NXT Atlanta live results: Gargano & Ciampa team up

Submitted by Clint Adcock

– Matt Riddle defeated Adam Cole

This was an unexpected opening match. The crowd immediately went crazy when Cole’s music hit. Riddle won with a knee strike.

– Kairi Sane & Xia Li defeated Lacey Evans & Aaliyah

Evans owns her character. She could probably use more ring work, but WWE is more character driven so she could do well. Aaliyah has improved a lot, but her and Li were clear weak spots in this match with how limited they are as characters and performers. 

Sane and Li won after an Insane Elbow. Li was noticeably limping and was helped up to the middle turnbuckle by Sane to celebrate the win. Sane also helped her to the back.

– Keith Lee defeated Dominik Dijakovic

Lee is such a character. They started slow with lots of power lock-ups and headlocks to shoulder blocks trying to out-muscle each other. The crowd wasn’t very into it at first, but they won everyone over once they picked up the pace. Both are incredible athletes.

Lee hit the Spirit Bomb to win.

– Brennan Williams defeated Kona Reeves

Reeves is a great heel. The crowd wasn’t into this, but Reeves grabbed a mic and ran down the city of Atlanta and venue for not being up to his finest standards. When everyone booed, he put his white and gold Beats headphones back on and smiled, making a gesture about how he couldn’t hear us.

Early in the match, Reeves threw Williams through the ropes into the ring post. Williams apparently bumped his head as the referee stopped Reeves while Williams was being looked at. The match continued and you could see a bit of blood on Williams’ forehead, but he seemed fine. 

– EC3 & War Raiders (Hanson & Rowe) defeated The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong)

There was a funny moment where EC3 did the War sign and wanted to trade forearm bumps with Hanson and Rowe. EC3 hit the One Percenter on Fish for the win.

After the match, EC3 grabbed a mic and asked for them to cut his music. He wanted to do the War thing one more time. They played the War Raiders’ music and EC3 started head banging and air guitaring it up before throwing his horns and chanting “War” with Hanson and Rowe. Good stuff before intermission.

– NXT North American Champion Ricochet defeated Shane Thorne to retain his title

Standard stuff from both, with Ricochet hitting Vertigo to win. No 630 tonight.

– Bianca Belair defeated NXT UK Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley in a non-title match

Not a great match from these two. Belair owns her character, but this match didn’t make her look ready for the TakeOver spotlight. This was the worst match of the night as neither were on top of their game and botched a few spots.

– Aleister Black & Velveteen Dream defeated DIY (NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano)

Gargano came out first — and the crowd completely lost it when Ciampa’s music hit. After Black made his entrance, a loud “Velveteen” chant started before he came out.

The yin-and-yang chemistry between Dream and Black was very entertaining. Dream was always showboating, while Black just deadpanned him. The crowd started chanting “Say his name” — to which Dream gave a Hulk Hogan ear wave toward Black. Black just rolled his eyes and took off his jacket. Funny stuff.

Ciampa and Gargano were not on the same page to start as Gargano wouldn’t extend his hand for tags, causing Ciampa to forcefully tag him in. There was a funny moment when a fan yelled out “We want Johnny Bad Ass.” Ciampa immediately yelled this back to Gargano: “See, they don’t want Johnny Wrestling, they want Johnny Bad Ass.”

The finish came as Dream and Black both connected with superkicks to Ciampa. Gargano tried to respond by superkicking both Dream and Black. They both sidestepped, causing him to kick Ciampa twice. Dream then hit a horrible looking Black Mass, followed by Black hitting the real thing for the pin.

Dream was proudly demonstrating his version of Black Mass after the match. Black mocked how bad it was before showing him how it should look. Dream faked hitting Black with it, then laughed about it before hitting his pose and spin. Black motioned for everyone to get their cameras ready as if he was going to pose and spin — but he only teased it before dropping down into his seated pose. Dream then stood behind him and posed again.

After all of this, Dream got a mic and thanked the crowd before starting an “ATL” chant. He then ended the night by leading the crowd in a “We are NXT” chant.

The main event was worth the ticket price alone. Riddle vs. Cole was the next best thing, followed by the six-man tag match.