NXT Live Coverage And Results – February 27, 2019

NXT
Date: February 27, 2019
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, Percy Watson

It’s tournament time as the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic starts up next week. The question becomes what happens with everyone involved here, as there is often a case of big names teaming up to compete alongside the regular teams. It’s hard to make a tag team tournament interesting but NXT has done it before. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Here’s Johnny Gargano for a chat after losing his North American Title last week. He’s had an up and down year so far as he won the North American Title, became a member of the Raw and Smackdown rosters, and then lost the title to Velveteen Dream. He was Johnny Champion but then he was Johnny Failure again. Now he’s without a title again, so he needs to win another championship. He’s come to realize that the only reason he’s had any success around here….and here’s Tommaso Ciampa to cut him off.

Fans: “HE’S A CHAMPION!” Ciampa says the last few days have shown that Gargano is at his best when the two of them are together. They won on Raw and Smackdown but Gargano tried to defend his title alone last week and lost. This is destiny for the two of them because Gargano can get another title.

Last week William Regal announced the return of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, which is where it all started for the two of them. Takeover: New York can be their moment and it can end the same way Takeover: Phoenix did: the two of them together as champions. Johnny shakes his hand and DIY is back.

Ricochet has been having fun on Raw and Smackdown but there are still issues that he has to deal with down here. The Undisputed Era will never attack you one on one but he has Aleister Black by his side now. They want in on the Dusty Classic.

DIY runs into Candice LeRae, who doesn’t want to see this again. Johnny says trust him, but she’s not convinced.

Vanessa Borne/Aliyah vs. Taynara Conti/Xia Li

Borne elbows Conti in the face so it’s some Portuguese yelling and a kick to Borne’s face. A missed kick lets Conti grab a legbar over the rope but Aliyah’s interference lets Borne take over in the corner. Something like a reverse Bronco Buster has Conti in trouble and a double northern lights suplex gets two. Conti kicks Aliyah away though and it’s off to Li for the hard kicks to the face. Since Aliyah isn’t very good it’s back to Borne, who puts Li near her knee for a running neckbreaker into a backbreaker for the pin at 4:48.

Result: Vanessa Borne/Aliyah b. Taynara Conti/Xia Li – Neckbreaker into a backbreaker to Li (8:48)

Velveteen Dream arrives (sans belt) but gets cut off by the Undisputed Era. Adam Cole does the talking but Dream wants to know how big his mouth would be when his backup was gone.

Io Shirai and Bianca Belair argue over who should be #1 contender.

Dominik Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee

Lee now sings his own entrance music. Dominki’s headlock doesn’t work as Lee shoves him off for a leapfrog, only to have Dijakovic flip out of a hiptoss attempt. Dijakvoic tries a monkey flip but Lee sticks the landing, freaking Dominik out. With the flips not working, Dijakvoic goes with a top rope forearm to the head, sending a growling Lee staggering around the ring.

One heck of a pounce sends Dijakovic flying but he’s right back with a sitout chokeslam for two. Lee is right back up and tosses Dijakovic through the air with ease. The discus big boot knocks Lee to the floor and just because he can, Dijakovic hits an Asai moonsault to take Lee down again. Both of them are down though and it’s a double countout at 6:50.

Result: Dominik Dijakvoic vs. Keith Lee went to a double countout (6:50)

Post match they have to be separated and Dijakovic says he’ll see Lee later.

Here are the brackets for the Dusty Classic:

Moustache Mountain
Street Profits

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch
Forgotten Sons

DIY
Undisputed Era

Ricochet/Aleister Black
Fabian Aichner/Marcel Barthel

In two weeks: Shirai vs. Belair for the title shot in New York.

Here are Sasha Banks and Bayley for a big surprise return. Sasha says it’s good to be back and talks about how their journey to the Women’s Tag Team Titles started right here in NXT. The last time they were together in NXT was the Iron Man match, which freaks out Izzy (in the front row) all over again. Bayley: “It’s ok, she’s different now!” They want these titles to be the most sought after in all of WWE. They’ll be back to defend the titles here so the NXT women need to step up.

Mia Yim vs. Shayna Baszler

Non-title and Shayna takes Yim down without too much trouble. A missed right hand hits the mat though and Baszler gets sent outside for a suicide dive. Yim stays on the hand by stomping it onto the steps, only to miss a kick into the steps to bang up the knee. Baszler stomps on the leg, ignoring Mia’s demands of “DON’T YOU DO IT!”. The Kirifuda Clutch is blocked so Baszler grabs the leg again to keep Mia down.

That’s broken up but Mia can’t follow up because of the leg. Mia demands that Shayna knee her in the head but switches to a rollup for two instead. A kick to the head (with the bad leg) stuns Shayna for a very delayed two and it’s Shayna right back with a gutwrench faceplant for two of her own. Yim’s sitout powerbomb gets the same but Baszler pulls her into the Kirifuda Clutch. With Shayna trapping the arm to protect her own hand, Mia taps at 8:03.

Result: Shayna Baszler b. Mia Yim – Kirifuda Clutch (8:03)

 

Results
Aliyah/Vanessa Borne b. Taynara Conti/Xia Li – Neckbreaker into a backbreaker to Li
Dominik Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee went to a double countout
Shayna Baszler b. Mia Yim – Kirifuda Clutch

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28 wrestling books. His latest book is the the Complete 2000 Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Part 1.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!