– Tonight’s special edition of WWE NXT opens up with a video package showing highlights from last week’s show.
– We’re live from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida as Mauro Ranallo welcomes us. We see some fans in the Performance Center, not that much smaller than the regular weekly crowd they use at the NXT Arena from the campus of Full Sail University, if at all. Mauro hypes tonight’s show. He’s joined by Nigel McGuinness and WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix, who is back after taking a week off to sell the recent RAW RKO from Randy Orton.
NXT North American Title Match: Cameron Grimes vs. Keith Lee
We go right to the ring for tonight’s opening match as NXT North American Champion Keith Lee comes out for a title defense. Fans chant for Lee as he heads to the ring. Alicia Taylor does the ring introductions as Cameron Grimes makes his way out next to mostly boos. Taylor does formal ring introductions before they lock up.
The bell rings and Grimes does some taunting and stalling. Fans are behind Lee with the chants already. Grimes goes for a takedown but sizes Lee up again. Grimes goes for the leg but Lee overpowers after they tangle. Grimes looks on from the corner to regroup and reassess his strategy. Grimes goes for the leg again. Grimes goes for a German suplex but still has no luck. Lee finally gets his hands on Grimes and drops him with a big double chop to the chest. Fans chant “one more time!” but Grimes nails a forearm. Lee tosses Grimes out to the floor with ease.
Lee follows to the floor but Grimes turns it around with kicks. Grimes leaps from the apron to the floor but Lee catches him in mid-air. Grimes ends up escaping to the apron and decking Lee in the face. Grimes runs the ropes and flies back out but Lee grabs him again. They tangle again and Grimes eats a Spirit Bomb. Lee brings it back into the ring and takes it to the corner. Fans pop big as Grimes’ hat gets knocked from the ring post to the floor. Grimes ends up turning it back around and hitting a big crossbody from up high, but Lee kicks out. We go to a commercial with the split screen as Grimes keeps Lee down.
More back and forth after the match. Grimes gets more offense in now. Lee counters and goes for a powerbomb again but Grimes slides out. Grimes delivers kicks. Lee misses a big back-fist. Grimes with a big superkick and a roundhouse kick. Grimes manages to get Lee up for the huge German suplex but Lee kicks out at 2. Fans chant “NXT!” at the big German.
Grimes goes on and ends up hitting a big DDT but that’s still not enough. They continue to trade counters and their signature moves for a few minutes. Grimes comes close but Lee overpowers. Lee gets a superkick to the face. They run the ropes but Lee connects with a big Pounce out of nowhere. Lee follows up with the Big Bang Catastrophe for the pin to retain.
Winner: Keith Lee
– After the match, Lee stands tall as his music hits. We get replays. Lee is raising the title in the middle of the ring when Damian Priest comes from behind and drops Lee with a nightstick shot. Fans boo Priest. Dominik Dijakovic runs down and chases Priest off. Priest taunts Dijakovic from the crowd as he heads to the back. Dijakovic, who is wearing a knee brace from the recent attack by Priest, picks up the title and walks over to hand it to Lee as Lee slowly gets back to his feet. Lee snaps, possibly thinking Dijakovic is the one who attacked him, and immediately plants Dijakovic with a Big Bang Catastrophe. Lee makes his exit with the title as Dijakovic recovers on the floor.
– The announcers hype the “Takeover: Tampa Bay” Women’s Ladder Match for a future title shot as we get a quick promo on Mia Yim and Dakota Kai ahead of their qualifier. Back to commercial.
Women’s Ladder Match Qualifier: Mia Yim vs. Dakota Kai
Back from the break and Mia Yim is out to the ring. The winner of this match will qualify for the Women’s Ladder Match at “Takeover: Tampa Bay” to determine a new #1 contender. Dakota Kai is out next with Raquel Gonzalez. The bell rings and they go at it. Yim with an early Oklahoma Roll and another roll-up. They go back and forth now. Kai slaps Yim. Yim unloads with more strikes and takes it to the corner.
More back and forth now. Yim with a basement dropkick. Yim mounts Kai again and pounds on her as Gonzalez watches from ringside. Yim with a kick to the head and more shots into the corner. Yim charges in the corner but Kai sends her to the apron. Kai misses a big boot and Yim kicks her. Kai goes down on her leg to sell a fake injury, distracting the referee. Gonzalez takes advantage and quickly destroys Yim at ringside. We go to commercial with Yim down against the steel ring steps.
Back from the break and Yim takes control with some of her signature moves until Kai drops her face-first into the ropes. Yim with a forearm but Kai returns the favor. Kai with another elbow and the unique Chiropractor backbreaker for a close 2 count. Gonzalez can’t believe it at ringside. Kai is also shocked at the count out, showing frustration now.
Fans try to rally for Yim now. More back and forth between the two. Kai tries to expose a turnbuckle as Yim tries to powerbomb her. Yim overpowers and hits the powerbomb. They go on and Gonzalez ends up interfering to more boos. Yim tries to tell the referee and the referee argues with Gonzalez. Kai takes advantage and rolls Yim up but the referee isn’t ready for the count. Yim goes on and ends up hitting Protect Ya Neck for the pin to win and earn the Takeover spot.
Winner: Mia Yim
– After the match, Gonzalez attacks Yim from behind and lays her out with a chokeslam. Kai looks on and stares Yim down as they make their exit. We get a look at the Women’s Ladder Match for Takeover, which now has Yim and Chelsea Green confirmed. Fans chant for Yim as she stands tall and makes her exit.
– Tommaso Ciampa is backstage walking into the building. McKenzie Mitchell tries to get a word but he says this way, follow him.
– We see The Undisputed Era backstage hanging out ahead of tonight’s title shot. Back to commercial.
– Back from the break and we get another teaser video for the mystery NXT Superstar to debut soon, believed to be Killer Kross. The clock ticks.
Kushida vs. Raul Mendoza
We go back to the ring and out first comes Kushida. Raul Mendoza is out next.
Back and forth to start the match. They run the ropes and trade counters. Mendoza with the first big takedown for a pop after a shot to the jaw. Mendoza with a big chop in the corner. Mendoza fights back in from the apron and leaps from the top but Kushida decks him in mid-air, sending him to the floor.
Kushida runs the ropes and leaps out, taking Mendoza down on the floor. Kushida brings it back into the ring, kicking Mendoza in the back of the head from the apron. Kushida goes to the top but has to roll through. Mendoza counters and drops Kushida on his head with a twisting neckbreaker. Mendoza keeps control for another 2 count.
More big strikes between the two. Kushida with a cartwheel into a basement dropkick after a series of moves. Fans chant for Kushida and chant “NXT!” now. Mendoza ends up rocking Kushida with a kick to the head while Kushida sits on the top. Kushida is dazed while up top. Mendoza rocks him and climbs up. Kushida fights back and they tangle on the top turnbuckle. Kushida hits the super Spanish Fly into an armbar as soon as they hit the mat. Kushida gets the win.
Winner: Kushida
– After the match, Kushida stands tall as his music hits. Fans chant his name as we go to replays. Kushida continues to play to the crowd as they chant his name.
– Beth shows us how NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley rocked Charlotte Flair with a big punch on Monday’s RAW. Ripley will be here on NXT tonight to push their WrestleMania 36 title match. Back to commercial.
– Back from the break and we see video from earlier today with McKenzie interviewing Tyler Breeze at the Performance Center. Breeze is talking about what the Performance Center means to him and says without it, there would be no Tyler Breeze. They’re interrupted by Austin Theory. Theory introduces himself and says he watched Breeze while he was in high school. Theory admits the Performance Center made Superstars, but Breeze isn’t one of them. Breeze snaps a photo of Theory with his phone and this leads to more words between the two.
– We go back to the ring and out comes NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley as Nigel hypes Charlotte Flair vs. Ripley at WrestleMania 36.
Ripley takes the mic and says if Flair is going to psych her out before WrestleMania, she needs a better game plan. Ripley admits this is the biggest match of her career and there are nerves, but what gets her through it is knocking The Queen on her ass. So come WrestleMania… the music interrupts and out comes Flair to mostly boos.
Fans chant “you don’t go here!” as Flair slowly walks down the ramp. Flair responds and says she made here. She says Ripley has guts. Flair plays to the crowd some more and they chant “go back to RAW!” at her. Flair tells them to be quiet, this is WrestleMania. It’s just too much, too fast and too soon. She’s not talking about the stadium or the 80,000 fans that will be chanting Ripley’s name. Fans chant “Rhea!” now. What is Flair talking about? This right here, The Queen, is going to be too much for Ripley to handle. Flair is on the apron now.
Flair says she’s going to take Ripley to deep waters and drown the fastest rising star in WWE, and she’s not going to do a damn thing about it. Flair steps through the ropes and Ripley immediately attacks her. They start brawling all over the ring. Flair levels Ripley and fans boo. The “go back to RAW!” chants start up again. Flair goes for a Figure Four but Ripley kicks her into the turnbuckles. It looks like Flair is about to retreat but she slams Ripley’s leg into the ring post and wraps it around as fans boo. Flair applies the Figure Four around the ring post now. Ripley screams out as Flair puts the pressure on her knee, driving the heel of her boot into the knee. Officials run down and Flair finally lets Ripley falls to the floor as the boos continue. Flair taunts Ripley some more and makes her exit as the crowd continues yelling at her.
– The announcers lead us to a video package on NXT UK Champion WALTER and his dominance. The video is narrated by Finn Balor. We see Balor holding up his passport now. He tells WALTER that lies travel faster than the truth. Finn is headed to NXT UK to confront the leader of Imperium it appears. We go back to commercial.
– Back from the break and we see pre-recorded video of Mia Yim backstage talking about the Women’s Ladder Match at Takeover. A SUV comes speeding by. Two masked luchadores wearing the same mask hop out and apparently kidnap Raul Mendoza. They load him up in the truck and speed off.
Women’s Ladder Match Qualifier: Tegan Nox vs. Deonna Purrazzo
We go back to the ring and out first comes Tegan Nox. Deonna Purrazzo is out next. The winner of this match will earn a spot in the Women’s Ladder Match at Takeover.
Back and forth to start the match. They trade counters and pin attempts. Purrazzo with a armbar out of nowhere, forcing Nox to scream out. Nox gets free and ends up laying Purrazzo out with the Shiniest Wizard. Nox covers for the pin to win the short match.
Winner: Tegan Nox
– After the match, Nox stands tall as her music hits. We go to replays. Nox, Chelsea Green and Mia Yim are now official for the Ladder Match.
– We see The BroserWeights backstage warming up. Back to commercial.
– Back from the beak and we get another teaser vignette for the mystery Superstar to debut. A woman can be seen in the graphics this time. Could that be Scarlett Bordeaux, the girlfriend of Killer Kross?
NXT Tag Team Titles Match: The Undisputed Era vs. The BroserWeights
We go to the ring for tonight’s main event and out comes The Undisputed Era – Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish with Roderick Strong and NXT Champion Adam Cole. The purple light shines over the ring as The Velveteen Dream appears on the platform above the announcers. Dream taunts Strong and Cole, and has words with Cole. Dream never cared about Strong or his family, he was just using Strong to get to Cole and the NXT Title. Cole fires back and says Dream lost last week, he hasn’t earned a title shot. Cole goes on and says he will have a special celebration for next week as he will also become the longest reigning champion next Wednesday. Cole wants he and Strong to take out Dream, but Dream snaps his fingers and walks away, leading the way for NXT Tag Team Champions The BroserWeights to come out – Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle.
Dunne starts off with O’Reilly and they trade holds. Dunne with the first takedown as Strong and Cole watch from ringside. Fish and Riddle come in with more back and forth between them now. They tangle and Riddle slams Fish. They break and go at it again. Fish strikes Riddle but Riddle takes him down. Riddle with another gutwrench slam. Dunne joins him as O’Reilly runs in. Riddle and Dunne hit gutwrench slams on the challengers at the same time. The challengers regroup as the champions stand tall. Back to commercial.
Back from the break and Riddle slams O’Reilly for a close 2 count. O’Reilly turns it around and mounts Riddle with strikes. Fish tags back in for the quick double team as Cole and Strong cheer them on. Fish with another close 2 count on Riddle. Fish keeps Riddle from tagging out and rocks him with another big forearm. Fish launches himself in from the apron with a senton to Riddle for another 2 count.
O’Reilly tags back in for a double snap suplex. Riddle still kicks out at 2. O’Reilly grounds Riddle and works him over now. O’Reilly with some knees on the ground and on his feet. Fish comes back in but Riddle unloads with strikes. Fish comes back with knee strikes. Riddle drops Fish out of nowhere with a pele kick. O’Reilly comes in to stop the tag but Dunne gets it anyway.
Dunne goes to work on O’Reilly and hits a sliding German suplex. Dunne focuses on the limbs of both challengers now. Dunne and O’Reilly tangle on the mat now. More back and forth now. Riddle leaps out and takes everyone down on the floor. Cole and Strong are in the ring while the referee has his back turned. The referee turns back around and Dunne throws himself to the mat. Cole and Strong plead with the referee. Riddle comes over and says he saw Cole and Strong kick Dunne to the mat. The referee believes The BroserWeights, ejecting Cole and Strong to the back. Riddle and Dunne taunt The Undisputed Era as fans sing “goodbye!” to Cole and Strong. Back to commercial.
Back from the break and Riddle ends up unloading on both challengers with strikes. Riddle drops O’Reilly on his head for another 2 count. Fish and O’Reilly go for double Germans but the champions land on their feet and keep control. Dunne goes on and hits a Tiger Driver on O’Reilly for a close 2 count. Dunne stomps away on O’Reilly. More back and forth as O’Reilly makes a comeback. More back and forth between the two teams. Riddle slams Fish for a pin but O’Reilly is legal, flying off the top rope with a knee drop. Riddle kicks out just in time.
Dunne goes for a moonsault to Fish on the floor and misses. O’Reilly flies off the apron with a knee strike to Dunne on the floor. Fish ends up driving Riddle into the mat in the middle of the ring. Riddle kicks out just in time. Riddle fights off both challengers by himself now. Riddle takes them both down for a big pop. The Grizzled Young Veterans, James Drake and Zack Gibson, come down and get on the apron now to distract the champions. Dunne ends up taking care of them and then Riddle back-drops Fish onto the Vets, taking them down on the floor. Riddle and Dunne go on and hit the double team on O’Reilly for the pin to retain in the middle of the ring.
Winners: Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne
– After the match, the music hits as Riddle and Dunne start celebrating with the titles.
– The announcers hype next week’s show – Candice LeRae vs. Raquel Gonzalez in a Takeover Ladder Match qualifier. Also, Adam Cole’s NXT Title Celebration. Nigel promotes Finn Balor’s appearance on NXT UK tomorrow.
– We go back to the ring and out comes Tommaso Ciampa for the show-closing segment. He slowly walks down the ramp as we go back to commercial.
Back from the break and Ciampa is in the ring with a mic. He’s not sure if Johnny Gargano can hear him. Ciampa says Gargano promised everyone last week that we would find out why this week, and time is about up. Ciampa goes on and Gargano interrupts from a meeting room in the back of the Performance Center. Gargano promises they will do it The Gargano Way. Gargano says everyone knows they were wrong about Ciampa as he’s done nothing over the past three years. He calls Ciampa the worst in NXT history. Gargano continues ranting about Ciampa until Ciampa exits the ring and heads to the back.
Gargano turns around as Ciampa enters the room. They start brawling all through the back rooms of the Performance Center. They fight into the trainer’s room and we see Kushida being tended to. Ciampa grabs a crutch and bends it over Gargano’s back. What looks like a security guard tries to come from behind but Ciampa drops him. They fight out into the gym area now. Ciampa goes down but comes back and sends Gargano face-first into a door. A referee tries to stop Ciampa. Gargano with a shot of something to the face and eyes of Ciampa. Gargano grabs Ciampa and sends him head-first through the glass window of a door. The glass shatters when Ciampa’s head goes through it.
Security comes out again to try and stop the brawl, as officials are also trying. Gargano beats Ciampa around the gym area. Gargano grabs a big steel weight and tosses it but Ciampa moves out of the way. Ciampa grabs the weight and hits Gargano in the gut with it. Ciampa grabs a smaller weight and throws it but Gargano moves and the weight shatters a large mirror on the wall. The brutal brawl continues as they fight back out to the ringside area now. They trade lefts and rights through the crowd at the Performance Center. Gargano gets the upperhand and plays to the crowd but they boo him.
Ciampa takes advantage and decks Gargano. Fans chant “Daddy’s home!” as Ciampa grabs a steel chair. Ciampa charges with the chair and rams it into Gargano’s head, up against part of a steel barrier. Fans chant “holy shit!” and “NXT!” now. The brawl continues over near the announce table as the announcers scatter. Gargano walks up to the perch above the announce table and Ciampa follows. Ciampa tries to dump Gargano over the railing onto the announce table but Gargano superkicks him back. Gargano removes the railing from the perch as fans chant “holy shit!” again.
Gargano looks to drop Ciampa from the perch up high, through the announce table down below, but Ciampa hangs on and rocks him again. Gargano with a GargaNo Escape and a kick to the mouth. A referee has been dropped on the perch as well. Gargano wants everyone to see what is about to happen to Ciampa he says. We’re two minutes into the overrun now. Gargano looks to put Ciampa from the perch to the table down below. Ciampa counters at the last second and puts Gargano through the announce table with a huge Fairytale Ending. Gargano looks shocked and in pain, with his shoulder in bad shape. Fans go nuts and chant “holy shit!” as officials rush over to check on both men. Ciampa and Gargano are rolling around in pain on the collapsed announce table, which has been flattened. NXT General Manager William Regal is among the officials tending to the chaos. The first-ever NXT from the WWE Performance Center goes off the air with Gargano and Ciampa selling the huge perch bump.
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