The October 7, 2020 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
- Tommaso Ciampa def. KUSHIDA via DQ.
- Drake Maverick & Killian Dain def. Ever-Rise (Chase Parker & Matt Martel).
- Austin Theory def. Leon Ruff.
- Dexter Lumis def. Austin Theory
- Shotzi Blackheart def. Xia Li.
- Ridge Holland def. Danny Burch
- Ember Moon & Rhea Ripley def. Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
Finn Balor Update
Just a few hours before this show, NXT Champion Finn Balor announced on Twitter that he suffered a broken jaw in two places during his successful title defense against Kyle O’Reilly at NXT TakeOver 31.
He mentioned in the post that he would address this on NXT, which he did. During the episode, WWE aired a video package looking at the match along with photos of Balor in the hospital.
A WWE trainer noted that Balor wouldn’t be able to fully talk and would miss some time in the ring.
The positive thing here is that Balor won’t have to vacate the title, but we still have no word yet on how long he’ll be out of action.
Ember Moon Talks
Ember Moon was supposed to kick off the show, but WWE saved it for later in the episode with a promo in the ring. This came after she made her return to television after being sidelined with an injury last year. She was revealed as the mystery person behind recent vignettes.
Her reveal was after Io Shirai had successfully retained the NXT Women’s Title over Candice LeRae at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver 31 event. This is where she had a staredown with the champion.
On NXT, Moon stated that it’s been a while since she was in isolation for the last 14 months. She said that she took her bike on a long journey and found clarity. She said that she found herself as no one is going to walk over her anymore.
She said that she wants some gold. This led to Io coming out Io and Rhea Ripley coming out. As Rhea was about to talk, Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai attacked Ripley. William Regal booked a tag team match for the main event.Â
Kushida vs. Tommaso Ciampa
Kushida vs. Tommaso Ciampa was the only match to be announced in advance of this show, which was Tuesday night on Twitter.
Kushida had scored a big win over The Velveteen Dream in a singles match at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver 31 event. On the flip side, despite WWE booking Ciampa as an unstoppable heel, he didn’t work the show.
Fast forward to this match, the two stars worked hard. While Ciampa did have the majority of the offense in a lengthy match, Kushida had moments to shine. Unfortunately, the match didn’t have a solid finish as Dream ran out and attacked Kushida. As a result, it ended in a DQ.
Thus, it appears that WWE wanted to keep both guys strong yet continue the feud with Kushida and Dream.
Main Event
Following the angle earlier in the night, the main event saw Rhea Ripley and Ember Moon team up to face Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez in a tag team match.
An interesting match booking to have in the headliner, but these ladies delivered in a solid match. Moon got some ring time and didn’t appear to be rusty although splitting the workload probably helped.
The finish of the match saw Moon hit her finisher to Kai for the win after Ripley took out Gonzalez over the announce table. Now, it will be interesting to see who gets the first title shot at Io Shirai – Ripley or Moon?
