WWE NXT Results – Jan. 31, 2018 – Strong vs. Bate

Feb 1, 2018

Results by Arya Witner of F4Wonline.com

January 31, 2018
Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Commentary: Mauro Ranallo and Percy Watson

Nikki Cross defeated Lacey Evans

Evans is a sophisticated Southern belle who was not thrilled with having to lay her hands on a psycho like Cross. Unfortunately for her, Cross had no problem laying her hands on Evans. Cross exploded at the bell, beating her in and out of the ring. After Cross trapped Evans in the apron and beat her down, Evans got the heat by yanking Cross off the middle rope inside the ring.

Percy Watson was so used to never speaking that he called Mauro Ranallo “Nigel,” but he was corrected as Evans missed a moonsault. Cross used the ground and pound and won with a swinging fisherman’s suplex. Do fishermen typically suplex one another?

Backstage: Shayna Baszler

We then had the Ember Moon-Shayna Baszler video package. Moon was again called “The Shenom,” which hopefully doesn’t stick.

Later on, Baszler was interviewed by Kayla Braxton about the match. She said Moon didn’t win, she survived…barely. Baszler told her to go ask Moon who really won.

That led to photos of Moon taking part in the women’s Royal Rumble.

Backstage: Undisputed Era

Then we got the Aleister Black-Adam Cole (Bay Bay) video package. We’re only 15 minutes in, they should pace themselves.

All of Undisputed Era were complaining backstage when Cole barked that SAnitY is going to pay.

Next week, it’s Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly finally defending against Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe.

Backstage: Velveteen Dream

Velveteen Dream vs. Kassius Ohno was the subject of the next video package.

Dream was interviewed by Kayla Braxton, who asked him about his prediction of winning in 30 seconds. Dream said he didn’t win in 30 seconds because Ohno knocked his mouthpiece out.

TM61 defeated Gabriel & Uriel Ealy

Every time I see the Ealy Brothers, I am reminded that in one of their few television appearances they got their butts kicked by Samoa Joe. That actually reminds me of Dan Matha, who they built up for four or five weeks with vignettes. Then before his first match, he was a victim of Samoa Joe — which was the last time we saw him.

Shane Thorne and Nick Miller looked good here, including Thorne hitting a Fosbury Flop to both Ealys. TM61 showed more personality in this match than they ever did before Thorne’s injury. The Ealys got the heat by illegally using Twin Magic. That didn’t last long as Thorne and Miller took back over, hit a lot of hot moves, and picked up the win with Thunder Valley, which is a double press slam.

Later backstage, TM61 told Christy St. Cloud that they are the mighty and the mighty don’t kneel. Mauro Ranallo had to literally stop running down the NXT year-end awards just to go backstage for this seven-second interview.

Video Package: Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Andrade Almas

Enough with the wrestling! We need more video packages!

It was main event video package time. Andrade “Cien” Almas vs. Johnny Gargano for the NXT Championship looked just as nice the second time as it was the first time.

We had “exclusive footage” of Tommaso Ciampa limping away dragging his crutch. This exclusive footage was promoted the entire show. Thankfully, we saw it.

Then we had stills of El Idolo entering the Royal Rumble. Cathy Kelley marked out while interviewing Zelina Vega about it. Vega took credit since Almas wouldn’t be champion or in the Rumble if not for her. Also, where was Johnny Wrestling, she asked? Probably in his room watching TV.

Roderick Strong defeated Tyler Bate in a WWE United Kingdom Championship number one contender’s match

The winner of this is the next challenger for Pete Dunne’s UK title. Bate used an airplane spin, which caused Ranallo to mention the famous incident where Gorilla Monsoon gave Muhammad Ali an airplane spin. Strong used approximately 5,000 backbreakers in the first three minutes of the match. The fans loved both men, filling the air with dueling chants.

Strong, at one point, bent Bate backwards over his own back in a stretch, which could not have felt good. Bate sold his back while doing a kip up, but still did a standing Shooting Star Press.

We had an amazing sequence of around 60 seconds where we had one reversal after another of each man’s moves, which culminated with Bate hitting his springboard kick to the head. Strong finally won with a release suplex into a backbreaker.

This was about as good of a nine-minute match as you’re ever going to see. Even Tommy Wiseau in the front row had to admit this was really good, (It wasn’t really Wiseau, it was that fan who’s at every show in the shirt and tie who kind of looks like him).

So, that does it for NXT. The main event alone made it much better than the typical post-TakeOver show. Next week, we’re back in Center Stage and until then, thank you for reading and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!

NXT Results