NXT Results – July 13, 2021 – Kross vs. Gargano for NXT Championship

Jul 13, 2021

Results by Matt Boone of Rajah.com

July 13, 2021
Orlando, FL – Capitol Wrestling Center
Commentary: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett & Beth Phoenix

Quick Match Results

Dakota Kai defeated Ember Moon via GTK
Tyler Rust defeated Bobby Fish via buzzsaw kick after a distraction from Roderick Strong
Sarray defeated Gigi Dolin via high angle suplex
Santos Escobar defeated Dexter Lumis via Phantom Driver after Joaquin Phoenix attacked Lumis
NXT Breakout Tournament Round 1: Duke Hudson defeated Ikemen Jiro via Bossman Slam
Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter defeated Aliyah & Jessi Kamea via 450 by Catanzaro on Aliyah. Aliyah turned on Robert Stone after the match.
NXT Championship: Karrion Kross (c) defeated Johnny Gargano via forearm to the back of the head

We shoot to a cold open with a tribute graphic in honor of the late “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff. From there, we see a recap package with highlights from The Great American Bash.

Ember Moon vs. Dakota Kai

After that we head inside the CWC where the familiar sounds of Ember Moon’s theme hits. Moon makes her way down to the ring and settles inside the squared circle as her music dies down.

Now the theme for Dakota Kai plays and out she comes accompanied by Raquel Gonzalez. Kai settles in the ring while Gonzalez takes her spot on the floor at ringside.

The bell sounds and these two lock up, as we’re off-and-running with our opening contest here on this week’s black-and-gold brand show. Moon takes Kai down but they scramble back up to their feet.

Kai gets in some offense, but Moon slows her down and gets her back on the mat, isolating an arm and going to work on her pink-haired opponent. Kai starts to take over as the commentary team of Wade Barrett, Beth Phoenix and Vic Joseph talk about Gonzalez being in her corner.

Dakota controls the match as she slows the pace down. She dominates Moon for a couple of minutes and then the pace picks up as Moon takes back control, hitting a big splash onto Kai on the floor. Afterwards, we head to a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action continues back inside the ring with Moon in control.

We return from the break and are shown some footage of action during the break, which features Moon being shoved face-first into the steel ring post on the floor. Meanwhile, back live, we see Kai working her over in the ring until out of nowhere, Moon kips up and starts a fired up comeback, hitting Kai with any-and-everything in her arsenal as the crowd gets pumped up in the background.

Moon hits a springboard turning cross body splash on Kai for a close near fall, stopping afterwards to take a breather while the commentators plug tonight’s Kross-Gargano title showdown in the main event with Samoa Joe as special guest referee. Kai hits a headstand kick to the grill of Moon and then yanks her off the top rope to regain offensive control of this match.

She hits a running boot to the face of Moon in the corner and then hits a spinning neckbreaker for a super close near fall. She hits another series of high spots and finishes Moon off with a Go To Kick finisher for the pin fall victory.

Winner: Dakota Kai

Once the match ends, Xia Li comes down to the ring after the lights go out. She gets right in the ring and directly into the face of Raquel Gonzalez. She tells her she’s messing with her destiny.

Gonzalez takes her belt off and asks if this is what she wants. Li appears to accept an impromptu challenge, as Vic Joseph points out on commentary.

Earlier Today: Diamond Mine, Bobby Fish

After the post-match angle with Li and Gonzalez, we are shown the “earlier today” backstage interview segment that was released on social media and YouTube prior to the show that set up the Tyler Rust vs. Bobby Fish match for tonight.

Video: Ikemen Jiro

We return from the break to a broken English vignette hyping up Ikemen Jiro where he makes his case for why he is going to win the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament.

Segment: Cameron Grimes, LA Knight

We shoot to the first of what appears to be multiple segments showing LA Knight preparing Cameron Grimes for his duties as the butler of the Million Dollar Champion.

An upbeat Grimes arrives for his first day on the job at the home of Knight, as Knight gets him dressed in proper clothes and prepares him for some of his new duties.

Tyler Rust vs. Bobby Fish

Now we hear the familiar sounds of the entrance music of Tyler Rust and The Diamond Mine, as Rust makes his way down to the ring where his opponent for tonight, Bobby Fish, is already waiting for him.

The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with our next match of the evening here on NXT. Rust jumps off to an immediate offensive advantage over Fish, while the commentators handle some storytelling duties on the broadcast to explain the back story.

We hear a “Let’s go Bobby!” chant break out inside the NXT Universe in the CWC, as he fights his way back into competitive form and starts dropping Rust with repeated head kicks. He hits a high back body drop and then hits a t-bone suplex into the ring ropes.

Roderick Strong hops up on the ring apron, distracting Fish while he is at the peak of his dominance over Rust. He jaws with him and while doing so, Rust recovers and takes out Fish from behind with a buzzsaw kick. He scores the pin fall victory as the fans boo.

Winner: Tyler Rust

Once the match wraps up, we see The Diamond Mine hit the ring to gang up on Fish, until the Cruiserweight Champion sprints down to the ring to make the save, cleaning house of everyone but Fish. The two stare down the heel squad as the exit the ringside area.

Backstage: Karrion Kross, Samoa Joe

We head backstage where we see NXT Champion Karrion Kross hitting a heavy bag in preparation of his title defense against Johnny Gargano in tonight’s main event.

Up walks special guest referee Samoa Joe to check with Kross for their pre-match official meeting. Kross ignores him and continues his workout until Joe kicks the bag and demands him to acknowledge him.

Kross says if he doesn’t call things down the middle he’s gonna be dealt with. Joe takes that as the acknowledgement he requested and walks off as we head to another commercial break.

Backstage: Beth Phoenix, Indi Hartwell

We return from the break to see Johnny Gargano arriving to the CWC earlier today, followed by Beth Phoenix having a one-on-one conversation with Indi Hartwell, asking about her status with Dexter Lumis.

She said he was a perfect gentleman but she wanted something to happen. Beth tells her she has to take a chance on something.

Sarray vs. Gigi Dolin

We see Dolin jump off to a good start, but it isn’t long before Sarray gets her on the mat and starts taking over.

She enjoys some nice ground control but then out of nowhere, Mandy Rose appears at the top of the entrance stage.

The distraction helps Dolin take back over, as she takes it to Sarray while Rose continues to watch on. This doesn’t last long, however, as Sarray takes back over and catches her in an upside down submission attempt that looked close, however she ultimately let it go.

Dolin starts to fire up for a comeback as the camera keeps cutting back to show Rose watching on from the top of the entrance ramp. Dolin and Sarray go back-and-forth in the ring until the smaller Sarray levels Dolin with a dropkick and then follows up with another one that turns Dolin inside out.

She hits her suplex finisher and scores the cover to stay unbeaten in NXT. After the match, Rose simply walks off.

Winner: Sarray

Backstage: Legado del Fantasma

We shoot backstage where we see Legado del Fantasma. Santos Escobar talks to Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde about winners and losers. He talks about wanting the NXT North American Championship.

He says Dexter Lumis is a loser and he’s about to prove that next because he’s always on the right side of history. He takes his shirt off and heads to the ring as we head to another commercial break.

Dexter Lumis vs. Santos Escobar

As we settle back in from the break, we hear the familiar sounds of Dexter Lumis’ theme and the cold-dead eyed bad ass makes his way down to the ring for our next match of the evening.

The commentators bring up Lumis doing guest commentary in the past and not saying a word, calling him a weirdo. From there, Santos Escobar makes his way out and is joined by the other members of Legado del Fantasma before the trio heads down to the ring.

We hear the bell and this one is off-and-running. Escobar gets in Lumis’ face, and Lumis doesn’t flinch. Regardless, Escobar hits him and jumps off to the offensive advantage. Lumis nips up and no-sells it. He beats Escobar down and slides around the ring like a creep, which is exactly what Escobar calls him when speaking with Wilde and Mendoza outside of the ring.

He continues talking to them but before he can climb back in the ring, we see him pulled down and start to get dragged under the ring. He backs off like he saw a ghost and out crawls Lumis as we head to a mid-match commercial break.

We’re back from the commercials and Vic Joseph quickly informs us that Santos took over control of the action during the break, which is evident by the live action in the ring as Escobar is beating down Lumis with ease. He shouts in his face in the corner and blasts him with a chop. He whips him into the other corner and hits a running knee. He sits him on the top-rope and blasts him with a jumping kick before taking him down the hard way with a jumping hurricanrana for a near fall.

Escobar continues to dominate the action, beating on Lumis in the corner some more before taking him to the open mat where he hits two out of three amigos suplexes until Lumis stops him on the third. Escobar is turned inside-out by a big clothesline from Lumis which brings the NXT Universe in the CWC to life.

Both guys are back on their feet now, but it is Lumis who is fired up and taking it to Escobar with heavy strikes. He hits a big clothesline in the corner and then runs him out of the corner with a big bulldog. He stalks Escobar and hits a modified chokeslam. When he goes for the cover, Mendoza yanks Escobar out of the ring while the ref was tied up with Wilde on the apron on the other side of the ring.

We see Wilde pull Lumis face-first into the steel ring post. He sends him back into the ring where a waiting Escobar hits the Phantom Driver and scores the pin fall victory as the NXT fans fill the CWC with boos.

Winner: Santos Escobar

After the match ends, as Legado del Fantasma head to the back, they are confronted by Isiah “Swerve” Scott and the rest of Hit Row. The two sides have a big staredown and we move on.

Interview: Kyle O’Reilly

From there we move on to a sit-down discussion featuring former member of The Undisputed ERA, Kyle O’Reilly. He talks about his ongoing rivalry with fellow TUE member Adam Cole and vows to be the guy to end him once and for all. We head to another commercial break.

Segment: Cameron Grimes, LA Knight

We return from the break to see LA Knight bossing his new butler Cameron Grimes around. He tells him he wants to be referred to as sir and then gives him some more tasks such as mowing his giant lawn with a crappy lawn mower roller.

During the Break: Indi Hartwell, Dexter Lumis, Candice LeRae

C’mon, mom. 😔#WWENXT #InDex @CandiceLeRae @indi_hartwell @DexterLumis pic.twitter.com/SnOuxoeadp

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) July 14, 2021

From there we are shown footage from during the break of Indi Hartwell coming down to try and carry Dexter Lumis to the back after his loss. She ends up tripping and dropping him.

The two have a moment and nearly kiss until Candace LeRae ruins the moment and pulls Hartwell off of him and to the back.

NXT Breakout Tournament Round 1
Duke Hudson vs. Ikemen Jiro

Now we head back down to the ring where Duke Hudson makes his way down to the ring, as it is time for the first match in the first round of the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament.

He settles into the ring as Barrett describes him as a young Wade Barrett that he likes a lot. From there, Ikemen Jiro’s music hits and the colorful Asian babyface makes his way down to the ring.

Jiro gets off to a good start, using his past face and agility to control the action. The commentators point out that the colorful blazer that he is wearing during this match was voted on by the fans in a social media poll.

Hudson starts to take over and he slows things down as he brutalizes his opposition with ease, rag-dolling him around while the fans try and rally behind the fun-loving Jiro. It starts to work as Jiro fights back and even hits an old-school Tajiri-style tarantula spot in the ring ropes.

His momentum is cut off as he springboards from the ring apron into a belly-to-belly suplex from a waiting Hudson. Hudson blasts Jiro with several strikes, finishing with a big uppercut that decks his babyface opposition. He hoists Jiro up and in the Razor’s Edge position walks the ring until Jiro hurricanranas him into the turnbuckles in the corner.

He goes for a follow-up cover but Hudson kicks out. He hits a top-rope Blockbuster on Hudson but can’t cover him because Hudson rolls out to the floor. Jiro hits a top-rope moonsault on Hudson on the floor, he grabs his ankle after the landing and rolls Hudson back in the ring. Jiro hits a cool springboard leg scissors spot and then blasts Hudson with kicks until he eats a Bossman Slam from Hudson that ends this one. Hudson wins and advances.

Winner and ADVANCING in the NXT Breakout Tournament: Duke Hudson

Backstage: Oney Lorcan, Pete Dunne, Timothy Thatcher, Tommaso Ciampa

We go backstage where we see Oney Lorcan and Pete Dunne. Dunne says one-on-one he would win and talks about being the best technician in the game when up walks Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa.

The two brawl with Dunne and Lorcan after Thatcher and Dunne go face to face. A bunch of officials break things up as we head to a commercial break.

Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter vs. Aliyah & Jessi Kamea

As we settle back in from the break, we are treated to the ring entrances of the team of Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter, as their opponents, Aliyah and Jessi Kamea are already waiting on them inside the squared circle.

The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running. We see Aliyah jump off to an early lead and she tags in Kamea. Kamea dominates Catanzaro and then tags Aliyah back in as the duo do a good job of cutting the ring off and keeping Catanzaro in their world, all-the-while they utilize quick, frequent tags.

We see Carter finally get the much needed tag from Catanzaro and this allows her team to jump into their first offensive lead. This doesn’t last long, however, as the heel duo hit some sneak double-team offense that shifts things back in their favor.

Finally, we see Carter recover and make the tag to Catanzaro, who hits her 450 splash off the top-rope for the pin fall victory.

Winners: Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter

Once the match ends, we see Aliyah snap at Robert Stone in the ring, while he stands around with one shoe on. She screams that she has done more for him than he has done for her and she slaps the hell out of him. She hits a running knee on him in the corner and starts kicking him while he’s down as the fans cheer her on. She walks past a confused Kamea.

Down comes Franky Monet with a big smile on her face. She stands next to Kamea and then walks off, with Kamea following her. Stone grabs his side and exits the ring following behind them.

Backstage: Johnny Gargano, Samoa Joe, Pete Dunne

g u l p #WWENXT @SamoaJoe @PeteDunneYxB pic.twitter.com/C5EK5qstah

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) July 14, 2021

We see Samoa Joe in his referee shirt entering the locker room of Johnny Gargano to go over the pre-match stuff with him like he did with Karrion Kross earlier in the show. As he walks off he sees Pete Dunne, who stops and has a face off with him before we head to a commercial break.

Segment: Cameron Grimes, LA Knight

Whoops. 💦 #WWENXT @CGrimesWWE @LAKnightWWE pic.twitter.com/jmf2dQqIfx

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) July 14, 2021

We return from the break to see Butler Grimes in his underwear chilling in a lawn chair as a young kid is in the background doing the chores he was supposed to be doing.

Up walks LA Knight who complains and says Grimes can’t delegate no matter how much money he has. Knight yells at the kid, who kicks him in the shins. Grimes “accidentally” knocks him in the pool and we head back inside the CWC.

In-Ring: Adam Cole, Bronson Reed, Samoa Joe

As we settle back inside the CWC, out comes Adam Cole. He takes his place in the ring and grabs a mic as his music fades down. Cole says he claimed to be better than Kyle O’Reilly and he proved it at The Great American Bash. He says he caught O’Reilly’s interview earlier and brings up him saying losing is part of what they do. Cole says that’s only true of O’Reilly.

He says he’s sick and tired of talking about O’Reilly, so now he wants to talk about Samoa Joe. He brings up Joe sneaking up from behind and put him in the clutch. He calls Joe a coward. He says he’s an overpaid security guard in a suit. Cole says he knows Samoa Joe won’t come out here.

Out comes Bronson Reed. He says you’ve got to love the confidence of Cole. He calls him the master of mind games. He says he no longer has the NXT North American Championship, so he no longer has anything to lose.

Reed says right now all eyes are on him, as he enters the ring and gets in Cole’s face. He says Cole is considered NXT’s golden boy. He sees him as his golden opportunity. Before he can continue, Cole tries to hit him with a cheap shot super kick, but Reed saw it coming and ends up getting the better of him.

He leaves Cole to run off as Samoa Joe’s theme hits to freeze him dead in his tracks. Joe comes down in his ref shirt and stops to stare in Cole’s face before walking past him and to the ring. Cole heads to the back.

NXT Championship
Karrion Kross (c) vs. Johnny Gargano

Special Guest Referee: Samoa Joe

We head to a commercial break while Reed exits the ring and Joe remains. The commentators plug the main event for the NXT World Championship between Karrion Kross and Johnny Gargano — when we return in a few moments.

As we return we see Robert Stone and Franky Monet and Kamea standing around and they acknowledge the changes to the Robert Stone Brand following the departure and turn of Aliyah earlier this evening.

From there the commentators run down some announced matches for next week’s show and then we finally settle back into the CWC where Johnny Gargano makes his way down to the ring for tonight’s main event.

Gargano settles into the ring as his music fades down. The lights go out. The theme for the champ begins playing and in black-and-white, we see the beginning of the ring entrance of Karrion Kross and Scarlett.

We get the drawn out pre-match ring introductions for this headline attraction. Gargano launches himself onto Kross and gets this one underway before the bell even sounds. He pounds on Kross in the corner, however the champ ends up regaining control of things with a big suplex.

The fans chant “Johnny Wrestling” at Gargano as Kross works him over in the corner while Samoa Joe gives him a warning. The commentators talk about the disrespect Gargano has given Kross leading up to this bout.

Kross taunts Gargano, asking if this is all he’s got, and ends up getting dropkicked from behind to send him out to the floor. Gargano runs from the ring apron and flips onto Kross. Gargano soaks in the love from the NXT Universe as he walks around the ringside area, but Kross is already up and stalking behind him.

We see Kross drop Gargano with a big boot to the grill as Joe warns the two to get this match back into the ring. Gargano hits a big splash onto Kross and fires away with punches. Kross grabs Gargano by the throat and hoists him up, throwing him down back-first onto the commentary table cover as we head to a picture-in-picture, mid-match commercial break as this main event continues.

As we settle back in from the break, we see the action has returned inside the squared circle, where Kross is still control of things. This doesn’t last for long, however, as Gargano immediately begins firing up and making a big comeback, flying all over the ring and hitting Kross with any-and-everything in his arsenal. He connects on a big dive onto Kross on the floor and the fans break out in a “Johnny! Johnny!” chant.

Back in the ring, Kross cuts Gargano’s momentum short and hits a pair of back-to-back stalling vertical suplexes. The fans chant “Let’s go Johnny!” and Kross plays to them with the Hulk Hogan hand-by-the-ear gesture. He sits Gargano on the top turnbuckle backwards. He climbs up after him. He looks for the Doomsday Saito Suplex off the top but Gargano counters mid-way through with a cross body as they crash down to the mat together with Gargano on top.

Gargano starts blasting a seated Kross with repeated kicks. Kross pops up and hoists Gargano up, running him across the ring, but Gargano escapes and hits a big DDT out of nowhere for a close near fall. Kross hits a big chokeslam and tells Gargano he owns him. He goes to follow up but eats a big super kick from Gargano. Kross slaps a submission finisher on Gargano but Gargano escapes and puts Kross in his submission finisher. Kross muscles himself up and hoists Gargano up.

He puts him in the Straight Jacket submission for the second time. Gargano starts to fade. He seems to go out but comes back to life. The fans try and rally behind Gargano. He makes it to the ropes just in time. Kross won’t let go, forcing Joe to get physical to break the hold up. Kross gets in Joe’s face as the fans chant “Joe! Joe! Joe!” Kross finally sees Gargano on the floor and he heads out after him. He bashes the back of his head into the protective panel in front of the fans.

He grabs the top half of the steel ring steps only for Joe to come out and physically take them away from him. Gargano dives from the ring to the floor while Kross was in Joe’s face and he hits with a tornado DDT on the floor. Back in the ring Gargano follows up with another big spot and goes for the cover, but Kross kicks out. Gargano goes for the super kick but Kross side-steps him and blasts him with a forearm. He hits a power bomb but doesn’t let go. He connects with three more power bombs in a row.

He hits the Doomsday Saito and stalks Gargano in the corner of the ring, waiting for him to get up. When he does, Kross runs over and pounds him across the back with a big forearm that decks the challenger. He makes the cover and scores the pin to retain his NXT Championship.

Winner and STILL NXT World Champion: Karrion Kross

Once the match wraps up, we see Kross and Joe go face-to-face once again. This time as Joe goes to leave, Kross runs over and locks him up in a choke from behind. Joe fades as Kross chokes the life out of him and yells that he did this to himself.

He squeezes a bit more for good measure and finally lets go. He poses over an unconscious Joe holding his NXT title up high as Scarlett stands by his side and the fans boo loudly as the show goes off the air.