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This week's edition of NXT followed on from last week with the black and yellow brand continuing to build towards Takeover: New York. Four teams remain in the Dusty Rhodes Classic, with DIY, Forgotten Sons, Mustache Mountain, and the team of Aleister Black and Ricochet all winning their quarter-final clashes. The episode would also have a number one contenders match between Io Shirai and Bianca Belair to determine Shayna Baszler's next contender for the NXT Women's title.
Mustache Mountain would be first to the ring for their semifinal match-up against the Forgotten Sons. Tyler Bate and Wesley Blake would start for their respective teams. The Forgotten Sons would isolate Tyler Bate, making quick tags back and forth and keeping him from his corner. The fight would end with a flourish of chaos, Rykker would get involved in the match, taking out Bate while the referee was distracted. This would lead to the Forgotten Sons hitting their neck-breaker double stomp to get the win.
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When the action returned to the ring, the number one contenders match between Io Shirai and Bianca Belair took place. Current NXT Women's Champion would be at commentary for the match to scout out her potential opponents for Takeover: New York. The match would start with a mix of slow chain wrestling and quick counters. Belair would get the early domination, getting several near falls attempts at the start of the match. Meanwhile, the crowd would duel matching "Io" and "Est" chants throughout the fight.
Baszler would pull Io Shirai out of the ring, causing the referee to end the match via disqualification. She would then lock Bianca Belair in the Kirafuda clutch. This would bring out Kairi Sane who would also get trapped in the Kirafuda clutch. Shirai would return to the ring, breaking up the submission and throwing Baszler out of the ring. Baszler would come back into the ring and apply the sleeper on Shirai to finish the segment and leave Baszler the only one standing tall in the ring.
The main event of the episode saw the newly reformed DIY taking on the team of Ricochet and Aleister Black. Aleister Black and Tommaso Ciampa would face off against each other first, renewing their rivalry over the NXT title from 2018. They would both tag in their partners before long to have one of the most impressive sequences in NXT between Johnny Gargano and Ricochet.
DIY would isolate Ricochet in the ring, frequently tagging in and out and performing several double team moves on the high flyer. DIY seemed to the fight won when Gargano locked Black in the Gargano Escape. Ciampa would also lock Ricochet in a Fujiwara armbar, but he would counter the submission to drop Ciampa on Gargano, seemingly injuring his left knee.
With Ciampa alone, Black would hit the NXT champion with Black Mass and Ricochet would pile on by hitting the 630-Senton for the win. A dejected DIY would be in the ring, with Candace LaRae coming down to the ring to console her husband. Ciampa and LaRae would help Gargano to his feet and seemed to carry him back up the ramp.
As the team got to the top of the ramp, Tommaso would try to attack Gargano again, similar to the end of Takeover: Chicago. Gargano would counter the attempted attack and would throw Ciampa into the screens. Gargano would then hit Ciampa with a superkick and showed that the knee injury was all a ruse to close out the show.
#3 Shayna Baszler
While Shayna Baszler was not scheduled to perform on this week's episode of NXT, she was nevertheless at commentary for the number one contender's match between Io Shirai and Bianca Belair. While the match in the ring was okay, especially by NXT's lofty standards, it was Baszler on commentary that provided most of the spark talking about both her potential opponents while they were in the ring.
When the Queen of Spades could no longer stand the in-ring action, she got up and made a statement the best way she knows. After pulling Io Shirai out of the ring, causing the referee to call for the bell, Baszler would lock in the Kirafuda Clutch and putting Belair to sleep. This would bring out Baszler's former rival, Kairi Sane, but Baszler would also trap her in a Kirafuda Clutch.
Io Shirai would try to break up Baszler's clutch on Kairi, only to be put in the Kirafuda Clutch herself. This left Baszler standing tall at the end of the match with Belair, Sane, and Shirai all having felt the wrath of Baszler's submission.
#2 Aleister Black and Ricochet
Black and Ricochet have come together for the 4th ever Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, much like Finn Balor and Samoa Joe did in the first ever Dusty Rhodes Classic. Just like the team of Balor and Joe, Black and Ricochet have also made it to the finals, knocking out DIY in a tag team classic in this week's main event match.
During their time as NXT, both Black and Ricochet have shown how well they can perform as solo talents at various stages, but the odd couple has also worked well in tandem, having now taken out the European Union in the first week and followed it up with the semifinal victory over the former Tag Team Champions.
Black and Ricochet looked out of the match at times, especially when Gargano had Black trapped in the Gargano Escape and Ciampa had Ricochet locked in a Fujiwara Armbar. However, Black would hit Ciampa with a Black Mass and tag in Ricochet to finish the fight with a 630 Senton for the win. Black and Ricochet will face the Forgotten Sons in the final of the Dusty Rhodes Classic.
#1 DIY
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. This was the best way to describe the latest development in the #DIY story. After failing on two previous attempts to win the Dusty Rhodes Classic, this was also a story of redemption for the former tag team champions in Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. After feuding over the course of several months following their initial break up, the story of them teaming together once again seemed to have brought the story in a full circle and back to where it all began.
Gargano and Ciampa were impressive in their semifinal matchup against Ricochet and Aleister Black, with Gargano getting Black in the Gargano Escape. However, towards the end of the match, Gargano seemed to suffer an injury to left knee as Ricochet dumped Ciampa on top of his leg. This forced Ciampa to fight out the end of his match by himself against Black and Ricochet, and the NXT champion would come up short.
Following the match, there was a heartwarming moment as Candice LaRae and Tommaso Ciampa helped Johnny Gargano up the ramp. However, as they got to the top of the ramp, Ciampa once again attempted to throw Gargano into the screen, recalling the scenes of Takeover: Chicago when #DIY first broke apart.
This time it was not to be as Gargano blocked Ciampa's attack and reversed it, sending Ciampa into the screen instead. Gargano would then lay Ciampa out with a Superkick to show that the injury was a ruse, as Gargano and LaRae would stand tall to close out the episode.
