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NXT held a live event tonight in Washington, DC. It was held at the brand new Anthem theater, which works really well as a wrestling venue. The crowd of about 650 people was lively all night. Great environment.
Before the show there was a 10-bell salute for Bruno Sammartino.
Oney Lorcan vs. Chad Lail - Chad looks like a psychotic Curtis Axel. This was a standard match until Cutler and Wesley Blake ran in leading to a disqualification.
The Street Profits ran in to make the save. This included Montez Ford making a save without spilling the beverage in his cup, which is pretty impressive in and of itself. The Profits called Lail, Cutler and Blake out.
Oney Lorcan & The Street Profits vs. Chad Lail, Steve Cutler, and Wesley Blake - Dawkins got worked over for a while until Oney Lorkin got the hot tag and went to town. Ford hit a big frog splash while everyone else was on the outside and Lorkin got the pin. Good opener! Ford made Lorkin dance after the match. The crowd liked it.
We go to a video of a man wearing a Johnny Wrestling T-shirt. The crowd popped. The camera panned up and it was Tomasso Ciampa. He told us Johnny Wrestling wasn't here tonight because of an injury he inflicted upon him on the NXT episode that will air next Wednesday. He told us not to worry because Tommy Entertainment was here instead.
Bianca Bel Air and Lacey Evans vs. Candice LeRae and Nikki Cross - Candice got worked over for a good long while. Nikki made the hot tag and won with a top rope cross body block followed by a Roll of the Dice. Standard match. Nothing special.
Velveteen Dream appeared on the screen to a huge pop. He's originally from Capitol Hill, which is within walking distance of the venue. He said that at a nearby hospital in 1995 a dream was born. He said that was rejected from Howard University, which was met with a chorus of boos. He then said that after tonight they would be begging him to give their commencement address.
Veveteen Dream vs. Ricochet - This was the best match of the night. It was a well-paced back and forth contest that must have gone around 15 minutes. It got a "fight forever" chant. Ricochet ended up winning with a Shooting Star Press after a number of good near falls. Ricochet offered a handshake after the match, but Dream just posed leading the crowd to chant his name. Dream is super over.
Kassius Ohno vs. Tomasso Ciampa - Ciampa came out to no music like at TakeOver. This was something of a come-down match. Ciampa worked a lot of holds, and Ohno responded with big strikes when he could. There was a good flurry at the end. Ciampa dodged Ohno's charge and kneed him in the back of the head for the pin.
After the match Ciampa went to attack Ohno with the ring bell. Johnny Gargano ran out of the crowd in a black hoodie to stop him. This got a huge pop. As he tried to destroy Ciampa, the Street Profits, Oney and Candice came in to stop him from potentially hurting himself. He took off the hoodie to reveal a neck brace. He applauded the crowd and we went to intermission.
EC3 came out to say that this was now NX3. He wanted to issue an EC3 Open Challenge. Who would accept it? We were in Washington, DC, so maybe it would be Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell or Chuck Shumer or Paul Ryan. Who will it be?
EC3 vs. No Way Jose - This started as a light-hearted match with some comedy elements, as you might expect. It evolved into a back and forth until EC3 won with an ace cutter. Nothing special.
Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler (c) for the NXT Women’s Championship - This was a back and forth match that had a decent build to Kairi's big elbow drop. Shayna got her knees up, leading to a wicked running knee lift. She covered Kairi, but then pulled her off the mat at two and transitioned into a rear naked choke. Kairi submitted. She grabbed a crown after the match and put it onto her head.
Main event time!
Andrade "Cien" Almas vs. Aleister Black (c) for the NXT Championship - This was pretty similar to their match at TakeOver, though it didn't quite reach that one's level of excellence. No man ever got a sustained advantage. There was just a lot of really quick moves, counters, and strikes. Ultimately Andrade grabbed the NXT Championship belt and brought it into the ring to attack Black. Referee Drake Younger grabbed the belt, causing a momentary distraction that allowed Black to hit Black Mass.
And that was your show! Pretty decent overall, but Dream and Ricochet was really the standout contest.
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