It’s time to start things up again. Last Friday, NXT’s Takeover: New York seemed to steal the show, offering five excellent matches that were as well received as anything else on the show. With that out of the way, it’s time to get back to normal, which is one of the places NXT manages to shine every week. That means another night back at Full Sail University to set things up.
NXT was back in Florida to tape television this week, filming an undetermined amount of episodes as there were no announcements about when one episode ended and the other began. The first episode will begin airing next week and will deal with fallout from Friday’s Takeover event. Here are the complete results from tonight’s tapings, courtesy of Wrestlinginc.com:
* We start with a video package recapping the “Takeover: New York” event. We have a new intro video for the show using Slipknot’s “All Out Life” for the theme song.
* NXT North American Champion The Velveteen Dream retained over Buddy Murphy. Good match. Crowd is split on this one, but maybe just a bit more towards Velveteen. Dream cuts off Murphy on a dive and poses in front of him, but Murphy grabs his arms and hits the kamigoye for a 2. Murphy with a huge flip dive over the top rope to the outside. Velveteen fights back out of the corner and hits a huge superkick. They trade strikes and Dream hits a springboard axe handle then his top rope axe handle. Dream with a code breaker for 2. Murphy with a tornado neck snap on the top rope. They fight on the top, and both end up falling to the outside, but beat the 10 count. Murphy with a DDT for a nearfall. Murphy hits a sunset flip, but Dream counters into the DVD for 2. Dream goes for up top, but Murphy hits the Cheeky Nandos kick and a sitout powerbomb for 2. Murphy with a flying knee off the apron. Murphy can’t get Dream in for the 10-count so he breaks the count and rolls him in, but Dream hits a Fame-asser as his comes through the ropes, the DVD, and the Purple Rainmaker for the win.
* We’re shown a video of The Undisputed Era arguing immediately after Takeover, before Adam Cole yells at the cameraman to turn the camera off.
* Raul Mendoza defeated Riddick Moss. Riddick is working with his new Riddick Regimen gimmick, basically an over-obsessed bodybuilder. Raul in control early. Riddick catches him doing a springboard crossbody, curls Raul a few times, the tosses him. Riddick with a running charge in the corner, then a gorilla press into a spear for 2. Riddick goes to drink his water bottle, but Raul slaps it out of his hand and runs wild. Raul hits a twisting springboard splash for the win.
* New NXT Champion Johnny Gargano comes out to a huge reaction. Johnny starts to cut a promo, but The Undisputed Era sans Roderick Strong interrupt. Adam Cole says he beat Johnny and says if it were any other match, he’d be champion. Johnny says he did lose the first fall, but then he tapped Adam out in 2 straight falls. Johnny says if BayBay wants to grow a pair, he’ll add more tallies to the scoreboard. Cole makes his way to the ring when Roderick Strong attacks Johnny from behind. Undisputed Era lay Gargano out and leave the ring
* Dominik Dijakovic defeated enhancement talent Aaron (didn’t catch the last name). Dijakovic hits a giant knee to the face at the bell and gets the pin. After the match, Dijakovic cuts a promo about being driven to opportunity and says he wants the NXT North American Title and tells The Velveteen Dream to “Feast Your Eyes”
* NXT North American Champion Shayna Baszler retained over Kairi Sane by DQ. Per the stipulation, Sane will no longer receive a title shot because she lost. Kairi with a hot start hitting a dive to the outside. Shayna takes control and hits a stiff knee in the corner for 2. Kairi ducks a knee and hits a spear. Kairi locks in the Anchor but Shayna gets to the ropes. Kairi with the Insane Elbow to the back, but Shayna catches her up top going for it again. They fight and Kairi hits a double stomp to Shayna in the tree of woe. Kairi goes for a knee off the apron but Shayna moves. Shayna attacks the arm, Kairi gets to the ropes, but rolls out and the ref calls for a doctor for Kairi’s arm. Io Shirai runs down to check on Kairi, but Shayna pulls Kairi back in the ring. While Shayna is standing on Kairi’s arm, Io attacks Shayna for the DQ. Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke attack Io as Shayna stomps on Kairi’s arm. The MMA Horsewomen leave as Kairi and Io are left in the ring. After the match, the crowd gives Kairi a standing ovation. Kairi bows at the top of the ramp and waves to the crowd as she leaves.
* Humberto Carrillo defeated Jaxson Ryker via DQ. Ryker just killed Humberto and beat him all over the ringside area until the ref called for the bell for the DQ. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch make the save post match.
* Kacy Catanzaro and Candice LeRae defeated Aliyah and Vanessa Borne. The heels work over Kacy at the start. Kacy makes the hot tag and Candice runs wild. Candice hits a neckbreaker and a lionsault for the win.
* NXT Tag Team Champions War Raiders defeated The Street Profits in a non-title match. Montez Ford does a huge flip dive onto the Raiders as they make their entrance. They attack Rowe and Montez hits his frogsplash but only gets 2. They set up for the Doomsday Device, but Rowe fights out, and the Raiders take control. Angelo Dawkins gets the tag to Montez, who tries to chop down Hanson. Montez impressively lifts Hanson up and hits a suplex. Montez hits sliced bread using Dawkins as a base for 2. Hanson hits the handspring back elbow, and Rowe kills Dawkins with a knee. Shotgun dropkick to Montez and the Raiders hit the assisted pop-up powerslam for the win.
* Note: They aren’t really doing any show breaks at these tapings, so we’re not sure what episode they are on at this point.
* NXT Champion Johnny Gargano defeated Roderick Strong in a non-title match. Excellent sequence of mat wrestling counters to start. Johnny with the kick from the apron, but Roddy hits a backbreaker on the apron. Roddy dominates, with various hoods and submissions. Roddy with some vicious chops and stomps and gets a 2 count. Johnny fights back, and tosses Roddy from the ring, and reverses a backbreaker into an armdrag and tosses Roddy into the steps. Gargano with the middle rope DDT for 2. Johnny dodges a through the ropes dropkick and connects with a cannonball off the apron. Johnny chops Roddy so hard he spits everywhere, and then does it two more times to the delight of the crowd. Roddy reverses the slingshot DDT into a butterfly backbreaker for 2. Roddy catches Johnny going for the kick and tosses him into the turnbuckle. Johnny reverses a Stronghold attempt into the GargaNo Escape when Adam Cole runs out. The rest of Undisputed Era come out, but Matt Riddle runs out and takes them out. Cole ends up kicking Roddy and Gargano wipes out Cole and hits the DDT for the win. Roddy walks away from Undisputed after the match but they follow him.
* KUSHIDA defeated Kassius Ohno. Awesome entrance for KUSHIDA, coming out from the stage. Ohno works KUSHIDA over for a good bit of the match. KUSHIDA fights back. Ohno with a massive sit-out facebuster for 2. KUSHIDA’s nose is bloodied. KUSHIDA reverses the senton into an armbar but Kassius gets to the ropes. Ohno with a huge boot but KUSHIDA kicks out at one. Fans going nuts. KUSHIDA fights back, Ohno begs for hits. KUSHIDA with a springboard hurricanrana for 2. KUSHIDA with a handspring but Ohno rocks him with an elbow for 2. Ohno with the big boot and goes for the tension elbow, but KUSHIDA hits a straight right. KUSHIDA gets the Hoverboard Lock (Mauro Ranallo called it that on commentary) and gets the win.
* Bianca Belair defeated Mia Yim. Bianca with a splash for 2. Bianca is dominating this match. Mia starts a comeback and hits a shotgun dropkick and a cannonball. Mia goes for a sunset flip but Bianca sits down, but the ref catches her holding the ropes. Mia rolls get up, but Bianca reverses it and wraps her hair around the ropes for leverage to get the pin
* Matt Riddle defeated Adam Cole. Riddle out wrestles Cole to start. Riddle with a side headlock. Riddle with a senton to the back for 2. Triple gutwrench suplexes by Riddle. Cole pulls Riddle off the ropes and takes control. Dueling “Undisputed” and “Let’s Go Bro” chants. Riddle with a series of strikes and a huge suplex. Cole rolls away from the moonsault, but gets caught with a Broton and a big kick for 2. Riddle with a deadlift German for 2. Cole with the ushigoroshi for 2. Riddle with a ripcord knee, but Cole reverses the Bro 2 Sleep into a backstabber for 2. Riddle with an ankle lock, but Cole reverses the Bromission into a roll up for 2. Cole with the fisherman buster over the knee for 2. Riddle reverses the Panama Sunrise and they have a great sequence of reversals. Cole hits the Last Shot but only gets 2. Riddle cuts off the second attempt, hits the Bro 2 Sleep and a huge knee, but Cole rolls out of the ring. Roderick Strong runs down and checks on Cole, and eats a kick for his troubles. Cole catches Riddle with a superkick while the ref is distracted, but Riddle kicks out and locks in the Bromission for the tapout. After the match, Cole and Roddy jawjack while Fish and O’Reilly keep them separated. They end up leaving on opposite sides of the ring with Fish talking down Roddy and Kyle talking down Cole.
This is the kind of thing they’ll be dealing with soon. Check out the new NXT Champion’s celebration:
Opinion: It seems that things are starting back on the right path with the post Takeover shows. The new and returning talent are offering something interesting with the possible split of the Undisputed Era going somewhere. That could see them heading up to the main roster or dominating different parts of the NXT scene instead. Either way, things should be fine as we move forward because NXT rarely gets anything wrong.
Which of these stories looks best? What are you looking forward to in NXT? Let us know in the comments below.