WWE NXT live results: Two Women's title tournament matches
The road to crowning a new NXT Women's Champion begins tonight.
With Indi Hartwell vacating the title and being called up to Raw, NXT is holding a tournament to decide its new Women's Champion. The tournament begins tonight with two first-round matches: Gigi Dolin vs. Tiffany Stratton and Lyra Valkyria vs. Kiana James.
Roxanne Perez, Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley, and Cora Jade are the other tournament participants. The finals will be held at NXT Battleground on Sunday, May 28.
Gold will be on the line tonight as Gallus defend their NXT Tag Team titles against The Dyad. In addition to that, the show will feature a grudge match between Trick Williams and Bron Breakker.
Ilja Dragunov vs. Dijak, Tyler Bate vs. Charlie Dempsey, Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen vs. Hank Walker & Tank Ledger, Eddy Thorpe vs. Damon Kemp, and Duke Hudson vs. Javier Bernal are scheduled for tonight as well. Plus, we'll hear from Nathan Frazer as he presents a new edition of Hard Hitting Home Truths.
Our live coverage starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
The show opens with a recap of Indi Hartwell vacating the NXT Women's Championship. The tournament to determine a new champion starts tonight.
The eight wrestlers in the tournament are lining the aisle ahead of the first match in the tourney. Tiffany Stratton is out to kick off the show, and she also cuts a promo on a pre-taped cutaway. Gigi Dolan also cuts a promo in a pre-tape.
Tiffany Stratton defeated Gigi Dolan to advance in NXT Women's Championship Tournament
Stratton pinned Dolan to win a quarterfinal match. Stratton advances into the semifinals, where she faces the winner of Jacy Jayne vs. Roxanne Perez.
Stratton works an arm during much of the match, but Dolan fights back. Stratton goes right back to targeting the arm. Stratton then goes for a rolling fireman's carry slam, but it goes terribly wrong. Dolan takes a ugly bump on the mat. Stratton then executes the "Prettiest Moonsault Ever," and Stratton covers Dolan for a pinfall.
Gallus is heading to the ring to defend their NXT Tag Team Championship. Meanwhile, The Schism is gathered to send The Dyad into battle. The Dyad head for the ring. Joe Gacy stays behind, taking Ava's advice to focus more on himself. Gacy tells Ava to guide The Dyad as he would in his place.
Trick Williams is at the barber shop with NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes. Those gathered in the barber shop give Williams a send-off as he leaves for his match tonight, when Williams will face Bron Breakker in the main event. Williams calls it his biggest test.
NXT Tag Team Champions Gallus (Mark Coffey & Wolfgang with Joe Coffey) defeated The Dyad (Rip Fowler & Jagger Reid with Ava) to retain their titles
Gallus is strong out of the gates as the fighting breaks out before the bell sounds to start the match. They wrestle through a split-screen commercial break. The Dyad were running wild when the show cut to commercials, and they were getting a near fall when the show returns from the break.
Suddenly, there is a wacky backstage skit with Diamond Mine. They are watching the match on monitors, and The Creed Brothers are joking around by wearing blue masks that mock the ones worn by The Schism. Ivy Nile is having none of that, and she snaps the masks on the Creeds' face. She yells at them to quit messing around. Then, back to the tag match inside the soundstage.
Ava causes a distraction, which causes Nile to run in and jump Ava at ringside. The Creeds run out and try to pry Nile off Ava. The two women brawl on the floor, while Gallus is in the ring executing their tandem finisher. Wolfgang then covers Reid for a pinfall.
A mysterious teaser on the show gives me Black Scorpion vibes. It is more likely a character makeover of sorts for Wendy Choo.
Duke Hudson (with Thea Hail) defeated Javier Bernal
Hudson pinned Bernal in a glorified enhancement match. It was set up with a skit before the match where Bernal disrespects Chase U. Thea Hail steals the scene in that skit. Andre Chase is not there as he was written off the show, but his character is still mentioned in the skit.
Bernal is getting heat on Hudson, and Hudson hulks up like The Hulkster in '86, brother. Hudson also does a Dusty Rhodes flip, flop and fly. Hudson also does a German suplex where he jumps into the ring from the apron to execute the suplex. For the finish, Hudson gives Bernal a Razor's Edge, and Hudson covers him for a three count.
Mr. Stone is bonding with Von Wagner when Stone again brings up a childhood picture of Wagner in the hospital. A geek nearby cracks a joke about Wagner related to the photo. Wagner snaps and guzzles the unnamed geek.
A backstage confrontation between The Creeds and Gallus seems to set up a tag title match in the near future.
Eddy Thorpe defeated Damon Kemp
Thorpe pinned Kemp in what Vic Joseph on commentary called a "hard fought win." That was the story of the match, but it was not exactly an exciting match. Thorpe made a comeback as they went home, and he gives Kemp a German suplex. Thorpe follows up with a leaping elbow drop, and Thorpe covers Kemp for a pin.
McKenzie Mitchell interviews Kiana James ahead of her tournament match later tonight. James has her sights set on the women's title.
After a commercial break, McKenzie Mitchell interviews Bron Breakker in his locker room. Breakker heels on Mitchell. Breakker then threatens to put Trick Williams in the hospital just like he did with Carmelo Hayes.
Ilja Dragunov defeated Dijak via disqualification
Dijak hit Dragunov with a metal folding chair for the DQ.
The match starts as a slobberknocker as they exchange vicious chops like this was Wahoo McDaniel vs. Ric Flair, but maybe even more stiff. The battle on from there. Dijak gets a nearfall on a high kick, and a frustrated Dijak then takes a folding chair from the timekeeper.
An angry Dijak brings the chair in to the ring. The referee pleads with Dijak to ditch the chair, but Dijak instead gives Dragunov a chair shots. Dragunov feeds him his back for more shots from the chair, but the carnage is not over.
At ringside, Dijak traps Dragunov underneath the ring steps. Dijak then stands on the steps as Dragunov sells like his being choked by the steps. Usually, the steps are in two pieces, but here they were attached as one piece to facilitate the angle.
Charlie Dempsey (with Drew Gulak) defeated Tyler Bate (with NXT North American Champion Wes Lee)
Dempsey pinned Bate after interference by both Joe Gacy and Gulak. Gacy comes to ringside during the match, and he gets into argument with Lee and Gulak. Bate does a dives over the ropes to the floor that wipes out Gulak and Gacy. A moment later, Gulak causes a distraction, which allows Gacy to clobber Bate. Dempsey then uses a Dragon suplex and a bridge to pin Bate for a three count.
McKenzie Mitchell interviews Dragon Lee, who begins to talk about Noam Dar. Dragon Lee interrupts Dar with a video message. Dar invites Dragon Lee to be a guest on Dar's Supernova Sessions talk show. Dragon Lee says he will be there.
Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen (with Fallon Henley) defeated Hank Walker & Tank Ledger
Briggs pinned Tank in a hard-hitting slobberknocker.
Hank & Tank brings the fight to the Briggs & Jensen, but Briggs & Jensen soon fight back with tandem offense. They are all smacking leather and throwing haymakers. Tank apparently lost a tooth, but not to fret, he spat it out and put it in his singlet for safe keeping.
Tank then takes a Hart Attack finisher from Briggs & Jensen. Briggs then covers Tank for the deciding pinfall. The two teams exchange fist bumps after the match in show of sportsmanship.
Hard Hitting Home Truths with Nathan Frazier talks about the international talent on the NXT roster in a wacky news magazine segment. This reminded me of the defunct Talk Soup show on E! decades ago, mixed with a Sean Mooney Event Center segment from the old episode of Superstars.
Lyra Valkyria defeated Kiana James to advance in the NXT Women's Championship Tournament
Valkyria pinned James in a quarterfinal match. Valkyria now advances to face Tiffany Stratton in the semifinals.
The match goes through a split-screen commercial break. James works over Valkyria throughout the bout, until Valkyria begins a comeback. James cuts off Valkyria, and James gets a near fall with a Last Ride powerbomb. Valkyria comes back with a counter and a roundhouse kick. Valkyria then scores a pinfall.
In a skit at a pub, Tony D'Angelo and Stacks want a tag title shot against Gallus. Joe Coffey takes exception to Tony D and Stacks wanting the next title shot. Coffey basically threatens The Family with a club. Tony D warns him about such things, but Stacks points out they are outnumbered. The Family leave, but something tells me this story is far from done.
Bron Breakker defeated Trick Williams
Breakker submitted Williams with a Steiner Recliner. Carmelo Hayes runs in after the match to make a save Williams from a post-match beating, but Hayes himself catches a beating instead.
Breakker is a heel, so gone are the colorful singlets. He now rocks a solid black singlet with lettering outlined in white. His name on the front and "MEANER THAN EVIL" written on the back.
In the match itself, Williams was on a roll at the start. Williams boots Breakker out of the ring. They fight on the floor, and Williams looks to send Breakker flying into the timekeeper's area. Breakker counters, and he backdrops Williams on the announce desk.
Breakker has cut off William's momentum, and Breakker begins to maul him. Breakker goes for a pin at on point, but he breaks the count to do push-ups as a taunt.
Williams gets a hope spot, but Breakker dashes the hope with a Steiner powerslam. Breakker toys with Williams and taunt him some more. Willaims fires back and catches Breakker with a neckbreaker.
Double down leads to them trading strikes. Williams with a rally and he does a short-arm uranage slam for a near fall. Breakker then blocks a wind-up kick, and Breakker does his military press/powerslam combo.
Wiliams has more fight left in him. He again goes for a wind-up kick, but Breakker mows down Williams with a spear. Breakker pulls down the straps on his singlet, and Breakker applies the Steiner Recliner. Williams taps out, and Breakker wins via submission.
Breakker again applies the Recliner after the match is over. Out comes NXT Champion Carmelo Hayes, who in an earlier skit left the barber shop to be in Williams' corner. Hayes rushes into the ring to make a save. However, Breakker cuts down Hayes out of mid-air with a spear. Hayes went for a springboard off the middle rope, and Breakker speared him.
Breakker stands over Hayes and talks trash while holding the title belt overhead. Breakker throws the belt down on Hayes, and Breakker poses in a defiant stance as the show goes off the air.
Source: Figure Four Online
