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Good evening, and welcome to PWInsider’s NXT coverage! NXT was live on the CW in the United States and Netflix elsewhere.
We open with a tribute to Benjamin “PAC/Neville” Satterly. (Personal note: Rest in peace. An absolute tragedy, and my best wishes to his family, friends, and fans.)
We’re outside “earlier” with NXT General Manager Robert Stone telling NXT Champion Grayson Waller that his challenger tonight, Mason Rook, won’t be medically cleared to compete “for the foreseeable future.” Rook’s match with Waller is off, and there will now be an open challenge to determine a new challenger.
Ringside, Vic Joseph and Booker T are on the call.
Match #1: NXT Women’s North American Championship Match: Thea Hail vs Zaria
Hail runs right to Zaria, but she’s ready, and after a struggle, Zaria tosses Hail across the ring. Hail is selling her leg early.
Lots of back-and-forth action with each struggling to maintain the advantage. There’s a nice fight feel to it, and it’s not all pretty or smooth. These two don’t like each other, and they’re fighting. Hail with a nice dropkick and more high-flying offense. Zaria “turns the match around,” as Joseph said, with a stiff elbow to Hail when she dove out of the ring. Zaria slows the match down and is meticulously hurting Hail.
Hail with a surprise rollup and backslide for 2 two-counts. Zaria regains momentum with a knee to Hail’s face. She ragdolls her with a headlock from the second rope before dropping her to the mat.
Hail finally regains momentum. She flies out of the ring into Zaria. Hail hits a tornado DDT on the floor. In the ring, a high cross-body from Hail to Zaria. Exploder suplex. Hail with a rollup. Zaria is fighting back, but Hail with a meteora.
They’re back and forth again until Hail locks on a Kimura. Zaria might tap. Zaria manages to stand up, hoisting Hail. F5 attempt, but Hail rolls her up. Again, not pretty, but it feels like they’re fighting.
Zaria with a spear. F5 to Hail. Zaria retains.
Your winner, and still NXT Women’s North American Champion, Zaria!
Zaria sits on the top turnbuckle, lifting her title and looking down at Hail, who is dejected on the floor.
Backstage, Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament contenders Romeo Moreno and Noam Dar are chatting with El Hijo Del Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno. Fraxiom walks in. Nathan Frazier tells Dar and Moreno that once they get past DarkState tonight, they’ll get past them. NXT Tag Team Champions The Vanity Project shows up.
We then see Myles Bourne admiring himself in the mirror as Joseph tells us that Bourne is up next to explain his heinous actions against Tavion Heights last week.
After a break, Bourne walks to the ring. He says he meant every kind thing he initially said to Tavion. But he wanted to be solo. When he apologized to Tavion, he realized he was back to being what he didn’t want to be: half a team. He said he wouldn’t be a sucker for Tavion, it wasn’t going to happen.
The crowd is booing Bourne relentlessly.
Bourne says he thought he could have everything, but then he lost both of his titles. And he could only think of one man: Ethan Page. “He tried to warn me. He told me I had to have this killer instinct.” There can only be one man, one boss. Bourne says he deserves to be that man. He didn’t want to be “one half” anymore. He could be the star he always knew that he was.
Bourne says, “It felt right,” hurting Tavion. He says fans have felt sorry for him for being deaf, but he’s not interested in that. Bourne says Tavion only succeeded because of him, and he only lost
“I’m the deaf one. And yet, I’m the one in the ring, and you’re all watching me.” Bourne says he’s not beating the odds, and he’s not the underdog. He’s the favourite.
Bourne says he’s done “being the bigger person” surrounded by hypocrites. Bourne tells everyone to “Go to hell,” and he drops the mic as his music hits.
Backstage, Lizzy Rain is pleading with Robert Stone for an opportunity. He tells her that he has an announcement coming tonight that he thinks she’ll like. Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic contenders Mini Vikingo and Chazz “Starboy” Hall show up, and Stone tells them that when he and AAA General Manager Rey Mysterio set the tournament up, they wanted a team to represent Evolve and AAA. He notes that Mysterio sees himself in each of them and wishes them luck.
Emily Agard is interviewing Grayson Waller about the change to his match tonight.
“Last week, I told the world that I saw quit in his eyes,” Waller says about Mason. “Well, lucky for him, he doesn’t have to quit tonight because the doctors did it for him.”
Waller says he thinks he’s lit a fire in the male roster, and he challenges the entire roster to step up.
Match #2: Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic First Round match - Mini Vikingo and Chazz “Starboy” Hall vs BirthRight’s Stacks and Uriah Connors
Mini Vikingo and Uriah start the match. Quick action to start. Stacks tags in. Mini shows off his high-flying skills against the duo. He’s pushed into the corner, and Starboy tags in.
Lots of fast-paced tag action. I can’t do it justice. BirthRight takes control as we go to commercial.
BirthRight maintains control. Starboy finally manages to hit a few spots, including a double pelée, and he tags in Mini, who wows the crowd with an insane DDT and a Spanish fly on his opponents. Stacks is struggling to keep up.
Lots of action, lots of tags. The crowd is chanting “NXT!”
They’re all in the ring, each team hitting the other. They’re tiring, but the teams manage superkicks, enzuiguys, and more.
Eventually, Starboy hits a DDT on Stacks. Starboy tags Mini, who hits a 630 splash for the pin.
Your winners, Starboy and Mini Vikingo!
All of BirthRight is beating down Starboy and Mini when Zilla Fatu runs to the ring and clears the ring of everyone but poor Stacks, who takes a beating and a Triple Z.
Fatu challenges BirthRight. Says he’ll take out each of them, one by one.
Fatu says he is taking the open challenge tonight. And it appears that we know our main event!
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