WWE Worlds Collide results: Storm vs. Cross vs. Belair

WWE aired the next of their Worlds Collide specials from WrestleMania Axxess on Wednesday night. This show featured wrestlers from the NXT, NXT UK, and SmackDown women’s divisions. Vic Joseph and Aiden English were on commentary and were joined by special guest, Mia Yim.

Candice LeRae (NXT) defeated Kay Lee Ray (NXT UK)

The show opened with a few shots of the crowd chanting “Worlds Collide” to the rhythm of the New Day’s eponymous chant. Thankfully, the rest of the show wasn’t as forced and puke-worthy as this cold open. 

This match itself was good but short. Both wrestlers received friendly but relatively tepid reactions upon their entrances. KLR took the upper hand at the beginning of the match and used a variety of wristlocks and a scissors hold in an attempt to ground LeRae, who soon returned with some offense of her own. She used a crucifix bomb and later a modified octopus hold on KLR. 

When the match spilled outside, KLR did a cool spinning roundhouse punch while LeRae’s head hung off the apron. LeRae again countered with three tope suicidas and a diving double stomp inside the ring for a two count. The crowd was entirely awake from this point on. 

The match slowed after LeRae landed an enzuigiri kick to the back of KLR’s head. The referee counted to nine, but both were up before the 10 count. LeRae did a killer springboard German suplex moments later, using both feet to bounce off the bottom rope while KLR stood atop the ropes with her back to the ring. 

LeRae used a quebrada to win this short match. I think if they were given 10 more minutes it’d probably have been an even better match. 

Piper Niven (NXT UK) defeated Zelina Vega (SmackDown)

This was even shorter than the first match. Niven dwarfed Vega, which was the story of this match.

The crowd was polite but mostly quiet at the start. Vega hit a tornado DDT early on, which got reactions and looked great. Niven landed a big running senton and a seated crossbody block to Vega for two.

Vega used Andrade’s running knees in the corner, but the crowd sort of stopped reacting at this point. It was awkward at times and not the fault of the wrestlers. In the end, Niven used a Fire-Thunder driver on Vega for the win. 

Sonya Deville (SmackDown) defeated Io Shirai (NXT)

This felt like it was a vessel for getting Deville over on TV more than anything, and it didn’t really work. 

People perked up for both wrestlers. There were scattered chants for both Shirai and Deville, but Shirai was obviously over. “Io” is also extremely easy to chant, so that helps, I’m sure.

Deville bullied Shirai for a good amount of time in this. She used open hand strikes and knees in addition to a number of submissions on the mat. Since the action was slower in this, I kept getting distracted by Aiden English’s voice because it sounds exactly like Shawn Michaels’. Really weird. 

Shirai finally began a counterattack. She landed a big missile dropkick from the top for two. Later, she went for her patented moonsault, but Deville moved out of the way. Shirai rolled through but was dazed, and here was when Deville took advantage to finish Shirai off with a massive, brutal, devastating… double-leg takedown.

The announcers tried so hard to get the move over — but yeah, I have no idea which person thought that was a good idea for a finish. If the idea is to try to get Deville over as a legitimate fighter, why not have her use something more, I don’t know, advanced? I digress, excuse me.

NXT UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm (NXT UK) defeated Nikki Cross (listed as representing SmackDown) and Bianca Belair (NXT) in a triple threat match to retain her title

This match had a proper main event feel to it. The crowd chanted a lot before the match even started, and the fans were all very much into each wrestler. 

Cross was knocked out of the ring quickly so that Storm and Belair could face off one-on-one at first. Storm offered a handshake, but Belair responded by smacking her rear-end. 

Cross would periodically attack her opponents before getting knocked out of the ring for more Storm vs. Belair action. At one point, when Cross was back in the ring, Storm did running hip attacks to both Cross and Belair in the bottom corners. This fired up both the crowd and Storm in the ring. 

Belair used the KOD on Storm for two. Cross disappeared from the ring again and we had even more Storm vs. Belair action. It felt like they were testing out a program between these two.

Cross reappeared once again and landed a falling inverted DDT but missed a flying crossbody from the top. She then went on to eat a Storm Zero from Storm, the winner and still NXT Women’s Champion. 

Final thoughts —

This was a showcase for some of the up-and-comers in WWE’s women’s divisions and not much else. While it was never bad, it wasn’t must-see wrestling. The matches this week ranged from fine to pretty good, but the nature of the special itself — content for the sake of it — doesn’t allow for much more than mediocrity.