NXT Worlds Collide (September 2022)

Original Airdate: September 4, 2022

From Orlando, Florida; Your Hosts are Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett

Opening NXT North American Title Match: Carmelo Hayes v Ricochet: They feel each other out to start, and there’s just so. much. choreography. Ricochet gets control, and hits a kick to the shoulderblades for two, so the champ bails, and manages to crank on the arm when Ricochet goes after him. Inside, Ricochet grabs a side-headlock to try and keep control of things, so Trick Williams tries a distraction, and Hayes clobbers the challenger. Hayes with a bodyslam and a matslam, but Ricochet pops back up, so Hayes drills him with a superkick for two. Reversal sequence ends in Hayes hitting a springboard clothesline for two, but Ricochet counters a suplex with a victory cradle into a double stomp. They trade clotheslines, and then both men try springboards at the same time, colliding for a double knockout. See, that’s happens when worlds… collide. Both guys stagger up for a slugfest, won by Ricochet. Rollup leads to an enzuigiri for the challenger, byt Hayes blocks a GTS. That triggers another reversal sequence ending in Ricochet connecting with a superkick, but Williams pulls Hayes into the ropes at two. Ricochet takes Williams out with a brutal baseball slide, but the distraction does it’s job, and Hayes clobbers Ricochet for two. Hayes goes upstairs, but Ricochet vertical superplexes him off! Slugfest ends in Ricochet delivering a brainbuster, and a GTS finds the mark this time. Hayes fires back with a kneeling facebuster for two, but Ricochet pulls out a crucifix cradle for two. They fight over getting to the top rope, and Ricochet plants him with an inverted rana. That draws Williams onto the apron, but Ricochet takes him out - only for the distraction to buy Hayes enough time to dodge the flying shooting star press, and the champ hooks an inside cradle at 15:57. Some great choreography, but I’m here for the wrestling. ***

NXT Tag Team Title v NXT UK Tag Team Title Fatal Four-Way Unification Match: Brutus Creed and Julius Creed v Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs v Elton Prince and Kit Wilson v Mark Coffey and Wolfgang: This is elimination rules, which I like better for a unification match. It doesn’t take long (not even a few minutes) for the match to break down into a spotfest, and Brooks eats the first elimination at 4:45. Next up, Wolfgang, who takes a double team from the Creed’s, and he’s done at 8:41. Prince and Wilson take control of the contest from there, going to work cutting the ring in half, until Brutus is able to get away long enough to hot tag Julius! Prince tries slowing Julius down with a sleeper, but Julius is too strong. Julius with a few suplexes for two, but the eliminated teams are back, and causing trouble on the outside. That allows Prince to dropkick Julius, but a springboard ends in him getting caught in another suplex. That draws Damon Kemp in to hit Julius with a chair, and Elton hooks the leg to take the gold at 15:07. Really, we couldn’t even get a clean finish for the unification? *

NXT Women's Title v NXT UK Women's Title Triple Threat Unification Match: Mandy Rose v Meiko Satomura v Blair Davenport: First fall wins it. Barrett singing the opening lines to You Shook Me All Night Long in honor of Mandy was something. Mandy and Blair work together early on, but that breaks down in short order. Has there been a single Triple Threat in the last ten years that didn’t start that exact same way? Blair ends up bodyslamming Satomura on the floor, leaving her free to go after Mandy, but Rose takes her down. Blair manages a victory cradle for two, and a headscissors takedown follows. Sloppy one, too. Snapmare sets up a seated dropkick for two, but Mandy catches a bodypress, and fallaway slams the challenger. Satomura pulls Rose out of the ring, so Blair goes after the UK champion, but Satomura fights her off, and unloads with strikes on the outside. Inside, Satomura goes to work with more strikes on Blair for two, and she slaps on an STF, but Blair hooks the arm to escape. Magistral cradle gets the challenger two, but Satomura reverses the cradle for two. Blair goes upstairs, but Rose dumps her to the outside to prevent a dive, leaving Mandy to slug it out with Satomura. Rose gets the better of the exchange, and a clothesline puts the UK champion down. Mandy gets arrogant, allowing Satomura a roundhouse kick for two, but Rose escapes a fireman’s carry, and delivers a spinebuster for two. Blair comes back in to hook Mandy in a bridging northern lights suplex for two, but another trip to the top ends in Rose vertical superplexing her! Satomura dives with a flying frog splash on Blair before a cover can be made, but it only gets two, and everyone is left down. Satomura corners both women, pinballing between them with corner forearms, and then unloading kicks after they slump down. Double DDT follows, but misses a cartwheel kneedrop on Blair. That allows Blair to try a suplex on Rose, but Satomura recovers to stop it, and hits both women with the cartwheel kneedrop. Cover on Blair, but Rose saves at two. Rose tries a piledriver on Satomura, but gets countered with a death valley driver - Blair saving at two. Blair kicks Satomura in the head for two, and a flying dropkick connects. Schoolboy on Rose gets her two, but Satomura saves - only for Mandy to blast a dazed Blair with a kneesmash to unify the titles at 13:18. This was good, though it really needed Mandy pinning Satomura if they’re doing a unification. If you’re going to kill off a title, at least show it some respect. ** ¾ 

NXT Women's Tag Team Title Match: Katana Chance and Kayden Carter v Nikki ASH and Doudrop: Carter starts with Nikki, and they trade off. Carter gets the better of things, and it’s over to Chance. Chance gets a few shots in, but Doudrop catches a tag, and powers Chance into the corner, but Chance is too quick for her. Chance sticks and moves, but eventually gets clobbered with a shoulderblock. The champs manage to fight Doudrop off with some combos, but Doudrop is just too much for them, and ends up clobbering them both. Senton splash onto Chance gets two, and Nikki tags in to unload on the champ in the home corner. The challengers cut the ring in half on Chance, until she manages to sneak past Nikki, and make the hot tag! Nikki catches Carter with a tornado DDT, and a combo with Doudrop gets the challengers another two count. Doudrop tries a slam, but Carter counters with a superkick, and it’s another hot tag to Chance this time. Chance with a flying double stomp on Nikki for two, but ASH blocks a combo. That allows Doudrop to tag back in for their own combo, but Chance saves at two. Doudrop goes for a superplex on Carter, but Toxic Attraction show up, and the distraction allows the champs to hit Doudrop with a combo at 10:18. I thought the distraction finish was really weak here, but the match itself was solid before that. * ¾ 

Main Event: NXT Title v NXT United Kingdom Title Unification Match: Bron Breakker v Tyler Bate: This is one-on-one, thank God. Feeling out process to start, and both guys go for finishers early, but neither hits it. They trade cradles for two counts, and both guys kip up for a stalemate. Bate outclasses him through another reversal sequence, and a sunset flip gets the UK champion two. Bate holds a wristlock into a pin for two, then uses Breakker’s momentum into an armbar. Breakker tries to escape, but Bate keeps hold of the arm, shifting to a hammerlock, then back to an armbar when Bron fights to a vertical base. Bron shakes him off and delivers a rana, and he adds a hanging vertical suplex to set up a standing moonsault for two. Breakker grabs a front-facelock, but Bate fights free, so Breakker tries a tilt-a-whirl, but Bate fights him off. Dropkick knocks Breakker to the outside, and Tyler is on him with a suicada into the aisle! Inside, Bate tries to continue to outmove him, but gets caught in a nice powerslam while trying a leapfrog. Breakker tries a dive off the middle, but Bate catches him in a suplex, and he adds a running shooting star press for two! Fireman’s carry, but Bron blocks, and tries another suplex - only for Bate to counter with a cradle for two. Breakker tries a rana, but gets dropped with a sitout powerbomb for two this time, and Bate takes him upstairs. Breakker manages to block a superplex up there, and he dives with a flying bulldog for two. Falcon arrow gets him another two, and both guys are dazed, staggering into a slugfest. Tyler gets the better of it, but gets trapped in a fujiwara armbar before he can hit a big move. Bron wrenches, but Bate muscles to a vertical base in a fireman’s carry, giving him an airplane spin for two. Bate adds a clothesline for two, but Breakker counters a tiger driver with a backdrop driver for two. Bate bridges up into the tiger driver anyway for two, but a trip to the top gets him press-powerslammed for two. That was Breakker’s own fault (too close to the ropes) and he knows it. Breakker tries a spear, but Bate is ready with a knee on the frustrated NXT champion. Reversal sequence ends in Bate victory cradling for two, but an attempt at a follow up is blocked with a spear - giving Bron both belts at 17:11. This was a really good wrestling match, with strong work, and excellent storytelling. And a worthy bout to unify the titles. *** ½ 

BUExperience: This wasn’t quite up to the standard set during NXT’s glory days, but it was much better than some of the stuff over the last couple of years, and it feels like the promotion is back on track again.

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