Belayed recap time! I’m Jordan Huie, you’re here at 1Z1 Pro Wrestling and I’ll be giving you the blow-by-blow of the September 23rd edition of WWE NXT! It’s not live, I got to it when I had the time, but it’s still important to have this archived. And I also didn’t watch this until now, so it’s all new to me!
We open with a battle royal to determine the No. 1 Contender to the NXT Women’s Championship! As Candice LaRae comes out, we see that Candice jumped Tegan backstage and slammed a crate into her leg. Looks like she’s out of this match.
Battle Royal, Winner Gets A Shot At Io Shirai’s NXT Women’s Championship
Brawl kicks up quickly. Robert Stone is looming around at ringside. It’s acknowledged we have a lot of new faces not typically seen in there. Rhea Ripley gets a lady named Gia on the top rope and just shoves her to the floor. Gia is eliminated. Raven gets dumped to the floor, but really, what about Raven? Raven is eliminated. Ellie gets tossed BRUTALLY over the top rope and into the barricade, and that’s it for Ellie.
Ripley has Marina Shafir in trouble. Clips an arm, headbutt sends Shafir to the floor, Marina Shafir is out. Raquel Gonzalez sends Avery to the floor, Avery is eliminated. Commentators not even having time to give the whole names for these people, Gonzalez with a big boot gets another elimination and this poor girl didn’t even get a name! Rita tries to get Gonzalez into a cross-armbreaker but Gonzalez powers her up and tosses her over the top rope, that’s all for Rita!
Ripley takes Emily to the apron, big boot takes her to the floor. Ripley and Gonzalez are tied up at four eliminations. Gonzalez eliminates I think Catalina, assuming they only have the one luchadora. Again this one didn’t even get named. Katazaro gets kicked to the floor, she lands on her back and keeps her feet from touching! She handstands and re-enters the ring! Commercial break, several off-screen eliminations there. Kacy was sent to the barricade, and she stands herself up on the guardrail holding the plexiglass! She leaps to the steps, Indi Hartwell kicks her off but she flies BACK onto the guardrail! Still not eliminated!
Kayden Carter gets a heel kick in to Gonzalez, tries to help her partner out of this predicament, reaches for her, Gonzalez attacks her from behind and Kayden Carter is eliminated. Still Kayden helps Kacy back into the ring! Now the hosses meet up, Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez exchange forearms, Ripley eventually gets her with a rana that takes both of them to floor! Ripley and Gonzalez are out! And they brawl their way to the back, as refs try to separate them. Shotzi Blackheart tries to eliminate Candice, she survives. Indi Hartwell still trying to get rid of Catanzaro, but she turns the tables, headscissor sends her to the floor! Indi is eliminated. Dakota Kai and Candice LaRae double teaming Kacy now, Kai with a big boot takes her to the floor! Kacy Catanzaro has finally been eliminated.
Shotzi with the knees up on a Candice charge, sidesteps Dakota and sends her to the floor! Shotzi tries to dump Candice but she holds onto the top rope. Shotzi pulls her to the center, Reverse Slingblade! Takes her to the apron, wants the elimination, Candice shoulder thrusts her way back inside. Blackheart with an enziguri, tries for the cannonball but LaRae sidesteps, neckbreaker off the second rope! Throws her but Shotzi holds on, WWE Headkick lands! She climbs back in, goes up top, Candice tries to block her, they battle up there, they both spill to opposite parts of the apron. They fight it out on either side of the turnbuckle, Candice falls and barely keeps onto the steel steps! Gets her feet up for a Tomoe Throw from the steps, sends Blackheart to the floor to get the win!
Winner: Candice LaRae
Neat finish. Kinda silly how they padded that match so much just to give the hosses a ton of eliminations.
Damian Priest says Gargano is Johnny Takeover, the guy who made NXT, right? But as long as he’s North American Champion, this title will continue to slide through his fingers, just like at TakeOver 30 in the ladder match. Says Austin Theory is a guy whose record doesn’t really reflect his talent, he’s very good, but he’s unlucky because his slide continues tonight.
Fandango has a genius idea backstage. He wants all four teams to get one member and team up, winners of that face off next week and the winners of THAT are the new challengers! Okay sure.
Big match now…
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Jake Atlas
Atlas with big chops in the corner for the quick advantage. Ciampa stops this with a forearm, throws him to the apron, looks for a quick Willow’s Bell but Atlas slips to the floor and pulls Ciampa out with him! Clobbers him against the steps, stomps him to the floor. He exposes the steel, looks for a Catapult, ref is telling him this would be a DQ. Ciampa kicks him away though, back into the ring, Ciampa with a quick clothesline to retake the advantage. Wears him down with a hold, leaping stomp to the chest. Whips him to the corner but Atlas bounces off for a rolling elbow. Inverted Atomic Drop, dropkick! Stomp to the gut, mounted hammerfists! Atlas takes him to the corner, huge big boot lands! Ciampa checking his teeth after that one.
Ciampa slips to the outside to avoid another charge, Atlas with a running kick from the apron, Triangle Moonsault lands! Jake takes him into the ring and goes up top! Ciampa already on his feet, Overcast for a nearfall! He looks for the Rainbow DDT but Ciampa kicks his arm to take him to the mat, throws him to the apron, Willow’s Bell and that is… no, he breaks up the pin himself! He berates Atlas for wanting to be in the main event. Tells him if he’s hungry, get up! Stomps him, exposes a knee, hits a Fairy Tale Ending.
Winner: Tommaso Ciampa
I appreciate that he lowered the knee brace just for dramatic effect. Presumably he got told to go home right then and there.
Vignette for Ridge Holland. Talks about his time in Rugby, what he calls the most brutal sport on Earth. We hear from the various participants in the Eliminator Gauntlet. Or Gauntlet Eliminator, it doesn’t really change the meaning much what order you use. You may be surprised to learn that they all vow to win.
Fabian Aichner & Raul Mendoza vs. Roderick Strong & Danny Burch
Roderick Strong and Fabian Aichner start, lock-up. Roddy gets him in an arm wringer, Aichner takes him to the corner, whip to the opposite side, Fabian with a floatover, gets a clothesline. Hoists him up for a big body slam. Tag to Mendoza, snapmare, charging knee to the face, Handspring Moonsault for a 2 count. Roddy drives him to the corner, Burch tags in, uppercuts. Arm drag, chinlock.
Mendoza fights his way up, Burch wants a tilt-a-whirl but Mendoza escapes, Burch clips a leg! Rolls him over for a 2 count. Burch sidesteps a corner charge, high kick, goes up top, Aichner distracts, Mendoza yanks Burch to the mat. Commercial break. After we get back, Aichner is in with a headlock. Burch fights his way up, Aichner with a Back Suplex. Drives him to his corner, Mendoza tags in and stomps Burch to the mat.
Works him over for a while. Choking in the ropes, snapmares and holds. Burch fights his way up, Mendoza with a knee to the gut. Sunset flip, Mendoza still makes the tag. Aichner with a big charging boot to Strong. Hoists up Burch, he escapes behind him, wants the tag. Strong wasn’t there at first but does make the blind tag when he turns around. Aichner nails Burch but Strong in with charging clotheslines and knees, tosses Aichner onto his partner, Olympic Slam, Mendoza barely breaks it up! Roddy kicks him out of the ring.
Roddy escapes a suplex attempt as Aichner was selling his back, but this lets Mendoza gets a cheap shot in, Aichner with a Spinebuster for a nearfall! Hoists him up, Mendoza tags in, Strong escapes from Aichner’s shoulders but Mendoza gets him with a dropkick. Whips him to the corner, Strong takes him to the apron, Mendoza with a forearm to Strong, enziguri to Burch! Goes up top, Strong gets him with a knee strike, Burch tags in, Strong with a Buisaku Knee to Aichner, Burch with a Draping Neckbreaker to Mendoza for the win!
Winners: Danny Burch & Roderick Strong
Certainly a unique match-up there.
Austin Theory is asked about Damian Priest, Gargano snaps at the interviewer for bugging the kid before a big match. Tells Theory he’s got all the God-given talent in the world to be a major player, kinda like him. Says Priest is big but he can knock him down to his level. If he can soften him up before TakeOver, he’ll never forget it.
NXT North American Champion Damian Priest vs. Austin Theory (Non-Title)
Lock-up. Priest with an arm wringer. Theory rolls through into a wrist lock. Priest reverses, arm drag. Side headlock cinched in. Shoots him off, back elbow to the face! Priest reverses a whip, flying back elbow takes him down! Theory takes him to the apron, Priest catches a punch. Goes up top with his wrist cinched, walks the ropes Old School style, Crossbody nailed and then an arm drag, grinding the knee in his face! Yet another arm drag when Theory fights his way up, but off a charge, Theory drop toe holds Priest into the corner. Pulls him up, High Angle Back Suplex! 1 count off the pin. Pulls him up, Priest with body shots, Theory blocks a shot, clothesline and then a Standing Moonsault for a 2 count!
Hoists him up onto his shoulders, Priest escapes behind him, Bell Clap, Elevated Flatliner! He wants his Springboard Senton, but Theory rushes it and takes him to the floor! Commercial break. Back from break, Theory with a roll in for a dropkick, cover for a nearfall! Priest fights his way up, Theory with some chops. Priest fights back, series of roundhouse kicks, big clothesline flips him onto his face! Priest stomps the mat, and there’s the flying elbow in the corner. Pulls him out with a HUGE Falcon Arrow! Nearfall. You don’t see people throw people across the ring with that very often.
Priest with a back elbow off a waistlock, Theory escapes a corner charge, hoists him up, spins him into a Blue Thunder Bomb for a close nearfall! Fight spills to the outside. Priest goozles him, Theory escapes the chokeslam, back elbow to the face! Hooks him for a suplex, Priest escapes, Cyclone Kick looks like it actually connected, damn! Hoists him up, Razor’s Edge right onto the damn apron, yikes! Back into the ring, Priest howls and there’s The Reckoning for the win.
Winner: Damian Priest
Good stuff. Priest comes off a lot better as a babyface, somewhat surprising.
But as Priest celebrates, Gargano attacks him from behind! Mocks his arrow taunt.
We see the POV of some kinda cyborg or something. Robotic voices talk about being in isolation for too long, years of dedication. Now they’ve come back? They toss something and break a bunch of glass. “The TakeOver is mine”. Date of NXT TakeOver: 31 flashes up.
Swerve Scott challenges Santos Escobar to one more Cruiserweight title match and this time with nobody at ringside.
Out comes Ridge Holland.
Ridge Holland vs. Antonio de Luca
de Luca charges with a forearm, can’t take him down though he does keep coming. Holland just shoves him away, big forearm drops him. Whips him, de Luca with a kick off a back body drop but when he charges Holland launches him across the ring with a shoulder block! HUGE Overhead Belly To Belly! Pulls him up to his feet, and there’s a second one! Takes him into the corner, BRUTAL headbutts until the referee pulls him off! Holland yanks him from the corner, Northern Grit nailed and that’s that!
Winner: Ridge Holland
This guy is a beastly boy. Reminds me so much of a young Brock Lesnar.
Io Shirai has a promo backstage. She’s never liked Candice. LaRae interrupts her and asks if she’s scared because she can’t beat her. Gargano is there too and rags on her, Damian Priest appears and nails him with a forearm! Officials have to pull the two of them off.
Gauntlet Eliminator Match
Kushida and Kyle O’Reilly start out the Eliminator. This is a BOSJ Finals rematch! They both jockey for position, Kyle takes him to the mat first but Kushida has a bodyscissor. Kyle escapes, swings to his sides, can’t quite get a mount. Kushida rolls him onto his back, stands up. This will be quite the chain wrestling exchange. Kyle wants a Kimura, Kushida reverses into a Cross-Armbreaker attempt, Kyle fights out into a Single Leg Grapevine, Kushida into the ropes for the break. Kyle gets him into a side headlock, Kushida fights up, shoots him off, Kyle with a shoulder block. Big boot, hits the ropes, Kushida with a hip toss, cartwheel, dropkick!
Spins him into a hammerlock, and controls the opposite arm as well. Using his leg for a Double Chickenwing, goes down to the mat for a double arm breaker! Kushida takes Kyle to the mat, single chickenwing and crossface. Kyle breaks out to his feet, Kushida trying for upkicks but O’Reilly avoids it. Until he doesn’t, one catches him flush! Kushida up, roundhouse kick, forearms. Kyle blocks a kick, kick to the inside of the leg, forearm exchange! Timer comes up for the next participant as they keep firing away. And it’s Bronson Reed out third! He clobbers both with forearms on his way into the ring. Hoists Kushida up, Military Presses him right onto O’Reilly!
Charging avalanche onto both men! Hoists each of them on his shoulders but Kushida escape, kick to the leg helps Kyle escape as well. Reed whips Kushida, counters with a Handspring Back Elbow to both men but Reed stays standing! Kushida still gets him down with a low dropkick though. O’Reilly tries for a Cross-Armbreaker to Kushida, Reed looks for a stomp but Kyle catches the foot into a Leg Grapevine! They keep breaking things up just for cool spots, there’s actually no reason to. In the end, we see Reed nail a senton on O’Reilly!
Reed with a body slam to O’Reilly. Wants to go up top, Kyle stops him. He goes up there with him, Kushida climbing too! They battle p there. Reed with a headbutt drops Kushida. But a Rolling Liger Kick stuns Reed and drops Kyle, he falls right onto the barrier! As the ref checks on O’Reilly, in comes Velveteen Dream for a Dream Valley Driver on Kushida! Reed with a Top Rope Splash, gets the duke. Kushida has been eliminated, protected well there.
Just in time as the next man is up and it’s Timothy Thatcher! He charges to the apron and is immediately dropped with a forearm from reed taking him to the floor. Commercial break. Hilariously when we come back, the timer is already up. Grapplefest in the ring, Reed gets a big German Suplex to Thatcher. Cameron Grimes is the next man up! Moonsault from the top to Reed! And then another to Thatcher!
Thatcher with a running kick on the apron to O’Reilly! Thatcher blocks a kick, Reed with a headbutt! Everyone exchanges big strikes, Grimes ends up nailing O’Reilly with a Black Hole Slam variant! But Reed drops Grimes with a clothesline and everyone is down. Thatcher and O’Reilly fight on the apron. Thatcher blocks a shot from Reed form the inside, tries to choke him out, Grimes takes the opportunity to get a big boot in, knocking Thatcher to the floor! Kyle with a knee strike off the apron! Grimes charges Reed on the apron now, but he uses the rope to launch Grimes to the floor onto Thatcher and O’Reilly!
Thatcher chops Reed into the ring. But on the way in, Reed nails him with his own Death Valley Driver, nearfall! O’Reilly and Reed exchanging forearms. Kyle wants to shoot in but he’s BEEG. Reed plants him with a Powerbomb for the nearfall! Grimes with a big kick, cover for 2. Reed fights up on a chinlock, he tosses him away and he has to bail from the ring. Reed hits the ropes, Tope Crossbody on all three opponents! Commercial break!
Everyone fighting in the ring, Reed takes over with a Bionic Elbow, and a big Powerslam to O’Reilly! Takes him up top, Grimes tries to attack him from behind, he catches this, also blocks Thatcher and slams Thatcher onto Grimes! He goes up top. Grimes catches him from behind. Reed kicks him away but this lets Thatcher go up there with him. He hooks him for a superplex. Reed knocks him to the floor, comes off the top another Frog Splash, Thatcher rolls out of the way! O’Reilly with a Top Rope Knee Drop to Reed, and gets the pin! Bronson Reed has been eliminated.
Kyle and Thatcher grapple, Kyle gets an Ankle Lock for a moment but Thatcher fights his way up. Exchanging forearms. Grimes with a big German Suplex to O’Reilly! Up kicks to Thatcher when he tries to get a SIngle Leg Crab in. But up on their feet, Thatcher nails an Overhead Belly To Belly! All three men are down. Thatcher gets O’Reilly in a Reverse Full Nelson for a bit but O’Reilly fights out of it, forearms, slaps to Thatcher, Thatcher ducks an enziguri but it nails Grimes! O’Reilly looks for an armbreaker but Thatcher counters into a sleeper hold! And yet Kyle gets Grimes into an Ankle Lock as well!
Grimes manages to scramble out, kick to the face of O’Reilly lets him flip into a pin on Thatcher for a 2 count! Thatcher takes Grimes to the outside, Thatcher and O’Reilly exchanging strikes. O’Reilly charges with a big forearm. Thatcher greets him with European Uppercuts, O’Reilly fights back with kicks but eats a big open hand strike to the face that drops him to his knees! O’Reilly with a backslide for a 2 count. Immediately rolls him back up and gets him! Thatcher has been eliminated… GRIMES WITH AN IMMEDIATE CAVE-IN TO O’REILLY! He covers! O’Reilly gets the foot on the ropes at the last second, Cameron is howling in celebration, he thinks he’s won!
Ref explains to him what happened and Cameron is apoplectic. He kicks him around the ring. He says that he’s nothing like Adam, he was the man of the group! Kyle fights his way back up, series of forearms, O’Reilly hits the ropes, Collision Course from Grimes for a clooose nearfall! Exchange of forearms from their knees. Kyle wins out, hits Ax but Grimes avoids Smash. O’Reilly takes over anyway though, Reverse Dragon Screw Legwhip! But then Grimes with a roundhouse kick to the back of the head! Looks for the Cave-In but O’Reilly avoids it, Grimes tweaks the knee on the landing and O’Reilly with an immediate Single Leg Grapevine for the submission! And that is that.
Winner: Kyle O’Reilly
This is as sudden a push towards an NXT title match I’ve ever seen anyone get, but this is not a bad way to do it. Adam Cole and Roderick Strong celebrate with O’Reilly, Bobby Fish completely AWOL as usual. Finn Balor appears on the stage and points his finger gun at him. Show close!
