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8/16 - NXT Live!
Lowell Memorial Auditorium - Lowell, MA
Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. War Raiders
Well now. This is an excellent match to open a show in the Northeast. A hot-to-death 12 minutes with the Raiders going over on a springboard german suplex combo.
Winners: War Raiders
Bianca Belair vs. Deonna Purrazo
An awesome technical match to start this off until the bravado of Belair takes over, getting a ton of heat on the Virtuoso. Purrazo makes a brief comeback and almost gets the submission but Belair drops her with a DVD Falcon Arrow for the pin. Real good match that let both characters shine through here.
Winner: Bianca Belair
Zack Gibson vs. Lars Sullivan
A prolonged boo-filled promo has Gibson daring NXT to send their strongest out to fight him...Sullivan obliges. Zack plays a great chickenshit heel while Sullivan played with his food. Lars slams Gibson to the mat for the pin. This was fun but I wonder if there was a better opponent for Gibson.
Winner: Lars Sullivan
WWE NXT North American Championship: EC3 vs. Adam Cole(c)
Great crowd interaction here with Cole refusing to throw his shirt to the crowd, EC3 stealing it and tossing it out, only for the crowd to toss it back....like 4 times. It was excellent comedy. Cole rakes the eyes, hits a superkick and running knee for the win. Good match but EC3 as a face in the Top 1% gimmick just doesn’t click for me.
Winner: Adam Cole
WWE NXT Tag Team Championship Match: Moustache Mountain vs. Undisputed Era
Did you like the previous TV matches these teams had? Yes? Good. This match was very awesome and teased a last-minute title change at every turn. Undisputed retains after isolating and chopping down Trent Seven with their sweep/running kick combo. They get to do this again in two days at Takeover. I can’t wait.
Winners: Undisputed Era
(Intermission)
NXT UK Championship: Velveteen Dream vs. Pete Dunne
What?!? So this was great. Velveteen Dream is so over with the crowd and makes an exciting contender for any belt. Dunne is a beast, hitting the Bitter End on the 3rd attempt for the pin. I absolutely want to see this match again in 2-3 months with a little bit of storyline build. But as a one-off, this was fantastic.
Winner: Pete Dunne
Dakota Kai & Kairi Sane vs. Lacey Evans & Shayna Baszler
Shayna refuses to fight Sane fairly for most of this, choosing to let Evans do the bulk of the work and beat on Kai when possible. Kairi finally gets in to clean house and hits that high-angle top rope elbow on Lacey for the pin. This was decent but the crowd was tired from the last match clearly.
Winners: Kairi Sane & Dakota Kai
Non-title match: Tommaso Ciampa vs....
It’s an open challenge tonight for a future title shot and it’s....oh man, it’s Boston’s own Dominic Dijakovic!
I had the pleasure of seeing these two go at it in Beyond Wrestling a couple years back and this was on par with that. Dijak was a monster throughout, almost putting Ciampa away with Feast Your Eyes. Ciampa snuck in his hangman’s DDT after Dijak dive for the pin.
Winner: Tommaso Ciampa
Post-match Ciampa attacks Dijak but Johnny Gargano hits the ring. Ciampa tries to run but is sent back by Lorcan, Burch & War Raiders. Everyone beats up Ciampa and cuts promos about being proud of closing the show in front of the hometown crowd. Lorcan leads the crowd in a singalong of “Sweet Caroline” to close the show. This was a super cool moment.
So yeah, NXT was a Northeast Wrestling Scene All-Star Show and that was fantastic. This felt like a special night for everyone. Takeover is in two days and it has something to live up to. Get hype.
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