Thanks to Will Henderson (@willh94) for texting us the following WWE NXT TV spoilers from tonight’s tapings at Full Sail University:
There will be 4 qualifying matches to advance to a Fatal 4 Way to determine the new #1 contender to NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas tonight. Other matches announced before the tapings are Ruby Riot vs. Sonya Deville in a No DQ match, Tyler Bate vs. WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne plus Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly vs. NXT Tag Team Champions SAnitY.
December 6th Episode:
* It’s announced that Drew McIntyre cannot compete for the title at “Takeover: Philly” and that there will be 4 qualifying matches leading to a Fatal 4 Way to determine a new #1 contender. New NXT Champion Andrade Cien Almas and Zelina Vega are out. Zelina demands we rise for our new champion. Everyone, including the announcer, stands. Andrade says he told us all he would be champion. Andrade makes fun of Drew being hurt and says he is gone for a long time. Andrade cuts a promo in Spanish to his next contender
* Killian Dain defeated Trent Seven to advance to the Fatal 4 Way #1 Contenders match. Trent tries to attack at the start, but Dain overpowers him. Dain hits the running crossbody for 2. Trent hits the rainmaker clothesline for 2. Killian hits the running senton and the middle rope splash for the win
* Sonya Deville defeated Ruby Riott in a No Holds Barred match. Sonya locks the ankle lock in on Ruby early, but Ruby gets to the ropes and necks Sonya on them to break the hold. Stiff strikes from Sonya. Back and forth strikes. Ruby hits a suicide dive on Sonya. Sonya catches Ruby in a gogoplata-like hold as she comes back into the ring and Ruby passes out in the hold, forcing the referee to call for the bell
* Johnny Gargano defeated Kassius Ohno to advance to the Fatal 4 Way. Incredible match. Huge dueling Johnny Wrestling/Kassius Ohno chants before they lockup and throughout the match. They shake hands in response. Nice chain wrestling to start. Gargano goes for the middle rope spear, but Ohno catches him, ties him up in the ropes and hits a brutal elbow to knock Johnny outside. Ohno is playing the aggressive big man. Ohno with more brutal shots at ringside. Gargano tries to fight out of the corner, but Ohno nails a boot to the face for the near fall. Gargano fights back after getting his knees up on the running senton and gets the middle rope spear for a 2 count. Gargano hits a suicide dive into a tornado DDT on the ramp. Ohno hits the cyclone kick but Gargano kicks out. Ohno hits a boot on the ropes and an elbow to the back of the head, but Gargano kicks out again. Gargano blocks the rolling elbow with a series of superkicks, then turns a tilt-a-whirl into the GargaNo Escape for the win. “That was awesome” chant after the match, and the two show respect
December 13th Episode:
* Lars Sullivan defeated Roderick Strong to advance to the Fatal 4 Way. Roddy runs at Lars to start but to no avail. Lars dominates. Roddy turns the tide and tangles Lars up in the ropes and hits a series of elbows to knock him out of the ring. Roddy hits a superplex off the top but Lars kicks out at 1. Lars hits a big clothesline. Roddy hits the Angle Slam for a nearfall. Lars hits a pop-up power slam and the Freak Accident for the win
* NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon defeated Peyton Royce (w/Billie Kay) in a non-title match. Ember gets the upperhand to start, and hits a dive off the top rope to the outside onto the Iconic Duo. Billie grabs her ankle getting back in the ring and Peyton applies a submission in the ropes. Ember takes control back. Nice series of reversals. Peyton gets a nearfall. Ember ducks a spin kick and gets Peyton into a powerbomb position, but Peyton holds the ropes. Ember kicks Peyton’s leg out from under her and hits the Eclipse for the win. After the match Billie hits the ring and boots Ember in the face. The Iconic Duo hit their double team knee move, when Nikki Cross runs in out of the crowd for the save. Nikki spies the Women’s Title laying in the ring and teases attacking Ember, but instead runs the ropes crazily before running back out into the crowd
* NXT Champion Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated Fabian Aichner in a non-title match. Andrade nails a dropkick at the bell, but Fabian hits a tilt-a-whirl slam and then his springboard dive to the outside and a springboard tornado DDT. Andrade with a hard chop. Fabian hits a rough powerbomb. Fabian goes up top but Zelina distracts him. Andrade knocks him outside, throws him into the stairs, and rolls him back hit to hit El Idolo for the win
* Aleister Black defeated Adam Cole to advance to the Fatal 4 Way. Good match. Mat wrestling to start. Cole locks in a crossface but Black gets to the ropes. Cole jaw jacks and Aleister unloads with strikes. Cole rolls out of the ring to avoid the Black Mass and necks him on the ropes. Black hits a kick to the head as Cole jumps off the top rope for a 2. Aleister catches Cole’s foot and hits a big kick. He lifts Cole up for the Black Mass and Cole starts yelling for him to do it and Aleister nails Black Mass for the win
* The Authors of Pain defeated Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch. Lorcan and Burch are affectionately known as Ones & Twos by the audience. They unload with chops and uppercuts before the AoP just destroy them. Super Collider and Last Chapter for the squash win
December 20th Episode:
* The Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) defeated SAnitY (Killian Dain & Eric Young) to win the NXT Tag Team Titles. Killian starts for SAnitY as Fish and O’Reilly try to take him down. Dain tags in Young and he takes control. Fish takes out Young behind the referee’s back and Undisputed Era go to work isolating him. Fish with a suplex for 2. Bobby and Kyle keep tagging in and out attacking EY. EY rebounds with a swinging neckbreaker. EY fends off both Undisputed Era and gets a hot tag to Dain. Dain runs wild. Dain hits the corner dropkick/senton combo and his power slam onto both guys for a nearfall. Adam Cole runs out and crotches EY on his elbow attempt. Nikki Cross runs out and hits a crossbody on Cole and unloads with punches to Cole until refs pull her off. Cole reverses a powerslam by Dain on the outside and pushes him into the ringpost. EY hits a dive onto Cole but gets hit with Total Elimination when he rolls back into the ring and Undisputed Era pick up the win to become new champs
* Ember Moon defeated Sonya Deville to retain the NXT Women’s Title. They did not do the title match introductions, which was weird. Okay back and forth match. Some very tough looking spots for both ladies. Crowd was not into this at all following the title change. Ember hits a springboard dropkick and an absolutely brutal running elbow into the corner, then hits the Eclipse for the win
After the match, Kairi Sane’s music hits. She comes out and signals she wants the title, when Shayna Baszler comes up behind Kairi and chokes her out on the stage while Ember looks on
* Pete Dunne defeated Tyler Bate to retain the WWE UK Title. Another great match. Good mat wrestling and limb work to start. Good back and forth as they trade 2 counts. Dunne with a tough forearm. Bate stomps Dunne’s arm on the stairs, but Dunne responds by suplexing him off the stairs to the floor. They trade chops. Dunne stomps on Bates hand and Tyler has to pop his finger back into place. Pete goes back after the arm. Tyler with a nice overhead belly to belly suplex. Tyler hits the cartwheel kick and goes for the Tyler Driver, but Dunne reverses it into an armbar. Tyler deadlifts him with one arm into a powerbomb but Pete holds on. Bate lifts him again and puts him between the ropes and slingshots him. Tyler does the airplane spin spot but adds a third rotation at a faster speed. Bate is bleeding from his ear. Tyler hits a deadlift fisherman from the apron into the ring for a nearfall. Dunne ducks a kick and hits Bitter End but Tyler kicks out. Dunne turns Bate inside out with a clothesline. They go from seated to standing trading strikes. Pete rolls out of the ring and they trade strikes on the apron until Tyler hits the cartwheel kick on it. Dunne knocks Bate out of midair with a forearm and hits a suplex powerbomb for a near fall. Tyler keeps Dunne from taking a count out by hitting a plancha, then hits the Tyler Driver 97 for a nearfall. Bate goes to the top rope, and hits spiral tap to Dunne’s back but only gets 2. Tyler goes for a backdrop off the top rope, but Pete lands on his feet and hits Bitter End for the pin
* The Street Profits defeated two unnamed enhancement talents. Quick squash. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins win with the spinebuster/frogsplash combo. After the match, The Profits go into the crowd to celebrate and cut a promo from the top of the bleachers, saying in 2017 they came, they saw, and in 2018, they’ll conquer. They run down AoP, SAnitY, and Undisputed Era and say in 2018, they’re coming for the belts
* They filmed a new episode crowd chant intro, but it seems they’re filming randomly tonight
* Johnny Gargano defeated Killian Dain, Lars Sullivan, and Aleister Black to become #1 Contender to the NXT Title. Lars catches Black on a corner moonsault and slams him into the apron, then catches Gargano on a dive and does the same, but Killian does a suicide dive and wipes out Lars. Lars throws Dain into the steps. Aleister kicks him up the ramp, but gets tossed off the stage. Lars then tosses Gargano onto Black. Lars tries to powerbomb Gargano through the announce table but Gargano grabs the set scaffold and holds on. Gargano kicks Lars and gets him on the table. Killian runs and dives off the stage and through Lars on the table. We get a great few minutes in the ring with Black squaring off against Gargano and the crowd goes nuts, until Dain comes back and cleans house. Black and Gargano powerbomb Dain off the ropes and while all three are down, Lars returns to the ring. Dain and Lars square off and we’ve got a hoss fight on our hands. Dain is bleeding from his elbow. Black returns to the ring and goes nuts. Black hits the Black Mass on Lars but Undisputed Era comes down and attacks Aleister. Cole lays out Black, then Gargano hits a suicide dive to Cole. Johnny sidesteps Lars who runs into the steps, then hurricanranas Dain into Lars. Johnny then hits his jumping DDT on Aleister and scores the pinfall. Huge pop for the win. Fun match. Gargano goes into the crowd to celebrate to end the tapings