The Undisputed Era Retain NXT Tag Team Championships
WWE booked a title match that saw NXT Tag Team Champions The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) defend their titles against Keith Lee & Dominik Dijakovic in one of the top matches on the show that delivered despite high expectations. This served as the opening contest.
During the match, Fish suffered a possible knee injury and was replaced by Roderick Strong. In the end, The Undisputed Era retained the titles.
This match was expected due to them being part of the building of the main event of NXT’s latest special that aired on WWE’s streaming service.
Tommaso Ciampa, Donovan Dijak, Keith Lee and Kevin Owens beat The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) at Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: WarGames III event from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois on the WWE Network.
Mansoor Wrestles
WWE actually booked Manoor in a match on NXT television.
It happened in this show nearly at the end of the first hour when he beat Shane Throne in a singles match. It was a fine match that featured solid in-ring work.
At the WWE Crown Jewel pay-per-view event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the King Fahd International Stadium on the WWE Network last month, Mansoor beat Cesaro in a singles match.
For those who may have forgotten, Mansoor won the first-ever 50-Man Battle Royal at WWE Super ShowDown in June.
While Mansoor has worked several NXT live events, the company hasn’t done much with him on television. Although this was a squash match, it could be on the path of WWE not just using Mansoor on television but a potential push.
Dakota Kai Takes On Candice LeRae
WWE booked a singles match between Candice LeRae and Dakota Kai at the top of the second hour.
These ladies put in hard work and delivered a pretty good match. It ended via DQ when Kai hit LeRae with a knee brace. After the match, Kai continued the attack on LeRae until Rhea Ripley ran out to make the save.
This match came after NXT TakeOver: WarGames III event when Rhea Ripley, Mia Yim, Tegan Nox & Candice LeRae beat Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray to win the WarGames match.
There was a heel turn during the match as Kai attacked Nox in the holding cell, which marked her heel turn.
WWE hyped this as LeRae defending Knox because of the heel turn by Kai. It looks like Knox will eventually get her revenge on Kai down the line.
Lio Rush Retains NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Lio Rush successfully retained the NXT Cruiserweight Championship in his latest title defense as champion on this show when he beat Akira Tozawa in the squared circle.
It was a fun match just as you would expect the work to be from these two guys and a match that the fans ate up.
It’s such a notable difference between WWE airing these types of matches at Full Sail compared to bigger arenas whether that be at pay-per-view events or after SmackDown TV events.
While the match was fun, from a booking standpoint, it didn’t make much sense considering that Tozawa didn’t do anything to earn it.
Rush just beat Tozawa and Kalisto in a triple threat match at Sunday’s (November 24, 2019) WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view event in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena on the WWE Network.
It will be interesting to see who is the next challenger for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.
Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa Headline
In a match that didn’t get hyped up, WWE booked one of their biggest matches that can in Finn Balor vs. Tommaso Ciampa.
This match was set up in the opening segment when Tommaso Ciampa, Donovan Dijak, and Keith Lee were in the ring while The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly) were on the stage.
After an exchange of words, Balor came out where Ciampa talked about his desire to get the NXT Title back and for Balor, who is a prince, to meet his king.
Luckily, since WWE does overruns with NXT, this match did get some time, which was nice. It was a television match and with these two guys, give them 30-minutes on a TakeOver special, it would be a classic match. Balor went over in the contest.
For the last month, WWE has been hyping that Ciampa is for Adam Cole’s NXT Championship. Of course, WWE could go in a different direction Balor being the next guy to challenge for the title but WWE typically doesn’t book heel vs. heel matches, especially for the main title.
Balor laid out Cole to end the show.
