NXT Largo, FL, live results: Velveteen Dream vs. Tino Sabbatelli

By Chris Hendricks

– Jeet Rama (w/ Kavita Devi) defeated Fabian Aichner (w/ Marcel Barthel)

Good opening match with a very excited crowd that was participative throughout the night. Rama was surprisingly over with the crowd and earned a good amount of babyface heat. The audience continuously chanted “Jeet” to encourage his comeback and booed heavily whenever Barthel interfered.

Both wrestlers performed well with Rama winning after hitting a Back Bottom Drop on Aichner while Devi was able to neutralize Barthel to prevent his interference. Great start to the show with the crowd reacting favorably to Rama’s victory.

– Kairi Sane defeated Taynara Conti (w/ Cezar Bononi and Adrian Jaoude)

Another good match with Sane winning after applying The Anchor (a bridging cross-legged Boston crab). Sane was really over with this crowd and Conti was able to generate a lot of heat after hitting Sane with many different cheap shots. Even though Sane did not use her elbow drop, the crowd popped when Conti tapped out before any interference could occur.

Bononi and Jaoude were upset that Conti lost and then refused to leave the ring. They cut a promo that was half in English and half in Portuguese, stating that they were the best team in NXT. The War Raiders then came out.

– War Raiders defeated Cezar Bononi & Adrian Jaoude

Solid match with the War Raiders hitting all of their big spots to a pretty good reaction. Bononi and Jaoude were able to cut them off through heel antics that built to a hot tag to a fairly big pop. When Rowe was tagged in after the hot tag, he hit some impressive strikes which led to a powerbomb, followed by a top rope splash by Hanson for the victory.

– Kassius Ohno defeated Oney Lorcan

Very good match between two babyfaces that shook hands before and after the match. Ohno hit his normal strikes that are always impressive live and Lorcan hit some big European uppercuts throughout. Both wrestlers also hit some high spots, with the best being Lorcan having a sleeper hold on Ohno on the outside that led Ohno to slamming him into the ring steps.

That led to the finish where Ohno won after hitting a strong discus elbow. The fans cheered for both when this was over.

– Otis Dozovic & Montez Ford defeated TM61

This was easily the most entertaining match of the night, and Dozovic and Ford were the most over wrestlers on the card. TM61 entered first and did a good job playing heel. Dozovic then came out and cut a funny promo about how Tucker Knight was not in Largo because he was flying back from the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. Dozovic then told the crowd that “Tucky will be fine because he has a lot of cold cuts to keep him company.”

Dozovic and Ford danced together after he introduced Ford as his partner. That got the biggest reaction of the night. The match was really good, and Dozovic and Ford worked very well together. The babyfaces won after Dozovic made a comeback and they hit Heavy Machinery’s finisher.

– EC3 defeated Christopher Dijak

Average match with both wrestlers being partially over with the crowd. EC3 was able to get some heel heat throughout even though he did acknowledge his fans but was able to do so in a way that came off as arrogant. He really knows how to play his character well and did take a good amount of bumps throughout this match.

Although Dijak controlled most of the match, EC3 was able to pull out a victory after reversing one of Dijak’s moves into a fireman’s carry cutter. This match was clunky at times — but overall, the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

– NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler defeated Steffanie Newell to retain her title

This was a good match on a card full of them. Newell performed very well, which seemed to bring Baszler’s performance up a level. Newell had a knee brace on and used it to nearly choke out Baszler when she applied a scissorhold that put the brace over her throat. Baszler did not like that and then heavily attacked Newell’s knee, which she sold very well.

Newell hit a very impressive hurricanrana from the apron that spilled onto the concrete floor, but Baszler was able to retain by submission.

– Velveteen Dream defeated Tino Sabbatelli

After Largo had some awesome main events recently, this was a disappointing headliner. It wasn’t the fault of either wrestler and the match seemed to be cut short when Sabbatelli hurt his shoulder. Throughout the match, Sabbatelli was able to get some good heel heat from the crowd even though he is known locally from his time as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. Dream was over and wrestled pretty well for the situation he was put in.

Despite the apparent injury, Sabbatelli was able to finish the match even though it was improvised. Dream hit the Purple Rainmaker to quickly end it.