The NXT Tag Team Championships are defended in a rematch from Royal Albert Hall! Will Mustache Mountain defeat the Undisputed Era in the US like in the UK?

All images courtesy of the WWE’s official Twitter

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Adam Cole VS Danny Burch; Cole wins.
• Kairi Sane VS Vanessa Borne; Kairi wins.
• NXT Tag Team Championships: Mustache Mountain VS The Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong; The Undisputed Era wins and become the new NXT Tag Team Champions.

PLAY BY PLAY

Adam Cole VS Danny Burch!

The NXT North American Champion didn’t appreciate the British Brawler’s bad mouthing, or his challenge to a match 1v1. GM William Regal did, though, and has made this non-title match! Can Burch hit back on the Panama City Playboy in place of the injured Boston Brawler, Oney Lorcan?

The bell rings and fans duel. Cole and Burch circle then tie up. Burch pushes Cole back but Cole comes back with a wristlock. Burch reverses to a wristlock but Cole rolls and reverses. Cole gets a hammerlock but Burch spins through to overhead suplex Cole to the mat. Burch has the armlock and grinds Cole on the mat. Cole gets up and out with a stiff forearm. Burch sits down, but Cole is on him with a headlock takeover. “I don’t think so, Danny!” he trash talks as he grinds Burch’s head. Burch works his way back up, then powers out. Cole runs him over with a shoulder, then runs again. Things speed up and Burch runs Cole over in return. Burch runs, things speed up again, but Burch sees the dropkick coming. He counters with a drop toehold, but Cole pushes him away.

Burch side steps Cole to rock him with a forearm! Cole ends up outside but Burch fetches him. Cole shoves Burch into a post, then hits a neckbreaker to the floor! The ref has them get back in, and Cole leaves Burch down. The count climbs, but Burch beats it at 8. Cole is on him with another neckbreaker. Cover, TWO. Burch clutches his neck and gets to a corner, but Cole keeps his eyes on him. Cole walks over but into a right hand. Cole blocks the boot to stomp a mudhole into Burch, then backs off at 4. He drags Burch up for a snap suplex, then drives in a knee to the back. Cole trash talks Burch as he drives in another. Burch writhes to the ropes, but Cole says he’s “not in my league.”

Cole puts Burch in a corner, then throws forearms and body shots. Cole backs off at 4, then brings Burch out for a scoop slam. Cover, TWO! Burch rolls away but Cole is right on him with a chinlock. Fans rally up and Burch feeds off the energy. Burch fights back with body shots, but Cole bicycle boots him down! Cole drags Burch back up for elbows to the back of the neck. Burch gets to ropes but Cole keeps on him. Cole snapmares Burch back into the snapmare. “You’ll never beat me. Ever!” Fans rally up and Burch jawbreakers free. Burch chops and chops away on Cole, but Cole shoves. Burch ducks to Thesz Press and rain down hands.

Cole gets to a corner but Burch gives him a corner European Uppercut and clothesline, then a swing kick for good measure. Burch hops up, missile dropkick! Then a kip-up! He fires up, as do the fans. Burch drags Cole up, but Cole fireman’s carry. Burch slips out for a German Suplex, then a big lariat. Cover, TWO! Into a crossface! Cole is trapped, but he rolls free. Burch comes back with EuroUpper, headbutt and knee. Then another headbutt! Cole staggers, but Burch is on him in the corner. Burch hangs Cole up top, for London Tower! Cover, TWO!! So close and yet so far from pinning the NXT North American Champion. Burch gets up, keeping his cool. Fans rally up as Burch brings Cole back up. Cole resists the bomb, but Burch clubs away.

Burch suplexes but Cole knees out. Cole fakes Burch out for the mule kick, then the bicycle kick, to Ushigoroshi! Cover, TWO! Cole grows frustrated with Burch, but he knows “nobody can beat me!” Fans rally up again as Cole takes aim. SUPERKICK! But Cole isn’t done there, he brings Burch up for the Last Shot brainbuster! Then, with knee pad down, Cole runs for the Last Shot shining wizard! Cover, Cole wins!

Winner: Adam Cole, by pinfall

Burch proves how tough he is, but in the end, Cole wins again. Will the North American Champion’s reign continue without finding a worthy contender?

NXT Media interviews Candice LeRae.

Mrs. Wrestling knows she’s close to the championship, but then she encounters and confronts the NXT Women’s Champion. Shayna Baszler wants the little lady to stick to being the “cute little sidekick.” Candice slaps Shayna, and a brawl began! Referees, security and other women superstars had to pull them apart! There is a fire burning in the Women’s Division, will a match be the only thing that puts it out?

Backstage interview with Dakota Kai.

The Captain of Team Kick has heard the choice words of the Queen of Spades. But Dakota is going to face Shayna again really soon. She’s working her way up the ladder and will get another title shot. But the Lady of NXT, Lacey Evans, says no one cares what Dakota thinks. If those “dirty paws” ever grabbed the title, she’d just bring it down. What the Women’s Division is a lady with class, confidence and sophistication to elevate it. Let’s be honest, that’s not Dakota. Oh, so she goes from talking trash online to talking trash in face. How about Dakota kicks her class next week in a match? Lacey seems to accept the challenge, will she exercise her Woman’s Right to a victory? Or will all her talk be taken out with the trash?

Kairi Sane VS Vanessa Borne!

The vivacious Vanessa is bold enough to call out the inaugural Mae Young Classic winner, all over the Pirate Princess’ choice of costume. Will Kairi show Vanessa why she was a star of Stardom? Or will Vanessa get the upset and sink Kairi’s ship?

Fans are strongly behind Kairi at the bell. She and Vanessa circle, then tie up. Vanessa powers Kairi back to a corner, but shoves out of the break. Kairi puts her in the corner to push her, then honors the break. She threatens a punch, but just boops Vanessa on the forehead. Vanessa rushes out but into a waistlock. Vanessa standing switches and throws Kairi down. Kairi avoids the stomp, then blocks the kick, to Dragon Screw! Kairi runs, and rolls for a leg tweak. Cover, TWO, into a toe-and-ankle hold! Vanessa crawls to a ropebreak. Kairi lets go, and backs off to dare Vanessa to come back for more. Vanessa does, but runs into a crucifix! Kairi isn’t strong enough to bring Vanessa down, though, and Vanessa turns it into a Samoan Drop! Cover, TWO!

Vanessa keeps on Kairi with a body scissor squeeze. She throws forearms into Kairi, but fans rally up. Kairi endures and turns around to throw forearms at Vanessa. Vanessa forearms Kairi more, then brings her up for a spinning suplex! Cover, TWO, and Vanessa grows frustrated. Vanessa rams her knees and elbows into Kairi, then stomps her to a corner. Fans cheer Kairi on but Vanessa toys and trash talks the Pirate Princess. She throws Kairi to ropes for a motorcycle stretch! Vanessa lets go at 4, but turns things around into a draping cloverleaf! She even kicks away at Kairi’s back until the ref counts 4.

Vanessa throws Kairi down, then drops a big elbow. Fans rally up as Vanessa throws Kairi around more. Vanessa walks on Kairi, then climbs up top. She demands fans cheer for her, but then she misses the Vader Bomb! Kairi gets up and runs in, Blockbuster! Kairi and Vanessa slowly stand, and Kairi fires off double chops! She whips Vanessa but Vanessa reverses. Kairi rebounds to headscissor, then Interceptor spear! Kairi fires up while Vanessa crawls to the corner. Marching the plank, Kairi runs in for the Sliding D forearm! Kairi climbs up top, but Vanessa headbutts her. Vanessa throws Kairi down from the top rope! She’s not done, either, as she brings Kairi up.

Kairi revives for the spinning back-fist. Vanessa clubs away on Kairi in return, then rolls her to a cover, TWO, and Kairi gets a modified cloverleaf of her own! Kairi calls this the Anchor Lock! Vanessa taps, Kairi wins!

Winner: Kairi Sane, by submission

The Pirate Princess brings out something brand new, and it works! Vanessa is improving, but not enough to stop this great Stardom champion. Will Kairi sail towards an NXT Women’s Championship?

Kairi speaks.

“Shayna Baszler. I know you are strong, but I beat you before.” The MYC finals in fact. Kairi vows to do it again! And again! And again! “Again! Again!” echoes out with the NXT Universe. Kairi vows to come for that treasure, that NXT Women’s Championship! “Ahoy!”

Just in from NXT GM William Regal!

Seeing as how there are so many worthy contenders for Shayna Baszler’s title, it seems only fitting to give them all a chance! It will be a FATAL 4 WAY to decide a new #1 Contender! The Pirate Princess has one victory over the Queen of Spades, while Crazy Nikki Cross came close. At the same time, Mrs. Wrestling wants at Shayna something fierce over the comments the champ had for her, as does The EST, Bianca Belair! One woman will move on to be the number one, who will challenge the Reign of Terror?

NXT Media speaks with Aleister Black.

With two weeks left before the Embodiment of the End faces the Psycho Killer, the NXT Champion knows there’s always someone who thinks they’ll change things. But then Johnny Wrestling comes by and says Ciampa cannot be champion. Aleister doesn’t seem to take him seriously. Gargano wants to make sure Ciampa doesn’t win. Alesiter does understand that, but Gargano has to let him be the one to handle it. Gargano needs to worry about himself in the meantime. Gargano knows exactly what he’s doing. Aleister and Gargano part ways, the champion headed to the ring.

But then Ciampa attacks Aleister! The Blackheart doesn’t want to wait two weeks, as he drags Aleister out onto a table for a draping DDT!! Ciampa leaves Aleister down and out while medics are called. Ciampa waves good-bye, but will he be waving a white flag come their title match? Or has he just made Aleister’s reign #FadetoBlack?

NXT Tag Team Championships: Mustache Mountain VS The Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong!

While the Undisputed Era love to #ShockTheSystem, they were the ones shocked when Tyler Bate & Trent Seven defeated them in the Royal Albert Hall during the United Kingdom Championship special. The UE tried to deny it, claiming it was a fluke, but will they succeed in taking back the titles? Or will Mustache Mountain simply go 2-0 and send the Undisputed Era to the back of the line?

Fans duel already as the introductions are being made. The belts are raised and the bell rings, and Undisputed rush the champions! Strong goes after Seven while O’Reilly goes after Bate. They have them in opposite corners, then whip them out, but Mustache Mountain do-si-do to hit EuroUppers! Seven lifts and slams O’Reilly, then Bate slams Strong on top of him. Bate gets to a corner and knee-boards off Seven to senton on them both. Seven and Bate coordinate for the assisted back senton. Strong and O’Reilly get to ropes, but they get whipped across the way. They hold ropes to bail out, then regroup. Bate & Seven throw them out, but Undisputed come back in quick, only to fall for Bop and BANG!

Strong & O’Reilly go back outside but Bate & Seven keep on them. They brawl and chop outside, and Bate throws O’Reilly into the apron. Seven has Strong on the other side, throwing body shots at the steps. O’Reilly kicks Bate back, then goes to help Strong. They bump Seven into a post, then a shinbreaker to the steps! Seven goes down in a heap, but Strong is still on him. They go into the ring while fans continue to duel at a fever pitch. Strong stomps the bad leg then tags in O’Reilly. O’Reilly runs to knee drop the bad knee. Seven does what he can to cover up as O’Reilly throws fast strikes. O’Reilly jams the knee with a leg DDT, then drags Seven back.

Tag to Strong and Strong goes right at the leg brace. Strong pulls it off to expose the knee to stop it directly. Tag back to O’Reilly for dragon screws and a standing Indian deathlock! O’Reilly twists the leg, but Seven can only fight from the mat. Seven tries to get to Bate but O’Reilly cartwheels to more ground ‘n’ pound palm strikes. O’Reilly gets an outside heel hook! Tag to Strong and they torture the leg.

Fans have not slowed down one bit in their dueling chants. Strong goes after the knee but Seven fights as much as he can. Seven grabs hair but Strong doesn’t let go of the leg. Seven endures the pain, and kicks away with his free leg. Strong lets go, but tags O’Reilly. O’Reilly is on that bad leg, smashing it against the ropes! Seven manages to counter with a roll up, TWO! Seven shoves O’Reilly away but Strong tags back in. Strong whips but Seven kicks him away. Seven dumps Strong out but Strong drags Seven down. Seven shoves again, but O’Reilly runs in. O’Reilly gets tossed out hard, and Seven crawls! Bate is ready, but Strong anchors Seven long enough for O’Reilly to get to Bate! Seven misses his chance, and now Strong is on him again.

Strong puts the legs in an Indian deathlock and grinds his heel into the knee. Seven fights and endures, throwing hands and chops on Strong. Strong lets him go, but only long enough to bring him up. Seven chops, even on one leg. He fakes a chop, blocks a chop, and hits a DDT! Strong and Seven crawl, but O’Reilly boots Bate down! Seven chops O’Reilly, but O’Reilly gets the leg! Seven endures the heel hook, and fights with the other leg. O’Reilly lets go from being rocked by that right foot. Seven drags himself over, but so does O’Reilly. Hot tags to Bate and Strong! Bate rallies on the Undisputed Era! Big back drop for Strong! Then a corner EuroUpper. Bate whips corner to corner but Strong reverses, only to run into that knee lift! Flying EuroUpper, then the standing shooting star! Cover, TWO!

This match has been high energy from the start, but now fans are really fired up. O’Reilly runs in but gets taken for a ride. O’Reilly slips into a sleeper on Bate, but Bate bumps him off buckles. Strong runs in, but into an Exploder onto O’Reilly! Bate picks up Strong and spins him around, but then catches O’Reilly! Now we go for a spin AND a swing! Flashback to Royal Albert Hall!

Bate puts them both down on top of each other, then deadlifts Strong for a bridging German! TWO!! Seven is getting his knee checked on, but he knows Bate is going it alone right now. Fans are at a fever pitch as Bate slowly stands. Bate sees Seven is still in a bad way, so he goes after Strong. He tries the double underhook but has to rolling kick O’Reilly out. Bate runs into Strong’s boot, enziguri, and then whip. Rebound lariat from Bate! Then, TYLER DRIVER ’97!! Cover, but O’Reilly breaks it just in time! This match continues, but fans are loving it! Bate throws O’Reilly out, then checks on Seven. Seven wants to get in, because “This is Awesome!”

Bate isn’t so sure himself, his mentor is too wounded. Strong hits Bate but Bate hits Strong. Strong whips but counters the rebound for a half-nelson backbreaker! Tag to O’Reilly, Penalty Kick! Cover, TWO! But right into the brainbuster!! Cover, TWO!! Bate toughs it out for the sake of his mentor, but O’Reilly tags in Strong. The Undisputed Era coordinate but Bate fights them both off. Bate escapes Total Elimination! Strong has Bate but Bate hits back. Knee strike sends Bate into Seven! Seven tags and starts chopping away on Strong & O’Reilly! His one leg and both arms are working, so he uses them both to fire away strikes. He gets O’Reilly in a Snap Dragon! Then dodges Seven for a back hand and SEVEN STAR LARIAT!! Cover, TWO!!

This match isn’t done, but neither is Seven. Fans are thunderous while Seven and Strong slowly stand. Seven tries the torture rack, but that bad leg limits him. Strong escape to chop block the leg! Then, Inverted Cloverleaf! But Seven holds and attacks Strong’s leg to resist. Seven is stuck in a Strong Clutch, but Bate boots Strong down! Bate has to back off, but Seven shoves Strong away hard. O’Reilly tags in, and O’Reilly leaps onto Seven with a knee to knee! Then the heel hook returns! Seven endures like nothing before as he hammers away at O’Reilly’s own leg. Seven grabs the ref to resist tapping. He reaches for Bate, reaches for ropes, but is still so far away.

O’Reilly drags Seven all the way back, but Seven kicks and slaps. It’s a slap fight on the mat! O’Reilly wrenches back, but Seven still finds the grit to fight. Fans chant “YES! YES!” with every hit, and Seven frees himself! Seven crawls but so does O’Reilly. O’Reilly stays between Seven and Bate. Fans duel again, but O’Reilly goes for another leg hold! It’s a double knee bar!! Seven screams in pain, and Bate sees his mentor in pain. Bate grabs a towel, but Seven tells him not to throw it! Seven rolls for the ropes, for his corner, but O’Reilly wrenches back as hard as he can. Bate is so torn between pride and compassion, but Seven shouts for him not to quit! Seven fights with everything he has left, but Bate can’t do it! He throws in the towel!!

Winners: The Undisputed Era, by submission; NEW NXT Tag Team Champions

Bate couldn’t do it. He couldn’t watch his mentor, his brother in arms, suffer any longer. But that’s fine by the Undisputed Era’s standards, they just got their belts back. They all celebrate on the ramp, from O’Reilly to Strong to Cole and Fish. This is what it took to get those belts back, what will it take for someone to take them away?

My Thoughts:

This was a damn good NXT! All three matches felt strong, and can be considered as contributing to story. Adam Cole fights fair and square in his match with Burch, but he really couldn’t call upon the rest of the Undisputed Era given how important the main event was. But Cole does win fair and square, and so far he has no contenders to his title. There’s plenty of time before the next TakeOver special, so perhaps one will step up in the coming weeks. Vanessa does great even in losing to Kairi, but Kairi winning was only natural for the inaugural MYC winner. That Fatal 4 Way is going to be great, but if there’s one person we know isn’t winning, it’s Nikki Cross. Nikki is meant to join SAnitY on the main roster one way or another, but it could go any which way with the other three.

Of those three, bet more on Candice or Kairi. Bianca is still more Heel than Face, and even if this is NXT, it’s still WWE, and they prefer Face VS Heel. From there, either choice is great, because we either get the tiebreaker of Kairi VS Shayna, or we get the continuation of that sudden brawl between Shayna and Candice. In the NXT  Championship story, I did not expect Ciampa to pounce on Aleister like that. Maybe the night of their title match, but not this far out. They’ll play up Aleister’s condition next week, but I’m pretty sure he makes it to the match. But now I’m even more unsure of how that’ll go, what with Gargano adamant about Ciampa NOT winning the title before him. Maybe Gargano interferes just as Ciampa is about to win, which will Aleister as much as Ciampa, for a triple threat?

Then that main event was probably the best NXT Tag Team Championship match ever! Definitely one of the best since DIY VS Revival, DIY VS AoP, and the like. They also heaped a bunch of story into the match with that steel step shinbreaker and all the leg holds. You could really feel the animosity from the Undisputed Era, as well as the emotional conflict in Bate. Commentary did a great job reminding us that Seven trained Bate, and was anywhere from a big brother to a father figure for the younger wrestler. It’s rare for a match to end with someone literally throwing in the towel, but it really worked here. Undisputed Era wins while Mustache Mountain isn’t really weaker for it. Obviously Mustache Mountain’s rematch is in question with Seven’s bad leg, but I really hope we get a tiebreaker in the end.

My Score: 8.8/10