WWE NXT live results: Fatal four-way Tag Team title match

The fourth week of NXT 2.0 takes place tonight.

The NXT Tag Team titles will be on the line as MSK defend against Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen, Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams, and The Grizzled Young Veterans in a fatal four-way match. The match was originally announced as an eight-man tag before being changed.

Tonight’s show will also feature Odyssey Jones vs. LA Knight, Indi Hartwell vs. Mei Ying, Ikemen Jiro vs. Joe Gacy, Cora Jade in action, the debut of Tony D’Angelo, and Mandy Rose vs. Ember Moon.

Rose vs. Moon will kick off tonight’s show. Last week, Rose set her sights on the NXT Women’s Championship as Toxic Attraction attacked Raquel Gonzalez following her title defense against Franky Monet. Rose laid out Gonzalez with a knee strike and then posed with Gonzalez’s NXT Women’s title belt.

We may also find out what’s next for NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa and Bron Breakker, who are on a collision course toward a match against each other.

Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

**********

The show opened with Vic Joseph explaining that the original eight-man tag was turned into a four-way tag team match because nobody could get along.

Mandy Rose (with Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolan) defeated Ember Moon

A fine, albeit short match. Not feeling hopeful for Ember’s future in this new NXT.

Moon gained control early in the match, putting Rose in a tree of woe position. The rest of Toxic Attraction pulled her out of the ring. Moon responded with a tope suicida that took out Jayne. Rose cut off Moon as she was re-entering the ring and hit a reverse suplex for a two count. Rose was in control until Moon cut her off with a punch. 

Moon went to the middle rope and connected with a codebreaker for a nearfall. She missed the Eclipse then walked right into a knee strike by Rose and was pinned.

On commentary, Beth Phoenix said that Adam will handle their business, in reference to the angle on SmackDown where Seth Rollins invaded Edge and Beth’s house.

Legado Del Fantasma bragged about taking out Hit Row, who are now moving to SmackDown as a result of the Draft. Escobar challenged Swerve for the NXT North American Championship.

LA Knight defeated Odyssey Jones

Basic match, but I thought Jones looked very good here for what they want him to do. The finish was WWE 101 booking where the guy is on offense for the bulk of the match then loses after taking one move, which is ludicrous. 

Crowd chanted for Jones as the match started. Jones splashed Knight and threw him around like a ragdoll in the ring. Knight exited the ring as Jones stalked Knight, who found an opening by tripping Jones, sending him to the middle turnbuckle. 

Knight remained in control until he tried to bodyslam Jones, who responded by splashing Knight in a counter. Jones hit a knee to the gut when Andre Chase appeared on the apron to distract Jones. This allowed Knight to plant Jones with a reverse cutter for the win, with Chase holding down Jones’ foot.

McKenzie Mitchell interviewed Cameron Grimes, who put over all the current romances going on in NXT. He said that he was on a search to find a lucky lady. Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland walked in. Dunne said he was the baddest man in NXT. He challenged Grimes to a match. Grimes ignored him and instead started to chat with some ladies nearby.

Kyle O’Reilly walked up to Von Wagner in the locker room and asked why he’s had his back for the last two weeks. Wagner referred to himself in the third person strangely and said that O’Reilly has heart. O’Reilly said after the last year, he doesn’t trust anybody and told Wagner to stay out of his way.

Tommaso Ciampa came out for a promo. He said Halloween Havoc returns October 26 on NXT, and the champ needs an opponent. He mentioned one man in particular who says he’s not a patient man and that he wants to be the flag bearer in NXT. Ciampa said actions speak louder than words. He asked who had the balls to take the NXT title from him.

This brought out Bron Breakker. He told Ciampa that he’s shown nothing for respect for him. He wants to be the NXT Champion. He said he has the biggest balls in the locker room and that he and the crowd want the title shot. Ciampa said the difference between him and Breakker is that Breakker wants the NXT title, but Ciampa needs it. He told Breakker that he has three weeks to go from an intern to a PHD, accepting his challenge.

It is hilarious that Breakker is a Steiner with a capital S, looking like his father, wrestling like a Steiner and cutting promos just like Scott, yet everyone on TV is banned from stating the obvious. The WWE Universe is a universe completely disconnected from ours.

Joe Gacy in a backstage promo said that while social media crashed, he knew one platform that won’t crash: NXT 2.0. He will use the ring as our safe space, conflict can be resolved peacefully and that yes, there can be two winners.

Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta were talking about how many condoms Hartwell used during her honeymoon backstage when they opened a creepy door they saw was filled with smoke. Mei Ying and Boa were inside, with Boa telling them to get out.

Joe Gacy defeated Ikemen Jiro

Another short match. They are 100% into this Gacy gimmick.

Gacy offered a handshake, with Jiro accepting. After Ikemen connected with a strike, Gacy told Jiro to hit him again. Commentary mentioned that Gacy has received national attention as a result of what WWE thinks are woke promos. Gacy hit a clothesline in the corner, then a suplex. Ikemen cut him off with a sloppy DDT then used his jacket for a comeback. 

Ikemen hit a nice hurricanrana off the top rope but missed a knee strike. Gacy springboarded off the ropes then planted Ikemen with a clothesline for the win.

After the match, Gacy lifted Ikemen to his feet and hugged him. Ikemen looked confused. As Gacy was walking to the back, a creepy bald man stared at him in the stands. Turns out, the creepy bald man was in fact Parker Boudreaux, who looked unrecognizable. He is going under the name Harland in NXT.

Cora Jade, whose gimmick is “skateboarder”, is up next.

Duke Hudson is now a professional poker player. In Duke’s Poker Room, we don’t discriminate, you see. THIS IS 1990s WWF SUPERSTARS.

Cora Jade defeated Franky Monet

Another short match. Like with Ember, I think things aren’t looking good for Franky if she isn’t called up soon.

Cora Jade came to the ring on a skateboard with a song that was straight up off of a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game from 1999. Virginia Perry, who was supposed to wrestle her, was suddenly jumped by Franky Monet, who was just standing there for…reasons?

Monet was in total control from the start, hitting knees in the corner. Trey Baxter suddenly popped up at ringside supporting Jade. Jade missed a splash in the corner and tried to rally back but Monet cut her off. Monet went for her finish but Jade rolled her up and pinned Monet.

All the tag teams in the tag team title match attacked one another backstage. Vic Joseph said that the title match was now elimination style.

Ciampa was cutting a promo when Gacy walked up to him and said he had toxic energy. He speaks for a voice struggling to be heard and basically said he wanted a title match. Ciampa said if Gacy beats him next week, he can be in the Halloween Havoc title match. Ciampa told Gacy that the ring won’t be a safe space for him next week.

Raquel Gonzalez looked mad as she was walking into the Performance Center.

Pete Dunne defeated Cameron Grimes

I liked this while it lasted, but it did not last long, the theme to most NXT TV matches these days.

Grimes started in control, but Dunne cut him off with a clothesline. He manipulated Grimes’ fingers but Grimes fought back, only to get taken down. Dunne missed a knee in the corner, allowing Grimes to make his comeback. He went to the top rope with a clothesline for a nearfall.

The two traded offense until Holland took Dunne out of the ring. O’Reilly was the latest person to appear out of thin air to attack Holland, who responded by throwing O’Reilly over the announce table. Amongst all the confusion, Dunne was able to hit the Bitter End on Grimes for the win.

O’Reilly jumped Dunne after the match, but he and Holland quickly took him out like he was nothing.

Tony D’Angelo, who has connections, is up next.

Hit Row vignette. Top Dolla made it clear they were not running away from Legado Del Fantasma. B-Fab told Elektra next time she won’t be so nice. Swerve accepted Escobar’s North American title challenge.

Von Wagner was shown helping O’Reilly to his feet after he was laid out.

Tony D’Angelo defeated Malik Blade

Not good at all. D’Angelo is nowhere near close to be on NXT television. However long this match went, it needed to be cut in half.

D’Angelo came to the ring wearing a velvet tracksuit. The crowd liked D’Angelo. Blade cut him off, hitting a dropkick that sent him out of the ring. D’Angelo was able to make a comeback. D’Angelo is not ready for NXT TV by any stretch of the imagination. Blade cut him off again and hit a crossbody for a nearfall. D’Angelo tripped Blade into the turnbuckle, hit a belly-to-belly suplex, then pinned Blade with a northern lights suplex, then slowly followed with a twisting fisherman’s buster.

Backstage, Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams talked about the tag team title match. Hayes brought up he didn’t even cash in his Breakout title contract. Williams clarified they were bout it bout it.

Indi Hartwell defeated Mei Ying

Bad. Add the 10,000 year old lady who was trained by dragons to the list of people not long for this version of NXT. 

The two had a very long feeling out process until Ying was able to take control with a neck hold, then eventually a nerve choke. Mei Ying shoved Hartwell into the turnbuckle outside of the ring. Persia Pirotta was the 36346th person to appear out of thin air and distracted Mei Ying, leaving the opening for Hartwell to post her in the corner.  This allowed Hartwell to pin Ying after a springboard elbow.

Backstage, Lash Legend said if you thought last week’s show was great, next week she will spill some hot tea that will make the Urban Meyer story seem tame. I am not a football guy, but Meyer I believe is a coach for the Jaguars. Who owns the Jaguars? Hmm. Anyway, Tony D’Angelo walked in and wanted to be part of next week’s show. Lash seemed interested, then talked about how she shut down Facebook and Instagram yesterday.

A Diamond Mine promo aired introducing every member of the stable, I guess for those who are new. Considering last week’s rating, there are not many new people watching this.

Raquel Gonzalez came down to the ring for a promo. She dared Mandy Rose to try and touch her title again. This brought out Toxic Attraction. Rose said she used to admire Gonzalez, but now she just comes off as desperate, knowing her title reign is about to come to an end. She said Toxic Attraction are taking over. Gigi Dolan said that they are championship material, and you can’t stop but look in awe of us. Gonzalez brought up the stitches she gave Dolan last week, which Dolan did not like.

Jacey Jayne said that we can add jealousy to go with being desperate. Jayne said that they are all over Raw and SmackDown and we are the face of NXT. Soon, they’ll be holding all the gold in NXT. They are not just Toxic Attraction, they ARE the attraction.

The trio then circled around the ring as Rose asked if they should have some fun. Zoey Stark and Io Shirai entered for the save, daring Toxic Attraction to attack. They backed down as the babyfaces stood in the ring.

O’Reilly was icing his shoulder when Von Wagner walked up to him and said whether he likes it or not, he is the only one that has O’Reilly’s back and they are taking on Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland next week.

Gonzalez, Stark, and Shirai were backstage talking about how they didn’t like Toxic Attraction more than they didn’t like each other. Hartwell and Pirotta walked up and told the Tag Team Champions that they wanted a title match as well. I guess Johnny Garango and Candice LeRae have just disappeared and we’re moving on from The Way.

MSK defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake), Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs, and Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams to retain the NXT Tag Team titles

This had no choice but to be the best match on the show. Everyone looked good, even Jensen and Briggs. They are clearly green, but they looked good and did what they needed to do to be the powerhouse team in the match.

Everyone tagged in early and did their stuff. Most of it looked good. Briggs and Jensen ended up gaining control, and allowed Wes Lee to hit a running tope con hilo to the floor, taking out Hayes and Williams. MSK pinned Williams with an assisted neckbreaker off the top rope, scoring the first elimination.

Back from the break, Zack Gibson of the Grizzled Young Vets controlled Wes Lee. Drake was tagged in and took control, but MSK cut them off, with Nash Carter hitting a moonsault off the turnbuckle and to the floor, taking out the GYV. Jensen was able to tag in and quickly pinned Gibson with an assist from Briggs. That left MSK and Jensen & Briggs.

Briggs hit Lee with a big boot, with Jensen planting him with a side Russian leg sweep at the same time. The two controlled Lee, hitting a double chokeslam. Carter hit a big crossbody to the floor, taking out Jensen. In the confusion, Lee was able to get a victory roll over Briggs for the pin and to retain the titles.

Jensen and Briggs grabbed the titles after the match. They gave them to MSK as they left, establishing themselves as babyfaces. As they were leaving, Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner) ran in and attacked MSK. Jensen and Woods came in and chased away the heels, helping MSK to their feet as the show ended.

Final Thoughts:

Well, let’s see what I can remember. 

I said this on Twitter as the show was going on, but this was like if WCW Nitro booked by Vince Russo had a lovechild with 1992 WWF Superstars. Goofy gimmicks, wrestlers not even close to being ready for national television, 2 minute matches and lots of tall, good-looking people are all over this show. It’s hard to absorb anything when so much happens. I think it’s the end result of a bunch of corporate people plus Kevin Dunn and Bruce Prichard trying to figure out how to draw in the 18-49 demographic. This is what they think will work. I guess we’ll see if they’re right.

On the plus side, we have some things announced for Halloween Havoc in a few weeks and there’s a clear direction. So there’s that. The old NXT guard isn’t going to like this. But WWE doesn’t want the old NXT guard. They’ve given that floor to AEW to run away with after years of attempting, and utterly failing, to thwart them. WWE corporate wants…this. And this is what they’ll get.