WWE NXT Spring Breakin’ week one live results: Dragunov vs. Williams

After tonight, Trick Williams will either be NXT Champion or gone from the brand entirely.

Ilja Dragunov vs. Williams for the NXT Championship headlines week one of NXT Spring Breakin’ 2024. It’s a rematch from Vengeance Day, where Williams came up short in his attempt to claim the NXT title. If he doesn’t win this time, Williams has to leave NXT.

The match is taking place in advance of the 2024 WWE Draft beginning on SmackDown this Friday. Dragunov has already declared for the draft.

The NXT Women’s Championship will also be defended tonight as Roxanne Perez faces Lyra Valkyria and Tatum Paxley in a triple threat match.

Sol Ruca vs. Blair Davenport in a Beach Brawl, The D’Angelo Family vs. No Quarter Catch Crew in a six-man tag match, and Baron Corbin vs. Lexis King are also set. Plus, Natalya and Lola Vice will sign the contract for their NXT Underground match that’s taking place next week.

Join us for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

The show opens with three General Managers having a discussion about tonight. NXT GM Ava is joined in person by Raw GM Adam Pearce. Smackdown GM Nick Aldis is on Zoom. They put over tonight as a big night, and they also briefly discuss the draft.

Ava talks about how tonight is about who will step up in NXT ahead of the draft to take the place of anyone drafted away from the brand. Ava confidently says NXT will never be the same after tonight.

Opening the show from a sound stage at the Performance Center in Orlando is a three-way match for the women’s title.

NXT Women’s Champion Roxanne Perez defeated Tatum Paxley and Lyra Valkyria in a triple threat match to retain her title

Perez pinned Paxley to win the match. Paxley had the match won, but Perez cleverly slipped in to win. 

The match goes through a split-screen commercial break. Some good high spots before the break, and they trade some close near falls after the show returns. They also went home playing on a near fall. The finish was cleverly done.

As they go home, they all three are countering and delivering big moves. Paxley and Valkyria are wrestling each other after Perez is seemingly wiped out taking a roundhouse kick from Valkyria. Paxley countered Pop Rocks, and she whipped Perez toward Valkyria and the roundhouse kick.

Paxley and Valkyria face off, with Paxley getting a close near fall. Paxley executed a 450 splash on Valkyria. As Paxley is going for the cover, Perez jumps in to break up the attempted pin. Perez then cradles Paxley with a jackknife for a three count. 

Fallon Henley gets into a pull-apart shouting match with Jaida Parker in a backstage skit that also includes Thea Hail and Kelani Jordan. Hail, Jordan and Henley were chatting about Hail about recent events when Parker chimed in to call out Henley. This clearly sets up a match between Henley and Parker.

A vignette hyped the arrival to NXT of a newcomers Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe, who are set to debut next Tuesday on NXT.

The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile are interviewed by Kelly Kincaid. They talk about main event tonight, where Trick Williams challenges for the NXT title against champ Ilja Dragunov. The interview concludes with them chanting “whoop that trick.”

An official announcement plugged NXT Battleground at UFC’s Apex facility. 

The D’Angelo Family (Tony D’Angelo, Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo & Luca Crusifino with Adrianna Rizzo) defeated No Quarter Catch Crew (Charlie Dempsey, Damon Kemp & Myles Borne) in a six-man tag team match

D’Angelo scores a pinfall on one-third of the Heritage Cup Champions. The result could likely set up D’Angelo challenging for the Cup in the near future

The trios match goes through a split-screen commercial break. When the show returns, heat on Stacks as he is worked over. A gutsy Stacks eventually makes the hot tag. Far from the best hot tag, but D’Angelo runs wild anyway. The Don cleans house on the Catch Crew. D’Angelo is going for his finisher on Kemp when Dempsey chop blocks The Don’s knee. 

Nice combos by Kemp and Borne, along with Crusifino & Stacks. D’Angelo kicks out for a near fall. Stacks jumps in to break up a pinning attempt, saving The Don. Crusifino gets to shine by doing an Arn Anderson spinebuster. For the finish. D’Angelo plants Dempsey with a pop-up powerbomb, and The Don scores a clean three count.  

Jaida Parker (with OTM) defeated Fallon Henley

Parker pinned Henley after a hip attack. The match begins during a split-screen commercial break, and the bout is joined in progress after the break. Henley gets several near falls, but Parker strikes with what was called a “Tear Drop” hip attack, and Parker pins Henley clean.

Jacy Jayne, flanked by Jazmyn Nyz, cuts a promo on Thea Hail, ahead of Hail and Jayne having a grudge match next Tuesday on week two of Spring Breakin’. 

A video package hypes Lola Vice, as she prepares for an Underground match against Natalya. There contract signing is up next.

NXT GM presides over a contract signing for a NXT Underground match between Nattie and Vice. Set up is a makeshift Underground ring with no ropes. Two chairs are on each side of a podium. Nattie and Karmen Petrovic sit on one side, as Petrovic is in Nattie’s corner.

Nattie wants to know who is in Vice’s corner. Vice responds by saying Nattie is more worried about who is the second than she is worries about Vice winning the match. Vice says that although she can “shake her ass,” Vice can also kick Nattie’s as well. Vice is supposed to be the heel here, but the live studio audience cheers her like she is the babyface. 

Shayna Baszler is eventually revealed as the person in Vice’s corner for the match. Baszler comes to the ring and cuts a promo. She pushes Petrovic, only for Baszler to get wiped out by a roundhouse kick. Brief melee before Vice and Baszler flee the ring, as Nattie and Petrovic stand tall.

Ridge Holland is seen arriving to the building earlier today. Shawn Spears confront Holland, playing more mind games with Holland.

The Final Testament are the focus of a video packing hyping them up.

NXT Tag Team Champions Nathan Frazier & Axiom are backstage, and they are fired up about The Final Testament. Other teams are around them and they are upset too. In comes The Good Brothers, and they are upset. Malik Blade & Edris Enofe are also upset. Enofe then accidentally knocks over a cheap stand-up mirror. A bad skit ends in bad luck.

Sol Ruca defeated Blair Davenport in a Beach Brawl match

Ruca pinned Davenport in a match filled with what Dusty Rhodes would call blunder. No disqualification, so there are indeed lots of weapons. Some of the props used are beach-themed, like a surfboard that Ruca brought with her. Also around the ring are things like beach balls and lawn chairs. Other more harmful weapons are used including metal folding chairs, and a folding table set up to look like a picnic table.

Ruca falls backwards off the barricade at ringside with Davenport on Ruca’s back. Davenport is driven through the picnic table. Moments later, Ruca executed her springboard cutter finisher on a surfboard. Ruca then scores a pinfall as the crowd pops.

Jonny Gargano hypes up Trick Williams with a pep talk in the locker room.

Lexis King defeated Baron Corbin

King pinned Corbin, after a low blow and a Coronation finisher. This match was set up by an angle shot yesterday, which was shown earlier in the show. Not sure who is the protagonist here, if there even is one. Seemingly the least amount of crowd heat of any match on the show, but the result at least put heat on King. 

King tried to cheat by putting his feet on the ropes, but the referee caught him. King would cheat again moments later, but the ref misses it that time after almost colliding with Corbin. Behind the ref’s back, King boots Corbin with a low blow. King then delivers a Coronation, and he covers Corbin for a pinfall. 

Both the champion and the challenger in the main event cut pre-match promos. Also, World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest wishes Dragunov luck. 

Trick Williams says he will whoop that trick like his mama told him too. This is notable because Williams’ mother is in currently in the hospital, adding a real life situation to the drama of the main event.

Trick Williams defeated NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov to win the title

Williams pinned Dragunov after a jumping knee strike. And new…

Strong back-and-forth action at the start. This was babyface against babyface. They even slapped hands and hugged, just before they broke out into a slugfest. They wrestle through a split-screen commercial break, and they are fighting on the turnbuckles as the show returns. 

Ugly botch as Dragunov goes for a sunset bomb, and Williams lands on Dragunov’s chest. That causes Dragunov’s leg to fold up underneath him in an awkward manner. The referee immediately check on Dragunov, must have been okay, as the match continues on.

Dragunov with a coast-to-coast missile dropkick for a near fall. Williams then makes a comeback, and Williams gets some near falls of his own. One those near falls included Williams doing Dragunov’s finisher. Nevertheless, Dragunov kicks out and fights back. He gives Williams an exploder suplex in a corner, as the studio audience chants, “This is awesome!”

Dragunov clears the announce desk, and he teases putting Williams through the table. Williams counters Dragunov, and Williams in turn gives Dragunov a Rock Bottom off the barricade, through the announce desk. The table implodes under the weight of the stunt. 

Superplex in the closing minutes, and Dragunov delivers a H-bomb. Dragunov drops another H-bomb flying off the middle rope, but Williams kicks out at two and half. Dropping a third H-bomb, Dragunov comes crashing down off the top rope. Upon impact, Dragunov sells his hand as if he hurt it on the H-bomb. Thus, Dragunov is unable to capitalize. 

They trade near falls in the closing moments. Dragunov is the last to kick out, but he is soon hit with a running knee strike. They both signal for their respective finisher. They face off like a gunfight, and Williams is the first to strike as he hits the leaping knee strike. Williams then covers Dragunov for a three count, AND NEW…

Doing the Hulk Hogan gimmick from WrestleMania VI, Dragunov grabs the title belt from the referee. While Dragunov did not go into business for himself like Hogan, the defeated former champion does presents the belt to the new champ. They embrace, and Dragunov leaves the ring to allow Williams to have his moment. NXT has a new champion.