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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, live from the Capitol Wrestling Center: Kyle O’Reilly & Pete Dunne battle to determine Finn Bálor’s New Year’s Evil challenger, Toni Storm vs. Rhea Ripley, Leon Ruff teams with Kushida to face Johnny Gargano & Austin Theory, Karrion Kross returns to the ring, 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.
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Enjoy the show!
WWE NXT RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR DEC. 16
A former North American champ is applauding his tag partner when the show starts. Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett and Beth Phoenix welcome us to the show.
Kushida & Leon Ruff vs. Johnny Gargano & Austin Theory
The Way enters with Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. Hartwell has the Shotzi’s head trophy the group presented Candice with last week.
The current North American champ and Kushida start, but Johnny quickly no look tags in his protege. The Japanese veteran works over the younger American, but shortly after Ruff tags in, Theory is able to use his power. A comeback ends when Leon points to Gargano and gets run over by Theory. Johnny in, Ruff responds with a enziguri that starts a flurry, but it’s not long before he’s isolated in the wrong corner. Quick tags, but Kushida runs in to stop a tandem suplex. Things break down and we get stereo dives from the good guys. Ruff’s landing looks (sorry) rough. Gargano tangles with Kushida outside while Theory muscles Ruff back into the ring. He’s fired up, but Johnny is back in to the give the heels numbers as we take a commercial break.
Theory has Ruff in side headlock when we return. Leon gets lose, but Johnny tags in before he can reach his corner. An enziguri gets him there and Kushida comes in hot. Theory breaks things up before the Hoverboard Lock can be applied at the end of the run. Back and forth, and Ruff tags himself in for a crossbody. Tandem kicks in the corner on Johnny. Theory in and almost puts Ruff away with a swinging side slam. Ruff’s comeback is cut short by stereo superkicks, but Kushida breaks up the pin.
He lays out Theory with the wind-up punch, then takes a superkick. Johnny goes for a dive but is nearly rolled up. Ruff avoids a superkick and hits one of his own. He catches Johnny with a flying cutter and crucifix bomb, but he misses a blind tag. Theory kicks him and wins with ATL, now apparently rechristened “This is the Way”.
Austin Theory & Johnny Gargano def. Leon Ruff & Kushida via pinfall
Dexter Lumis is spotlighted sitting on a raised platform. He has a pen in his hand, and a tablet on an easel.
Video package from Toni Storm, running down her history with Rhea Ripley. She chased the Nightmare out of the UK. All she cares about is herself now - Toni Time. We see Kyle O’Reilly and Pete Dunne warming up as we take another break.
We get a video package for Legado Del Fantasma. Then McKenzie Mitchell talks to pissed off Shotzi Blackheart, who’s facing Indi Hartwell tonight. Shotzi’s proud of her WarGames team, and thinks Candice bragging about her win is ridiculous. She mocks the trophy, and says she broke LeRae’s arm in the cage, tonight she breaks her sidekick.
Tyler Rust vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Ciampa sets up a chair at the base of the ramp and drapes a Timothy Thatcher shirt on it before entering the ring. The Blackheart controls the early going, and Thatcher shows up while Rust is in a rest hold. He jaws at Tim for a second which lets get in a little offense, but not much. He throws Rust out to Thatcher and says “here’s your student”. In the confusion, Ciampa is bumped into Tim, then he dodges a superkick that catches Thatch in the face. Referees escort him out, and Rust capitalizes, nailing Tommaso with a forearm and pulling him shoulder first into the apron as we get more ads.
Rust is stretching the former champ when we return. It’s not long before Ciampa slams him down, but that seems to aggravate the shoulder damage. They trade kicks and the Sicilian Psychopath is a house afire. That leads to Fairytale Ending, but it’s blocked. Great nearfall from Rust off a flipping backbreaker, but Ciampa fights out of a submission. He eventually hits Willow’s Bell to end a tougher than expected challenge.
Tomasso Ciampa def. Tyler Rust via pinfall
Ciampa wipes his face with Thatcher’s shirt as Tim comes out trying to start something, but they’re kept separated. Ciampa throws the shirt at him and walks the other way.
A Grizzled Young Veterans video promo, then we see KOR and Dunne walking out as we go to break. That’s followed by a Karrion Kross teaser, then we see that Malcolm Bivens came out to give Rust a pep talk during the break. They fist bump and walk off together.
We see that Lumis is drawing the logo for New Year’s Evil.
Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne
Sorry, this is gonna be lighter than it deserves, and slower to update. The winter storm in the Northeast is knocking out staffers power, so we’re pulling double duty.
Tag champs Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch are out with Dunne, and the healthy members of Undiputed ERA are out with Kyle. The heels jaw with TUE from the floor before the bell, and Killian Dain & Drake Maverick run in to attack the champs. Things break down, and everyone but the men in the match is escorted to the back. The Bruiserweight and Kool Kyle continue the brawling at the bell, nearly missing a ten count when the fight goes outside. That’s what’s happening as we go picture-in-picture for the first time tonight.
Dunne on the offensive but has the Bitter End countered into a chokehold. He survives that and starts wrenching on O’Reilly’s arm while also digging at the ear and stomping on the ribs. Kyle’s turn to fight free of a submission and hits a boot of his own. He hits his series of butterfly suplexes for a near fall. Dunne gets kicked to get crotched up top. Kyle follows up, they jockey for the upper hand, and Dunne lands on his feet on a German suplex attempt. A tree of woe left Kyle gets kicked and stomped out before a dropkick floors him. PiP again.
They’re ramming each other’s heads into the turnbuckle when we return, and both fall to the floor. Powerbomb gets Pete two. They trade stuff again and go back to submission work. Kyle with a brainbuster and both men are down. O’Reilly up first for a pump knee that knocks out Dunne’s mouthguard, followed by a bridging back suplex for two. Kyle stomps on the hand, catches a kick, and tries a submission. Dunne counters into a triangle choke. Back and forth continues. They trade shots and the former UK champ cuts off the rebound lariat, snapping Kyle’s fingers while he’s stuck in the ropes. He adds a knee lift and has his Bitter End on the apron countered into a suplex to the floor. Back in, Kyle comes off the top with a diving knee that gets him the victory.
Kyle O’Reilly def. Pete Dunne via pinfall, will challenge Finn Balor for the NXT title at New Year’s Evil
The graphic for O’Reilly/Balor two is on the big screen as Kyle celebrates.
Mitchell talks to Rhea Ripley, who notes that Raquel Gonzalez backed away from their confrontation last week. She also tells Storm she’s different Nightmare now.
After some commercials, we check in on Xia & Boa’s training/torture. She’s crying and kicking his ass this week. The mysterious woman seems to approve.
Indi Hartwell vs. Shotzi Blackheart
The Way is out as a group. Shotzi is out in her new tank.
Lock-up and they trade takedowns, but it’s not long before Blackheart has top position and stretches Hartwell’s arm, holding on past the five count when Indi gets to the corner. Step-up enziguri, but something goes wrong on a follow-up senton in the corner. The announcers sell it as a Hartwell dodge, allowing Candice’s mentee to take control. Shotzi regains control, but when LeRae distracts her, Johnny hands Indi the trophy. The referee sees her hit Blackheart in the bread basket with it.
Shotzi Blackheart def. Indi Hartwell via disqualification
The Way are upset the trophy is broken, but that doesn’t stop Candice from hitting Wicked Stepsister.
Another Kross vignette, as he says he feels sorry for everyone in his path. That sends us to commercials. We come back to a hype video for Bronson Reed. He’s back next week.
Karrion Kross vs. Desmond Troy
All Kross, as you’d expect. Doomsday Saito into the Kross Jacket after a minute.
Karrion Kross def. Desmond Troy via submission
He calls out Damian Priest for New Year’s Evil.
McKenzie talks to Isaiah Swerve Scott backstage. She wants to know why he didn’t shake Jake Atlas’ hand last week. He doesn’t get why people are making such a big deal out of it. Swerve almost says that Atlas is beneath him, but catches himself. He says Jake belongs here, but losing to someone who doesn’t have as much experience gets to him. So he went to Mr. Regal and got a rematch set up. This time it’ll be a different result.
Ever-Rise rushes in to say that since last week was a “2 on 1 handicap situation” they went to corporate and got it stricken from the record book. There undefeated streak continues, they’re coming for Goldberg! They don’t want a rematch, but do want to say EVER-RISE RULES!
Dexter’s caricature reveals he’s the host of New Year’s Evil.
We see the main eventers walking to the ring as we take another break.
NXT champion Finn Balor speaks on how Kyle proved he belonged at TakeOver 31. He broke his jaw, but he still lost! So what’s next? O’Reilly suffers. Jan. 6 won’t be KOR/Balor II. It’ll be KOR/Balor: The End. We also learn that Kross/Priest is official.
Toni Storm vs. Rhea Ripley
Each woman obviously knows what the other has planned, as they counter everything while the announcers talk up their history. Both get a cover, too. Ripley ends up on the apron and pulls Storm with her, but gets driven into the post. She eats a boot from Toni to send us to break.
Storm wears Rhea down with a chinlock. The Nightmare battles out of it, then connects with a flurry of kicks and knees leading to a running basement dropkick. Toni fights off Riptide but gets leveled with a kick to the back. Mutual headbutt looks like it connects hard, and both are down for a bit. They trade shots as they get to their feet. Rhea wins out with another dropkick that gets two. Inverted Cloverleaf is applied but Storm battles her way out to hit a German. Ripley drops her face first on the turnbuckle for another cover. Battle to the apron, when Raquel Gonzalez shows up. Rhea knocks Storm off the apron and into Gonzalez, sending her over the guardrail. On the way back in, the big Texan drops Ripley face first on the apron, then drives her hard into the ring post with ease. Toni with a hip attack and Storm Zero to win.
Toni Storm def. Rhea Ripley via pinfall
Storm gloats while Gonzalez looks on from the ramp and Rhea seethes. That’s the show.