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Mauro Ranallo returned to commentary for this episode of WWE NXT and in his own words, it was “L-I-T”. This was Ranallo’s first WWE appearance in over 3 months.
Velveteen Dream vs. Hoho Lun
It’s been a while since we saw Hoho Lun in an NXT ring but he was on tonight’s episode and he faced Velveteen Dream. Lun is widely considered as the father of pro-wrestling in his native Hong Kong but would that be enough to stop the Velveteen Dream?
The fans were behind Hoho as the bell rang and the two men locked up. Velveteen Dream immediately showed off his superiority in power as he pushed Lun into the corner. Lun hit back with a couple of strikes but Dream replied with a boot to the face followed by a really good Lun into the corner.
Lun hit back with a few more strikes but Dream replied with a boot to the face followed by a really good Jackhammer. Goldberg would have been proud of that. Dream followed it up with a Flying Elbow Drop from the top rope and it was enough to get him the win. Impressive performance from Velveteen Dream.
Velveteen Dream def. Hoho Lun
We got a confrontation outside the arena as Nikki Cross and Asuka had to be separated by WWE security ahead of the Last Woman Standing match later on in the episode.
After this, we cut to William Regal’s office as Regal announced an NXT Tag-Team Championship match between Heavy Machinery and the Authors of Pain in 2 weeks.
Hideo Itami vs Oney Lorcan
These two met a couple of weeks ago on NXT when Itami destroyed Lorcan with 3 GTS’. The Boston brawler Oney Lorcan came in tonight looking for not just a win but a measure of revenge.
Oney Lorcan exploded out of the corner as soon as the match started and hit Itami with a flying elbow strike with repeated chops in the corner and Itami looked dazed in the corner. A closer shot of Itami showed that he was busted open from Lorcan’s first strike.
WWE medical staff had to come out and patch Itami up and he looked like he could have a broken nose. This led to the referee calling off the match.
Match called off due to injury
It looked like Itami vs Lorcan would be called off but Itami came back out after the commercial and demanded for the match to get restarted. Lorcan obliged.
Hideo Itami vs Oney Lorcan
This time Itami charged at Lorcan as the match started and hit him with a massive boot before hanging him up against the top rope and hitting a flying knee from the top rope. Itami followed it up with a kick across the spine before knocking Lorcan off the top rope and onto the floor.
When we came back from commercial, the two men went back and forth with vicious strikes as Lorcan took Itami down with a running Blockbuster. Itami hit back with a diving clothesline to wrest back control. He signalled for the GTS but Lorcan stopped him in his tracks with forearms to the jaw.
Itami then went for a GTS that Lorcan wriggled out of but looked to have injured his knee in the process. Undeterred, Itami picked up Lorcan and hit the GTS for the win.
Hideo Itami def. Oney Lorcan
Hideo took to the mic after the match and called out Kassius Ohno. When Ohno and Itami faced off in the middle of the ring, we saw Nikki Cross come out. As Ohno and Itami were distracted by Cross, Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain came out and attacked both of them and laid them out.
Wolfe took to the mic after the attack and promised to end all the “forced friendships” in WWE.
Asuka vs Nikki Cross (Last Woman Standing Match for the NXT Women’s Championship)
The match started off a little tentatively with the two women feeling each other out for the first few seconds of the match before Nikki Cross drove Asuka into the corner before driving her shoulder into Asuka’s midsection.
Asuka replied with a running boot to Nikki Cross which sent her rolling out of the ring. Asuka looked to follow it up with a baseball slide but Nikki Cross lifted the ring skirt, trapping Asuka before hitting her with a barrage of forearms. Cross then took out a pile of steel chairs as we headed to commercial.
When we came back from commercial, we saw Cross sending Asuka bouncing off the steel stairs before Asuka reversed an Irish Whip, this time sending Cross crashing into steel stairs. Asuka then bounced Cross’ head off the steel steps before taking out a trash can and taking it into the ring.
Asuka drove the trash can into Cross’ gut before putting it can over Cross’ head and hitting her with a number of kicks. As Cross lay on her knees, the trash can still lodged over her upper body, Asuka hit her with a missile dropkick.
The referee started his count but Nikki Cross got up at 7.
Asuka then headed to ringside and took out chairs before Nikki Cross jumped off the apron to try and stop Asuka, getting caught with a knee to the head for her trouble. Asuka threw steel chairs into the ring before trying to get Cross back into it. The two fought on the apron before Cross hit Asuka with a reverse DDT on it.
Cross piled the chairs in the middle of the ring as Asuka made her way to her feet. She then headed to the top rope but Asuka hit her with a spinning heel kick before launching Cross back-first into the pile of chairs. Cross returned the favour seconds later, hitting Asuka with a back-suplex onto the pile of chairs.
Asuka got back to her feet first and attempted to hit a spinning back-fist but Cross reversed it and hit Asuka with 3 nasty forearms and followed it up with the Twisting Fisherman’s Neckbreaker and trash talked Asuka as the referee started his count. Asuka got up at 5 and Nikki replied with 3 more Twisting Fisherman Neckbreakers.
Asuka just managed to beat the referee’s count and Cross replied by getting the NXT Women’s Championship belt and lunging towards Asuka with it. Asuka replied with a spinning heel kick to take Nikki Cross down. The referee’s count began and Cross managed to lift herself with the help of the ropes.
Asuka then looked to suplex Cross from the apron to the pile of chairs at ringside but Cross managed to hit Asuka with a Guillotine. She then got out of the ring and Powerbombed Asuka onto the pile of chairs.
Asuka somehow broke the referee’s count and the action spilt to the entrance ramp. Asuka knocked Cross off the ramp and hit her with a leaping hip attack. The referee’s started his count again and Nikki Cross beat it at 8.
Asuka went for a headkick and missed Cross, hitting a stage light instead. Cross then manoeuvred Asuka onto a guardrail and hit her with a Twisting Fishermen Neckbreaker onto the floor. Asuka got to her feet at 9, barely beating the count.
Asuka hit back with a spinning back-fist to buy herself some time but Cross replied by hitting Asuka with a ladder. She then set up a table near the announcer’s desk. Nikki then set up the ladder next to the table and set Asuka up on the table hit her with a flurry of clubbing blows.
Nikki then climbed up the ladder but Asuka managed to get back to her feet and she climbed the ladder too. Asuka hit Cross with a vertical suplex off the ladder and through the announcer’s desk.
The referee started his count and it looked like neither woman would manage to get back to their feet but Asuka managed to stagger and get back up in the nick of time to win the match.
This was one of the best pro-wrestling matches I’ve ever seen and kudos to the two women for showing what they can do. Incredible.
Asuka def. Nikki Cross
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
