NXT live event results from Houston & Jacksonville (July 29): Finn Bálor’s last night

Where?

The Maxwell Snyder Armory in Jacksonville, Florida and the Revention Music Center in Houston.

What happened?

Houston

- Mojo Raley def. Buddy Murphy
- Andrade “Cien” Almas def. Wesley Blake
- Bayley & Carmella def. Daria Berenato & Mandy Rose
- Hideo Itami def. Austin Aries
- The Revival def. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa to retain Tag Team championship
- Asuka def. Nia Jax to retain the NXT Women’s title
- Shinsuke Nakamura & Finn Bálor def. Bobby Roode & Samoa Joe

Jacksonville

- Niko Bogojevic def. Noah Potjes
- Billie Kay def. Liv Morgan
- Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton def. Kishan Raftaar & Jeet Rama
- Tucker Knight def. Dan Matha
- Rich Swann def. Tino Sabbatelli
- Patrick Clark promo
- Ember Moon def. Aliyah
- No Way Jose, Oney Lorcan & Angelo Dawkins def. Authors of Pain & Riddick Moss

What caught our eye?

This man (Bogojevic) does the Worm before he finishes with a Vader Bomb...

Rich Swann got Drake Wuertz to boogie down:

There was also a post-show dance party, featuring Oney Lorcan. Because you can’t have a dance party without Oney Lorcan!

Aside from the dancing, Patrick set aside his America/Trump schtick to heel on Tough Enough and actually bring up this week’s cuts, saying they made him the youngest guy on the roster. He also ran down the SmackDown signees Shelton Benjamin and Rhyno because there were better guys at the show tonight.

Gonna kick it over to Cagesider Tyler McBee. for his live match-by-match notes from H-Town:

- Murphy & Mojo both super-over; “Blake is better” chants

- “where’s Alexa?” chants for Wesley Blake

- Mandy Rose leaves the ring mid-match and cuts promo asking if crowd knows who she is, promptly gets destroyed by the crowd when explaining the bikini world title (which may or may not be a thing (Sean again - it is)). Baymella drags her back to the ring. Bayley pins Mandy in a messy finish.

- Itami got the pop of the night behind the main event. He looks great; won with the running knee. Early Match of the Night Contender.

- Tag title match was as good as one would expect. Will steal whatever TakeOver it’s on. Ciampa as face-in-peril is great. Gargano’s hot tag is on par with Jason Jordan. Too many near falls to count. Beautiful false finish... Gargano pinned Dawson, but Dash put his foot on the bottom rope from outside. Place lit up in hopes of a title change. Dawson rolled up a confused Gargano, who argued with the ref as Revival exited. Match of the Night. Gargano/Ciampa got a standing ovation.

- Queen Nia deserves all the belts. Immediately. Jax worked the guillotine into a jackhammer. Asuka kicked out. Nia’s used a People’s Elbow to set up for a leg drop - massive pop, but Asuka rolled out of the way. Back and forth mixed with screaming before the champ retained.

- Announcement says this is Finn’s final NXT performance. “Thank you Finn” fills the arena before he gets to the ring. All four men got huge pops. Face-off between Shinsuke & Joe gets another, but Joe tagged in Roode after teasing a lock-up and they have a great back-and-forth. God damn, Joe is great. Bálor hit Coup de Grace on Bobby for the win.

- Afterwards, Bayley came out to join Nak & Finn. Bálor speaks on leaving NXT and calls out Carm, Nia & Mojo. Thanks all the fans and congratulates them on being drafted. He thanks everyone at NXT, and gives a special shout-out to Matt Bloom. Says the Performance Center is good place to be because of him. Ends with “WE ARE NXT”

Dang. I got teary-eyed just reading that.

I don’t think Bill DeMott did though...

Also...

What's next?

Winter Haven and Birmingham next Thursday, except for those in Houston headed to Raw and SmackDown Live.