World news – UK – WWE NXT Results: September 23 Winners, Ratings, Reactions & Highlights

The next TakeOver special will air on October 4, so most of the segments of this week’s NXT episode have been spent building the event

Wednesday’s show featured the very first Gauntlet Eliminator match The rules were a bit different from the regular Gauntlet match Instead of each competitor waiting for someone to be eliminated to enter, this fight saw people enter the ring every four minutes, so it wasn’t always an individual fight

The match featured Bronson Reed, Kushida, Kyle O’Reilly, Timothy Thatcher and Cameron Grimes competing for a shot at Finn Balor’s NXT Championship

We also saw a Women’s Battle Royal determine the No 1 contender for the NXT Women’s Championship and Jake Atlas attempted revenge against Tommaso Ciampa

NXT opened with a graphic paying homage to the late Road Warrior Animal before heading to the ring for the Women’s Battle Royal We were shown a clip of Candice LeRae attacking Tegan Nox earlier today

As soon as the bell rang all the women in the ring started fighting There was a lot of unorganized chaos at the start as Rhea Ripley scored the first elimination Many of the women in the ring were lesser known rookies to the Performance Center, so they provided easy eliminations for the most established stars

Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez dominated the competition and threw several women over the top rope.Every time one of them got an elimination the other would tie the score

Kacy Catanzaro dodged elimination with a single save as the series ended She saved herself multiple times using her ninja skills Ripley and Gonzalez took out each other and fought each other until a group of officials force them to break off This left LeRae, Shotzi Blackheart, Indi Hartwell, Dakota Kai and Catanzaro in the ring

Hartwell was the first to go and Catanzaro quickly followed Kai and LeRae as a team against Blackheart until the green haired grappler took out Captain Kota The Poison Pixie was able to take out Blackheart to claim the victory and win a title shot at TakeOver

The first half of that game was about making Gonzalez and Ripley look good They each scored a number of eliminations as the announcers called them big favorites

Unfortunately, this Battle Royal suffered from the same problem that a lot of these matches had There were too many people in the ring at the start so no one was able to do anything cool until it eliminates at least half of the competitors

What really shone here was the attention to detail Many feuds, past and present, were discussed as different combinations of wrestlers fought each other throughout the match

The second half was much better and gave several Superstars their time in the spotlight LeRae was the right choice to win this one as she will be able to have an amazing game against Io Shirai

Atlas was looking for revenge and started the match with a flurry of strikes in the corner Ciampa tried to gain the upper hand but was crushed into the ground

The former NXT champion finally hit a huge clothesline to give himself some breathing space He stomped on Atlas’ head saying he was the main event

Atlas was able to make a comeback and hit a moonsault from the middle rope to the floor He brought Ciampa back for a blockbuster but failed to get the pin

Ciampa countered the DDT from the wheel with a kick and hit Willow’s Bell Instead of covering up, he taunted Atlas and told him to get up before hitting the end of the fairy tale for victory

It was a short but entertaining match Atlas looked really good against one of the best NXT has to offer and if management decided to make it a long term feud they would likely produce better matches at every future meeting

Ciampa is such a good heel He knows how to play a tough guy who is more than willing to take a few shortcuts to get the victory When he returns to the title scene, he will be a force to be reckoned with

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Fandango proposed to William Regal to organize a mini-tournament to determine a new series of No 1 contenders for the NXT tags titles This is what led to this unique match with the winning teams who will face each other in the next week for the title

Roderick Strong and Fabian Aichner started for their teams Once he had the advantage, Aichner called on Raul Mendoza to hit a splash for a two-man count

The two teams created rigid markers to show that they didn’t get along Shockingly, their partners weren’t at ringside to offer their support

We came back from a break to see Aichner hit a huge side suplex at Danny Burch Strong got the hot tag and arrived like the Tazman devil with a series of kicks and slaps to both opponents

Strong and Burch managed to secure the victory, which means Burch and Oney Lorcan will take on The Undisputed Era to see which team will take on Breezango for the titles.

When you think about the fact that neither of these teams have ever worked together as a partner before, it was even better than expected

These four superstars have their specialties and each one was on full screen The exchanges between Aichner and Burch were particularly entertaining

Strong and Burch had strong chemistry, but at the end of the match the backbreaker master refused to shake hands with his partner

The North American champion came in an untitled game this week when Damian Priest faced Austin Theory in a singles bout Before it happened, Johnny Gargano was shown talking to Theory behind the scenes and compliment his ability in the ring

They measured each other before the priest caught his opponent in a bracelet They traded pawns and the archer of infamy sent the theory around the corner Theory smirked before closing and he hit a big back elbow The priest responded with a jumping elbow

The priest took a page from The Undertaker’s playbook and walked through the top rope to set up a sling bag.We came back from a break to see Theory hitting a rolling dropkick for a tight two-count

They took the fight out of the ring and Priest planted Theory on the apron with a razor blade before hitting The Reckoning for the win. Gargano hit a superkick out of nowhere as Priest celebrated his win

They are two men who combine agility and power in a way that most Superstars cannot, so it was a fun match from the moment it started

Theory sounded good, but this match was all about making Priest look strong ahead of his title match with Gargano at TakeOver If that was the goal, WWE accomplished its mission

The young Superstar offered a good challenge to the NA champion He hit a lot of big punches and almost won a few times This is a combo we need to see more of in the future as they have worked well together

Ridge Holland was in action this week against an improving talent named Antonio De Luca The jobber got a few early hits before Holland sent him flying with a bound

The former rugby player threw De Luca into the ring with a suplex belly to stomach then hit a series of brutal head shots into the corner He brought De Luca to the middle of the ring to hit his finisher for a easy victory

Squash matches this one wasn’t bad De Luca did a good job selling Holland’s offense to make him look like a monster in the ring

Holland have a lot of good qualities as a performer It’s going to be interesting to see how he’s used with such a roster filled with talented wrestlers

Kushida and O’Reilly started the match The only way to be eliminated in this match was by pinfall or submission, so DQs and scoring were out of the window

O’Reilly and Kushida had a very technical exchange from the start They came to a dead end and rested before dropping straight back down to the mat with submissions and reversals Once they got back on their feet they started throwing This is when Bronson Reed stepped into the ring as the next inbound

O’Reilly and Kushida looked at each other and decided to tackle the big man together but it was a futile effort The Thicc Boy took them down with ease Kushida nailed him to the head with a few kicks before returning his attention to KOR

Velveteen Dream came out of nowhere to hit Kushida with a Dream Valley Driver to give Reed a chance to hit his finisher and knock Kushida out of the match just before Thatcher was the next entrant All three men were still in the ring when Grimes came out as the final contender

We saw all combinations of opponents go head to head over the next few minutes It took a long time before O’Reilly could take out Reed He took Thatcher out to bring him back to him and Grimes The Technical Savage thought he won with The Cave In but O’Reilly kicked out at the last second

O’Reilly was able to apply a leglock to clinch the submission victory and earn a chance at Balor’s NXT Championship at TakeOver

It was a great match from start to finish The five men had several defining moments, but O’Reilly shone more than anyone in the ring

His technical prowess is second to none For a guy who was best known for his tag team games in NXT, it was potentially a star performance

It was a shame that Kushida had to be knocked out so early but someone still has to be the first to come out in matches like this and he pulled the short straw this time

Seeing O’Reilly take on Balor is going to be amazing if he plays the way he did in this fight

WWE NXT, NXT TakeOver, Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, Johnny Gargano, Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, NXT Women’s Championship