Tag: nxt tv tapings

Title change at Thursday’s NXT TV tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A title change took place at NXT’s television tapings on Thursday night.

The tapings saw The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) defeat The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) to win the NXT Tag Team titles. Here’s our JJ Williams’ recap of the match:

“Very good match. Ford and Dawkins mixed it up, with Ford hitting the Rock Bottom and Dawkins hitting the frog splash. O’Reilly & Fish hit Total Elimination to win the titles. The crowd celebrated with them and then chanted ‘Thank you Profits’ and wished them well if this is it for them in NXT.”

This was a rematch from TakeOver: Toronto, where Dawkins & Ford retained against O’Reilly & Fish. There was a segment on this week’s NXT TV where O’Reilly & Fish looked for William Regal backstage at TakeOver and were angry that the illegal man was pinned in their match. Fish had tagged in prior to O’Reilly being pinned.

Before losing the titles, The Street Profits had been NXT Tag Team Champions since defeating O’Reilly & Fish, The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler), and Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch in a ladder match at TakeOver XXV this June.

The Street Profits made their main roster debut on the July 1 episode of Raw. They’ve appeared in backstage segments but have yet to wrestle on the main roster.

KUSHIDA makes his debut at NXT TV tapings

Posted on by F4W Staff

By Joseph Currier and JJ Williams

Days after being introduced as the newest member of the roster, KUSHIDA made his debut at tonight’s NXT television tapings.

KUSHIDA defeated Kassius Ohno at the tapings. KUSHIDA wore his Marty McFly jacket and silver sunglasses, with there being a 3-2-1 countdown as he emerged through the stage in fog. They had a long match, ending when KUSHIDA hit his Nomo punch and submitted Ohno with the Hoverboard Lock.

KUSHIDA dropped the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Taiji Ishimori at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in January. At a press conference after Wrestle Kingdom and New Year Dash, KUSHIDA confirmed that he would be leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling when his contract expired at the end of that month. His farewell match for the company was against Hiroshi Tanahashi on January 29.

In NJPW, KUSHIDA was a star of the junior heavyweight division and held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title six times. 

WWE officially announced the signing of KUSHIDA last Friday. He also appeared in the front row at NXT TakeOver: New York.

ACH makes NXT TV debut at this week’s tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Image: JJ Williams

After having his first match for NXT at a house show last Thursday, ACH was in action at tonight’s NXT television tapings.

In his NXT TV debut, ACH lost to Humberto Carrillo at the tapings. ACH has yet to get a new in-ring name and went by his real name (Albert Hardie Jr.) in the match.

ACH also went by his real name when he faced Raul Mendoza at last Thursday’s NXT house show in Largo, Florida and took on Carrillo at Saturday’s house show in Crystal River. He lost both of those matches.

ACH reported to the Performance Center as part of February’s group of signees. Trevor Lee and Jonah Rock were also part of that group and made their NXT debuts at house shows last week, with Lee losing to Luke Menzies and Rock being defeated by Riddick Moss. Rock used his real name (Jermaine Haley) in that match.

Before joining WWE, ACH said farewell to AAW in January. ROH and NJPW are among the other promotions he’s wrestled for in his career.

Sasha Banks & Bayley appear at NXT TV tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Image: JJ Williams

New WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks & Bayley returned to Full Sail University for an appearance at Wednesday night’s NXT television tapings.

After becoming WWE’s first Women’s Tag Team Champions of this era at Elimination Chamber, Banks & Bayley showed up and cut a promo in the ring at the NXT tapings.Banks & Bayley spoke about NXT being where they came from, and they reiterated that their titles will be defended on Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. They challenged the teams in NXT to step up.

Bayley mentioned that the last time Banks was in an NXT ring was for their Iron Woman match at TakeOver: Respect in October 2015. Bayley’s last NXT match was at TakeOver: Brooklyn II in August 2016.

The Women’s Tag Team titles being defended on Raw, SmackDown, and NXT was confirmed during Banks & Bayley’s promo this Monday night. That segment on Raw led to them being interrupted by Nia Jax & Tamina, with Banks & Bayley fighting them off before they could get into the ring.

Keith Lee makes his debut at NXT TV tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Image: JJ Williams

Despite just arriving at the Performance Center this week, Keith Lee has already wrestled in his first match for NXT.

Lee defeated Marcel Barthel at tonight’s NXT television tapings. Lee’s “Limitless” nickname was displayed on his entrance video and tights, and his “Bask in My Glory” catchphrase was on the hoodie that he wore to the ring. He won with his fireman’s carry into a jackhammer finisher.

If the match does air, this will also serve as Barthel’s TV debut. He formerly wrestled as Axel Dieter Jr. for wXw in Germany and PROGRESS in the United Kingdom before being signed by WWE in 2017. He’s wrestled under his real name at NXT house shows since debuting in June of last year.

Lee was shown sitting in the front row at NXT TakeOver: Chicago last month and was officially introduced with the newest group of NXT signees yesterday. He held the PWG World Championship and WWN title before coming to WWE.

TakeOver: Philadelphia card takes shape at NXT TV tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Most of the card for NXT’s next TakeOver special was made official at last night’s television tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta.

Two more title matches were set up for TakeOver, with Shayna Baszler challenging for Ember Moon’s Women’s Championship and Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defending their Tag Team titles against The Authors of Pain. AOP won a number one contender’s match against The Street Profits to get their title shot.

Baszler made her televised NXT in-ring debut at the tapings. She defeated Dakota Kai by referee stoppage and continued to attack her after the match until Moon made the save. Baszler later appeared following Lacey Evans vs. Aliyah, but Moon made the save again as Baszler was attacking Aliyah.

After Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black was announced for TakeOver on this week’s recap episode, an extreme rules stipulation was added for it last night. As the build to their match continued, Cole got involved and distracted Black while Black & Roderick Strong were facing Fish & O’Reilly.

Johnny Gargano also retained his NXT Championship shot by beating Velveteen Dream at the tapings and will challenge Andrade “Cien” Almas in the main event of TakeOver. The fifth match for the event hasn’t been confirmed, but Lars Sullivan called out Killian Dain in an angle last night and Strong challenged Sullivan to a match.

TakeOver: Philadelphia will take place at the Wells Fargo Center on January 27th as part of Royal Rumble weekend.

Three title matches, one title change at NXT TV tapings

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Three titles were on the line at tonight’s NXT television tapings, and one championship ended up changing hands.

With Adam Cole getting involved in the match to help them, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated SAnitY (Eric Young & Killian Dain) to become the new NXT Tag Team Champions.

The last team to win the titles at a TV taping was The Revival, with Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder winning the belts for the first time by beating The Vaudevillains in October 2015. Fish & O’Reilly debuted at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in August by attacking SAnitY after Young & Alexander Wolfe had won the titles.

The WWE United Kingdom Championship and NXT Women’s title were defended tonight as well. Pete Dunne retained against Tyler Bate, which was their first singles meeting in WWE since Dunne won the title from him at TakeOver: Chicago. Moon made her first defense of the Women’s Championship by defeating Raw’s Sonya Deville.

Tonight’s tapings at Full Sail University featured the early build to the Royal Rumble weekend TakeOver special. The episodes will air over the next few weeks, with the first three tapings of 2018 set for Center Stage in Atlanta. That’s due to scheduling issues with the usual venue, though Triple H said on a conference call earlier this month that Full Sail is still NXT’s home.

WWE bringing back War Games for NXT TakeOver: Houston

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Image: JJ Williams

WWE is bringing back War Games for NXT TakeOver: Houston.

It was announced during tonight’s NXT television tapings at Full Sail University that The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly), SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain), and Roderick Strong & The Authors of Pain would be facing off in a War Games match next month. It’s the first time that WWE has used the match type since acquiring WCW in 2001.

JJ Williams, our NXT reporter, notes that he believes the match was announced as having two rings like traditional War Games matches had.

There was an angle on the tapings where Cole, Fish, and O’Reilly continued to try and get Strong to join their group. The three caused a disqualification in a tag title match between SAnitY and AOP, then Strong teased putting on Undisputed Era’s armband before attacking Cole. AOP then made the save for Strong after The Undisputed Era regained control, with William Regal announcing the match for TakeOver.

Tonight’s tapings featured the final build to TakeOver, which will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on November 18th. The venue will also host Survivor Series the next night.

UPDATE: It appears that the name of the TakeOver show in Houston will be NXT TakeOver: War Games.