WWE nXt Results
March 14, 2018
Center Stage Theatre, Atlanta, GA
Commentary by Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson
Opening Segment
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match: SAnitY (Young/Wolfe) vs. Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli
SAnitY arrives at ringside in full force.
Wolfe and Moss are out first. Irish whip reversed by Moss. Wolfe’s first move from the corner is to elbow Moss, and then kick at Sabbatelli, who’s standing adjacent to him. Moss catches him and throws him, gut-first on to the top rope.
Sabbatelli asks for the tag and gets it. He pounds on Wolfe. Irish whip. Wolfe bounces out into a high dropkick. Sabbatelli gloats about the results of that and continues to punch. Moss is tagged back in. He whips Sabbatelli into Wolfe in the corner and follows up with his own splash. 1-2- kickout by Wolfe.
Hangman’s neckbreaker and another pin attempt for 2 by Moss on Wolfe. Crowd’s trying to get behind SAnitY. Sabbatelli holds Wolfe in the corner. Moss charges. Wolfe ducks away and Sabbatelli is knocked to the outside by Wolfe. Announcers continue to play up the discord between the tag partners, wondering if this will affect their trust with one another.
EY’s tagged in! He’s taking care of business, beating up on Sabbatelli. Big powerslam and the diving elbow drop. 1-2- Moss pulls Sabbatelli out of the ring. As he yells about being Dusty champs, Nikki Cross hits him with a crossbody on the outside.
Meanwhile, in the ring, EY tags Wolfe and they employ a belly to back suplex/neckbreaker combo on Sabbatelli before pinning him for the win!
Winners: SAnitY via pinfall in 5 minutes
One cool point for the whole group. That was a total team effort. Great energy from EY and endurance from Wolfe. Cross’ willingness to take risks and jump on her opponents is helpful for her teammates and always an exciting spot for the fans to get behind. I could see these guys being in the tournament final, possibly going on to face the Undisputed Era at Takeover: New Orleans. From a storyline POV, it’s a natural direction to go, based on their past feuding, which is fairly unresolved.
Shortly thereafter, Tommaso Ciampa arrives at the ring, to no entrance music. Many of the fans in attendance are holding up the Johnny Gargano smiley face logo as Ciampa asks for a mic. The boos continue and Ciampa just stands in the middle of the ring, looking frustrated.
A “Johnny Wrestling” chant takes off; Ciampa shakes his head. He yells at the crowd, off-mic, and paces around the ring. He stops, frozen for a minute, and drops the mic. Fans chant “YES!” and Ciampa rolls out of the ring.
He slowly walks alongside the barricade, staring at all the fans as they boo and chant.
This continues for a few minutes and Ciampa says nothing. He’s just soaking it all up. As he stands on the stage, fans chant “na na na na hey hey goodbye”.
Coming Up: UK Championship Match: Pete Dunne (c) vs. Adam Cole with the Undisputed Era
Second Segment
Singles Match: Lacey Evans vs. Dakota Kai
Evans and Kai tie up. Kai misses a running kick off the ropes. Evans attacks Kai’s recently injured arm and then applies an armbar submission. Kai bridges up to her feet, reverses the submission into a schoolgirl pinfall attempt…and she gets it! Surprise victory for Kai!
Winner: Dakota Kai via pinfall in 2 minutes
Post-match, Shayna Baszler’s music hits and she strolls down to the ring. Kai is naturally worried about what might happen. The referee asks Baszler to keep her distance.
Suddenly, nXt Women’s Champion Ember Moon’s music hits and she’s marching down to ringside, with a mic in her hands.
Moon says it doesn’t matter if she has one arm or two. Baszler started it but Moon’s going to finish it at Takeover: New Orleans. A brawl between the women ensues. The referees try to pull them apart a few times but they continue to attack. It culminates in a strong punch by Baszler, knocking Moon to the ground. Moon responds with a high kick to the head. She ascends the turnbuckle. Baszler catches her there with a kick to the head. She begins to apply a double wristlock until Kai returns with a kick to Baszler’s hands.
Moon mounts the top turnbuckle, shrieks and nails Baszler with the Eclipse.
No cool points for the match but one cool point for Moon’s excellent post-match attack. She finally took Baszler out and humbled her. Kai’s victory was a surprise, and it’s good to see a few more ladies getting opportunities, besides the main feud.
Up Next: Dusty Classic Round 1 continues with Street Profits vs. Heavy Machinery
Third Segment
Hey! We have an official Takeover: New Orleans theme song to share: It Follows by Cane Hill.
Mauro Ranallo announces that nXt General Manager William Regal has made an official match for Takeover: New Orleans. It will be Moon vs. Baszler II for the nXt Women’s Championship.
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round Match: Street Profits vs. Heavy Machinery
Ford and Dozovic begin the match. Dozovic scares Ford back to his corner with a shoulder tackle. Ford sips from his black cup and asks Dozovic if he wants any. Ford slides on his bum and gives Dozovic the cup. Crowd chants, “Drink!” Dozovic does and he finishes it! He’s charging up and nails Ford with a few running clotheslines. He slams Ford to roll him out of the ring.
Dawkins charges in. Dozovic tags in Knight. The two of them hang Dawkins up in the turnbuckle ropes. Ford flies in. Heavy Machinery pick him up and use him as a battering ram into his partner, Dawkins. 1-2- kickout by Ford on Knight’s pinfall attempt.
Bearhug by Knight on Ford, shaking him around, wearing him down. Ford punches his way free, escapes and tags in Dawkins. Dawkins with a huge dropkick, followed by a discus back elbow on Knight. 360 splash! Monster Thesz press to respond by Knight.
Running clothesline on Dawkins in their corner. Knight tags Dozovic. They set up for the Compactor, but Ford trips up Knight against the ropes. Dawkins seizes on the distraction and delivers a DDT to Dozovic. Ford tags in. Frog splash. 1-2-3.
Winners: Street Profits via pinfall in 4 minutes
One cool point for both teams in this one. Heavy Machinery’s so entertaining, especially with Dozovic’s drink comedy and their power moves. Street Profits come out of this one with a surprising victory, though, given the pace of the match.
Fourth and Fifth Segments
UK Championship Match: Pete Dunne (c) vs. Adam Cole w. Undisputed Era
Just a few highlights to share from this main event match that you’ll want to watch, if you have the opportunity:
Dunne’s hitting hard from the get-go, with a knockout punch and some digit manipulation on Cole’s left hand.
He nails Cole with a throw suplex on to the apron, right in front of O’Reilly and Fish, the nXt Tag Team Champions.
Cole upends Dunne, who had climbed the ropes, while the referee was distracted by the Undisputed Era. Dunne appears to have tweaked his left knee as…
We go to commercial break.
On the return, Dunne’s recovered and he’s trading punches with Cole. Step up enziguri by Dunne on Cole in the corner!
Backstabber by Cole to reverse his way out of Dunne’s attempt to hit the Bitter End.
Dunne applies a body scissors and a wrist lock. Cole frees himself, bicycle kick and then the Last Shot for a 2 count.
Cole jaws at Dunne about having nothing. Dunne clocks him with a forearm. Cole’s buddies check on him in the corner. Cole and Dunne exchange kicks and punches. Cole almost gets the win when Dunne flies off the turnbuckle with a moonsault…but receives a sharp kick to the gut from Cole. That one gets the “nXt” chant.
German release suplex by Dunne and when he’s about to go for the Bitter End, O’Reilly & Fish get up on the apron. Dunne deals with them. Cole nails Dunne with a superkick and the Last Shot! 1-2- NOOOOOOO! Dunne is barely conscious but he resisted the pin!
As Dunne goes for the Bitter End again, after some increased digit manipulation, O’Reilly runs in to trip up Dunne. Ref calls for the bell and it’s an Undisputed Era beatdown…
Until Roderick Strong arrives on the scene! Then, he gets beaten down, too.
Strong and Dunne eventually clean house though.
Strong offers his hand to Dunne. Dunne brushes his shoulder off and walks off, holding the title high on the stage.
Winner and still UK Champion:Pete Dunne via disqualification in 18 minutes
Two cool points for Dunne. First: digit manipulation. Watching him integrate that into his matches may begin to be a wearisome tactic one day, but the simple effectiveness of the attack continues to impress me. So, too, his defiance and his strategy in dealing with O’Reilly & Fish impressed me.
One cool point for Cole because he managed to get more fans booing him than Dunne, and Dunne is very easy to dislike. Cole continues to show his chops on a regular basis, and he’s been the busiest singles wrestler on weekly nXt TV since Takeover: Philadelphia.
Final Segment
It’s another theme song for Takeover: New Orleans! “Lord of Flies”, also by Cane Hill.
Time for the official contract signing for the nXt Championship match, at Takeover: New Orleans, between Andrade “Cien” Almas (c) and Aleister Black (#1c).
Black arrives. Almas does not. His manager, Zelina Vega does and she tells us Almas is not there. Black starts looking under the table. Vega’s mad that he’s not listening. Black gives her the contract, moves the table, and stands up to her, seeing how much of a height difference there is. So, he sits, cross-legged and says now we’re on the same level.
Vega says you will reap what you sow. She signs the contract and throws it at him to sign. Black says is he afraid to be here because at New Orleans, like yourself, he’ll come up a little short? Vega slaps Black before he can say much more than that.
Black smirks as Vega calls on him to sign. She says he just made the biggest mistake of his life. Black walks away from the ring. He says it’s good she came alone tonight cause he didn’t.
Cue Candice LeRae’s music! She hustles out and the two ladies brawl. LeRae even throws Vega on to the announce table, at ringside, and pummels her. Back in the ring, LeRae plants Vega to the mat with a springboard twisting bulldog. And that’s all for this week.
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!!