Top 3 Performers of NXT (December 5, 2018)
Matt Riddle was the first person to come down to the ring, and he was joined by former Ring of Honor man, Punishment Martinez. Martinez recently signed to WWE and NXT to much fanfare. Martinez made his NXT TV debut, surprisingly against the undefeated Riddle. The match was as hard hitting as you would expect from Riddle and Martinez. The Full Sail crowd was into the match, and after a relatively short amount of time, Riddle took the victory via submission with the Bro-mission. Riddle is still undefeated and has overcome two of his most experienced competition in Kassius Ohno and Punishment Martinez in consecutive weeks. Kassius Ohno then ambushed Riddle at the top of the ramp, signifying that the story between the two is not over yet.
Ricochet had a highlight package covering his time from his debut with NXT to his Takeover Debut at Takeover: New Orleans in the North American title ladder match, to his victory against Adam Cole at Takeover: Chicago to get the title, and finally to his victory in War Games.
It was then announced that he would be defending his title on next week's NXT. Next, a fatal-four way was announced in three weeks' time to determine the #1 contender for the Women's championship with Bianca Belair the first person to qualify for the match.
Back in the ring, Humberto Carillo and Raul Mendoza would take on the Forgotten Sons stable of Blake, Cutler, and Ryker. Cutler and Mendoza started in the ring against each other. After the luchadors got off to a quicker offence, Blake got his team back in the match with powerhouse attacks.
Carillo and Mendoza got an unsurprising amount of offence against their bigger opponents but were eventually caught out by their bigger opponents. The Forgotten Sons would pick up the victory with a combination Stinger drop and stomp from the turnbuckle.
The Velveteen Dream continues to be one of the most charismatic talents behind the curtains, and on the microphone, with a backstage interview. The way he is able to capture the attention of a viewer with his words. This was followed by Undisputed Era cutting a promo against EC3 and the rest of the NXT Tag Team division, running down the other tag teams one by one.
Dakota Kai then came to face off against NXT women's champion, and Kai's former nightmare, in Shayna Baszler. Baszler came to the ring flanked by friends Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir. Baszler and Kai had faced off before, the first time putting Kai on the shelf, and a second time during Baszler's feud with Nikki Cross. Kai cleverly avoided the spot that Baszler previously used to put Kai in the shelf in their first fight.
Kai would fight back with a series of kicks, including hitting her Facewash kick and corner big boot. Kai would seem to have control of the match, hitting a diving stomp from the top rope but Baszler was able to kick out at 2. Baszler was able to hit a Super gut wrench suplex onto Kai and caught her in a the Kirafuda clutch for the submission victory. Duke and Shafir came in to beat down Kai post-fight, but the captain of team Kick was saved by Mae Young finalist Io Shirai.
Finally, the NXT Champion, Tomaso Ciampa made his promised return to Full Sail and the NXT ring. Ciampa grabbed the microphone and continued to cut another vicious tirade against everyone and everything, including Mauro Renallo. Ciampa's screed was cut off by Aleister Black. Black wanted to invoke his rematch clause against Ciampa at NXT Takeover: Phoenix in January. Black was interrupted by Johnny Gargano who advised Black that he is not done with him yet.
Ciampa looked to dodge Black's challenge by setting up Black versus Gargano is a Steel Cage match. Black then narrowly missed Gargano with a Black Mass, as Gargano was able to sneak out of the way and out of the ring in time. However, Ciampa wasn't as lucky as Black caught his with Black Mass while he was standing on the apron focussed on Gargano.