WWE NXT Coverage & Discussion - March 14th, 2018
- Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson welcome us in to tonight's show. They preview tonight's contract signing between Aleister Black and Andrade "Cien" Almas.
Sanity (Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe) vs. Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss (Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic)
Wolfe and Moss get us started, Wolfe goes to work on both opponents, Moss lifts and drops him across the top rope. Sabbatelli tagged in, nice dropkick as the crowd break out a "Tino sucks!" chant. Moss looking for a tag back in and both charge into Wolfe in the corner, cover, two-count. Moss hits a neckbreaker, cover, two-count. Sabbatelli holds Wolfe, Moss with a forearm that ends up clocking Sabbatelli by mistake.
NEVER turn your back on @NikkiCrossWWE! #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/7CKarHArfy
— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) March 15, 2018
Tino wondering what his partner is doing. Young gets tagged in, knocks Moss off the apron and goes to work on Sabbatelli, body slam, heads up to the top rope and lands a flying elbow drop. Cover, but Moss pulls him out of the ring. With the ref distracted, Nikki Cross hops off the apron and takes down Moss. Belly-to-back suplex/neckbreaker on Sabbatelli, cover, 1-2-3.
Winners: Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe via Pinfall (Advances to the next round)
- Tommaso Ciampa comes out to the ring, the crowd holding up tons of Johnny Gargano signs. Ciampa getting booed hard. He gets a mic, but the crowd won't let him talk. He's getting increasingly frustrated and drops the mic in the ring. He heads out of the ring and the entire place is booing him and holding up Gargano signs. "Ciampa sucks!" rings out as he slowly circles the ring. Ciampa heads back to the stage with the crowd yelling "We want Johnny!" and starts up the "Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!" song.
- WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole later tonight.
Dakota Kai vs. Lacey Evans
Kai out with a slightly taped up shoulder. Tries for a running kick right off the bat, Evans ducks it, wrenches her arm and starts dropping down some knees on the injury shoulder. Evans with a submission, Kai is able to reverse out of it, roll-up Evans and get the quick victory!
Winner: Dakota Kai via Pinfall
- Post-match, Shayna Baszler heads out to the ring and goes right after Kai (who she previously put on the shelf). Baszler stares at Kai who looks quite scared at the moment. Baszler corners her and out comes NXT Women's Champion Ember Moon with a mic in hand. "So you really want to do this again, Shayna?" She says Baszler started it, but Moon is going to finish it at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans. Moon pops Baszler and the two start brawling in the ring. Some referees try to separate them. Baszler ends up punching Moon in the face, but Moon then kicks her in the face and heads up to the top. Baszler with a high kicks stops Moon and she puts a wristlock on Moon over the top rope. Kai hadn't left though and kicks Baszler in the side of the head. Moon then lands a one-handed Eclipse to drop Basezler, Moon stands over her and yells.
- It's official, NXT Women's Champion Ember Moon will face Shayna Baszler at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans.
Street Profits vs. Heavy Machinery (Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic)
Otis tries to charge in before the match and Ford puts his foot up to keep him at bay. Otis immediately drops Ford and Ford backs up to his corner to take a sip from his cup. Ford slides back out cautiously to give Otis some of the drink. Otis drinks all off it, tosses the cup up and runs through Ford, shoulder tackle. He tags in Tucker, in comes Dawkins who gets put into the corner. Heavy Machinery grabs Ford and drives him into his own partner.
Tucker and Ford in there now, bear hug on Ford who finally punches his way out of the hold. 360 Splash by Dawkins in the corner, Tucker with a big running splash to drop his oppponent. Otis picks Dawkins up, Tucker hits the ropes, Ford pulls down the ropes to get rid of him. DDT on Otis, Ford tagged in and hits a high elevation frog splash for the victory.
Winners: Street Profits via Pinfall (Advance to the next round)
Pete Dunne (c) vs. Adam Cole with Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish (WWE UK Championship Match)
Fish and O'Reilly try to get involved early, but don't do much. Dunne hits a crushing forearm to Cole and then wrenches away at Cole's fingers. He plants Cole's arm on the mat and kicks it, ouch. Dunne sets it up again and kicks away. Cole out to the apron, Dunne follow, back elbow by Cole. Dunne up on the second rope and kicks straight down on Cole's arm. Release suplex right on the apron by Dunne! Cole ends up kick Dunne who gets his leg locked up on the top rope. Cole just dumps him to the floor.
Action back in the ring, Dunne with another release suplex. Chop and forearms by both wrestlers. Dunne thrown to the corner, steps up and flips over Cole. Kick, Dunne up to the second rope and stomps down on his arm, sit out powerbomb, cover, two-count. Dunne with a kick to the head, tries for bitter end, but it's reversed into a backstabber. Cole gets a kick in and last shot, cover, two-count. Cole calls Dunne a "chump" and slaps away at Dunne's head, Dunne lands a massive forearm that sends Cole back into the corner. Superkick by Cole, Dunne returns fire, Dunne does the same flip off the turnbuckle, but this time Cole kicks him in the head in mid-air! He goes for a cover, two.
Suplex by Dunne, tries for bitter end. O'Reilly and Fish get up on the apron, Dunne clears them both away. Cole with a superkick and a last shot! 1-2-no! Crowd popped big for that kick out. On the mat, Dunne ends up snapping Cole's fingers, but O'Reilly and Fish strike again and Undisputed Era start stomping away at Dunne causing a DQ.
Winner: Pete Dunne via DQ to retain the WWE UK Championship
- Post-match, out comes Roderick Strong and he starts swinging away at the entire group. Numbers game gets the best of Strong. Dunne then gets back up and they are able to clear the ring. Strong looks for a hand shake, but Dunne just gives him a brush on the shoulder and heads off with his title.
- In the ring is NXT GM William Regal who introduces Aleister Black and Andrade "Cien" Almas for their contract signing. Black out first, no Andrade, but Zelina Vega is there for him. Black is looking under the table to make sure he isn't hiding nearby. Vega is trying to get Black's attention, "Listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Black holds his hand out and moves the table to the side and sits in the middle of the ring. "We'll at least now we're on the same level." Crowd liked that line.
Vega says Andrade is going to destroy and humiliate him. He says, most likely Andrade is (much like Vega) going to come up a bit short at TakeOver. He continues making jokes and she slaps him in the face. She demands that he signs, which he does and hands it back to Regal. Black then gets out of the ring and says, he's glad Vega came out by herself, because he didn't. Candice LaRae comes out from the back and beats the heck out of Vega. She tries to run out through the crowd, but LaRae brings her back and continues swinging away, she throws Vega on the announce table, more punches. The two end up in the ring again, LaRae with a super swinging neckbreaker to finish off Vegas. LaRae heads back up to the stage with Black smiling towards the ring.
