It’s Summerslam Eve, and that means NXT gets to set the bar for the weekend.
Who will steal the show tonight? Will the two giant egos of EC3 and Velveteen Dream survive their match? What spectacular feats of superhuman flight will Ricochet pull out of his bag of tricks to win the North American Title from Adam Cole (Bay Bay!)? Can Mustache Mountain recapture the Tag Titles from Undisputed Era? Does the pirate princess Kairi Sane have the aggressiveness to take down Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler? Last but certainly not least, who will be the LAST MAN STANDING when Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa face off one more time with the NXT title at stake???
NXT Tag Team Titles
Undisputed Era(c): Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong vs Mustache Mountain: Trent Sevin and Tyler Bate
We’re kicking things off with a rematch between 2 time tag champs the Undisputed Era and the men who briefly took those titles from them earlier this summer Mustache Mountain. The opening melee ends with the boys with the facial hair in control of the match. However “messiah of the backbreaker” Strong used one to turn the tides in favor of the Era. UE tries to isolate Sevin in their corner but he manages to tag in Bate for some impressive feats of strength against both opponents.
The Era now have Tyler Bate isolated and are wearing him down with a series of submission maneuvers. He eventually evades them just long enough to hot tag his mentor into the match. A series of power moves are enough to earn Sevin a 2 count, but now the champs have regained control yet again. Strong has Sevin locked into a submission and O’Reilly locks one on Bate simultaneously, but Tyelr uses his impressive strength to break up both holds.
Bate looks like he may be closing in on a victory when O’Reilly bashes his leg into the ring post. Following up with a submission on the now injured leg they do everything they can to keep Sevin out of the ring. In a call back to their previous match Trent briefly considers throwing in the towel, but throws it away instead. Somehow, someway Bate fights his way to his partner. After some fast back and forth action between all four men, a double team move by the Era is enough to score them the victory.
Winners and still NXT Tag Team Champions: Undisputed Era
This was a fantastic way to start the night. These four men have excellent chemistry in the ring and all of their matches this summer have been fun to watch. In the end, keeping the titles on the Era was the right way to go though. they have War Raiders waiting in the wings to challenge them next while Mustache Mountain takes their momentum home to the UK where they’ll be cornerstones of the NXTUK division.
Post Match: War raiders didn’t wait in the wings long! They attacked and laid out Strong and O’Reilly in the middle of the ring, declaring their intentions to take the gold sooner rather than later.
Velveteen Dream vs EC3
Velveteen dream comes to the ring first wearing a plastic crown on his head and the words “call me up Vince” written across the butt of his tights. Take that in for a moment…
As the two giant egos face off in the ring the crowd seems to be firmly in favor of Dream tonight. EC3 gets the match under way by showing off his strength advantage. At one point Dream attempts to escape over the ropes and gets crotched upon them instead. EC3 maintains a firm control on things for the most part until both men find themselves outside of the ring. Dream is able to slip in a twisting DDT on the base of the ramp to finally gain some control.
Velveteen Dream follows up by tossing EC3 into the ringpost and then throwing him back in the ring for a 2 count. Dream maintains a methodical offense to try and wear down his opponent. Now back outside of the ring he repeatedly slams EC3’s head against the announce table, but finishing that sequence by throwing water in EC3’s face only serves to anger him. When they return to the ring EC3 is fired up to get back in this fight and uses his power to earn a near fall. A power bomb followed by a sit out power bomb earns him another nearfall, but Dream is resilient.
Both men now perched atop the corner and EC3 hits a superplex that takes a lot out of both of them. This gives Dream an opening to get his own nearfall off of a Dream Valley Driver. With a hole in Dream’s tights and fresh blood on EC3’s face, Velveteen hits a second Dream Valley Driver on the ring apron then proceeds to climb the ropes. Dream takes flight with his elbow drop and it’s enough to earn him the victory.
Winner: Velveteen Dream
A solid back and forth match between 2 charismatic rising stars. In some ways it’s a little surprising to see Dream get the victory here, but if they want to capitalize on his growing popularity he needed to get a big win eventually. EC3 will bounce back quickly from the loss without it hurting him much.
Post Match: NXT’s latest big indy signing Matt Riddle was shown in the audience.
NXT North American Title
Adam Cole (Bay Bay!)(c) vs Ricochet
They start the match with some fairly even back and forth before resetting when Cole says to his opponent “you’re not special, Ricochet.” After a bit more back and forth Ricochet sends Cole out of the ring with a dropkick and then does his back hand spring off the rope spot and stares down the champion.
Back in the ring, Cole has taken over control of the match and continues to verbally taunt his opponent. Another dropkick sends Cole outside again and this time Ricochet takes flight and takes out the champ. Back inside the ring Ricochet is now firmly in control with a series of creative offensive maneuvers leading to a nearfall. Ricochet attempts a hand spring elbow but instead gets caught with a wicked back stabber by Cole that earns him a 2 count.
Cole tries for a super kick but it gets caught. Ricochet tries for a flip and gets caught with another super kick while still upside down! Cole quickly hits another big move then goes for the pin, but somehow Ricochet manages to kick out. Both men back on their feet and trading hard blows as the crowd goes nuts.
Cole pulls down his knee pad to go for a strike, but Ricochet evades and hits a reverse hurricanrana. He follows this by dragging himself atop the ropes, but Cole rolls out the way before he can strike. After another hurricanrana on the outside, this time Ricochet hits the shooting star press and picks up the victory.
Winner and new NXT North American Champion: Ricochet
Perhaps not as flashy as we might have expected from a match involving Ricochet, but still an impressively hard fought battle between 2 of the best in ring performers currently on the WWE payroll. Surely a rematch is coming, but it’ll be interesting to see where both men go beyond that. Does one of them move up to the main title scene?
Post Match: WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry and current superstar Kevin Owens are shown in the audience as we set up for the Women’s Title match.
NXT Women’s Title
Shayna Baszler(c) vs Kairi Sane
As we prepare to begin the 2nd Mae Young Classic tournament we have a rematch from the final of the 1st MYC, this time for the NXT Women’s Championship. Sane won the MYC, but hasn’t been able to beat the Queen of Spades since. Will tonight be the night?
Sane repeatedly trying to go for an early finish and maintaining a constant state of attack in order to prevent Baszler from gaining control. Eventually though, Shayna takes Sane’s legs out from under her and begins her usual, methodical approach to breaking down an opponent. Firmly in control and having seriously injured Kairi’s leg, Shayna takes a moment to mock the pirate princesses march.
Somehow Sane manages to fire herself up for another flurry of offense, but the injured leg continues to give her issues. A slower rthan usual climb up the ropes gives Baszler the opening she needs to get back on the attack. Sane showing a lot of fire, but the champ is doing what she does best until Sane hits a spear. She follows with a 2nd rope elbow and rather than go for the cover she climbs up top. Baszler rolls out of the ring so Kairi dives onto her on the outside. She climbs once and and this time hits her Insane Elbow, but Shayna kicks out! Sane tries locking in her submission, but Baszler reverses it into a Kirifuda clutch. Sane almost passes out but somehow reaches the ropes to get the break.
Now with Shayna trying to wear down the injured leg again, it’s Kairi’s turn to reverse into her submission hold, and it’s the champs turn for a rope break. Sane hits an Alabama Slam to set up for a 3rd Insane Elbow. Instead she runs into Baszler’s feet on the way down. The champ goes for the Kirifuda again but somehow Kairi flips over and turns it into a pin!
Winner and new NXT Women’s Champion: Kairi Sane
Wow! Great match! I’m surprised they took the title off of Baszler, but she was starting to run out of worthy challengers. With the long anticipated Horsewomen vs Horsewomen showdown rumored to be in the mix for Survivor Series this year, could Shayna be getting called up join Ronda on the main roster? Or was this just a means of freshening up the rivalries here in NXT? With a whole lot of new talent incoming from the MYC the possibilities are exciting.
Post Match: We’re reminded that NXTUK is coming soon! As a big fan of the UK wrestling style, I can’t wait!
NXT Title: Last Man Standing Match:
Tommaso Ciampa(c) vs Johnny Gargano
Johnny Wrestling follows up his Captain America gear at the last takeover with Venom inspired gear this month to show his fall from pure hero to unstable anti-hero. Will tonight be the night that he finally defeats his demons and fulfills his destiny?
Johnny doesn’t even allow the ring introductions to happen before starting his attack on his former best friend. Their throwing each other around outside the ring, but there’s no count outs because this is a Last man Standing match. Gargano peels some of the padding from the floor, but that only serves to give Ciampa an opening to take over.
The action has evicted both the American and Spanish announce teams from their tables with the Spanish table getting the worst of it in the end. The fight is now back inside the ring with the champion in control and introducing a steel chair to the proceedings. Gargano is the one who ends up using the chair though.
Ciampa locks in a sleeper hold that keeps Gargano down for a 5 count, but it takes 10 to win the match. he locks in the sleeper again, but this time Johnny manages to fight out of it and lawn dart his foe into the steel chair in the corner. Johnny now setting up tables on the unprotected area of floor that he uncovered earlier. He’s unable to get Ciampa over the rope though and instead suffers a trio of suplexes followed by multiple chair shots to the back. Keeping up the trilogy theme, the champ now hits 3 Project Ciampa back stabbers in a row before sitting down to watch the count. It still wasn’t enough to keep Johnny Wrestling down for the full 10.
Both men back on their feet and trading punches. Then we escalate into a flurry of quick offense from both men. On the outside Ciampa hits his Fairy Tale Ending atop the steel ring steps, but Gargano just barely beats the count. Ciampa now removing the padding inside the ring similar to how he did at the last Takeover, but he’s met with a blast from a fire extinguisher. This month it’s Gargano hit drops Ciampa onto the exposed ring boards, but we aren’t done yet.
They’re fighting around the announce tables again. Gargano inadvertently hits a member of the crew with a superkick. Ciampa slams Johnny’s face into a television monitor and then tries burying him under a pile of rubble. it’s still not enough to keep Gargano down for 10. Hand cuffs are introduced in another call back to their previous battle, but neither man is able to fully capitalize on using them for an advantage. They now teeter and exchange control on the apron above the previously set up tables. A super kick finally send Tommaso crashing through the 2 tables onto the concrete floor below, but he uses a broken crutch to reach his feet at 9!
Ciampa uses the crutch to slowly back himself up the ramp with Gargano in pursuit. he tosses the champion into the LED wall, locks in the Gargano Escape, and then hand cuffs Ciampa to the set before unleashing kicks on his foe. Ciampa is begging for mercy. Johnny briefly considers but then delivers a hard knee that sends him tumbling over some equipment to the floor. With both men being counted down, it’s Ciampa who rolls himself off of the stage in order to land on his feet on the floor.
Winner and still NXT Champion: Tommaso Ciampa
Another incredibly brutal match as part of the best rivalry we’ve seen in years, but where do they go from here????
Post Match: the announcers are claiming that Gargano dislocated his knee. Tommaso Ciampa stands victorious on the stage with his title while Johnny Wrestling limps to the back with assistance from crew members.
