it was very well worked, but the fans didn’t get into it until the finish.

The most intense collar and elbow tie up you’ve ever seen started the match. Ciampa played dirty early, using a standing armbar and standing on Black’s hair while doing it. Ciampa sat on the mat when Black went for a Roundhouse Kick, so Black sat down across from him, but Ciampa booted him right in the face. The match was all about Ciampa working on the knee of Black. Outside the ring Ciampa sent Black knee-first into the ring steps and then used a suplex onto the steps. Ciampa tied Black’s leg up in the ropes and did a running knee to the leg. Black used a running kick to Ciampa, which caused them both to topple over the top rope to the floor.

Both men blocked and/or ducked multiple attempts to hit their respective finishers. Black used a Bridging German Suplex, but only drove with one leg, since the other was hurt. Both used a Single-Legged Crab with little success. Ciampa broke up a Moonsault attempt and hit a Tower Of London on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring. Black did a great job selling his knee, including running the ropes by hopping on one leg. He did finally hit his corner Moonsault, but slipped on some water outside the ring. Ciampa hit the Fairy Tale Ending (Angel’s Wings) for a 2 count.

Ciampa pulled up the black mats outside the ring, ala Johnny Gargano earlier tonight. However Black came off the apron with a knee strike and then hit Black Mass in the ring…but it took him too long to make the cover and Ciampa had rolled over. Black kicked out of a second Fairy Tale Ending, which was following Ciampa pulling the referee in front of Black Mass (which Black stopped mid kick).

After the match, Johnny Gargano came out and raised his title in the air. Ciampa seemed to take it as meaning they were together as a team, while Gargano kept looking from his title to Ciampa’s.

Overall another very good TakeOver and good luck to the Royal Rumble on topping this one!

NXT TakeOver WarGames II live results: WarGames, two title matches

Posted on November 17, 2018 by Dave Bath

Survivor Series weekend in Los Angeles, California begins tonight as the Staples Center hosts NXT TakeOver: WarGames II.

WWE’s second WarGames match will feature two teams of four battling it out. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish) face off against Ricochet, War Raiders (Hanson & Rowe) & Pete Dunne. Undisputed Era will have the advantage in the match after O’Reilly defeated Hanson on the go-home episode of NXT television.

Two title matches are also set for tonight. NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa will defend his title against Velveteen Dream, and NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler again takes on Kairi Sane — this time in a two-out-of-three falls match.

After Johnny Gargano was revealed as Aleister Black’s attacker, they’ll go one-on-one to round out the four-match card.

The pre-show begins on the WWE Network at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time before the main card starts at 7 p.m. Eastern.

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On the pre-show, Matt Riddle joined the panel. He got the crowding chanting “Bro”. Kassius Ohno interrupted and promised to expose Riddle in one second flat. Riddle use to think Ohno was cool but he’s just bitter. Riddle walked off as the crowd chanted “Bro”. Sam Roberts pointed out they have a match next Wednesday.

Maura Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness and Percy Watson welcomed everyone to the main show. Suddenly, Matt Riddle’s music hit and he came down to the ring. Ranallo acted surprised and noted this isn’t on the format sheet. The crowd erupted in a loud “Bro” chant and went crazy for him. He said he doesn’t have a match on the show tonight and the fans booed. Riddle doesn’t want to wait until Wednesday and called Ohno out. He said there are two rings and he’s going to knockout Ohno in both.

Ohno came out and said Riddle’s too stupid to know he’s not suppose to be out here. Ohno accepted and jumped in the ring.

Matt Riddle defeated Kassius Ohno

Riddle beat Ohno in seconds. The bell rang and Ohno tried to jump Riddle but Riddle knocked him out with a knee for the very quick win.

NXT Woman’s Champion Shayna Baszler defeated Kairi Sane in a 2 out of 3 falls match to retain the title

This was a good match with a hot crowd. Sane nailed Baszler with a dropkick in the corner when the bell rang. Sane was on fire early and rocked Baszler with a forearm off the apron. Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir ran out. They attacked Sane and beat her down. They threw her back in the ring and Baszler locked on the choke to win the first fall.

Baszler nailed Sane with a knee at the start of the second fall for a two count. Baszler was firmly in control but Sane fired back. Baszler went for the choke but Sane scored a near fall. In a crazy spot, Baszler attempted a suplex on the apron but Sane reversed into a sick looking DDT. Sane hit an elbow off the top to the floor on the three heels. Sane won the second fall with the Insane Elbow.

Sane was on fire to start the third fall. They traded shots on the top turnbuckle. Baszler attempted a gut-wrench suplex but Sane countered into a powerbomb for a close near fall.

Sane went up for a second elbow but Duke and Shafir interfered. Dakota Kai and Io Shirai ran out to even the odds. Shirai hit an awesome looking moonsault on Kai, Duke and Shafir. In the ring, Sane went for the elbow but Baszler caught her and rolled her up for the win.

X-Pac was shown sitting a ringside and got a nice reaction from the fans.

Aleister Black defeated Johnny Gargano

This was a great match. It had lots of fast paced and hard-hitting action. They had a long stare down and met in the middle of the ring. Gargano slapped Black. Black rocked him with a boot to the face. Gargano went for a plancha but Black nailed hit with a kick.

Gargano sat cross-legged in the ring intimating Black. Black gained control and sent Gargano to the floor. Black teased a dive but did the moonsault into his cross-legged pose. Gargano jumped in the ring and nailed Black with a superkick for a near fall.

Black rocked Gargano with another kick sending him to the floor. He followed up with a huge dive. He tripped up Gargano and hit double knees. He then hit a springboard moonsault for a two count. Black attempted a moonsault to the floor but Gargano jumped in the ring. He hit a suicide dive into a DDT on the floor. He hit a second DDT in the ring for a near fall.

The traded kicks, superkicks and clotheslines. Gargano hit a reverse hurricanrana but Black fired back with a flying knee. Gargano attempted the spear through the ropes but Black rocked him with a knee. Black hit a flurry of offense and hit a German suplex for a close near fall.

Gargano locked on the Gargano Escape but Black countered into a pin for a two count. Gargano sent Black head first into the second turnbuckle. Gargano set up for the superkick but Black put his hand up. He did his pose in the middle of the ring and asked for Gargano’s best shot. The crowd went crazy for this.

They traded shots in the middle of the ring. Black went for a springboard moonsault but Gargano pushed him to the floor. In a crazy spot, Gargano went for a suicide dive but Black blasted him with a knee to the face.

Black stood in the ring and Gargano crawled to his feet. He asked Black to put him out of his misery. Black set up for Black mass but Gargano rolled him up for a near fall. Gargano locked on the Gargano Escape again. Black countered into a pin for two count. Black hit two sick looking knees. Black hit Black Mass but held up Gargano. He hit a second Black Mass for the win in an awesome match.

NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defeated Velveteen Dream to retain the title

This was another really good match. Dream came out dressed similarly to Hollywood Hogan in black, white and purple gear. The fans love Dream and went crazy for him. On the other hand, they really hate Ciampa. Dream backed Ciampa in the corner and Ciampa messed with his hair. Dream slapped Ciampa in the face.

Ciampa took Dream’s Hollywood headband and mocked him. Dream gained the advantage and took over. Dream hit a standing dropkick and double axe-handle off the top. Dream put the headband back on and hit a big boot. He teased doing Hogan’s leg drop but Ciampa rolled out of the ring. Dream hit a cross body to the floor. Ciampa shoved Dream off the rope to the floor to take over.

Ciampa hit a vicious knee in the corner and followed up with a hangman’s neckbreaker sending Dream to the floor. Ciampa slowed the pace down and wore down Dream. Dream fired back and hit a neckbreaker. He hit the big boot and three leg drops to a huge pop. He hit a spine buster for a near fall. Dream worked over Ciampa’s leg.

Dream applied the figure four-leg lock around the ring post. He then applied the figure four in the ring but Ciampa made the ropes. Ciampa attempted a suplex but Dream countered. Dream gave Ciampa a suplex to the floor.

Dream went for a superkick but Ciampa moved. Ciampa rolled up Dream using the tights but the referee caught him. Dream hit a superkick and rolling DVD for a very close near fall. Dream went for a move off the top turnbuckle but Ciampa caught him with a knee. Ciampa hit Project Ciampa for another close near fall.

Ciampa tried to use the belt but the referee stopped him. Dream hit the twisting DDT on the belt for a near fall. Ciampa then hit the draping DDT for a two count. He set up for the draping DDT off the apron but Dream pushed him over the announce table. On commentary, Ranallo called Ciampa a sick SOB. Ciampa might have heard because he turned around and went after Ranallo.

Dream hit the rolling DVD on the floor and hit the elbow for close near fall. Ciampa was hanging off the apron and Dream attempted a second elbow. Ciampa moved and Dream crashed hard on the floor. Ciampa then hit the draping DDT in between the rings on the steel covering for the win. After the match, Dream was out knocked out in the middle of the ring. Ciampa crawled over and kissed Dream’s cheek.

Nita Strauss was shown sitting at ringside.

Pete Dunne, Ricochet & War Raiders (Hanson & Rowe) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) in War Games

Escaping the cage is an automatic forfeit. The two teams are in cages on the ramp. Adam Cole and Ricochet are starting the match. Undisputed Era has the advantage because O’Reilly defeated Hanson last Wednesday.

This was a really good War Games. It turned into a wild and crazy match by the end. Cole and Ricochet traded shots in the corner. Ricochet used a head scissors take down and standing dropkick. He went for a back elbow off the second turnbuckle but Cole caught him with a backstabber. Ricochet fought back with a running dropkick. Cole rolled into the other ring. Ricochet hit an elbow from ring two into ring one on Cole.

Kyle O’Reilly was the next one in the match and viciously attacked Ricochet. Ricochet ended up in between the rings and fought off both Cole and O’Reilly. O’Reilly gave Ricochet a dragon screw using the ropes. The heels took over and wore down Ricochet.

Pete Dunne wanted to enter next but Hanson stopped him and ran down. Hanson ran wild on the heels. He hit a cartwheel clothesline on Cole. Hanson then hit a series of running clotheslines on Cole and O’Reilly in opposite corners. He followed up with a broncobuster on both guys. Ricochet hit a shooting star press off of Hanson’s back on O’Reilly.

Roderick Strong was the next guy in for Undisputed Era. Strong hit running knees on the faces. He then hit a series of backbreakers on Ricochet. The heels took over and were firmly in control. The fans broke into a loud “Undisputed” chant.

Pete Dunne wanted to enter again but Rowe stopped him and ran out. Rowe hit a flurry of offense on the heels. Rowe hit a combo power slam/powerbomb on Strong and O’Reilly. The War Raiders threw Cole head first into the cage like a dart.

Bobby Fish was out next for Undisputed Era. Instead of going to the ring he went after Pete Dunne in his cage. Fish used the lock from his cage on Dunne’s cage to ensure he couldn’t leave the cage. Fish then threw the key away. Ranallo pointed out War Games only starts when all guys are in the match. The Undisputed Era viciously beat the faces with chairs.

Pete Dunne was the final entrant but the referee couldn’t open the second lock. The heels continued their beat down in the ring. The referees finally opened the cage with bolt cutters. The heels tried to block the door but Dunne used a kendo stick. Dunne brought in trashcans and tables.

The faces gained the advantage. They beat the heels with kendo sticks, chairs and chains. Hanson put a trashcan on Cole’s head and put him in the corner. Rowe then picked up Hanson and ran him into Cole. Rowe slammed Hanson onto O’Reilly in between the rings.

The Undisputed Era surrounded Dunne. Dunne fired up and took out all four heels. Dunne got a knee bar on Fish but O’Reilly broke it up. He then tried to tie up Dunne in the chain. Dunne fought back but Fish hit him with a chair. O’Reilly applied the ankle lock using the chain. The Undisputed Era stopped the faces from saving Dunne. Hanson tossed Ricochet over the top rope to the other ring to break it up.

Fish speared Rowe through a table set up between the rings on the apron. Cole went for a superplex but ended up in the tree of woe. Ricochet set up O’Reilly on a table but he got the arm bar. Hanson splashed O’Reilly through the table for a near fall.

Cole climbed up to the very top of the cage. Ricochet chased after him and they traded shots on the top of the cage. Strong climbed up and they tried to push Ricochet out to win. Dunne tried to suplex Cole off the top. Soon the War Raiders, Strong, Fish and O’Reilly all got involved in a crazy powerbomb/suplex spot. Ricochet then hit a huge moonsault off the top of the cage.

The two teams went to separate sides of the cage and met in between on the apron. All eight guys started brawling. The War Raiders hit Fallout. Hanson then hit a handspring double back elbow on the heels. Ricochet hit a springboard from ring two into ring one but Cole nailed him with a superkick.

Finish came when Dunne hit the Bitter End on Cole and Ricochet hit a 450 splash. Both Dunne and Ricochet pinned Cole for the win. Dunne and Ricochet posed on top of the cage with their belts to end the show.

NXT TakeOver War Games live results, news & recap

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Arya Witner

Survivor Series weekend kicks off in Houston, Texas tonight as the Toyota Center hosts NXT TakeOver: War Games.

Though there have been a few changes from the original concept, this will mark the first time WWE has used War Games since acquiring WCW in 2001. The Undisputed Era, SAnitY, and The Authors of Pain & Roderick Strong will take part in NXT’s first version of the match.

A new NXT Women’s Champion will also be crowned, with Kairi Sane, Peyton Royce, Ember Moon, and Nikki Cross vying for the title that Asuka vacated in August. In the show’s other title match, Drew McIntyre will defend his NXT Championship against Andrade “Cien” Almas.

The issues between Aleister Black and Velveteen Dream will culminate as they face off in a match tonight. Plus, Kassius Ohno vs. Lars Sullivan rounds out the undercard.

Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

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-The first thing seen as the show began was a giant banner for Kenny Omega.

Kassius Ohno vs Lars Sullivan

Sullivan ducked the Rolling Elbow and hit The Freak Accident for the win.

Ohno used an elbow strike in the first 30 seconds, which didn’t phase Lars and set the story for the match. Everything that Ohno would try Lars would shake off and knock Ohno down. The fans were into this and Sullivan looked good, even hitting a Pop Up Power Slam. The most offense Ohno got in was after Sullivan missed a diving elbow. Ohno used a Cyclone Kick to finally knock Sullivan off his feet, but Lars raged up and begged for more punishment as they went to the finish.

The whole match was less than 5 minutes, but was exactly what it should have been.

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-Tyler Bate, Trent Seven. Mark Andrews and Wolfgang were shown at ringside.

-Undisputed Era were shown backstage and didn’t look too happy when William Regal told them something we couldn’t hear.

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Aleister Black vs Velveteen Dream

Black won with Black Mass, which the cameras mostly missed, in a very good match and Dream’s best NXT match by far.

Velveteen Dream went all Rick Rude for this match with airbrushed tights with Black’s face on them. The fans were into the Velveteen Dream, but they were just as happy when Black won.

Black snapped off one of the fastest deep armdrags you’ll ever see early as he showed his superior grappling. Dream couldn’t even connect with a strike early as every time he tried, Black moved out of the way. Finally Dream got tired of being stretched and got in a couple blows. A sequence saw Black end in a sitting position on the mat, so Dream did the Rick Rude hip swivel, which Black ignored until Dream sat down like Black, so Black did Dream’s grinding on the mat.

Dream finally got some sustained offense, using a superkick and a Rude Awakening. Black got tied in the ropes ala their tv angle a month ago and this had the same result as Black kicked Dream and got himself out. They kicked out of each other’s secondary finishers, being Dream’s Rolling Death Valley Driver and Black’s running knee.

After the match Aleister sat next to Dream on the mat and said “Enjoy infamy, Velveteen Dream”. So Dream got his ultimate goal of the match, which was for Black to say his name.

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-SAnitY was ranting and raving in the locker room. Killian Dain and Alexander Wolfe were messing around in the background as Eric Young appeared to be mid-speech.

-Asuka, Funaki and Finn Balor were show ringside. Behind them were hundreds of empty seats, so remember that if they claim a sell out.

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Kairi Sane vs Peyton Royce vs Ember Moon vs Nikki Cross for the vacant NXT Women’s Championship

Ember Moon became the 6th NXT Women’s Champion, pinning Nikki Cross after a double Eclipse on both Cross and Peyton. This was a relatively short match but chalk full of big moves that the crowd was super into and were really happy for Moon to finally win the title. The only messed up move was early when Royce went to roll up Cross and somehow got Moon tangled up, which looked like both of them covering Cross at the same time.

Ember hit a Suicide Dive to Sane and Royce and then a hard power bomb to Cross on the floor. Sane broke up a pinfall with a running Blockbuster. Royce used a Reverse Octopus Hold on Sane until Ember superkicked her in the ribs. We had a Stacked Up Superplex with Royce German Suplexing Moon, who superplexed Sane. Cross hit her Twisting Fisherman Suplex for a 2 count and then used a Draping Roll The Dice on Moon. Royce used her Fisherman Suplex on Cross, but Sane had to break it up. Sane hit the Insane Elbow on Cross and Royce, but Moon broke that up and that led to the finish.

Asuka got in the ring to present Ember with her championship.

The Queen is dead! Long live the new Queen!

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We had a commercial for NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia, which is the day before Royal Rumble. Tickets go on sale December 1.

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-Roderick Strong, Paul Ellering and The Authors of Pain were hanging out backstage.

-Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe were shown at ringside.

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Drew McIntyre vs Andrade Cien Almas for the NXT Championship

Almas shockingly won the title with a Hammerlock DDT off the top rope after McIntyre got caught up in the ropes when he missed his second Claymore Kick. You knew Drew was in for a bad night when he couldn’t get his kilt off before the match.

Vega got all up in McIntyre’s naval before the match, telling off the champion, which led to Almas getting the quick advantage at the bell. Almas lounged in the ropes, which came back to bite him in the ass as Drew kicked him out of the ring. Vega tried to interfere and hit a hurricarana behind the referee’s back, but McIntyre caught her and set her down.

In almost the reverse of the last match, in this one they reversed and side-stepped a lot of big moves early, but they saved the big stuff for last. Drew went for a running power bomb to the post outside, but Andrade turned it into a hurricarana. Almas then hit a Moonsault over the ring post to McIntyre, who was on the floor. Almas hit his running double knees in the corner two different times for a two different 2 counts, but every time he went for his Hammerlock DDT Drew got out of it, including once hitting a sit out power bomb.

Almas kicked out of a Future Shock DDT and finally hit his Hammerlock DDT when Vega’s interference finally worked as she hit a Hurricarana, but Drew kicked out of it. McIntyre finally hit the Claymore Kick but Vega put Almas’ foot on the ropes.

Almas becomes the 14th NXT Champion overall and 12th different man to hold the gold. The King is dead! Long live the new King!

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Undisputed Era vs SAnitY vs Roderick Strong & Authors of Pain in War Games

Rules:

-One member from each team starts with the other team members locked in shark cages

-After 5 minutes the remaining two members of one team gets to enter

-Every 3 minutes after the other two members of the other teams enter.

-You can only win via pinfall of submission

-If anyone leaves the cage they forfeit the match for their team

First Period: Eric Young, Adam Cole and Roderick Strong started the match. They put a metal platform between the two rings so no one could fall between the rings. I’ll update this as much as I can throughout the match.

Young seemed willing to team with Strong early, but Strong punched him in the face and it was on. Cole was about to run and leave the match, but he got stopped. That actually led to him taking over on both Strong and Young, when he crotched them on the top rope. Cole tried to keep each man in separate rings, but even when they weren’t he was on the offensive. Strong finally built some momentum at the end of the period.

Second Period: They did the Elimination Chamber light show instead of a coin toss and, believe it or not, Undisputed Era was released. This was 3 full minutes of Cole, O’Reilly and Fish beating down both Young and Strong. Young got caught between the ropes and the cage and had to stand there as Undisputed Era took turns running into him. Strong was the victim of a Wheelbarrow Suplex before he got smashed into the cage repeatedly.

Third Period: Authors of Pain was next and Fish did his best to hold the door closed, but it didn’t work. O’Reilly tried and got a door smashed into his head. Akam and Rezar flung all 4 men all over the cage. Akam actually hiptossed Cole from one ring into the other and then he and Rezar backdropped Young into the other ring. AOP hiptossed Strong onto all 4 men, which finally got the crowd into the match.Young and O’Reilly were tied into Trees of Woe and the Authors gave Fish and Cole a Death Valley Driver into them.

The Match Beyond: SAnitY gets released to end the match and Alexander Wolfe had a hidden Nightstick that he used to beat on all three members of the AOP team. Killian Dain found some plunder under the ring as War Games went hardcore.

Dain was about to get in the ring, but the fans were chanting for tables, so Killian did as he was told and put two tables into the cage. O’Reilly did the Kurt Angle House Show Chair spot with the chair ricocheting off the ropes into his face. This became pure chaos as Dain decided it was his job to lock the cage. He ate the padlock key before going after Authors of Pain.

Dain did a corner dropkick onto one Author and fell with a back senton onto the other and then did a flying crossbody onto pretty much everyone else in the match. Fish kicked Dain in the legs, but he got laid out and Dain did a Michinoku Driver to Cole on top of Fish, which could not have felt good.

Dain and Rezar did stereo combo Samoan Drop/Fallaway Slams to multiple opponents and then Rezar decided to test Dain. Finally Akam laid out Dain with a running power slam, which took him out for a few minutes. Undisputed Era hit a 3-man Chasing The Dragon on Strong, but couldn’t make the cover. No one could get sustained offense at this point as every time they would hit a big move they’d turn around and get hit with their own. O’Reilly tied Wolfe up with a chain and locked on and armbar, but EY broke it up with a diving elbow drop. Fish broke up the ensuing pin with a Moonsault on the pile.

AOP did a Super Collider to Fish and Young, where Dain was caught in the middle of it, but Young came back with a Death Valley Driver to Akam on top of Rezar. Strong decided that 20+ minutes into the match was the time to go Backbreaker crazy, but actually finishing with an Angle Slam on Dain. Cole ended up sitting on the ringposts between the cages and it led to a double stacked up superplex with the other 8 people and Cole somehow left all alone. Cole was celebrating momentarily and then the AOP looked up and saw him sitting there. After setting up both tables their attempted double back superplex was broken up by Wolfe, who put Rezar through both tables with a German Suplex, which busted open the back of Wolfe’s head. Dain woke back up and hit the World’s Biggest Van Terminator as he went corner to corner with a dropkick to O’Reilly, who had a garbage can in his face.

Cole ended up on top of the cage, but he shimmied his way to the opposing corner. Cole seemed poised to dive until he saw Strong standing there and Roddy seemed to put the fear into Cole. Both men ended up on top of the cage and the fans chanted “Please don’t die”. Strong then hit a superplex off the top of the cage and both men landed on top of almost everyone else. AOP hit a version of The Last Chapter to Dain on the metal ramp between the rings. Everyone laid out each other until Cole and Strong were the only two left. Strong beat on Cole until Young recovered and Wheelbarrowed him into the cage. Finally Cole used a Kendo Stick to Young and pinned him after a running kick, assisted with a steel chair.

So long story short, no this wasn’t WCW/NWA War Games, but it was a masterful 30-minute brawl full of twists, turns and, oh yes, plenty of chaos. Undisputed Era is your winner and that does it from Houston.

Thank you for reading and good luck to Survivor Series tomorrow night to try to top this.