WWE nXt Results
February 7, 2018
Center Stage Theatre, Atlanta, GA
Commentary by Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson
Opening Segment
nXt Tag Team Championship Match: Undisputed Era (c) vs. SAnitY
Just as the Undisputed Era, including Adam Cole, arrive to the ring, they are attacked from behind by SAnitY. The match hasn’t even started and all six men have paired off in the corners of the ring, punching and kicking one another.
Suddenly, a swarm of security guards come in to try and stop the fight. Killian Dain takes out a few of them but they get back in to break up the two factions. Fish, O’Reilly and Cole retreat to the stage and nXt General Manager William Regal’s music hits.
Regal says this all ends tonight. He’s booking a 6-man Tornado Tag match for the main event.
Match doesn’t start.
Instead, we get the following…
Tag Team Match: Heavy Machinery vs. Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
Dozovic and Moss start this match off.
Double shoulder tackles by Dozovic and Knight, followed by double falling headbutts for a 2 count on Moss. Moss pushes Knight into his home corner and hits him with shoulder thrusts. Tag to Sabbatelli to continue and the crowd chants, “Tino sucks!” Beauty dropkick by Sabbatelli to knock Knight down. He arrogantly tags in Moss to take care of business, kinda tags him hard, and Knight seizes the distraction for a roll-up pin attempt.
Starting to see some discord between Sabbatelli and Moss, as Moss slaps his partner to tag him in. Irish whip reversed by Knight, slamming Sabbatelli into the turnbuckle.
Dozovic receives a diving tag and he begins the charge. Avalanche on Sabbatelli in the corner. He slaps his arms a few times and does the caterpillar! Pinfall doesn’t get counted because Moss breaks up the count. Dozovic tries to throw Moss out of the ring and succeeds. Sabbatelli catches him off guard and tries to use the ropes as leverage. Referee notices!
Dozovic tags in Knight. Knight with a flying senton to take out Moss on the outside. Meanwhile, in the ring, time for the COMPACTOR! Knight pins Sabbatelli for the win.
Winners: Heavy Machinery via pinfall in 4 minutes
Quite the busy start to nXt, seeing plenty of tag team action! No commercials yet even, which is a bonus.
One cool point for Heavy Machinery’s win. I consistently enjoy their in-ring performance and all of their mannerisms. Glad to hear Ranallo mention they’re gunning for the Tag Titles because they deserve to mix it up in that scene. Been many months since their last big match against Authors of Pain. One cool point for Sabbatelli & Moss for getting some crowd reaction, especially Tino. He’s gotten better at engaging the crowd and they do not like his smug look!
Post-match, Moss and Sabbatelli stare at one another. Moss refuses to help Sabbatelli and leaves ringside alone. Perhaps the days of that team’s existence are numbered.
Second Segment
Johnny Gargano arrives to the stage and walks to the ring, to a number of cheers from the fans. These turn into a “Johnny Wrestling” chant.
He feels that his match at Takeover: Philadelphia was the match of a lifetime, and he’s happy that he earned the respect of the nXt fans. Title or no title, he is Johnny Gargano. He is Johnny “Freakin’ Wrestling”!
He will never forget that night or the crutch spot he received from his former tag partner, Tommaso Ciampa. Gargano is coming for him: face to face, man to man…
Suddenly, nXt Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas and his manager, Zelina Vega make their way to ringside. Almas is dressed in a suit. He enters the ring and holds up the nXt title. Vega says Gargano idn’t learn anything and he didn’t prove anything except that he’s a loser. Almas has beaten him again and again. You’re Johnny Loser.
Crowd chants “We Want Candice”. Gargano’s second favourite part of the night was when his wife hopped the guardrail and beat up Vega. Vega jabs her finger at Gargano’s chest a few times, off-mic. This brings LeRae and she pushes Vega right out of the ring. Gargano lunges at Almas who quickly escapes under the ropes.
Seems as though the “Yes” chants have been extended to Gargano, too.
Vega is sick of the two of them, she calls from the stage. What’s it going to take? Gargano says give him another shot at the title.
Vega says we’ll give him another title shot but if Gargano loses, he has to leave nXt. Gargano agrees and the crowd is audibly upset about this.
Earlier today, Shayna Baszler is interviewed. She says it took one month for her to become the most feared woman on the roster. You have 3 choices when you get in the ring with her: tap, nap, or snap.
She’s asked what’s next, but Baszler says there’s no what next. Ember Moon is scared and if they get in the ring again, Baszler will beat her. She’s not a real champion. Tell Moon she said that!
Up Next: Bianca Belair in action
Third Segment
Next Week: UK Championship Match: Pete Dunne (c) vs. Roderick Strong
Tyler Bate is interviewed backstage. He says he gives credit to Strong for his victory last week. Don’t count him out yet; he’ll be watching that one closely. He is extremely proud to have won the 2017 nXt Match of the Year award, but he’s also looking forward to wrestling current roster members this year.
Singles Match: Bianca Belair vs. Jessix Hill
Hill was trained by Dory Funk Jr. They extend hands to shake as a sign of respect. Belair doesn’t let go though. She lifts her opponent into a back rack, squats a few times, and slams her to the mat. ALLEYOOP (Fallaway powerbomb). Match is over as quickly as it started.
Winner: Bianca Belair via pinfall in less than a minute
No cool points for this one. Belair gets her second win in two weeks so the push is on for her.
A promo on Kairi Sane, winner of the Mae Young Classic is shown, which included her appearance in the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble.
Final Segments
Next Week: Aleister Black will be in action and Ember Moon has decided to put the Women’s Championship on the line AGAIN against Shayna Baszler.
Six Man Tornado Tag Team Match: Undisputed Era (c) vs. SAnitY
Again, the brawling begins outside the ring, with all six members pairing off to fight. Wolfe and Fish, O’Reilly and Dain, Young and Cole are all busy beating on one another in the corners. Dain chucks O’Reilly over the top rope. Cole and EY are in the ring and EY is bashing Cole’s head on the top turnbuckles. Cole with a neckbreaker on EY. The fighting continues at ringside as the screen fades…
Commercial break.
On the return, Dain clocked Fish with a tag title belt. Wolfe lifts O’Reilly up and he falls down, face-first, into the corner of the announce table. EY pulls a table out from under the ring and sets it up on a slant against the barricade. Suplex attempt. No! Cole throws him into the steel stairs. Wolfe’s seated at ringside, receiving knees to the torso by O’Reilly. O’Reilly gets up on the apron, jumps….FLYING DOUBLE KNEES on Wolfe!
Dain charges Fish and splashes him in the corner. A number of the guys go into the basement stairwell, away from ringside. Meanwhile, moonsault by Fish on Dain! 1-2- kickout by Dain.
Meanwhile, backstage, it’s EY and Cole, and Wolfe and O’Reilly throwing one another into brick walls and travelling storage cases. Fish finds a kendo stick under the ring, swings it and Dain catches it! Fish runs away and Dain stomps after him, right on to the stage. Right hand from Fish is answered by a heavy knockout blow by Dain. He chucks Dain into the rest of the guys at ringside, knocking them all out as though they were bowling pins on a 5 pin bowling alley.
Commercial break.
Everyone’s lying on the mats at ringside, except Dain and Cole, and Cole is in the midst of being punched. He’s able to evade further punishment by connecting with an enziguri on Dain. Wolfe enters the ring…huge powerbomb on Cole. 1-2- O’Reilly breaks the count. He and Fish take turns splashing and kicking Wolfe in the corner. Exploder suplex by Fish. 1-2- Dain with a senton to break the count!
ALRIGHT! Dain just hit a Michinoku driver on O’Reilly into Bobby Fish, who is not moving…1-2- NO! Adam Cole hits Dain with a superkick! He pins Dain but EY flies, with his patented elbow drop, to break that pinfall attempt up. This is ridiculous! Fans chant “nXt” and how could they not?
EY evades a Cole superkick and lands one of his own. O’Reilly with a swinging haymaker. German suplex by Wolfe on O’Reilly. Fish with a Samoan drop on Wolfe. Dain’s up and he hits Fish with a discus lariat! Dain smiles as he sees how hurt Cole is after kicking him off the apron. Deceptively agile, says Ranallo. Dain attempts a rolling senton on Cole…Cole moves and Dain crashes through the table that was placed at ringside earlier!
3 on 1 in the ring. Undisputed Era is beating up on Wolfe until Wolfe wrenches free of Fish’s grasp and O’Reilly kicks his own partner. Wolfe uppercuts O’Reilly, prepares for a powerbomb and receives a superkick by Cole. Pinfall attempt but EY arrives with a kendo stick to attack Fish, O’Reilly…but not Cole! Superkick again!
Cole with the Last Shot on EY! 1…2….NO! Kickout! How did he find the energy for that?
Dain is huffing and puffing and he’s about to blow the house down. All 3 UEra members pounce on him with punches. He explodes with clotheslines on everyone. Fireman’s Carry slam on Cole. Crossbody splash on O’Reilly. He lifts Fish up on his shoulders for the Ulster Plantation and this match has reached its culmination.
Winners:SAnitY via pinfall in 14 minutes
Two cool points for this chaotic piece of wrestling. Absolutely entertaining. Everyone got an opportunity to shine and EY’s kickout, after the punishment he endured, was certainly the surprise of the night. Dain received the majority of the spotlight for his team, ultimately earning them the victory. I would expect to see a proper Tag Title match between these teams in the near future, which could lead to a SAnitY/Heavy Machinery feud, or even seeing War Machine getting involved.
Looking forward to reading your cool point suggestions and comments on tonight’s nXt show. For some of the best creative writing about wrestling on the net, check out the LOP Columns Forum . Read, comment and join in on the writing yourself.
Peace!!