Here's a place to check results and comment along with the latest airing of WWE NXT in its regular Wednesday night at 8PM Eastern time slot on WWE Network.
Check out our Wednesday morning preview post to get caught up on what's been happening, and what we expect this week.
We'll post match results here, and we will also have our regular reactions post later. In the meantime, and most importantly, this gives you Cagesiders a dedicated place to rave and/or bitch about whatever happens on WWE’s third brand - during its initial broadcast!
NOTE: Spoilers are out there for these pre-taped broadcasts (including here), but many Cagesiders don't partake. If you are going to post or discuss spoilers for this show before they happen, or results of future shows, please use the spoiler bar in your comment.
Enjoy the show!
- Wasting no time, the King of Kings is here. He’s carrying the NXT title as Full Sail pops loud and Mauro Ranallo & Nigel McGuinness remind us about Tommaso Ciampa’s injury.
Once the crowd settles down from their “Triple H” and “NXT” chants, Haitch puts over the building, the fans and the brand. He says NXT is special because a place of dreams. Some people start their dreams here, for others they scratch and claw to make their dream of being in the WWE come true. But the fact of the matter is that for them all, their dream can also end in the same ring. That’s the reality.
The Game came here tonight planning to announce the culmination of a years long story, Tomasso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano for the NXT title at TakeOver: New York. But reality has put Ciampa’s dream on hold, as neck surgery has forced him to relinquish the belt. In NXT, when one dream ends, another begins. And Gargano will still get his shot in Brooklyn, but against who?
We’ll find out tonight, as former champions Ricochet, Aleister Black and Adam Cole, current North American champ Velveteen Dream, and Matt Riddle fight for the right to face Gargano at TakeOver.
But that match has to be decisive, so in New York it will be a two-out-of-three falls match to determine the new NXT champ!
- Cathy Kelley is outside the “Men’s Dressing Room” looking for reaction from roster about the Fatal 5Way. She says some are excited to be in it, others are upset they’ve been left out. Kona Reeves exits, and he says the match will be a’ight, but it won’t be the finest. Forgotten Sons are out next, and Steve Cutler says Cathy even asking that says they’ve already been forgotten again. Wesley Blake says what about next week’s main event, when they’ll face Aleister Black & Ricochet for the Dusty Rhodes Classic trophy and a shot at War Raiders in New York. He hopes Black or Ric win tonight, because then they won’t be focused on them. Before they leave, Jaxson Ryker grabs the mic and says after next week, they’ll be forgotten no more.
- Billie Eilish’s “you should see me in a crown” will be a TakeOver: New York theme song.
- Mauro & Percy Watson throw it to a video package on some of the Fatal 5Way competitors. Aleister & Ric say there’s no love lost between them and tonight is not about alliances. Ric says that after tonight, one of them will be pulling double duty at Barclays. Black says everyone but him will fade to black. Velveteen Dream says we know the spotlight is only big enough for one man, so tonight it’s dream over. And after TakeOver, he’ll be the brand’s first dual champ.
- We get a video package on Tommaso Ciampa’s trip to the Andrews Clinic in Birmingham for neck surgery.
- The last two competitors in tonight’s match get promo time. Matt Riddle says he’s worked his ace off to get here, and nothing is gonna break his undefeated streak... so he’s leaving TakeOver as NXT champ. Adam Cole is backed by Undisputed ERA in a trailer. He points out that it was two years ago at Barclays that he debuted and beat up Drew McIntyre to hold the NXT title over his head. When he does that this time, he’ll be the champeen.
- Cathy interrupts a photo shoot Io Shirai and Kairi Sane are doing. They’re excited to watch the match night to see who will join them at TakeOver. They’ll fight each other there to get the Women’s title, but they don’t see anything coming between their friendship. Bianca Belair strolls up and says they wouldn’t even be in the match if Shayna Baszler hadn’t crashed her match last week. She dismisses Kairi as a pirate and says nothing will stop her in New York because her mindset is undefeated. Io has to keep her friend from going after The EST after she brushes past her on her way out.
- As the competitors in tonight’s only match enter, Ranallo tells us that there was other action set for tonight, but this was the priority (sorry Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic)
- Adam Cole def. Velveteen Dream, Matt Riddle, Ricochet & Aleister Black via pinfall (after a Last Shot to Ricochet), winning the right to face Johnny Gargano for the vacant NXT title match at TakeOver: New York
All five men square off at the outset, and the ring clears out for the 2017 Rivalry of the Year, Black and Dream. Aleister gets a rollup and kicks Velveteen in the face, but then Cole grabs his legs from the floor when he tries to run the ropes. Ric comes in and shows off against Dream while they fight on the floor, then Riddle comes in to throw him around after Velveteen goes to the floor. Cole in to dispatch him, then Black & Ricochet team up against him before squaring off (complete with a handshake). They circle one another, and of course Cole attacks them from behind. Aleister rolls out and we get Cole vs. Ric for a bit.
Nearfall for the ERA’s leader, but before he can follow-up, Dream gets involved. The swap outs continue until Riddle gets Black in the Bro-Mission, but Dream is back to break that up. Aleister takes out Velveteen and Cole, but Riddle throws him out and Cole & Matt lock-up. AC gets trapped in the Bro-Mission, but Dream breaks that up. He and Riddle fight for a while, and everyone slowly re-enters the action to set up a spot where everyone is down after Matt & Aleister kick each other in the head simultaneously. Once they’re up, we get a four man superplex on Ricochet.
This is hectic (wish it had been an elimination match), but the next nearfall is Riddle on Black after a Bro-ton onto him as he was locked up with Dream again. Cole slides in after that and covers Matt after a palm strike to the chest, then it’s the Panama City Playboy and Ricochet. Ric kicks Cole’s knee out from under him, but he fires back and hits two superkicks. The One And Only fires back with a reverse rana, but Cole roles out. Ric follows that with a huge dive onto him that sends an official over to make sure they’re both okay.
Back in the ring, Dream blocks a power bomb attempt from Riddle, then gets hit with a jumping knee. Matt slaps on the Bro-Mission, but Cole pulls the referee out before he can check on a fading Velveteen. Riddle nails Cole with a kick, then turns into Black Mass. The North American champ grabs his old rival and hits a Dream Valley Diver, but when he climbs for a Purple Rainmaker, Ricochet races up and frankensteiners him onto Cole and Black on the floor. Ric climbs again and hits the shooting star press on Riddle, but before he can capitalize, he gets hit in the back of the head by Cole’s knee and that’s all she wrote.
- Cole poses with the belt on the stage, and that’s the episode