NXT Takeover: Phoenix will air live on the WWE Network in just a
few more days. This week’s show marked the go-home edition of NXT, so it
focused largely on hyping up the five matches that have been booked for
the show. Some interesting tag team matches also transpired on this
week’s NXT episode, and some matches for next week’s show were confirmed
as well. Before Takeover takes place this weekend, NXT’s show from this
week featured the following results.
The Velveteen Dream returned to Full Sail University and addressed
the crowd. He said that he’s got treasure in his sights and that he
waits for no man. He says that he wants a shot at the North American
Championship before Adam Cole interrupts him. He says that everyone
knows that 2019 will be the year of The Undisputed Era because the whole
group will win NXT gold. He and Bobby Fish want to win titles in order
to accomplish this goal. Bobby Fish tries to speak but the crowd is
having none of it. Nonetheless, he says that it will continue to be
their era. Dream says he’s ready to dispute that claim but only if it’s
okay with Adam. Both men charge after The Velveteen Dream, but he made
his way to the back before any serious damage could be done.
A video package highlighting Shayna Baszler’s dominance as NXT
Women’s Champion was shown. Of course, clips of Belair’s matches and
athleticism were shown as well. Baszler pointed out that she won the
title at her very first Takeover show, and she now has Jessamyn Duke and
Marina Shafir are now supporting her. Belair is confident though and
said that she has overcome obstacles throughout her whole life. Bianca
is undefeated and said that she will shine during the biggest match of
her career this Saturday.
One brief replay of Kassius Ohno using underhanded tactics to
defeat Keith Lee last week aired. Matt Riddle later came down to the
ring to assist his friends. NXT General Manager William Regal has since
confirmed that Matt Riddle and Kassius Ohno will face off again at
Takeover.
Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch vs. Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel –
Burch and Lorcan are back to take on this rising NXT UK tag team.
Barthel and Aichner have worked well together so far, but they went up
against one of the most hard-hitting tag team on the NXT roster on this
night. So how did they do against Lorcan and Burch?
They started off strong as they took turns dishing out kicks to
Oney in the corner of the ring. They tried to work together for a bit,
but it backfired as Lorcan slipped away and made the tag to Burch. Burch
got right to work and took out both men, even laying out Aichner with
punches. Barthel ran back into th ring to stop Lorcan and Burch from
doing further damage. Huge clotheslined to Lorcan, then Marcel executed a
tope suicida on the outside of the ring onto Burch. Aichner bounces off
the rope with a moonsault!
That’s not enough to put them away though,. The match becomes our
carnage at this point as all members of each team take turns hitting
each other with punches, slaps, dives, and more. With the rest of the
team members resting outside, Aichner does a dive onto the men outside.
He comes back in the ring not long after that, but Lorcan was able to
roll him up and get a flash pin, much to the surprise of Aichner and
Barthel.
Winner: Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch
The video package for Tommaso Ciampa and Aleister Black’s NXT
Takeover: Phoenix match was shown next. Ciampa says that the man makes
the title, and that he wants the title more than anybody. Clips of
Ciamoa defeating Black to win the title months ago were shown as well.
This Saturday will mark Black’s official rematch for the title. Ciampa
says that he has been the puppet master who pitted Black against Johnny
Gargano, but Black is ready to cut his strings. Tommaso is at day 184 of
his title reign and blames Black’s desire for the gold on jealousy.
Aleister says that Ciampa’s run as NXT Champion will fade to black come
this weekend.
Io Shirai & Kairi Sane vs. Tanea Brooks & Amber Nova –
Nova and Shirai started the match off and Io had no trouble taking
Amber down. In comes Sane, who sends her into the corner of the ring and
slides her elbow right into the jaw of Amber Nova. She makes the tag to
Tanea Brooks, who did land some knees to the face of Sane. The latter
took over with an inceptor before tagging Shirai back in.
Io hits Brooks with a 619 as Sane comes back in to help take out
Amber Nova. She landed a missile dropkick on both of her opponents. Sane
was tagged back in afterwards. Shirai lifts Kairi up to hit an elbow
drop on Brooks. After that, Sane holds up “The Genius of the Sky” as she
executes a moonsault to score themselves the victory.
The crowd seemed into Shirai and Sane, and both women worked well
together as well. They hugged and celebrated in the ring after the bell
rung. This could potentially be one team for fans to look out for as far
as the NXT women’s tag team division is concerned in 2019.
Winners: Io Shirai & Kairi Sane
After the match, Sane and Shirai were interviewed outside of Full
Sail. They talked about their win from earlier until they were
interrupted by Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir. They welcomed Sane back
to NXT and left shortly afterwards. Probably not the last we’ve heard
from these four women.
Bobby Fish vs. The Velveteen Dream –
This match was set up as a result of the opening segment on this
week’s show. Fish was eager to prove that he could defeat Dream in this
match. Undisputed Era leader Adam Cole stood by at ringside in support
of his good friend.
Fish tried to hit a kick but Dream caught him. He took out Bobby
with a dropkick, causing Fish to roll outside and seek some guidance
from Cole. The Velveteen Dream went up to the top of the corner post and
hit a double axe handle on Fish while he was still outside the ring.
Back in the ring, Fish begins to get in a few shots and tries to wear
him down. Fish was able to take out his ankle following some trash talk
from Adam Cole outside.
Bobby then took advantage of Dream’s injury. He went back in the
ring and hit some punches, a senton, and did more damage to the ankle.
Fish wanted to apply a single leg hook on Dream’s injured leg, but he
just wasn’t giving in. Dream eventually fired back with a knee shot. He
goes for the pin on Fish, but he is able to get the shoulder up at two.
Fish clips the ankle once again and charges after him, but Dream
slams him down with a spinebuster. Velveteen Dream then nearly hits a
Purple Rainmaker elbow on Fish, but Bobby counters the move and locks in
a knee bar. Dream struggled, got to the ropes, but Adam Cole tried to
prevent him from reaching the bottom rope.
Luckily for The Dream, the referee caught Cole and nearly threw him
out of the arena and called the match off. Just then, Dream stood up
and caught Fish with the Dream Valley Driver. We all know what’s next:
The Velveteen Dream went up high and nailed the Purple Rainmaker elbow
drop to out Fish away.
Winner: The Velveteen Dream
Last week, The Street Profits were ambushed by The Forgotten Sons.
It was announced that they will face off on next week’s Phoenix edition
of NXT.
Also, Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke will return to action for a match against Io Shirai and Kairi Sane next Wednesday.
Ricochet came down to the ring to talk about his title defense
against Johnny Gargano this Saturday. He said that 2019 Johnny Gargano
is the same man that he has always been. He called Johnny a deceitful
liar who only care ps about himself. However, Ricochet says that he has
showed the NXT fans that he is “The One and Only” and a champion, both
of which Gargano is not. This brings out “Johnny Wrestling” who begins
talking for a moment until he starts attacks Ricochet.
Suddenly, Tommaso Ciampa runs into the ring and throws Ricochet out
of the ring. Gargano continues assaulting Ricochet as Aleister Black
lays waste to Ciamoa in the ring. Wait! Gargano runs in to help save
Ciampa from Aleister Black! Gargano hit a slingshot DDT on Ricochet
while Ciamoa simultaneously laid out Black. They took a look at the
damage that they both caused as fans chanted for the former #DIY
partners to “hug it out.” They didn’t. Instead, they made their way up
the stage together and stared each other down. It looked as if Gargano
was about to fully realign with Tommaso until Candice LeRae emerged and
dragged her husband to the back, preventing him from making a
potentially huge mistake.
That marks the end of NXT shows before NXT Takeover Phoenix. The
event this week will feature Aleister Black facing Tommaso Ciampa for
the NXT title in the main event. Johnny Gargano challenges Ricochet for
the North American Championship, Bianca Belair gets her shot at Shayna
Baszler’s NXT Women’s Championship, and a The War Raiders will take on
The Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong for the NXT Tag
Team Championships as well during the show. Finally, Matt Riddle and
Kassius Ohno will fight during Takeover, and next week’s episode of NXT
will be taped before the event. NXT Takeover: Phoenix goes down this
Saturday night. I’ll see you NXT time!
Comments are closed