Mendoza ran wild on both Barthel and Aichner after a hot tag before winning with a driver.
– Punishment Martinez defeated Rick Boog
The South of Heaven chokeslam got Martinez the win.
– Mia Yim defeated Jessamyn Duke
Yim won with a low angle Seoul Food.
– Aleister Black defeated Jaxson Ryker by DQ
Johnny Gargano caused the disqualification. Black recovered and hit the Black Mass on Ryker.
– Matt Riddle defeated Kassius Ohno
Great action here, with a roll-up finish to leave more out there for the future. Riddle hit a delayed German suplex during the match, Ohno used a cyclone kick, and they had strike exchanges. These two are great together.
– Lacey Lane defeated Reina Gonzalez
Lane hit a flatliner to win a hard-fought match.
– Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong) defeated Otis Dozovic, Tucker Knight, Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan
There was comedy early with Heavy Machinery having their way with Undisputed. An airplane spin with jump rope action was a sight to see.
Undisputed scored the win and continued their beatdown before being run off so the good guys could celebrate with the crowd to close the show.
Note: This article contains spoilers from tonight’s NXT tapings.
The participants for this year’s WarGames were announced at tonight’s NXT tapings at Full Sail University.
This year’s match will be a 4 vs 4 bout. It will pit the team of Ricochet, Pete Dunne and the War Raiders against the Undisputed Era: Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong. The Undisputed Era have attacked their opponents for weeks now, including interfering during a match between Pete Dunne and Ricochet that was for both the North American and United Kingdom titles.
The match announcement came during the tapings when the Undisputed Era were cutting a promo backstage. The War Raiders interrupted and attacked, destroying the set. It ended up spilling into the back lot of Full Sail where both Ricochet and Pete Dunne eventually joined in. Regal then made the announcement.
Later during the tapings, a match was made to determine who will have the advantage inside WarGames. After a ton of interference between both teams, Kyle O’Reilly defeated Hanson after a belt shot to score the advantage for the Undisputed Era.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames will take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on November 17, the day before Survivor Series.
Babatunde ran wild and slammed Jaoude for the win.
– Matt Riddle defeated Luke Menzies
Menzies tried to slow the pace with holds and an abdominal stretch, Riddle was able to line up a knee strike to put him down.
– EC3 defeated Mansoor
EC3 got the victory after hitting the One Percenter.
– Mia Yim & Io Shirai defeated Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir by DQ
Baszler was originally set to face Yim one-on-one but wasn’t medically cleared after being cut last night in Ocala. She said her girls were ready though, and they surrounded the ring and jumped Yim before Shirai made the save and ran wild.
Yim and Shirai had the advantage until Baszler caused the disqualification. After the match, Yim challenged the Horsewomen for a trios match at the next Largo show.
– Heavy Machinery & Keith Lee defeated Kona Reeves & The Mighty
They did a lot of taunting and comedy stalling early. The crowd loved Heavy Machinery and Lee throughout. Otis Dozovic hit the caterpillar and Lee helped Tucker Knight set up the Trash Compactor for the finish.
Following the match, Lee even did the caterpillar as the crowd celebrated.
– Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight) defeated The Forgotten Sons (Jaxson Ryker & Wesley Blake)
Dozovic pinned Ryker after Heavy Machinery hit a double-team powerslam.
– Dakota Kai defeated Aliyah
Kai won after three consecutive running kicks in the corner.
– Tyler Breeze defeated Dan Matha
Breeze hit the Beauty Shot to win. Matha cut a heel promo before the match started and had a fair amount of heat. Breeze was extremely popular with the crowd.
– Marcel Barthel came out for an interview but never actually spoke. He was able to get the crowd to boo him solely through his mannerisms. Lars Sullivan eventually interrupted and threw him out of the ring.
– Johnny Gargano defeated Lars Sullivan by DQ
The disqualification came when Sullivan shoved the referee. Sullivan attacked Gargano after the match, but Gargano was able to eventually fight back and came out on top. He received a massive ovation from the fans.
Baszler bailed on Borne at the end of the match, leading to Cross getting the pin on Borne after hitting her Purge swinging neckbreaker.
– NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defeated Dominik Dijakovic to retain his title
Ciampa won a fantastic match by hitting a draping DDT. The crowd didn’t know who Dijakovic was at the start, but they loved him by the end.
– Ricochet & War Raiders (Hanson & Rowe) defeated Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong)
Ricochet pinned O’Reilly after hitting the Vertigo driver. A highlight of the match was Ricochet delivering a running flip dive from the venue’s concert stage onto all of the other wrestlers.
WWE has announced one of the matches that will be taking place at tonight’s set of NXT television tapings.
During last night’s episode of NXT, it was revealed that Tag Team Champions Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong will be taking on Ricochet & Pete Dunne in what appears to be a non-title match at the tapings. The match will air on NXT TV next Wednesday.
The tag match was set up in an angle where O’Reilly and Strong interrupted Ricochet during a post-TakeOver: Brooklyn interview. Dunne came to Ricochet’s defense and asked if they had a problem, but he told Ricochet that he isn’t his friend and just doesn’t like the Undisputed Era. Dunne said he wants Ricochet’s NXT North American Championship.
Ricochet won the North American title from Undisputed Era member Adam Cole in Brooklyn. Dunne defended his United Kingdom Championship against Zack Gibson on the pre-show tapings.
Tonight’s tapings at Full Sail University will feature the fallout from TakeOver: Brooklyn.
Ciampa downed Aleister Black in a match that will air on the July 25 edition of NXT. The finish had the referee, Drake Wuertz, take a bump. Johnny Gargano ran in and attacked both Ciampa and Black. Ciampa gained the advantage regardless and was able to pin Black to win the championship. WWE later confirmed the news on their website.
In recent weeks, Ciampa had challenged Black to a title match after defeating Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: Chicago last month. On last week’s edition of NXT, Gargano met with Black backstage and told him that Ciampa can’t become NXT champion. When Gargano left, Ciampa jumped Black from behind, laying him out with a draping DDT on the concrete floor.
Black held the title for 102 days, defeating Andrade Cien Almas back at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans on April 7.
The referee put up the “X” after the finish due to Jason (Cheng Yuxiang) suffering an injury. A doctor and trainer rushed out. After three or four minutes, he sat up and crawled to the side of the ring. He was able to go through the ropes and walk away.
It looked like he slipped through Blake’s arms when Blake caught him as he was going for a crossbody and Blake was turning it into a move. Scary situation for everyone in attendance.
– The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) defeated Babatunde Aiyegbusi & The Street Profits
Undisputed Era won in an entertaining match.
Tonight’s estimated attendance in Tampa was 450 people:
– Nick Miller defeated Wesley Blake and Montez Ford for the right for his team to challenge Undisputed Era in the main event
Ford was the star of the match. He had it won with a frog splash, but Miller stole the pin.
LeRae took the hot tag and won it with a lionsault.
– Danny Burch defeated Tian Bing
Burch used a crossface for the submission.
– Marcel Barthel defeated Dan Matha
Barthel hit a flying European uppercut to win.
– EC3 defeated Kona Reeves
The crowd in Tampa loved EC3, who won with his One Percenter TKO.
– Velveteen Dream defeated Brennan Williams
Dream used his DDT to score the victory.
– NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler defeated Nikki Cross to retain her title
Baszler hit a knee strike to win a hard-fought match. The fans showed their appreciation for Cross with an ovation after this was over.
– NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) defeated The Mighty (Shane Thorne & Nick Miller) to retain their titles
They had a hard-hitting, well-paced match that got plenty of time. Strong got the hot tag late and cleaned up. After O’Reilly had recovered, they hit a double-team running kick and leg sweep combo to retain.
With them returning home from WWE’s ongoing European tour, The Revival made a surprise appearance at last night’s NXT house show in Oklahoma City.
Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, who are two-time NXT Tag Team Champions, interrupted the current title holders when The Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong called out the locker room and claimed to be the top guys in WWE. Dawson & Wilder then unsuccessfully challenged for O’Reilly & Strong’s titles.
WWE uploaded a brief video of them answering O’Reilly & Strong’s challenge:
The Revival were called up to the main roster in 2017 and debuted on the Raw after WrestleMania, but both Dawson and Wilder dealt with injury issues last year that set them back. They returned to Raw last December when Dawson came back from a ruptured bicep.
This weekend’s NXT road tour will continue in Dallas, Texas tonight, with shows in San Antonio and Houston taking place over the next couple of days.
A six-man tag match is set for the first of WWE’s two United Kingdom Championship tournament shows at Royal Albert Hall in June.
WWE revealed today that British Strong Style (Pete Dunne, Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) will be teaming together to face the Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong) on night one. Strong turned against Dunne at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, joining Undisputed Era and allowing the group to retain their Tag Team titles.
After TakeOver, Bate & Seven lost a tag title match to Strong & O’Reilly at WrestleMania Axxess and were being attacked by Undisputed Era until Dunne made the save.
The first night in London will also feature a tournament to decide who will be challenging for Dunne’s WWE United Kingdom Championship on the second show. In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that it is believed to be an eight-man tournament with WWE’s UK-contracted wrestlers. The NXT Women’s, North American, and Tag Team titles will be defended on night two as well.
The UK Championship tournament shows will be taking place on June 18th and 19th, which fall on a Monday and Tuesday and come just days after NXT TakeOver: Chicago.
A knee injury suffered by Bobby Fish last week and how the situation was handled at Wednesday’s set of NXT TV tapings is raising some interesting storyline questions.
Note that the following includes spoilers for the next few weeks of TV and the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Fish will be undergoing surgery on his knee in Birmingham, AL, this week after injuring it last weekend at a house show. What type of injury it was, the severity, and his expected time out was not specified.
At the Wednesday tapings, Roderick Strong and WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne replaced Tyler Bate and Trent Seven in the first round of the tournament and eventually advanced to the finals against the Authors of Pain. After Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly ran in and caused a double DQ in the finals, GM William Regal came out and announced that at TakeOver New Orleans, it would be the AOP vs. Strong/Dunne vs. the Undisputed Era for both the NXT tag titles and the Dusty Classic trophy.
Regal didn’t say that Fish/O’Reilly were stripped of the belts, but that could be something added in post-production. If they are not stripped, that would mean that Cole and O’Reilly would be defending the titles, essentially invoking the “Freebirds rule”. That would also be assuming that Fish’s injury will keep him out for a month or more as TakeOver is on April 7th and he was not on-screen at the tapings.
That would also mean that Cole would be working twice on the show as he will be part of the ladder match to determine the new North American champion.
Last night’s estimated attendance in Fort Pierce was 400 people.
– Raul Mendoza defeated Adrian Jaoude
– Dan Matha defeated Jason
– Shayna Baszler defeated Aliyah
– Kassius Ohno defeated Fabian Aichner
– Johnny Gargano defeated Riddick Moss
– No Way Jose defeated Chad Lail
– NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Sage Beckett
– NXT Tag Team Champions Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) defeated The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford)
The Street Profits earned this tag title shot when they won a fatal four-way number one contender’s elimination match against Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler, Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss, and Heavy Machinery in Winter Haven the previous night.
The Big News: After Adam Cole laid out Aleister Black, William Regal booked them in an extreme rules match at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia.
The Medium News: Before that, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly retained the NXT Tag Team titles by defeating their replacement opponents, Roderick Strong & Aleister Black.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Shayna Baszler stomped the elbow and forearm of Dakota Kai to win her NXT debut.
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The Undisputed Era started the show with a pre-taped promo welcoming us to 2018. Kyle O’Reilly said they will take out SAnitY tonight, while Adam Cole said that he will take out anyone who stands in the way of him becoming the NXT Champion.
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WCW Saturday Night has broken out as we have invaded Center Stage in Atlanta for the next few weeks!
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Shayna Baszler defeated Dakota Kai via referee stoppage
We saw video of Baszler bullying people at the Performance Center last week. One of the women trainees was being taught how to do a rear naked choke, so Baszler volunteered to put it on her but didn’t let go after she tapped. Kai found this appalling and made the challenge for this match.
The crowd, which popped for Kai, didn’t think she stood a chance, chanting “Shayna’s gonna kill you.” Baszler used a double wrist lock and wrenched the hand and fingers of Kai. She stomped Kai’s forearm and elbow, which caused the referee to stop the match.
After the match, Baszler slapped the rear naked choke on Kai, which the referee could not break up. Finally, Ember Moon ran in and Baszler let go. Moon challenged Baszler, but she laughed and walked away.
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Akam and Rezar cut their own promo, only partly in English, saying they are going to beat both SAnitY and Undisputed Era. Paul Ellering finished by saying they will win the Tag Team titles.
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Christy St. Cloud attempted to interview Baszler, but they were interrupted by Mr. William Regal. Regal said that he sees through whatever games she is playing. Baszler just walked away, completely disrespecting the GM.
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Kassius Ohno defeated Raul Mendoza
Mendoza looked good here, but Ohno may not have been the best opponent to showcase his offense as he went over slowly a few times for his smaller, quicker foe. Ohno used a reverse Gory Special, but Mendoza sat up and used a victory roll for a two count.
Ohno ended up picking up the win with a high tension elbow strike.
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Zelina Vega told the press that Andrade “Cien” Almas would defeat Johnny Gargano at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia. Vega said Gargano is not a fighter, but an opportunist. Three people beat the crap out of each other and Gargano picked up a win over the right guy at the right time.
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St. Cloud interviewed Gargano about his upcoming title match. Gargano said a lot of people didn’t think he had a chance. Before he could continue, he was interrupted by Velveteen Dream. Dream demanded Gargano thank him, since Dream’s injury let Gargano into the tournament. Dream said Gargano doesn’t deserve his spot — Dream does — and told him to remember that.
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Lars Sullivan destroyed Lio Rush
Rush’s best offense was a good defense, and that defense was running away and not getting hit. That was a great idea for about 30 seconds. 31 seconds into the match, Sullivan caught him and it was over. Sullivan took his head off with a clothesline and then pinned him with the Freak Accident.
Sullivan cut a post-match promo saying all his opponents have fallen by his hands. He met a force he’s never faced before two weeks ago, but now he wants to destroy this force. He finished by saying he’s talking about Killian Dain. That should be a heck of a match.
Sullivan sent a message to Dain by giving Rush a Freak Accident from the middle rope.
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We were magically whisked away to the backstage area and were shown that Undisputed Era had laid out all three members of SAnitY.
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Next week: The Authors of Pain face The Street Profits.
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Undisputed Era came out, theoretically for the main event, as Fish & O’Reilly were scheduled to defend against SAnitY, but the trio seemed to have put a stop to that.
They mockingly searched the crowd for SAnitY, asking if maybe they forgot. Cole began bragging that they “kicked the chaos” out of SAnitY when Nikki Cross exploded from backstage. They needed two referees to drag her away.
Regal finally came out to confront the Tag Team Champions. He said they will be defending the belts tonight, which brought out Roderick Strong and Aleister Black! They stormed the ring and we had a fight.
Black and Strong cleared the ring and the referee rang the bell, so it was on.
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NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Roderick Strong & Aleister Black to retain their titles
Black and Strong ran wild on both men for several minutes until Fish dropkicked Black on the ring apron, which is the hardest part of the ring, to take the advantage. Undisputed Era chopped down Black and worked on his leg.
Mauro Ranallo mentioned that when Fish and O’Reilly debuted Black defeated them both in singles matches. Strong finally got the hot tag and made his foes wish they were wrestling SAnitY instead. Black recovered long enough to boot Fish into the ring steps.
Cole ran in from out of nowhere to punch Black, so Black stalked Cole into the stands. With Black far away from the ring, O’Reilly and Fish laid out Strong with Total Elimination, picking up the win.
Black ran back to the ring and went on the attack, but Cole wasn’t far behind. The tag champs held Black as Cole delivered elbow strike after elbow strike, and Black was then the victim of Total Elimination. O’Reilly put a chair in the ring and Cole gave Black an AA onto the chair.
Undisputed Era celebrated up the ramp until Regal came out and informed Cole that his match with Aleister Black at TakeOver: Philadelphia would be an extreme rules match.
That does it for the first NXT of 2018. What will happen next week? Until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
Reports submitted by readers Rick Cobos and Travis Banks
– Mark Andrews & Wolfgang defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
Andrews received some babyface sympathy from the crowd. Wolfgang got a good hot tag and showed some fire, very quickly leading to a Shooting Star Press by Andrews for the finish.
– Kairi Sane defeated Billie Kay
Sane won by submission.
– Kassius Ohno defeated Lars Sullivan by DQ
Sullivan got disqualified for shoving the referee down. They were having a really good match prior to that.
– The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) defeated SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain)
This was a good trios match, briefly getting “This is awesome” chants near the end. Cole got busted open on his scalp or forehead and was covered in blood. He got sent to the back for about five minutes before coming back.
Fish got the pin while grabbing Wolfe’s tights to win it for Undisputed Era.
– Velveteen Dream defeated Tyler Bate
Velveteen Dream attacked Bate and Trent Seven afterwards. He attempted to use a chair on Bate, but Aleister Black ran in for the save.
– Sonya Deville defeated Ruby Riot
This was psychologically sound despite being fairly dull. Riot spent most of the match in submissions until eventually tapping out.
– NXT Champion Drew McIntyre & Johnny Gargano defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas (w/ Zelina Vega) & WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne
This was a good match, though there was plenty of stalling. McIntyre pinned Almas after hitting the Claymore Kick.
McIntyre mentioned that Shawn Michaels will be the referee for his match against Cole at NXT’s house show in San Antonio on Friday. He and Gargano posed for photos with fans afterwards.
