WWE nXt Results
March 28, 2018
Full Sail University, Orlando, FL
Commentary by Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson
Opening Segment
Earlier today, Tommaso Ciampa rolls up to FSU in his vehicle and the fans waiting outside the venue boo and jeer him. The cameraman walks with him and a reporter asks questions, but Ciampa won’t answer. He catches up with nXt General Manager William Regal, asking how Johnny Gargano was able to attack him at his place of work.
Regal agrees that Gargano was out of order. Ciampa wants to get rid of him for good. Regal books the match but says, due to Gargano’s current state, it will be an unsanctioned match. If Gargano wins, he gets his job back. If Ciampa wins, Gargano is banished from nXt forever.
Walking out to ringside, past the Dusty Classic Tag Team Tournament trophy, is GM Regal. He’s here to share his special news, which he alluded to last Wednesday. “Regal” chants from the crowd!
Regal says that as nXt evolves, we need to ensure we have standard bearers for different areas around the world. At Takeover: New Orleans, nXt will introduce the North American Championship. He brings up the UK Championship and all the great wrestlers it brought to nXt.
“I am in the top 1 percent”…and a new theme is debuted….it’s Ethan Carter, EC3! For what it’s worth, his Impact theme was better! EC3 walks down the ramp, wearing a slick-looking dark blue suit. “EC3” chant from the crowd and he calls for it to continue from the fans.
Carter says he knew Regal was a kind man when he got the call to join the hottest brand in wrestling, nXt. He knew Regal was reasonable when he was given a very lucrative contract and a banger of a theme song. “1 Percent” chant hits. Carter didn’t know Regal was so logical, so as to create a championship to award to EC3 on his first day. “nX3” chant starts up. Crowd’s busy tonight!
Regal is happy that EC3 is in nXt, but no one is handed anything here. You have to earn it in the ring. So, at nXt Takeover: New Orleans, EC3 will get to compete for the North American Championship against 5 other competitors, with a brand new title suspended above the ring…in a LADDER MATCH.
EC3 says it will matter not how many are lined up against him in this match. He will prove to everyone why he’s in the top 1% in this industry.
Crowd bought in big time to his debut. Great stuff.
Coming Up:Aleister Black will be here live tonight.
Up Next: Dusty Classic Semi-Final #1: Street Profits vs. Authors of Pain
Second Segment
It’s another theme song for Takeover: New Orleans! “Lord of Flies”, also by Cane Hill.
Earlier today, TM61 is asked about their disappointing result in the Dusty Classic. They say they’re sick of going back to the drawing board, but they’re gonna have to change their attitude. In the background, it appears that Shayna Baszler is arguing with nXt Trainer Sara Amato. Ember Moon shows up and the cameraman books it from his interview with Thorne & Miller to watch a brawl break out. The girls tangle up on the floor, knocking the cameraman over, until finally a number of Performance Center wrestlers come over to split them up.
Outside the arena, nXt Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega are walking, and they are here!
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Final Match: Street Profits vs. Authors of Pain w. Paul Ellering
Ford and Rezar start it off by yelling at each other about who wants this trophy more. So, Ford tags in Dawkins and he gets beat up in the corner with knees and punches. Rezar tags in Akam and he keeps the knees coming to Dawkins’ mid-section. Irish whip reversal by Dawkins who dropkicks Akam. Running European uppercut! Spinebuster on Rezar who jumped into the ring. Ford is celebrating on the outside with his red solo cup, and he hops and dances his way to Paul Ellering. Ford holds out the cup to Ellering. “Take a sip” chant starts up. Ellering slams the cup to the ground. Ford’s not happy and he stares down Ellering.
Meanwhile, in the ring, Last Chapter on Dawkins. 1-2-3. Well, that was easy for Ellering to distract Ford.
Winners: Authors Of Pain via pinfall in 3 minutes
One cool point for the trickery of Paul Ellering. I’m not sure if he’s ever been the reason why his team won a match, but if it’s not, it’s been a long time. Ford’s got quite a sense of humour, but it cost his team the match. He left Dawkins vulnerable and that could have been avoided.
Another update on the Dusty Classic is hosted by Charly Caruso in the nXt studio.
Cathy Kelley is outside GM Regal’s office and he arrives to answer Kelley’s question about the North American Championship Ladder Match. Regal says he finalized the second competitor: Adam Cole.
Suddenly, it’s Velveteen Dream wooing his way into the shot. He says Takeover: New Orleans isn’t an experience the nXt Universe can get behind…unless he enters the ladder match. Regal agrees. We’ve got 3 competitors with 3 more to be announced.
Dream says Regal just set the stage by adding him.
Up Next: Lars Sullivan returns to action!
Third Segment
Singles Match: Lars Sullivan vs. John Silver
Watson says nobody else on the roster is quite built like Sullivan. He’s a monster! Silver better be quick Silver.
Sullivan clobbers Silver from the bell. He just chucks Silver upside down into the turnbuckle. Then, he does it again. Silver forces himself to his feet and receives a corner avalanche. Military press into a powerslam! Now, Sullivan’s going up to the top rope. Wow. Diving headbutt! He follows it up with the Freak Accident, which is his powerslam finisher where he grabs his opponent around the waist. Match is over. He dominated.
Winner: Lars Sullivan via pinfall in 2 minutes
No cool points for this one. I would’ve given one but Sullivan went up to the top rope for that headbutt, and it was completely unnecessary. He’d already won the match. Let’s get this guy fighting Killian Dain again pronto.
Fourth Segment
The other official Takeover: New Orleans theme song by Cane Hill is It Follows.
Cathy Kelley is still wandering around the Performance Center and she runs into GM Regal again, asking for more names for the North American Championship Ladder Match. Just then, Lars Sullivan returns from his match, down that very same hallway! Regal invites him to participate. Sullivan says he will do it with his hands and with a ladder. He wants Killian Dain first though!
Regal says Dain is in the ladder match, so we’re on the same page. Furthermore, Sullivan will get his match with Dain next week! Sullivan is quite pleased.
Dakota Kai comes out for a match…but it never happens! Cameras cut to an altercation in the parking lot.
Outside in the parking lot, Almas has attacked #1 Contender Aleister Black. Black’s crawling on the ground or getting knees to the gut from Almas. Almas dunks Black’s face into a cooler of ice water and then slams him into the door, as the two work their way into the backstage area. Vega eggs on Almas to continue.
Very quickly, Almas dragged Black to the ringside area, to boos from the nXt crowd. Almas brings a chair into the ring and nails Black in the back. He yells at Black to respect Vega and holds the nXt Championship up above him to demonstrate his dominance. He and Vega leave the ring as nXt referees rush down to check on Black who is motionless.
A promo for Ricochet is shown, telling us his nXt debut is coming soon.
Final Segment
Next week: Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan
Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Final Match: SAnitY vs. Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne (UKc)
Wrestling for SAnitY tonight is Eric Young and Alexander Wolfe.
This is a main event match y’all will want to watch, so I’ll just share a few of the highlights:
Wolfe vs. Strong to start
Big body slam by Wolfe on Strong brings in the partners, but the referee keeps things composed and no brawl breaks out.
Abdominal stretch by Young on Dunne and a big boot by Wolfe off a sneaky tag in the
corner. He punches Dunne repeatedly, gets up and smiles as…
We go to commercial break.
On the return, SAnitY continues with the solid double team work. Dunne tags in Strong who puts the boots and the chops to Young in their own corner. Pendulum backbreaker by Strong. Dunne’s tagged in and he lays into Young, eventually choosing to wrench the right arm some.
Double wristlock by Dunne on Young. Young lifts Dunne while Dunne’s going for a submission move, and he drives Dunne to the mat, breaking the submission attempt.
Wolfe’s tagged in. So is Strong. These guys are lighting each other up with punches.
German suplex by Wolfe! Death Valley Driver! 1-2-…NOOO! Strong barely kicks out. Wolfe tags in Young. Double team. Dunne makes the save.
The melee has begun! Running neckbreaker by Young on Dunne. Strong ascends the turnbuckle where Young is, and he gets dropped to the mat. High-flying diving elbow drop by Young! 1-2-…..Strong kicks out.
Meanwhile, Strong delivers a vicious backbreaker Young and goes for the pinfall…1-2- NO! Dunne flies into the ring to break the count. We’re into the chaos now as all four men enter the ring. Strong with End of Heartache on Wolfe!! Immediately, he rushes to his corner with a jumping knee into Young’s head. Tag is made. Strong and Dunne with a double team slam. 1-2-3! UPSET VICTORY!
Winners:Roderick Strong & Pete Dunne via pinfall in 11 minutes
One cool point for both teams. The seemingly unlikely pair of Strong & Dunne now have two wins to their name, but they’ll face their toughest challenge yet: the former tournament champs, the Authors of Pain, next Wednesday.
Shame to see SAnitY lose, but maybe they’ll find another way to be involved at Takeover: New Orleans. Strong & Dunne fight like they’ve been tagging for a while. They’ll need that chemistry and to avoid poor decisions
Backstage, Kelley is hoping to get that final competitor’s name for the North American Championship Ladder Match. She goes to GM Regal’s door and he opens it, saying that man is actually in his office now. It’s Ricochet! He says he’ll see us at Takeover.
Here’s the official, non-spoiler affected card so far:
nXt Championship Match: Andrade “Cien” Almas (c) vs. Aleister Black (1c)
nXt Women’s Championship Match: Ember Moon (c) vs. Shayna Baszler
nXt Tag Team Championship Match: Undisputed Era (c) vs. AOP OR Strong/Dunne
Unsanctioned Match: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Johnny Gargano
nXt North American Championship Ladder Match: Adam Cole vs. EC3 vs. Velveteen Dream vs. Killian Dain vs. Lars Sullivan vs. Ricochet
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!!