We are getting closer to the next TakeOver event, but it doesn’t really feel like momentum has started building yet. Aleister Black, who we should hear from tonight, has had his defence against Ciampa booked for an upcoming TV episode, while Shayna Baszler and Adam Cole have no established challengers for their respective titles yet. We will see Cole in action this week though against Danny Burch and we also have a tag team title match to look forward to as Moustache Mountain make their first defence against Undisputed Era.
Adam Cole v. Danny Burch
This match begins with an exchange of mat holds before the pace picks up and the blows get harder. Cole takes the advantage with a pair of neckbreakers, the first on the outside after running Burch into the post. He then stays one step ahead of Burch for the mind-portion of the match, switching between stomps and strikes and grinding holds with a liberal dose of trash talking.
Burch eventually mounts a comeback unloading with punches and suplexes before unloading a viscious headbutt. He then delivers The Tower of London from the corner, but Cole manages to kick out. The crowd, very quiet to this point, eventually show some spark sensing the end is close. A neckbreaker gets the leader of Undisputed Era a near fall. He then unloads with a super kick and The Last Shock for a clear victory.
Winner: Adam Cole
Why not make this a North American title match? The newest belt on the brand has only been defended on TV once (twice if we count the UK Championship special event) since its inception. Burch is exactly the kind of guy who should benefit from playing the challenger for this kind of belt, even if he does not win.
Shayna Gets Her Challenger!
In a parking lot interview, Candice La Rae confronts Baszler about comments telling her to stick to nursing her husband last week. A brawl quickly ensues and is broken up by just about every non-wrestler involved in NXT. Hot on the heels of that, we see a verbal confrontation between Dakota Kai and Lacey Evans with a match made for next week.
Kairi Sane v. Vanessa Bourne
Sane takes control early on but Bourne is able to overpower her with some new innovations in her offence such as an impressive looking twisting suplex. She then focuses on the Pirate Princess’ back, twisting her up in the ropes and taking full advantage of the ref’s count. She wastes time gloating to the crowd though, which gives Kairi Sane the opening she needs. She then reels off her usual interceptor spear and slide into the corner, but Bourne recovers before she can land the elbow drop. Her comeback does not last long though as Sane applies a submission, tying up her opponent’s legs and arching back to get the tap out victory. After the win, she gets on the mic and vows she will beat Baszler soon.
Winner: Kairi Sane
NXT is doing a fine job of rebooting its women’s division after losing so much talent to the main roster. Several contenders are being built up to challenge Baszler and indeed a number one contender’s fatal four way is immediately announced for next week – Sane v. Cross v. LeRae v. Belair.
Aleister Black Promo
Before Black gets to the arena, he is confronted by Johnny Gargano, who states Ciampa cannot become champion. After Black tells him to leave him be, he enters the building and immediately gets jumped by Ciampa, who hits a DDT onto the concrete floor. Black is transported to hospital and the promo is off.
A short but effective segment as Black seems destined to get caught in the crossfire of two of the most aggressively minded stars in NXT, Ciampa and Gargano.
NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Moustache Mountain (c) v. Undisputed Era
As so often seems to be the case in big NXT matches, the crowd are cheering for both teams before the match even gets underway. When the bell does ring, O’Reilly and Strong go right after the champs, but the tables soon get turned as Seven and Bate showcase some slick teamwork. The fight soon spills to the outside, with Undisputed Era taking control when Strong slams Seven’s knee into the ring steps.
That then becomes the focus of the match as Strong and O’Reilly go after Trent Seven’s left knee, ripping off his brace as they apply submission holds and plenty of stomps. Bate can only watch from his corner as his partner tries to fight his way out of trouble.
Seven gets a near fall at one point off a cheeky roll up, but every time he has an opening for the tag, he gets cut off. After eventually fighting to his corner, O’Reilly pulls Bate off the apron. Later in the match, a snap DDT to Strong creates another opening but O’Reilly tags in first and blasts Bate off the apron once again.
Bate eventually gets the hottest of hot tags and unloads on Undisputed Era in a frenetic flurry of kicks, leaps and near falls. He treats us to an Airplane Spin/Cesaro Swing combo while Seven receives medical treatment in the corner. A Tyler Driver ’97 nearly gets the win but O’Reilly breaks up the pin attempt.
The tide eventually turns on Bate as O’Reilly and Strong keep up a high tempo. Seven staggers to his feet and tags himself back in but finds himself facing both opponents at once. He lands the Seven Star Lariat on Strong, but Roddy is able to kick out. Strong then traps Seven in the Strong Clutch but Bate breaks it up. O’Reilly tags in an applies a heel hook. Seven refuses to tap (but almost does so by hammering at O’Reilly’s leg in an attempt to break the hold).
After what seems like several minutes, Seven breaks free but then ends up in a double knee bar. After agonising on the apron for an age, Bate throws in the towel – literally – and Undisputed Era have their titles back.
Winners: Undisputed Era
A great match that the crowd really came alive for after being quiet for much of the show. There was a compelling story told but it had one major flaw – why did Bate not just break the hold? He had done just the when Strong had Seven trapped in a submission minutes earlier, and the ref had been lax about keeping one guy from each team in the ring for the whole match. I guess that tag title win in London was just to pop the home crowd after all…
Final Thoughts
An average show with a cracking main event but a problematic finish. Undisputed Era now sit atop the brand once again – the question remains as to who the next tag challengers will be (presumably Trent Seven will be written off hurt for a few weeks at least) and whether or not there will be a challenger established for Cole and the North American Championship, which is in danger of becoming irrelevant so early in its existence).
