The November 18, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
- Leon Ruff def. Johnny Gargano via disqualification to retain North American Title
- Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes ends in no contest – Blindfold Match
- Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell def. Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro
- Kushida def. Arturo Ruas
- Ember Moon & Toni Storm def. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez
- Timothy Thatcher def. August Grey
- Io Shirai def. Rhea Ripley to retain NXT Women’s Title
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Finn Balor Update
Finn Balor gave a live address to his fans for the first time since suffering a broken jaw and undergoing surgery to fix it.
Of course, he broke it in two places while retaining the NXT Championship against Kyle O’Reilly in the main event of TakeOver 31 last month. Following the match, it was revealed that he suffered the injury.
On the post-edition of NXT from that special, WWE noted at the time that they were going to give it a few weeks in order to see how Balor recovers before deciding what to do with the NXT Championship. That’s exactly what happened.
On this show, WWE saved Balor’s appearance for the very end of the show, He got in the ring to grab a microphone and congratulated Io for the win. He said that he has three plates in his jaw that says he’s bad SOB. Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Onley Lorcan, and Danny Burch interrupted. Pat recapped what they’ve done since Balor has been gone.
Patt demanded that Balor hand over the NXT Title to them or he would end up like everyone else that stood in their way. Balor brought out Undisputed Era and the two groups brawled to close the show.
Title Match
NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai defended the title against Rhea Ripley.
WWE gave these ladies plenty of time to tell their story. The match took place in the last hour of the show.
Ripley brought a fighting effort and a challenge to the champion. She shined for the majority of the contest. In the end, Io rallied back. Ripley was bleeding from her left ear. Io countered the Riptide into an armbar at one point. The finish saw Io hit a moonsault for the win. A really good match.
These are the top two stars in the promotion and when WWE first announced the contest it came as a surprise. Not because of booking the match, but just doing it on an episode of NXT TV as the brand has an upcoming special taking place on December 6th.
Plus, WWE has been building up Ember Moon as the next title contender. Perhaps this is what WWE has in mind for the next TakeOver special.
NXT North American Championship Rematch
NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff defended his title against Johnny Gargano.
This rematch came after last week’s shocking title change when Gargano was distracted by Damian Priest and lost the title to the former EVOLVE star.
WWE played this up as Gargano wanted to break his title defense curse by retaining the championship against a “worthy opponent.” Of course, WWE had Gargano’s Wheel of Challengers land on Ruff’s name.
Ruff got some early moves that caught Gargano off guard, but the heel star took over and dominated most of the contest. Priest once again came out and watched on from the stage.
The finish saw Priest knock out Ruff with a right hand. After the match, Priest picked up Ruff and laughed at Gargano.
Ember Moon & Toni Storm vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez
A tag team match saw Ember Moon & Toni Storm vs. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez take place.
This comes after Moon and Storm both returned to NXT at TakeOver 31 last month. In fact, their first match back saw Moon team up with Rhea Ripley to defeat Kai & Gonzalez. Just two weeks ago, Kai beat Moon in a singles match thanks to a brief distraction by Gonzalez. On last week’s show, Candice LeRae beat Storm when she put her feet on the ropes for leverage to get the pin.
WWE gave these ladies plenty of time to work. Basic match with the heels dominating until Storm got the hot tag for the comeback. Storm got the win thanks to a roll-up.
However, after the match, the heels laid out both babyfaces. Hartwell and LeRae watched on in approval.
Blindfold Match
The feud between Cameron Grimes and Dexter Lumis continues.
During this show, WWE decided to have them battle in a Blindfold Match. It’s exactly what you would think this match would be. Both guys had hoods on, which was interesting considering this is pro wrestling.
It was pure comedy with Grimes not being able to find Lumis and nearly taking out the referee and finally did. Once Grimes realized that he attacked the wrong guy, he tried to hit Lumis, who punched him before laying him out.
The two stars have been feuding for the last month or so. Grimes scored a victory in their Haunted House of Terror Match at NXT Halloween Havoc. Since that time, Lumis has been haunting Grimes.
