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: An empty arena show featuring Finn Bálor against Imperium’s Fabian Aichner, the start of the Interim Cruiserweight Championship Tournament, an appearance by NXT Women’s champ Charlotte Flair, 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 APRIL 15
We hear Mauro Ranallo’s voice on the highlights from last week, then Tom Phillips welcomes us to this week’s show. He’ll call this episode with Byron Saxton.
Finn Balor vs. Fabian Aichner
Marcel Barthel is here with his Imperium partner. Aichner tells Finn that if he wants WALTER, he has to go through him first. Then they lock up and get started with mat-based work. The Italian powers Balor into the the corner with a throw, and a distraction by Barthel seems to give Aichner the advantage, but Finn comes back with a pop over and drop kick. The Prince controls the action and slide kicks Fabian into the barricade as we go to commercial.
We’re back in the ring and grappling after the break. Another interaction with the German leads to a backbreaker, and Aichner is heeling it up and targeting that part of Finn’s anatomy. Balor slips out of powerbomb and stomps his opponent in the chest. Sling blade, but another distraction puts Finn in trouble. Barthel attacks on the floor while the referee deals with Aichner in the ring. Balor dodges when Fabian tries to knee him into the steel steps again. Sling blade on the floor to Marcel! Shotgun dropkick through the barricade!
Aichner attacks, and goes for a moonsault off the top, but Finn evades. Coup de Grace and 1916 follow.
Finn Balor def. Fabian Aichner via pinfall
The Prince delivers a warning to WALTER via the camera.
We see Velveteen Dream lounging backstage as he awaits NXT champ Adam Cole. The Women’s champ will also be speaking with us tonight. But first, more commercial!
After those we get highlights from Dakota Kai’s win over Tegan Nox in Portland, because tonight, Nox gets to face Kai’s heater, Raquel Gonzalez.
Charlotte Flair’s speech is a pre-recorded sit-down where she puts over Rhea Ripley as the future. But she says her title win will make her the first woman to dominate three eras. She beat the stars of the past like Nikki Bella and Trish Stratus. She dominated her own contemporaries. And now she’s here in NXT to prove she’s better than the next generation. She runs down prospective challengers, and offers Mia Yim “the first lottery ticket” since Yim was one of her first matches. This may have been filmed before last week’s ladder match?
Aliyah vs. Xia Li
Li angrily attacks at the bell, but hits a pump kick while the ref is trying to calm Xia down. Aliyah works the heat from there, but Li powers out of headlock and throws Aliyah, She shakes off a strike, then dodges a charge and lands a number of strikes in the next fllurry. High knee in the corner and a drop kick from Xia. While Aliyah’s down, Li hits her twist kick to the back and that’s it.
Xia Li def. Aliyah via pinfall
We get a video package about the Interim Cruiserweight Title Tournament, happening due to “prevailing circumstances”. We get our first Group B match next!
First, Matt Riddle is on the phone with Stallion Pete. The King of Bros doesn’t know who his partner is, and Dunne won’t tell him!
Akira Tozawa vs. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott
Tentative start, then business picks up, but neither man gains control through a chop contest and an exchange of strikes. A running European puts Scott on the floor, which leads to a battle on the apron. Swerve goes for a rana from the floor which misses, but Tozawa sells it anyway as we get a break.
The back and forth continues when we get back, but that ends when Tozawa swings into an octopus stretch after being whipped into the ropes. He transitions to guillotine, but Swerve powers out of that and nails Akira with a brainbuster. Swerve regroups then goes to follow-up, but Tozawa cradles for two. Separation, then Scott hits House Call, but only gets a nearfall. Jumping spin kick from the former Cruiserweight champ, then a suplex into the turnbuckles. Up top for the senton, and that’s it.
Akira Tozawa (1 - 0) def. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott (0 - 1) via pinfall
McKenzie Mitchell interviews Tozawa on the ramp after the match, and he vows to become champ again.
Velveteen is still chilling, and we get a video promo from El Hijo del Fantasma. In Spanish, he explains his history and says he can’t think of a better way to launch his NXT career than by winning the Cruiserweight title.
Tegan Nox vs. Raquel Gonzalez
Gonzalez is here with Kai. Raquel charges at the bell, and Tegan tries for a waist lock but is quickly overpowered. She gets wrist control and lifts her up into two shoulder blocks without releasing. Backbreaker, then a clubbing blow to the back of the head. She fishhooks Nox’s mouth while wrenching her neck, and is admonished by Wuertz for it. The assualt continues, and Drake checks on Tegan when she collapse after being whipped into the corner. Nox tries to punch free, but ends up getting mauled in the corner. When the official forces the break, Dakota hits the running boot. Cover, 1 - 2 - NO!
Before Kai can get involved again, Shotzi Blackheart is here! She clocks Dakota with her helmet, and when Gonzalez tries to chokeslam Shotzi on the apron, Nox grabs her for the roll-up.
Tegan Nox def. Raquel Gonzalez via pinfall
We see a bit of a Keith Lee interview. We’ll get more of it after these commercials.
The North American champ says his journey to NXT started when he was five and his grandmother introduced him to wrestling. But when he decided to pursue it as a career, his whole family was against it. He stole his own car to make his own town, and almost got kicked out of the house for it.
For the next 13 years, he heard a lot of people tell him no. He’s too big, he doesn’t wrestle like them. But now he’s here on the biggest stage in the business, and he stands out. He thanks us for supporting him as we see his highlights since Survivor Series. He could have given up, but he decided to grind instead. And that’s what it means to be Limitless.
Dexter Lumis vs. Tehuti Miles
Miles isn’t scared of Lumis, and asks “is anybody in there?” before going for the lock-up, but Dexter sidesteps him and smashing him in the back of the head with a forearm. Tehuti fights back for a bit, but a spinebuster puts him down. Lumis slithers over to him, picks him up for the sitout side slam and goes right into an anaconda vice.
Dexter Lumis def. Tehuti Miles via submission
A frustrated Dream is still waiting for Cole. Their face-to-face is supposed to be next.
After a commercial, we see Cole is still at the pool. Did Dream actually think he was going to show up? Is Velveteen stupid? He’s still focused on protecting reality, and reality is that no one in NXT deserves a shot at his title. There are more important things to focus on right now... like Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish winning the Tag titles tonight and helping make Undisputed ERA whole again.
Dream is coming out anyway. He steps to the podium, saying it’s typical of Cole. Does he really think Dream is stupid? Because he thinks a lot of the champ. He puts over Cole’s accomplishments and calls him the greatest NXT champion of all time. But when it comes down to it, it’ll be Dream Over BAY BAY. We see Finn Balor over his shoulder. Finn steps to him and says he doesn’t know who he is, and he’s never spoken to him. But he will now, because if he keeps making incorrect statements about who the best NXT champion is, they’ll have a date. Velveteen suggest Finn pick him up next Wednesday.
Malcolm Bivens is here with Rinku and Sauruv, and he’s quoting Johnny Gill. They’re coming after whoever wins the titles tonight.
We’ll get three Cruiserweight tournament matches next week.
Stallion Pete is on the big screen to introduce the partner he picked for Riddle... Timothy Thatcher!
Undisputed ERA (Roderick Strong & Bobby Fish) vs. Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher
Fish & Riddle start, and Matt gets the best of the technical showdown, so Bobby heads to the ramp. Roddy huddles with him as we go to commercial. Thatcher gets the tag shortly after we return, and quickly tosses Strong to the match and starts going for holds. Roddy goes for the ropes but Timothy powers him back to the middle for a bow-and-arrow. Strong manages to get the rope, and holds it while cheap shotting Thatcher to get control. Tag to Fish and the ERA starts working the heat.
It doesn’t take long for Thatcher to get to the corner though, and Matt comes in hot. A series of suplexes for Strong, and when Fish looks to get involved, Tim meets him and they deliver stereo gutwrench suplexes. Riddle talks Thatcher through the step-up senton spot, and Timothy does his best Pete Dunne shrug after it connects. Fish takes Thatcher out when he goes back to the apron, so there’s no one there when Riddle goes for a tag. Matt’s turn to sell, but Undisputed’s roll is slowed when Dexter Lumis gets spotlighted in a distant corner of the room. He’s just staring at the ring while we get more ads.
Riddle is still taking a beating when we return. Eventually, Fish goes for a trio of suplexes and Matt powers his way to countering one to a fisherman’s suplex. He gets to the corner and Thatcher is in with throws for both Fish and Strong, then he proceeds to forearm and uppercut the crap out of Roddy. Strong fights back, but gets put down with an enziguri. He tries for an armbar but Roddy gets the rope. He gets away, and a distraction from Fish helps him avoid another suplex. The numbers game gets the best of Thatcher, and there’s a nearfall after a backbreaker/running knee strike.
Matt saves him from a high/low. In the aftermath, Roddy goes for a strike but gets caught! Fujiwara Armbar, and Strong taps.
Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher def. Undisputed ERA via submission to retain the NXT Tag titles
Tommaso Ciampa talks to the camera from backstage. He’s done with this, and Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae showed the world. So Johnny’s the better man, he’s CIAMPA’S ATTACKED! The camera gets hit so we don’t see anything, just hear a beating. Tommaso falls to the ground, and a high heeled vinyl boot steps next to his face. Then a bald guy in a leather blazer drops down. It’s Killer Kross!
Tick-Tock.
And scene.