Opening Segment: Adam Cole (nXt North American Champion) vs. Sean Maluta

This is a non-title match.

Crowd is heavily behind Cole tonight as Maluta hasn’t developed too much of a following yet. Cole strikes first with a takedown. He plays with Maluta’s hair a bit before the two reset. Quick roll-up by Maluta. Then a backslide pin attempt for a 1 count. Neckbreaker by Maluta! High kick to the chin in the corner. Maluta’s up on the second rope but Cole takes the legs out from under him. He mounts him for punches and elbows to the head.

Vicious kick to the ribcage by Cole. He continues to punish Maluta in the corner, lifting Maluta up to sit on the turnbuckle. Maluta headbutts Cole to create some space. He flies….directly into a SUPERKICK! Cole follows that up with the Last Shot! It’s over.

Winner: Adam Cole via pinfall in 4 minutes

Post-match, Cole touts himself as the most buzzworthy superstar on any brand. He defends his championship anywhere, including the UK. He gives opportunities to anyone who wants them.

Suddenly, Ricochet’s music hits and he’s clapping for Cole as he strides out to the stage. He apologizes to Cole because tonight, he didn’t run from his competition. Of course, it was a non-title match. Ricochet admits Cole has taken the industry by storm since joining nXt, but, recently, his claims of shocking the system have become shockingly cowardly.

Ricochet wants Cole to prove how good he is by having a match with him for the nXt North American Championship at Takeover: Brooklyn.

Cole doesn’t want to diminish himself by fighting Ricochet in Brooklyn. He walks down the steps and leaves the ring.

Ricochet seems okay with this and calls him a coward again. Cole slowly turns around and the two start jawing off-mic. Cole feigns returning. Ricochet shows off his slick tumbling with a handspring backflip. Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly join Cole on the stage. Ricochet beckons them to the ring.

Suddenly, the War Raiders music hits and they scare the Undisputed Era from ringside towards the back curtains by the announce booth. There, Tyler Bate and Trent Seven sneak up on them and attack! They force the UE to scramble from ringside.

No cool points for this match, but one cool point to everyone who was involved in that post-match skirmish. Love seeing the various feuds intersect in that segment. Ricochet/Cole will likely get the official approval from Regal shortly and War Raiders are ready for gold now. Could be that we saw a preview of the teams that may compete in WarGames in November.

Announce Team Update

They tell us that the nXt Women’s Championship match has officially been signed between champion Shayna Baszler and #1 Contender Kairi Sane. We see nXt General Manager William Regal, sitting at a table at the WWE Performance Center, between Baszler and Sane.

Baszler doesn’t like how Regal calls it a rematch from the 2017 Mae Young Classic. Baszler says she beat Sane recently and Sane hasn’t done anything since then. Sane quietly takes the contract and signs it.

Sane says I can beat you, Baszler. Baszler says Sane doesn’t have what it takes and she’s like every other woman in the locker room…just pretending. She mocks Sane for pretending to be a pirate and calls her a pathetic phony.
Sane repeats herself and Baszler begrudgingly signs the contract. Sane then tells Regal she can beat Baszler.

Second Segment: Lacey Evans vs. Tenilla Price

Price has a degree in criminology and loves Lucha House Party, according to Watson.
Lacey Evans calls herself “the ultimate role model” for all women in nXt.

Evans with a “hairmare”, as Ranallo calls it. That move swings Price into the corner where Evans hits her with what is fast becoming a trademark move of hers, the standing/swinging broncobuster. Evans chokes Price with her leg before going to the apron, pulling the hair again, wrapping it around the top rope and kicking Price in the face.

Price receives a slingshot leg drop, followed up by a swinging neckbreaker. Price stops Evans with her knees after Evans attempted a back somersault splash. All that did was anger Evans into throwing the Women’s Right when Price cartwheeled into it. 1-2-3.

Winner: Lacey Evans via pinfall in 3 minutes.

One cool point for Evans because of how smooth she’s getting in the ring. Her arrogance shines through whether she’s beckoning her competition to fight, pulling hair, or pounding on her opponent. She’s easily a #2 heel behind Baszler right now and getting pushed hard with consistent TV time.

Backstage, Bianca Belair says she is hurt but she’s also undefeated. She shouldn’t have to fight all those other girls again to prove she’s worthy of a title shot. When she comes back from rehab, she will get what she deserves because she is undefeated. She persistently repeats that as she walks away off-camera.

Moments after that, Candice LeRae is restrained from coming too close to Shayna Baszler as she leaves the contract signing. LeRae says why doesn’t Baszler say all that stuff to her face. Baszler laughs her off as LeRae says one day she’s going to pay for that.

Final Segments (nXt Championship Match): Aleister Black (c) vs. Tommaso Ciampa

Official ring introductions to begin this title bout. Both men look focused and prepared to fight.

Ciampa’s the first to strike with arm twists. This soon brings both men to the mat. Ciampa and Black fight for control with grappling scrambles and arm pulls and twists. Back to their feet and off the ropes, Ciampa with a shoulder block. Black misses an arm drag and Ciampa jumps on that opening for a 2 count. He waves 2 fingers at Black and smiles.

Arm twists countered by both men until Black grasps Ciampa in a side headlock. Ciampa throws Black off the ropes…inside cradle for a 2 count. Another roll-up for a 2 count! Powerslam into an arm lock by Black, which takes Ciampa off of his feet.

Roundhouse kick attempt by Black forces Ciampa to the outside. Black chases him there and Ciampa tries to DDT Black through the ropes. Black draws Ciampa to the outside and nails him with a high kick to the chest, and another.

Back in the ring, Ciampa attacks Black as he’s moving back in with double axe handles. Irish whip to the opposite corner. Black evades Ciampa and hits him with a blind kick to the chest. Black with another kick to the chest. Ciampa rolls to the apron and drops off when Black rushes him for his trademark springboard backflip and cross-legged sitdown. Black waves at Ciampa who is catching his breath on the ramp.

Still on the outside, Ciampa re-assesses his next move and feigns rolling under the ropes, tentative of entering the ring. Black attacks him immediately but Ciampa nails Black with a right hand to the stomach. Black replies with another kick to the chops…and a big boot to the face. He runs to the rope but Ciampa pushes him unceremoniously to the outside. He drives Black into the ringside rails, then the steel steps! Now, it’s Ciampa sitting cross-legged on the steps, mocking Black with a goodbye wave.

The ring out count is broken and Ciampa rolls Black into the ring again. Dropkick to the head. 1-2- kickout by Black!

Ciampa with knees to the back before wrapping his forearms around Black’s head for a submission attempt. Backbreaker by Ciampa. He stares down Black before pouncing on him with kicks and knee strikes. Abdominal stretch now…Black refuses to give up. Ciampa reaches for the top rope for leverage and gets the 5 count from the referee.

Next, Ciampa tries for a suplex. Black does too but hurts his back. Ciampa tries to turn Black over for a Liontamer-like submission. Black fights through the pain, crawls to the rope and breaks the submission.

On the apron, Ciampa and Black trade right hands as the crowd chants “Boo!” “Yeah!” accordingly. High kicks to the chest by Black send Ciampa to the mat. Black ascends the turnbuckle. Ciampa meets him there and tries to hold Black on his shoulders. Black slips down, back to his feet and kicks Ciampa in the back of the knee.
Both men execute pinning attempts before running into each other with double clotheslines, stalemating their progress towards a win.

They’re back to trading right hands. Black switches to kicks, then to strong arms, and a leg sweep. Black’s building momentum! Kicks to the legs, then the back of the head. Springboard back-flip splash. 1-2- kickout by Ciampa.

Black goes to the apron for kicks to the chest and narrowly avoids a DDT through the ropes. Knee strikes and kicks to the legs for a barrage of offense by Black only get him another 2 count! Ciampa is resilient!

Ciampa puts up his hand and calls off Black as he retreats to the corner. “Tweet about this!” shouts Black as he delivers 3 straight high kicks to Ciampa’s test. Punt kick to the head of Ciampa sends him to the outside. Black is tripped off the apron by Ciampa who was faking out Black with how hurt he was. Ciampa ascends the turnbuckle for a flying knee to the head. 1-2- kickout by Black!

Black defends the running kick but Ciampa responds with a lariat for a 2 count. He lowers the knee pad of the left leg, runs off the ropes and gets the living crap kicked out of him by Black. 1-2- NO! Ciampa’s shoulders are up yet again.

Crowd chants “nXt!” as we witness a pause in the action. Black’s wondering what else he has to do as he looks out at the crowd. Black lifts Ciampa’s head with his foot, goes for Black Mass and gets rolled up! 1-2- no! Black with double knees from the turnbuckle…spinning roundhouse kick…. bridging German suplex! 1-2- NOOOOO! Ciampa kicks out and flops to the floor.

Black lands on his feet after a moonsault attempt. Ciampa chucks him into a cameraman. Referee looks at the damage done to the cameraman. Ciampa retrieves a chair from beneath the ring and nails Black in the head on the other side of the ring. He pins Black.

1…2….Black kicks out!

Ciampa attempts the draping DDT. Black flips Ciampa over the top rope. He flies with a beautiful plancha and rolls him back into the ring. As Black enters the ring, he receives…the DRAPING DDT! 1-2- KICKOUT! Black’s still in this one! Crowd is hyped.

Methodically, Ciampa returns to the outside and begins ripping back a section of the padding on the outside to expose the concrete floor. Now, Ciampa is draping Black’s body over the apron, but the referee will not permit this and he argues with Ciampa about it. Black pushes Ciampa into the ropes where Ciampa nails the referee with a right hand, sending him crashing to the concrete floor.

BLACK MASS! Black rolls up Ciampa but no count can be made. Referee’s holding his elbow as Black checks on him.
He returns to the ring and Ciampa rakes Black’s eyes. Ciampa grabs the nXt Championship belt and prepares to hit Black with it…but Johnny Gargano is there to kick Ciampa! He wrestles the belt away, but nails Black in the process! NOOOO!

Ciampa chucks Gargano out of the ring. He sets up Black for a falling-forward piledriver.
1-2-3! NEW CHAMPION!

Winner, and new nXt Champion: Tommaso Ciampa via pinfall in 18 minutes

Post-match, McGuinness calls it an absolutely brutal match. Naturally, the crowd is jeering pretty hard as Ciampa holds up the nXt Championship belt. He beckons the referee to strap the belt to his waist while he stands on the ramp and waves at the crowd.

Ranallo says Ciampa is the 14th nXt Champion in nXt history.

Two cool points for Black. Maybe I was watching more closely than usual but Black’s kicks were on point tonight. Loved how often he was connecting with those kicks to Ciampa’s chest. Knock the wind out of the guy. Good strategy.