NXT

WWE NXT #389 (4.26.17) Play-by-Play and Review

Published

6 years ago

April 26, 2017

You can scroll to the end for a TLDR recap of the show.

On the schedule for tonight: Aleister Black is in action and Tyler Bate defends the UK Championship against Gentleman Jack Gallagher. Also, Andrade Almas is taking on Drew McIntyre.

In-Ring: Nikki Cross is crawling into the ring with no entrance. She goes outside the ring and puts her head in the ring announcer’s lap and calls out Ruby Rose in her microphone. She acts all sweet, but kind of snaps at the end. Ruby Riot walks out on the stage also without music. They both get into the ring and have a standoff. Some idiots in the crowd chant Kiss – morons. I wasn’t aware you were allowed to go to wrestling shows while on work release from prison.

Anyway, Cross tries to tackle Riot, but Ruby takes her down and punches away. Cross takes over and they roll to the floor where Cross continues to lay into Riot. Riot goes face-first into the stairs, but Riot still manages to fight back. Security and referees are trying to separate them and Cross dives off the stairs to take Riot and some security out. It takes 6 guys, but they finally keep the two apart. That was a different opening for a show and good to see NXT trying to establish some more female talent.

Recap: Hideo Itami’s return and ensuing GTS to Roode is replayed. Roode is backstage and cuts off the interviewer. Roode says Itami is a coward. Roode says he’ll be glad to face Itami in the ring, but not for the title until Itami earns it.

Match #1: Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas v. Drew McIntyre

McIntyre is out and looks to be about 7’8 tonight. Once again, the announcers work the ‘Party Boy’ angle with Almas. Almas does his usual taunts to start out. When Almas poses in the ropes, McIntyre kicks him right in the face and sends him to the floor. McIntyre gets Almas back in the ring, but Almas bails out. McIntyre meets him with a brutal chop, but Almas ends up taking McIntyre’s legs out and he goes face-first into the stairs. Back in the ring, Almas unloads with his unmatched chops.

Almas goes for the double knees in the corner, but stops and slaps McIntyre in the face. McIntyre looks pissed as Almas continues the taunting. McIntyre catches an Almas chop attempt, drives him to the corner, and unloads with windmill punches. The two trade unbelievable chops, which McIntyre may have won. McIntyre catches a leapfrog attempt and turns it into a power slam. McIntyre flattens Almas with the Claymore and that’s it for Andrade.

Winner: Drew McIntyre via pinfall

Thoughts: McIntyre comes off continuing to look like a beast. There is no shortage of NXT Championship contenders at this point. Almas is continuing down the road in his storyline. It’s enough to keep me intrigued to see where it leads.

Backstage: William Regal is backstage and says later on this evening, Ruby Riot will face Nikki Cross.

Promo Video: Who is Roderick Strong, Part 1. It’s a really good little WWE24-style video to try to give Strong some character development. It’s a really powerful video, wow. This will do more for Strong among casual fans than anything he will do alone in the ring. Really well produced – can’t say enough good things about this. Part 2 will be next week.

Match#2: Kona Reeves v. Aleister Black

Well, it was nice knowing you, Kona Reeves. Reeves goes right after Black, but it doesn’t last long. Black just pummels Reeves with kicks. Black hits more kicks, a back fist, and another nice kick to the face. Black then tees off with a brutal Black Mass kick and Kona is out cold.

Winner: Aleister Black via pinfall

Thoughts: It was another awesome and dominant showing from Aleister Black. He’s only been here a minute, but he will likely wait his turn until after Itami, McIntyre, and possibly Roderick Strong get their time in the main event. In the meantime, more of this kind of stuff, please.

Backstage: Ruby Riot is standing by with a new interviewer. Riot says SAnitY tries to push others to conform to their ways. She is going to push Nikki Cross out of her way tonight.

Backstage: Someone is chasing Almas outside for an interview, but he blows them off when asked about the loss to McIntyre. He climbs into a limo with a bunch of women and rides off into the sunset.

Match #3: Ruby Riot v. Nikki CrossRuby Riot doesn’t even make it to the ring before Nikki Cross attacks her from behind. Riot eventually fights back and suplexes Nikki on the entrance ramp. Cross throws Riot into the side of the stage and the two are just brawling. A whole bunch of officials are on the scene again. Riot levels one guy and dives off the stage onto Cross. Security carries Nikki Cross backstage as she screams and thrashes.

Winner: No Contest

Thoughts: Another good pull-apart brawl between these two. Is this being built to a TV match or are they waiting for TakeOver: Chicago?

Backstage: Asuka is backstage with William Regal. He says next week, there will be a battle royal to determine the #1 contender for her championship. Just a fun side note I saw a few days ago: Asuka is 163-0 in NXT. How cool is that?

Match #4: UK Championship: Tyler Bate © v. Jack Gallagher

There’s a handshake after the bell and they go right into their usual trademark opening spots. If you’re familiar with the two, you know how it goes. I won’t try to call all the grappling and reversals. After many cool sequences, there’s a standoff as NXT heads to break. Back from break, Gallagher is in control and working over the champion’s arm. Gallagher hits a head butt and a drop kick. Bate tries to counter the wristlock, but Gallagher won’t let go.

Gallagher hammerlocks the arm with his leg and stretches Bate some more. Ouch. Bate forces Gallagher down with a test of strength and gets a near fall. Both guys hit monkey flips, then bridge out – still locked in a test of strength. Bate nails the Bop & Bang punch and deadlifts Gallagher for a bridging German suplex. Bate doesn’t quite get his legs under him and Gallagher kicks out. Gallagher counters a suplex attempt into a sort of kimura wristlock, but Bate still manages to hit a suplex.

Bate goes for a dive to ringside, but Gallagher head butts him on his way through the ropes. Gallagher hits another brutal head butt and falls on top of Bate for a 2-count. Gallagher goes back to a vicious wristlock, but Bates escapes and scores with a rolling heel kick. Bate goes right into the Tyler Driver ’97 and that’s good for the pin.

Pete Dunne, Mark Andrews, and Wolfgang are shown watching in the front row.

Winner: Tyler Bate via pinfall to retain the UK Championship

Thoughts: This was a pretty good match. I thought they were building for longer than they ended up going, but still an amazing wrestling match with a style that really stands out. WWE spent some time plugging the UK Weekly show on the Network that is ‘coming very soon’. I’d love to watch it, but I have to do basic things like care for my animals, mow the lawn, work, etc. I believe WWE will be up to 8 hours of in-ring content per week between RAW, SmackDown, NXT, 205 Live, and UK. That doesn’t include PPVs or after-shows like Talking Smack. It is actually becoming a Universe.

TLDR