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Here's a place to check results and comment along with the newest episode of WWE NXT, airing live on Wednesday night (for the second to last time) 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: A 12-man Battle Royal featuring Austin Theory, Bronson Reed, Leon Ruff, Roderick Strong, LA Knight, Pete Dunne, Roderick Strong, Tyler Rust, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Jake Atlas, Dexter Lumis & Cameron Grimes to determine who will be in a Gauntlet match on night one of TakeOver: Stand & Deliver for the right to challenge Johnny Gargano for the North American title on night two! Plus, Roderick Strong & Cameron Grimes pull double duty with a singles match, Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter call out Tian Sha, the card for TakeOver is finalized as all NXT’s feuds get a final push for Stand & Deliver, 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 MAR. 31
I would say “It’s Wednesday night, and you know what that means” but it really doesn’t since NXT is moving to Tuesdays on April 13th. Much respect to the late Jon Huber though. NXT at the Capitol Wrestling Center starts NOW. Have you got your Peacock subscription yet? You’ll need it for night two of Takeover: Stand & Deliver on April 8th, but next Wednesday you can simply tune in to USA Network as usual one more time to watch night one!
Roderick Strong vs. Cameron Grimes
The beef between these two men has been simmering since Cameron Grimes tried to buy the intellectual property of the Undisputed Era last week, and Roderick Strong responded with a punch to the face. Strong enters first wearing his own jacket, and Grimes comes out with a mic in his hand to cut a promo. “Honestly without Cameron Grimes, Undisputed Era may be done for. But Roddy, I’m here to tell you we can keep it going. Last week I wasn’t fully prepared, but this week I’ve got something to change your mind.” He holds up a t-shirt that says GRIMES THE SYSTEM and he’s also got a Titantron entrance video for it. Strong has had enough and rushes out of the ring to confront Grimes on the entrance ramp and nail him with haymakers. He throws Grimes into the ring and the bell rings immediately!
Grimes takes a beating for a minute before getting a front face lock to slow Strong down. Strong gets back up and drills Grimes with a chop. Grimes puts Strong in the ropes and claws at his face before stomping him down in the corner. Strong fights him off and kicks Grimes while he’s down, and then the two start trading forearms. Strong ties Grimes up in the ropes for a HARD chop and says “Just SHUT UP” before kicking him in the chest. Grimes trips him into the turnbuckle and gets up selling, then hits a chop of his own and boots to the gut. Strong stumbles around but comes back with a single leg lariat and a clothesline before diving through the ropes boots first into Grimes. The brawl continues outside! He gets distracted by a NeXTra wearing an Undisputed Era shirt, Grimes posts his shoulder, and we get our first commercial break.
Grimes is in control in the ring as we get a replay of him shoving Strong into the lighting rig outside the ring to injure his right shoulder. Roddy tries to fire up but Grimes gets control back. Strong with a back breaker for a near fall and more chops in the corner before setting Grimes on the top rope. He climbs up to join him and hits the elevated superplex! Grimes kicks out at 2.9. Grimes tries to roll away but Strong hits crisscross forearms until Grimes counters for a near fall and goes into his trunks for a foreign object. It’s an Undisputed armband. Strong knocks it out out of his hands, but stares at it for too long, and Grimes hits a Cave In for the pin!
The winner of this contest: Cameron Grimes
And that takes us right to a video package from Karrion Kross and Scarlett, where Kross promises to dethrone “The Prince,” followed by another commercial break.
WALTER promo when we return. He puts over Tommaso Ciampa as being an all time NXT great, but says that Ciampa’s got “other priorities” now and he’s become a shell of his former self. “At Takeover I’m going to prove what I mean when I say the mat is sacred.” Our NXT announce team plugs Takeover hard, noting you can get it for as low as $2.50 a month, before we go to Legado Del Fantasma in the ring.
Santos Escobar: “Tonight, I want to issue an open challenge. Why? Because I run the bingo around here. Because I want to show Jordan Devlin what he’s in for. I was born a champion and that is the difference between me and you Jordan Devlin. I am the emperor of lucha libre. It’s not a nickname, it’s not a catch phrase. One hundred years of tradition is what I represent. The very cruiserweight title was born out of what I represent. This division will forever belong to me as long as I want it to, because it’s in my blood, and it runs through my veins. Sangre y tradicion. Blood and tradition says I’m the best cruiserweight in the HISTORY of NXT.” His promo is cut off by Prince Pretty!
Tyler Breeze: “You know what the difference is between you and me? You think the cruiserweight division is yours because you’re entitled. Me, I had to work my ass off to be here. Open challenge? Challenge accepted.”
Santos Escobar vs. Tyler Breeze
Escobar yells “you’re a joke” at Breeze before hitting him with a dropkick in the corner. Breeze knocks Escobar down in turn and stomps on him to the count of four, he gets up, and Breeze knocks him down with a dropkick and puts a boot to his throat for four. Breeze tosses Escobar out of the ring and the ref makes him back up for a moment, but Breeze goes outside of the ring to throw Escobar back in. Escobar with more dropkicks and a near fall. Kick to the gut and whip to the corner but Breeze floats to the outside, then knocks Escobar down with a kick and posts his left left into the ring post. He wipes out Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wile and kicks Escobar in the head before our commercial break!
Santos Escobar got back into control while we were away, and he lays the boots to Breeze before throwing him high in the air for a knee to the gut. The inverted surfboard follows but Breeze is able to break free, though Escobar smirks as he sells and covers him for a near fall. Escobar lifts him up and shoves him into the corner for some more smack talking, followed by slaps and chops. He tells the announce table he “runs the bingo” again. Breeze blocks a charge and takes Escobar down for some ground and pound, then works over the left knee. Forearm to the head and leg on the ropes to be stomped. Spinebuster. Sharpshooter! Escobar is in deep trouble here as Breeze shows us his shades of Bret Hart (appropriate his trunks are pink and black). Escobar crawls for the ropes and forces the break. Escobar blocks an Unprettier, kicks him in the jaw. and nails him with a Phantom Driver to finish off the match. Oh well. Good effort from Prince Pretty.
The winner of this contest: Santos Escobar
MSK are here! Legado del Fantasma bail as they make the save before Prince Pretty can get a post match beatdown. The Grizzled Young Veterans interrupt ALL of them with a video on the Titantron. “We are laser focused on one thing only — the Grizzled Young Veterans are ssssssoon to be recognized as the next NXT tag team champions.”
McKenzie Mitchell is backstage with The Way. Gargano erupts in outrage at William Regal saying he’s “cuckoo bananas” and “unfit to run NXT.” Austin Theory says he’ll win the battle royal and let Johnny Gargano do the “finger poke of doom.” Gargano: “That killed the business!” Theory: “We’re still here though.” You know... the man has a point. Gargano agrees and says his money is on Theory. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell vow to show everybody what real champions look like NEXT. For some reason we also get footage of a dog running around outside the building. Okay then??
Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell vs. Gigi Dolin & Zayda Ramier
The opponents of The Way are already in the ring, getting no introduction before Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell make their entrance. Indi Hartwell works with woman number one, who is the fire red haired Gigi Dolin. Candice LeRae tags in but misses a charge into the corner, and Gigi Dolins partner Zayda Ramier from Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling tags in. Hartwell tags back in and plants Ramier with a spine buster before tagging LeRae. Ramier tries an inside cradle for two. The changes are fast and furious here. Hartwell with an elbow to the back from the ropes and Ramier is down and out for the three count.
Your winners of the contest: Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell
LeRae: “There’s not a woman in that locker room who deserves to be a champion more than I do. That means Indi and I deserve to be NXT women’s tag team champions! Shotzi, Ember, I’m coming for what’s mine, and as I said before it’ll be on our time, our stage, and our WAY. And that, is NXT Takeover, Stand & Deliver.”
That brings out Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon riding their tank. Ember Moon: “Excuse em Candice, did you just say you deserve OUR titles? You have lost your damn minds. Shotzi, what do you say?” Blackheart: “I say at Takeover it’s T, C, B.” Moon: “But how about we knock some sense into you right now?” They fire the tank and ride off to the back. Zoey Stark will face Raquel González next, but not before Io Shirai confronts her backstage and yells “You can not kill me!” They get into a brawl and González knocks her down, officials go to check on her, and the dog has now run inside the Capitol Wrestling Center. Beth Phoenix: “What’s with the dog?” My sentiments exactly. Commercial.
Roderick Strong is sulking as we come back from break, and says he won’t stick around for the battle royal main event, because he’s “done with everything.” He walks out of the CWC.
Zoey Stark vs. Raquel González
I’m not sure how Raquel González can wrestle in those skin tight leather pants. I’m also not complaining about it. Stark with a head scissor, she gets floated to the apron, she does a backflip over González, she drop kicks her into the corner. González catches her mid air and face plants her for a near fall. González is cranking on Stark with a crossface, then twists her left arm behind her head for good measure as her friend Dakota Kai looks on outside the ring. González is rag dolling Stark right now. Stark slowly fights back to her feet with punches and a knee to the gut. González charges the corner and misses, Stark hits a superkick and pulls down the top rope to send González tumbling outside. Stark tries to give on her, González catches her, and Stark throws her into the ring post. Dakota Kai punches Stark in the face and Stark sends her over the barricade! Stark with a running knee to the head of González for a near fall! Stark to the top rope. González clubs her in the back and tries to pick her up. Stark fights her off and hits a neck breaker for two. Spinebuster for González to finally put Stark away. I’m surprised just how much offense she got on González. I would have made the challenger look stronger before Io Shirai next week.
The winner of this contest: Raquel González
Io Shirai charges out from the back to get in the ring and brawl with González. She dropkicks González out of the ring and the fight continues! González picks her up and throws her into the plexiglass. Officials surround Shirai while Dakota Kai tries to get González to head to the back. They stand at the top of the ramp looking at her handiwork before we get a teaser for a Kyle O’Reilly/Adam Cole video package after the break. Oh, and the damn dog is back again. Wonderful.
KUSHIDA: “Tonight, nothing will stop me from winning...” but Pete Dunne cuts him off. “In case you misheard the challenge, I dare you, try to prove me wrong.” The two exchange ugly faces and we go to a video package recapping the Adam Cole & Kyle O’Reilly war. If you saw the beginning and the end of last week’s show you already know everything in this video package except for the dramatic music. We have another match after the break!
Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter vs. Tian Sha’s Xia Li
Mei Ying stays at the top of the entrance ramp on her throne, leaving Xia Li to head down to the ring for the tag team match. I suppose that makes sense if Karen Q never rehabbed her knee enough to get back into the ring. Therefore what we expected to be a tag team match is now a handicap match, with Kacy & Kayden making quick tags and working over Xia Li before she rolls out at 2 to recover. Catanzaro gives chase and Li throws her into the ring apron and the barricade, then back into the ring. She goes for a delayed vertical suplex and Catanzaro goes for the inside cradle. Kayden Carter waits for the tag as Mei Ying and Boa look on, and Carter is not having it. She goes to confront Ying, who puts her in a choke hold and SQUEEZES HER UNTIL SHE DROPS UNCONSCIOUS. She sits back down. Meanwhile back in the ring Xia Li his a knee to the jaw and a spin kick for the pin.
The winner of this tag team contest turned handicap match turned one on one match or whatever the heck this was: Xia Li
Even the announce team have no idea what just happened. I don’t blame them.
Raquel González is trying to do an interview with McKenzie Mitchell and she gets jumped by Io Shirai AGAIN. González picks her up and SWINGS HER THROUGH A WALL. I know that was supposed to be impressive but the reverse camera angle shows it was a boarded up window, meaning it was pre fabricated to give way, ruining the illusion altogether. Oh and the dog is now at the feet of somebody in stiletto boots named Franky, with a note they will be seeing us on April 13th. Whatever. Commercial!
Tommaso Ciampa: “WALTER, my wife and my baby girl gave me this necklace. You didn’t know that, and that’s okay, but you reminded me of my journey — my story. Sometimes in life we need to be reminded of who we are. I’ve heard what you had to say. Seems like a lot of people have a lot to say these days. So now I sit here and ask myself — are they right? Is WALTER right? Have I changed? Yeah I guess in some ways, I have. But then I block out all of the hate and think about all of the people who continue to believe, and my wife, and my baby girl Willow Bell. I hear you, I see you, and I feel you. At Takeover we’re gonna remind the world. I’m gonna chase that dragon, climb to the top of his mountain, and chop his damn head off. WALTER you’ve gotta understand something. I’ve been to the top and I’ve fallen to the bottom and I know what it’s like to make that climb again! So yeah WALTER I’ve changed but I’ve learned over the last two years, I’d rather be a man who fights for something, I mean who REALLY FIGHTS for something, than a man who fights with nothing to lose any day of the week and twice on Wednesday. You want to know if the Blackheart is still there, if the Psycho Killer is still there, in SEVEN DAYS AT TAKEOVER STAND & DELIVER you’re gonna get your answer — and it’s going to cost you your NXT UK championship. WALTER it’s a long long fall from the top of the mountain. Buckle up!!”
Finn Bálor: “I’ve been expecting Kross for a long time. It was never a case of if, it was a case of when. My stamina has always been my strength. Finn Bálor doesn’t get gassed out. Kross may try to dictate the pace but see that’s fine with me. The longer it goes, the deeper we get, that’s where he drowns. Kross there will be no fairy tale ending. At Takeover: Stand & Deliver, you choke. Finn Bálor, STILL NXT champion.”
Gauntlet Eliminator Qualifying Battle Royal
Isaiah Scott is the first to come out for tonight’s main event. Leon Ruff blindsides him right as he gets down to the ring and the two start to brawl both outside and inside the ring! Leon Ruff clotheslines him outside and is about to hit a suicide dive before Scott bails and cowers behind the announce table to send us to commercial.
Pete Dunne is making his entrance right as we come back, and it appears that all of the other competitors for the match are already in the ring, because the moment he enters we get the opening bell. The announcers remind us that Roderick Strong is not here, so instead of a 12 man battle royal, it’s actually 11. Dexter Lumis is in the corner just staring at everyone with no one going after him. Malcolm Bivens interferes to help get Jake Atlas eliminated. Tyler Rust gets floated over the ropes to the floor and Bivens just lost his client. Bronson Reed knocks Austin Theory out of the ring with a butt to the face, he lands on his back, so he’s eliminated once he kips up and lands on his feet. What an ignoramus. Backspring double elbow by KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA and Dunne start trading haymakers. They trade moves until they spill over the top rope, simultaneously eliminating each other! Commercial.
We’ve got Isaiah Scott, Leon Ruff, Dexter Lumis, Bronson Reed, Cameron Grimes and LA Knight left in the ring as our final six when we come back. Johnny Gargano has joined the announce table to watch the order for the gauntlet at Takeover: Stand & Deliver night one next week, and to add a little spicy commentary to the proceedings. Bronson Reed eliminates Leon Ruff and Isaiah Scott back to back and we’re down to four! LA Knight chops the knee and works on Reed. He and Grimes form an alliance but Reed fights them off with headbutts. Knight is thrown to the apron, he pokes Reed in the eyes and leaps back in, Reed catches him, but he escapes and they team up with Dexter Lumis to toss Reed out!
Grimes tries to offer both men some money to eliminate themselves and let Grimes be the last man in the gauntlet. Lumis decks him with a right hand and his money goes flying, and both Lumis and Knight toss him out! The two stare each other down in the ring as the show goes past the top of the hour. Lumis decks Knight with multiple right hands. High back body drop! Knight winces in pain as he gets up. Lumis tries to toss him, Knight puts on the brakes, they fight back and forth on the apron and Knight snaps his neck off the ropes. Knight goes to spear him but he goes through the middle rope, and since he didn’t go “over the top (dad)” it’s not an elimination. He yanks Lumis off the apron, who DID go over the apron, and that IS an elimination.
Your winner of the battle royal: LA Knight!
Knight picks up some of Grimes’ money off the announce table, points at Gargano, and says he doesn’t want money... just that North American title. Io Shirai comes back out to the ring and she’s got a mic. “Raquel González!” Then she says a bunch of words I didn’t understand because I’m a filthy gaijin. González understood though and comes back out to ringside, and the two start brawling again until the whole women’s locker room spills out from the back to try and keep them apart. Io Shirai knocks González and a whole bunch of the locker room down with a big dive from the top rope into the crowd. That’s how our show ends!