NXT Melbourne, Australia, live results: Nakamura vs. Joe in a steel cage

Submitted by reader Kevin Chiat

– Ember Moon defeated Billie Kay and Liv Morgan in a triple threat match

Moon won with the top rope stunner on Kay. Kay played heel again. 

– Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Wesley Blake

Blake was booed coming out to the ring. It took until about halfway through the match until it was clear that he was playing babyface. Almas won with the running knees followed by a modified DDT. 

– Oney Lorcan defeated Patrick Clark

Lorcan won with a half crab. The best spot of the match was Clark getting angry and whipping Lorcan with his glittery scarf.

– The Revival defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss

The Revival came out to cheers. Scott Dawson got on the mic and said that they would put their number one contendership on the line in the match because they wanted to give back to the NXT tag division. He then said, “Bring out the body guys.”

Revival worked heel but were cheered, especially for heel spots like raking the eyes. Revival won with the Shatter Machine. The match was fine but not as good as the match DIY had with Sabbatelli and Moss in Perth.

– NXT Tag Team Champions DIY defeated TM61 to retain their titles

This was really, really good. Both teams were very over with dueling chants. DIY won their double team kick on Nick Miller. The teams shook hands after the match. 

– William Regal came out after intermission. It was the same promo thanking the fans that he gave in Perth. He did get a pop for pronouncing Melbourne correctly, which Andrea D’Marco kept getting wrong for most of the night. 

– Tye Dillinger & Buddy Murphy defeated Elias Samson & Bobby Roode

The Drifter is much more fun live than on TV because you genuinely want to boo him. Roode was very over. Dillinger was massively over, second only to Nakamura. There were “10” chants all night long. Murphy got a good reaction and he seems better suited as a babyface. Him and Dillinger made a good team.

Dillinger won with his finish on Samson after Murphy took out Roode with his dive to the outside. 

– NXT Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Peyton Royce to retain her title

This was functionally the same match they did in Perth with a few minor differences. Asuka won with a kick to the face. Royce got more heat here than she did in Perth because the Sydney/Melbourne rivalry is a bigger deal. 

– NXT Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Samoa Joe in a steel cage match to retain his title

They had some problems getting the cage down, which lead to “Botchamania” chants. 

Joe came out to a good reaction, then Nakamura came out and he is just on another level charisma wise to almost everyone else in wrestling. This was a really good match, I think at least on the level of their TakeOver: Toronto match. It felt like an old school brawl. There were very few teases of cage escapes.

The finish saw Nakamura walk the rope to the center of the ring. He hit a jumping Kinshasa on Joe, then another one. Nakamura went to escape via the door, then he closed the door himself in what was a very cool moment. He hit a third Kinshasa for the three count. It was one of the best WWE cage matches I’ve seen in a long time.