Finn Balor ahead of a title match on NXT (WWE)
WWE NXT Results and grades: Johnny Gargano had the chance to win the NXT North American title back after a shock loss to Leon Ruff last week.
That was one of the big matches on this week’s show while Rhea Ripley went up against NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai as well.
However, we start off this week’s WWE NXT Results and grades piece with Ruff vs Gargano.
Gargano came out angry as he was keen on getting his title back. There were a couple of close calls before Damian Priest came out and interfered in the match.
He attacked Ruff to ensure Gargano wouldn’t win the title and Ruff slapped Priest later in backstage.
Gargano and Priest then got into a fight later on and Ruff attacked the pair before running off.
Ruff beats Gargano
Grade B
The match was going well until Priest interfered and caused a DQ. This made sense as NXT would want the rivalry between Priest and Gargano to continue and later, Ruff told William Regal he wanted to face both in a triple threat match.
Cameron Grimes took on Dexter Lumis in a blindfold match. The referee was taken out and Grimes took off his blindfold to get an advantage.
Lumis then did the same but Grimes ran off to end the match as a no contest.
Grade D
Lumis and Grimes are capable of doing so much better but WWE sees Grimes as comic relief it seems.
The match was nothing great to talk about but hopefully, there will be something better in the coming weeks.
Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell teamed up to face Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter. Shotzi Blackheart had challenged LeRae at WarGames later in December and the Poison Pixie got the win for her team.
LeRae and Hartwell win
Grade C
LeRae and Hartwell dominated from the onset and WWE’s plans to show their domination worked. It will be interesting to see how the WarGames teams are made in the coming weeks too.
Ruas vs Kushida
Arturo Ruas was a surprise coming on NXT as he took on the flying Kushida. It was Kushida who got the win in the end after using some incredible moves.
Kushida beats Ruas
Grade C
Ruas coming on NXT was a huge surprise and he did pretty well against Kushida. However, WWE sees great things for Kushida and it will be interesting to see what is next for him.
Toni Storm and Ember Moon teamed up to take on Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez. Storm seemed a little too eager in all this and almost lost the match before Moon was tagged in.
However, the heels started to take control later on. After some great exchanges, it was Storm that got the win but she and Moon were attacked by LeRae.
Storm and Moon win
Grade A
This was a great match as all four women gave it their all to get the win. Moon looks to be in great shape after missing a lot of time and she seems set to join Shotzi’s team alongside Storm.
August Grey went straight at Timothy Thatcher in hopes of getting a win over the technical artist.
However, it was Thatcher that got the win with a great submission. However, he tried to do more damage before Tommaso Ciampa came out to save Grey.
Thatcher beats Grey
Grade C
The match might not have been all that great but seeing Ciampa come out and intimidate Thatcher was a good move.
Ciampa vs Thatcher should be great and it will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Shirai and Ripley was the main event of the evening but a little into the match it was announced that NXT Champion Finn Balor was to address the fans.
The two women, however, put on quite a show with some risky moves.
There were some close calls for both women and Shirai then sent Ripley through a table too, and the Aussie just made it in before the count.
However, Shirai took advantage of this with a moonsault was able to get the win over Ripley.
Balor then came out and congratulated Shirai before getting down to business. The NXT Champion spoke about defending his title with a broken jaw recently but he was interrupted by Pat McAfee and his gang.
McAfee claimed NXT is their home now and named all those that the Kings of NXT have taken out. The former NFL star wanted Balor to hand over his title but the Irishman brought some help with all members of the Undisputed Era coming out and attacking the Kings of NXT to end the show.
Shirai beats Ripley
Grade A
This was a classic between the two women as they tried to do whatever was possible to get the win. Ripley vs Shirai should take place more often, and it was great seeing them share a moment of respect after the match.
Balor bringing out all the members of the UE was great too as it set up a WarGames classic.
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