Welcome to Ringside News’ coverage of WWE NXT. Please keep refreshing throughout the show for constant updates once it kicks off at 8:00 PM EST.

In spite of the recent positive coronavirus testing for someone on the NXT roster (which you can read about here), NXT rolls on this week with two different tag team title matches on the card for tonight.

First, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley will head back to their old stomping grounds to defend their titles against the young upstarts Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox. After just barely escaping with their titles at Backlash this past Sunday, will they Bayley and Banks be able to continue their reign? To read about Bayley and Sasha’s title defenses, you can check out Ringside News’ Backlash 2020 coverage here.

The other title match on the card for tonight is the team of Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner of Imperium taking on veteran tag team Tyler Breeze and Fandango, collectively known as Breezango. This will be Imperium’s first title defense since claiming the titles from Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher, but will they be able to take down Breezango?

Advertising
Advertising

Speaking of Timothy Thatcher, Thatcher teased last week that his “Thatch-as-Thatch-can,” wrestling school starts its training this week. Who are Thatcher’s students and who will they target for their first lesson? Perhaps we will find out tonight.

Finally, while no official statements have been made on WWE’s website, the promotional video for NXT has teased that NXT Champion Adam Cole will address the two top contenders for his championship, Keith Lee and Karrion Kross.

With two hours of NXT television to fill, there is sure to be a lot more action, and we will be here to cover all of it when NXT goes live at 8:00 PM EST.

Opening Segment

We see a recap of last week, including Gargano and LeRae beating Lee and Yim, Balor coming after Lee, Santos Escobar’s debut, and Scarlett confronting Adam Cole.

We also get brief promos hyping up the two tag team title matches for tonight.

Sasha Banks and Bayley are shown arriving at the performance center earlier today, but we kick things off with the NXT Tag Team Championship match.

This episode of NXT is tagged as “live” in the bottom corner, despite the positive COVID case that has dominated all WWE-related stories for the past 48 hours.

Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) vs. Breezango

Breezango enter with a parody Imperium entrance, calling themselves “Emporium,” and Fandango calling himself Fabio, Breeze calling himself Marsupial.

Aichner and Barthel take cheap shots and pounce on Breeze and Dango just as the match starts. Barthel and Breeze are the two legal men, but Barthel is clearly in control. Breeze fights back with punches to the midsection and a jawbreaker, but Aichner tags in and takes Breeze down with an armdrag and an armbar.

Breeze tries to fight back to his feet again, but Aichner keeps Breeze downed. Breeze fights back with punches to the midsection, then hits a crossbody on Aichner, sending both of them over the top ropes. Barthel uses the outside to their advantage, hitting Breeze with a double team move that sends Breeze face-first into the plexiglass.

Back in the ring, Aichner pins Breeze for two. Aichner tags Barthel in, and Barthel lays punches into Breeze. Barthel takes a moment to taunt the crowd and locks in a seated hammerlock on Breeze. Breeze fights to his feet ad hits Barthel with elbows to the midsection. Breeze tosses Barthel over the top rope and makes the tag to Fandango as Aichner also tags in.

Fandango hits a powerslam on Aichner and uses Barthel to hit a tornado DDT on Fabian Aichner. Aichner and Barthel are out of the ring, and Fandango hits a tope over the top rope, taking out both members of Imperium as we go to commercial break.

Back from commercial and Breeze and Aichner are the legal men. Barthel tags in Aichner and Aichner hits a brainbuster on Breeze. Barthel tags back in, and Barthel grounds Breeze with a hard strike. Barthel taunts Breeze, but Breeze takes him down with a step-up enziguri. Breeze tags Fandango in and they hit some tag team offense, with their Beauty in Motion/Last Dance combo, pinning Barthel, with Aichner breaking up the pinfall at two.

Breeze and Fandango get to their feet and hit dual superkicks on Aicher and Barthel. Dango hits Aichner with a Last Dance, covering him for two, but Barthel breaks up the pin. Breeze and Barthel fight over the top rope to the outside. Suddenly, Malcolm Bivens and Indus Sher come out to the ring and stare down Breeze and Barthel.

Before Indus Sher can do anything, Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan attack Indus Sher. Fandango uses the distraction to roll up Barthel, but Fabian Aichner was the legal man. Aichner runs in and hits a DDT on Fandango, covering him for the win.

Winners: Imperium

Tom Phillips interviews Velveteen Dream following his loss to Adam Cole. Dream is shown on his couch asking why Tom Phillips has never interviewed him before. Dexter Lumis pops up behind Dream’s couch and drops a hand-drawn picture of himself and Dream as NXT Tag Team Champions. Dream sees it and says, “This means nothing. This is a misunderstanding.”

Damian Priest is shown arriving at the performance center earlier that day, and he will take on Killian Dain after this commercial break.

Back from commercial, and we head right into the next match.

Damian Priest vs. Killian Dain

While the crowd was active during the entrances for both Breezango and Imperium, there is no fanfare for Preist during his entrance. It is unclear whether or not the crowd is thinned from the Monday night crowd due to the COVID scare or not, but the crowd does seem to be much more energetic during Dain’s entrance.

Priest and Dain seem to be evenly matched when it comes to power. Dain tries to take Priest down with a shoulder tackle but Priest is not phased. Priest hits a leapfrog, but lands poorly on his knee and tweaks his back. Dain uses that to his advantage and tries for a sneak attack, but Priest hits a bell clap and a thrust kick to create separation.

Priest runs at Dain, but Dain drops him onto the apron. Priest lands on his feet, but Dain continues to focus his attack on Priest’s lower back. Tom Phillips tells us that Preist’s back is still injured from landing on the steel steps from NXT TakeOver.

Priest is able to get to his feet and hit a flurry of strikes, but Dain hits two belly to back suplexes, followed by spiking Priest face-first into the mat. Dain pins Priest for two. Dain goes for another belly to back suplex, but Priest reverses it into a crossbody.

Dain runs at Preist, but Priest dodges and Dain goes into the ring post shoulder first. Priest and Dain trade blows until Priest takes Dain down with a lariat. Priest hits Dain with a forearm smash to the face, pinning Dain for two.

Priest hits his signature elbow smash on Dain in the corner and a running uppercut in the corner, but Dain takes down Priest with a crossbody, pinning him for two. Dain gets Priest in an electric chair, but Priest gets a victory roll, pinning Dain for two. Priest hits Dain with The Reckoning, pinning Dain for the victory.

Winner: Damian Priest

We are told that Santos Escobar will be live later tonight, and then we get a promo for Escobar and his masked compatriots from last week. Escobar says that he will rewrite the history of lucha libre in his own words, starting tonight. Then, we go to commercial.

Back from commercial, we see Killian Dain making his way to the back and Dain scares an inebriated-looking Robert Stone, who is looking even worse for wear than he did last week. While it was never explicitly stated that he was drinking, he had a bottle in a paper bag, so it probably wasn’t COVID.

Xia Li vs. Aliyah

On her way to the ring, Aliyah sees Robert Stone ins his depressed state at the side of the ring. Aliyah drags him to the ring to stand in her corner.

Li and Aliyah lock up, but Aliyah takes Li down with a Thesz Press and a ground and pound, but Li gets back to her feet and lands some kicks and strikes on Aliyah. Aliyah hits a northern lights suplex into a pin for two.

Aliyah taunts Li, and Li gets to her feet and kicks Aliyah, then takes her down with a series of kicks. Li runs at Aliyah, hitting a forearm smash onto Aliyah in the corner, then a dropkick.

Robert Stone gets on the apron and the referee is trying to get him down. Stone throws up in the ring (so it definitely isn’t COVID!), distracting the referee and Li long enough for Aliyah to take advantage and roll up Li for a pin.

Winner: Aliyah

We are told that Roderick Strong is still suffering from visions of Dexter Lumis, and up next we will see some “Undisputed Therapy,” right after this commercial.

Back from commercial, we see a backstage promo of “Thatch-as-Thatch-can” wrestling. He shows how far a Fujiwara Armbar can go, then a double wristlock. We still can’t see who all of Thatcher’s students are, but he says to them, “Next week, the real work begins.”

Tom Phillips tosses to a segment from earlier today with Adam Cole and Bobby Fish trying to game plan for helping Roderick Strong feel better. They can tell that he is still not feeling right, and he even looks like he is not feeling well.

Cole and Fish take Roderick to a therapy session to see a doctor. The “doctor” is Kyle O’Reilly. This is one of the very few times that we have seen Kyle O’Reilly since the COVID outbreak, as he is staying away due to his Type 1 Diabetes. As the doctor, O’Reilly talks to Roderick about Dexter Lumis. Strong talks about how he always sees Dexter Lumis staring at him. The “doctor” says that he wants to do an inkblot test, but he sees Lumis and the truck in inkblots.

The “doctor” tells him that he needs to face the trunk, which is the root of his fears. Roderick, Cole, and Fish head outside to a trunk and try to get Strong into the trunk, but Roderick runs away. Fish and Cole say that it went well, but they need to go pick him up.

Back at the arena, Cole is interviewed about Scarlett’s approach to him last week. Cole says that every time someone tries to take his title, he still emerges victorious. Keith Lee shows up and says that Karrion Kross won’t be the man who takes the title from Cole, but it’ll be Lee himself. Lee smashes the hourglass that Scarlett left for Cole last week, and Cole storms off. Lee says, “Tick tock,” and we go to commercial.

Back from commercial, and Undisputed Era’s music hits. Adam Cole is the only member of Undisputed Era to come out, but Cole makes his way to the ring.

Cole cuts a promo talking about how long he has been a champion, which is 381 days, but he has taken on all challengers. Cole calls out Karrion Kross and talks about Kross’s dominant victory of Tommaso Ciampa, but Cole says, “Been there, done that,” and Kross has a long way to go before Kross can challenge Cole.

Cole then moves on to Keith Lee, saying that, while Lee has his eyes on Cole’s NXT Championship, Cole says that may want to become a 2-time NXT North American Championship.

Lee’s music hit and Lee comes down to the ring. Lee gets in the ring and stands across Adam Cole, but before he can speak, Johnny Gargano’s music hits. Gargano comes out and calls out Keith Lee, saying that he is still coming after Lee’s North American Championship, “but why stop there?” He then stares at Cole and talks about how he wants to come after Cole’s championship.

Lee asks Johnny how Candice is doing and Johnny says that she is fine. Lee jokes about Johnny’s manhood, but Finn Balor’s music hits. Balor comes down and also calls out Keith Lee. He says that he has never held the North American Championship.

Johnny tries to stop Balor, but Balor says that he isn’t like Johnny, because Balor isn’t waiting in line. He says that he is taking Lee’s title, and then he is coming after Cole’s title.

William Regal appears on screen, and he says that he has an idea where everyone wins. Keith Lee will defend his NXT North American Championship next week in a triple threat match against Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor. Whoever wins that match will take on Adam Cole on July 8th in a title vs. title, winner takes all match.

We get a reminder that the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships are on the line later tonight, and we go back to commercial.

Back from commercial, Keith Lee is interviewed about William Regal’s announcement. Before she can interrupt much longer, Mia Yim confronts Candice backstage and they continue to brawl as we head back to the ring for a match.

Kayden Carter (w/Kacy Catanzaro) vs. Dakota Kai (w/Raquel Gonzalez)

Carter takes Kai down immediately and gets the advantage with a leaping crossbody, but Kai gets to her feet quickly and gets a waistlock in. Carter reverses into a roll up for two. Kai kicks out and Carter uses the ropes to hit a springboard basement dropkick.

Carter goes out of the ring and is confronted by Gonzalez. Carter attempts to fight off both Kai and Gonzalez, but Kai eventually hits Carter with a scorpion kick and a pinfall attempt for two. Carter fights back and lands a victory roll into a kick to the head, pinning Kai for two.

Kai tosses Carter into the corner, then goes over the top rope. Carter hits Kai with a knee to the face on Kai. Before Carter can capitalize, Gonzalez distracts her. Catanzaro tries to hit a diving crossbody on Gonzalez, but Gonzalez snake eyes Catanzaro on the ring apron. Kai uses the distraction to lock in a submission on Carter, and Carter taps out.

Winner: Dakota Kai

Backstage, we are shown black and white footage of Scarlett and Karrion Kross finding the broken hourglass on the ground, and Kross stomps on the broken glass as we go to commercial break.

Back from commercial and we get a promo video hyping the return of Mercedes Martinez.

Bronson Reed vs. Leon Ruff

Ruff runs at Reed, but Reed takes him down immediately with a shoulder tackle and a senton. Reed goes to the top rope and hits a splash on Ruff, pinning him for three.

Winner: Bronson Reed

Reed gets on the mic and says that he is doing what no one else has done, and he calls out Karrion Kross for a match next week. Reed picks up Leon Ruff over his shoulder and carries him backstage.

We see video from the parking lot of Damian Priest staring at his car, specifically the slashed tires. Cameron Grimes drives by and calls out, “Hey Priest, want me to get you an Uber?” He laughs as he drives away, and Priest is furious as we go to commercial break.

Back from commercial and the NXT Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar comes out, with Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde in tow. Escobar gets on the mic and talks about how he was known as the best lucha libre artist ever when he was El Hijo del Fantasma, but when people see a luchador in a mask, that’s all they see: a luchador in a mask.

He says that when he came to NXT, he knew that he was going to close the book on the El Hijo del Fantasma persona. Escobar keeps going about how he is going to create a legacy, El Legado del Fantasma, and this seems to be the name of this new stable

Before he can say much more, Drake Maverick comes out and attacks Escobar. He can fight off Escobar, Mendoza, and Wilde temporarily, but not for long. They snake eyes him on the barricade, hit him with a monitor across the back, then Escobar hits Maverick with a Fantom Driver through a table in the crowd area. El Legado del Fantasma stand tall over Maverick, with Escobar holding the title.

The match of Bayley and Sasha Banks defending their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships against Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox next, right after this commercial.

Back from commercial and Drake Maverick is shown being loaded into an ambulance after the Phantom Driver through the table.

Bronson Reed vs. Karrion Kross is confirmed for next week, as is Cameron Grimes vs. Damian Priest and the NXT North American Championship match between champion Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano, and Finn Balor.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Smackdown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships

Nox and Sasha start the match and Banks takes her down with an armdrag. Nox gets a waistlock, but Banks drives her into the corner and forces a break. Banks tosses Nox down to the ground by her hair. Nox gets to Shotzi and makes the tag. Shotzi rolls up Sasha for two, and Sasha tags in Bayley.

Bayley runs at Shotzi and kicks her in the stomach, bringing her to the ground. Shotzi kicks Bayley in the face and rolls up Bayley in a small package for two. Bayley hits Shotzi in the face with a knee and Bayley howls in victory as NXT goes to commercial.

Back from commercial and Bayley is in control of Tegan Nox. Tegan is in the corner and Bayley runs at her, but Tegan gets an elbow up and both women are down, trying to get their tags. Shotzi and Banksget the hot tags.

Shotzi is a little bit faster than Sasha, and she uses her speed to lays into Sasha with kicks. Shotzi hits a suplex on Banks and covers her for two. Shotzi went for a wrecking ball dropkick on Sasha, but Sasha dodged. Sasha hit a meteora from teh apron and gets Shotzi back in the ring, covering for two.

Bayley tags in and Shotzi tags in Tegan. Nox and Shotzi hit dual senton cannonballs on Sasha and Bayley. Bayley rolls to the outside and Nox hits a chokeslam on Sasha, throwing her into Bayley. Shotzi follows it up with a dive onto Sasha and Bayley from the top rop. Shotzi rolls Bayley back into the ring and goes for the pin, but Sasha pushes Tegan into the pinfall, breaking it up.

Nox and Sasha tag in, and Nox hits Banks with a forearm to the face. Shotzi tags in and hits a missle dropkick on Sasha. Sasha and Shotzi trade pinfall attempts, but Sasha locks in the Bank Statement. Shotzi escapes and locks in a Cattle Mutilation submission.

Bayley enters the ring with a chair. Tegan stops her and the referee grabs the chair and drops it out of the ring. While the referee is distracted, Bayley flips Shotzi out of her submission attempt and Banks locks in the Bank Statement again. Bayley pushes Tegan into the corner to stop her from breaking up the submission attempt, and Shotzi taps out.

Winners: Bayley and Sasha Banks

Bayley and Sasha Banks celebrate in the ring, but Io Shirai shows up out of nowhere and attacks both Sasha and Bayley, hitting double meteora smashes on both women, sending them running. Shirai taunts Bayley and Sasha from inside the ring, holding up her NXT Women’s Championship, saying, “This is my NXT.”

We once again get a reminder of all three of the matches scheduled for next week. As Io Shirai stands tall in the ring holding her championship, NXT goes off the air.

Steve Carrier

Steve is the Founder of RingsideNews. He has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He first got into website development at the time and has been focusing on bringing his readers the best professional wrestling news at it's highest quality.

Disqus Comments Loading...