NXT 282 Review // The Undisputed Era vs Aleister Black & Roderick Strong

On 11th January 2018, NXT aired its 282nd episode of NXT, taped at Center Stage, Atlanta, GA on 4th January. Our main event of the evening was set to be an NXT Tag Title rematch between SaNItY and The Undisputed Era but shenanigans would occur and, well, you can see in the headline what happened. The show also featured a few big debuts/ returns in the form of Lio Rush taking on Lars Sullivan, Kassius Ohno against Raul Mendoza and MMA star and MYC finalist Shayna Baszler taking on Dakota Kai. But was it any good?

We get a unique cold open as Adam Cole welcomes us to 2018, the year of the Undisputed Era, Bobby Fish says they closed 2017 in style by winning the tag titles, but that's just the beginning, in 2018 they prove to everyone why they're the baddest, Kyle O'Reilly talks of how their year of dominance begins tonight as they're going to take out SaNItY and Cole swears to take out anyone who gets in the way of him becoming NXT Champion.

Shayna Baszler def. Dakota Kai //Ref. Stoppage

Both of these women were in the Mae Young Classic with Kai being eliminated in the Quarter Finals by Kairi Sane and Bazsler by the same woman in the finals, we see backstage footage of Baszler bullying recruits until Kai steps in and most importantly, we get the NXT debut of Nixon Newell, heal up soon, Nixon. They lock-up to start as Baszler powers to the corner, holding the lock, she breaks just before 5 before sweeping Kai's legs out, Kai goes for a waistlock but is forced over into a double wristlock, Shayna wrenches at the finger and elbow joints before applying a leg stretch to the shoulder and hitting a knee to the head, she grinds down the hand with her foot and stomps out the shoulder leaving Kai defenceless for a referee stoppage.

Quick Squash m8. The first and certainly not the last of its kind for 2018 as Baszler announced herself as a cocky, destructive force with just a shade of a certain Bruiserweight to her heelish antics. While there's no story for her at the moment, I hope bigger things are to come for Kai who is too talented to be just developmental enhancement talent.

Post-match, Baszler locks in a Kirufuna Clutch (grounded sleeper) on Kai till Ember Moon comes in to break it up, Baszler walks away signalling that she wants Moon and most importantly, the NXT Women's Title around her waist.

The Authors of Pain speak, not just Paul Ellering but the actual Authors! They speak of being the baddest force in NXT and how anyone who gets in their way will suffer, Ellering says they don't care where or when or who but they want their titles back. How about in Philidelphia, Paul?

Christy St. Cloud backstage with Bazsler being asked about why she broke Kai's damn arm, William Regal turns up and tells her that going around bullying people, breaking arms and attacking people after matches, just call him Shania Twain because that don't impress him much, more importantly, it won't earn her a title shot. Baszler shrugs it off, she ain't shook, not one bit.

Kassius Ohno def. Raul Mendoza // Pinfall

Well, this was refreshing, a match with no outward storyline that wasn't just a quick squash (m8) and begins with a good ol' handshake, you crowds may chant 'this is awesome' but you know what is awesome? Respect. Mendoza starts in with a waistlock transitioning to a headlock but Ohno lifts him with his head to show dominance, Mendoza gets a sunset flip for a 2 but Ohno reverses it into a package of his own for a 2, Ohno with a lateral press for a 1 and throws Mendoza to the corner who flips the ropes, hits a shoulder tackle, goes up top, Ohno picks him up for a powerbomb by Ohno but Mendoza flips him with a hurricanrana, he lays into a seated Ohno with kicks but Ohno is nothin' to mess with and knocks his head off with a boot, in the corner, Ohno hits corner elbows for a 2, picks up Mendoza into a Gory special but Mendoza rolls through for a pin, Ohno is immediately back up and hits a forward slam and a senton for a 2, picking up Mendoza, he immediately springs to life with an arm drag, an enziguri, another arm drag and another enziguri for a 2, he jumps onto Ohno but is caught into an electric chair position, dropped onto the ropes and Ohno hits an elbow to the back of the head and another High Tension running elbow strike for the pin.

This was good work by both men, Ohno was his usual dominant self but he worked hard to make Mendoza look good and the offence that Mendoza got in was crisp and effective. Ohno seems to have been put into the Player Coach role for the forseeable but it works for him and if he can keep putting on enjoyable stuff like this, you won't hear me complaining.

Zelina Vega is getting the 'interview by disembodied hands' treatment. She speaks about how she and Andrade are more on the same page than ever and it's more work to stay the champ than to become it and at Philly, Andrade will put in the work. When asked about Johnny Gargano earning a title shot, Zelina says Johnny hasn't earnt a shot, he got lucky and took advantage of an opportunity, they've beaten Johnny twice and that Ciampa was always the success not him and that Andrade won't need to try to beat him again, when asked whether there'll be a change in tactics for match 3, Zelina refuses to disclose secrets but says there'll be no running for Johnny come Philly.  

Christy St. Cloud is with Jonny Wrestling, he acknowledges a lot of people didn't think he had a chance of winning his shot at the title, suddenly, a wild Velveteen Dream appears, Dream tells Johnny to say it, in this instance 'it' is not his but thank you for him getting lucky as Dream was meant to have the match with Kassius Ohno but he was injured, he tells him that he could have beaten Ohno in 30 seconds, not the twenty minutes it took Johnny, Johnny got lucky against Black and that he can't beat Almas, he tells Johnny that Dream earnt his spot and Johnny doesn't deserve it. I'm fully up for these two having a match, they're both great and I'm sure this match will be.

Street Profits stuff happens, they're backstage being all street and profitty, they eventually get to the point that they want a tag title shot, they go to Regal's office that is now just a table of water, they ask when they get a title shot, Regal announces that next week the Street Profits will take on Authors of Pain for the number one contendership. They seem happy about this.

Lars Sullivan def. Lio Rush // Pinfall

This is Rush's return to TV since he got into hot water for making jokes about Emma losing her job, my guess, this won't go more than a minute, Sullivan rushes but Rush dodges, moving around the ring lightning quick avoiding Sullivan, on the ropes and Rush hits a handspring heel kick, goes for a springboard but is caught and choke dropped by Sullivan, Sullivan whips Rush from one corner to the other, goes for a shoulder tackle but Rush dodges, Sullivan crushes him in the corner, goes for another but Rush dodges again, Rush goes in for an attack but is hit with a massive clothesline and the Freak Accident side slam for the pin.

Well, I was wrong, it lasted longer than a minute. Not by much, but it did. Rush being destroyed here was an appropriate act of comeuppance for him making a bad joke but give him his credit, I haven't seen a crowd get this hopped up by someone just dodging for a long time. Sullivan did his big man thing, it still works.

Post-match Lars is on the mic, he faced opponent after opponent in 2017, sometimes two at once and they all fell, but now he keeps going back to a force he'd never dealt with before but that brings him joy as he wants to destroy, he's going to take Killian Dain and break him like a toy, he grabs Rush, picks him up and hits a top rope Freak Accident on him to make a statement.

Backstage and The Undisputed Era lay out SaNItY or at least the male members. Where's Nikki Cross when you need her?

The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) def. Aleister Black & Roderick Strong // Pinfall

Before the match begins, The Era lads are in the ring and looking real smug because SaNItY aren't there to take their rematch after Cole & The Gang 'kicked the chaos out of them' and promised to do so to anyone who opposed them, before Cole can finish, out comes Nikki Cross who tries to murder everyone while two referees really fail to hold her back effectively, Cole says 'as I was saying...' but before he can finish, out comes Regal to announce that they will still have a tag title match tonight and, but before Regal can finish, out comes Roderick Strong to announce he'd fight them and that he's going to go backstage and, but before he can finish, out comes Aleister Black to announce he'll team up with him, they nod at each other and charge the ring, laying into Fish and O'Reilly as Cole flees just before Black kicks Fish out of the ring and into the ad-break, back from the break and the match proper starts, Black and O'Reilly start as Fish comes in and both members of the era take all the kicks, O'Reilly tries to go for kicks of his own but Black has All The Kicks and throws in some Muay Thai strikes and a knee for a 2, O'Reilly rolls out to recuperate but a wrecking ball dropkick from Strong takes them both out and he rolls O'Reilly back in and straight into an O'Conner roll for a 2, Black is straight onto the arm wrench, Pulled arm-first to the corner and a tag to Strong as O'Reilly is whipped into a single leg dropkick for a 2, Strong hits chops and a backbreaker for a 2, O'Reilly goes to escape but is pulled back again for a tag to Black who immediately goes for yet more kicks but O'Reilly dodges to the apron, Black follows but O'Reilly dodges back again, before Black can follow, his leg is swept by Fish onto the floor and into the second break, back again and Fish and O'Reilly are working quick tags, wearing down Black with a nice near fall off a modified figure-four/slingshot senton combo, Black goes to escape but O'Reilly leaps on him and just hits a shit ton of palm strikes, tag to Fish as O'Reilly runs at Strong knocking him off the apron, both men hit corner forearms on Black and an exploder suplex from Fish gets another good near fall, Fish immediately applies a cravat chinlock but Black elbows out, he's whipped to the ropes but on the rebound gets a sunset flip for a 2, and his back up, dropping Fish with a high knee, this gives Black the breathing room to get a tag, Strong bursts out hitting forearms and dropkicks, there's a lovely spot where he keeps throwing O'Reilly into Fish before chopping him on the rebound repearedtly before he hits a backbreaker on O'Reilly and a belly-to-belly on Fish and a high knee on O'Reilly but Fish breaks the pin, Strong throws Fish out and O'Reilly is back up with a roundhouse but Strong responds with another knee, Black crushes Fish outside and rolls him back in, he goes to follow but Cole pulls him out, Black doesn't like this and chases Cole up the steps but this leaves Strong alone in the ring with two men who hit Total Elimination for the pin.

This was a fun, little match with both teams working hard to pack a lot of content in. It's impressive considering common storytelling logic that Black and Strong were so good that I even thought they might pull it off and walk away with the titles. If I had to criticise the match, I did feel that it was a little too rushed, taking some of the drama and emotion out of proceedings as clearly, it was a lot of set-up for Black and Cole to have another match (and with a Number One Contender's match next week, it would seem odd to have a quick title change so soon before a TakeOver) but as an event in itself, still a lot of fun.

Post-match, Black comes back in and kicks away at the Era but Cole posts him, the three men hold down and batter Black with Cole hitting a shining wizard onto Black before using his foot to lift Black like Black does, Fish and O'Reilly hit another Total Elimination and Cole hits Last Shot onto a chair. Out comes Regal again who has really had enough of this shit for one day and announces that with Philidelphia's extreme history, there'll be a match between Aleister Black and Adam Cole at TakeOver: Philidelphia, and it will be Extreme Rules.

On The YouTubes

Lio Rush has had a lot of time to think since not being ready for everyone's response to his Asuka joke and now that he's come back and still losing, he's got a lot of re-evaluating to do...

Papa Hunter talks about meeting Dusty Rhodes for the first time at the venue we came to you from tonight.

William Regal checks on Black as he's helped to his feet, the audience gives him an ovation as he walks to the back.

Dakota Kai talks about how she's feeling after her match with Shayna Baszler. Not great, Bob.

Finally...

A good, entertaining start to the new year over here on the developmental brand. Not by any means a standout episode as everything was good but nothing was great but with some strong character work, especially by Baszler and Dream, 2018's looking good over here. The future's bright everyone and the future's not just now, the future's yellow.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

NXT 280 Review // Johnny Gargano vs. Aleister Black vs. Killian Dane vs. Lars Sullivan

On 28th December, WWE aired its 280th Episode of NXT, filmed at Full Sail University in Winter Gardens, FL on 29th November. Our main event was a Fatal Four-Way for the position of Number One Contender to Andrade Almas' NXT Championship. Our four contenders were Killian Dain, Johnny Gargano, Aleister Black & Lars Sullivan. Also on the show were Absolution member Sonya Deville trying to take the NXT Women's Championship to RAW as she faced Ember Moon & Street Profits taking on 

Street Profits [Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins] def. Kris Starr & Riley Apex // Pinfall

Ford and Starr (who has been working Evolve shows as Shane Mercer) to start, lock-up to start as Ford whips into leapfrogs around Starr and hits a shoulder block and a bodyslam before tagging in Dawkins and they hit a bell-to-back splash before hyping up the crowd, this give Starr a chance to tag in Apex who runs straight into a rolling forearm, Dawkins hits a splash on Starr and a corner 360 forearm splash on Apex, he then drops him with a Pop-Up Spinebuster allowing for a tag to Ford and a Frog Splash for the pin.

Quick squash m8. It did what it had to do and nothing more. If WWE decide to run with Ford, they might just have money on their hands.

Post-match, the Profits celebrate their win in the crowd. On the mic, they say how in 2017 the Profits came, they saw and in 2018, they conquer. Then they run down the NXT Tag Team division. Or most of it, they forgot Heavy Machinery and Sabbatelli & Moss but heck, what have they done?

NXT Women's Championship: Ember Moon [Athena] [c] def. Sonya Deville [Daria Berenato] // Pinfall

Deville recently defeated Ruby Riott in a No Holds Barred match so it makes sense that she'd get a title shot, they lock-up to begin as Deville gets a waistlock takedown, she holds on picking Moon back up who gets a standing switch but Deville is straight in with a kneebar, Moon breaks, they circle and returning to a lock-up position and Moon gets a headlock, Deville escapes and runs the ropes but runs them straight into a deep armdrag, they both dodge a succession of kicks, Deville tries to get Moon into a test of strength but when close enough, psyche, she just kicks her in the stomach but Moon immediately returns with a single leg dropkick sending Deville out of the ring and into the ad-break, back from the break and Deville kicks Moon in the gut for a 1, she grounds her with strikes and plants her back down for a 2, she maintains her grounding strikes and picks up Moon into a bearhug, just as Moon is fading, she nails a wheelbarrow facebuster onto the turnbuckle to buy herself some time, Deville goes in for a crucifix but Moon turns it into a butterfly suplex, hits a baseball strike, a low kick, a high kick and a straight right for a 2, rushing Deville in the corner, she gets kicked away and Deville hits a high stomp for a 2, Deville is straight back in but misses whatever she was going for allowing Moon to hit a springboard dropkick, a corner forearm and The Eclipse for the pin.

This was just good enough. Moon looked every bit the champion, selling Deville's offence to make her look good but there just wasn't enough here to make Moon seem in any jeopardy. Deville looked confident out there but this lacked the intensity of her encounters with Riott. Hopefully, with the post-match shenanigans, better things are coming in 2018.

Post-match Kairi Sane comes out, probably to ask Moon if she has any better names for the Insane Elbow, she taunts wanting a Women's Title match. Moon seems into the idea of a match, but out comes Shayna Baszler chokes out Sane on the ramp in an act of revenge for the Mae Young Classic finals. Moon doesn't help out because she's got her title to hold up.

Paul Ellering is hanging out near an old, steel wall. He warns The Undisputed Era that they will not be writing the next chapter, he tells them this is their house, they are judge, jury and executioner and the Era is on borrowed time. So I guess we know what the NXT Tag Title match will be at TakeOver: Philidelphia...

Christy St. Cloud asks Moon what she thinks about the post-match shenanigans, Moon knows the title is a target on her back but should it be Sane or Baszler, she wants to settle it in the ring and that's where they'll find her. So I guess we know what the Number One Contender's match is to find out what the NXT Women's Title match will be at TakeOver: Philidelphia.

We get a video package of the build-up to tonight's Fatal Four-Way.


In Two Weeks Time: SaNItY invoke their rematch clause for the NXT Tag Titles. Next week is the Best of 2017, probably.

NXT Championship #1 Contender's Fatal Four-Way // Johnny Gargano def. Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan & Aleister Black // Pinfall

The four men size each other up till the two bigger lads remember they are big lads and go in with strikes in the corner, Dain destroys Gargano but Black begins kicking everything. knocking Sullivan out of the ring to allow Black to do his fakeout moonsault into a full lotus, goes to the apron, Dain tries to strike but he gets kicked away, Black goes for the asai moonsault onto Sullivan but is caught and we're meant to believe dropped to the apron but Sullivan somehow DDTs himself, Gargano follows with a slingshot crossbody but is also caught and dropped to the apron but this time without obvious damage to Sullivan's head, talking of damage to Sullivan's head, Dain hits Sullivan with a big lad tope suicido onto the ramp and into the ad-break, back from the break, back from the break and Dain hits a corner splash on Gargno for a 2, Sullivan throws Dain out of the ring and rams him to the post before hitting a corner splash on Gargano for a 2, Dain pulls Sullivan out of the ring but Sullivan throws him back into the post, Black is back up and kicks Sullivan up the ramp but Sullivan throws him straight off it, Gargano comes in and tries to light up the man we knew as Dylan Miley but Sullivan just gorilla presses him onto Black, Sullivan tears apart the announce table and tries to powerbomb Gargano through it but Gargano clings to a nearby pillar allowing Black to come in with a knee strike as Gargano superkicks him onto the table and Dain his a running crossbody sending Sullivan through it, Black and Gargano head back to the ring and both are over as fuck, they circle before Johnny runs in with a forearm, Black kicks and sends Johny to the apron, running in Johnny sends him back with a kick, goes for the slingshot spear but is caught with a knee to the head, they continue to throw moves at each other unable to get anything until Gargano lands a SUPERKICK and locks in the GargaNo Escape, before Black can tap, Dain returns with a senton to break it up, he picks up Black hitting a fireman's carry slam and a senton for a pin but Gargano breaks it up, for this Dain hits him with a powerbomb and an elbow drop but can't get a pin without Black breaking it, Dain places Black on the top rope, they tussle for control and Black slides out, unable to hit a move on his own Gargano joins in and they hit a double super-bomb, Sullivan makes his way back to the ring taking down Black and Gargano and hitting a double clothesline sending Black out of the ring, he hits a twisting slam on Gargano but Dain prevents a pin, Gargano is sent out of the ring as big lad things happen, they trade strikes before Sullivan hits a clothesline and Dain responds with a lariat, they run at each other, hitting simultaneous clotheslines dazing each other allowing Black to come in and nail them with all the kicks before hitting a straight-leg moonsault on Sullivan and murdering him with Black Mass but before he can get a pin, in come The Undisputed Era to pull him out but Black easily boots both of them away, he tries to get back in the ring but Adam Cole pulls him out and nails the Last Shot only for Gargano to take him out with a tope suicido, rolling Black back in, Sullivan intervenes but Gargano dodges as he goes into the steps, Dain tries to stop him with a powerbomb but Gargano hits a rana on him into the ring steps, back on the apron and Gargano hits a Slingshot DDT on Black for the pin. Johnny's going to Philly, Boys!

While a lot of fun, this match fell just shy of greatness. It worked well as all four men threw themselves at each other thick and fast with Black being the standout showing a unique integrity to his moves as everything he did was crisp and clean but looked painful as all hell. While Dain played his part well, sadly the disappointment here was Sullivan who never quite seemed confident in his place in the match but then I guess this is developmental so at leat he showed enough to suggest that he could be more convincing with a few more big matches under his belt. This however, was Johnny Wrestling's show. Since Johnny and Tomasso lost the tag titles in January, Gargano has been on something of a rebuilding, having great matches everywhere but not really getting the win (much like Travis Banks' iconic 2016 in Fight Club Pro), it was so gratifying to see him get this and clearly was a great moment as the crowd fully came alive. Depending on how healed up he is, don't be surprised if come January, whether Johnny claims his first WWE singles gold or not, if a certain Mr. Ciampa gets involved.

On The YouTubes

Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford encourage a small child to take up casual drinking by gifting him a solo cup.

Johnny Gargano gets an ovation as he walks backstage but Andrade Almas is there to remind him he beat him. Twice.

Finally...

It wasn't the slam-dunk that last week's episode was but it was still pretty good with the ending of the main event featuring a pop that I don't think has been rivalled this year. It's been one hell of a year for the yellow ropes and this was a good way to end it with the heart of NXT getting one step closer to being the face of the brand. Now let's just see what the new year brings...

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

NXT 279 Review // Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate

On 21st December, WWE aired its 279th Episode of NXT, filmed at Full Sail University in Winter Gardens, FL on 29th November. Our main event saw the third WWE match this year for Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate as Bate sought to regain the UK Championship. The card also featured Lars Sullivan [Dan Matha] taking on Roderick Strong for the last spot in the NXT Championship Number One Contender's Fatal Four-Way & a Tag Team Title match as The Undisputed Era's Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly took on SaNItY. But was it any good?

NXT Tag-Team Championship: The Undisputed Era [Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly w/Adam Cole] def. SaNItY [Eric Young & Killian Dain w/ Nikki Cross] [c] // Pinfall

Fish and Dain to start, Fish kicks to the legs of Dain, ducks under the ropes, tags in Kyle, Kyle does the same shit, tag to Fish, Kyle ducks a strike from Dain, lays into him but Dain remembers he's a big lad and no sells their shit, tag to Fish who dodges under a lariat and jumps on Dain's back, applying a sleeper,Kyle comes in to help but Dain just bumps him away and throws off Fish before htting a lariat on Kyle sending him out of the ring and Fish follows, chilling on the outside, back in and a tag to Kyle who runs into a tag to Young and a gutbuster-knee drop combo, Young goes in for the attack but Kyle immediately tries to lock in an armbar, Young escapes, laying in with forearm palm strikes, Kyle slides out, Young chases him, ducking a roundhouse from Fish and punching him away, he slides back in after Kyle and straight away is back on top with strikes, he's whipped onto the apron but he hits a shoulder tackle, only for Fish to pull his leg out from under him sending us into an ad-break, back from the break and the heel team play quick tags beating down Yong in their corner, a slingshot senton earns Fish a 2 and they are immediately back on the corner kicks, Kyle keeps him from crawling back to his corner with an elbow-lock, Young manages to escape but is straight into a high knee, Kyle places Young on the turnbuckle but Young boots him away, he goes for a dive but Kyle roundhouses him straight out of the air, Young responds with a  swinging neckbreaker, he tries to crawl but in a dazed moment heads towards Fish instead of Dain giving Kyle time to make a tag instead, as Dain tries to join the fray anyway, the heels use the distraction to stomp the hell out of Young's back, Young throws Kyle out of the ring and low bridges Fish and crawls towards Dain but Kyle pulls him back, trying to keep him in the centre of the ring, Young kicks him away, crawls underneath and makes the tag to Dain, Dain runs insane throwing forearms with the force of a train, clotheslines Fish so hard he impacts his brain and drops a hot senton-dropkick move combo chain, he hits a michinoku driver on Fish onto Kyle for a 2, throws Fish aside, tag to Young, they set up for a powerbomb-combo, Fish low bridges Dain out of the ring but Young still hits the bomb, he forces himself up top for an elbow drop but Adam Cole comes from the crowd and knocks him off, a spinning kick and a forearm hit Young for a 2, Cole is playing coach in the corner when Nikki Cross comes in and hits an apron crossbody and repeatedly punches Cole in his face till the refs come and drag her away, Young lights up both men with palm strikes and hits a leaping neckbreaker for a 2, Dain on the outside picks up Cole but the baybay slides out, posts Dain but takes a tope suicido from Young for his troubles, back in the ring and Young is hit with a Leg Sweep-Jumping Kick Combo for the pin. NEW CHAMPION!

This was a good, fun match with both teams playing off each other well, even if the crowd were weirdly muted, they still brought enough energy to get them involved, especially by the end as Full Sail clearly adore Nikki Cross (and so they should). Beyond the frustrating booking where Young always seems to be the one taking the pin at the moment, this match lacked a certain excitement or invention that could really push it over the merely 'good' mark but certainly we know the ReDragon boys are capable of some spectacular tag work and I can't wait to see what they do next.

We get a Roderick Strong video package ahead of his semi-final match tonight.

We also get another hype-up video for Shayna Baszler.

Heavy Machinery are trying to lift Sabatelli & Moss' car so they can park there. The joint car owners don't like this and an argument starts out when Moss fucks up their catchphrase saying 'pork and weights'. Why do all their feuds revolve around their joint car ownership and what the fuck even is joint car ownership.

We get a recap of Sonya Deville defeating Ruby Riott last week, in a 360p backstage interview, Deville declares that she's going to beat Ember Moon for the NXT Women's Title next week.

As with Roderick Strong, so Lars Sullivan also gets a video package.

NXT Championship #1 Contender's Tournament Semi-Final: Lars Sullivan def. Roderick Strong // Pinfall

Strong is straight in with strikes but pushed away, he goes straight back but gets pushed to the corner, he escapes and continues striking, Roddy tries to go for a throw but I guess he's not, Strong enough, goes for more strikes but takes a clothesline and a grounded knee strike, ullivan hits a huge pair of forearms to the back, he splashes Strong on the ropes and ragdolls him for a 2 before immediately applying a big bearhug, Strong tries to slide out but Sully keeps it going, Strong escapes with a pair of bell-clappers and some forearms before hitting a single leg dropkick, an enziguri and some big slaps, this serves to make Sullivan extra angry and he charges but Strong dodges, catching Sullivan in the ropes, allowing Strong to hit some running forearms from all directions, Sullivan is sent out of the ring but comes straight back in, knocking down Strong with a double axe handle, Sullivan goes up top but Strong follows with a superplex for a 2, he hits knee strikes but Sullivan goes for a lariat, Strong dodges hitting an olympic slam for a 2.5, Strong is straight in with strikes and goes for the first proper backbreaker of the match but Sullivan says 'nahh' and slides out, hitting a pop-up powerslam and The Freak Accident for the pin.

This was way better than it had any reason to be with Sullivan having so quickly made his spin on the standard WWE 'monster heel' act incredibly entertaining, helped out by a performance by Strong that made him look ten times better. They couldn't help that the one down-side of Sullivan's position is it makes anyone beating him clean seem like it's never going to happen but if anyone can make him look beatable, it's Strong. Now the Number One Contender's match is set: Dain v Gargano v Black v Sullivan. This could be very interesting...

A recap of last week's Street Talk. 

Christy St. Cloud is backstage with Tyler Bate, Bate talks about how he and Peter go way back, trading titles with each other, tonight is his night and he takes back his title.

UK Championship // Pete Dunne [c] def. Tyler Bate // Pinfall

These two have had an incredible year be it teaming up with or competing against each other and here's hoping this is the perfect capper to their WWE Trilogy. They feel each other out to begin before Dunne rushes in and immediately grabs Bate into an armbar before manipulating those finger joints, eventually Bate manages to do a flipping escape and locks in a wristlock of his own but Dunne manages to power him down and uses a head-clamp leglock before going back to the arm, Bate attempts to escape but is powered down by Dunne until he manages a superb release practically bouncing off his own head, Dunne is unimpressed with the flippy stuff and goes straight back onto the arm, slapping at the shoulder and elbow before getting Bate in a knee-assisted modified surfboard, Bate powers to his feet and hits a dropkick to escape but even this isn't enough to keep Dunne from attacking the arm as he pushes Bate's arms down, he tries to go for pins but Bate maintains a strong bridge, Dunne tries to use his full body weight to push Bate down but it's not enough so Dunne just kicks him in the stomach and retreats to the ropes for safety, Dunne pushes Bate over, trying to wrench and bite at the foot but Bate escapes as Dunne cartwheels away, Bate kips up and hits Bop & BANG for a 2, attempting to lock theankle, Dunne crawls to the ropes and as Bate separates, Dunne hits a big ol' forearm and chops him into the corner, Bate escapes with a knee lift release and a second rope diving uppercut to send Dunne out of the ring, Bate follows out into a forearm, Dunne drags him to the steps and goes to stomp the hand but Bate is wise to his tricks, dodges and instead stomps Dunne's hand, Dunne powers through and hits a low angle suplex off the steps, back in the ring and a penalty kick leads to a rear chinlock as Dunne puts more weight on Bate's shoulders, Bate crawls to the ropes but Dunne separates, kicks him in the back and pounds at it with forearms, Dunne wrenches at the nose and hits another forearm before stomping on a floored Bate's hand, one of Bate's fingers has popped out of place but he jams it back in, Dunne with no mercy hits a judo throw into a hammerlock and is back on the injured arm, stomping the elbow and kicking him to the ropes and back again until Bate's ear is bleeding, Bate calls for more kicks, Dunne obliges but Bate hulks up and hits an exploder, he drops running corner uppercuts till Dunne grabs him by the hair, he goes for an X-Plex but Bate flips out of it and hits a running shooting star press & a belly-to-back suplex for a 2, Dunne gets up with a forearm but Bate hits a rolling kick, he goes for the Tyler Driver '97 but Dunne manouvres into a triangle armbar, hammering Bate's head with forearms, Bate powers through into a powerbomb but Dunne doesn't let go of the triangle, Bate powers through again and traps Dunne's neck between the second and top ropes before whipping him upwards, on the ground and Bate picks up Dunne for a triple aeroplane spin covering for a 2, Dunne crawls to the apron but Bate climbs to the second rope and hits another exploder sending Dunne back into the ring for a 2, Dunne gets back up and kicks Bate in the head but Bate responds with a roundhouse and some head kicks of his own, Bate picks up Dunne who twists into a Bitter End for a 2.9, Bate throws Dunne to the corner, he flips over it and hits a step-up enziguri, Bate responds with a rebound lariat, Dunne with a clothesline but Bate with another clothesline, the two lads are down, from their knees to standing they just lay into each other chests with punches Bate dodges a shot from Dunne and lands a massive forearm but with the previously injured hand, on the apron and Dunne throws up Bop but Bate hits BANG, Dunne with a forearm, Bate with a rolling kick, back in the ring and Bate dives off the top rope into a forearm, Dunne goes for the X-Plex, can't quite get it so turns it into a sit-out powerbomb for a 2.9, Bate rolls out, Dunne follows and tries to throw Bate back in but he hits a rebound lariat onto the ramp, rolling back in, Dunne appears to be accepting a countout to avoid losing so to stop the count Bate hits a big ol' tope and rolls Dunne back in and hits the Tyler Driver '97 for a 2.99, he climbs up top and just about hits a spiral tap on Dunne for a 2, Dunne's elbow is now visibly bleeding as he sees Bate heading back up and heads up too, Bate powers into a super German suplex but Dunne flips out of it, hits a suprise Bitter End for the pin.

Holy shit-snacks everyone, this was just about as good as it gets. Over 23 minutes (presented as an early Christmas gift, without ad-breaks) these two put on a dramatic contest that not only cemented the legacy of Dunne and Bate as having put on the best trilogy of matches in WWE 2017, maybe only rivalled by The New Day vs The Uso series in terms of consistency. As a match, this was full of callbacks to the former two contests but it still managed to weave them in so seamlessly that I don't think you'd need to see the other two to understand it. The only real negative of this match is that it did perhaps feel a little flabbier than their outing in Chicago but outside of wider context, this was as good a contest as you're ever likely to see, especially on TV. Maybe they should just give the Main Event every week to the UK lads. I can't see anyone complaining.

On The YouTubes

Nothing to see this time. Make use of this and spend some time with your loved ones.

Finally...

I don't think I'm speaking with too much hyperbole when I saw this might be one of the best episodes of NXT. The Tag-Team Title match wasn't a classic but it was still a lot of fun, Strong & Sullivan delivered big-time and Dunne v Bate III was as always spectacular, not quite topping Chicago but easily matching if not bettering their UKCT Final effort. It's always a rare and refreshing thing to recommend watching an episode of NXT from beginning to end but here we are. Now let's hope they can stick the year's landing next week with the Number One Contender's Fatal Four-Way.

Article By Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)

NXT #270 Review - SaNItY vs Undisputed Era

On 19th October 2017, WWE aired its 270th episode of NXT, taped at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida on 14th September. Our main event had some trios action in the form of NXT Tag Team Champions SaNItY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) taking on their persecutors, Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Kyle O'Reilly). The undercard saw the second of three qualifying matches for the NXT Women's Title Fatal Four-Way as Ember Moon took on Sonia Deville and Ruby Riot, as well as Aleister Black vs Raul Mendoza and Kassius Ohno vs Cezar Bononi. But was it any good?

NXT Women's Title Match Contendership Triple Threat: Ember Moon def. Sonya Deville & Ruby Riot (7:50)

It's nice that this match has a very different vibe to last week's in that it seemed to be pure pain from moment one (ish), Ruby and Ember attempt to start a three-way test of strength spot but Deville responds by kicking Riot in the gut before taking an O'Conner roll from Moon who is pulled off into a roll-up by Riot for a 2, on their feet and Riot hits a low angle rana on Moon but takes a lariat from Deville for a 2, backup and Riot hits an arm drag before lighting up Sonia with kicks and a running dropkick for a 2, Moon's back in and riot tries to do a headscissors-DDT combo taking out Deville but Moon lands on her feet, the two of them test each other's rope running and flips before agreeing they're both brilliant, Moon goes in with her own kicks but Riot hits a thunderous forearm, Moon goes to the ropes and a springboard crossbody for a 2 count, Sonia's back in and Ember throws Ruby into her before taking them both down with a running knee strike to Sonia but she's not down for long as she goes kicking wild on both opponents standing tall into the ad-break, back from the break and Deville's straight in with a pair of gutwrench suplexes for Moon and a sidewinder for Riot into the corner, Riot jumps to top rope and drives Deville to the corner with deadly nightshade before throwing Moon into her, Riot goes for a running kick on both competitors but Moon ducks as the kick hits Deville, throws Riot out of the ring and covers Deville for a 2, Moon goes to the ropes for another springboard crossbody but Deville spears her out of the air, Riot is back in and the two of them trade running strikes, Deville runs at Riot but Riot sends her through the ropes, she goes to follow with a tope but Deville takes her down with a forearm, Moon tries to sneak attack but Deville drives her into the apron, Deville climbs up and tries to go for an apron diving axe handle landing straight into a kick to the jaw from Moon, Riot follows out of the ring with a top rope crossbody, landing her ankle on the walkway, Riot hobbles over to Moon, rolls her back into the ring and hits her with the Wind-Up Kick off the injured ankle which Moon sells like a bullet made of trampoline hit her, before Riot can cover her, Deville is back in and get an ankle lock on the recent 'injury', Riot tries to rope break but this is a Triple Threat, Riot escapes briefly only for Deville to apply a fully standing ankle lock, before Riot can tap, Ember is up top and she hits a beautiful Eclipse top rope stunner on Deville who bounces out of the ring before Ember takes advantage of the broken Riot and rolls her up for the pinfall. This was dope as hell. All three competitors were made to look like they could have won at practically any moment during the match and for a sub-8 minute match. they really managed to pack in the content. While on the surface, this may have seemed more spotfest than the more psychological affair last week, it did have a fascinating change of style for Moon who utilised a lot of underhanded tactics, making her seem to be giving in to her desperation to be champion. There were occasional moments when it was clear that they were following the standard beats of a three-way dance with a lot of one-on-one encounters that change to a new one-on-one after someone gets thrown out but as a show opener, this was as energetic as you could want.

From earlier today, we get some 'CCTV footage' of Roderick Strong apparently being friendly with Undisputed Era and by 'friendly' I mean they approach him, he looks awkward, they put a t-shirt on his shoulder he looks at them, hands the t-shirt back and give Adam Cole a pat of 'no thanks'. I hope for sonce this isn't heading where we expect.

William Regal is being asked about who will be in the last match for the Women's Fatal Four Way when The Iconic Duo turn up to make sure that Billie Kay is in the match and Regal agrees, announcing a Battle Royal for the final spot. Next Week: Billie Kay & Aaliyah vs The Mae Young Classic.

Aleister Black def. Raul Mendoza (2.10), Quick Squash m8. As the match started, Velveteen Dream hit the ring, trying on Black's jacket for a distraction. You may have guessed from the match time, it didn't keep him down for long. After the match, Black continued to refused to acknowledge Dream's existence, he's still there even if you don't look at him, lad. Mendoza got in a couple of flips so that was nice too.

Drew McIntyre Speaks

WWE.com didn't give me any photos of this interview so instead, I thought we'd all enjoy Aleister Black's best crab walk. So Drew is sat down for an interview, he was his suit on in a nice light blue with a well co-ordinated shirt and a tie-less open collar. He talks about how wild things have been in NXT since he became champ and how it's still weird to him to call himself 'champ', how this was a dream of his, about how he'd set goals and structures up to make his way back to the WWE and how he knew he had to be NXT champion, after he was fired the last time, it took a while to recover, especially considering he'd just moved into a new flat four days prior and had to tell everyone and it had taken a lot out of him but in the long run it inspired him to work harder to get back where he belongs, now, just four months after he officially re-joined, he's now champion and he wants to be an inspiration to everyone who has a dream, at this point Zelina Vega interrupts and kicks out the interviewer, taking over, she states that Drew and Andrade Almas are alike, they both were floundering and they both got second chances, just that Almas' second chance came in the form of Vega, not years away from the company, she wants to know why Drew has been avoiding Almas and if its because he recognises Almas is his biggest threat? Drew sees through her attempts to rile him up and says what he always does, anyone who wants a title shot just has to look him in the eyes, say he wants a fight and he'll give them a fight, he suggests going to Regal and organising the match, Vega says she knows the champ has more sway than her so why doesn't he make the match unless he's chicken (or a turkey, it's nearly Survivor Series, who wouldn't want to see the Gobbeldy-Drew-ker?), Drew responds by saying if Andrade does want the match to come find him, look him in the eye and say it for himself before Vega storms out. This was a nice way of adding some extra shading to Drew's character who, much like Roderick Strong, seems to mostly be a loose extension of his own personality. It also helped build up to a potential NXT Title match for NXT TakeOver: WarGames, especially now we know Adam Cole's getting his title shot the night before, and cemented Vega's position as a steely, determined manager. All round good stuff.

Kassius Ohno def. Cezar Bononi (3.10), Quick but not as much of a squash as you'd expect, m8. Bononi dominated till Ohno came back with a senton, big boots and a Rolling Elbow that Bononi sold like death for the pin. He's still getting there but there's good cause to put money on Bononi in the future. Ohno getting another win here all but guarantees they're building to something at the next TakeOver, in terms of other people who've got similar amounts of TV Time recently, it's almost certainly either Lars Sullivan or Johnny Gargano.

Next Week: The Women's Title Contendership Battle Royal.
PLUS: Johnny Gargano takes on Italy's own Fabian Aichner.

SaNItY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killain Dain) def. The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby Fish) (9:29)

The Wolfe & The Fish lock-up to start, Wolfe powers Fish to the corner, goes for a clothesline but Fish dodges and begins kicking at the hamstrings but Wolfe hits in square in the jaw like an axe, man, tag to O'Reilly who runs straight into a spinning bodyslam, tag to Young and the tag champs hit a drop toe hold-standing elbow drop combo, they place O'Reilly in the corner, Dain hits a splash and holds O'Reilly in place while Wolfe hits a running uppercut, Young hits a gutbuster and a forearm to the back of the neck earn an early 2 count, running the ropes and a ref distraction by Fish and a kick from Cole get things back in the Undisputed's favour, the three recent signees wear down Young who tries to power back hitting all three with strikes but a roundhouse to the head knocks Young out of the ring and into the ad-break, back from the break and Cole is grounding and pounding Young and he transitions to a grounded headlock, Young is powered to the corner, tag to O'Reilly and Fish is in aswell to hit a double wristbreaker and a double chest kick for a 2 count, tag to Cole who keeps hitting axe handles to ground Young tag to Fish who knees Young in the corner, tag to O'Reilly and both knee him in the corner before hitting a double suplex for a 2, O'Reilly whips Young to the corner and charges at Wolfe knocking him off the apron then at Young who uses the time delay to dodge, going for a tag O'Reilly drags him back with an ankle lock but gets kicked away, tag to Fish who just prevents a second tag but he's taken out with a kick, hot tag to Dain who hits the entire opposite team with clotheslines, a running crossbody on Fish and a front dropkick on O'Reilly, he then hits corner splashes on both men before going for a second on Fish who catches him with an elbow, Fish and O'Reilly both run at Dain, he catches them into a fallaway slam-Samoan drop combo, Dain picks up fish for a forward slam, a senton and a pop-up splash goes for a pin but Cole breaks it up, O'Reilly in to assist but Young and Wolfe hit him with an assisted jumping neckbreaker, Cole, now alone and surrounded, tries to escape but finds himself surrounded by insaniacs, he backs into the ring and is picked up by the hair by Dain and thrown one-handed into the ring but before Dain and Wolfe can execute their double team maneouvre, the Authors of Pain's music hits, causing Wolfe to charge at them as the Authors attack him and Dain, giving SaNItY a DQ victory. This was another solid performance by all involved. As a development of an angle (definitely not spoilers, maybe they're building to a three-way WarGames match...), the ending had a glorious, violent spectacle to it and SaNItY have that great Los Ingobernables-type gang mentality whereby they're only bad guys if you're not with him. The match itself was a tad disappointing, despite some strong teamwork from Fish & O'Reilly, Cole is still yet to impress in NXT doing very little memorable in the match, overall it felt like it just never really got going, but not for lack of effort on either team's part.

The Undisputed Era bail to the ramp, watching in horror as Authors of Pain lay out SaNItY hitting a clothesline-Russian leg sweep combo on Dain & the Supercollider double powerbomb on Wolfe & Young to close out the show.

On The YouTubes:

Ember Moon isn't celebrating until she's won the title, she also would like everyone to know that they should all be worried about her.

A far more enjoyable show than last week's half-hearted effort with the entire undercard presenting one of the most enjoyable 45 minutes of NXT in quite a while. If not for a slightly flat main event, it could have been a lot better, luckily the Authors of Pain turning up and wrecking fools created an entertaining finish and set up more big things for the upcoming TakeOver.

Article by Jozef Raczka (@NotJozefRaczka)