By John Moore, Prowrestling.net Staffer (@liljohnm)
NXT TV
Aired October 17, 2018 on WWE Network
Taped September 20 in Winter Park, Florida at Full Sail University
An ad aired for this week’s “Double Main Event” episode after the signature. The NXT Theme aired…
Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson were on commentary where Mauro reiterated the “double” main event hype. Hanson and Ray Rowe, the War Raiders, made their entrance to start the show and Kayla Braxton announced that the upcoming match was for the NXT Tag Team Championship as she handled the formal ring introductions…
1. “The Undisputed Era” Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong vs. “The War Raiders” Hanson and Ray Rowe for the NXT Tag Team Championship. Rowe and Strong started off in a collar and elbow. Strong used the rope break to gain the upper hand on Rowe. Strong tagged in O’Reilly for the early tandem offense. Rowe took out both opponents with double lariats. Hanson overpowered O’Reilly and Strong with pure force. O’Reilly managed to turn the tide with kicks from the crab position. Hanson took down both opponents with his own double lariat. Rowe took down Strong with a shove. O’Reilly went for a heel hook on Rowe but Rowe kept a heavy base. Rowe body slammed Hanson on O’Reilly. War Raiders did a back body drop on Strong on O’Reilly.
Rowe took down both Era members with forearms. Strong turned the tide with a trip on Rowe on the apron. Mauro said that O’Reilly is a “sports entertainment scientist”. Roderick Strong got a nearfall after a backbreaker on Rowe. O’Reilly treated Rowe like a kicking bag in his corner. O’Reilly beat up Rowe with a Muay Thai combination. O’Reilly then went to the ground and pound with palm strikes. Strong tagged in and mocked the war chant. O’Reilly and Strong teamed up to treat Rowe like a punching bag in their corner. O’Reilly worked on the heel of Rowe. Strong used a leg scissors to trap the leg of Rowe and prevent him from reaching his corner. Strong pounded on Rowe while also in a modified Indian Deathlock. Strong tagged in which almost gave Rowe to get to his corner. O’Reilly caught up to Rowe but Rowe hit him with a STO.
Hanson tagged in for the hot sequence. Hanson hit O’Reilly with a seated senton while hitting Strong with a lariat after a cartwheel. Hanson hit Strong with a Bronco Buster for a nearfall. Rowe tagged in and hit O’Reilly with a shotgun dropkick. Hanson speared Rowe into O’Reilly. Rowe hit Strong with a sitout power bomb for a nearfall. War Raiders hit Strong with a Hart Attack. Adam Cole ran in but were dispatched by Hanson. Strong caught Hanson with a knee while O’Reilly caught Rowe with a knee. Strong hit Rowe with an Angle Slam for a nearfall. Madness ensued. O’Reilly used an Iminari Roll on Rowe. Hanson power bombed Strong on O’Reilly to break the hold.
War Raiders hit O’Reilly with a double team power slam. They took down Strong with a suicide dive. War Raiders hit Kyle O’Reilly with Fall Out for the visual pinfall. Nigel said “we have new champions”. Bobby Fish returned to action and hit War Raiders with a steel chair.
The War Raiders defeated The Undisputed Era via DQ in 12:46.
The whole Undisputed Era overpowered War Raiders. Strong and O’Reilly nailed Rowe with Total Elimination to end the segment…
John’s Thoughts: NXT is really good at doing these “preview” Tag Team matches in their tag team division. The finish was screwy but it was made up for by the return of Bobby Fish from injury. This will probably set up something for Undisputed Era in a War Games match…
Nikki Cross was shown acting crazy in a secluded area while saying “I Know”…
Back at Full Sail, Adam Cole’s Bae Bae and Jason Powell’s BFF Britt Baker made her entrance for the weekly mid-show enhancement match. Her opponent is Shayna Baszler…
2. Shayna Baszler vs. Britt Baker. Baszler immediately went right at the left arm of Baker. Baszler went into a joint manipulation sequence on the arm of Baker. Baszler then used a bow and arrow move to get into an armbar. Baszler nailed Baker with her signature elbow stomp. Nigel said this looked like a horror movie. Referee Jessika Carr wouldn’t allow Baszler to continue to do damage as she called for the bell.
Shayna Baszler defeated Britt Baker via ref stoppage in 1:20
Kayla Braxton formally announced the ref stoppage. Britt Baker could be heard crying. The medic staff came out to check on Baker. Baszler got a cheap shot in with a scissor knee before she left…
A Lorcan and Burch vignette aired for their return after the break…[c]
John’s Thoughts: After several weeks of solid UFC style vignettes, NXT came back with a solid tune up match for Baszler in preparation for her match at Evolution. This feud hasn’t been too unique but it’s been solid in it’s simple build. Baker did a good job getting beat up but it will be cool to see her signed down the road because she is really good in longer matches.
William Regal said he was going to ask Nikki Cross to come clean about what she knows after her match…
The Chinese team of Tian Bing and Rocky (no last name) made their entrance. Nigel McGuinness noted that Bing has trained under Antonio Inoki…
3. Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs. Tian Bing and Rocky. Lorcan wore blue trunks with an American Flag on it while Burch wore red tights with a UK Flag. Bing and Rocky used slow restholds on Lorcan to start the match. Lorcan took down Rocky with a shortarm lariat. Burch came in and took down Rocky with a missile dropkick and took down Bing wiht a headbutt. Lorcan and Burch hit Rocky with the Implant DDT to give Lorcan the pinfall win.
Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch defeated Tian Bing and Rocky in 2:26.
Bianca Belair was shown getting psyched up backstage… [c]
Percy Watson went into a plug for the Breast Cancer charity that they support…
Mauro Ranallo said he was making a “NXT Championship announcement” next week for NXT Takeover War Games in Los Angeles…
The hair whip sound effect played which means it was time for Bianca Belair’s match…
4. Bianca Belair vs. Nikki Cross. Cross started off the match with a cross body and some ground and pound. The brawl spilled outside. Cross slammed Belair hard into the steel steps. Nikki Cross went for another crossbody but Belair caught and backtossed Cross. Belair went into a chinlock on Cross. Cross escaped and caught Belair with a huracanrana. Belair came back with a dropkick. Nigel went into Belair’s heritage where her father was the first black electrician in North Carolina while her grandfather was a bio chemist. Belair caught Cross with a standing Moonsault. Cross reversed a Glam Slam into a really close nearfall. Belair went high risk which allowed Cross to stomp a mudhole in her after the Tree of Woe.
Cross hit Belair with a Stinger Splash and bulldog. Cross then hit Belair with a high crossbody for a nearfall. Belair started cowering in fear. Belair reversed Cross’s pursuit and caught Cross with a forearm. Cross and Belair were covered in Belair’s glitter as Nigel noted. Belair caught Cross with a spear for a close nearfall. Belair tried several more times to put all her weight into pins to no avail. Belair then deadlift power bombed Cross for a nearfall. Belair mouthed out “what the f—“. Belair tied up her hair and told Cross to stay down. Cross went into her entranced look while trying to get up despite Belair’s shoves. Belair tenderized Cross with punches and lifted her in Military Press while also doing squats. Cross reversed into a sleeper.
Nikki Cross hit Bianca Belair with a Scorpion Death Drop for a nearfall. Cross went for another high cross body but Bianca Belair used her hair whip to swat Cross out of the air. Bianca went high risk but Cross fought her to the top rope. Cross hit Bianca Belair with a superplex and the crowd applauded at the hard work. Suddenly the lights went out and Aleister Black’s entrance bell tone played. Bianca Belair dissapeared when the lights came back on and Aleister Black was in his Indian Mediatation Pose in the ring.
Nikki Cross vs. Bianca Belair ended in an apparent no-contest in about 11:23 due to the disappearance of Belair.
The crowd chanted “Nikki’s got a secret”. Black then waved his finger to draw Cross to him. Cross then whispered something in Black’s ear. Whatever Nikki told Black caused Black to fume like he was a steaming tea kettle. The angry Aleister Black closed NXT…
John’s Thoughts: So? Did Aleister Black teleportBianca Belair to the Impact/TNA “Undead Realm”? A bit hokey but just like the opening segment, the return of a long injured wrestler overrides the cheap finish to the match. Again, I wonder if Nikki Cross really revealed who attacked Black or if she is going to try to manipulate Black by telling him a lie. She probably told him the truth but my story wouldn’t be a bad direction to take either to add some character layer to Cross. As for the match, that was a really good match by the end of it and I wouldn’t have minded five to ten more minutes for an awesome crescendo. This was one of the better “main event” women’s matches that NXT has had in a long while. It reminded me of the matches we were getting before Bayley was called up and the women were tearing the house down over the men’s main event matches. If NXT starts rolling out Mia Yim and Chelsea Green (if or when they sign her)? NXT might be able to create a new set of horsewomen.
A good episode of NXT that had two strong main event quality matches with screwy finishes to set up future encounters. They both had screwy finishes but they got the most out of the screwjobs. They dragged the feud out longer and reintroduced two injured wrestlers to their roster. That does remind me, now the NXT roster is really stacked with Black and Fish back. What do they do with Strong after War Games? I’ll be by tomorrow with a NXT Hit List and Members Exclusive Audio Review.
I would disagree with you here – it doesn’t matter who comes back from injury, advertising a double main-event for a show and having a non-finish in both matches is disappointing.
I won’t argue that there is some disappointment there.
Going into the tag match, I didn’t expect a tag change (and I wasn’t aware of spoilers). Because NXT has done this in the past which is why I braced myself for the cheap finish.
I thought they were solid due to them being good previews for future matche, but where I do agree is they are killing their “main event” billing when they want to use that subtitle for a show.
I could certainly see the non-finish coming in the tag team match, and like you I get why they did it. In the women’s match though, it seemed a waste. They could have done that same angle with Cross beating somebody lower down the card, then have Black appear immediately after. Save Belair vs. Cross for the main event of another episode.
My question – are we going to see the full Undisputed Era vs War Raiders, Ricochet and Pete Dunne at War Games?