This is the final episode of NXT before the big NXT Takeover: New York show that will be taking place on Friday. It’s going to be an exciting show for sure given the card that WWE has put together, but we’ve still got one more episode of NXT left to go first. This week’s go-home show wrapped up the feuds going into Takeover, and it kicked off with NXT Tag Team Champions The War Raiders coming down for a match.



The War Raiders vs. Local Talent



Rowe and Hanson will be defending their titles against Ricochet and Aleister Black. Of course, Black and Ricochet won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament last week to earn the title match. Given the results of this match, they’ve got the deck stacked against them for sure.



At the sound of the bell, Rowe went after both men. Grabbing them by the head and throwing them down like rag dolls. Hanson is tagged in next. Rowe tosses his opponent to Hanson before he promptly slams him down to get an easy victory.



Winners: The War Raiders



Afterwards, they are not done! The War Raiders challenge General Manager William Regal to send out another tag team to see what happens.



The War Raiders vs. Cezar Bononi & Adrian Jaoude



Both opponents come down to the ring determined to win, but that doesn’t help much. Hanson throws Bononi down (who is tall, keep in mind), before doing to same to Jaoude as he rushes in. Double team maneuvers before they hit a double powerbomb on Jaoude.
They go for their finisher next to put away the Performance Center recruits from South America, win their second match of the night, and most importantly, send a message to Ricochet and Aleister Black.



Winners: The War Raiders



A video package for the NXT UK Championship match set for Takeover was shown. Pete Dunne has held onto that title since May of 2017. He’s closing in on 700 days as champion, but he’s got a huge opponent challenging him for the UK Championship. Clips of WALTER’s most brutal matches so far were shown. These two will battle at Takeover in what just may be the most brutal match of the night.



Candice LeRae was interviewed as she made her way to Full Sail. Although she’s hoping her husband Johnny Gargano will win the NXT Championship this Friday, she says she’ll also be watching the Fatal 4-Way match for the NXT Women’s Championship. Aliyah and Vanessa Borne overhear this and call her a failure just like Johnny. LeRae says that she will earn her title opportunity and she plans on starting by beating the two of them.



Oney Lorcan vs. Jaxson Ryker –



Oney Lorcan is not done with NXT yet despite being called up to 205 Live recently. He took on Forgotten Sons leader Jaxson Ryker here. It’s usually Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake doing the wrestling, so it’s interesting to see Ryker step in the ring this time around.



The other Forgotten Sons still accompanied Ryker to the ring, but Danny Burch was there for Lorcan. Lorcan fries to tussle with Ryker, but it has no effect on him. Neither do his signature chops.



Ryker takes over and slams Lorcan onto the ropes, causing him to roll outside of the ring. Blake and Cutler go over towards him, but Burch prevents the, from doing any further harm. Back in the ring, Ryker is back on the offensive. He put Oney on the top of one of the ring posts in the corner, but Lorcan gets out.



Following a gutbuster from Ryker, Lorcan kicked out of a pin attempt. It was still clear that Lorcan was done for here. Ryker got him back up and kept charging his fist towards the midsection. Lorcan showed some fight, but Lorcan overpowered him at every turn.
He put him in a bear hug. Lorcan was grabbing at Ryker’s face and beard. He did all that he could to get out of the move before finally getting out due to some chops. Running uppercuts repeatedly from Lorcan, it he couldn’t get Ryker all the way down to the canvas. Ryker finally caught Lorcan with a running clothesline, then laid him out with a chokeslam to win.



Winner: Jaxson Ryker



Up next was the video package for the NXT Championship at Takeover: New York. Of course, Triple H admitted weeks ago that Tommaso Ciampa was supposed to defend his title against Johnny Gargano, but that all changed when Ciampa had to drop the title due to a neck injury. Adam Cole has since earned the right to challenge Gargano for the vacant title in a 2-out-of-3 falls match.

Gargano says that Cole is hungry but he is starving. Johnny says he let one monster win the championship, and he won’t Dow it again. Cole is shown preparing for the match at the gym. Meanwhile, Gargano went to back to Cleveland for his training. Cole outright teased that the other Undisputed Era members will be present for the match before Gargano promised he’ll do “whatever it takes” to finally have his moment.



The next video package was for a The Velveteen Dream’s title defense around Matt Riddle. Dream defeated Johnny Gargano to win the NXT North American Championship week’s back. Riddle said he knew he’d be able to challenge Dream because he loves the spotlight. Dream said that the biggest moment of his career came last week when he announced his name last week. Dream vowed to keep his spotlight and Riddle is still eager to show the Dream that he is his nightmare.



Highlights from the Dominik Dijakovic vs. Keith Lee match from five weeks ago. The match had no winner as both men were counted out. Since then, fans have been clamoring for a rematch. Keith Lee then said that his rematch got bumped from Takeover, but said that he is not a “chosen one.” Lee says he went right to to William Regal and was able to get the match scheduled for NXT in two weeks.



The Street Profits vs. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner was Announced for next week’s show, as was Aliyah vs. Candice LeRae.



Kairi Sane vs. Bianca Belair –



This match was teased a couple of weeks ago following a backstage confrontation between these women. This is the first singles match between these rising stars. Belair and Sane will wrestle again in a Fatal 4-Way match against Io Shirai and Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship at Takeover: New York.



The two of them locked up and tried to one-up the other. Belair was extremely confident at first. That is until Sane launches a shoulder into Belair’s chest. She taunted that pose that Belair does with her hair braid. Then, she tossed her out of the ring and hit a flying Kabuki elbow outside. Just a one-count for that attempt.



She immediately locked Belair into a triangle until she fought out and began dishing out some boots to Sane in the corner of the ring. Just a two-fall for her. Belair locks her in an abdominal stretch while also punching her right in the chest. She then lifts Belair up for a backbreaker before going for another pin attempt. After a suplex, Belair goes for a pin while mimicking Sane’s “pirate” gimmick.



Kairi gets up and latches herself onto Sane. Up she goes on the middle rope. Belair has caught her and thrown her right down hard. Dropkick our of the ring up next with Belair falling out of the ring. Belair lifted her up into the air, but the former NXT Women’s Champion reverses the move. Rolling neck snap followed by another. Sane is trying to put her opponent away quickly.



She slides her elbow right into Belair’s chest and then goes up to the ring post. Flying Kabuki Elbow for just a two count. Sane is getting frustrated now. She got Bianca down again and went up to the top rope again. Belair met her up there down and superplexed her down. Standing moonsault for a two-count next. Belair tried pinning her two more times, but that’s still not the ticket.



Before either of them have the chance to move forward, Shayna Baszler and the Horsewomen attacked them for the DQ.
Winner: No Contest
Io Shirai ran down next to even the odds, but that still wasn’t enough. The entire NXT women’s division stormed down to the ring and began brawling with each other. While fighting outside the ring, Belair dumped Jessamyn Duke onto them all. Shirai then took them all out with a dive from the top rope. Shirai was left alone in the ring to pose with the women’s title. That was the end of that chapter.



The stories have all been told now. The only step left is for these matches to finally take place at Takeover. That will be going down live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York in just a few more days. Before then, NXT will be taped in the arena and those matches will be broadcasted in next week’s show. Given that it’s the Takeover show during WrestleMania weekend, the NXT landscape may look very different after this weekend. See you NXT time!