NXT Results – May 23, 2018 – Gargano & Ciampa Showdown

May 24, 2018

May 23, 2018
Orlando, Florida – Full Sail University
Commentary: Mauro Ranallo, Nigel McGuinness, and Percy Watson
Results courtesy of Arya Witner of F4Wonline.com

TM61 versus Heavy Machinery

If at first you don't succeed… try, try again! #WWENXT @WWENickMiller @ShaneThorneWWE pic.twitter.com/tuYD6TANdW

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) May 24, 2018

This match was set up last week. TM61 wanted to go out and drink beers and eat steaks with Heavy Machinery. However, Otis Dozovic and Tucker Knight refused to do that with cheaters.

Jonathan Coachman was shown sitting at ringside, for some reason.

Shane Thorne and Nick Miller were having a hard go of it, as they got thrown around by their heavier opponents. At one point they set up Miller in the corner like if Goldust was going to give him Shattered Dreams. Then they picked up Thorne and did a battering ram into Miller’s midsection. Finally, Thorne blind tagged himself in and used a really nice spinning European uppercut to Knight to cut him off.

Knight used a double suplex on Miller and Thorne before making the hot tag. Dozovic literally ran wild, ramming his hefty body into his foes. It broke down into a four-way, but Knight went flying over the corner post. Dozovic went for a Vader Bomb, but Thorne leapt up and kicked him in the head. Finally, Miller rolled up Dozovic and used Thorne holding his feet on the ropes for extra leverage for the pin.

Winner: TM61

Odds are they won’t go out for beers tonight either.

Video: Bianca Belair

There's a lot more to The #ESTofNXT than meets the eye. Get ready to meet @BiancaBelairWWE next week on #WWENXT, only on @WWENetwork! pic.twitter.com/L91uqgNPL3

— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) May 24, 2018

Video Package: A video package aired for Bianca Belair, which led to an announcement of a “Who is Bianca Belair?” video package series, starting next week. They have done these several times before, including with Finn Balor and Roderick Strong, and they have always been good.

If you wanted to be snarky, and not that I would ever be guilty of that, you could point out that they had a video package to promote that next week there will be a video package.

Lacey Evans versus Kairi Sane

Evans lost to Sane six weeks ago and was so upset by this she attacked Sane in a very unlady-like fashion, which led to this rematch. This was more of a hard-hitting match than you perhaps would expect when one of the competitors is Lacey Evans. She took over by stomping on the elbow of Sane. Not sure why that’s become the big move in NXT lately.

Sane made her comeback, starting with a dragon screw leg whip and then hitting all her set-up moves, culminating with the Interceptor and the Sliding D. Evans rolled outside the ring, but Sane followed her and threw her right back in. Sane went up top and came off with a move, but Evans caught her with The Woman’s Right for the upset win.

Winner: Lacy Evans

Backstage: Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae

#JohnnyWrestling is here.

What will @JohnnyGargano have to say to the #NXTUniverse tonight? #WWENXT @CandiceLeRae pic.twitter.com/Cc62a7LT6J

— WWE (@WWE) May 24, 2018

Cathy Kelley was outside Full Sail University waiting for Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae, who just happened to show up now. Gargano was in a neck brace and said that, while he’s seen better days, he’s here. Him and LeRae made a decision as a team and he is going to go out to the ring to tell everyone.

Backstage: Undisputed Era, Pete Dunne, Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch

#UndisputedERA are NOT impressed with "Oney Lor-kan," "Daniel Burch," or "Peter Doon"!@roderickstrong @KORcombat @AdamColePro @TheBobbyFish pic.twitter.com/wiRn5VSvoH

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) May 24, 2018

Undisputed Era were hanging out backstage, mocking Lorcan, Burch, and Pete Dunne. Roderick Strong said there won’t be a title match with them, while Kyle O’Reilly said that it’s Dunne’s fault for giving hope to a couple losers.

Strong, despite just saying there wouldn’t be a match in Chicago, seemed to then say there would be a title match in Chicago and that he also wanted to wrestle “Daniel Burch.”

Handicap Match
Lars Sullivan versus Ricochet & Velveteen Dream

Last week, Ricochet and Dream were attempting to have a match when they both got destroyed by an interfering Sullivan.

Very quickly, Ricochet and Dream began ignoring the tag team aspect of this match, as both, at different points, were illegally in the ring for over 20 seconds just to double team. I guess it’s okay since the referee really didn’t care. Neither could do anything on their own, so why not together? They managed to get Sullivan down for a double cover, which should have been illegal but, again, the referee did not care and they got a two count.

Sullivan grew tired of this cheating and sent Ricochet into space before ripping at Dream’s face. Sullivan just beat on Dream, hitting his diving headbutt, but Ricochet broke up the cover. Dream was able to make the hot tag to Ricochet, who used his speed to strike Sullivan and stay out of his grasp.

Suddenly, Velveteen Dream turned out to be the biggest turncoat since Benedict Arnold tried to surrender the plans to West Point to the British, as he laid out Ricochet with the rolling DVD. Dream ran away as Sullivan pinned Ricochet with a Freak Accident.

Winner: Lars Sullivan

Backstage: Dakota Kai, Shayna Baszler

"You know you don't stand a chance, right?"#WWENXT #WomensChampion @QoSBaszler has ALL the confidence ahead of her title defense next week against @DakotaKai_WWE! pic.twitter.com/r6sjs5Eg2S

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) May 24, 2018

Kelley interviewed Kai about this. Kai has dreamed about being NXT Women’s Champion and it’s insane to her that she’s getting a title shot. However, it’s against Shayna Baszler, the biggest bully she’s ever met.

Baszler walked up smirking and mocked Kai, saying she doesn’t have a chance. Kai finally spoke to Baszler, saying “We’ll see about that.”

In-Ring: Johnny Gargano, Candice LeRae, Tommaso Ciampa

The show ended with an appearance by Gargano and LeRae. Gargano talked about how the last time he was here he was getting ready for an NXT Championship match when he was assaulted by Tommaso Ciampa. Every morning when he wakes up, his neck brace reminds him of having his head smashed off an LED board and dropped off the side of a ramp and through a table.

He said that it was time to think about both of their futures. He needs to ask himself if this is worth it, which the fans vehemently agreed that it was. With the injuries adding up and the tolls it’s taking on everyone, is it worth it? Again, the fans vehemently agreed that it was.

Gargano finally ripped off the neck brace and yelled that it was worth it before challenging Ciampa to get out there and finish this right now. LeRae was begging him not to do this. Ciampa came out as LeRae ran away to the back and returned with three referees. The referees did a surprisingly adequate job at restraining Gargano as LeRae pleaded with her husband.

Gargano seemed to agree to go backstage when Ciampa goaded him on. Gargano ran to the ring, but Ciampa knocked him off the apron and Gargano fell into LeRae! She fell onto the ramp and played dead.

Now, there are positives and negatives to this. The positives are that this was a tremendous angle and everyone played their parts beautifully. They spent as much time as possible on paramedics checking on her.

The negative is LeRae is a trained pro wrestler and took a bump on the same ramp we see a hundred people fall on every week. Not saying it wasn’t well done, just that it was hard to take it too seriously.

That does it for this week. Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!