NXT is back this week with just one more match left to go in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament. The build for NXT Takeover: New York is real and going strong right about now. Last week’s episode featured the reunion of #DIY only for them to split up once again by the end of the show. Unfortunately, NXT is without a Champion right now. Tommaso Ciampa is currently injured and will not be back for several more months due to neck surgery. With Takeover on the horizon, what will become if the NXT title? Fortunately for fans of NXT, Triple H stopped by Full Sail University to provide some much-needed answers.
Upon being showered with applause from the Florida crowd, Triple H reminded everybody that Full Sail is a place where dreams come true for people. He admitted that he was going to announce that the main event for NXT Takeover: New York would be Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT Championship. However, that match will no longer be taking place due to Ciampa’s injury. Triple H said that Ciampa had s been forced to relinquish the gold, which prompted chants for “Goldie.” Where one dream ends, another begins though. Johnny Gargano is still going to Takeover and will face the winner of a Fatal 5-Way match for the vacant title during the show. That Takeover match will be a 2-out-of-3 falls match to ensure that there is a winner. Matt Riddle vs. Aleister Black vs. Ricochet vs. The Velveteen Dream vs. Adam Cole is the match and it wil, be taking place later tonight.
Cathy Kelley appeared backstage and ran into Kona Reeves (remember him?) She wanted to know his reactions on the Fatal 5-Way match, to which he said was not “The Finesf.” The Forgotten Sons showed up next, but they had no interest in discussing the Fatal 5-Way match. They wanted to talk about the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They vowed to win the entire tournament next week so that they will never be forgotten again. The Forgotten Sons battle Ricochet & Aleister Black in the finals of the tournament next week.
Ricochet and Aleister Black quickly mentioned that they have no problem going after each other during tonight’s match. Velveteen Dream then said that the spotlight is only big enough for one man. He says “dream Over” to his opponents and expresses his desire to move on to Takeover: New York.
Tommaso Ciampa was shown arriving in Birmingham, Alabama to have his injuries evaluated. Doctors were interviewed and talked about the surgery that he had to undergo. This is Ciampa’s third surgery in Birmingham, and doctors suspect he could be out for up to a year. They still praised him for going through with the surgery and his commitment to get back to action.
Matt Riddle said that he was stoked to get into the Fatal 5-Way match p. He said that he has worked hard to get where he is and will become the champion. Adam Cole talked about fighting four of NXT’s best this evening. He mentioned that he made his NXT debut in the Barclays Center two years ago when he held the NXT title over his head. Cole believes that he will enter that building again this April and win the title this time around.
The Sky Pirates were interrupted during a photo shoot and said that they’ll be keeping an eye on the Fatal 5-Way match. As for their Fatal 4-Way match at Takeover, Kairi Sane and Io Shirai say that their friendship cannot be broken and will fight each other if that is what they need to do to win the NXT Women’s Championship. Bianca Belair comes in and runs down the best friends for being so chummy. Belair insults Sane in particular. When the Belair went to leave, the “Pirate Princess” tried to charge after her, but Shirai prevented a fight from breaking out.
Adam Cole vs. The Velveteen Dream vs. Matt Riddle vs. Aleister Black vs. Ricochet –
Here we go! The winner of this match will be moving on to wrestle Johnny Gargano in a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the currently vacant NXT Championship. This is what the entire show has been building up to, and it is a match that any of the participants could conceivably win. Which man out of the five involved will go on to wrestle Gargano in the main event of Takeover? That is what this match here is all about?
The five men stared each other down as the crowd chanted for each of them. They all went after each other and did not show any signs of teamwork at first. The ring eventually only had Dream and Black in it. They battled for a bit as Drwm lifted him for a Dream Valley Driver. Black wanted to end it all early but Cole grabbed his feet and pulled him out of the ring. Ricochet comes back in and gets the chance to shine bt out-maneuvering Dream out of the ring. Riddle comes in after this and took Ricochet out of the equation. Adam Cole hit some punches until Ricochet and Black began beating him down.
With each man down, Black and Ricochet shook hands and went after each other with blows. Their mini-fight was broken up by Cole. Cole hit some boots and the knees on Ricochet as he tried to keep all the other challenges from entering the ring. The Velveteen Dream then made his way back in. He ducked Cole’s clothesline, sent him flying out of the ring before he hit a diving elbow outside.
Dream tried to do the same back in the ring but was caught by Matt Riddle. Aleister Black underestimated Riddle and was even locked in the Bromission for a moment until it was stopped by Velveteen Dream. Adam Cole dragged out Black and sent him into the steel ring steps. Back in the ring, it was Cole one on one with Riddle. Several shops between the two men back and fourth. Riddle got Cole in the Bromission, which was broken up again by Dream. The three of them exchanged punches in the middle of the ring. Black charged back in and dishes out kicks to the jaws of all four of his opponents.
Ricochet got up first and went up to the top of one of the posts in the corner of the ring. Adam Cole prevented him from leaping off and met him up there. Velveteen Dream woke up and did the same. As they battled, Aleister Black and Matt Riddle hopped onto the ropes with them. They each hooked each other up and hit a superplex from the top all the way down to the canvas.
Each man then rolled out to recover except for Black and Dream. These two former rivals hit each other with punches. Black his a kick to the face, a suplex, and a bridge into a pin, but it was ended by Riddle. Rapid-fire lunches to the chest from Riddle until Adam Cole hits the former MMA fighter with.a superkick for a two-count. Ricochet gets Cole onto his shoulders, but the Undisputed Era leader fights out. Ricochet dodged the Last Shot and sends Cole down, but he rolls out of the ring. Outside, Ricochet made a huge leaping moonsault over the ropes and onto Cole.
Matt Riddle and The Velveteen Dream go at it alone in the ring. Once again, the Bromission is on, but score pulled the referee out of the ring. When he reentered, Black hit Black Mass on Riddle before being hit with a Dream Valley Driver. Dream goes up top on the ring post for his Purple Rainmaker, but Ricochet sends him down onto aprhe pile of bodies outside of the ring. Ricochet dives off the turnbuckle and gets Riddle back in the ring. Just when it looks like he is about to go to New York, Adam Cole snuck his way back in and landed the Last Shot knee strike to win the match.
Winner: Adam Cole
It is official! Two and a half years after making his NXT debut in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Adam Cole is coming back to challenge for the NXT Championship. He posed with the title on the stage as the show went off the air. As a result of this match, Adam Cole will wrestle Johnny Gargano for the title at Takeover: New York during the weekend of WrestleMania 35. It will certainly be interesting to see who between these two will end up pulling out the victory, but either way, the NXT Champion will be one of these two men within the next few weeks.
That is certainly one match to be excited for, but don’t feel too bad for the other men involved in the Fatal 5-Way match, Velveteen Dream is still the NXT North American Champion, and Matt Riddle recently made it clear that he is interested in challenging Dream for his title. As for Ricochet and Aleister Black, they’ve got a match against The Forgotten Sons waiting for them. It will be the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Teg Team Classic tournament, and the winners will challenge a The War Raiders for the NXT Tag Team Championships at Takeover. There is still some time left for these men to make it onto Takeover, but the Dusty Classic finals take place next Wednesday night. See you NXT Time!
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