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Here's a place to check results and comment along with the newest episode of WWE NXT, airing live on Tuesday 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: Johnny Gargano defends the North American title against Bronson Reed in a Steel Cage, Toni Storm vs. Zoey Stark, an interview with Pete Dunne, a live appearance by Cameron Grimes’ nemesis Ted DiBiase, 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 May 18
It’s Tuesday night, and you know what that means. We’re at the Capitol Wrestling Center and tonight it’s time for some rage in a cage. Let’s get started!
Toni Storm vs. Zoey Stark
We’re opening tonight’s show with a rematch. Storm enters first followed by Stark, with no pre-match promo from either woman. They’ve talked about each other enough already though. No more words. Stark stretches her arms out as the ref rings the bell, and Storm just stares at her. She slowly saunters over and slaps her in the face. Stark overpowers her into the corner and lays into her with feet and fists, then dropkicks her out of the ring. Storm screams in rage. Stark does a splash over the ropes to wipe her out and screams in joy! She throws Storm back in and does a springboard missile drop kick, then tries to chase Storm down on the opposite side of the ring. Storm yanks her so she lands on the ring apron, throws her into the steel steps, then smashes her head into the steps with her posterior. She gets in the ring to celebrate as the NeXTras express their displeasure. The ref starts a count out and Stark gets back in at 8.
Storm continues the beatdown but Stark tries to fire up with forearms, to no avail as Storm herks her up for a suplex. She stretches Stark out from behind and pulls her back to her feet just to throw her into the ropes and put a boot in her face on the rebound. Stark keeps trying to fight back with her fists but Storm levels her with a right hand and biels her across the ring. Storm stretches out Stark’s spine over her knee but Stark slips free. Storm pins her down for a near fall. Another big right from Storm. Uppercut. Another uppercut. Stark counters the next one into a near fall. Jumping enzuigiri from Stark to a commercial break!
And we’re back with Storm and Stark trading haymakers. Reverse superkick by Stark and she throws Storm to the center of the ring for a diving clothesline, a sliding dropkick, and a near fall. Wade Barrett unintentionally makes a pun when he says Stark has learned “to ride out the storm” in a match. Another near fall for Stark after a head scissor reversal. Stark drills knees into Storm’s head. Storm lands on her feet on a throw, go behind, German suplex, Storm Zero... Stark kicks out!! Beth Phoenix: “Nobody kicks out of that!” Well, nobody SHOULD, but Stark just did. Storm drills her head first into the canvas and pins her clean as a sheet. Well! That’s that. Wade Barrett: “I have no idea what maneuver Toni just used there.” I like it though Wade! I like it a lot.
The winner of this contest: Toni Storm
Franky Monet arrives for her debut
Toni Storm gets no time to celebrate as Monet and her pooch are in the building. Instead of staying with the irate Storm and the arriving Monet though we go... to the back?? (Mike Tenay approves.) Legado del Fantasma are talking about MSK, but Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher says they can go to the back of the line. Thatcher: “Hey! El gato no tienes zapatos!” (The cat has no shoes.) Legado says that makes no sense. Ciampa: “Yes it does. It means CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.” Now we go to a video package from “earlier today” of Cameron Grimes arriving at the building and telling somebody to be his valet. The guy he tosses his keys to (Jake Atlas) says no, only Ted DiBiase gets a valet for his parking spot, so Grimes says he’ll beat him up in the ring tonight. And we go to commercial... with no follow up on Franky Monet’s debut? Who is directing this show?!
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell are having a spa day. They have cucumber facials on so they don’t realize Dexter Lumis is the one giving them massages, although he leaves in disgrace after Hartwell agrees with LeRae that he’s “such a loser.” Aww, poor guy. This sends us to a video package previewing the Karrion Kross vs. Finn Bálor rematch next week!
Cameron Grimes vs. Jake Atlas
“Everybody thinks it’s funny that Ted DiBiase keeps embarrassing Cameron Grimes. But wait until you see the real Ted DiBiase. Hit it!” Grimes throws to a video package on the screen of DiBiase being handed his ass time after time in vintage WWF skits. He gets pinned by Virgil, he gets slop thrown on him, and so on. The NeXTras still chant “Di-Bi-ah-See” for him and Atlas leads the crowd chant. Grimes gets irate and charges but Atlas dropkicks him in the jaw and throws him out of the ring. Grimes sells on the floor as we go to a break!
(And still no follow up on the “world debut” of Franky Monet.)
So apparently they rang the bell during the commercial break for the match to officially get underway. Once again, who is directing the show tonight? Atlas leaps to the ropes and throws Grimes across the ring then drills him with a head kick. Head scissor for a near fall. Grimes kicks Atlas away, floats him to the apron, Atlas hits a shoulder to the gut and comes back in but Grimes catches him with a knee and nails him with a clothesline for two. Place your bets now on whether a distraction from Ted DiBiase leads to Jake Atlas getting a roll up pin and winning this contest.
Atlas nails Grimes with a haymaker and a chop. Grimes and Atlas trade reversals until Grimes smacks hard into the turnbuckle. DiBiase’s limo pulls up outside via picture in picture as the match continues. Grimes eats a clothesline for a near fall. Atlas climbs to the top rope and Grimes runs over to intercept him. Atlas punches him away and leaps over him. Atlas gets planted on a crossbody attempt and Grimes starts celebrating, but DiBiase’s music interrupts. The Million Dollar Man walks out to the top of the ramp smiling and laughing. “I’m right here big boy.” And sure enough, Atlas rolls him up for the pin, and DiBiase laughs at the clown — as he should. Grimes chases DiBiase to his limo outside, DiBiase mocks him again, and the limo driver pulls away before our commercial break.
The winner of this contest; Jake Atlas
Video package where Bronson Reed promises to make 14 years of blood, sweat and tears worth it to his wife tonight.
The Pete Dunne interview segment
Arash Markazi is interviewing Pete Dunne and asking him why he called out the whole locker room. “I’ve already proven I can beat KUSHIDA. That’s done. But if I want that title, it’s there. And then you look at WALTER, that’s unfinished business. That’s my title, my brand, I can go there and I can take that back. Johnny Gargano, we’ve only been in the ring one time. How did it end? I won. And I want to do that again. And of course Karrion Kross, I want to go for the main title, there’s something that’s eluded me to this point. There’s a reason for all of them.”
Markazi asks if Dunne wants people to put respect on his name. “I don’t really care, to be honest. I let my work speak for itself. I’ve never had a bad match. The occasional one I might have lost, but people leave different when they’ve been in the ring with me. It’s not just about wins and losses sometimes. They leave different.”
Markazi says Dunne’s matches feel like UFC fights. “I take a lot of inspiration from traditional British wrestling, and I just try and mix that with my own style I created from traveling all around the world. Doing bids in America, Japan, and wherever else I go in the world. I try to blend it all together but there’s definitely an influence from that traditional British style. You know people like Fit Finlay, you can see that in what I do, but I just try to make it more violent and more aggressive.”
Markazi asks about his connection to the fans. “It brings a whole different element to what we do right? Like seeing people react to the way I’m bending someone’s finger or twisting someone’s joint, obviously it adds a different feeling to what you’re watching. Whether you got the audience reacting or you’re just watching at home, you can see how painful that is.”
Markazi asks about his future goals. “I used to be somebody that set goals but now I just take opportunities as they come. It’s time to go after that NXT title, I’d be lying if that wasn’t the glaring, the obvious thing for me right? I’ve conquered the UK and now I’m here and it’s finally time to conquer the US.” Interview ends and The Imperium is in the ring.
Alexander Wolfe vs. Killian Dain
Drake Maverick accompanies Dain to the ring, but he’s still afraid of a Four Horsemen style beatdown. Wolfe eats a massive German suplex and Marcel Barthel slides a steel chair into the ring. The ref tries to take the chair away and the distracted Wolfe gets leveled by Dain for the pin. Maverick jumps on his back to celebrate as Dain looks down on his opponent.
The winner of this contest: Killian Dain
That was barely a match. It was almost a squash. And guess what? The Horsemen beatdown isn’t for Drake Maverick, it’s for Alexander Wolfe. Barthel and Fabian Aichner give him the Imperium Bomb and strike a pose. We’ve got another match after this break!
Backstage interview with Dakota Kai and Raquel González. González: “I beat Mercedes and I have no problem with telling her I respect her.” Kai: “I on the other hand would have kicked her head off.” Ever-Rise interrupts as Kai is trying to explain that they’ll go for the women’s tag team titles again. González: “Who are you?” They put up a banner for their show “Ever-Rise Live” and González slaps the piss out of whichever one was mouthing off to her.
Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher vs. Legado del Fantasma
Ciampa and Thatcher have matching gear and their own Titantron team video now. Or maybe I’m just noticing the gear and entrance video for the first time? Have they always had that? Either way the ref quickly calls for the bell and Legado try to run away, but Ciampa is having none of it and makes sure the action continues outside the ring with a smash into the barricade. Back in the ring he hits Wilde with a shoulder tackle for a near fall. Ciampa cranks on the beck but Wilde refuses to submit. Wilde gets back to his feet but Thatcher is tagged in to continue attacking the shoulder and neck. Wilde bulldozes his way over to Mendoza for a tag. Thatcher takes Mendoza down and looks for an arm breaker. He gets up but Thatcher keeps the hold on. Ciampa tags back in to continue the beating. Ciampa puts him in a triangle choke then breaks it to go for a pinfall. Why not get the submission? Coampa wrings the left arm, Irish whip, forearm, but the second time Mendoza gets his feet up at the last second. He pummels Ciampa in the head. Ciampa gets a boot up himself and posts Mendoza in their corner to tag Thatcher. Thatcher clamps on a neck hold and works on the left arm and shoulder. Mendoza tries to fish hook him and momentarily gets the advantage, but Thatcher stretches out the left shoulder in response. Mendoza breaks the hold and kicks Thatcher in the gut. Thatcher shoots him off. Baseball slide, drop kick, chest kicks, Thatcher catches the kick and goes for the Kurt Angle style ankle lock. The ref tells him to break the hold and he refuses. Ciampa comes in when Wilde tries to interfere and puts on an ankle lock of his own! Double pinfall attempt but the ref won’t count either one because too many men are in the ring. We get a double double down for the commercial!
Ciampa is running corner to corner with clotheslines, bouncing off the ropes in between, wiping out Legado at will as we return. Wade Barrett: “I’m exhausted just watching him do this!” Apparently Mendoza was “medically cleared” during the break according to the announce team — I’m not sure why. Okay, now we know why. They show Mendoza taking a forearm straight to the nose during the break. He may have a broken nose, but that’s not stopping him from trading slaps with Ciampa in the corner. Mendoza backs up and signals for the end but Ciampa ducks as he charges and Mendoza dives through the ropes to the floor. Thatcher gets the hot tag and now it’s his turn to take Legado apart, giving each man belly to belly suplexes at will. Near fall on Mendoza. Thatcher and Ciampa work him over in the corner and Ciampa tags back in. Quick tags to cut off the ring as Thatcher comes back in. Ciampa comes back in and they hit double team chops before a running knee for two.
Wilde looks on as Mendoza tries to kick his way back into the match, chop his way back into the match, but Ciampa drills him with multiple forearms. Mendoza finally knocks Ciampa down with a kick to the head and he rolls over into the heel corner, where Wilde tags in, and now it’s their turn to make quick tags. Double springboard moonsaults for a near fall and Thatcher breaks it up. Thatcher is knocked off the apron but he breaks up a double team finisher from the outside. Back in the ring Ciampa hits Willow’s Bell on Wilde but Mendoza dives in to break it up! Grizzled Young Veterans run out from the back to attack Ciampa. Mendoza hits the assisted kick to the head and picks up the pin.
The winners of this match: Legado del Fantasma
Bobby Fish is explaining his actions last week to McKenzie Mitchell. “I’m back now, and that means that there’s a debt to be paid, and I can’t think of a better place to start than with you Pete Dunne. You claim you’re the match that nobody wants and I find that funny because that’s the only match I’m interested in. Turn up next week because that business between you and I, I’m going to finish it.” Commercial!
(And still no follow up on Franky Monet’s world debut.)
At the spa Candice LeRae’s credit card is declined. Hartwell and LeRae try to blame it on Austin Theory ordering pizzas. The clerk says there was an unpaid charge from three weeks ago from a florist. Hartwell puts two and two together and realizes that the flowers sent to Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon by Lumis didn’t come from Lumis... they came from LeRae! “Do you know what this means? He still loves me! He still loves me!” She runs off all excited and LeRae looks disgusted that her ruse has been exposed. Meanwhile her husband vows that he is UNTOUCHABLE and Austin Theory throws up The Way’s hand sign.
Aliyah (with Robert Stone & Jessi Kamea) vs. Sarray
We sure are getting a lot of unadvertised matches tonight! Sarray offers Aliyah a handshake and she kicks Sarray in the gut in response. Sarray responds with a series of arm drags and a dropkick. Kamea interferes from the outside to put Aliyah on offense as Stone cheers on his woman from the apron. Aliyah yanks the hair and Sarray gets up selling her head. Aliyah whips her across the ring with a scream and hits a knee to the jaw for a near fall. Dropkick through the ropes to the jaw. Suplex by Sarray for the pin. Well at least the match came to an end right as I thought it was going too long. Everyone on the announce team calls it “innovative” and once again I really think they need to expand their vocabulary.
The winner of this match: Sarray
Shotzi Blackheart and Ember Moon says they’re going to be back for the titles before you know it. Ember Moon: “We’re going to T.C.B.” Shotzi Blackheart: “With Ember’s Law baby. Ow ow owwwwww!” Moon: “That’s what she said.” Hit Row is in action next!
Hit Row vs. Tony Nese & Ariya Daivari
All four members of the Row pose at the top of the ramp before swaggering their way to the ring. The ring announcer informs us that Ashante “Thee Adonis” and “Top Dolla” AJ Francis will be the men in action tonight. Adonis starts the match but quickly tags in Dolla, who promptly does the double slam with both of his opponents. Clothesline. He drags a carcass over to their corner to tag Adonis in. Daivari tries to fire up and fight back but Adonis leaps high in the air to put Daivari down with a dropkick. Adonis pummels him in the heel corner as the ref tells him to break at four. Dolla blind tags in and tells Adonis he’s got this, and does a fireman’s carry slam to easily get the pin.
Your winners of this contest: Hit Row
An effective squash to establish this new faction. Exactly what I wanted. All of the members of the Row cut promos. Swerve: “I really don’t care who wins (the main event) but Swerve’s going to be peeping whoever comes out shining at the end.” They all four simultaneously say “If you didn’t know, now you know” before we go backstage to William Regal. “I’m not quite happy with how they got there but Legado are number one contenders and they will be facing MSK in two weeks. We have the greatest women’s division in the world and I’m bringing in new contenders to the cruiserweight division. And next week it will be Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel González.” Commercial!
Now they’re promising us the “in ring debut” of Franky Monet next week. So we’re getting a third debut? That’s as silly as a group of lumberjack zombies.
Johnny Gargano (champ) vs. Bronson Reed (North American title steel cage match)
There are only ten minutes of TV time until the top of the hour after the lights go down for the big match intro, so an overrun is 100% guaranteed. Gargano tries to put the North American belt in Reed’s face, and Reed violently shoves him away. The ref calls for the bell and Gargano immediately dives through the ropes and tries to go out the door and hit the floor for the quick, cheap win. Reed drags him back in. Gargano tries to climb the ropes and climb out of the cage to retain and Reed cuts him off, not once, but twice. Gargano tries to ram Reed’s head into the fencing but Reed just shrugs it off and knocks him down with a double shove. He picks up Gargano and chucks him into the fencing repeatedly. Austin Theory looks on in dismay from the outside. Reed puts Gargano on his shoulder and lawn darts him into the cage (Wade Barrett even calls it that). Gargano crawls away in agony as Reed gives chase. Reed tries to push him through the fence like cheese through a grater. Reed backs up for a splash but Gargano ducks at the last second. He tries a spear but gets his feet caught in the cage, so Reed gives him a DDT from the ropes instead. Ouch!
Gargano chops down the left leg to get back on offense and does a moonsault to follow up. He tries to climb out but Reed pulls him down and hits a running slam for two. Theory tries to cheer “Papa John” on. Reed climbs to the top rope and Theory starts climbing up the outside of the cage to distract him. Gargano hits a superkick and Reed crotches himself on the ropes to send us to a break!
Gargano is in control when we come back but he can’t keep Reed down. Reed slingshots Gargano face first into the cage, where Theory once again cheers his “Papa” on. Reed puts Gargano on his shoulders and climbs the ropes. Samoan drop from the second rope! Gargano rolls to his stomach to block a pinfall attempt. Reed rolls him back over but Gargano kicks out at the last second. We get an aerial shot of both men down in the center of the ring as we go past the top of the hour. Reed starts climbing to the top but Gargano chops the left knee to slow Reed down. He climbs up and repeatedly rams Reed’s face into the cage, then comes off the ropes with a powerbomb for a near fall! Impressive. Gargano crawls away toward Austin Theory, who tries to pull him through the door, and Gargano becomes the rope in a tug of war. Reed pulls him back in and squashes him with a senton. Theory closes the door on Reed, but Reed blasts it open into Theory’s face and sends him tumbling to the floor. Reed goes for a powerbomb but Gargano counters it into a ‘rana. Both men are down again!
Gargano pulls himself to his feet again and goes for One Final Beat, but Reed cuts him off and crawls for the door while Gargano is down. Theory slams the door into Reed’s face and Gargano hits One Final Beat, but Reed kicks out! He sits up with a dazed look on his face as Gargano crawls to the ropes and scales the cage. This time he gets almost to the top before Reed cuts him off. Gargano tries to climb over Reed and gets powerbombed from the top! Bad idea Johnny, bad idea. The NeXTras explode for this spot and chant “this is awesome.” Reed pulls himself to his feet as they pound on the plexiglass. Reed tries to climb out but Theory climbs up the fence from the outside and reaches in to interfere. Reed knocks him both away and continues to climb. Reed closes the door so Gargano can’t crawl away and hits the Tsunami splash for three!
Your winner and new North American champion: Bronson Reed
That’s how NXT goes off the air tonight!