Date: 08/31	7:00 PM
Views: 318

Nickolye's WWE NXT recap for August 31, 2021 at 8 PM ET! Coming up tonight, Kyle O'Reilly takes on Duke Hudson. Roderick Strong issues an open challenge. Tommaso Ciampa goes one-on-one with Ridge Holland. Also, the new NXT UK Champion Ilja Dragunov makes his first appearance since NXT TakeOver! NXT is back in the Capitol Wrestling Center, now with a full crowd! Hit F5 or refresh as often as you like for the latest updates!

* Mandy Rose vs. Sarray

Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne come out to Mandy's corner for her first match back in NXT. The crowd start duel chants for both women before they lock up. Mandy is cocky to start as she does push-ups on Sarray's back. Sarray hits a basement dropkick, Mandy blocks a suplex, Sarray cradles her into a fisherman's suplex with bridge for 2, connects with a roundhouse kick and gets a 2-count. Mandy avoids a diving crossbody, capitalizes on the miss by beating her down, hits a snap suplex, 2-count, and puts her in a chinclock with a knee to the back. Mandy catches her for a fallaway slam, kips up, picks her and puts her in a modified abdominal stretch. Sarray rolls through and puts her in the deathlock, Mandy rakes her face to escape, they trade shots, Sarray with a flurry, hits a running dropkick, then a dropkick to the chin against the bottom rope sends Mandy out the ring. Gigi Dolin checks on Rose, Jacy Jayne grabs a towel to cover her face, and the referee counts all the way up to 10 as Mandy gets taken away. WINNER via countout: SARRAY!

The commentators discuss the dropkick to the face with several replays, and they show some concern for her - especially Wade Barrett. We get comments from Tommaso Ciampa talking about Ridge Holland and Pete Dunne trying to take out Timothy Thatcher. "I AM NXT!" Ciampa vows to get his revenge on them boys. "A motivated Ciampa is a scary Ciampa!" Cue throwing of the chair. Breaktime.

* Duke Hudson vs. Kyle O'Reilly

O'Reilly has his ribs taped, and Hudson smiles as soon as he sees it. O'Reilly shows no fear as he goes after Duke with several punches, but Hudson gets in a big shot that drops him. O'Reilly plays defense on the ground, picks the leg, Hudson counters, O'Reilly counters to a sleeper, and Hudson powerfully throws him down. O'Reilly tries to trap him in the heel hook, Hudson blocks it, breaks free, and goes after the ribs with a body blow and knee strikes. Hudson gets a 2-count, applies a rear waistlock to wear down the midsection, both men jockey for position, O'Reilly gets the abdominal stretch, Hudson throws him off and sends him chest-first into the turnbuckles then mocks Kyle's air guitar. O'Reilly tries to fight back but his ribs hurt, he gets a rollup for 2, Hudson stops his momentum with a gutbuster, and we take a commercial break.

We get picture-in-picture here, and Hudson puts him in a body scissors while raking his face for good measure. Hudson locks in the ab stretch while cranking the neck, O'Reilly hits knee strikes, but Hudson drops him with a hammer fist, briefly puts him in a surfboard stretch, goes right back to attacking the ribs, covers for 2, and more body punches to the midsection followed by the surfboard stretch.

By the time we come back, the tape is no longer on O'Reilly's ribs. O'Reilly escapes the submission hold, Hudson blocks a back suplex, O'Reilly lands on his feet from the same suplex attempt, kicks him in the hamstring and chest, legsweep, hits a forearm smash, armbreaker, dragon screw, and another kick to the leg. Hudson hits a hammer fist, O'Reilly with a tilt-a-whirl into the guillotine, Hudson drops to a knee, gets back up, rams O'Reilly into the corner, delivers a belly-to-belly suplex and gets a near-fall. O'Reilly does a dragon screw over the ropes, again in the ropes, goes up top, hits the diving kneedrop to the knee, and locks in the Heel Hook for Hudson to tap out to! WINNER: KYLE O'REILLY!

After a commercial break, we go back to NXT two weeks ago when Indi Hartwell propsed to Dexter Lumis, and the wedding of In-Dex will take place on NXT in two weeks. Beth Phoenix is super excited as she's wearing an In-Dex shirt, hands one to Wade Barrett, and he tosses it away into the crowd in disgust.

Out comes the new NXT United Kingdom Champion, Ilja Dragunov! A battered and bruised Dragunov limps his way to the ring with the NXT UK Title over his shoulder, and the crowd chants "You deserve it" at him. Ilja Dragunov: "Before I go back home, I wanted you all to see that I am still alive. I'm not just alive, I feel more alive than I have ever felt before! I feel alive like a man who just survived the biggest and most intense battle of his life! I like it here, I really do, and you will see me soon again. But now I have shown to the world what it takes to be the NXT UK Champion! The will, the passion, the soul, the struggle. Who's willing to go through all of that to take THIS away from me? As all you saw, the Ring General has fallen. Long live the Czar!"

Kay Lee Ray was interviewed and she said that she makes an impact wherever she goes, so she showed up in NXT. As she answered if she's here full-time, she's interupted, but she interrupts the interviewer to talk down about all of the women. After her dominance in NXT UK, she plans to dominate in the USA. Breaktime.

Carmelo Hayes gets interviewed about winning the NXT Breakout Tournament, and he says he already feels like a champion as he name-drops who he could face as the winner. Hayes is interrupted by Elektra Lopez as she tells him that the NXT North American Championship is for Santos Escobar to challenge for and win, not Carmelo. Legado Del Fantasma show up, Santos Escobar mentions the North American Championship calling it his business, and will allow Carmelo to walk away because he is new here. "Be wise Carmelo, and stay out of my business." Hayes takes that as a threat.

* Imperium vs. Drake Maverick & Grayson Waller

Fabian Aichner starts with Waller, beats him down, clotheslines him, Marcel Barthel tags in and continues the offense with a big slap to the chest and double-arm suplex. Barthel shoves him back, kicks him in the chest, puts him in a chinlock, Waller gets a jawbreaker and escapes to make the tag. Aichner tags in, Maverick kicks him, dropkick to the knee, basement dropkick connects, dropkick to Barthel and lowers the ropes, and lands on his feet from a suplex. Waller tags himself in, Aichner boots him in the face, Barthel throws Maverick into the steel structure, Aichner tags him in, they hit the European Bomb, and Barthel covers for 3. WINNERS: IMPERIUM!

Backstage, Indi Hartwell asks Johnny Gargano to give him a chance, and Gargano turns around to see Lumis just standing there staring at him. "You gotta quit doing that, man! Just be normal, be normal for once!" Breaktime.

Backstage, Danny Burch talks about being on the shelf for five months and says a week feels like a long time. Oney Lorcan chimes in and says they want an answer from MSK about their title match challenge. Pete Dunne brings up Ciampa's name and tells him to prove it that he's the baddest man in NXT. Ridge Holland mocks Ciampa for dedicating his match to Timother Thatcher and says he can join him in the hospital.

Moments ago, Sarray was attacked in the locker room by Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne.

* Johnny Gargano vs. LA Knight

They lock up, Knight body slams him, and points to In-Dex outside the ring. Gargano takes him down, puts him in a front facelock, Knight tosses him back, puts him in a side headlock, hits a shoulder block, Gargano leapfrogs over him, goes for the Gargano Escape, but Knight grabs the ropes. Gargano gets a hurricanrana, inverted atomic drop, arm wrench, mahistral cradle, 2-count, and dropkicks him. Gargano chops him on the chest repeatedly, does an armbreaker, Knight grabs his hair and hits a back elbow. Gargano dumps him out the ring, hits the suicide dive, throws him back into the ring, avoids an elbow drop. Knight punches him, drops his neck on the ropes, suplexes him, kicks him in the head in front of In-Dex, and hits a slingshot shoulder tackle before a commercial break.

Knight is in control when we come back, Gargano does a backslide for 2, Knight hits a leaping neckbreaker for 2, and does a few shoulder thrusts in a corner. Gargano side-steps him in a corner, Knight slams him down, Gargano rolls him up for the kick, forearm smash, and a tornado flatliner. Knight uppercuts him, Gargano avoids the slingshot dropkick, hits the slingshot spear, covers for 2, Gargano hits shoulders thrusts, and goes for the Gargano Escape. Lumis catches Gargao to save him, Lumis moves him out the way and Knight punches him, Knight yells at him, Gargano superkicks Knight and Lumis looks for the hi-five. Knight hits the BFT and gets the 1-2-3! WINNER: LA KNIGHT!

Lumis has a surprised and guilty look on his face. Gargano is screaming at In-Dex for costing him the match.

MSK head to Mr. Regal's office, knock on his door, and they want to give Burch and Lorcan the title match. Regal accepts their honesty and fighting spirit, so he grants them the match for next week. We get a promo for Tian Sha, and Mei Ying will compete next week!

* Jesse Kamea vs. Raquel Gonzalez {NXT Women's Champion}
  [non-title match]

Franky Monet is at ringside with Robert Stone. Raquel throws her around the ring, hits a sidewalk slam, twisting elbow drop, and gets a 2-count. Jessi side-steps a big boot, works her knee over, rolling heel kick, and puts her in a leglock. Raquel dropkicks her, body slam, drops her on the ropes, but Jessi stomps on her foot and hits a jumping enzuigiri. Raquel clotheslines her, hits the Chingona Bomb, and gets the 3-count. WINNER: RAQUEL GONZALEZ!

Ember Moon gets some interview time, mentions Kay Lee Ray name-dropping her, and won't stand for it. "You wanna do something about it? How about next week? Could you pass that along for me?" Breaktime.

Wade Barrett had interviewed the first-ever and only three-time NXT Champion Samoa Joe about his expectations and future of NXT. Samoa Joe said he will re-establish the main event scene of NXT, and he won the championship because he needed to set the precedent. Joe's perspective has changed by being the first-ever three-time champion and has to carry on the legacy of the title. "Who amongst the locker room will step up to challenge me?"

* Roderick Strong vs. Ichemen Jiro

Strong chops him fast early on, Jiro gives him an armdrag, hurricanrana, jacket strike, but then Strong hiptosses him into the steel steps! Strong throws him back into the ring, hard chop, stomps on his back, hits the backbreaker, covers for 2 then puts him in a seated ab stretch. Jiro gets back up, Strong pulls him off the turnbuckles, stomps, 2-count, then goes back to the ab stretch. Jiro kicks him in the head, Strong chops him, Jiro side-steps him, strikes back with forearms, jacket punches, drops him on the ropes, slingshot springboard moonsault, and gets a 2-count. Strong hits the jumping knee, delivers the End of Heartache, another End of Heartache, and covers for 3. WINNER: RODERICK STRONG!

Post-match, Strong calls out Kushida saying that the title is his as he's the uncrowned champion. Backstage, we learn that Io Shirai and Zoey Stark will have their first title defense against Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter. Kacy and Kayden respect them, but they have more chemistry as best friends. Stark says she would take a bullet for Shirai, but Io says she doesn't like Kacy, Kayden or even Zoey - but since Zoey is on her team she will accept her and they vow to win. Stark agrees and looks for approval, but Shirai has already left. Breaktime.

Backstage, Cameron Grimes has learned to accept himself thanks to that damn Ted DiBiase. The Grizzled Young Veterans show up to mock him, and it was all for nothing just to have the replica Million Dollar Title. Grimes offers them money to help them out, and tosses the fake title they had onto Zack Gibson's foot. "To the moon!"

Next week will be a busy episode of NXT! The NXT Tag Team Titles are on the line as Lorcan and Burch challenge the champs MSK. Ember Moon goes one-on-one with Kay Lee Ray. Also, Kacy and Kayden challenge Io Shirai and Zoey Stark for the NXT Women's Tag Team Titles.

* Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ridge Holland

The bell dings for the main event, Holland backs him into a corner, Ciampa hits a shoulder block to no affect, headlock takeover, Holland hits European uppercuts, belly-to-belly overhead suplex, and kicks him hard in the back. Ciampa drops him on the ropes, hits a running knee to the face, but then Lorcan and Burch pull Holland out the ring to save him from more another knee. Ciampa shoves Holland into the plexiglass barricade and the ringpost, breaks the ref's count, lays him across the announce table, elbow to the throat, hits the running kneelift, and sits on the apron to pat himself on the back! The ref counts to 8, Holland gets on the apron, sets up for Willow's Bell, kicks him instead, Lorcan and Burch get on the apron to distract him, and Holland tackles him before our final commercial break.

We get picture-in-picture to keep our eyes on the action as Holland takes control with uppercuts and chokes him on the ropes. Holland does a backbreaker, covers for 2, Ciampa with a jawbreaker, chops to the chest, Holland sends him into the corner with force, Ciampa tries to fight back, but Holland beats him down.

When we come back, Holland remains in control using his power to his advantage, Ciampa hits hard forearm shots, Holland clobbers him on the nose, puts him in a rear chinlock, and clubs him on the back. Ciampa fights back with punches and chops, Holland hits a European uppercut, Ciampa with a jumping knee, clotheslines him over and over, repeatedly in a corner, and runs the ropes for a lariat getting a 2-count. Holland counters the Fairy Tale Ending with the Alabama Slam, the ref checks on Ciampa, Holland covers for 2, clobbers him in the kidneys, Ciampa hits a back elbow, they trade punches, Ciampa jabs and punches him, picks him up for the air raid crash, and covers for a near-fall! Holland headbutts him, Ciampa crawls around on the floor, Holland rams him into the plexiglass barricade, picks up his weapon, Ciampa avoids it, both men on the apron, Ciampa with slaps to the neck, Holland picks him up, Ciampa slips off, hits knee strikes, Willow's Bell connects, and he covers for 1-2-3!! WINNER: TOMMASO CIAMPA!

Pete Dunne jumps Ciampa in the ring along with Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. MSK come down, they take out Lorcan and Burch, and chase off Dunne and Holland. That's all for this week's NXT!