NXT Bel Air, MD, live results: Bobby Roode vs. Roderick Strong

Submitted by readers Steve Magnus and Liam Renner

– Heavy Machinery def. Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli

Crowd was hot for HM but not much else. Machinery hit their splash/slam for the pin and win.

– Ember Moon def. Nikki Cross

This was one of the more competitive bouts on the card and got a parody of “Let’s go Cena/Cena sucks” for the both of them as well. The ring announcer, despite her prominent Scottish flag, forgot Cross’ hometown. Ember hit her perfect stunner off the top for the pin.

– Aleister Black def. Velveteen Dream 

Dream (Patrick Clark) is something of a local guy which put the crowd on his side. He cut a heel promo (the only promo on the entire card) mocking the Baltimore riots (which made little sense geographically) especially noting how much he loves CVS (one was burned to the ground infamously). Black won after hitting the spinning kick.

– NXT Tag Team Champions The Authors of Pain def. SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) to retain

Classic AoP with big tag team moves throughout. They got their stuff in, hit the clothesline/leg sweep finish and got out. No Paul Ellering or Eric Young for this one.

– Drew McIntyre def. Andrade “Cien” Almas 

This was a good, basic match. There was a spot where it looked like Drew was spinning Almas for a backbreaker or stomach buster, but lost his grip dropping Cien on his face hard. Crowd ate it up when Drew did the Cien pose. McIntyre hit his big kick for the pin and win.

– Kassius Ohno def. Cezar Bononi

Bononi had no entrance video and the acoustics were bad, so people weren’t sure who he was. This was a squash for Ohno who won with the spinning elbow smash.

– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka & Ruby Riot def. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville

The announcer accidentally called Sonya the opponent of Mandy. Crowd was 100% into Asuka, with a “Asuka’s gonna kill you” chant and a “We want Asuka” soon thereafter. Asuka had only two segments in the match and worked almost exclusively with Sonya. She did a comedy bit with a fearful Mandy (who did get a pop at her entrance) who quickly tagged out after taking one behind to the face.

Ruby carried 75% of the action and did a huge double side hurricanrana/headlock takedown on both opponents. There was a bit of a botch when Rose tagged herself in when the ref was distracted with Asuka across the ring, forcing Sonya to go for a high five tag a moment later. They did a basic tag match before Ruby hot tagged Asuka. Asuka and Sonya traded head kicks and armbars. Eventually, Ruby hit her kick on Mandy and Asuka hit another kick on Sonya for the win

Post-match, Asuka angrily pulled Riot in close during a handshake.

– NXT Champion Bobby Roode def. Roderick Strong to retain

The crowd was desperate for some good action and this seemed to really deliver. There was a “let’s go Roddy — Bobby Roode” chant almost immediately. There were several big chops done by both men around the ring. They even repeated the circling chop spot on the floor for fans seated in different areas.

There were at least two major bumps taken. In one, Roddy was on the apron and Bobby from the floor yanked his feet out from under him, crashing his head on the apron. In another very odd spot, Strong did a backbreaker on the second rope dropping Roode onto the top turnbuckle causing him to fall onto the floor.  Roode did two heel spots first with the belt that the ref yanked away (Strong went for a roll-up) and another where he smashed a chair against the post (from the ring), missing wildly in the process.

Roode hit his DDT Bloody Sunday style, briefly posed, and only got a two count. There was a “This is awesome” chant afterward. Roode teased getting himself DQ’d, but while the ref was removing the chair from the ring, he low blowed Roddy using the ropes (kicked the middle rope while Roddy was stepping through) and hit a second DDT for the win.

Post-match, Roode attacked Strong and shoved the ref before Strong made a babyface comeback, launching Roode and dropping him onto his knees. Strong posed for a good bit with the title (oddly, the old version) before handing it back over to Bobby.

The arena was about 65% full and not sold out like last time. Show ran 2:45.