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Here's a place to check results and comment along with the newest episode of WWE NXT, airing live in its regular Wednesday night at 8PM Eastern time slot on USA Network.
Check out our Wednesday morning preview post to get caught up on what's been happening, and what we expect this week.
Advertised for tonight: A Fatal 4Way between Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, Cameron Grimes & Damian Priest which will determine Roderick Strong’s next challenger for the North American title, two first round Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament matches, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the NXT live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
Enjoy the show!
WWE NXT RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR JAN. 8
The opening highlights take us all the way back to Dec. 18, focusing on Johnny Gargano’s return and Rhea Ripley’s title win. We also hear briefly from all four men fighting to become #1 contender to the North American title, and see a Dusty Rhodes-heavy hype video for the tag tournament.
Then Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness & Beth Phoenix welcome us to Full Sail, and her comes our new NXT Women’s champ.
Ripley soaks in the fans chanting her name, and waits out a chorus of “you deserve it”. Then she speaks of the memories she has of becoming the new champ and celebrating on top of our shoulders. She’ll never forget those memories, but... her comes Toni Storm!
Nigel reminds us that Storm beat Rhea for the UK Women’s champ as Toni marches down to the ring. She says how happy and proud she is for Ripley. But remember how she beat her, though? Twice? So after Storm wins the UK title back at TakeOver: Blackpool II this Sunday, she wants to become champ-champ at Worlds Collide. So how bout it?
Ripley agrees (after shushing a “Toni Two Belts” chant), but her comes current UK champ Kay Lee Ray to say there’s no way she’s losing the title in Blackpool. Before that gets much farther, Io Shirai is here. She points at Rhea’s belt and says “mine”. And her comes Bianca Belair. The EST says she’s better than Io, Kay Lee, and Toni doesn’t even go here. She’s definitely better than Ripley. Now here comes Candice LeRae. She doesn’t even get to talk when the Nightmare says it looks like everyone wants a fight, and so does she.
Things break down, the heels head for the ramp, and we’re informed this is now a six-woman tag!
Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm & Candice LeRae vs. Io Shirai, Bianca Belair & Kay Lee Ray
The action starts with Candice diving head first onto the heels as we go PiP for some ads. On the small screen, Storm plays face-in-peril to Belair. She’s whipped into her own corner as we return, and LeRae flies in and takes down Bianca, who quickly tags in the UK champ. Shirai distracts Candice while she climbs, and when she flies it’s right into a kick from Ray. Now it’s LeRae in trouble, as her old rival Io comes in to hit her with drop kicks and rest holds. Ray’s back in to work over Candice Wrestling.
LeRae survives a few covers and gets a small package on Kay Lee. She finally creates some space by dodging a charge and sending Ray to the floor, but Belair runs around to cut her off before she can get to her corner. Ray with a senton off the top for two. Things break down when Toni charges in to break that up, but takes a spear from Bianca. Ripley turns Belair inside out with a big boot, Io hits her with a forearm, and Candice nails her with an enziguri. Everyone is down as we go to another commercial while the referee restores order.
Candice is in the heel corner when we return, but she puts LeRae on her shoulders and gets a poison rana for her trouble. Belair gets a quick tag, but can’t keep Candice from tagging Toni in. She comes in hot and clears things up, then goes one-on-one with Lee Ray in a preview of Sunday. Io tags in, and hits a drop kick. A backbreaker sets her up for a moonsault, but Belair tags herself. She sets up for KOD, but Shirai launches herself from the middle of the ropes to drop kick both of them. Io angrily leaves, and Rhea is in for the finish. She hits Riptide after a few other moves.
Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm & Candice LeRae def. Io Shirai, Bianca Belair & Kay Lee Ray via pinfall (Ripley on Belair)
The faces look to celebrate, and Candice has the NXT title. She goes to hand it to the champ, but takes a moment to appreciate it. Ripley doesn’t seem to approve but they end up being okay and celebrating together.
After the announcers make a plea for donations to Red Cross to help Australia, Tommaso Ciampa gets a video package, reminding us he never lost the NXT title. Everytime he sees Adam Cole with Goldy, he feels empty inside. Cole took his life, and he wants it back.
After a break, Keith Lee is warming up and vows to pounce everyone who gets in his way in 2020. Then it’s Dusty Classic time!
Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler) vs. Imperium (Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel)
The Sons employ quick tags to get a couple early covers on Aichner, but Fabian eventually rakes the eyes to get a tag. Barthel hits a drop kick on Blake while he’s hung up in the corner for two. Wesley nails a DDT to escape and both men tag. Backbreaker from Cutler gets another nearfall, as things are happening fast. The German distracts and ends up getting a tag, and Imperium looks to isolate Cutler in their corner. That doesn’t last long however. Blake gets the boots up on an Aichner moonsault, then Barthel does the same to him on his own attempt. A brainbuster gets two.
Things continue to break down, and the Sons get a tandem fisherman’s buster/kick on Barthel for two, but Aichner breaks up by splashing onto all four men. Blake and Aichner exchange punches. Blake with a chop and elbow followed by a reverse atomic drop. Aichner tags in and hits a spinebuster. Barthel with a kick and Blake counters the European bomb with a rana. Barthel stops Cutler on the turnbuckles and Aichner picks up Blake for a European Bomb for the three count.
Imperium def. Forgotten Sons via pinfall to advance to the semi-finals of the Dusty Classic
Backstage, Cathy Kelley catches up with Matt Riddle. She asks how he came to be tagging with Pete Dunne. He says he doesn’t really know, but he walked up to Pete and said you’re a Bruiserweight and I’m a Bro, why don’t we team up. Dunne gave him the Pete special (a shrug), he gave him the Bro special (a hang ten hand sign) and the Bro-serweights were born.
After a break, we get a video for Gallus, and a reminder they also have a UK Tag title defense on Sunday.
Austin Theory vs. Joaquin Wilde
Wilde with an early takedown, and Theory tries to shake off the smaller man but Joaquin won’t let go of his ankle. He gets separation and ends up stomping Wilde and getting a nearfall off a fisherman’s suplex. Eventually Joaquin gets free for a forearm and controls things for a moment until he eats a drop kick. A TKO follows quickly and that’s it.
Austin Theory def. Joaquin Wilde via pinfall
It’s Damian Priest’s turn to talk about tonight as he gets ready with some ladies from his entourage. Winning the North American title is part of how he lives forever.
Undisputed ERA (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. Gallus (Wolfgang & Mark Coffey)
Adam Cole & Roderick Strong are out with the NXT Tag champs, and remain ringside. Joe Coffey is not here with the NXT UK Tag champs.
Wolfgang charges at the bell and flattens both KOR & Fish. They bring O’Reilly to their corner, but Kyle holds his own and uses a distraction from his parter to get Coffey to their corner. Fish comes in and they trade, but Mark puts a boot to one of his knees and Gallus takes control. Distractions from Cole & Strong allow Fish to catch Wolfie. O’Reilly lights him up with kicks, but ends up being overpowered as the teams go back and forth. Wolfgang and Kyle trade shots for a standoff as we go to commercial.
Those two are still fighting when we return, but a double team after a tag allows the ERA boys to level Wolfgang for two. Fish presses the advantage a looks for a headlock form behind, and ends up getting flipped. The same happens to O’Reilly when he goes for an ankle lock. A tag brings Coffey in hot. He takes out both his opponents and Cole. He can’t keep KOR down for three though. He gets a tag, and Undisputed lights Coffey up with tandem kicks. Malfunction at the junction leads to Kyle hitting his partner with a boot.
Gallus gets a slingshot/Samoan Drop combo on O’Reilly, but Fish breaks it up. All four men get to brawling. Coffey flies but gets Strong, and Fish distracts the ref while Cole hits Wolfgang with an enziguri. Chasing The Dragon, and the NXT champs beat the NXT UK champs.
Undisputed ERA def. Gallus via pinfall to advance to the semi-finals of the Dusty Classic
The ERA celebrates on stage, and Wolfgang signals to remind us it was four-on-two.
Ranallo then reminds us Finn Balor is a former Dusty Classic winner, and that’s our segue to how Finn’s shot at Cole ended when Gargano returned. Johnny’s here live, next.
After a quick South Wales Subculture intro video, street clothes Gargano is here and quickly grabs a mic.
He’s been waiting a long time to get a live mic to talk about the Prince. He’s not going to take anything away from what Balor did to build the brand, and he made Johnny TakeOver miss a TakeOver. Finn likes to say his future is his past. Well, his past is standing in the ring because he couldn’t finish the job on the ramp. Balor likes to say he’s the flagbearer of NXT, but in 2016 when Finn got the call, he couldn’t put the flag down fast enough. But when Johnny got it in August, he stayed here because he means it when he says he loves this place. And when Balor was off playing the extraordinary man who does extraordinary things, Johnny was here, throwing away Finn’s map and taking NXT to new places. He didn’t need Balor to succeed, and her comes The Prince.
Finn says it was a great promo. Maybe that’s what we should call him, Johnny Promo, since the doctors won’t clear him for anything else. He stands by his words, that’s Gargano is soft. So instead of whining about missing a TakeOver, go ask William Regal for a match against him at TakeOver: Portland. If he makes it that far.
Cameron Grimes is giving himself a pep talk for the main event. Mauro makes another plea for Australia before we take another commercial. After a commercial, we get a quick hype video for Grizzled Young Veterans. Then it’s the reveal of Kushida’s partner for next week - Time Splitters reunion is on! It’s Alex Shelley!
Mia Yim vs. Kayden Carter
Carter uses her speed to avoid Mia’s attacks in the early going, and they shake hands out of respect before re-engaging. They trade chops, then Kayden escapes via the ropes and gets a drop kick for a two count. Yim’s answers back with a powerbomb that gets a nearfall. Kicks and a basement dropkick gets another two count. A submission and another cover come up short, and Mia is frustrated. She misses a pair of boots and eats a bunch of forearms. A face wash and another kick to the head gets two for Carter. She climbs, but jumps right into Protect Ya Neck.
Mia Yim def. Kayden Carter via pinfall
Yim helps Carter up in the aftermath, and they’re both blasted by a woman in jeans. It’s Chelsea Green! And she’s brought her manager, Robert Stone (fka Robbie E). He says 2020 is the year of the Robert Stone brand, and it starts with the hottest - and he means hottest - free agent, Chelsea Green.
Dominik Dijakovic hypes himself up for the main event, then it’s another video for Tommaso Ciampa. All he wants, all he needs is one shot at Adam Cole so he can get his life back. The clip ends with him holding up his old sideplates.
Dominik Dijakovic vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Damian Priest vs. Keith Lee
Lee enters last, and the crowd is firmly in his corner. He pounces at the bell, and The Mon-Stars take out their rivals to spend some time trying to take out each other. Of course, they know each other too well. While they’re smiling in mutual respect, their opponents attack. With them down, Priest pops Grimes in the mouth. Damian flies at Lee, but gets caught AND KEITH USES HIM AS A WEAPON! That ends with him throwing Priest on DD.
On the floor, Grimes and Dijakovic double team Lee. He won’t go down though, and throws both men to the floor. Priest looks to fly but stops when Keith sees him. That gives Dominik and Cameron a chance to recover, and when they engage, Priest does fly as we go PiP. During the break, we get some Lee/DD action in the ring and Grimes/Priest on the floor.
Priest and Lee win those battles when we come back to full screen. The Archer climbs, but The Limitless One stops him with a head butt. Then Lee superplexes him the second rope. Before he can cover, Dijakovic hits a moonsault on Keith’s back. Grimes interupts a cover and nails him with kicks, then German suplexes DD. Cameron looks for someone to pin, and climbs in the corner with Priest. They trade shots, and a 360 roundhouse from Damian sets up an enziguri, but Lee catches Grimes. Dijakovic takes him away and hits Feast Your Eyes. Lee pounces DD out of the ring. Priest with The Reckoning, but Dom breaks up the pin with a boot from the floor!
Dijkovic and Priest try for kicks, and after missing a few, Dominik hits. A follow-up is met by Priest though. They rise with each other goozled, and Lee rises between them. He chokeslams both of them. He looks to fly, but Grimes catches him and corssbody/scoop slams him for two. Things break down, and Grimes takes Priest out on the floor, then stomps DD on the apron. He climbs to finish Lee with a stomp, but he flies into Grizzly Magnum! Grimes fights back, but not for long. Spirit Bomb!
Keith Lee def. Dominik Dijakovic, Cameron Grimes & Damian Priest via pinfall (on Grimes) to become the #1 contender for Roderick Strong’s North American title
Lee gets his title shot in two weeks. The Limitless One basks in his latest glorious moment as the show ends.