Welcome to our live coverage of tonight’s NXT TakeOver: The End event, which comes to us live from Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. Tonight’s action airs live on the WWE Network, and will be covered in-depth below with our live coverage of each match on the show.
NXT TakeOver: The End Opener:
After a cool opening video package, NXT TakeOver: The End kicks off live on the WWE Network with a shot of the live crowd, which is immediately chanting “NXT! NXT! NXT!”
Tye Dillinger vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas
The announcers welcome us to the show and then immediately Tye Dillinger’s music hits and out he comes. Out next comes his opponent, Andrade “Cien” Almas. The crowd is already hot for the newcomer, but are also showing love to “Perfect 10.”
The bell sounds and these two lock up. Dilliger gets Almas on the mat and goes for his first nearfall, but only gets two. Dillinger and Almas get back to their feet and the fans chant “10! 10! 10!”
Dillinger starts to get control of the action and even gets a close near fall with a super kick to Almas. In the end, however, Almas hits double running knees in the corner on Dillinger and scores the 1-2-3.
Winner: Andrade “Cien” Almas
NXT Tag-Team Championship
– American Alpha (c) vs. The Revival
The video package is airing now for the NXT Tag-Team Championship match, which is up second here at NXT TakeOver: The End. After the video package, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson, The Reivval, make their way to the ring. Their opponents, the current NXT Tag-Team Champions — Chad Gable and Jason Jordan – American Alpha — make their way out next.
The fans start chanting “Alpha! Alpha! Alpha!” as soon as the music dies down. Corey Graves puts over the significance of this match and these two teams. The action begins in the ring. Dawson and Gable start things off for their respective teams. Jordan ends up tagging in and taking over, cleaning house of both members of The Revival to the delight of the fans at Full Sail.
All four men end up in the ring and they decide to just duke it out, bar room brawl style. They powder out to the floor and end up back in the ring doing some tag-team synchronized moves and submissions. The Revival get to the ropes on a double submission attempt. In this series, Gable hits a cool acrobatic spot that gets a big pop from the crowd. They bail to the floor as the tag champs stand tall in the ring while the fans chant for them with passionate enthusiasm.
The Revival take advantage of a distracted referee, switching places without a tag, as Tom Philips points out but Corey Graves excuses as just smart strategy on the part of Dawson and Wilder. The two do a good job of keeping Gable in the ring away from his corner, keeping the fresh Jordan from being able to get involved in the match.
Dawson and Wilder take advantage of another out-of-place referee spot, hitting a big leg drop off the ropes onto Gable for a close near fall. Jordan is still trying to get involved in the match but The Revival has still managed to keep him out on the apron.
Finally Gable crawls through the legs of The Revival and makes the tag to Jason Jordan. Jordan takes the hot tag, comes in and cleans house. He pulls down the strap and hits a big spear into the corner on Wilder. He launches him and going for a pin but only gets two.
Again The Revival take advantage of some double team offense for a close near fall. Jordan, however, manages to kick out at 2 1/2.
Gable tags back in and picks up where Gable left off. Here come the “This Is Awesome” chants from the fans at Full Sail as Gable is on fire. Gable gets the ankle lock on Dawson. The crowd is on fire sensing a tap. Dawson gets loose. Gable takes an uppercut from Wilder on the floor and Dawson grabs the tights on the pin. Gable still kicks out at two.
The Revival goes for a double-team move off the ropes, however Gable catches Dawson coming down right into a belly-to-belly. The fans chant “That Was Awesome” as Jordan tags in. Jordan hits a spear in the corner. Out of nowhere, Dawson and Wilder hit the Shatter Machine on Jordan and cover him. 1-2-3. The Revival are now two-time NXT Tag-Team Champions.
Winners and the new NXT Tag-Team Champions: The Revival
After The Match: American Alpha Attacked, Paul Ellering Returns!
After the match two big guys wearing black come in and beat down American Alpha after The Revival leaves the ring as the first and only two-time NXT Tag-Team Champions in history. Just when you think these two monsters are done, they beat down Gable again with a big double team move. Now the two manhandle Jordan with some double team offense. The crowd rains down boos on these two guys as we see the legendary WWE Hall Of Fame manager Paul Ellering, former manager of The Legion of Doom / Road Warriors, making his way out to the ring to accompany these two thugs to the back.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Austin Aries
The video package is airing now for our next match of the evening, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Austin Aries. After the package, Aries makes his way to the ring with his ribs heavily taped. The lights go down and now Shinsuke Nakamura makes entrance to a huge ovation from the fans at Full Sail
Long after Nakamura’s music cuts off, the fans continue humming it for quite a few seconds. The fans chant “Naka-Mura! Naka-Mura!” and that turns into a dueling chant with half the crowd chanting for him and the other half chanting “Austin Aries! Austin Aries!”
After a lot of showmanship and playing to the crowd, the two finally lock up and begin to go to action. The fans continue to have some fun with some various chants and clapping, but the two are slowly getting them to quiet down and focus on the action.
Nakamura now gains the upper-hand in the action and the fans go back to humming his theme song for quite a while again. All the while, however, Nakamura is delivering punishment to Aries. He traps him in the corner and blasts the hell out of him without mercy. And again. The fans chant “One More Time! One More Time!” but when he goes for it one more time, Aries cuts him off and starts to go to work on the legs of “The King of Strong Style.”
Nakamura doesn’t seem impressed with Aries, however, getting back to his feet and waiving Aries in to give him his best shot. Nakamura starts to fight back but Aries again takes over control of the offense and goes back to work on the fan-favorite Nakamura.
The fans start chanting Nakamura’s song again while he’s stuck in a hold by Aries. Aries sinches in on the hold but Nakamura starts fighting out. Aries lets go and opts to deliver more punishment to Nakamura instead. Nakamura kicks his way back into the fight and the match as the fans start cheering him on and giving him momentum. Nakamura starts firing up on offense.
Nakamura starts delivering knees to the body of Aries. Corey Graves points out that we’ll find out just how injured Aries’ taped-up ribs are after that. Nakamura continues to go to work on Aries. Aries starts fighting back.
Aries knocks Nakamura out to the floor. He gets some running momentum and flies through the ropes, splashing onto and taking out Nakamura on the floor. We see several replays of this as Aries crashes into Nakamura with a full head of steam on the floor. Aries gets Nakamura back in the ring and goes to work on him.
Out of nowhere, Nakamura trips up Aries from his back and locks Aries up in a triangle choke. Aries reaches out with his foot to the bottom rope, forcing the referee to break the hold.
Aries now has Nakamura locked in his Last Chancery submission. Nakamura is hanging on but is in the center of the ring in deep trouble. Finally, Nakamura adjusts his way over far enough to get his foot on the ropes. The referee breaks the hold. The fans start doing dueling chants for Nakamura and Aries again.
Aries goes to the top rope and he goes for the 450-splash, but Nakamura is nowhere to be found. The fans start chanting “This Is Awesome! This Is Awesome!” as Nakamura and Aries exchange shots on the apron outside the ropes. It ends when Nakamura hits a big kick. Aries blasts Nakamura with a big Death Valley Driver, with Nakamura landing on the hard part of the apron and dumping out to the floor. As Nakamura tries to recover on the floor, Aries goes flying.
Nakamura moves, however, and Aries crashes into the barricade. Nakamura gets Aries back into the ring and blasts him with his big finisher. 1-2-3. Nakamura wins and the fans start singing his theme song while he celebrates his victory and replays are shown of the finish.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
NXT Women’s Championship
– Asuka (c) vs. Nia Jax
The video package for our NXT Women’s Championship match airs. Asuka vs. Nia Jax is up next. Nia Jax’s music plays and she makes her way out to the ring. She mean-mugs the camera in the ring and then her music cuts off. Asuka’s music hits and out comes the NXT Women’s Champion.
The ring announcer does the formal introductions for this championship match. The bell sounds and here we go. Asuka immediately goes after the legs of the larger Nia Jax.
Jax takes over and is using her size and strength to dominate the smaller champion. There’s a submission spot but Jax is right back to dominating Asuka. The fans, meanwhile, are doing a lot of pro-Asuka chants while Corey Graves focusing on putting over how dangerous Nia Jax is.
Again Asuka gets the larger Jax stuck in a submission hold, this time a triangle choke on the mat. Nia Jax ends up powering up back to her feet and slamming Asuka in the corner before hitting a big splash on her in the corner.
Jax now comfortably in control of the offense again. She walks around with a smug look on her face, taking her time and kicking a downed Asuka with ease. She slams Asuka down with a vengeance now. She misses a big leg drop attempt, giving Asuka a window to get back into the match.
Asuka starts firing up, hitting spinning backfists on Nia Jax over and over again. The fans chant “Asuka-City!” as a fired up Asuka carelessly attacks Nia with a kick that Nia catches. Asuka is again back in the fight, however, as she catches Nia in an armbar on the mat out of nowhere.
Asuka hits some big kicks to a grounded Nia. Nia gets up to her knees. Asuka kicks her some more. Nia screams from on her knees. Asuka hits another running kick. 1-2-3. Asuka wins and retains the title.
Winner and STILL NXT Women’s Champion: Asuka
Backstage: William Regal & Bobby Roode
Backstage, we see William Regal being interviewed when Bobby Roode is shown. Someone whispers into Regal’s ear. We head back to the announce table where Corey Graves and Tom Philips briefly react to Roode’s quick appearance.
NXT Championship
Steel Cage Match
– Samoa Joe (c) vs. Finn Balor
The video package for tonight’s main event airs, showing the complete story behind tonight’s steel cage match for the NXT World Championship between Samoa Joe and Finn Balor. The video package concludes and we shoot back live inside Full Sail University.
Finn Balor’s music hits and the former NXT Champion makes his demon entrance out to the ring. The fans, as expected, are going ballistic for “The Demon” Finn Balor. He climbs and crawls around the steel cage a bit before climbing up it. Awesome entrance. Out next is our current NXT Champion, Samoa Joe. The fans go nuts for him as well. It’s main event time here at NXT TakeOver: The End.
The lights go down and the ring announcer does the formal introductions for tonight’s championship main event. The fans get going with a bunch of different chants as the belt is shown before the bell rings to make this one official. And here we go! The fans chant “This Is Awesome!” before anything even happens.
The two lock up and the action is underway. The fans are split on who they are cheering for, although it’s leaning towards Balor. Balor starts to use his speed to gain the early offensive advantage. Balor starts lighting up Joe with big chops over and over again.
Joe now using his size and strength to gain the upper hand. He gets Balor down to the mat and is methodically taking him apart with vicious kicks. He gets him trapped in the corner and blasts away at him while defenseless some more.
Balor tries to escape the cage but Joe stops him. Joe blasts Balor with a German suplex. Joe starts climbing the cage to escape but Balor grabs Joe’s leg. Balor starts climbing up with him. Both guys fight while up there and both end up crashing down to the mat together. Joe lands wedged between the ropes and the cage on his landing.
Joe eventually hits his Muscle Buster on Balor. He tries to cover him, but doesn’t get the three. Balor hits his Coup De Gras. He goes for the cover but he too can’t get the three count.
Joe catches Balor in his Kokina Clutch standing but Balor survives and escapes. He hits a double stomp but as Graves points out, he didn’t get all of it. The fans start chanting “Up! Up! Up!” to Balor. He acknowledges it and climbs to the top of the cage. He turns around and is starting to climb down the cage but Joe stops him just in time.
Joe is in the ring holding onto Balor who is on the outside of the cage on his way down. Joe grabs Balor and puts him on his shoulders. He hits a Muscle Buster off the ropes into the ring. 1-2-3. Joe gets the pin and retains the NXT Championship.
Winner and STILL NXT Champion: Samoa Joe
After The Match
After the match, we see some replays of the action. We return live and Balor is still down and out. Joe is getting up. He raises the NXT Championship proudly in the air as his theme music plays and he looks down at a beaten Balor. The cage is rising and Joe exits the ring while the NXT medical staff attends to Balor in the ring. Joe leaves up the ramp as Graves put over Joe as the definitive NXT Champion. We see more replays, specifically of the big Muscle Buster off the middle ropes that finished off Balor at the end. We return live and Joe as it at the top of the ramp. He holds up the NXT title high in the air in front of the NXT TakeOver: The End logo at the top of the stage as the show goes off the air.
