It’s the final episode of NXT before the brand returns to the Barclays Center for NXT Takeover: Brooklyn during SummerSlam weekend this Saturday night, and that means that this week’s show did a lot to promote and finalize the feuds and card going into the show. It also addressed the recent injury to Aleister Black that has forced him to miss the show and have the main event changed, but more on that later. A few fun matches took place in between the segments and hype videos on the this show, so let’s not waste anymore time and get right into the results from this episode of NXT.
Before the show began, WWE aired a quick graphic dedicating the show this week to Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart.
The Mighty vs. The Street Profits –
It was mentioned by the NXT commentary team that this is the second match between these two teams after The Mighty previously scored a victory over the fan-favorite team of Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford. Nick Miller and Shane Thorne were both eager to continue their winning ways after changing their attitudes earlier this summer, so how did that turn out for the Australian tag team?
Not so great in the early stages of this match as Montez Ford laid waste to Miller. Thorne tried to get himself involved, but Dawkins stepped in and executed a few double team maneuvers with his partner before The Mighty eventually scurried outside of the ring. Back in the ring, Dawkins was the legal man and he dished out some punches in the corner of the ring on Shane Thorne. Miller got tagged in and was able to start punching Dawkins repeatedly in the corner. Fortunately for The Mighty, the match began to turn around for the both of them at this point as they both worked hard to keep Dawkins away from Montez Ford at all costs.
A two count from Miller resulted in Thorne coming back in and ramming Dawkins into the ring post in the corner. He then tried to wear down Angelo in the middle of the ring, but the young Profit was able to break free and finally get to the other side of the ring to tag in Montez Ford. Ford came in and was on fire as he hit some kicks on the Australian duo before eventually rolling up Thorne and earning the good guys the win, as well as tying up their win score. Once the match was over, The Profits celebrated in the crowd while Ford noticed that he left his cup on the ring steps. The cameraman handed the cup to Ford and the party continued.
Winners: The Street Profits
NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler was seen giving some tips to Aliyah before her match against Baszler’s Takeover opponent, Kairi Sane later in the show.
The Undisputed Era shot a promo backstage with each of them complaining about having to defend their tag team titles against Mustache Mountain again at Takeover this weekend. Roderick Strong was upset but still confident that they could beat them, and Kyle O’Reilly doubted that Trent Seven is healthy enough to compete in the match after he was injured by the group a few weeks ago. They said that Tyler Bate and Trent Seven are simply not ready for them, and neither are The War Raiders for that matter. Bobby Fish promised another victory for the Undisputed Era while group leader Adam Cole mentioned that Takeover: Brooklyn will mark one year since the group debuted in NXT. Cole says that he isn’t hiding from Ricochet and the group isn’t hiding from anyone, and they will continue to show why it is their era at Takeover.
Kairi Sane vs. Aliyah –
Shayna Baslzer took a seat at the commentary table to do a little bit of announcing during this short match. Sane will be facing Baszler at Takeover this Saturday for her title, so of course, the outcome was never really in any doubt.
Aliyah tried to put some of the advice Shayna gave her earlier to good use as she laid into Sane with some punches and even pressed her up against the ropes, but last year’s Mae Young Classic winner quickly slid underneath of her and took control of the match. She began to stretch Aliyah out until she fought out and hit some more punches. Aliyah was even able to send Kairi Sane down to the canvas after landing a forearm strike.
Sane still quickly recovered and hit a mini spear on Aliyah before launching into her in the corner of the ring with a sliding elbow. She immediately ran up to the top of the ring post and landed the Insane Elbow drop on Aliyah. Rather than go for the cover, Sane stared at Baszler over at the commentary table on the other side of the arena. Eager to send a message that she can beat the champ, Sane hit a second Insane Elbow drop. Still no pin attempt. Instead, Sane goes up and hits a third Insane Elbow!
Now Sane went for the pin and made it to two before she lifted Aliyah up and purposefully decided to keep the match going. She dragged Aliyah back up and locked in her the Anchor submission move, likely to send an ever bigger message to submission specialist Shayna Baszler. There was nowhere for Aliyah to run or hide at this point, so the only choice that she could make now was to tap out and give Kairi Sane the win before her championship match at Takeover.
Winner: Kairi Sane
A video package for the North American Championship match between Adam Cole and Ricochet was aired. The title match takes place at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn later on this week.
The Velveteen Dream came down to the ring for a promo and began to talk about his Takeover opponent, EC3. The Dream said that EC3 is clever and beloved by the fans, and he has also captured the attention of The Velveteen Dream. Regardless, in Brooklyn, it will be “Dream Over” for him. Out comes EC3 to make fun of Dream’s fanny pack before reminding the young NXT Superstar that if he wants to get in his head, that he should keep in mind that he builds houses, condos, and restaurants in people’s heads.
EC3 says he will achieve another victory at Takeover, but The Dream says he will not be victorious at all. EC3 removed his jacket and challenged Dream to a fight right then and there. The Velveteen Dream then suddenly launched his jacket into EC3’s face and tried to hit a Death Valley Driver on the brash young NXT star. EC3 fought out of it though and sent Dream crashing down to the ring canvas before leaving the ring and walking off to the back.
Cathy Kelley covered the video of General Manager William Regal finding Aleister Black attacked outside of Full Sail University after last week’s show. She points out in the video that Johnny Gargano walks past Regal at one point, while The Undisputed Era drives by, and the likes of Lars Sullivan, Candice LeRae, Kassius Ohno, Shayna Baszler, Ricochet, The Velveteen Dream, Kona Reeves, and Heavy Machinery were all near the scene of the crime, as well as current NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa. It looks like there will be a classic whodunit angle on NXT over the next few weeks in order to determine who attacked and injured Aleister Black.
As a result of Black’s injury, the planned Triple Threat match for the NXT Championship at Takeover has been changed. The main event of the show will now be a Last Man Standing match with Tommaso Ciampa putting his title on the line against Johnny Gargano. Of course, this will be the third chapter in their series of Takeover matches, so WWE decided to air a video package hyping up the future title match.
Bianca Belair was shown training for her in-ring return at the WWE Performance Center, so she will be coming back very soon.
In a rematch from the United Kingdom Championship Tournament special earlier this year, Pete Dunne will defend the United Kingdom Championship against Zack Gibson next week.
Tyler Bate vs. Roderick Strong –
Main event time! With Trent Seven doing his best to rest up and protect himself before the NXT Tag Team Championship match against Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong, it was up to Bate to get one more win over The Undisputed Era before their big match at Takeover. It was a fast-paced and hard-hitting main event, as is usually expected with these two particular performers. The match started off with a bang as Strong laid into Bate with some loud chops.
Bate quickly fired back and worked hard to gain the edge in this match. Strong grabbed the inaugural UK Champion and worked him over for a bit until he was able to fight his way out of it and escape. Next came a headbutt from Bate followed by a jawbreaker. Tyler followed this up by going up to the top of the ring post in the corner for a high-risk maneuver, but Strong met him up there and tried to prevent Bate from going through with it. Roddy tried to throw Bate back down to the ring but was met with resistance and was thrown all the way back down by one-half of Mustache Mountain.
Tyler then hit a diving European Uppercut on Strong once he made his way back to his feet. He got Strong back down and hit his standing Shooting Star Press move to get a two count. Bate then got Roddy up on his shoulders for an Airplane Spin, but his back gave out before he could begin the rotations. Instead, he hit a suplex on Roderick and began kicking and chopping the current NXT Tag Team Champion.
Strong finally caught the British Strong Style wrestler’s feet and tried to turn him over for the Stronghold submission. Although Bate got out of the move, he was soon met with chops and knees in the corner courtesy of Roderick Strong. He grabbed Tyler and hit a backbreaker on him, but Strong was suddenly rolled up by Bate. After a kickout, Bate charged after him with a running clothesline. Roddy immediately rolled out of the ring to recover, but Bate was on the warpath and performed a dive outside of the ring onto Strong.
When they both got back in the ring, Kyle O’Reilly hopped up onto the apron and tried to get involved in the match, but Trent Seven swiped his legs and sent him down to the floor. Strong hit a step-up enzuigiri, but Bate took over again and hit a rolling kick before attempting to hit his Tyler Driver ’97 finishing move. He connected the move and was able to finish off Roderick Strong, perhaps proving that Mustache Mountain can win back the tag titles from The Undisputed Era at Takeover.
Winner: Tyler Bate
That was all there was to it for this week’s episode of NXT. This was a fun show that should definitely do its part to make fans interested in watching NXT Takeover: Brooklyn this weekend. It is a shame that Aleister Black cannot be part of the event, but the main event change to another match between Ciampa and Gargano (now with a Last Man Standing stipulation and with the NXT Championship on the line) should certainly prove to be a satisfying replacement.
It will be interesting to see how that main event plays out, as well as what becomes of this mystery storyline involving Aleister Black, but also set for Takeover is a North American title match between Adam Cole and Ricochet, an NXT Tag Team Championship match between The Undisputed Era and Mustache Mountain, Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship, and a match between EC3 and The Velveteen Dream. Next week’s episode of NXT will be taped in the Barclays Center before Takeover this Saturday night as well. I’ll see you NXT time!